I'm working on this ongoing project to post links to news stories from the progressive viewpoint.
Multiple crisis and catastrophe (tags)
The official self-image of bourgeois society remains strangely untouched by crises. They are understood as improbable and short-lived interruptions of what are actually successful processes. Disruptions and crises are denied, are considered technical and, through a variety of individual measures, if not solvable, then at least postponable into the future.
All people are reporters (tags)
What is missing in the mainstream media landscape are background reports, essays, longer interviews, travel reports and what is called "investigative journalism". What is perhaps boring are ideology-critical internal debates about the right line, i.e. hermetic, exclusionary language. Many people know that Marxian political economy is back in fashion. But it needs an update.
Capitalism is not in a position to solve the social and ecological crisis that it is causing. An open-ended transformation of the system is inevitable, and a struggle for transformation will be waged – especially against the fascist threat. Conscious reflection on the systemic crisis is the best antidote to the conspiratorial crisis talk of the New Right.
Saving the planet means saving the world (tags)
Instead of today’s economic system, which increases inequality, a new system is indispensable, according to Rockström and colleagues. What is needed is a ‘wellbeing economy’ which serves people and the planet—rather than people and the planet serving the economy, as the Wellbeing Economic Alliance (WeAll) puts it.
"Modern societies cannot function without a welfare state" (tags)
Modern societies cannot really function well without a general social security system. That's why we need a security system for the whole of society that everyone pays into. In addition, growing social inequality is also a major economic risk.
Developing a common transformational project and building counter-power remains the central task of the left. Especially in areas of social infrastructure, such as housing and healthcare, profit maximization has a particularly devastating effect. The strategy of socialization, i.e. the transfer of private property into democratic structures, can provide orientation here.
Youth & Memories of Hope in the Age of Disposability: The Personal & the Political (tags)
Youth and Memories of Hope in the Age of Disposability: Connecting the Personal and the Political. There is a war raging in neoliberal societies, especially in the United States, especially against working-class youth, Black and Brown youth, and impoverished youth.
Covid Myth Busting Before It Was Fact Using Some Commonsense - Get Ready for 2024 (tags)
Commonsense trumps real science - which needs real data, not commonsense... and that empirical data comes too late sometimes as a consequence of nefarious policies and disguised political agendas. There'd have been no covid injuries and vaccine uptake would have been near zero had the vast majority of public worldwide exercised some shrewd commonsense and recognized snake oil for what it was / still is. Modernity's greatest hijacking through behavior control is co-opting public's commonsense. Even coercion requires a measure of public's consent. How not to withhold consent is the entire edifice upon which oligarchic controls rest. Understanding this gets back to the public using their commonsense to preempt the dystopic oligarchic agendas.
Cracks in the Culture of Silence (tags)
One of the more tragic elements of the culture of silence is that the dominated often internalize the oppressor – they become their own dominators, and behave toward themselves and each other much as the oppressor behaves toward them. This internalization is often created and maintained by the education system that is controlled by the elite.
Is it permissible to criticize the West? (tags)
Children in the West today are brought up to believe that the West is superior in every way to Africa, Asia, China, Russia: that the world outside the West is a garden of horrors...It seems almost paradoxical that the West, which sees itself as the inventor of Enlightenment reason against dogmatism, still arrogates to itself the right to have a monopoly on reason
The education crisis - just a symptom of general social failure (tags)
One aspect of our society, which is oriented towards self-interest rather than the common good, is that the systemic relevance of education is increasingly taking a back seat to being a market to be served and a nice playground for endless political debates and reforms with little substance, the main aim of which is to preserve the market and the hereditary farms...
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.
There is broad agreement that freedom should not only be measured in terms of one's own well-being, but also in terms of others, especially the socially disadvantaged, and in solidarity with those who lack recognition. The strong welfare state is widely accepted, even by those who pay more than they receive.
Neoliberalism, Democracy and the University as a Public Sphere (tags)
What can educators & others concerned about the future of higher education do to make sure it is not colonized by corporate & other antidemocratic interests? First, educators & others need to figure out how to defend more vigorously higher education as a public good & how central it is in producing the formative culture necessary to educate young people to be critical & engaged.
The four-day week as a transformation project (tags)
The pandemic, environmental disasters and the current wars have ushered in a new era, a kind of "turning point"... As the demand for a reduction in working hours is shared by a broad majority of employees across generations, this offers the opportunity to produce a conflict that has the potential to have an impact and contribute to renewing the trade union movement.
The Solution is Social Housing (tags)
The Swedish government set a goal of building 1 million new units in the mid-1960s when the population was only 8 million (or about the same size as New York City). Despite a few setbacks and problems, this goal was achieved in less than a decade — We suggest that 10 million new municipal housing units would be a viable ten-year goal.
The military will not solve a single problem (tags)
Solidarity could also be understood and implemented differently: as a concept that reduces violence and aims at protecting human lives in concrete terms. This includes not only refugee aid, humanitarian aid & all conceivable diplomacy. It is also important to examine whether social resistance measures planned for the short term make sense in this highly escalated situation.
Qualitative Break: Why a Radical Critique of Work is Necessary Today (tags)
Capital has increasingly decoupled itself from directly expended labor and accumulation is now taking place predominantly on the level of financial markets... In large parts of the Global South, the majority has long since been declared ‘superfluous.’
Housing is a human right (tags)
To guarantee the human right to housing, a fundamental change in policy would be required at all levels. At all levels - federal, state and local - the social housing provision should be enforced against private profit interests. The non-profit status of housing must be revived. Housing must not be a commodity, it must not be the object of speculation and profit interests.
Zombie movies are an apocalyptic genre, in which there is an inkling that the given social order cannot last & has reached its development limits. The first great wave of zombies hit the Western culture industry during the crisis period of the seventies of the 20th century, when the "Golden Age" of post-war capitalism, full employment and mass consumption came to an end.
Social doctrine versus sacred market (tags)
In his new work "Out of Ego-Capitalism", the development economist &consultant at the UN Organization for World Trade and Development Patrick Kaczmarczyk takes a path of capitalism criticism. Referring to Christian social teaching, he attacks the "belief in the blessing of the sacred market," which goes hand in hand with the "individualization of problems."
De-escalartion instead of war of attrition (tags)
The call for negotiations alone is no longer enough. In a situation in which parts of the Western alliance are struggling to find ways out of the war & at the same time more & more heavy weapons are being supplied for a war that will last for years, the social left should campaign more strongly than before for "mutual de-escalation" & security guarantees, for European independence
Climate catastrophe and `freedom of consumption' (tags)
It is not five to twelve, but five past twelve, as philosopher Slavoj Žižek writes. The fact that climate change is a fact (the details may well be debated) and poses a serious threat to humanity is something that the last fool should have realized by now.1 It is also clear that the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases must be radically and rapidly reduced.
African socialism & the common good economy are discussed. In view of the problems we face in our society today, triggered by the striving for power of the elites leading to social inequality, environmental destruction & corporate greed, there are good reasons to practice the common good economy as an alternative & sustainable economic model more strongly worldwide.
Religious Fundamentalism. An ambivalent phenomenon of the modern age (tags)
The conclusion that Thomas Meyer repeatedly puts forward is obvious: "Fundamentalism proves to be an indeterminate negation of the foundations of Enlightenment and modernization."
The Rise and Rise of the Cult of the Ego (tags)
All types of people are convinced to buy something to ward off feelings of inner emptiness. A mix of clickbait hyper-capitalism will hoodwink an entire generation. "When you lose control, you reap the harvest you have sown" (Pink Floyd)
China's further development has priority (tags)
The focus of Chinese policy remains the economic and social development of the country... Despite the enormous successes in economic and social development, there is still a long way to go before China catches up and can also keep up with the rich industrialized countries
The end of the "Golden Age" of cqapitalism and the rise of neoliberalism (tags)
The rise of the neoliberal world economic system marked by the dominance of financial markets – whose financial superstructure collapses over us – resulted from the radical economic crises of the early 1970s that seized nearly all western industrial countries.
Authoritarian Capitalism (tags)
The banks and auto corporations were bailed out and rescued and the ensuing public debt was invoked in order to cut public expenditures on health care, education, pensions, and public salaries. Furthermore, a new race to the bottom has started.
Car Plants Are Making Medical Equipment - And Things Should Stay That Way (tags)
The time has come for progressive nationalization and socialization. This includes the financial sector, because only if we gain control over the financing of socially necessary areas of production will it be possible to ensure that we as a society can plan our future.
The pace of business rationalization has accelerated to such an extent that in the core sectors of world market production, fewer and fewer workers are needed despite growing output of goods. Thus, the development of productive power has reached a point at which it makes absolutely more labor superfluous in each period.
Why do the lambs remain silent? (tags)
James Madison (1751-1836), one of the founding fathers of the constitution, proclaimed that every form of government should be designed "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority".
The Seven Loose Pieces of the Global Jigsaw Puzzle (tags)
Toward the end of the Cold War, capitalism created a military horror: the neutron bomb, a weapon that destroys life while leaving buildings intact. During the Fourth World War, however, a new wonder has been discovered: the financial bomb.This new bomb destroys the polis (nation)
The contradictory capitalist mode of production is thus not only the driving force[11] behind the mounting debt and economic crises,[12] it is also the cause of the unfolding climate catastrophe. “Man-made” climate change is in large part the result of the social system.
The right to water and 7 challenges to the welfare state (tags)
Visions need concrete, tangible measures that provide security in times of uncertainty and reliably carry all people through the huge changes...The indispensable ecological transformation must also become a social one.
Battle for Social Democracy and Unfettered Capitalism (tags)
Two opposing schools of thought face each other at the sickbed: neoliberalism and social democracy. Didn't the death-bells of neoliberals ring in the course of the financial market crisis? Were not neoliberals unmasked who first caused the whole mess with their deregulation?
Rethinking the State and Rent Madness (tags)
The right to housing for everyone must be understood as a public challenge and presupposes the de-commodification of the housing supply, a democratization of urban policy, and breach with the real estate exploitation coalition.
Reflections on the Political Crisis and Right-wing Populism (tags)
The policies of neoliberal globalization have driven an enormous strengthening of transnational corporations and finance capital, and at the same time the division between rich and poor, between the top "1%" and the rest of the "99%"[28].
Jesus made fun of individualism and profit-oriented economic systems. Winning people to trust the infinite, invisible and transcendent God was surely his central goal. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?”“No sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent..."
Compendium of Propagands (tags)
Today, the media have influenced our culture and behavior even more profoundly than nuclear power.. An invisible cloud of artificial emotions, opinions and conclusions surrounds modern man. Propaganda can spread worldviews and generate obedience or revolutions.
Lockdown light - Corona crisis and capitalism (tags)
The pandemic and countermeasures have effects shaped by the neoliberal form of capitalism[ that has dominated since the 1980s. 1.the independence of the financial sphere ,2.the fragmentation of the labor markets, and 3.the weakening of social systems.
Social division in the schools and 7 challenges to the welfare state (tags)
The most difficult task will be to redefine prosperity not only in philosophical concepts, but also in concrete tangible and experiential terms detached from consumption. Many are already working on this. The United Nations adopted a strategy for a blueprint for peace and prosperity
Farewell to the unipolar world and Disaster capitalism (tags)
The sanctions have already proved to be a dangerous boomerang because they hit Europe harder than Russia... It is a suicidal illusion to try to win a war against the raw materials giant Russia - which possesses more than a third of all fossil energies and raw materials on earth...
Charity means toppling the powerful from their thrones and The cry of the poor (tags)
There is no distinction between structural violence, which is the basis of the capitalist social order, and counter-violence. "First of all, I would like to state that there is a violence from which all other violence derives: the violence of oppression." (Dom Helder Camara).
Against the cannabilism of capital (tags)
Propaganda against war fatigue and 12 theses for survival (tags)
What peaceful alternatives and perspectives of reconciliation must we demand against the prevailing war propaganda? Let us demand: cease-fire! Negotiations! Disarmament and mutual security guarantees!
The property question and A new age of censorship is dawning (tags)
There is another good news, if not two good news, which are directly connected. A majority of people reject capitalism and want a different system. It is not difficult to link the global crises that threaten our very existence to our prevailing economic and social order.
The Conformity Forge and The Alchemy of Evil (tags)
One possible answer may be that governments, the media, the legal system, and the vast majority of the population are firmly embedded in a sociopolitical system that not only does not want anything about it to be questioned, but also actively prevents an awareness from arising.
The subjectless rule of capital and Working class hero (tags)
Fortunately, his death did not silence him. The opposite is the case. Because John Winston Lennon became more immortal through the assassination than he already was as a member of the most successful band of all times. Not a martyr - but a working class hero.
Underhanded History of the USA (tags)
From Grade 5, many schools are becoming binary and anti-racist. "Attitude instead of Education" is by Willy Meyer.
We need an Enlightenment 2.0: Misguided Colonial and Gender Policy (tags)
Colonial knowledge was imposed by force. The West has set our planet on fire. To extinguish it, we need all archives of knowledge with their different references to the world. We cannot do it any other way. Therefore, it is urgent to initiate a paradigmatic change in education.
The thought matrix expands (tags)
Who has followed the change of the Internet over the last 10 years carefully, will agree with me that the at the beginning very wide spectrum of knowledge, which was available to one in the www, became thinner and thinner.
Question sanctions and The cry of the poor (tags)
In Germany, we tend to moralize and romanticize in politics. This prevents us from taking a sober view of world events. We fail to recognize that the U.S. is ruthlessly asserting its own interests, against enemy and friend. The interests of the EU and the U.S. have long since ceased to coincide.
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 necessary breach and Rackets and Rockets (tags)
The climate movement should not be afraid of being accused of radicalism. It is a matter of sheer collective will to survive to solve this monstrous problem. Capitalism, in its compulsion to grow, is incapable of reducing resource consumption and emissions.
Total Competition or Repressive Administration of People (tags)
An awareness of the monstrosities of our glorious capitalist society is the first prerequisite for thinking beyond that society.:..The regularities of capitalist society are not laws of nature, so they can be abolished in principle. With such abolition, a new society can become possible.
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.
Hysterical Populism and the Appetite of Leviathan (tags)
The relationship between economy and social order has been turned upside down: economy is no longer a function of an overarching culture, but conversely, "human society has sunk to being an accessory of the economic system" (Karl Polanyi). RK was founder of Exit & Krisis blogs.
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).
Degrowth - not just Green New Deals! (tags)
We live in a time of many and accelerating crises. Climate breakdown is breathing down our neck. Biodiversity is collapsing in ecosystems around the world, and many natural safety nets – water cycles, soil fertility, fish stocks, microbial diversity – are unraveling.
The New NATO Strategic Concept: 6 Articles (tags)
Collective pressure in a broad societal dimension is necessary for a cease-fire - in a viable European security architecture... At the core of a sustainable compromise between Russia, Ukraine and the US could be a guarantee of Ukraine's full sovereignty and military neutrality.
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.
There is no alternative to ceasefire negotiations and The rebel withn us (tags)
There is no alternative to negotiations on ceasefires and ceasefires, is there? That is where all the power should be concentrated. If that succeeds, the bombing will also stop.
The work critique of millenials and A new universalism of emancipation (tags)
The 4-Hour League, an alliance founded in 2016 to campaign for the 4-hour day is concerned with pushing back wage labor to have more time for a good life, for a gender-just redistribution of care activities and putting an end to the over-exploitation of nature.
Tax evasion and avoidance and Democracy at a tipping point (tags)
The biggest losses from tax evasion and avoidance are caused by multinational corporations, followed by wealthy individuals. Sums in the triple-digit billions up to one trillion. Euros are evaded annually in the EU. 21-32 trillion US dollars are undeclared via tax havens
The 1960s, when incomes rose for almost all workers, ended with a massive wave of strikes. Since the 1980s, the incomes of most Americans have fallen, working hours have risen massively, and job security has become a foreign word. But strikes have been extremely rare.
From Indymedia to Tahrir Square (IMC History) (tags)
Harry Halpin, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, hhalpin@ibiblio.org Evan Henshaw-Plath, Planetary, New Zealand, rabble@planetary.social DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3485447.3512282 WWW '22: Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2022, Virtual Event, Lyon, France, April 2022
The price explosion of wheat (tags)
Many people in this country develop the willingness to explicitly freeze for an ideal. Whether for freedom of whatever kind or for the climate. Already now one could marvel at signs on "peace demos", on which was written: "Better freeze, than gas from Putin!"
The war in Ukraine and the consequences for the world economy (tags)
The Corona pandemic already shows that a rethink of trade policy is needed and that the neoliberal form of globalization is not fit for the future. Large-scale investments in renewable energies and a fair design of trade agreements would be advances that benefit everyone.
Social consequences of the Corona crisis in Austria (tags)
Two million Austrians suffer income losses from the Corona crisis. Good news comes today from New Zealand (half-price transit), Finland (affordable apartments for the homeless) and Great Britain (four-day work with five-day pay). This good news is reported by Scoop.me.
Labor fetish and anti-semitism (tags)
"Work makes you free" was written above the gate of the Auschwitz death camp. How did the Nazis come up with that? Isn't work something meaningful, something good? What does it have to do with Auschwitz, of all places? Because work and meaningful activity are, two different things.
Democracy = not more than a brand name (tags)
The USA, a hegemonic power threatened with decline, is struggling to maintain and expand a monopolistic world order. This is supposed to be justified by surrounding itself with an aura of freedom and democracy.
Preserving Democracy and the Welfare State (tags)
We are confronted with war and endless suffering, with flight, with poverty and social insecurity, with a global pandemic... The arms buildup planned for decades will not end the deaths in Ukraine, will not make our world more peaceful and will not make it safer.
LeftEast condemns Putin's imperial war against Ukraine (tags)
We say "No!" to Moscow and "No!" to the false choice between Moscow and NATO in the future. We demand an immediate ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table. The interests of global capital and its military machine are not worth another drop of blood. Peace, land and bread!
Interview on The Black Book of Capitalism (tags)
The book is: 1) a history of the three great industrial revolutions (introduction of the manufacturing system with the steam engine at the beginning of the 19th century, Fordist “self-mobilization” with the assembly line and the rationalization and the microelectronic revolution.
What 2022 is about: eliminating conservatives with progressive economic policies (tags)
A labor shortage that is slowly taking shape and the demand for progressive taxation of high wealth, which is being championed in many countries, will make it possible to change the economy and society in Austria and Europe for the better. They will help us eradicate poverty.
Education neoliberalism disguised as social policy (tags)
The share of the workforce with a college, university or technical college education is rising. The ever-increasing demands on skilled workers and the needs of the labor market are also driving up the cost of education. It is right and necessary to ask questions about financing.
The pulverized humanity (tags)
Endless lockdowns, police-enforced quarantines, travel restrictions, compulsory vaccinations, the suppression of scientific data and scientific debate and large-scale censorship are consistently examples of dehumanizing measures.
Children suffer strongly from homeschooling in Lockdown (tags)
The situation, which UNICEF described as a "catastrophic education crisis" at the beginning of March, continues. In addition, errors, stereotypes, misjudgements and trivialization prevail in the discussion about children, Corona and digital distance learning.
Ecosocialist strategy: industrial restructuring (tags)
The findings of international climate research and the IPCC are clear. World society is heading for tipping points that will abruptly change the earth and climate system. As a result, several billion people will lose their previous livelihoods in a few decades.
A good future beyond the market and the state (tags)
In the midst of a blindly globalized society, we are atomized workers and consumers divided by competition, who are in contact with each other primarily through monetary and labor relations and only exceptionally and temporarily represent common interests. We become increasingly helpless...
How is Corona changing the world of work? (tags)
What was born out of necessity is to become the new standard: The pandemic-related expansion of mobile work is leading to considerations to change the organization of work, to change business areas online. In addition to savings in real estate and travel costs, companies also expect this to increase flexibility.
The true costs of capitalist wealth (tags)
What drives the capitalist mode of production is the endless compulsion to increase abstract wealth, or, put more simply, the compulsion to turn money into more money... Society is richer than it knows, because it does not take all kinds of wealth factors into account in GDP.
The Last Stage of the Middle Class (tags)
Money capital is fleeing into the speculative financial markets because investments in new factories have become unprofitable. While growing parts of society are impoverished or even impoverished outside of production, only a simulative accumulation of capital through financial bubbles takes place...
Keeping Business Alive: The Government Will Pay (tags)
A buyer-of-last-resort program would alleviate the hardship of workers and businesses. It would maintain the cash flow for families and businesses, so that the coronavirus shock has no secondary impacts on demand — Business activity is on hold today, but with an intravenous cash flow, it can be kept alive
Promoting Sustainable Economics (tags)
The protagonists of neoliberal globalization seek to fight the devastations – for which they bear responsibility – by the same means that cause the devastations. Now is the time to seize the opportunity and build up economic policy pressure to enforce the development of an economic order that is sustainably oriented...
Capital is losing its capacity for productive investment and is turning to the financial markets, which are more profitable. It is with this money that the war machine and the trade deficit are financed. The US is under great pressure to constantly show that it is in control.
System Transformation or Barbarism (tags)
Overcoming capital is thus a necessity for survival. Consequently, the climate question is not a question of burden sharing, it is not a question of social security. The global exploitation process of capital, in which resources and energy are burned to make more money...
Corona crisis turns into social crisis and The Taboo in Glasgow (tags)
"We are about to drive the world to the wall at full speed." Glasgow creates only lukewarm symptom therapy The example shows that hardly anyone dares to seriously name and research the basic problems of economic growth and population growth.
Capitalist crisis policy is ultimately in a crisis trap... The central banks' billion-dollar "quantitative easing" may have prevented the collapse of the world financial system in 2020, but it is only a postponement of the crisis.
On the "end of the climate crisis" (tags)
"Global warming, environmental degradation, and growing inequality are primarily the consequences of an unleashed economic mode that is focused on profit and quarterly numbers, but not on the well-being of people and nature."
The question arises: Why does such a narrative have to be invented, why does it have to be prescribed and enforced by a few powerful and rich people? Here, an agenda is despotically implemented and then colored with fine words, in which we have no say.
Is China in danger of collapse? and Anti-economics and anti-politics (tags)
In the process of modernization, the relationship between market and state can be boiled down to the formula of a general law: the more market, the more state... The bloated market and the bloated state can only live or die together.
The 1.5 target calls for an eco-socialist revolution (tags)
The only responsible way forward is the IPCC's P1 scenario, which envisages rapid and radical interventions in existing production, transport and consumption structures, i.e. a massive industrial transformation and deconstruction in the main capitalist countries (15ff.).
The Virtues of a 28-hour Week: Work less, pollute less (tags)
The number of workers is growing faster than the amount of work available. We live in a society where work is poorly distributed. Three days off for every four days worked could be liberating. The goal would be increased well-being, gaining time and losing a kind of consumption not really synonymous with pleasure.
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.
Is Green Growth the Solution? (tags)
Just as every millimeter of social progress must be fought for against capital interests, the protection of nature and climate must also be won against the rulers. In these struggles lies the future of the planet.
Vaccine debate: Against the constant stirring up of hatred (tags)
Aggressive propaganda against a population group The social mood that is being made against the unvaccinated is indeed gradually becoming eerie. Because if it is possible to create such a gruesome mood against a certain population group, then also against any other. This is interchangeable.
Renaissance of the Social Market Economy (tags)
A social market economy is based on two political pillars: (1) taming the market dynamics via regulation and (2) mitigating its consequences in distribution policy. (3) The development and care of an economic culture of moderation and fairness in dealing with one another forms the third, the cultural pillar of taming and civilizing
Nazi cadre forge BMI - elite continuity and recruitment policy at the Federal Ministry of (tags)
Of the 44 senior officials at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, 24 were former NSDAP members. 15 percent belonged to the SA and 7 percent to the SS. Here you will find some links on the topic to gain an insight into the topic, which could help to explain the status quo and the renewed relapse in Germany
The Neoliberal Indoctrination (tags)
Homo oeconomicus fades away as an economic theory along with market fundamentalism and market radicalism. Market failure and state violence epitomized by Enron's expansive accounting method and the aggressive wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria should be lessons.
Overcoming the epidemic of loneliness (tags)
The planet can do without human beings, but humanity cannot do a second without the planet. A subsystem can never dominate the superordinate system, nor can it grow indefinitely within it. For this simple reason, the two central premises of industrial society - endless growth and domination of nature - are deadly illusions.
We face the alternative: system change or collapse (tags)
Fromm refers, among others, to the teachings of Karl Marx, Meister Eckhart, Albert Schweitzer and Buddha and their "... radical demand for the abandonment of the orientation towards having, their anti-authoritarian position and their advocacy of complete independence (...) and their demand for social activity.
The Swedish Eugenic Societies (tags)
Even Sweden was total neutral you should know about the intimate ties with that part of the German eugenics movement that would shape Nazi biopolitics...
For a democratic polarization (tags)
The new world economic crisis has shown yet again that one can't leave it to the market to provide for a strong economy. In any case, it is a truism that a community with a certain quality of life depends to a great extent on resources that the market does not produce.
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.
With a plan against the climate crisis (tags)
Quality and enjoyment would be the new maxims, and the true wealth would be free time. Admittedly, a change in consciousness would remain necessary, and many a convenience in lifestyle would have to be abandoned in favor of the ecosystem. However, the standard of living could be raised significantly through free time.
Beyond market and state (tags)
The dominant, financial market-oriented factions of capital are using the crisis to further enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else by attempting to appropriate even the wealth of society that is yet to be generated in the medium term by indebting the state.
Justice, Impoverishment and Fear (tags)
The defense of the welfare state is the defense of democracy...Democracy is as strong as it is fragile. It is strong when it is defended. It is strong when we do not allow ourselves to be fobbed off with answers that do not tolerate questions. But it disappears when we become indifferent to it.
How is Corona changing the world of work? (tags)
Exceptional situations do not necessarily have to be handled in an authoritarian manner; efficiency does not have to be generated in command structures. Independent action by employees becomes productive in democratic structures - perhaps the Corona crisis has also triggered processes that go in this direction.
Workout. The Crisis of Labor and the Limits of Capitalist Society (tags)
The Third Industrial Revolution represents a qualitative break in the history of productivity growth. This is because microelectronics facilitated a radical reorganization in production overall such that labor lost the central importance that it previously had and the application of knowledge became the main force.
The present crisis means that, to a degree previously undreamt of, ever-greater numbers of human beings will simply be declared “superfluous.” The much-invoked “new role of the state” has not the slightest chance of recreating a 1960s style social welfare capitalism, with full employment and a rising standard of living.
Climate Crisis and Social Transformation in the Age of Corona (tags)
The temporary moratorium on economic activity in large parts of the world has done nothing at all to change the fundamental logic of the capitalist mode of production, which is driven by the end-in-itself motion of endlessly reproducing abstract wealth, represented by money.
Capitalism as the religion of indebtedness and debt (tags)
In capitalism, the fundamental social relation is neither exchange nor production. Rather, it is debt that dominates and supersedes every other way of recognizing and valorizing the measure between people. Those who have money are creditworthy, manifesting the sign of God's grace.
An economy that does not grow can nevertheless always change and even improve in the process. It can become more ecological, for example. Last year, for example, CO2 emissions fell by almost six percent - more than at any time since the Second World War.
Housing and Public Employment (tags)
How does the interplay of supply and demand affect the housing market? What influence does the financial market have on housing prices? What happens when tenant protection in tenancy law is relaxed and the market is given more leeway?
"A society based on solidarity begins when the capitalistically necessary separation of paid and unpaid work is broken down, in that there is no longer paid work and people satisfy their needs directly instead of mediated through money and the exchange of goods.
Capitalism is not natural (tags)
Political programs in the 20th century, then, were meant to create equality, not merely alleviate poverty. How we live collectively, what we value as a society, and how we want to conceive of ourselves - all these questions were politicized by these programs...
Imagine a award-winning Christ-Extremist in crossfaction with Nazis in Germany giving random false diagnosis which would stigmatize his victims as child abusers...
Shrinkage means the voluntary downsizing of the national economy, including a reduction in gross domestic product. "Voluntary" here indicates a preference for voluntaristic solutions - though not as individualistic and unplanned where well-to-do opt out of the consumerist market model.
Alternatives to capitalism: Buen vivir (tags)
Capitalism is seen primarily as a system of institutional and racist oppression, and it implies a way of life that sees nature only as a raw material to be exploited. The claim is thus to break with the capitalist mode of production and life in order to create "other forms of life."
Our World is Not For Sale! (tags)
People's Global Action (PGA) was organized in a decentralized way by movements from all parts of the world. But we had no staff and no fixed funding. Everything was through crowdfunding. People were inspired by what PGA stood for, which was, first, the rejection of capitalism.
What moves the "Generation Greta"? (tags)
The global economy is in free fall. Social life and public debate are largely paralyzed, the usual protest and organizing formats of the social movements are completely blocked. Decisive decisions are made in the mode of emergency decrees and huge rescue packages. The politically unthinkable becomes possible,
We are all social democrats now. Almost all of us (tags)
A few weeks ago, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said rich households should pay higher taxes. Inequality in income and wealth had reached proportions that threatened social peace. The head of the IMF, Alfred Kammer, called on the German government, as in previous years, to increase its investments.
Learning to Feel Collectively (tags)
The starting point of the upheavals are the anti-colonial movements that have been spreading across the globe since the end of World War II. With the Black Civil Rights Movement, they penetrate into the heart of the capitalist world system starting in the mid-1950s, where they politicize liberal students* and the beat culture.
What does socialism mean in the 21st century? (tags)
"Socialism" should be much more than a mere buzzword. In light of the fact that current capitalism is in the process of destroying our planet and our prospects for a free, democratic, and good life, "socialism" must become a genuine systemic alternative.
Why Karl Polanyi Still Matters (tags)
In The Great Transformation (1944), Karl Polanyi explains why the economy must be embedded in society and society must not be embedded in the economy. He describes land, labor and money as "fictitious commodities" since they cannot be multiplied and created on the market.
The Ethics & Language of Lockdown. How the intended solution became the problem (tags)
Long term restrictions like lockdowns are self-defeating...It was inevitable that, at some point, issues of intergenerational justice would be raised, given there is only so much you can ethically ask the majority of people to sacrifice to protect a small minority. Such unfairness is an under-appreciated ethical problem.
Post-democratic Capitalism (tags)
The fact that money can buy political influence is a central problem for democracy. All citizens are equal in terms of their voting rights, but not in terms of their wealth - this is one of the great unsolved challenges of liberal systems of government.
We need to put money into housing initiatives, addiction and violence prevention programs, community centers and mental health infrastructures - and in parallel, dismantle the police step by step. We need to develop alternative structures for how we deal with violence as a society.
The virus as enemy and subject A very conspicuous phenomenon for rhetorically evading any political responsibility is, on the one hand, to shift it to the population by dutifully supporting and participating in all measures and, on the other hand, to speak of the virus as an acting subject bearing responsibility.
What kind of conditioning will we be subjected to after being stripped of our natural relationships? I want to live a life that breaks the invisible cage and firmly reaches out to nature and humanity.
The issue of white-collar crime, on the other hand, is apparently impossible to address. None of the major parties has so far shown any inclination to take up the demonstrable threat to the welfare state and democracy posed by white-collar crime in the election campaign.
Corona: When will we ever understand? (tags)
The Corona measures of those currently in power are intended to prevent great calamity. They are used to justify the most severe restrictions on constitutional rights, the likes of which have not been seen since the end of World War II.
Unemployment myth and "Migrantization" of precarity (tags)
Involuntary unemployment is afflicted with many prejudices, which impute a supposed lack of motivation and utility to those affected. Although these prejudices are easy to refute, politicians and representatives of the media cling to the neoliberal notion of individual guilt in unemployment. Unemployment has structural causes.
The Last Stage of the Middle Class (tags)
The emancipatory overcoming of the modern commodity-producing system and the associated separation requires a social intervention on a high level. The second article "The Collapse of Modernization" was published in Oct 2004. Robert Kurz, editor of the German leftist Krisis journal, died too early at 69.
Corona vaccines-nothing would work without public funding (tags)
"The Covid 19 crisis is a perfect test of whether a more public health approach to innovation and production will prevail in the years ahead. Although recent vaccine news has raised hopes, it has also exposed the broken business model of the pharmaceutical industry and cast doubt on the prospects of getting a vaccine to people..."
Never waste a good crisis (tags)
The negotiation of society after Corona is now beginning, and it is now important to strengthen positive tendencies such as the expansion of the public health system, a more planned economy and social solidarity. But these appeals only cover up their own helplessness and lack of advice. .
Life Lies of the Islands of Prosperity (tags)
The embarrassing secret of the 'Western' model of society and development is that it only works under very specific political and economic, ecological and social conditions. Preconditions that lie essentially outside this model and are hidden or made invisible by the social actors of its glorifying preservation. '
How the economic doctrine of salvation is changing education (tags)
Economy always takes place in social contexts - even more: It is itself a result of social contexts. In this respect, a discussion in the context of sociology, culture or politics is essential. However, this insight is already missing in academic economics.
Corona and psychology: Fear works against democratic coexistence (tags)
The current "simultaneous consolidation and weakening of the state" (Nicos Poulantzas) are two sides of the same coin: the rise of the punitive state goes hand in hand with growing social insecurity and disenfranchisement, rather than an increase in rule-breaking and crime. State authority & police strengthen
Struggles in the Shadow of the Pandemic (tags)
For Trump, wealth, privilege, and power was even license to invent reality as he saw fit. Thus any divergence from his worldview and interests were ‘fake news’. Trump ensured the plutocratic wealthy were no longer in the political shadows but now in the mainstream.
A better future after COVID-19 (tags)
People must decide how they want to live and what they want to produce in a fair ecological exchange that respects the interests of all people. This would also reverse the logic of competition between countries which is based on lowering labor costs, and promote ecological goals.
What could change with Biden and Harris? (tags)
The next few years will be all about democracy in the U.S., about the social cohesion of a diverse population, about stopping environmental destruction, and about a successful structural change of the economy that goes hand in hand with the creation of sufficient, well-paid jobs and humane working conditions.
The real plague is the pandemic spread of shareholder value to institutions of general interest such as hospitals, nursing homes, old-age care and education. The dogma of "private before state" has become deeply ingrained in official thinking.
We should not minimize the contrast between a right-wing extremist and a (neoliberal) democrat. It makes a great difference when a man is president who hates women, hates minorities, calls Mexicans animals, and promotes torture and sexual violence,
Why capitalism compels renunciation and we could work less (tags)
How much human and natural resources are squandered on taxation, trade and advertising, how much on labor administration, justice, police, prisons, armaments, military? How many people work overtime without end, suffer heart attacks and burnout, wear themselves out in the brutal competition?
8 points for a global agenda of structural change in the COVID-19 pandemic (tags)
"We can have democracy or concentration of wealth, not both," said Justice Louis Brandeis, the longest-serving Supreme Court justice."
For a borderless pragmatism. Outline of a Progressive Migration Policy (tags)
Immigration leads to stronger economic growth, which in turn creates jobs, Without migration, we would all be sitting in Olduvia in East Africa, as we were 100,000 years ago. About 3% of the world's population, about 215 million people, live in a state other than the one in which they were born. Migration has always existed.
Easing into a New Normality of the Crisis (tags)
With the intertwining of the Corona and economic crises, massive distribution struggles are already looming. Society, in a collective effort to prevent illness, has downsized its economic activity. This collective decision must not serve to enrich a few. The radical taxation of the great fortunes is indispensable.
The US election as a turning point (tags)
We seek emancipatory methods of decision-making that organize social life without leaders, command and obedience. We need enlightenment, a free press critical of domination, counter-publics, and social movements that fight for the dignity of all people. We will write history from below
Corona Measures: When children are the ones who suffer (I and II) (tags)
The government seems to be abdicating its responsibility by 1) not supplying the population with masks, 2) not compensating people so they can stay away from workplaces, 3) eliminating school meals for hundreds of millions of children and 5) not including children in decision-making.
Invitation to New Thinking (tags)
The pandemic has made the risk of our extensive lifestyle tangible. For this global crisis is not an exogenous shock. Rather, crass, profit-oriented globalization has fueled its spread.
Many Crises-One System: Counter Power in Catastrophe Capitalism (tags)
A revolution does not come out of nowhere, but emerges from the struggles in the here and now. The point is that we can only fight for social or ecological progress against capitalist principles.
Self-reference in capital and in ourselves (tags)
"Lateral thinkers" defend their freedom. Capital serves no other purpose than the irrational end in itself of the multiplication of itself.
Climate crisis and social transformation in times of corona (tags)
Companies go bankrupt, workers are laid off, and because the sources of income dry up, millions of people can no longer even buy the most basic necessities... What counts is whether the things produced can be sold on the market and make a profit.
The discussion about Corona (tags)
Corona can only become a kairos if we gain the theoretical capacity of recovery and create the conditions for a transformation. Taking the healthcare system away from the markets and obliging large companies to be oriented in the common good would be steps to infrastructure socialism.
From senseless working to senseless learning (tags)
Up to the threshold of modern times, work - as the traditional term for externally determined action(!) - had been perceived from the perspective of the biblically mediated, divine curse. It was regarded as a bitter necessity imposed on people.
The long struggle for a post-capitalist society (tags)
The (Corona) crisis has relentlessly exposed the inability of neoliberal capitalism and its political personnel to meet the elementary needs of the people. Even if it is not felt to the same extent in Germany due to the depressing political conditions: the neoliberal offensive is in a deep existential crisis.
The tale of the stolen winner (tags)
The man unable to speak for a minute without lying, who had neither values nor ideals, who never read a book and knew nothing about music tried in an incredible and ridiculous way to create the fairy tale of the cheated victor. Nevertheless, a majority of American voters rejected Trump's lies and demagogic failures.
US billionaires got $1 trillion richer during Corona (tags)
A recent study by the Institute for Policy Studies determined that the 647 billionaires in the USA have been able to increase their assets by $960 billion since the beginning of the corona crisis in mid-March by the cut-off date of November 17.
The New Deal and Self-destructive Donald Trump (tags)
From 1929 to 1932 industrial production halved and in a chain reaction over 5000 banks went bankrupt. Farmers' incomes shrank by 70 percent, unemployment rose to 25 percent, and there were no welfare state measures to cushion the misery.
Democracy beyond Corona (tags)
Whether the experiences of the lockdown will result in lasting damage in the sense of a democratically consumptive "new normality" depends not least on whether it is possible to take up and strengthen the very existing democracy-building impulses and initiatives - from "Black Lives Matter" to "Fridays for Future".
The new normality is characterized by fear, social distancing and increasing state control. Many fear that the current situation could become permanent and that our liberal democratic legal system could be transformed into a dictatorial system of injustice.
The Political System in Historical Crisis (tags)
In his inaugural speech in 2017, Donald Trump emphasized that his presidency would return political power to the people. He sees himself as the only legitimate representative of the interests of the supposedly true people.
The complementary reality (tags)
Where we cannot completely displace the mainstream, we should first try to supplement it with our own more humane concepts.
Avoiding the Trump Trap (tags)
As US President Donald Trump's popularity continues to drop ahead of November's election, he has sought new ways to stoke the public fear and panic that led him to victory in 2016. The best strategy may be to make Trump's demagoguery a theme of his campaign.
Treading in Deep Waters (tags)
As one good reason for voting for Biden: should he win, Democrats will not be able to continually blame all of our sorry politics and capitalism’s contradictions on Trump. And the experience of a Biden government might well hasten the defection from a moribund Democratic Party.
The future of humanity and the earth require a break from the rule of capital and the security state.... The political public is now at least beginning to discuss again how to deal with the constitution and fundamental rights. It remains to be seen what will become of them.
Against the neoliberal denunciation of the welfare state (tags)
No economist is so misunderstood and misinterpreted as Adam Smith. Many consider him to be an advocate of the "free market" and narrow-minded egoism. What a mistake! Smith saw an important and strong role for the state.
Europe needs an effective guarantee of youth solidarity (tags)
The Youth Guarantee could create an entry-level job market in the public or non-profit sector - in other words, jobs that serve the common good. It is the austerity policy in the wake of the financial and economic crisis that has delayed the socio- and ecological transformation.
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.
Advice on Corona and Budget 2020 (tags)
Emancipatory politics is characterized by the fact that interests are negotiated. The post-Corona phase will show what can be learned about the relation between politics and capital. Civil society should be engaged and resistant to ruling politics
The economy for faith healers (tags)
Due to the sharpening contradictions of late capitalist socialization, barbarism, not reason, is increasing. Reason is not advancing in the overall historical movement, as once postulated by Hegel. Only the overcoming of this false whole, would offer humankind a chance of survival.
The Job Guarantee in the Corona Pandemic (tags)
If the tax system is not reformed in an equitable manner, this will probably mean 10 to 20 years of cutbacks, starving basic services such as education, health, and care, as was the case in many European countries after the 2008 financial crisis.
The chances of the Corona crisis (tags)
Public debt only became a problem after the bank bailouts...Crises cause fear and reinforce deep-seated anxieties.. The market under capitalism is not an efficient distribution mechanism, but a means to enrich private corporations at the expense of society and its environment.
End of a Career. Obituary The "Swabian housewife" (tags)
The "Swabian housewife" dominated politics. Now she was buried by her inventor. The state is not a business or a housewife but can borrow and become indebted to help present and future generations. System change, not climate change! Fight ignorance, not immigrants!
Disease, Power and Capitalism (tags)
Have you tried DeepL.com, academia.edu, grin.com or grammarly.com? Send me your comments and/or discoveries - as we await the reopening of the libraries and the Biden landslide! Will the great comedian Stephan Colbert be the dark horse candidate?
Climate crisis and social transformation in the age of Corona (tags)
Material wealth in the form of useful things and utilities is only a means subordinated to the objective of capital accumulation and is sacrificed when that objective can no longer be achieved… Without the state, capitalist society would fly apart immediately.
From the irrationalism of the market to the irrationalism of life in neoliberalism (tags)
Reason is not allowed to question the market but accepts it as a neutral and objective authority. The market takes the place of reason on a collective, social level. By definition, compulsion does not come from the market.
To the anarchist movement and everybody in the USA that participates in the struggle (tags)
Announcement of the Anarchist Federation (Greece) on the uprising in US
Corona and the collapse of modernization (tags)
Corona is the trigger but not the cause of the worsening crisis situation. It will accelerate the disintegration of capitalism. Pragmatism and cooperation on an international scale are called for. Infrastructure socialism takes health care from the market and insists on the common good
The war metaphor in the Corona crisis (tags)
Instead of a positive elimination of conditions, a social regression could also occur: intensified competition in the fight for market share, "exclusive solidarity" (Klaus Dörre) in the fight for jobs and welfare benefits. Will governments master the crisis?
The welfare state - anchor of stability in the crisis (tags)
Work, income and wealth must be distributed more fairly, and a number of "rules of the game" in our society must be changed. The upheaval forced by the crisis will hopefully force even hard-boiled defenders of the existing to rethink.
Thoughts and Theses on the Corona Exceptional State (tags)
The state of emergency threatens to become the normal state - Maximum vigilance is now required to ensure that the new state of emergency does not gradually normalize and that the authoritarian turnaround does not become entrenched.
The car industry and the climate crisis (tags)
The car companies should now be converted into providers of mobility needs based on socio-ecological sustainability. Reduction of working hours-short full time of an average of 30 hours/4 days per week for all-part of the radical change for human survival amid plutocratic economics.
against the pandemic of capital, social revolution! (tags)
The state measures justified by the coronavirus are a qualitative leap, decisive and homogeneous, in the global counter–insurrection and in the bourgeois intentions to attempt to initiate a new cycle of the accumulation of capital. And in the face of this war the proletariat only has two paths: to sacrifice their lives in it or to oppose themselves to it in order to defend their human needs.
"It's the economy stupid!" (tags)
US unemployment at the start of April 2020 is higher than at the peak of the 1929 Great Depression. Trump is to blame for the botched response to the Coronavirus that he initially called a hoax. The real hoax is Trump's commitment to America!
"We do not live in capitalism" (tags)
After the transition to Atlantic turbo-capitgalism, little can be recognized from the earlier times of the initiatives of the social market economy. In this situation, the counter-factual and fact-immune creed of all conservatives is enmeshed in a deep unconsciousness about the world.
On the Power of Money: Three by Eugen Drewermann (tags)
Only faith (as in a religion), the "invisible hand," the "law" of the "free" market can judge everything. State interventions can only be annoying. The market itself is allegedly "social". Everyone acts according to his advantage. The system is not social but criminal and unjust.
Hayek and the Social Question (tags)
Hayek, author of Road to Serfdom, said the market was self-healing and market outcomes were just outcomes. In his book "Submission is Freedom," Schreiner explains how public investments and market corrections are vital.
Social Inequality and Universal Basic Income (tags)
The welfare state in Germany is not as efficient as in the Nordic countries. In Germany, more than twice as many persons are at risk of income poverty - particularly children and single parents. We have to make a decision: entrepreneurial paradise or a little less faith in the market.
Less is more and Tightening the rules for the unemployed (tags)
Gainful employment is just one form of work alongside others such as care work or voluntary work. Here I would like to endorse the model of the 30-hour week... There is a need to expand investment-based active labor market policy.
Housing as a human right is subverted by the right of speculation. The Vienna Housing Fund buys up potential property and prevents speculation. Rents in Vienna are much lower than in Munich. The state must intervene since private developers cannot build affordable units
Capitalist conditions are characterized by the fact that there is no rationality in society as a whole that coordinates the interests of the many and the overall direction of social development.
Sowing Egoism and Harvesting Trump (tags)
Thomas Straubhaar urges rethinking globalization and inequality. "We have believed too long in the theory that free trade, free entrepreneurship and little state automatically lead to balance and that everyone would be rewarded in the end...We need a new reconciliation of social values."
(A-Radio) Chile - 13.-19.1.2020: Semana de Solidaridad con lxs Presxs Políticxs (tags)
Como Radio Anarquista de Berlín aquí les tenemos un llamado para una Semana de Solidaridad con lxs Presxs Políticxs de la revuelta social en Chile.
Finnish Prime Minister Marin Calls for a 4-Day-Week and 6-Hour-Day for Her Country (tags)
“A four-day work week, a six-hour workday. Why couldn’t it be the next step? Is eight hours really the ultimate truth? I believe people deserve to spend more time with their families, loved ones, hobbies and other aspects of life, such as culture. This could be the next step for us in working life.”
Solidarity is not a Business (tags)
Private charity is the result of neoliberalism. Real services of general interest need global solutions... Ensuring that school buildings and education are intact is not a private responsibility, but a public one. It would be a mistake not to always insist on this public responsibility.
11-point Plan for a New Socialism (tags)
The break with the old neoliberal and new authoritarian policies becomes a necessity in the face of the multiple crisis. An impending economic slump would exacerbate this situation.
Boris Johnson and the Long Shadow of Stalinism (tags)
The capitalist bourgeoisie needs and defends democracy as a form of social freedom only as long as it is useful to its own class rule. Their understanding of democracy & freedom is structurally limited. The 26 community centers in Vancouver could revive freedom and democracy.
Vancouver B.C. has 26 community centers that give an identity to working and nonworking persons. Three hours of free computer use, libraries, gyms, theaters, game rooms and $4 casserole dinners are among the many amenities.
Make Social Democracy Great Again (tags)
Erik Olin Wright spoke of smashing, taming, escaping and eroding capitalism as alternatives of the transformational left. We must resist the "selective perception" of the elite that ignores market distortions, market failures, state failures, and the attack on the poor, seniors and students
The opposition senator Jeanine Anez appointed herself the new "president." The trigger for the coup was the election on October 20. President Evo Morales was declared the winner with 47% of the vote and a difference of 10 points from the conservative candidate.
The Exodus from the Mega-Machine (tags)
His book "The End of the Mega-Machine. History of a Failed Civilization" explores the origins of economic power. For 40 years, the global economy has headed into a structural crisis. This crisis is hidden by growing indebtedness.
Good Housing for All and Rent Madness (tags)
Apartment rents have increased faster thant he incomes of wage earners. Real estate decays to an object of speculation. Capital seeks lucrative investments. Hectic activity and bustle replaces inactivity and idleness since the protests of renters cannot be ignored any more.
A Social Change is Overdue (tags)
Social rental housing construction which has been increasingly restricted since the 1980s must be resumed on a grand scale and rapidly promoted to offer low-income earners, single parents and large families a place to stay.
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
The Social State in the Age of Global Capitalism (tags)
Welcome to techno-corporate feudalism-where the richest three Americans have more wealth than 160 million, where the wealthiest 86 have more wealth than 3.6 billion, where the foul-mouthed cancelled free school lunches for 1 million and where market distortions rule.
Totalitaianism of Self-Optimization (tags)
"Feel-don't think" is the mantra of the illuminated who accept the social dislocations. This is a withdrawal to private solutions in view of the mounting collective problems. Mindfulness therapy fits perfectly into the contemporary I-fixation that rules many lives.
The Political Theology of the New Right (tags)
The new right-wing movements try to create a state of emergency with the help of apocalyptic rhetoric. Apocalypticists long for the final struggle between good and evil. Eschatologists are driven by a theology of hope.
Gert Postel and his questionable behavior (tags)
Stopp and fight sexism
Mutu: rethinking our radical media (tags)
Link out to a story about radical media
The Gigantic Chasm Between Democratic Rhetoric and Capitalist Reality (tags)
When we lose the idea of community and solidarity, we lose our capacity for collective action.
From Ayn Rand to Paul Ryan: Capitalism as Morality (tags)
Society doesn't play any role in Ayn Rand's perspective. Rand reduced persons to the bourgeois who only thinks in economic categories and only needs to respect himself and no one else - unlike the citizen engaged in society and actively championing enlightenment.
Karl Polanyi on Unfettered Capitalism (tags)
Karl Polanyi condemned profit greed and deregulated markets. Today's capitalism critics are his heirs and don't know it. An unfettered capitalism is responsible for the world coming out of joint. "Finance capital was put in the driver's seat."
Herbert Marcuse: The One-Dimensional Man (tags)
"Manipulation of needs" is one of the control instruments. Rulers change needs through manipulation. False needs are needs imposed from above like production and consumption of useless things. The need for freedom no longer exists in developed capitalist countries.
Utopia, Technology and Struggle. Ways out of the Crisis of Social Democracy (tags)
The big question is still open. Must an emancipatory project aim at a changed distribution of incomes or is hedging capitalism through regulation and redistribution enough? In other words, is shifting to an eco-Keynesian path sufficient to create equal life chances?
From Enlightenment to Counter-Enlightenment (tags)
Brilliant minds elevated "the market" into a "higher being" of the post-modern age to which we must submit. The primacy of the market replaced the primacy of politics. Dr. Schulmeister is an economic researcher in Vienna whose latest book is "The Road to Prosperity" (2019).
We the Scattered in the Insult Society (tags)
Hans-Peter Martin is the author of "Game Over. Prosperity for a Few, Democracy for No One and Nationalism for Everyone" (2018). Now it is Game Over for the West, for our civilization model. Capitalism functions without democracy, without observing liberal human rights.
Please Disrupt Capitalism! and The Return of Hope (tags)
The old quotation from Gramsci describes our plight: "The old dies and the new cannot come into the world. It is the time of the monster." The Good News is that the time of no alternatives is over. The Bad News is that the wrong alternatives and discussed.
Please Disrupt Capitalism! and The Return of Hope (tags)
The old quotation from Gramsci describes our plight: "The old dies and the new cannot come into the world. It is the time of the monster." The Good News is that the time of no alternatives is over. The Bad News is that the wrong alternatives are discussed.
Vienna: Housing is a Human Right (tags)
Housing as a human right is subverted by the right of speculation. The Vienna Housing Fund buys up potential development land and prevents speculation. Rents in Vienna are half the rents in Munich.
The Crisis of Democracy (tags)
Decisions affecting social development are in the hands of private investors and state policy depends on their actions. The increasingly unequal income and wealth distribution was the result of a strategic government policy that reacted to a capitalist crisis.
Capitalism and democracy: what if we have it backwards? (tags)
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.
It is time to champion a basic right to housing and ensure its reality. "An authentic faith that is never comfortable and individualistic always includes the deep desire to change the world," wrote Pope Francis.
What are the Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalization? (tags)
Capitalism seemed to have a more social or civilized face for a time. After Roosevelt's New Deal and the defeat of fascism, gradual development of the social state occurred in Europe. Unions were accepted. The rulers were forced to political and social concessions.
Markets as a Fetish, Globalization, and Dissent Management (tags)
Economic inequality must be reduced and democratic participation regained. Resisting tax avoidance, financial market regulations, climate policy, and globally combating poverty should be priorities.
State Debts - The Primal German Fear (tags)
Unlike a private homebuilder, the state can be indebted and never expect the entire debt to be repaid. For most, taxes are a book with seven seals. A tax-cutting lobby exploits our unease over taxes for their purposes. Social cohesion declines and milieu egoism increases.
"We live in a time of radical counter-enlightenment" (tags)
Political struggle always means the struggle over the definitional power and appropriation of the world. For decades, neoliberalism has carried out a redistribution project against the majority of the population. This neoliberal project is only possible when
Independent Media Crackdown and Global Social Movements (tags)
Current efforts by social media companies and Atlanticist think tanks to remove various alternative media pages are part of a coordinated corporate attempt to disrupt and destroy a "global intifada" of social movements, according to documents and data examined by this writer
Socialism in American English (tags)
The attacks of Republicans on the welfare system are driving the US population to the left. Proposals for a universal health care enjoy the support of around 70% of US citizens. Teacher strikes in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Colorado demand a political change.
Video: Beautiful Country Burn Again, 39 min (tags)
October 13, 2018 Beautiful Country Burn Again Ben Fountain recounts the 2016 election and explores where he thinks the country is headed today.
Trumponomics and Wall Street Rejoices (tags)
Economics should be a part of life, not a steamroller crushing creativity and self-determination. The state should serve the public interest and reduce poverty. Trumponomics is a disaster. The poor, seniors, children and students are under a vicious attack.
Right-wing Populism: A Wave of Nostalgia (tags)
For decades, western societies were marked by pluralization, individualization, and liberalization. Why are attitudes and pressures of society against these trends becoming dominant? Right-wing populism is anti-liberal.
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.
Affordable Rents? A State of Emergency Intensifies (tags)
Rents explode in cities after massive sales of public housing to brutal investors. In 1987, there were 5.5 million social apartments in Germany. Today, there are 1.5 million. Land speculation was prevented in Vienna. The Vienna Housing Fund buys up possible development land.
Against the Rent Madness and For a Nonprofit Orientation! (tags)
The Alternative Housing Summit on Sept 21 in Berlin discussed alternatives to the market-based housing policy. Exploding rents and lack of affordable housing are the most burning social questions. More market is not the solution! Housing for People, not for Profits!
Steer clear of work morality! (tags)
The change must begin with a fundamental collective questioning of our world of work and work morality. Everyone should have the chance to find meaning and identity outside the world of work and develop more freely.
Crisis Regulation in Global Capitalism (tags)
The globalization euphoria waned with the 1997 Asian crisis. Hundreds of billions were needed to bailout bankrupt banks. The US with its high solvent demand stabilized the world economy for a long time. The US could become indebted in its own currency.
Promote Public Housing! (tags)
A basic principle of the market economy is that the market only reacts to solvent demand, not to needs. If a need is not reflected in a solvent demand, the market simply does not react. The supply side expansion of affordable housing is key, not subject promotion.
Post-capitalist Perspectives (tags)
Capitalism is winning to death. The exit from the overheated machine of capitalism represents an enormous challenge. We cannot avoid the question about common property in the search for alternatives.Can greater social equality be achieved without changing property relations?
Video: Thomas Frank: Rendezvous with Oblivion, 58 min (tags)
Grin.com offers us reading samples for 202K eBooks and dissertations. Happy reading and happy research!
Against Market Radicalism (tags)
Capitalism is not "the end of history" as the American Francis Fukuyama postulated in 1992. The system question is open! The economy should be re-embedded in society. What seems rational in microeconomics collides with the irrationality of maximum profits as en end-in-itself
Capitalism and Worldwide Inequality (tags)
Thomas Piketty's motto "Inequality is always a problem when it is excessive" introduces the new World Inequality Report. Inequalities of income and wealth swell globally and in individual regions and nations.
The System Question as a Survival Question (tags)
A fundamental social alternative to the permanent capitalist chaos is sought. A rational social discourse on system alternatives would be an antidote to populism and to the irrational identity-mania that spreads. The public discusses headscarves while late capitalism sinks in crisis
Social Policy as Social Infrastructure (tags)
Work and income must be uncoupled. In Germany, thanks to higher productivity and information technology, 30% more was produced from 1970-2010 with 30% fewer workers. Demonizing China will not resuscitate the Rust Belt. Social policy is crucial.
Interview with Social Philosopher Friedhelm Hengsbach (tags)
The financial markets have uncoupled from the real economy since the middle of the 1970s. Politicians listen and react to every sound from the financial sector. Who paid for the bank bailout? The general public or the state made itself poor and guaranteed capital.
Housing as Infrastructure (tags)
Housing as a human right is sometimes superseded by the right of speculation. Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (a Federal program), non-profit or cooperative housing and SROs (single room occupancy) are solutions to the housing crisis.
The Beam in the White House (tags)
Iran is the "greatest supporter of terror," declared president Donald Trump. With that, he justified his peace-endangering cancellation of the nuclear agreement with Iran. Reducing foreign policy to scapegoating is Hitlerian.
Authoritarian Capitalism and Digital Demagogue (tags)
Trump is not an individual phenomenon but one of many structural manifestations of the sudden change of neoliberalism into authoritarian capitalism.
Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism - A Symbiotic Pair (tags)
Rightwing populist parties mix the conventional rightwing authoritarian political style with neoliberal economic ideas emphasizing the free unregulated market and the sleek but strong state. For Hayek, unions allegedly threaten democracy and force a just redistribution policy.
Neoliberalism or New Freedom for Corporations (tags)
"The interests of merchants always differ from public interests. As a rule, they are interested in deceiving and misusing the general public" (Adam Smith). Keynes established that the market alone cannot ensure the prosperity of everyone.
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.
Milwaukee Police Violently Confront NBA Player Over Parking Ticket (tags)
police officers intentionally inflict harassment on people in society
Work and Digitalization and A Corpse Governs Society (tags)
On the 2018 Day of Labor, many were worried. No one can deny digitalization affects work. Artificial intelligence greatly changes professions and whole branches. Well-paid jobs become scarcer. Rebuilding the social state seems necessary. Capitalism's blind flight through history is ending.
Against The Capitalist Catastrophe (tags)
Leaflet to copy spread for the 1st of may
The Market is a Universal Totalitarian Religion (tags)
The market accepts and rejects like a Calvinist God. The market only promises itself. Its highest good is the economic boom. The market theocracy makes this side into something otherworldly. The cult of money and the commodity eclipses all its predecessors.
Book Review: "The New Bonapartists" (tags)
In the figure of Bonaparte, the state made itself independent over society at a time when the bourgeoisie lost the capacity to rule the nation and the working class had not yet gained that ability.
5 Reasohns for UN Agreements Regulating Corporations (tags)
Countless cases of human rights violations by corporations show voluntary self-commitments of businesses cannot ensure social and ecological standards. UN agreements create rights for persons instead of companies.
Unemployment and New Ways (tags)
The rise of unemployment worldwide has reached unparalleled dimensions. In 1999, 700 million were affected. The neoliberal economic theory promotes the prosperity of the rich, not society as a whole. Profit maximization is often the only goal. Reducing working hours is vital.
The systemic reasons for the crisis are more important than a sudden fall in prices. Stocks are held on average 22 seconds, not 6 months or ten years. Real-capitalism is a plus-sum game. Financial capitalism is a zero-sum game.
Crisis 2.0: A Policy for the 99% (tags)
The capital surpluses are a constant source of new speculative waves and maneuvers. The crisis of state finances is mainly a crisis of tax refusal. The elites shifted the tax burden from businesses and high incomes to consumer taxes and fees.
Authoritarian Capitalism (tags)
Phenomena like Trump and the new nationalisms confirm the actuality of the theory of the authoritarian personality articulated by Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm, and Theodor Adorno. By their structure, capitalist social media encourage narcissism and are not social media
Housing is not just another commodity (tags)
Like food, clothing, health, and education, housing is an elementary need. On'e apartment is a place of retreat of the private person, a protective- and creative space of inviolable identity, Long-term low-interest housing tax credits & SROs, are alternatives to indifference.
Folie à deux: A Madness Shared by Two; Shared Psychosis (tags)
"Whiteness" is driving everyone mad.
Living Together Differently! (tags)
Modern politics must fight against excessiveness and inequality. All progress narratives have worn out. The cake will not become larger. The perspective of conviviality aims at abundance, not at tightening belts..
Working Digitally in Just Economies (tags)
Reducing working hours is an attractive scenario, an optimistic picture of a possible future of society. Less than 2% of German workers labor in agriculture, down from 40% in the 19th century. The future of work is person-related work. The state must intervene with subsidies.
Adam Smith as Philanthropist (tags)
The market can only fulfill its technical function when its rules and mechanisms are politically fixed and governmentally monitored...Adam Smith's theory has nothing to do with neoliberals and market radicals who preach the sleek state, low taxes for businesses and low wages.
The Future as Transformation (tags)
There is no future with present-day capitalism. Capitalism stands for a movement of endless profit-making. Only a radical breach with the capitalist accumulation dynamic can nurture the hope of a reasonably tolerable future for human civilization on this planet.
Liberalization of Public Service: A Democratic Achievement is Subjected to Competition (tags)
Public service guarantees and influences the living conditions of our society and has a proven tradition in Germany for over 100 years. Privatizations have mainly led to private oligopolies. Corporations evade their responsibilities and expect intact infrastructure.
Social media giants feel the heat at Palestinian digital conference (tags)
At the Palestine Digital Activism Forum, representatives from both Google and Facebook faced a crowd that demanded to know why the two companies cooperate with Israel’s attempts at silencing Palestinians.
Progressive Reforms Were the Reaction to the Recessions and Social Turmoil in the 1880s (tags)
Progressive Reforms Were the Reaction to the Recessions and Social Turmoil in the 1880s
Get The Internationalist No. 50! (tags)
Special expanded Winter 2017 edition: 80 pages of revolutionary Marxist propaganda. Send US$2 to Mundial Publications, Box 3321 Church Street Station, New York, NY 10008 USA. Subscriptions $10.
Refused sharing and rediscovery of sharing are signs of this time. "This economy kills." So Pope Francis judges socio-economic conditions. Taxing the rich is vital. With additional revenue, workers would not feel threatened by immigrants
Philippines: We condemn extension of Martial Law in Mindanao (tags)
The extension of martial law in Mindanao to the end of 2018 by Congress comes as no surprise to Laban ng Masa (Fight of the Masses). Over the last year and a half, the Senate and the House of Representatives have been completely transformed into pliant tools of President Rodrigo Duterte, with the vast majority of the members of these two chambers surrendering their remaining shred of self-respect to become accomplices to Malacanang’s authoritarian agenda.
The Right to the City and the Greed of the Rich (tags)
Thanks to everyone who resisted the GOP tax giveaway! Unlike the security state, the constitutional state should mean compromises, negotiations, concessions, and countermeasures to reverse exploding inequality and precarious work.
The October 1917 Revolution and Lenin (tags)
Contribution to the Discussion on the Centinnial of the October 1917 BolsheviK Revolution
Republicans against the Poor and the Sick (tags)
The US is experiencing a dramatic deterioration of its public health. President Trump is now trying to make the ACA "implode" through decrees. The insured are reacting to their higher premiums. A series of states have filed actions against the decrees.
Slavery as a Human Right (tags)
Slavery lives in modern forms like debt slavery. Capitalist society stands in opposition to human rights and does not only realize human rights. Capitalism cannot realize essential demands from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Survival instead of Profit (tags)
Capital is a powerful machine of commodification. Since the capitalist market economy became autonomous and "separated" from society, capital has only functioned according to its own laws, the impersonal laws of profit and accumulation.
The Welfare State in Crisis (tags)
Since 2008, crisis was the defining political theme. "No one should be fooled about the majority will of the population regarding taming wiled finance capitalism. The system could only be bailed out from collapse with taxpayer guarantees." (Habermas 2010).
In Praise of Taxes by Nicola Liebert (tags)
Our tax system p[romotes private wealth and impoverishes the community. Even if no one pays them gladly, most are aware taxes int he interest of the community are sensible. "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society" (Oliver Wendell Holmes, former Supreme Court justice).
Shon Meckfessel on Unarmed Insurrection (tags)
Shon Meckfessel on Unarmed Insurrection Author presentation with Q&A Date and Time: Friday, October 27, 2017, 5:30-7:30PM Place: UCLA, Ackerman, Viewpoint Conference Rooms, A201A/B
State Indebtedness as a Power Strategy (tags)
Contracting debts exploded under neoliberalism since the 1980s - unlike the state debts in the Keynesian era from the 1950s to the 1970s - and produced s structural debt bondage for the overwhelming majority.
PHILIPPINES: 8,000 killings proof of policy to kill (tags)
Akbayan Partylist condemns President Rodrigo Duterte’s denial of his policy to kill under the War on Drugs.
California terrorism suspect arrested (tags)
“He wanted to plan to start a huge fire in an area near where he lived and he specifically mentioned the Berkeley Hills as a potential target,” Hasib told the court in December. “That was our first indication that we were dealing with someone in the Bay Area.”
Our highest officials are criminals (tags)
The USA is governed by highly paid thugs and criminals.
Narcissism as a Subject Form of Capitalism (tags)
The narcissist knows only two states: the absolute sense of powerlessness and omnipotence fantasies. Socialization cannot be left to an unconscious process since society's values are increasingly dysfunctional.
Economic Stagnation and its Mastery (tags)
Corporate profits explode while investments stagnate.Social housing declines with privatization. According to neoliberal theory, higher profits lead to grater investments and more jobs. In truth, higher profits lead to more use of tax havens and companies buying back their stock.
The President as Businessman (tags)
Trump's gigantic tax cuts will only benefit the rich. Revenue losses of six trillion dollars are expected for the first decade after the Trumpian tax cuts start. Trump sells the illusion that the old order can be restored.
Video: Science in the New Dark Age, 28 min (tags)
Our guest is Dr. Martin Donohoe, adviser to Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and author of "Public Health and Social Justice". The topic is "Science in the New Dark Age". What is the New Dark Age? What is science? How has science been attacked in the past?
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."
Capitalism as Regressive Descent Society (tags)
The escalator is going down and no longer up as in the "social modern age." The social trend drives toward precariousness and the accompanying social descent. Social institutions and securities are being cleared away.
Punishing the Poor. The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity (tags)
Inequality hurts. Poverty returns with misguided policy
“Hegemony How-To”: Rethinking Activism and Embracing Power (tags)
knowledge of what is wrong with a social system and knowledge of how to change the system are two completely different categories of knowledge.
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
Become a Solidarity Person (tags)
The majority of the world's population doesn't want to know anything about globalized neoliberal capitalism anymore. Many millions are dying in the consequences. The political institutions are extorted by financial elites and their media aids. The interests of big owners of capital dominate.
Capitalism in the Faith Crisis (tags)
Trust in the "invisible hand" is a religious exercise ensuring a rule over people that is destructive and fatal. Christians and Marxists wage a common struggle against the spirit, logic, and praxis of the false money-god and its servants.
Competition Ideology and Power Reality (tags)
Competition cannot be an end-in-itself. Uncontrolled private power leads to misuse. Uncontrolled competition increasingly destroys itself through concentration and centralization processes. Bastard Keynesianism helps the banks. People diverted from real cause of crises
Social Security works. Don't let Trump destroy it (tags)
Millions of people count on Social Security for their survival. Over 60 percent of seniors rely on Social Security payments for at least half their income. Approximately one-third of seniors rely on Social Security payments for at least 90 percent of their income.
Trumponomics: Failure Pre-Programmed (tags)
Macro-economic and ecological connections are simply ignored with the concentration on short-term profit. The planned reduction of corporate taxes from the current 35% to 15 or 20% recalls the Laffer-curve as the basis of Reagan's fiscal policy error.
Poverty Returns with Misguided Policy (tags)
The state should represent the public interest and yet private or special interests are in the driver's seat. Trump's proposed 2018 budget is a sledgehammer with cuts to Meals-on-Wheels, school lunches, WIC food assistance, National Institute for Health, EPA, PBS and Legal Services
Gramsci on US President Trump: "Delicate and Dangerous" (tags)
The rulers integrate the ruled in their "hegemony." Our essential task is conquering power for the working class. I believe life means taking sides. Indifference is apathy, parasitism, cowardice and iws the opposite of life.
March 2017 Honduras Coup Update (tags)
This March 2017 in Honduras, its now come up to one year since indigenous activist Berta Caceres was murdered. There's a summary on the info out there who's arrested, who's not, and the links to US school of the americas of two involved in this crime. On roles of local corruption and international finance and the news on these. On dangerous smear campaigns and who they are targetting now. Also in March, community radio journalist received death threat. Another radio correspondent received death threat too, of Radio Progreso. A copinh community radio got attacked. A human rights defendered arrested 'by mistake'. Political cleaning contracts. And more unionised melon workers fired.
Private Enterprise Committed to Social Interests (tags)
Social needs like energy- and water-supply, the waste industry, education, senior pensions and health care can be solved better publically than privately.
For an Unconditional Basic Income (tags)
The basic income corrects the distribution effects of the labor market. It takes something from the higher paid to give to those who earn little or nothing. A leftist fights for a just social system. Robots and artificial intelligence replace human labor.
Without Social Democracy, Capitalism Will Eat Itself (tags)
Only the left can save capitalism now. The exploding inequality undermines growth, democracy and the social contract.
I continue to share lessons that I have learned from often painful experience.
Our Beautiful New Clothes (tags)
Neoliberalism seems to create "clothes no one can see" when it mystifies the market and competition and uses the austerity-model, the location-model and the adjustment-imperative or extortion to turn economics into nature.
The Long History of Human Incapacitation by Politics and the Press (tags)
With the term "no alternatives," come-of-age citizens who don't join the mainstream press are incapacitated, stamped as troublemakers and not taken seriously. Democracy is not sought any more in a divided country, divided between those above and those below.
Attempt the Impossible! Theses for a New Left Majority (tags)
The Brexit vote and the American presidential election have dramatically accelerated the crises of classical neoliberal policy. The exit from neoliberalism can only succeed in a social movement and cannot only be a matter of a government or of the parties.
Trumpism and the Working Class (tags)
Trumpism understood via Dimitrof
Rethinking Economic Policy! (tags)
The economic crisis calls for social-democratic answers. The fading mass purchasing power (in Germany) is due to the increasing inequality of income and wealth. Deregulation promotes social problems like precariousness and greater income inequality.
A society of social descent, precariouisness and polarization has emerged out of the society of ascent and social integration. The modern age continues developing but backward. The social state, is a de-commodifying institution since it socializes risks.
Trump and the Consequences: Democracy at a Crossroads (tags)
What appears here is another form of democracy, without the constitutional state and without opposition. Trump could operate with enemy declarations. Today Donald Trump is a radicalized Nixon. Democracy is always endangered and never given as a present.
The Civilization Crisis: Post-Factual Criticism of Politics (tags)
In Trumponomics, falling tax rates for businesses should increase tax revenues. When businesses do not invest in an under-financed infrastructure, the tax gifts lead to lower stater spending and higher stater debts at the end.
What is Living and What is Dead in Social Democracy? (tags)
Tony Judt and William Beveridge were great progressives and crusaders for the social state. In the US, the middle class benefited enormously in the postwar years from subsidized housing and subsidized education. We appear to have lost the capacity to question the present.
Philippine President Duterte: A fascist original (tags)
'Like the anti-Marcos resistance 4 decades back, the only certainty members of the anti-fascist front can count on is that they’re doing the right thing. And that, for some, is a certainty worth dying for'
The Generations Manifesto (tags)
Neoliberalism turns the world upside down so egoism, avarice, enrichment and ruthlessness become virtues and solidarity, sharing, and the social state become pre-modern threats to the right to absolute free property.
Geofeedia Exposed for Police Monitoring of Social Media (tags)
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Provided Data Access for a Surveillance Product Marketed to Target Activists of Color
The ABCs of Meaningless Economic Phrases (tags)
The most common myths start from the tax state that burdens the economy, the housework ordered by the state (save,save,save) to the Schwabian housewife prescribing the austerity creed. Politics must tend to every need of capital as a scared doe and therefore lower taxes.
Manipulation of Public Opinion (tags)
Timocracy-rule of the propertied-threatens to replace democracy. The large majority is blocked from political participation and from forming their social future-unlike what was intended in the model of the majority principle in democracy.
Ethics and the Profit System: Global Change of Values Necessary (tags)
Profit-making is not profit-maximizing. From the magic word profit-mongering is derived the absurd unequal distribution of wealth, cheating of consumers, the exploitation of workers and ultimately the abolition of democracy. An invisible hand makes business profit into common good
Poisoning the Well, or How Economic Theory Damages Moral Imagination (tags)
Markets are human inventions. Today's neoliberal economic dogma creates myths that strengthen the most powerful, most greedy, and most short-term economic actors and undermines the normal longings of people.Structures must change
Democracy and the Social State (tags)
Finance capitalism and Citizens United turn life, language and democracy upside down as the $150 million given by Wall Street to Hillary Clinton fall under the rubric "social engagement." With these theses, Franz Segbers emphasizes the social state as the foundation of democracy.
Causes of Great Problems Faded Out in Elections (tags)
Elections today have one thing in common: they don't change anything. Pseudo-battles dominate in which the actors are intensely focused on evading the burning questions and diverting the electorate from the real causes of problems..
Power Elites: On the Great Illusion of Pluralist Liberalism (tags)
With his 1956 book "The Power Elite," C. Wright Mills put the democratic character of the US to the test. Despite formal democratic structures, a power elite formed that suspends democratic processes. Real power starts from a political directorate. In truth, only small circles have power
Growth Criticism and Reduced Working Hours (tags)
Today's growth critics speak of the necessity of a post-growth society, a "renunciation society" or at least of a "green" capitalist model... A political transformation process is necessary. The economist John Maynard Keynes dreamt of a time when his grandchildren would only have 15hr wk.
Vote Out NC Sen. Richard Burr Who Tried To Derail Critics Of CIA Torture (tags)
As head of the Senate intelligence committee, Burr has tried to hide the great amounts of evidence about CIA torture. He has tried to derail critics.
US Economy: False Diagnoses and False Solutions (tags)
Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's economic plans are too simplistic. Innovations and ideas are lacking. Many people despair. Washington did not always ignore the middle. FDR's New Deal built 165K public buildings.
We Must Choose: Capitalism or Democracy (tags)
Middle-class democracy only knows formal political equality. Rule over public opinion grows out of the dominance of capital. The alternative is authoritarian capitalism or solidarity democracy. Resistance is the command of the hour.
Sen. Rob Portman: Warmonger, Hunters' Tool, Deforester, Voted 5 Times No On Women's Pay (tags)
31 reasons to vote against former Bush operative Rob Portman on whom the Koch Brothers have spent 81 million on the first ad buy of many.
Ujnemployment is (not) a Full-time Job (tags)
There are many scandals and injustices, for example that wealth concentration in Austria and the EU is increasing. However, the debate is again about the "unemployed unwilling to work" instead of about the widening gap.
The Unending Story of the Achievers (tags)
All personal and corporate success depended on state investments in roads, schools, hospitals, community centers, airwaves, food safety and water quality. The achievers' myth ignores this, Austrian researcher Bruno Rossmann explains.
The Digitalization of Labor (tags)
Robots and algorithms are ready to automate many activities like the manufacturing robot Baxter... John Maynard Keynes dreamt of a future in which the work week of his grandchidren would by only 15 hours.
Basic Income: 80% of New Jobs are Low Wage (tags)
We must make crucial changes and need new approaches. Soon we willnot crate bad jobs but no jobs if the developments of 3D-printers, autonomous cars and further automation continue. Technical solutions will suddenly make countless people unemployed.
Growing Inequality Harms the Political Economy (tags)
Neoliberalism and finance market capitalism encourage creating money out of thin air, exploding inequality, precarious work and environmental destruction. Wages are not only a cost factor but an important demand factor leading to either investments or social blight.
It’s enough to read just a few lines of the bourgeois press to get an idea of what will happen after the failed coup of 15 July: “The iron fist of Erdogan after the failed coup in Turkey: I am ready to reinstate the death penalty. 8000 police officers were suspended, opponents were stripped naked and hog-tied. The European Union: If executions resume, Turkey will not enter Europe“(1).
The Social State Benefits All of Us (tags)
The social state can on ly fulfill expectations when financed on a broad and just basis. The social state must be adjusted to do justice to the pressing challenges.."The social state is the greatest cultural achievement in the 20th century"
The Totalitarianism of the Market (tags)
Neoliberalism demands reeducation for its implementation like command socialism. The neoliberal view of the person is exemplified by the figure of the Homo Oeconomicus and is the antipole of the socialist person. All persons are entrepreneurs of themseves.
Social Inequality in the Descent Society (tags)
The elevator effect is not true any more. This changed from the 1990s. People no longer move up together. A society of descent, precariousness and polarization has come ou9t of the society of social ascent. Ascents and descents have a collective and an individual dimension.
Sur negro / No Borders: new antiauthoritarian Web Series goes live (tags)
The Anarchist Radio Berlin presents the "No Borders" project of the video collective "Sur Negro"! 'No Borders, Social Struggles across the world' (Sin Fronteras, La lucha social a través del mundo) is the name of a web series presenting experiences of social organizations and anti-capitalist resistance in different regions of the world. Its special focus lies on anti-authoritarian practices within social movements.
Non-Profits versus Profit Maximization (tags)
Cooperation and competition strengthen each other. Creating a non-profit or cooperative housing sector is the only remedy to gentrification and commodification as rental prices go through the roof. Housing often mutates from a human and social necessity to a speculative asset.
Renters Pay the Bill for Market Failure and State Failure (tags)
The extensive privatizations of the last 15 years have contributed to a market radicalization. Privatization was the door opener for the growing influence of financial market logic in housing. Developing a cooperative or nonprofit sector is a necessary and feasible alternative.
The Works Progress Administration created 651K miles of highway, 124K bridges, 8K parks and 125K public buildings including 41K schools. In the US of Amnesia, corporate subsidies are called public necessities and public welfare unnecessary Orwell warned us of this inversion of language.
Who Owns the Sky? The Climate in the Globalization Trap (tags)
The bad news is that there are more inconvenient truths. Climate change is present, not future. Globalization and protection of the atmosphere do not go together. Climate policy has a past. Economic profit dominance always has a priority over climate protection.
The Language of Neoliberalism (tags)
Knowledge enables people to interpret reality. Metaphors and pictures give things a new meaning and can change reality. Capital isn't so frightened and isn't the same as a deer. The financial crisis is compared to a thunderstorm that is not man-made.
No To Ohio Senator Portman Who Wants Hunting In National Park (tags)
Republican Senator Portman of Ohio tried to privatize Social Security when a Bush operative.
The Financial Crisis in the Light of the Social Market Economy (tags)
In 2007 and 2008 the US housing market almost completely collapsed. The crisis was brought about by a combination of state- and market failures. Extensive deregulation and violation of the liability principle were jointly responsible.
Tax Havens: Threat for Public Budgets (tags)
The common good is abused. The struggle against tax havens is a struggle for the rule of law and democracy. Apple, Google, Amazon, Boeing and GE shift tens of billions to tax havens. According to a 2013 article, one building in Delaware has 285,000 mailbox firms.
How Much State Does the Social Market Economy Need? (tags)
The use of property is only legitimate within the limits of the public interest. Whoever takes a risk must bear it and be liable for the losses. The state has the political task of laying down effective rules for risk assessment, liability and providing transparency. Distributive battles intensify.
KPFK and Pacifica, more doings, reposted here (tags)
Vital and Need-to-Know information is being reposted from pacificainexile.org here to inform all KPFK donors, sponsors, stakeholders, listeners and those who care about this Pacifica Radio Station's doing.
Brave New Working World (tags)
Classical working conditions and social securities dissolve. Ulrich Beck speaks of this world as a world risk society that will be marked by risky freedoms. To counter this, he develops the vision of a citizen society. How can the state compensate for the loss of taxes through paid work?
Capitalism as a Religion (tags)
"Capital is the only god that the whole world knows, sees, touches, smells, tastes and excites all our senses. It is the only god that doesn't encounter any atheists" (Paul Lafargue's little known genial satire "Religion of Capital" from 1887.
In regard to the upcoming 2016 San Francisco Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair: (tags)
The San Francisco Bay Area's anarchist subculture critically examined, in the context of it's most significant public ritual...
Energy for tomorrow, 15 pp (tags)
“The time of cheap and abundant energy comes to the end. It is the beginning of the transition of the fossil era to a post-fossil age, a transition which will be in the same measure fundamental and decisive as it was the by fossils imprinted industrial revolution of about more than 200 years ago”.1
Neoliberal Indoctrination (tags)
Neoliberalism tells the poor and weak that they are responsible for their misery. The true extent of social poverty barely reaches the public. A re-feudalization bomb rages and investors seek privatizing the public education system. People are atomized. Fragmentation is intentional.
This crisis is only another warning shot of the current economic system and offers a window of opportunity to leave behind the neoliberal path of development taken since the end of the 1970s. The root of the problem is the economic model based on growth and exploitation of nature.
Farewell to Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
Capitalism is not running so well. Is this because people are judged wrongly with misguided models? Don't competition and cooperation strengthen each other? Why is the SF-condo model praised to the skies and the Vancouver BC- community center model scorned as unrealistic?
Who is the Radical? Bernie Sanders (tags)
Bernie Sanders is the candidate of young voters and sparks a movement in the social media. Sanders is the man of the people and Clinton is the woman of big money. Clinton compares Putin with Hitler. Sanders urges a diplomatic solution of problems. Who is the radical?
New Canadian government brings opportunity to address housing crisis (tags)
Two key ingredients have been essential for achieving positive results. Firstly, it is necessary to have a partner in government willing to listen and invest in housing. But equally important, activism at a local level is needed to mobilize knowledge and initiative to propose and develop projects...
Advancing BDS in the churches (tags)
A short primer on advancing Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions in the church
Economic Inequality Divides Economics and Society (tags)
An unequal distribution of income paralyzes the whole economy... Redistribution from top to bottom in a national economy ultimately depends on which social groups can enforce their interests more strongly.
Social Inequality Today (tags)
The neoliberal rollback has created growing instabilities. An advancing process of de-democratization and social re-feudalization is connected with the rise of the new "super-rich." Piketty warned of the growing inequality between rich and poor.
"Who is saving Whom?" shows what remains hidden. A tremendous redistribution from the bottom to the top.. Rescuing is taking place, for the 99% however there is no sign of a rescue.
Neoliberalism as a movement and ideology is a world of ideas where egoism and personal responsibiilty are celebrated, the social is faded out and no place exists for solidarity and social balance. Everyone is the creator of his own happiness here.
Criticism of Market Theory and Market Ideology (tags)
Market fundamentalists cling to the myths of the self-healing market and corporate beneficence..The real market economy functions very differently than the fantastic notions of the theoretical market economy. Maximum individual profit does not agree with social welfare.
Neoliberalism. Submission as Freedom (tags)
The society in which we live is increasingly unfree in all areas and yet successfully passes off this growing unfreedom as freedom.
The Rich are the True Social Parasites (tags)
In the past, social events and revolts shaped a generation. That changed in the 1990s. Identity is drawn from the consumption of brands. Therefore the public longing today is for better products and no longer for a better world.
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
Capitalism is the Problem (tags)
Prosperity in large part is based on the ecological and social exploitation of poor countries in Africa and Asia. Today 20% of humanity consume 80% of global resources. The poor are played off against each other while the richest hide billions in tax havens.
Reviews: Submission as Freedom. Life in Neoliberalism (tags)
The challenge of neoliberalism took an offensive form in the global North with the victories of Reagan and Thatcher. No coup and no dictatorship were needed to gain mass support for carrying out the political ideological hegemony Stagnation, unemployment and futurelessness
Canada had its best election ever! (tags)
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party with 184 seats became the Majority Party in O Canada two weeks ago. "When government trusts citizens, citizens trust the government," Trudeau said. With higher taxes on the wealthy and infrastructure investment, Canada will become more inclusive.
Time for a New Detente Policy (tags)
The past subordination under the US policy oriented to regime change and chaos in the Middle East must be ended. A diplomatic offensive to end the war in Syria on the path of negotiation with Russia is necessary. Since March 1999, NATO was expanded with a dozen countries.
Canadians Reject Harper: Hold the Cheers (tags)
Canada
Unconditional Basic Income Raises the Right Questions (tags)
In the basic income society, work is what one wants, not what one must. Work is the contribution I make, not the obligation I meet to survive..."Alone I can become free but I cannot become free alone. The drama of becoming free is a social drama" (Swiss philosopher Stefan Brotbeck)
“Every city in our country has some serious similarities to New Orleans. Every city has some abandoned neighborhoods. Every city in our country has abandoned some public education, public housing, public healthcare, and criminal justice." (Bill Quigley quoted by Naomi Klein)
Neglect of Public Housing (tags)
Crisis and chance are represented by the same Chinese letter. Big US and German cities have sold off public housing to gain revenue. The Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program has financed 2-3 million units. The state is obligated to protect from the brutal market.
Neoliberalism Blames Individuals for Inequality (tags)
In neoliberal theories, social justice is not a meaningful category and social inequality is a necessary result of market processes. Performance justice is a necessary illusion. Responsibility for poverty and misery is often shifted to individuals with the worst genes.
Obama's Duplicitous Remarks Welcoming Pope Francis (tags)
Obama
Irresponsibly Bashing Venezuelan Justice (tags)
Venezuela
Resistance to gentrification in San Francisco (tags)
Analysis from a long time opponent of what capitalism is doing to the city of San Francisco
The Middle Class Abolishes itself (tags)
Middle class citizens with a little wealth who invested this on the stock exchange are responsible for certain jobs becoming more and more precarious... Many economists claim market forces regulate themselves and society doesn't need to intervene.
August 2015 Honduras Coup Update (tags)
The August Honduras update is up, a lot has happened, young fire torch leader murdered, taxi driver leader murdered, 14 farmers imprisoned for over 39 days without bail, child of the resistance Oscar now a high school leader now singled out and arrested in a students protests and kept overnight, and so many other things. Meanwhile the hope seems to be in more people taking direct action, with the realisable dream of a general strike, rather than what is catching more attention against corruption right now
Farewell to Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
The model of homo oeconomicus is antiquated and over-simplified. Dominant economic models are not based on a realistic picture of humans... The model does not know different human human motives that could be differently activated depending on the context.
Living and Working Differently and Self-Optimization (tags)
How did neoliberal policy gain a mass influence? To neoliberalism, we must soon oppose a great alternative narrative of freedom, democracy and solidarity before the social dislocations neutralize the positive resources amid a collapsing world climate.
John Kerry Lectures Cubans on Democracy (tags)
America
Hillary Clinton: War Goddess, Corporate Shill, Anti-Populist (tags)
Clinton
Choice for Greeks: Rebel, Leave or Starve (tags)
Greece
Pope Francis in Ecuador (tags)
Ecuador
Destroying a Nation Without Firing a Shot (tags)
Greece
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.
The U.S. Social Forum Puts San José on the Map of Social Change (tags)
Another World is Possible! The United States Social Forum 2015 was held in San José at the end of June. A thousand activists from hundreds of organizations worked on strategies for necessary alternatives and system change.
Restorative Justice Is Needed For Albert Woodfox, The Black Panther Party And The Nation (tags)
On Monday, June 8, 2015, US District Court Judge James Brady ruled that the Angola 3's Albert Woodfox be both immediately released and barred from a retrial. Among those who communicated with Albert during that emotional week was Southern University Law Professor Angela A. Allen-Bell. In the days following Judge Brady's ruling, she was a featured guest on several television and radio shows that focused on Albert's case, including National Public Radio. In this interview with Angola 3 News, Prof. Bell discusses her new law journal article and reflects upon the latest developments in Albert's fight for freedom. She argues that recent Angola 3-related media coverage in the US is becoming "more substantive," and that this month "the media got bolder and began digging deeper than just a soundbite."
Obama Wants Regime Change in Ecuador (tags)
Ecuador
Thousands in Britain Rally Against Austerity (tags)
Britain
May 2015 Honduras Coup update (tags)
May 2015 in Honduras.... it came out that high officials of a social security department stole $320 millions using companies, this ending up in the campaign funds for National Party's electoral campaign in 2013 and diverted to those who made this happen using ghost companies... assassinations, threats, evictions, law being blatantly on the side of money, all evidentially continue. Check the titles here in the May post to see if you want to read some of it....
New York Times Editors Love Ruthless Despots (tags)
NYT
Heading Toward Financial Maidan in Ukraine? (tags)
Ukraine
Venezuela's Maduro in Moscow: Lunatics in Washington Want Him Ousted (tags)
Venezuela
Average wages in the US are lower than 30 years ago. Profits and income inequality explode, not investments. The austerity policy that has always worsened unemployment and economic growth is promoted as without alternative by German chancellor Merkel.
The Goodness of Mankind Is Threatened (tags)
See my report concerning some of the effects of a police state on modern man.
Cosmetic surgeries on the rise in Gaza (tags)
Desperate Gaza Housewives are resorting to cosmetic surgery to keep their husbands
World Social Forum 2015 in Tunis Joins the Cry "Nous Sommes Bardo!" (tags)
The World Social Forum in Tunis (24-28 March 2015) closes with resounding unity against global warming, neoliberalism, militarism, terrorism, and for the increasingly important role of women in making another world possible.
Seeing behind the Global iron Curtain. (tags)
What I saw behind the Global iron Curtain which, in my view, exists between the UN and the rest of humanity. I describe what I consider to be very much of enormous and profound importance hidden from people.
Hypocritical and Hippocratic Economic Policy in Europe (tags)
The crisis is multilayered-a bank crisis, a crisis of wealth distribution and a misallocation of capital between long-term real investments and virtual financial investments.. The frugal Schwabian housewife is not a suitable model.
Less Growth and Less Work (tags)
French economist Thomas Piketty described neoliberalism or finance capitalism as an "inequality machine." Profits soar and investments are delayed. Keynes spoke of three phases: investments, surplus and stagnation. Reduced working hours is the only way to full employment.
Global Iron Curtain: Repressive States control human rights at UN. (tags)
American Professor describes the World's State Criminals as deciding human rights at the UN. In my view, a Global Iron Curtain exists with the UN hiding very much of enormous and profound importance from humanity.
Growth, Prosperity and Quality of Life (tags)
"Our understanding of a modern economic and social system is strongly influenced by the phase between 1950 and 1975 when the social market economy was created and democracy was re-stabilized. Since then conditions have changed. New answers are necessary."
Growth Criticism and Social-Ecological Transformation (tags)
Unlike a chair, an idea can be shared by a whole people. Words can be like spears breaking frozen souls. (Kafka) Education is the great transformer (John Kenneth Galbraith). Economics as taught today is like brainwashing. (Ulrich Thielemann) Incentives to investing in the real economy are vital after the phase of credit- and bubble prosperity.
At UCLA, a culture of equating 'Israel' with 'guilty' (tags)
When Israel is constantly on trial, it is no surprise that Jewish students can only be socially accepted when they join the 'indict-Israel' circus.
Venezuela
Homo Economicus and Dethronement of the Profit Principle (tags)
Max Frisch summarized economism int he formula: "what brings profit is rational." Economism is a business ethics conception, a justification theory for profit maximization that declares ethics superfluous. Ultimately this is an "ethic" without morality.
Indymedia and the Cyber Left (tags)
An audio interview with Todd Wolfson about Indymedia.
George Orwell in the Government (tags)
Writing in 1948 off the coast of Scotland, George Orwell foresaw the time when war would become a domestic necessity to divert the people from economic contradictions. Newspeak is used so lies are called truth and slavery freedom.
TTIP: Redistribution of Power, not Free Trade (tags)
The TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement) involves the redistribution of power away from the parliaments and to the executive and its unelected lobbyists. The TTIP does not involve freedom of trade.
Spring-Break-March Delegation to Venezuela: The Revolution Continues! (tags)
While the mainstream media speculates about the future of the Bolivarian Revolution since the passing of Hugo Chavez, for the Venezuelan popular sectors, there is no turning back to a state of marginalization and exclusion. Come learn about the process currently transpiring in Venezuela as the people, faithful to the legacy of Chavez, deepen and further radicalize their struggle in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution. Come learn, connect, and show your solidarity at this critical moment for the Venezuelan process.
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.
10 Strategies of Manipulation Revisited (tags)
Sylvain Timsit shows how society is influenced and what information is deemed relevant. http://libyaagainstsuperpowermedia.org/2012/03/05/sylvain-timsit-ten-techniques-for-the-manipulation-of-public-opinion/
In San Francisco, "Dispatches Against Displacement" -- a review (tags)
A work by a prominent San Francisco housing activist in a context of ongoing defeat for San Francisco renters...
Obama's Phony Middle Class Tax Relief Plan (tags)
Obama
Are the Times A-Changin' at UC Berkeley’s School of Law? (tags)
Torture Memo, Racial Unrest & (Perhaps) a Job Applicant’s Cover Letter Wake Up the School’s Faculty, Staff and Once-Floundering Social Justice Center
How Economists Change the World (tags)
Theory development is also a war over dominance. The goals of Hayek's war were expulsion of the Keynesians, liberalization of the financial markets, abandonment of full employment policy, dismantling the social state and weakening unions.
Thomas Piketty and the Growing Inequality in Capitalism (tags)
"When capital profit is permanently higher than the growth rate for production and income which was the case up to the 19th century, capitalism automatically produces unacceptable and arbitrary inequalities that radically put in question the achievement principle..."
This introduction to Tomasz Konicz' "On the Search for Alternatives to the Permanent Capitalist Crisis" (2014) is translated from the German. Empire could be replaced by republic as excess could be replaced by access and more by enough Capitalist contradictions/dislocations are signs.
Unconditional Basic Income and Solidarity Economies (tags)
Without the social contract, we become wolves to one another. Basic economic, social and cultural human rights include the right to participate. Everyone should share in the wealth and prosperity brought by automation, labor-saving technology and higher productivity.
The US government faces a revenue crisis after giving billions to banks and big corporations. Billions are saved through automation, labor-saving technology and workers working at home. The neoliberal model promotes profits and speculation, not investments and job creation.
America's Deadly Embrace (tags)
Cuba
Review of E San Juan's AMBIL (tags)
Filipino activist Karlo Mongaya reviews the avant-garde postconceptual writing of E San Juan Jr., and its critique of author-centered institutionalized expression in the neoliberal regime of Aquino in neocolonial Philippines.
Victory of the Economy over Democracy and the Constitutional State (tags)
The person exists as an end-in-him/herself and not merely as a means... On the other hand, the principle of the worldwide market economy is based on treating persons and their needs as means to the end of profit realization.
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?
Ukraine: Waging War During Economic Crisis Conditions (tags)
Ukraine
Monied Interests Have Lots to Give Thanks For (tags)
Thanksgiving
Israeli Police State Ruthlessness (tags)
Israel
Video: Keystone PipeLIES Exposed, 18 min (tags)
Our thinking on security, strength, health, happiness, work, and prosperity must change from the extractive and destructive paradigm to caring and protection. Nature is our partner and hope, more than an external, a free good or sink.
Chris Dixon on Indymedia On Air (tags)
Chris Dixon author of Another Politics, interviewed on Indymedia on Air on KPFK.
The poorest and weakest persons must pay the price for misguided political decisions. Political-economic decisions decide over the life and death of persons. The New Deal stands for an effective debt reduction. Germany has been an active driver of austerity.
The empirical-historical analysis of the top incomes and their wealth are in the center with Thomas Piketty's "Capital" (2014). The share of the top 10% was never below 60% from 1917 to 2012. A wealth tax is vital to reverse the exploding inequality.
How Universal Basic Income Will Save Us From the Robot Uprising (tags)
As we head deeper into the 21st century, it's becoming painfully obvious that there are fewer and fewer jobs available. As noted by Marshall Brain, founder of How Stuff Works and author of Manna, there are more working-age people in the U.S. receiving some form of welfare than there are working-age people who do not.
The European Commission suspended the secret TTIP negotiations for four months to get citizen consultation on the Investor-State-Dispute SettlementThis proposed parallel system with 3-person courts of arbitration allows corporations to sue for lost profits. Decisions are irrevocable.
Out of the Darkness: UN's (and often State's) hidden agenda. (tags)
Brief discussion on linkedin describing UN's human rights omissions from international human rights law.
Ferguson: an episode in the war class (tags)
On August 9 in Ferguson, a small suburb of St. Louis, a cop killed Michael Brown firing 6 bullets into him: this young black man, unarmed, with his arms raised in the air, had made the mistake of not responding to his order to walk on the sidewalk. Michael Brown was left like a dog in the street for several hours without even his parents allowed to come close to his body.
The Myth of the Unexpected Crisis and Security (tags)
Many knew the rise of housing prices had to end some time or other... Four theses explain why the Fed was not active during the real estate boom: power of lobbyists, market ideology, trust in abstract academic models and inflation targeting.
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
Healthcare: A Fundamental Human Right (tags)
healthcare
The Coming Alternatives and The Function of the Enemy (tags)
Future criticism of capitalism is not a taboo any more. Why is there so little resistance against capitalism. Capitalism is a secular religion... Thanks to ISIS, "we" can forget all the other problems. If an enemy disappears, the possibility of shifting our conflict to it also fades.
TheInheritance of Inequality and Rethinking Growth (tags)
The economy exists for people, not vice versa. Economics should be pluralist, not a monolith. The economy should be embedded in society; society should not be embedded in the economy. Thomas Piketty and alternative economics emphasize inequality and mass unemployment.
WJ Columnist Mary O'Grady: US Imperial Tool (tags)
WSJ
Venezuela Poised to Win Security Council Seat (tags)
Venezuela
Call-out for international solidarity with social center De Vloek (tags)
The city government of The Hague, The Netherlands wants to evict social center De Vloek (The Curse) on January 5, 2015 to make room for a sailing center.
New Economy and New Prosperity (tags)
Economic structures that form the basis for social prosperity have become dysfunctional. The financial markets have expanded their original function and are now self-financed markets in which protection from risks has become a highly speculative business.
Venezuela
I demand right to inform Chch post-quake victims of human rights truth and ethical plan. (tags)
Christchurch, NZ, post-quake victims are facing severe discrimination, a human rights issue. However, they are deprived of hearing the human rights truth and ethical plan. Need to be informed in mainstream media to reach democratic majority.
Lunch with Lynne and Ralph (tags)
police states
Cultural Cleansing of individual self-determination driven by the bureaucrats. (tags)
Describes a Cultural Cleansing of individual self-determination. Driven by the bureaucrats in the interest of secular, liberal collectivists it required a hijacking of human rights hidden by a 'divide and rule'.
Free Trade Agreement TTIP Endangers Democracy (tags)
Investor courts of arbitration create an exclusive special right for foreign corporations. They could demand compensation when their profits are narrowed by democratic decisions.
The wealth of others has become more a problem and less an incentive. Capital is blind, Thomas Piketty says. Capital grows faster than the economy. Differences in wealth are inherent in capitalism but do not represent a natural law. A society can accept them or act against them.
The unconditional basic income - a social concept for Europe (tags)
The time is right for alternative economics after the "money-out-of-nothing" phase. Access could replace excess and enough could replace more. www.basicincome.org and www.freembtranslations.net
Thinkers replaced by Social Controllers on massive scale. (tags)
The following is a clarification re prev article. It says thinkers are being replaced by social controllers because truth is the major threat to the dominant elite, secular liberal collectivists. Also, explains how Corporations are highly favored.
TTIP: Threat to Democracy and the Constitutional State (tags)
The TTIP, the largest free trade zone comprising 800 million of the EU and the US is being secretly negotiated. Democracy and the constitutional state are threatened by 3-person arbitration courts where corporations can sue states and decisions are irreversible.
Self-Determination Means Market Determination (tags)
We face the continuing dissolution of traditional types, forms and rules, not a new type, a new form or a new rule... What was once called estrangement or objectification should appear as workers' own interest. .. Karl Polanyi spoke of a dis-embedded economy.
Learning from Roosevelt: HIs "New Deal" (tags)
The Civilian Conservation Corps helped overcome the basic pessimistic mood in society. Within a few months, 500,000 young persons had hope again. The government should intervene in case of an economic emergency.
The "Great Transformation" of the 21st Century (tags)
An end of the Great Crisis is not insight at the beginning of the 21st century... The regime of finance-market driven accumulation has not brought forth any new formation of capitalism capable of development.
Responses to more religious political influence, also sustainable development. (tags)
Responses of human rights members to post which considers religious political parties would have more influence if adopted a secular, ethical human rights base. Also, my response to sustainable development.
Mainstream Economics: Monocultures at the University (tags)
The "Plural Economics Network" challenges breaking through the monoculture and intellectual one-sidedness in economics...Instead of viewing our varied social problems from different perspectives, all the answers are derived from very similar models.
Class War: Thailand’s Military Coup (tags)
Outnumbered by the country’s rural voters, Thailand’s once vibrantly democratic urban middle class has embraced an elitist, antidemocratic agenda
Human rights groups close ranks after Pope urges UN resist Culture of Death. (tags)
Human rights group members ignore posts in which Pope urges UN to resist Culture of Death and UN Watch reports the rise of repressive States to prominent UN positions.
Political Myths and Elite Misanthropy (tags)
In his new book "Political Myths and Elite Misanthropy," professor Herbert Schui explains the myth of the achiever, the myth of state indebtedness, the myth of the market and competition and the myth of market conforming democracy.
Democracy and socialism (tags)
Democracy is the most popular word in the vocabulary of politics but also the most brazenly abused.
Asia-Pacific Left activists say 'No to another coup in Thailand!' (tags)
May 23, 2014 - We, the undersigned organisations, strongly condemn the latest coup d’état staged by Thai military under the leadership of Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Hidden neoliberal absolutism more evident in rise of repressive regimes. (tags)
Effects of the UN's neoliberal absolutism on 10 Dec 2008 has been hidden from the public by the UN and leadership of major human rights organizations but seen in GFC 2008/9 and now the rise of repressive regimes at UN.
Apple, the State and Social Rights (tags)
Apple only gained its profits with the iPhone through state promotion and investments in the Internet and language recognition software. The state suffers a revenue crisis in part because Apple, Google and dominant corporations transfer profits to tax havens or dummy Irish corporations.
Neoliberalism has brought us back to Rockefeller's best times. Bill Gates is 1.4 million times as rich as the average American. A "feudal lifestyle" is made out to be worthwhile and in no way negatively described. Thus "re-feudalization" is dulled as a polemical term.
Dissent within after article, Profound Arrogance at UN. (tags)
Repost (correction). Dissent within human rights groups grows after article Profound Arrogance at UN, the latter virtually seeing themselves as God when reinventing the UDHR to emphasize elite interests rather than individual rights.
Dissent within after article, Profound Arrogance at UN. (tags)
Dissent within human rights groups grows after article Profound Arrogance at UN, seeing themselves as God when reinventing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to emphasize elite interests rather than individual rights.
Public Relations - Propaganda as an Economic Branch (tags)
"The borders between skillful PR, dull propaganda and lobbyism and corruption are flowing. The only possibility for protecting oneself is to be informed as extensively and independently as possible. This is easier said than done; information costs energy and time and assumes a basic education."
The anarchist subculture and the leftist protest ghetto: a review of 'Fireworks,' Issue 3 (tags)
A small contribution to understanding the larger problems of resistance in capitalist America...
'Profound' Arrogance at UN creates elitist human rights (tags)
Describes the 'Profound' Arrogance of bureaucratic elites at the UN in disregarding history, as it they 'know', to reinvent human rights to emphasize elites rather than individuals. Discussion with Islamic Assist Professor of Law on global ethical human rights.
The need for United Front in the Filipino People’s Democratic Revolution (tags)
The Filipino people’s democratic revolution constantly needs the revolutionary united front because this is the effective way to arouse, organize and mobilize the broad masses of the Filipino people in their millions in order to advance and win total victory. The need for the united front is more urgent than ever as the socio-economic and political crisis is rapidly worsening and inflicting intolerable suffering on the Filipino people and they must intensify their struggle against those who exploit and oppress them.
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.
Technology, Unemployment and Policy Options (tags)
Navigating the Transition to a Better World
On the Death of John Kenneth Galbraith (tags)
The great economist John Kenneth Galbrath was shocked at the public squalor alongside private affluence. He devised the horse-sparrow theory, horses must be fed so the sparrows can live. A healthy economy means shrinking the financial sector and expanding the public sector.
Trade: Time for a New Vision, 20pp (tags)
50 civil society groups crafted the Alternative Trade Mandate in January 2014. States should be able to protect themselves from financial deregulation, risky financial products, genetically modified corn and salmon, chlorinated chicken and Investor-State Settlement mechanisms,
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'.
TTIP: International Mega-corporations prevent social and ecological globalization (tags)
In the reality of international monopolist competition, narrow economic profit interests dominate to the disadvantage of broad prosperity gains. Protection of foreign mega-investors before indirect expropriation leads to a dispossession of nation state democracy.
Structural Weaknesses of Capitalism (tags)
Ignorance and ideology replaced facts and economic fairness under Reagan. Reagan appealed to the Laffer curve and argued tax cuts bring higher revenues, He confused investment and speculation, SROs and SUVs, militarism and security and decried government as the problem.
CASTORIADIS. THE MEANING OF SOCIALISM .pdf (tags)
http://is.gd/EQUALITY
In polls many people massively criticize this system of market-conforming democracy and then vote for it with large marge majorities. This cognitive dissonance is the result of a reeducation of society. The values and norms are success and efficiency...
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), 41 pp (tags)
The Investor-State Dispute mechanism gives corporations the status of nation states. The Swedish energy corporation Vattenfall is suing Germany for 1 billion Euros for stopping nuclear power too quickly!
The Left Must Be Ecological (tags)
Nature is our partner and the basis of future survival, not an external, free good or sink. Building a pipeline means abandoning a decent infrastructure. Are people really happy or have they become a little fatalistic?
The Free Trade Agreement TTIP - New Version of the "Golden Age" (tags)
Lobbyists and think tanks of transnational corporations dreamt of a global market without limits. With enticing slogans like more economic growth or creation of new jobs, the population should accept the trade-and investment agreement.
We can't go on like this by Sergi Halimi (tags)
"The game is not over. The neoliberal dream has lost its status as an absolute and an ideal, without which its social projects will wither and perish. All it is capable of producing now are privileges, and cold, dead beings. A change will occur. Each of us can help it happen..."
Free Expression on Trial in Israel (tags)
Israel
Inside the Whale: On the Origin of the Democratic Consensus (tags)
In his 1940 short story "Inside the Whale," George Orwell satirizes the focus in Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. Miller's characters are protected by the fat of the whale and never discuss the challenges and tasks of their historical time. In his poem Is this an apt characterization of our time?
The State as a Human Cage (tags)
"Personal performance" always depends on the work of past generations and state interventions. The 1% stylize inequality as a motor to innovation, growth and development. Exploding inequality is the end to public spirit and interdependence.
Obama's MyRA Proposal: Hold the Cheers (tags)
class war
Unprecedented Inequality Under Obama (tags)
class war
'Reason Lost' at UN which crosses line to authoritarianism and its not working. (tags)
The UN by crossing a line to authoritarianism and creating ‘neoliberal absolutism’ means the Rule of Law they promote is not based on reason but rather elite interests.
Capitalism as a Secularized Religion (tags)
It is never too early or too late to challenge the dominant narrative. Capitalism is a fetish social formation, a demolishing of being not a reform of being. Capitalism may be the first case of an indebted cult, not an atoning cult, possibly the most bloodthirsty cult of humanity's history.
Both Germany and the US seem locked into unsustainable models. The Alternative Economic Policy study group has been publishing memorandums for 20 years urging a radical change of course: qualitative growth, expansion of public sector and reducing working hours.
Soft Science, Hard Time: The Expanding Sexual Regulatory State As Facilitated By Science- (tags)
Periodic social upheavals as a result of moral panic seem to be the norm for humanity, with large segments of society reacting, or overreacting, with almost virally propagated outrage to perceived threats. The moral panic of our current age, an obsession with sexual inviolability, illustrates our continued susceptibility to emotional and irrational fears.
NJ Gov. Chris Christie's GWB-Gate Traffic Jam Shows Narcissistic Traits (tags)
The recently exposed recorded statements made by NJ Gov. Chris Christie's staff show a climate fueled by narcissism that enabled the retalitory actions against the Fort Lee Mayor in the form of several days of severe traffic jams. This unnatural traffic obstruction across the bridge resulted in the death of an elderly lady who was being transported by ambulance. As usual the narcissist does not care how their actions effect others and can scapegoat lower ranking staff as the culprits while escaping responsibility themselves.
Great World can be achieved by Great States ensuring an ethical human rights 'bottom-line' (tags)
Describes what I see as the UN’s gross neglect of duty re UN Charter (in my opinion, a ‘global crime against humanity’) to uphold UDHR. Also I consider greater political and national unity is planned to execute a ‘near absolute’ control in States.
The Tiger and His Trainers (tags)
How preposterous to think we can avert the next crisis without regulating or shriveling the financial sector, addressing income inequality and radically rethinking the meaning and assumptions of economics? Hans-Jurgen Urban likens the financial crisis to a tiger breaking from his cage and sees the welfare state and unions as trainers
Rand Paul v. NSA Spying (tags)
NSA
What people have not been told about GFC 2009 - West in 'permanent' decline. (tags)
The global financial crisis of 2009, which affected the West far more than other regions, was, in my view, a consequence of a UN decision on 10 December 2008. In my view, it was a deliberate decision at the UN that the West would go into permanent decline.
VIDEO: "Koch Brothers Exposed," 2012, 1 hr (tags)
Millions of dollars are spent in propaganda to convince the public that social security is bankrupt, that the retirement age should be raised to 70 and that social security should be turned into private retirement accounts. Millions are spent to undermine unions & privatize education.
The Soup Kitchen State Grows (tags)
Old age poverty is the result of dismantling the social state...What is lacking for the impacted is justice. Need justice and distribution justice have always existed in the political realm. The task of the social state was to fight poverty and protect citizens.
Venezuelan v. US Budget Priorities (tags)
Venezuela
Congressional Budget Deal Betrayal (tags)
class war
Venezuelan Municipal Elections (tags)
Venezuela
'Divide and Rule' at the UN misdirects Occupation's discontent towards the two percent. (tags)
The Occupation - often with good hearts but heads not straight due to the 'divide and rule' which stems from the UN.
Expanding Social Security by Paul Krugman (tags)
Paul Krugman, professor of economics at Princeton, was the winner of a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2011/
Noam Chomsky: Media Control and Indoctrination in the United States (tags)
The Occupy tactic was a remarkably successful tactic. If I’d been asked a month before Zuccotti Park whether to do this, I would have said, you’re crazy. But it worked extremely well. It just lighted a fire all over the place.
Is Capitalism at an End? (tags)
The capitalist system in its current form is no longer fit for today's world. The system that led us into crisis has long been ourdated. The brave new world of neoliberalism lies in ruin. Surveys show that a majuority of people regard capitalism as unjust and unsocial.
Posts on social class discrimination and global ethical human rights (tags)
Many neoliberal States, in my view, execute social class discrimination but it is hidden and societies kept 'class-blind'.
Waging Economic War on Venezuela (tags)
Venezuela
A War on the Poor by Paul Krugman (tags)
The state has a social nature and cannot only be a power and security state. Since the 1980s, the banks carried out a "quiet coup" (Simon Johnson) by spending over $4 billion on campaign contributions and lobbying over ten years.
Global ethical human rights will give the Lost Generation of Youth a future. (tags)
Global ethical human rights will give youth a future. It's really a macabre understanding of human beings which sees only absolute control to crush potential as the way to achieve peace. In fact, in my view, it creates slaves and dangerous States which are not held to account.
The "ABCs of Alternatives" published in May 2013 includes chapters on democratization, globalization criticism, global social rights, good work, Keynesianism, knowledge commons, liberation pedagogy, no person is illegal, peace, rebellion, redistribution and the WSF,
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.
Washington Brinksmanship Resolution (tags)
class war
Washington Brinksmanship Masks Class War (tags)
class war
People Power Alone Can Save Us! (tags)
police stat
Labor Needs to Recalibrate and Fight (tags)
While the U.S. media has been obsessed with the in-fighting between Democrats and Republicans, as well as the recent government shutdown and the global/domestic ramifications of a possible government default, little attention has been paid to a looming disaster confronting working people: Obama is again threatening to cut “entitlement” programs, meaning Social Security and Medicare.
Sal Azzani rated most influential in Sacramento (tags)
Starting out with 100 followers, his words grew more influential and soon the twitter handle pathtomillion began increasing in numbers.
Putting Together Small Rallies (tags)
A short how-to about putting together small rallies. Nobody does all these things, but should :) This list was pieced together from various experiences, and the author has never seen an event go off where all these things were done. Add suggestions.
Criticism of Market Theory and Market Ideology (tags)
Market fundamentalists cling to the myths of the self-healing market and corporate beneficence..The real market economy functions very differently than the fantastic notions of the theoretical market economy. Maximum individual profit does not agree with social welfare.
NSA: Rogue Spying Writ Large (tags)
NSA
Who is System Relevant - Banks or the People? (tags)
We are experiencing the most brutal form of the neoliberal credo since the financial crisis: privatization of profits and socialization of losses. EU crisis policy bails out banks and drives the population into misery. We must change direction. We need a change of paradigms in policy.
class war
Free Internet Book: The Common Good (tags)
Rethinking the reproduction of life and the continuity of life on our planet from the perspective of the paradigm of the Common Good of Humanity is an urgent necessity in the current situation.
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.
“SUDAFRICA EN VISPERAS DEL CAMBIO SOCIAL” DEL DR. FRANZ J. T. LEE, LECCIONES TRANSHISTORIC (tags)
“SUDAFRICA EN VISPERAS DEL CAMBIO SOCIAL” DEL DR. FRANZ J. T. LEE, LECCIONES TRANSHISTORICAS PARA LOS PUEBLOS QUE ANDAN EN BUSCA DE SU EMANCIPACION
"Food Sovereignty is Central in Our Struggle for Social Justice" (tags)
"A Comprehensive Agrarian Reform also includes a massive distribution of land ... Land is not a commodity. Existing laws and regulations need to be reinforced, while new ones are needed to protect against speculation and land grabbing. "
Comments on Helen Clark’s refusal to discuss global ethical human rights. (tags)
Some independent human rights professionals made comments on the refusal of Helen Clark, Head of the United Nations Development Program, to discuss the global ethical human rights alternative to neoliberalism
Four hundred thousand join people’s march in the Philippines (tags)
Akbayan (Citizens Action Party) congratulates Luneta marchers, describes event as “Filipino Habagat (Monsoon)” vs. corruption
Pork barrel scam scandalizes the Philippines (tags)
Five senators who were linked to the scam are the following: Ramon Revilla, Jr. – P 1.017 billion, Juan Ponce Enrile – P 641.65 million, Jinggoy Estrada – P 585 million, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – P 100 million, Gregorio Honasan – P 15 million
Helen Clark ignores question on global ethical human rights. (tags)
When Helen Clark, Head of the United Nations Development Program, was asked during question time after delivering a lecture why the UN says nothing about the new plan for the world, global ethical human rights, she ignored the question.
Honoring Bayard Rustin, Freedom fighter (tags)
Labor leader and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Along with Rustin, 15 others will be honored at a White House ceremony later this year.
To question Helen Clark regarding UN silence on global ethical human rights to rule world (tags)
Hope to question Helen Clark, head of the UNDP and considered one of the world's most powerful women, why the UN has failed to inform the global mainstream of new plan to rule the world, global ethical human rights, for over five years and despite the significant support it is receiving.
The August 24 March on Washington: Why We Need a New Civil Rights and Labor Movement (tags)
It could have been left as a relatively small event that would make little impact, but plans for the 50th anniversary of 1963′s March on Washington appear to have taken another course.
Alternatives to Stagnation and Depression (tags)
Politics has fought the symptoms of the great crisis with banking- and economic packages while its systemic causes remain untouched… The hardest phase of the great crisis is ahead of us, not behind us. All sectors try to safeguard their position through spending cuts...
Obama's Grand Bargain 2.0 (tags)
class war
The Dislocation of Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
"Students rate the teachers and demand a very specific kind of knowledge from them: it should be measurable, packaged and practical and cannot contain any uncertainties. Experimenting or thinking is not desired. There is a relation between service-provider and customer..."
Why No Revolution Exists in Syria (tags)
The era of Arab Spring euphoria is long ended, having devolved into doubt, confusion or wholesale rejection. Libya and Syria put an abrupt end to the Arab Spring celebrations, with the current situation in Egypt adding to the frustration.
Hardwired Inequality in America (tags)
class war
Obama's Way: Waging Financial War on Humanity (tags)
Obama
Normal Catastrophes and The Industrialization of Thinking (tags)
Instead of offering enlightenment about social reality, the media function as an amusement enterprise and immobilizing machine. Information mutates into infotainment... Advanced civilization is marginalized in many social areas into a sanctuary of the elites.
Greatness or Mediocrity? Global ethical human rights or Neoliberal absolutism. (tags)
Do we want a great society based on ability and hardwork (often includes character) where people can reach their full potential or the prevailing mediocrity, with its descent-based 'bi-cultural' elite and, what I see as, 'arrested development' ?
Professional comments: global ethical human rights to replace neoliberal absolutism (tags)
More in the professional sector prepared to discuss global ethical human rights to replace neoliberal absolutism.
A Justice 4 Trayvon Martin Scrapbook (tags)
Links and photos from Sunday through Friday.
The Aesthetic of Neoliberalism (tags)
The aesthetic of neoliberalism bids farewell to the bad in its environment. Originality and color disappear. Crap tends to make itself into an inquisition and banishes everything that cannot be adjusted in the trash of the system.
After the removal of Morsi in Egypt (tags)
The removal of the Morsi government is not a victory for the proletariat and the exploited Egyptian masses Victory can only be achieved by the proletarian class struggle against capitalism!
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.
Labor Solidarity in Neoliberal Structural Change (tags)
The self-regulating market and the invisible hand were neoliberal theories of Frederick August von Hayek and Milton Friedman. Submission to the market was described as a natural law, as natural and self-evident as the rotation of the planets. Solidarity and unions were decried as barriers.
Brazilians Demand Social Justice (tags)
Brazil
How Does Justice Come to the Economy? (tags)
The intellectual dead end of liberalism (tags)
Each fresh outrage by the Obama administration is met by a shrug of the shoulders or outright support by Democrats. With no clear ideas to fall back on, they meekly bleat “me, too” when the world’s industrialists and financiers pronounce their verdict on what is to be done.
"Politics prepared the ground for financial war" (tags)
The current economic crisis is a product of political mistakes, economic incompetence and criminal energy. Capitalism altogether has been a declaration of war. Politics bungled deregulation. The wisdom of the market never existed.
Less Growth = More Happiness (tags)
The question about alternatives to the dominant western model of life and greowth becomes increasingly urgent together with the looming-or already occurred-surpassing of Peak Oil. New measurements of prosperity include life satisfaction, access to health care and education
Slaughter of Proletarians in Bangladesh: Capitalism is the Assassin! (tags)
On April 24 "Rana Plaza" a 9-storey building in an industrial suburb of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh (14 million), collapsed on about 3,500 workers (their number is not known precisely) working there. The building contained five textile factories, as well as a bank and many shops. The official present death toll is 1128, the number of injured is unknown. Most of the victims are women, who constitute 80 to 90% of the workforce in the Bangladeshi textile industry.
SF Labor: Calls on Labor Movement to Mobilize in Washington, D.C. August 24 (tags)
In Support of the SCLC and King Center call for a March and Rally in Washington, DC on August 24, 2013 and in Support of the July 2 Northern California Demonstration to Demand a Massive Federally Funded Jobs-Creation Program and No Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
The Elite Look Down on Democracy (tags)
The thought-models of the economy have conquered all other social sciences. The person in these models is a homo oeconomicus, a rational agent whose only drive is maximizing his benefits. Only an action with the driving force of egoism is rational.
Local Fights Against Austerity Are Growing Across the U.S. (tags)
Between sequestration, with its damaging impact on workers and the entire economy, and the billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other necessary social programs that President Obama is pushing, it is evident that the economic policies of both major parties are not intended to promote a recovery for working people. You cannot lift up a nation’s economy while slashing away at its consumers’ pocketbooks. In order to justify their defiance of this elementary law, both Republicans and Democrats start talking the language of “austerity,” that is the notion that economic policy must be guided by reducing budgetary deficits first and foremost, and that workers exclusively must be made to pay the cost.
May Day against state and bosses (tags)
Solidarity with all those who fight against state and capitalist brutality, all those who fight for a society of equality - solidarity - freedom
The Competition Ideology - the Greatest Evil of our Age (tags)
The competition ideology has been hammered into our heads for thirty years. Claiming better outcomes are generally realized when everything is poisoned by the competitive is pure ideology. Competition that exceeds the limits of its useful fields orders murderous measures.
class war
People still believe in the “faster, higher and bigger.” This fiction is maintained through over-chemicalization, over-technization, genetic manipulation or simply bribery of the judges. People lie to themselves.
Neoliberalism as a Variety of Social Darwinism: Ten Million More Unemployed (tags)
Social cuts are a danger for democracy..When fear of social descent or collapse seizes the middle class, the danger grows that exclusion-ideologies may gain acceptance like racism, nationalism or social Darwinism..The economic future is given away on the altar of an ideology that raises location competition to the leitmotif of political-economic policy.
Asset Distribution and the Financial Crisis (tags)
A perverse system arose out of the interaction of deregulation of the financial system and polarization of asset distribution. A reform of the financial system can only be part of the repair of the system. When wages grow again with productivity, an economic balance will be possible
Obama's Neoliberal Budget (tags)
class war
Social security cuts: Work until you drop (tags)
We have something here bigger than Barack Obama and whatever character flaws he might be perceived as possessing. Austerity is a bipartisan project.
class war
Obama's War on Social America (tags)
injustice
First Time in History; Democrat Cuts Social Security with Chained CPI (tags)
The upcoming cuts to Social Security are being done by a Democrat President who is supposedly the party of the elderly, the disabled, veterans and the poor. The cuts to Social Security under President Obama include the "chained CPI" that would reduce the regular cost of living increases to the checks each year depending upon the rate of inflation. There is a bipartisan effort to block the latest Social Security cuts being led by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont who has a petition on his website telling Pres. Obama "NO CUTS to Social Security!"
Who Will Save Social Security and Medicare? (tags)
Before Social Security and Medicare existed, the elderly were either completely dependent on their children or were left to beg in the streets. These programs thus remain sacred to the vast majority of Americans. They allow the elderly dignity and independence instead of poverty and insecurity.
Growth Euphoria and Distribution Reality (tags)
The chasm between poor and rich opens even more. The uncoupling of growth and quality of life on one side and productivity and work volumes on the other side make clear that "business-as-usual" leads to growing problems. German GDP grew 300% with 20% fewer workers.
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.
Regime Change Begins at Home (tags)
fascism
Cyprus Seeks 11th Hour Deal (tags)
Cyprus
Obama’s Still Shopping for a Grand Bargain (tags)
President Obama’s recent closed-door sessions with Republican congressmen to reach a “grand bargain” has roused suspiciously little attention in the mainstream media. What scant reporting has occurred presents the following narrative: President Obama is a “middle ground” politician attempting to breach political divides with erstwhile Republican opponents. In reality these meetings are not between political opposites, but kindred spirits; perfectly matched ideologies that differ only in implementation, and only by degrees.
Reduced working hours is the only logically and historically consistent answer to the annual productivity increases that are above the real growth rates of the economy and without reduced working hours lead to a decline of work volume and unemployment.
Climate Space: Rethinking Strategies to Fight For Our Future (tags)
Open call to join the Climate Space at the World Social Forum in Tunisia, March 26-30, 2013
Paul Ryan's At It Again (tags)
class war
America's Retirement Crisis (tags)
class war
Tax Evasion and the Social State (tags)
The good social state invests in the social, in the education of children of the new lower classes... Taxes is the price we pay for a civilized society (Oliver Wendell Holmes).. The state share must increase in a developed society since ever greater demands are made on the state.
Mid-April Venezuelan Presidential Elections Scheduled (tags)
Venezuela
Eroding Free Expression in Israel (tags)
freedom
"We need a new economic balance" (tags)
If the US removed the cap on social security taxes, public spirit and generational fairness would return to the states. At present, there is a cap at $106K. If you make $4 million, you only pay social security tax on the first $106K.
Tingout: the new news stream social media for citizen journalism (tags)
Tingout is an internet platform created to givecreated to give more visibility to independent information
Austerity USA Begins March 1st (tags)
U.S. politicians have cried wolf over austerity long enough for the public to ignore them. A perfect time, then, for politicians to actually unleash the wolves. Barring an unlikely last minute deal, here’s a short list of some of the massive, national bi-partisan-created austerity cuts, according to the New York Times.
Free Internet Book: "Social Democracy After the Cold War" (tags)
As a result of the efforts of the “progressive modernizers,” for whom modernization “has too often meant deregulation and privatization,” social democracy is no longer what it used to be, argues Robert Taylor (2008).
class war
“Words of Choice” Brings Reproductive Rights to Center Stage at the First WiredArts Fest (tags)
Pro-choice Production Offers New Venue for Social Justice in an Engaging Activism Based Theater Experience
Integra Revolucio. Towards an international ideological and political space (tags)
This is a call for all individuals, collectives and people around the world who are working towards the construction of another society from below to come together for an international meeting. The aim is to establish the Bloc for the Integral Revolution.
Straight Talk on Israel (tags)
Israel
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.
Escalating Tyranny in America (tags)
police state
Top NZ Labour MP support for global ethical human rights approach to replace neoliberalism (tags)
A top NZ politician has given some support to our council's promotion of an ethical approach to human rights, development and globalization for World Peace. It would replace the present world's dominant ideology, neoliberalism.
Why Organized Labor Must Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline (tags)
Spurred by real urgency over the corporate driven ruin of the environment, a growing social movement is taking shape that will be on display this Sunday, February 17, when tens of thousands descend on the streets of Washington, D.C. in a show of power titled “Forward On Climate.”
Obama’s Shakedown of Medicare (tags)
In a political era of corporate dominance it was inevitable that doublespeak would become the official language of Washington, DC. Now “cuts” to social programs are referred to as “savings,” while the destruction of these programs is “reform.” This is the essence of President Obama’s doublespeakish “Race to the Top” public education “reform,” as well as his yet-to-be-announced deficit plan based on Medicare “savings.”
Dissent, ethical human rights, to create 'thinking culture' for progress. (tags)
Dissent, shut down under neoliberalism, is taking New Zealand, prompted by the Chch earthquakes, from a 'stupid culture' to a 'thinking culture' to enable progress. I consider the global ethical human rights plan far superior to neolib.
Newspeak Rules: How Neoliberalism Explains the World (tags)
Originally positive terms were devalued in the last decades (social state became "welfare dictatorship") Social dislocations are charged to the impacted themselves. The scandal of poverty mutates to the scandal of the poor themselves.
LINCOLN movie in Brazil (tags)
In Brazil, when we watch movies like Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN we laughed a lot of the social, political and military bestiality in USA.
Social Inequality in America (tags)
injustice
Erich Fromm on Karl Marx (tags)
The capitalist production method makes a few persons absurdly rich while the others hardly have enough to survive. Capitalism also makes people unfree and unhappy because their access to their true needs is blocked.
Is The “Democracy Initiative” What We Need? (tags)
Last December, at the National Education Association headquarters in Washington, D.C., leaders from a variety of progressive organizations such as Greenpeace, the NAACP and the Communication Workers of America met with the intention of beginning a national campaign to, in the words of Mother Jones reporter Andy Kroll, “remake American politics.”
Seeing bias but supporting the architect of bias: We have a long way yet to go (tags)
The wealth and power gained by Europe during the ascendancy of capitalism was built on slavery. Capitalism continues to be based on massive inequalities, which requires strong social divisions in order to be maintained. Divide-and-conquer is an old technique.
Three Approaches to the Economic Crisis (tags)
Before 1980, wages, productivity, investments and production pushed one another and ensured general prosperity. After 1980 wages were dropped as a driving force of economic demand. Demand gaps were filled by consumer credits.
Obama
Dominant Israeli Parties Spurn Democracy (tags)
Israel
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.
Israel
Free Internet Book: "The Future of the Welfare State," Ireland, 2010 (tags)
Happy Martin Luther King Day! The state has a social nature and can't be only a power and security state. The social state seems to have capsized into the activating or punishing state. Thirty-years of neoliberal restructuring gave every privilege to capital.
Obama: Money Power's Point Man (tags)
class war
Chavez Shows Clinical Improvement (tags)
Chavez
George Orwell in the Government: The Rich Come from the Poor (tags)
In Germany as in the US, the rightwing insists poverty is not a question of money but of attitude and thus of one's own making. Falling wages are said to be a sign of structural improvements on the labor market!
Slaverybook of Mark Zuckererg (tags)
Things get increasingly dark on the internet.
My Encounter with the 'Precarious and Service Workers Assembly' of Occupy Oakland (tags)
It's their party, and they'll cry if they want to...
How To Defend the Public Sector (tags)
The attacks on the public domain, particularly public education, social services, and the public sector unions that are linked to these services, are coming in rapid-fire succession, sometimes in an overwhelming barrage where the victims have little time to comprehend what is happening and respond effectively.
Chavez
New York Times Wages War on Medicare and Social Security (tags)
class war
New York Times Supports Austerity Harshness (tags)
class wa
In Greece, the functioning society was undermined until it finally collapsed. The crisis has destroyed the social state. A person becomes a kind of predatory wild animal in dramatic situations as now seen in Greece. He only sees himself and his own survival.
Chavez
Another NNC Lendman Interview (tags)
anti-war
Fiscal Cliff Postmortems (tags)
class war
Flim Flam Fiscal Cliff Legislation (tags)
class war
Venezuelan Leadership Up for Grabs? (tags)
Chavez
Responsible Fiscal Cliff Resolution (tags)
class war
class war
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.
class war
New York Times Fiscal Cliff Duplicity (tags)
class war
Fiscal Cliff Doublespeak Duplicity (tags)
class war
Defeating “Right to Work” (tags)
The passage in Michigan of the anti-worker legislation grotesquely misnamed “Right to Work” (RTW) should be putting the entire nation on red alert. The downward pressure on the standard of living such bills unleash on the vast majority extend well beyond the union ranks. The bill’s success in Michigan, a pivotal state for organized Labor, indicates the unfolding of a national campaign by RTW’s backers.
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.
On Typhoon Bhopa and the Doha Conference (tags)
Typhoon Bhopa (Philippine name Pablo) have resulted to a total number of 647 casualties, with another 1,842 people injured, and 780 missing.
Israel
elections
Fiscal cliff is a hoax, may be bipartisan excuse to kill off U.S. poor people! (tags)
The media hype about the so-called fiscal cliff is just another bipartisan excuse to increase the gap between the wealthy and ever increasing number of poor people in the U.S. Notice both parties are advocating large cuts to social safety net programs when people are already struggling with poverty, while U.S. military bases remain operational on foreign soil through the Earth and only Presidential candidate Ron Paul was willing to save money by closing ALL overseas bases.
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.
World Social Forum Free Palestine (tags)
Palestine
Ideology and Morality: What the Financial Crisis teaches about functioning of democracy (tags)
Moralizing is a form of argumentation found in many ideologies and academic systems of thought.. State interventions, we were taught, are bad because they run counter to the objective laws of the market.. The market is a social institution that we interpret in different ways..
Message of Solidarity to Gabriela Women's Party on its 11th Congress (tags)
We, the International League of Peoples´ Struggle (ILPS), express our warmest greetings of solidarity to GABRIELA as you hold your 11th National Congress and celebrate your 28th year of activism and service to the Filipino women and the Filipino people in the struggle for national freedom and democracy.
Labor’s Call to Action: The Grand Bargain Betrayal (tags)
The labor movement is in terminal crisis. After decades of declining membership, the union movement has been targeted for destruction: private sector union membership is near eradication, and now the corporations are on a public-sector mopping up mission, using the city, state, and federal budget deficits as an excuse to target public sector unions. Obama’s Race to the Top education policy specifically targets the nation’s most powerful union workers, the teachers.
Philippines: FDC clamor for the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill (tags)
Freedom of Information (FOI): A Key to Freedom from Debt and Economic Justice
On the Way to the Digital Society (tags)
The net must be understood for what it is: a marvelous creative space that forces us to question traditional norms and values, organizational forms and superficially accepted conditions to find new ways into the future.
Will Unions Fight Fiscal Cliff Cuts to Medicare and Social Security? (tags)
With pro-Obama election posters still visible in most union halls across the country, the President has already taken steps towards selling out not only labor unions (again) but all working people. But this isn’t the “ordinary” sellout that working people have come to expect from Democrats — this is an attack of historic proportions.
The Cup (R)money passes us (tags)
Remember the neoliberalism of Reaganomics was an ideology that is carried out from America in Germany-with all its consequences from deregulation of the banking sector and the labor market and the change from the market economy to market society up to rule of the financial sector.
Will the Democrats Tax the Rich to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff? (tags)
Literally the day after the election a sudden “urgency” gripped the nation: the imminent danger of the so-called “fiscal cliff” — the national automatic tax increases and spending cuts due in January. The media screamed that the suddenly approaching fiscal cliff would trigger a recession, forcing Democrats and Republicans to consider a “grand bargain” budget deal to avoid disaster.
Grand Bargain Betrayal Coming (tags)
class war
Haaretz on Obama's Reelection (tags)
Israel
Money Party Wins US Election (tags)
elections
Read this then vote
Portland Anti-Austerity Protest Draws 1,000 Despite Police Violence (tags)
It’s difficult to build a pre-election protest with so many labor and community groups busy campaigning for Democrats. Nevertheless, over 1,000 people marched the streets in Portland, Oregon against austerity cuts to education and other public services and the consequent debt accumulated by students.
elections
Vote Independent or Stay Home (tags)
elections
Five Easy Post-Election Predictions (No Matter Who Wins) (tags)
It’s true that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have many political differences. But they also agree on many essential policies; enough to make the next four years easily predictable, no matter who wins.
Greens
Portland, Oregon Prepares for Pre-Election Anti-Austerity Protest (tags)
On November 3rd Portland community and labor groups will declare “enough is enough” by organizing a first for the U.S. — a large demonstration against government austerity cuts.
On Philippine Cybercrime Act of 2012 (tags)
Technological developments, nay, social progress must lead to increased democratization and not to more curtailment of freedoms. The advent of the Internet and related technologies has opened a wide and free access to democratic space wherein ordinary citizens, including the oppressed workers and, in general, the laboring and propertyless masses, could participate in studying and gathering information and discussing social and political issues.
Against Growth Mania and Fair Redistribution (tags)
How can we rebuild our society so we manage with less growth and not collapse when growth does not occur? Consumption beyond a certain level is pathological, a compensation or substitute for missed life (cf. Erich Fromm).
Thoughts at Perhaps the Most Perilous Time in World History (tags)
anti-war
The Generational Contract is not the Problem (tags)
The battle is between poor and rich, not young against old. In Germany, the political reforms of the past twelve years r4elieved the wealthy and employers. The top tax rate and corporation taxes were lowered. Then the low-wage sector was developed.
Why Chavez Won BIG! A Comparison Between the Presidential Elections in the U.S. and Venezu (tags)
U.S. workers and those who are unemployed are frequently told that the current presidential elections are among the most important in this country’s history. With continuing high unemployment and underemployment, declining wages, and looming massive cuts to social programs that help workers, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, we are at a grave point regarding the direction of this country. However, the policies of both presidential candidates and their parties have perpetuated the devastating effects of the Great Recession for workers. Wall Street, the banks, the corporations, and the wealthy have been the beneficiaries of these policies while the only thing workers have received has been more sacrifices.
Banks, Bankers and Banksters (tags)
An unrestrained speculative capitalism emerged out of investment capitalism. New financing instruments are invented. Risks are trivialized or glossed over to soothe the population. Boundless indebtedness becomes the norm. The new age led to immediate profit eclipsing investment.
Expect Bolivarian Victory in Venezuela (tags)
elections
Is Capitalism Collapsing? (tags)
One of the causes for the obvious helplessness of the governments is that they function as simple receivers of orders of the financial industry. The financial industry has no interest in a policy that would make it liable for its inflicted disaster..
Cybercrime Prevention Law of the Philippines (tags)
As the country commemorates the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, the nation remembers the dark era of the dictatorship and honors the memory of those who fought to restore democracy. However, while the days of military rule are long gone, vestiges of its legacy have found its way to the present times. A case in point is the recently passed Cybercrime Prevention Law.
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.
agitate
Another Road for Europe (tags)
Europe is in crisis because it has been hijacked by neoliberalism and finance. Along the road to another Europe, visions of change, protest and alternatives have to be woven into a common framework. Finance should be prevented from destroying the economy.
Education and Democracy (tags)
education
Vancouver Canada has 23 community centers, some with swimming pools that can take your breath away. Learning from other cultures and countries is a sign of strength, not of weakness. Without a social contract we become wolves. Without public goods, the market economy fails.
Neoliberalism was the Godfather of the Financial Industry (tags)
Keynesianism was replaced by neoliberalism that guided the fallow investment capital into speculation.The development of social systems and the rise of real wages contributed to social peace and stabilizing the economic upswing by strengthening mass consumption.
The economic crisis, the massive indebtedness of the country and Obama's election have radicalized politics and voters. Ryan's budget proposal was recently described as a fairy tale that would in no way stop the economic decline. Others call his plan a joke.
In Service to Power: A First Read of Michelle Obama's Speech (tags)
As the U.S. sinks further and further into economic decline, with 23 million people unemployed or underemployed and one report after another detailing the everyday sense of dread the average working class family faces with a declining standard of living, cuts to education and vital services for those most in need, the tightly controlled spectacle called the Democratic National Convention featured First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday, September 4th. The convention appeared little different than parties built on the personality cult of the Great Leader upon whom all aspirations are placed. There was little to distinguish the Democratic National Convention from the gross rubber stamp party congresses of the old Stalinist parties, with functionaries clapping in approval, on cue, for popular consumption.
There is no democracy without economic democracy (tags)
Cooperatives would not have stratospheric executive pay or financiers getting fat by skimming off a large share of the pie — without the need to produce excess profits, the result would be reduced work hours, higher pay and more left over for investment and taxes to pay for social services.
The Social State: A Wondrous Promise (tags)
The social state is an instrument of social pacification. It was a reaction to the extreme social and political dislocations. While Europe sank into chaos and fascism, Roosevelt developed the social state in the US that was exported after the war to Western Europe.
Right to Rent and Social State as Prosperity Motor (tags)
The Scandinavian countries show that more social equality can be combined with more education and economic growth and less unemployment and poverty. Humanity is rich when wealth is shared.
Circus Shenanigans in Tampa (tags)
politics
BTL:Romney-Ryan: The GOP's Ticket to Slashing The Nation's Social Safety Net (tags)
Interview with Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, conducted by Scott Harris
Venezuela: Chavez set for win as campaign pushes socialist transformation (tags)
“It would be easier for 100 camels to pass through the eye of a needle than for [the capitalist class] to win the election”, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaking at the Caracas Municipal Theatre on August 15.
How Ryan’s votes in Congress reveal likely Romney-Ryan policy direction (tags)
The Republican Party Platform committee calls for a constitutional ban on abortion in the 2012 GOP Platform. The constitutional ban would make no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, according to the examiner.com.
VIDEO: "The People's Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan" (tags)
Eisenhower and Nixon refused to touch the third-rail of social security benefits. Bush crashed and burned in his 2005 attempt to privatize social security.
"The barbaric core of capitalist socialization is on full display in the present system crisis. The propagandists of totalitarian economism come in the mask of democrats. Economic-profitability thinking is imposed on society. Our society has long been viewed as a business."
Top academics rebel against State capture in favor of truth and ethical human rights. (tags)
Top academics rebel against State capture and discuss ethical approach to human rights,development, globalization to replace neoliberalism and omitted children's rights. Former emphasizes bottom-up, unleashes potential the latter is top-down, crushes potential.
How President Obama Created (tags)
Paul Ryan is suddenly a household name after becoming Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate. Before that, Ryan had only become right-wing leadership material in the last year, based on his proposed national budget that hacks away at the core of many national social programs, including Medicare.
The Capitalism of Hopelessness (tags)
Regulated capitalism reached its peak in the class compromise of the 1960s when representatives of workers could put the screws on the steamroller CEOs a little. The enemy and dynamic are lost to capitalism. Capitalism flows into a society without utopia and alternative.
Will 2012 be the Final Election of Lesser Evilism? (tags)
Just when the Obama campaign couldn’t appear any less inspiring, Paul Ryan was put forth as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Suddenly team Obama was supplied with enough political munitions to scare every last American over the possible Ryan destruction of Medicare, Medicaid, cuts to Social Security and the various other evils inherent in his proposed national budget. Consequently, many Liberals and Leftists across the spectrum are now focused on preaching the horrors of a Republican presidential victory and thus the necessity of re-electing Obama.
Paul Ryan's Socially Destructive Agenda (tags)
class war
Israel's Neoliberal Hammer Stikes (tags)
Israel
Chavez
class war
Support shown by UN,US,maybe NZ for ethical human rights approach to replace neoliberalism (tags)
A new idea, an ethical approach to human rights, development and globalization to replace neoliberalism, gives people a choice.The ethical human rights approach is being supported on the social networking sites by the US government, the UN while the NZ government maybe sympathetic.
Uncovering the Fracture of the System (tags)
Uncovering the fracture and the dislocations of this system, proposing changes and actively interfering is the optimistic side. The collective repression of problems is carried out to a spectacular extent. The welfare state and democracy cannot be separated.
Eroding Social Justice in Spain (tags)
class war
Dying for Justice in Israel (tags)
Israel
On Friday, July 6, President Obama signed into law a bill that would renew transportation programs and extend low interest rates on student loans for one year. While this minimal gesture resulted in, no doubt, sighs of relief from those burdened by student debt, tucked away within the bill's pages was a little-noticed proposal to further erode the funding of workers' pensions. The bill was a brilliant sleight of hand where what it appeared to be giving with one hand distracted the public from what it was taking away with the other.
For a European Anti-Crisis Front (tags)
Lowering the public debt burden is not an end-in-itself. Debts could serve to stimulate the economy and improve the living conditions of the victims of the crisis. Debt reduction must occur mainly by increasing the tax revenues (higher tax rates and combating tax evasion), not only by cuts.
Protesting Social Injustice by Self-Immolation (tags)
Israel
America's Left and Romney's Economic Agenda (tags)
Axel-Fair Schulz is a professor of political science at the State University of New York, Potsdam.
On one hand, industrial capitalism made possible those reforms that are part of democracy. On the other hand, owners of capital fear too much democracy. In the 1980s, the head of Volvo said: Sweden needs Volvo but Volvo doesn't need Sweden.
Israel: Land of Inequality and Injustice (tags)
police state
Venezuela: Interview with Rafael Uzcátegui (tags)
* Rafael Uzcategui is a member of the group that publishes the anarchist newspaper El Libertario in Caracas (Venezuela). As antimilitarist, he is also a member of the War Resisters’ International and works in a Venezuelan human rights NGO called Provea. He is author of the books “Heart of Ink” and “Venezuela: Revolution as Spectacle” in which he reports the so-called Bolivarian process of Chavez and the true face of his “revolutionary” government. Taking advantage of his conference tour in Germany, we interviewed Rafael for the magazine Gai Dao.
A Conversation Worth Having (tags)
The Nation magazine recently held a roundtable blog discussion that debated the effects of the failed Wisconsin recall. The discussion is important because of the seriousness of its subject. Such open and frank conversations have been sadly quite rare, so it is something of a credit to the Nation that they hosted this discussion.
Social Justice Protests in Israel (tags)
class war
"Occupy may have already accomplished more than the 68ers" (tags)
"In bad times, politics hearkens back to the simple, heavy-handed neoliberal thought model. Neoliberalism simply says what the rich and powerful like to hear. The trust and faith of the younger generations in the established system is broken.."
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!
Battles over Autonomy: The Commons Alternative (tags)
"The Commons is a way of reproducing society that opposes the market logic, puts in question private property, profit and competition and points to a future form of society beyond capitalism.. The Commons is not the solution but the change of perspectives that makes possible new solutions."
UK Uncut's London Street Party (tags)
The fire of youth will never be put out! The future must be anticipated and protected in the present, not extrapolated from the present (J.Moltmann). Private corporations occupy the government. This is destructive of democracy.
In the Towrope of the Financial Markets (tags)
"High growth has a well-known hook. Surpluses are only possible when natural resources from clear water to rare earth are available, when the energy supply is guaranteed and when the pollutant sinks are sufficient.. The debtors are now those states that had to become indebted.."
Imagining the Post-Occupy Social Movement (tags)
If one were to honestly assess Occupy's current strengths and weaknesses as a movement, confusion must be the inevitable result.
Internet, Social Media Upcoming Tools in Civil Unrest (tags)
The use of Internet and Social Media will become the important tools in the immediate future to wage political advocacy, militant activism, organizing and mobilizing protest actions that may lead to civil unrest as to initiate social change.
The trojan horse of Ron Paul-style libertarianism (tags)
Sweeping away government means that the “market” will determine all outcomes. The “market” would mean concentrated corporate power would decide all outcomes, especially economic outcomes. That is what libertarians, Ron Paul included, would deliver if they actually were handed power.
Social Justice on Trial in Canada (tags)
Canada
"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."
Debt Tribunal and Green Socialism (tags)
Qualitative growth, breaking out of the box of quantitative growth, is the key to solving mass unemployment, environmental destruction and trade imbalance. A job in education costs 1/10 what a job in a chemical dye plant costs. The media is part of a system that refuses change.
Bankers, Hear the Signals! (tags)
The people may freely elect their governors. But the game ends whenever they want to force a redistribution of social wealth-even if the economic system only functions with redistribution. Democracy is social action, not a gift or a state (of rest).
The Shortwave Report 05/18 Listen Globally! (tags)
A weekly 30 minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. 3 files- Highest quality broadcast, regular broadcast, and slow-modem streaming. Spanish National Radio, NHK Japan, Radio Havana Cuba, and the Voice of Russia.
The Loss of Respect of the Economic Elite is Enormous (tags)
The embedding of the market and the economy in the civil society is the challenge of the 21st century. Tax shelters or havens must be closed. The wealthiest 400 Americans have more wealth than 150 million people. Time for Plan B, alternative economics and reduced working hours!
Israeli and Palestinian Protests (tags)
Israel
Democracy, risk and liability are turned upside down when trillions bailout the banks and workers, pensioners and unemployed must pay the bill. We live from those who say No to corruption, to the state reduced to a trough or errand boy for the banks (Bill Moyers).
Occupy Wall Street's Act II (tags)
class war
Hope in Chch rebuild, ethical human rights despite all attempts to crush human potential. (tags)
Despite all attempts to crush human potential, the purging of 'tall poppies', social class/socio-economic (wealth) discrimination, suppression of 'bottom-up' development hope still remains with the ethical human rights, development and globalization to replace neo liberalism and massive rebuild following tragic earthquakes.
Cooperatives and the Good Life (tags)
The rights of businesses in exploiting resources end in the rights of nature according to the constitution of the bien vivir. This understanding of the person-nature relation surpasses the rationalist model of rule over nature realized in capitalism's globalized praxis. Art 395 of Ecuador's constitution affirms sustainability.
BTL:Farm Workers Union Co-Founder: Together Progressive Activists can Advance Social Justi (tags)
Excerpt of speech by Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus
Charting a path out of impasse for Greece, and other countries (tags)
Should Greece remain within the eurozone or should it return to the drachma?
Republican Paul Ryan's Budget: Cruel and Unusual Punishment (tags)
class war
German pirates set sail for change (tags)
Direct democracy storms parliaments
class war
MEXICO: Drug cartel targets woman journalist through online social media (tags)
(WNN) MEXICO CITY: In less than two months, two women journalists who covered drug-related violence have been killed in Mexico. Yolanda Ordaz a reporter for the Vera Cruz coastal newspaper “Notiver” and more recently, thirty-nine-year-old María Elisabeth Macías Castro, a reporter for the regional newspaper “Primera Hora”, based in the town of Nuevo Laredo located in northern Mexico close to the U.S./Texas border.
NGO Monitor Denies Truth for Israel (tags)
propaganda
Remembering Garda Ghista (tags)
activism
Escalating Syrian Tensions (tags)
Syria
Ethical human rights, development and globalization is needed to replace Neoliberalism (tags)
It is argued that top-down, bureaucratic neoliberalism threatens to seriously slow the rebuilding of Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, following devastating earthquakes. Instead an ethical human rights, development and globalization is needed.
Economics' sharpest critics regard it as an auxiliary science of astrology, a sect that sings its same little song. Classical authors like John Kenneth Galbraith are finally rediscovered. Exactness is impossible. The coming generation should be protected from mono-cultural ideology
Capitalism Doesn't Need Democracy (tags)
The minority of a minority have seriously damaged the public interest for personal enrichment. The community itself is culpable for not resisting its plundering.and choosing representatives that defend its interests.
Egypt amidst bloody military repression, Islamist reaction and workers’ struggles (tags)
After the killings at the soccer match on February 1 at Port Said (74 deaths, mainly among supporters of the Al-Ahly club of Cairo), the “ultras”, supporters of the teams from the capital whom, throughout the events of last year had fought many times the forces of repression, have accused the SCAF of premeditated killing
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.
Cornel West lectures on social justice; PD harasses occupier for flyering (tags)
February 1, 2012
POMONA - The prophetic voice of Cornel West was heard by hundreds of people this evening at Cal Poly Pomona. Dr. West lectured on self-knowledge, what it means to be human, suffering, and the Occupy movement's role in confronting social, civic, and economic death of our society, as well as its moral bankruptcy. The CSUPD, however, sent a different message when its agents silenced an activist by prohibiting him from handing out flyers.
The core of all western-individualist ideas of justice is the principle of personal responsibility. Everyone is responsible for the consequences of his/her actions. This motivates as well as disciplines. "We punish the virtuous and reward the squanderers."
Revolting, Occupying and Refusing (tags)
The demand for the commons goes far beyond de-privatization and aims at a social infrastructure of goods and services that everyone needs and to which everyone is entitled. The real economy that must be preserved hardly exists.
Venezuela – El Libertario #65: Opening up free spaces (tags)
The February-March 2012 issue of this voice for anarchist action and thought is out, as always committed to liberty and equality in solidarity since 1995. This issue includes the following:
Justice Before Efficiency (tags)
The market economy must be bound to the principles of a fully-developed civil society. More is involved than a belated redistribution. A citizen is basically a social being. To overcome feudalism, precedence must be given to human- and civil rights over the power based on property.
Whatever we think of the Democratic Party, like it or not, in the current political emergency, we are going to HAVE to align with them and vote for every Democrat on the ballot over every Republican — not because the Democrats are that progressive but because the Republicans plan a sweeping Right-wing revolution comparable to the changes Germany went through when Hitler took power in 1933, and the Democratic Party is one essential vehicle we will need to use to stop them.
imperialism
Direct Representation for Taxation (tags)
This article proposes a new system of taxation, in which the taxpayer decides how his/her tax money should be spent. This takes the power of representation away from representatives in the Congress who are ONLY responsive to billionaire donors and corporations.
"Nature and people are `fictional commodities. When they submit completely to market mechanisms and when markets are not regulated, this leads to people dying who don't find buyers for their labor power..."
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.
Jrnal of Aesthetics & Protest- editorial towards occupying everything (tags)
Issue 8 of the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest is out. Our forward, recently written but conceived in the afterglow of the 2009/2010 UC occupations looks into the broad strategy of occupying everything.
Raul Zelik and Elmar Altvater discuss the nature of utopia, economics, how growth and work become fetishes, how what is rational in micro-economics can become irrational in macro-economics, time prosperity and how Marx recognized the contradictions in capitalism.
The Way to Revolt: Appropriating Knowledge (tags)
We must go beyond ourselves. Enlightenment is the exodus of the person from lack of come-of-age existence of his/her own making. Have the courage to use your own intelligence! (Kant) We have to find our way back to social community, morality, ethics and conscience.
Ron Paul's Anti-Progressive Agenda (tags)
elections
State of Human Rights in Israel (tags)
Israel
Obama Year Three: Continuing His Rogue Agenda (tags)
police state
Social Justice Schools Conference by CEJ and PEAC February 2012 (tags)
What does real school transformation look like? How will we win? Real transformation is rooted in the communities that schools serve, respect the rights of all school employees, and is fully funded.
Holiday Season Hypocrisy (tags)
consumerism
Medicare Privatization Plans (tags)
Medicare
Destroying the American Dream (tags)
class war
San Antonio sugar mill maintains historic tradition of commitment with its collaborators (tags)
Some prestigious mass media have recently informed about the situation of public health faced by agricultural workers affected by Chronic Renal Insufficiency (CRI) in Central America´s Pacific region, a problem that worries society in general. Unfortunately, in light of the uncertain origin of the disease, sometimes inaccuracies are incurred in the search for culprits and not solutions.
Alternative for the Euro Zone (tags)
In a new study, leftist economists from a dozen EU countries criticize the policy of the German government in the Euro crisis. Its analysis and the proposed solutions are wrong. The state deficits are not the cause of the crisis. The financial crisis caused the state deficits.
Beyond the Homo Economicus (tags)
The Homo economicus is a kind of calculating machine on two legs that incessantly calculates personal benefits and profit. His conduct follows the model of rational expectations. Incursions of the state will make possible more social equality.
human rights
New Report on Israel Restricting Free Expression and Assembly (tags)
Israel
Occupation, Liberation, and Overcoming Contradictions Among the 99% (tags)
Which way forward for the Occupy movement and ideas on how to get there by embracing decolonization.
Occupy UC Davis Supports Resolution Opposing Democrat-Republicans (tags)
A child shall lead them and the Occupy UC Davis students have shown the way with a resolution supporting breaking with the Democrat-Republicans. The resolution is here.
Urgent Call To Save the Occupation: Stay Up All Night (tags)
Occupiers call for all-night block party and vigil tonight to save the Occupation
Bipartisan Deal to Slash Medicare and Medicaid (tags)
class war
Coming: Big Austerity Cuts (tags)
class war
Commons - Taking Charge of Things (tags)
The capitalist market economy develops more and more into a crisis economy. Capitalism is not a totality. Everything we need has never been transacted over the market, for example the whole informal economy in developing countries and the unpaid work in families.
Neoliberalism as Greatest Error in the History of Economic Thought (tags)
Efficiency and prosperity can only be realized on capitalist markets when the economic system is bound in a social order under the primacy of politics. Democratic legitimated politics and the provision of public goods is derived from the "anatomy of market failure."
Supercommittee Strikes Out (tags)
debt crisis
Beyond Possessive Individualism (tags)
Shrinking the financial sector and abandoning neoliberal myths are vital to prevent the next crisis. The authors, German Young Socialists in their 30s, decry the myths that incomes are just, self-interest leads to public interest and economics and politics are separate.
class war
War: The Wrong Jobs Program (tags)
Alternative Currency: Let The Era Of Global Prosperity Commence (tags)
Designed on the principle of 'Free Currencies – Free Markets – Free People – Free Planet', on 13 November 2011, the long-awaited Crom Alternative Currency System has finally been opened – in many ways a unique combination of a social network and payment system.
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.
The Future of the Social State (tags)
The extended family as a kind of "self-help group" replaces the social state in the backward-oriented utopia of liberal-conservatism. Nothing hurts families more than the "rebuilding" or dismantling of the social state and the marketing of interpersonal relations.
Occupy America for Change (tags)
class war
The One Percent Turns Class War into Generational War (tags)
The cost of making social security solvent for 75 years amounts to 0.58% of the GDP. The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars amount to three times as much. The cost of transferring wealth to the top 1% over the past thirty years is 6% of the GDP or 10 times as much as social security cost.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, Engels, and the Theory of Socialism (tags)
The theoretical foundations of socialism as put forth by Frederick Engels in his book Anti-Dühring are still valid today and schould for the basis of the OCW movements around the world.
BTL:Failure of Congressional Super Committee May Be Best Outcome to Protect Social Safety (tags)
Interview with Eric Kingson, co-director of Strengthen Social Security Campaign, conducted by Scott Harris
Video: Robert Pollin onOccupy Movement and Demands (tags)
Social justice, solidarity and sharing open doors while unrestrained deregulation leads to exploding inequality and generalized insecurity.
Obama's Legacy of Shame (tags)
class war
The Way Forward for Occupy Portland (tags)
In Portland, Oregon, all the promise and pitfalls of the Occupy Movement are on public display. Portland is second only to New York when it comes to sustained Occupy power, but in a newly born social movement strength is not something to take for granted. The vast amounts of public support in Portland, earned through large demonstrations and strategic outreach, can be frittered away by the internal contradictions of the movement.
Call Your Senator at 1-866-251-4044 to Save Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (tags)
We the 99% are outraged that the 1%, represented by mostly their fellow 1% members, the US Congress, are considering, through their Super Committee, to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. You can stop it now by calling 1-866-251-4044 where you will be connected to your US Senators. For more information, see strengthensocialsecurity.org
Anti-Democratic Knesset Bills (tags)
Israel
Occupy Wall Street and its sister movements, including Occupy San Diego, have dramatically changed the terms of political and economic debate in the U.S. Before they arose, it looked like the only choices the American people would be given to understand the disaster that has befallen them in this nation's economic collapse was the mild pro-corporatism of the Democratic Party and the ardent, Ayn Randian pro-corporatism of the Republicans and the Tea Party. What's more, so far the Occupy protesters have shown an ability to learn from the Left's past mistakes, pattern their movement after the American Revolution (as the Tea Party did) and junk the hideously unworkable process of consensus decision-making.
Performance-Oriented Society and Basic Income (tags)
The acquisition and accumulation of wealth are based on many natural and social conditions. Many societies and generations worked so today's possibilities of acquisition exist. The so-called performance justice is often only a veil for great injustices.
Israeli-Style Peace and Justice (tags)
Palestine
Social Justice Occupations Head Everywhere (tags)
social justice
Stop the Machine Occupies Washington (tags)
social justice
We Pay for Their Crisis (tags)
Making a game sound appealing whose frauds are obvious is increasingly hard for the governments. The neoliberal vision was always a society of the asocial. The categorical imperative of neoliberalism was always an open and cynical attack on the working class.
Rage Against Wall Street Crooks (tags)
Wall Street
Is Capitalism Devouring Its Children? (tags)
The state was extorted by the banks. Bailing out the banks was regarded as without alternative..Rating agencies should become public institutions and system-relevant banks dismantled. Growth- and stability funds should be established as the credit-givers of last resort.
State-Sponsored Murder: Official US Policy (tags)
police state
Economic Leadership and direction (tags)
economic plan
The Capitalism of Hopelessness (tags)
The capitalism of hopelessness is a capitalism where the enemy is lost, where capitalism can no longer fulfill its promise of prosperity for the people as in the 1960s and where capitalism neutralizes all utopian energy and alternatives. Public jobs must be created in the emergency.
Solidarity Hall Matching Fund (tags)
Local person offers to match donations to IMC with a larger donation to Solidarity Hall.
Our economic system has no future (tags)
A sustainable future requires facing the realities of waste and speculation. The economy should be a part of life, not a steamroller crushing creativity and self-determination. The economy should serve humankind, not vice versa.
Israeli Oppression Continues While Talking Peace (tags)
police state
The World is Out of Joint (tags)
The financial crisis has become a state debt crisis. "The rise of democracy was not possible without the social and legal civilizing of capitalism. The deregulation euphoria of democratic governments made possible the incredible ascent of the financial oligarchy."
Lawlessness and Injustice Define America and Israel (tags)
rogue states
Video: Countdown with Keith Olbermann - Bernie Sanders (tags)
Social security is life and death for millions. Raising the cap from $106K would make social security solvent for 75 years. The president must raise revenue, strengthen the infrastructure and create jobs.
Activists Discuss Debt Debate, Wonder How We Let Right Control It (tags)
Congressmember Bob Filner, San Diego labor leader Lorena Gonzalez and three other speakers appeared as part of a panel convened by Activist San Diego for their regular meeting August 15. The ostensible purpose was to discuss the recent debate in Washington over raising the nation's debt ceiling, but it soon turned into a discussion of how the Right managed to take over the debate, frame it the way they wanted and get virtually everything they wanted -- including promises of large cuts in government spending that will only worsen the economy and risk not only a double-dip recession but an outright depression. Filner talked not only about President Obama's willingness to concede the domestic agenda to the Republicans but his and the Democrats' Congressional leaders utter unwillingness to end the unaffordable wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Manifesto of Appalled Economists: The Shocked and the Outraged (tags)
Tax cuts for the super-rich and corporations promised economic growth and more jobs but produced exploding inequality and generalized insecurity. The US faces a revenue crisis and a war spending crisis. Tax cuts, wars and bailouts of banks and firms caused massive US deficit.
The Game with Ignorance and the Growth Panacea (tags)
A world wide economic and financial order decays to a pure end-in-itself and no longer serves people. A system build on an ideology in which everything-even the person-becomes a product is legitimated by apologists who trivialize derailments of social life as "normal."
economy
Netanyahu Spurns Social Justice Demands (tags)
class war
New York Times Disinformation, Denial and Suppressing Vital Truths (tags)
media lies
Israeli Social Justice Protests Continue (tags)
class war
Riots Across Britain: Perhaps More Than Meets the Eye (tags)
class war
Sustaining Protest Energy in Israel (tags)
social injustice
The Greatest Depression (tags)
economy
Escalating Israeli Street Protests (tags)
class war
economy
Israeli Street Protests: Suppressed by US Media (tags)
class war
class war
Hard Right Extremism in America and Europe (tags)
fascism
Bipartisan Debt Deal Betrayal (tags)
class war
Israel: Rogue State Land of Inequality (tags)
inequality
America's Media: Dancing Around the Budget Debate Charade (tags)
corporate medias
class war
PHILIPPINES: Absent major policy reforms, there will be no social transformation (tags)
President Aquino?s communication advisers said the President?s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) will focus more on ?social transformation?. What would that mean in real sense, however, largely depend on how Filipinos would view their lives today and in the immediate future. And for the Filipino masses who have been used to hearing nice words from their leaders, this new buzzword assumes no meaning at all unless accompanied by major policy reforms.
America: Heading for Tyranny and Impoverishment (tags)
scoundrel government
The Social Contract and the Kingdom of God (tags)
When the social contract disappears, we become wolves to each other. The tradition of prophetic socialism emphasizes the reign of God as the imperative for peace, justice and preservation of nature. Utopia is not a different world but a better world (Christoph Blumhardt).
The Fix Is In: Washington's Planned Social Contract Destruction (tags)
economy
BTL:"Gang of Six" Senate Debt Ceiling Deal Would Make Deep Cuts to Social Security Benefit (tags)
Interview with Eric Kingson, co-director of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, conducted by Scott Harris
Michele Bachmann: Way Out There in the Blue (tags)
extremism
Social and Economic Inequality in Israel (tags)
rights
Denying Palestinian Children Education (tags)
state terror
Video: Debt Ceiling Debate "Fraud" (tags)
David Swanson: Polling shows majority of Americ ans want to tax the rich and cut the military before cutrting social programs.
A Memorandum to the President of the Philippines (tags)
MEMORANDUM FOR President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) FROM : Your boss, the Filipino people SUBJECT : Your job evaluation and our recommendation
Debt Ceiling Debate Charade Masks Planned Entitlement Cuts (tags)
criminal plan
BTL:Obama Adopts GOP Agenda, Offers Deep Cuts in Social Safety Net Programs to Get Debt Ce (tags)
Interview with Richard Eskow, senior fellow with Campaign for America's Future, conducted by Scott Harris
The Crisis of Financial Market Capitalism as a Challenge for the Left (tags)
The crisis of neoliberal financial market capitalism broke out in its center and has one central systemic cause. This crisis was triggered by the independence of the financial sphere... A solidarity mixed economy, democracy and peace are alternatives.
Health Care in Cuba and America (tags)
health care
Globalization and Media (tags)
Media theory starts from the idea that a changed media technology changes society and builds new communities. For the first time, the reader or recipient can also be a sender. The net opens up the horizon of democracy beyond constitutional and representative democracy.
Attack on Democratic Traditions (tags)
The situation of the US public budget is really dramatic. This indebtedness is the result of excessive military spending and the neoliberal policy launched at the beginning of the 1980s. A progressive counter-movement in the form of a broad Obama coalition is emerging.
JOSE RIZAL & PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY (tags)
JUNE 12, marking the independence of the Philippines from the Spanish empire, would not have been realized without the martyrdom of countless Filipinos foremost of whom is Jose Rizal. Andres Bonifacio, the leader of the Katipunan rebellion, honored Rizal's memory by using his name as a shibboleth. But the neocolonial politicians today have only fulfilled Rizal's nightmare that the slaves of yesterday will be the tyrants of today. This essay pays homage to Rizal on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Akbayan to PNoy: leave lasting legacy, finish agrarian reform (tags)
Three days before the commemoration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform law (CARL), advocates who campaigned for the extension and improvement of the law banded together to call on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to finish the just distribution of all agricultural lands.
Education of the Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
The school system should not only produce students with a narrowed economic view. Society consists of more than the sum of benefit-maximizing individuals.An economic system with fewer income differences, regulated financial markets and welfare state brings greater stability.
On the Chopping Block: Federal Worker Pensions (tags)
fascism
"Beyond Growth" congress in Berlin, May 20-22. 2011 (tags)
A "Beyond Growth" congress will be held in Berlin, May 20-22. 2011. The driving forces of growth, the limits of growth, the crisis of the work society, an economy beyond growth, justice and the globalized world, sharing and the good life will be discussed.
New Zealanders must ?speak out? about omitted human rights or be reduced to mere ?numbers? (tags)
NZ has been taken over by an anti-human rights philosophy, 'discriminatory collectivism, which aims to destroy individual and collective potential yet human rights regards the individual as a person (and spiritually has a 'name').
Food Sovereignty Tour + Agroecology Short Course in Venezuela ? July 10-22 (tags)
You are invited to participate in a study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements and social change in Venezuela, July 10 to 22
Economics as Brainwashing and Careerist Gets the Job (tags)
The self-regulating market and stgylizing all problems as exogenous, not endogenous are fatal myths as proven by Enron, Tepco, Citigroup and all corporate tax cheats. Can the real economy survive when financial profits amount to 40% of all profits? Viva economic learning!
The Worldwide Austerity Madness (tags)
What is obvious is still not recognized. Countries like Greece, Ireland and probably Portugal cannot be revitalized without changing the terms of their debts. Austerity programs are exacted which are inhuman and counter-productive.
San Diego Hosts Three May Day Rallies (tags)
San Diego hosted no fewer than three rallies on Sunday, May 1 — one between the Centro Cultural de la Raza and World Beat Center in Balboa Park, followed by a march to the Federal Building downtown where the second rally was held, and a third at the San Diego Community Concourse that united the participants with another set of marchers, who had assembled earlier in the morning in Chicano Park, also for a walk downtown. The rally speakers focused on a wide variety of progressive issues — workers’ rights, education cutbacks, health care, immigrants’ rights, war and peace, Queer liberation — and attempted to draw connections between them and psych the participants for the long struggle ahead to preserve and extend those rights in the face of a relentless assault on them by the radical Right.
We live on credit, shift costs and risks into the future and make possible a prosperity with the help of a policy of cheap money that is paid for by others. An interest-free money system would be a counter model to the growth pressure inherent in the present system.
Republicans Win Without a Shutdown (tags)
The first fight over the federal budget in 2011 is over, and the Republicans have won. For at least the past 30 years Republican ideas — that government is bad, that the private sector is always more efficient than the public sector, that wages and benefits need to be cut to make America's workers "competitive" with the rest of the world, and government spending needs to be cut even if it risks turning the current recession into a full-fledged depression — have ruled. Progressives need to understand the depth of the Republicans’ triumph in order to begin the task of reversing it.
Obamanomics: Waging War on American Workers (tags)
exploitation
Causes and Consequences of the Financial Crisis (tags)
The neoliberal restructuring and globalization of capitalism has led to states becoming the spoils of financial capital. The neoliberal program is enforced with the help of states. Governments only react to the conditions set by the economically powerful. This is the end of politics.
Obama Again Capitulates (tags)
sellout
Republican Plan to End, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (tags)
ending vital rights
Tepco is the End of the Market Economy (tags)
Tepco operated antiquated nuclear reactors and glossed over the hard of a meltdown. The Japanese government will probably nationalize the firm since it cannot pay a fraction of its liabilities. What lessons do we learn? Should the public sector be expanded? We are all Wisconsin
Nicaragua Sugar y Compañía Licorera (Grupo Pellas) distribuyen útiles escolares (tags)
Cada año, al inicio de clases, empresas del Grupo Pellas apoyan con material escolar a miles de niños
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.
Multiple Social Security numbers linked to President Obama - initial Fraud in Litigation (tags)
The case is characterized by the relatively simple underlying facts and law. The Chief Judge of the US District Court in Washington DC Royce Lamberth may proceed to dismiss the complaint under pretense of judicial review. However, the practice of pretense litigation undermines any remaining credibility of the US justice system.
Venezuela's New Social Responsibility Law (tags)
media
Basic Income: The Way out of a Sick Society (tags)
Without the social contract, we become wolves to one another. Without the social contract, the state becomes a trough for the super-rich. Basic income could enable everyone to participate in social, economic and political life. Without vision, the people perish.
The Prophet and the Professor (tags)
Liberation theology insists the poor are our teachers and the church is not an end-in-itself. The church that serves itself is different than the church that serves the world. The church that wants to return to the 19th century with little interest in social issues is a caricature.
For Human Dignity - The Creation of a Citizen Income (tags)
The Arab peoples hold a mirror up to us. The Arab revolution is a helping hand. A citizen income would be a fresh start to rebuild our public services that lie in ruins today. The omnipotence of the state and the omnipotence of the market must be overcome.
Dancing With Dynamite --An interview with Ben Dangl (tags)
Video-interviewed by Angola 3 News this week while touring the SF Bay Area with his new book Dancing With Dynamite (AK Press), author Benjamin Dangl argues that “because South American social movements have been so successful in the past decade, I think it is important to learn and understand what’s been successful and to apply those strategies and tactics here, where we are facing very similar challenges.”
World March of Women in the Philippines (tags)
Today, women in the Philippines and all over the world gather in different places and spaces to show our collective strength and make our collective voice heard as we speak out our sufferings, challenges, triumphs and aspirations. Our voices are joined together as we resist the abuses and marginalization wrought upon us by economic policies that discriminate against giving women productive employment, just wages and benefits at the workplace, and opportunities for livelihood and income; by societies that allow, or even promote, violence to be committed against women with impunity; by governments and public institutions that turn a blind eye to the human rights of women.
The End of the Long 20th Century (tags)
The US no longer has the necessary financial means to maintain its worldwide military machine (which now drives the US deeper in indebtedness to the international financial markets). The failure of the Project for a New American Century shows the US has not succeeded in subjecting the world
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.
Wisconsin Labor Leads 2d American Revolution (tags)
One year ago, on March 4, California students and teachers had a one-day strike for education, but nothing has improved because we did not have a general strike. Today, Wisconsin workers are striking and protesting the planned Democrat-Republican attack on the workingclass so as to maximize the profits of the capitalist class. The whole country should join this 2d American Revolution with all deliberate speed.
Obama's Anti-Populist Budget (tags)
neoliberalism
Venezuela’s Social Movements: Autonomy’s Difficult Path (tags)
* On November 2010, in the Spanish city of Cordoba, during the celebrations of the Centennial of the historical anarcho-syndicalist union, the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), a Round Table discussion about Latin America’s social movements took place. A representative of El Libertario was present and delivered the following report.
Movimientos sociales en Venezuela: en el arduo camino de la autonomía (tags)
* En noviembre de 2010, en la ciudad andaluza de Córdoba, se realizó una Mesa Redonda sobre movimientos sociales latinoamericanos como uno de los actos por el centenario de la Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, la histórica central obrera del anarcosindicalismo ibérico. El Libertario estuvo presente en ese evento, con la ponencia que aquí se resume.
"Globalize the Struggle, Globalize the Hope!" (tags)
No to market-based business deals proposed by the governments of industrialized countries and transnational corporations, the thousands of solutions to the climate crisis are in the hands of the people.
A powerful wave of anger among the poor and unemployed Arab masses shakes the young, voracious and brutal capitalism of the North African and Middle Eastern countries supported by the old and bloody capitalism in Europe and America. Anticipation of a social wave that can only be resolved in favor of the vast majority of the population by the emergence of the proletarian class.
Los Angeles School District works with ACLU to deny teachers’ seniority rights (tags)
On January 21, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Highberger stripped teachers employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) of certain seniority rights, allegedly to stanch the loss of young, quality teachers at inner-city schools. If the order is upheld on appeal, the LAUSD can lay off higher paid veteran teachers without regard to their years of service, in violation of collective bargaining provisions that have been in effect for decades. At the same time, there are more than a dozen billionaires living in Los Angeles, and dozens more who measure their wealth by the hundreds of millions.
Reagan Revisionism: Planned Centennial Commemoration Hoopla (tags)
revisionism
America after the Attempted Assasination (tags)
For three decades, incomes and assets were increasingly unequally distributed in the US. While economic output increased 60% from 1990-2008, median income only rose 10%. All governments since Reagan's first term drove this development with their tax cuts, subsidies and neglect of educ.
Oppose Brown’s cuts in California! Education must be a social right! (tags)
In his latest budget, California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, is proposing drastic cuts that will affect the lives of students and workers throughout the state, including $1.4 billion in cuts to higher education. The net wealth of the 19 richest Californians is more than ten times the entire amount of proposed budget cuts!
The End of the "Golden Age" of Capitalism and the Rise of Neoliberalism (tags)
"The central point is that the financial sphere has the potential of developing into an autonomous subsystem of the whole economy with an enormous capacity of self-expansion..Like cancer, it has no internal control mechanism. It can only be brought under control by external interventions"
Why Tunisia Changed the World (tags)
Tunisia woke up the Middle East with a thundering yawn. After years of domination by western-backed tyrants, the working people of the Arab world are rising from slumber. Once fully awake and aware of their surroundings, they'll shake off the influence of the western nations with a collective flick of the wrist. The elites of the Middle East and their western benefactors are petrified. The revolution in Tunisia deposed of two Presidents in 48 hours, and the vast energy of the people has already spilled over its borders, immediately affecting the politics of Algeria, Jordan, and Egypt. The Guardian reports:
FBI Repression: Nine More Subpoenaed - Call for J25 Actions (tags)
Twenty three anti-war, social justice activists - mainly from Minneapolis and Chicago, have received subpoenas demanding that they testify before a Grand Jury on January 25th about their political activities. Many are refusing to comply. Coordinated protests are set in many cities across the country on the day of the Grand Jury proceedings.
Waging War on American Workers (tags)
targeting the middle class
LULA AND THE SAD RESTART OF BRAZIL (tags)
Brazil that the USA created with the coup d'état of 1964 continues alive and assets.
The Attack of Corporations and the Rich on the Rest of Society (tags)
In the last decades, wealth has concentrated in a few hands. The increasing inequality does not offend us; this inequality is the result of an active policy. The rich prevail; they are subsidized and relieved from contributions to the social infrastructure while social benefits are cut.
The history of the crisis of the western world that we all experience more or less consciously or unconsciously (or partly ignore) is a history of boundless lobbylism, political corruption, market fetishism and unbroken faith in growth..Economic theories were and are children of their time.
The U.S. social and economic landscape is rapidly changing. Inequalities in wealth, which began an upward ascent back in the 1980s, accelerated in the 1990s. Now they are flying off the charts, thanks first to the tax cuts ushered in by Bush II and second to Obama’s recent continuation of those tax cuts, plus more, which have the effect of taking from the working class and poor in order to give to the rich.
The Nation joins the campaign against Julian Assange (tags)
“Feminist opinion—as the Assange case and the Polanski affair before it have demonstrated—has become one of the means of legitimizing the suppression of nonconformists and political dissidents, and of changing the subject from the great social issues, above all, class oppression and social inequality, to stale and self-pitying concerns. Those supervising the attack against Assange are no doubt congratulating themselves on its clever design. Mounting it in the guise of a campaign against the sexual molestation of women… how else could such a filthy operation, with its threat of a sweeping assault on democratic rights, be mounted and even legitimized today? The powers that be know the Pollitts of this world, and the Nation. The magazine’s editor, Katrina vanden Heuvel, is, after all, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading ruling class think tank whose membership has included numerous CIA directors, along with dozens of US generals and admirals.”
Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (tags)
The Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress has been created at the beginning of 2008 on French government's initiative.
CRAZY-BEAUTY CAPITALISM (tags)
Is the fashion of the moment to criticize the government? Why not to do this with profit?
Rising Poverty in America and Israel (tags)
mostly unreported
Scientists Say We Need Power and Corruption (tags)
Without corruption law enforcement might not be as efficient some scientists say.
Chavez Given Enabling Law Power (tags)
legal in Venezuela
Social Injustice in Israel (tags)
the data will surprise most people
Announcing 40 Scholarships in Authentic Journalism in Mexico, May 2011 (tags)
Ten Days of Intensive Training in Central Mexico: Video Production, Investigative & Online Reporting, and Movement Strategies for Journalists
341-48 for Obama's $725 Billion War Bill Without Debate (tags)
On 12/17/10, the day after supporting Democrat Obama's destruction of Social Security and continuation of tax cuts for the rich, the US Congress again joined Democrat Obama in attacking the workingclass by voting 341-48 for Obama's $725 Billion war bill without debate, all to make the rich richer.
Afghans: Victimized by Conflict, Occupation, Extreme Deprivation and Genocide (tags)
relentless imperial wars
Obama Destroys Social Security (tags)
Democrat Obama, with the support of 138 Republicans and 139 Democrats in the House, for a vote of 277 to 148 on HR 4853, Roll Call 647, and a vote of 87 to 19 in the Senate, Roll Call vote 276, won passage of his tax cuts for the rich bill, destroying Social Security by cutting the payroll tax for Social Security by 2%, which will not be restored in 2012, an election year, when the cut is due to expire.
The Silence of Economists (tags)
In 1936 Keynes was the first established economist who explained how a free enterprise system in no way realized a state of balance by itself. The state must take an active role in crisis times to prevent an economic downswing ending in a catastrophe.
US Senate 1st Vote to Destroy Social Security 83-15 (tags)
Democrat Obama's tax cut deal with the Republicans to destroy Social Security and make the rich richer had its first vote in the US Senate, supporting his program, 83-15 with 2 abstentions, on 12/13/10, Vote No. 272, related to HR 4853.
The Crisis, Money and Us (tags)
"One we had a coordinated social market economy. This `Rhine' capitalism embodied the insight gained in bitter experience that totally freed markets are self-destructive. This insight was lost somewhere between Friedman and Hayek, Thatcher and Reagan.."
On the Chopping Block: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (tags)
cutting entitlements
The neoliberal growth strategy ofr reducing the price of labor led to a system change from Keynesianism to neoliberal capitalism. Neoliberals never sought full employment. Rather their policy aimed at the permanent division of society.
Animal studies indicate that cooperation is better than individualism.
Obama Cutting Social Security Funds in Deal to Extend Tax Cuts (tags)
To provide political cover for this giveaway to the rich, the plan includes an extension of federal long-term unemployment benefits for 13 months and a one-year reduction in the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. While this would temporarily increase paychecks for tens of millions, it would also deprive Social Security of $120 billion in funding. The White House said this shortfall would be made up through general revenue sources, but these have not been specified. [And probably do not exist.]
Seven Reasons Why the Economy Can't Recover (tags)
As the recession grinds on, politicians in most industrial countries have an incentive to make exaggerated claims about the supposed coming economic recovery. Some say the recession is over. Obama is in the group that claims we're on "the road to recovery,” while other nations can only spot recovery "on the horizon.” Below are seven important social phenomena that point to a more realistic economic and political outlook. 1) Central Banks are Dumbfounded. The usual tricks that U.S. and European central banks use to avoid recessions are long-exhausted. Interest rates cannot get any lower. And because cheap money wasn't working, the printing press was turned up a notch, into what the U.S. federal reserve calls quantitative easing -- injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the world economy, escalating an emerging trade war.
Challenging Obama's Anti-Progressivism (tags)
Obama serves wealth and power
US inequality and New Zealand, a human rights perspective (tags)
New Zealand has been given another chance to free itself from discriminatory collectivism while the US seems to be still battling with it. NZ was saved by the emerging truth of human rights omissions and one of life's miracles, the major Christchurch earthquake (no one killed).
Sanction Congress, Not One Member (tags)
high political crimes
Unconditional Basic Income - More than a Social-Political Concept (tags)
"Revolutions are very hard.. Sometimes holding fast to old structures will lead to the abyss. Then very high risks of a new beginning will be accepted to escape the far worse consequences of the collapse of the old structures." Basic income would prevent death from starvation.
50 million starving in USA; Corporate Profit Records Broken (tags)
While the capitalist class promotes its second celebration of genocide of Native Americans, the other being Columbus Genocide Day, with its orgy of eating food that is mass produced in a manner that is harmful to the food source and the consumer, 50 million Americans face hunger.
Who's Behind the Deficit Crisis (tags)
From the U.S. to Europe media and politicians are singing the same tune: "budget deficits must be drastically reduced -- by cutting social programs -- so that global bond investors do not threaten the economy." Not since the "war on terror" was announced has government policy been so shrouded in confusion and unanswered questions. In the same way we are not to ask how U.S. foreign policy has angered millions in the Middle East, we must remain equally silent about questioning the recent history behind the current "deficit crisis.”
Drop - Cultural Political Performance Event (tags)
Drop: An evening of live performance art, music, experimental sounds, culinary art, and fine art. Celebrating the intersections and collaborations of great creative minds.
Destructive Neoliberal Austerity (tags)
austerity, not stimulus coming
Video: FDR's New Deal: Social Security Act and National Labor Relations Act (tags)
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the Social Security Act and the National Labor Relations Act, the FDR presidential library hosts a public forum to explore in depth the year that Roosevelt transformed the mission of the New Deal.
BTL:Deficit Commission Co-Chairs Propose Deep Cuts to Social Security Benefits (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES - A four-time winner of the Connecticut Associated Press Broadcast Award for Best Feature in the non-commercial category, this syndicated, half-hour program provides a platform for individuals and spokespersons from progressive organizations generally ignored or marginalized by the mainstream media. Between the Lines covers a wide range of political, economic and social topics.
Class Warfare Jeopardizing American Workers' Security (tags)
waging war against vital social benefits
Obama Team's Deficit Cutting Proposal: Benefit the Few, Harm the Many (tags)
Obama's Robin Hood economics
The Democrats Prepare to Move Right (tags)
On the eve of the Republican-dominated mid-term election, working people were told to vote Democrat to prevent a "truly dangerous" Republican party from taking power. There is an element of truth in this: the Republican Party has been sprinting to the far right for decades, to the point where they are incapable of speaking sensibly about political issues. But in a close second place in this rightward scramble are the Democrats, who've spent decades racing into the arms of the corporations that dominate both political parties unchallenged.
"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.
Flying Is One of the Worst Things You Can Do for the Environment (tags)
Flying Is One of the Worst Things You Can Do for the Environment -- So Why Do So Many Well-Intentioned Folks Do It?
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.”
Franklin Roosevelt's Second Bill of Rights (tags)
his economic bill of rights
French Lessons for U.S. Workers (tags)
The world watches as France once again erupts in protests, demonstrations, and strikes. So much is at stake. If France's corporate-dominated government is able to increase the retirement age, other governments will be empowered to follow through with their plans to do the same. If labor, student, and community groups succeed in stopping the pension reform -- or toppling the government -- workers in other countries will likewise be inspired to fight back and organize in the French fashion.
Eight Theses on the New Culture of Work (tags)
Person-oriented work and labor-intensive work are vital in a post-industrial economy wrestling with decreasing resources. Work and security must be uncoupled like work and income. Reducing working hours is the only way to guarantee the right to work for all.
A courageous radical human rights agenda (tags)
The New Zealand government's response to the Christchurch earthquake was to assumed greater executive power to help the victims - necessary, in part, due to deficiencies in human rights law the same deficiencies which created a major tragedy at the bottom of the social scale over past 20 yrs.
BTL:As U.S. Poverty Rises, GOP and Tea Party Work to Undermine Social Safety Net (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
Immanuel Wallerstein's Worldview (tags)
important views
The Israeli Knesset's Anti-Democratic Agenda (tags)
Israeli repression
Manifesto of French Economists: Why We Are Shocked (tags)
On October 11 three million French workers were on strike against President Sarkozy's authoritarian attacks on social security and pensions. "Despite its obvious debacle, the neoliberal dogma is still regarded as the only correct economic system."
Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) Statement Against Political Police Raids (tags)
The WSA condemns this attack and the arbitrary power which it claims for the repressive agencies of the state. We should also note the hypocrisy of the state agencies who do not shrink from supporting or engaging in mass-scale terrorism abroad, while asserting arbitrary powers at home in the name of “anti-terrorism” and allowing domestic armed extremists to assist in policing the border in Arizona.
America's War on Food Not Bombs (tags)
eroding freedoms
Wrecking the American Dream (tags)
bipartisan supporting for anti-populism
Chavez wins a parliamentary majority
BTL:Corporate-Funded Tea Party: Repeal New Deal Government Programs (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
"Manufacturing Dissent": the Anti-globalization Movement is Funded by the Corporate Elites (tags)
"How is the process of manufacturing dissent achieved? Essentially by "funding dissent", namely by channelling financial resources from those who are the object of the protest movement to those who are involved in organizing the protest movement. Co-optation is not limited to buying the favors of politicians. The economic elites --which control major foundations-- also oversee the funding of numerous NGOs and civil society organizations, which historically have been involved in the protest movement against the established economic and social order. The programs of many NGOs and people's movements rely heavily on both public as well as private funding agencies including the Ford, Rockefeller, McCarthy foundations, among others. The anti-globalization movement is opposed to Wall Street and the Texas oil giants controlled by Rockefeller, et al. Yet the foundations and charities of Rockefeller et al will generously fund progressive anti-capitalist networks as well as environmentalists (opposed to Big Oil) with a view to ultimately overseeing and shaping their various activities."
"The “Great Transition” is meant to echo the phrase used by Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, the title of Polanyi’s important 1944 book describing the shift from the world of the commons to that of the total market order..."
Fear of Crash: Book Review (tags)
In "Crisis without Resistance," Werner Seppmann analyzes the "intimidation offensive of capital." "The attack on the living standards of wage-earners becomes an essential component of capital accumulation." Fear of falling is a reason for defensive conduct of crisis victims.
Community Centers as a New Beginning (tags)
With $1 billion, the US could build 4000 community centers at a quarter-million dollars each. The network of community centers in Vancouver Canada could be our model. Public spirit could arise to counter the exploding inequality.
The Harmony Project is a way for individuals and small groups to directly and positively change the world and themselves –– with a minimum of effort. It's a simple,uncomplicated and powerful way for individuals to positively change consciousness.
Miles de sonrisas gracias a la Responsabilidad Social de Nicaragua Sugar (Grupo Pellas) (tags)
Programa anual de atención buco-dental 2010 en comunidades del occidente del país
A Global Ecological Argument for a Basic Income (tags)
Erik Christensen is an associate professor of economics in Denmark.
Request for full investigation into 'unseen' major New Zealand tragedy and reply (tags)
I very much fear that America is following the same path as New Zealand. It is the 'truth' not power politics or the 'money grab' which will help overcome the climate of fear and hopelessness. Obama, I think, needs the assistance of some of the America's top thinkers and spiritual leaders.
Social Security for All (tags)
A Christian view of the person that insists on an undeserved right to life opposes a merciless system that produces more and more wealth for a few and forces more and more people into poverty. The narrowing of work to paid work must be broken by the new model of work for all.
Political Prisoners in America (tags)
many languish in US prisons
THE FICTION OF FREEDOM IN AMERICA (tags)
The servants of these investors and money "managers," like corporate executives and our elected - excuse the expression -representatives, look from the side, taking a payoff, as we get economically raped. This is designed to prevent wage "inflation" (that's a raise in the minimum, or any other, wage) by keeping unemployment high,
Worldwide Economic Crisis: Two Opposite Models as Answers (tags)
In a large part of the population, there is a consensus that capitalism has no answers to the great social challenges of social security, hunger and climate change. An alternative investment program (emphasizing children, culture and climate change) gives a long-term answer.
The Repressive Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (tags)
more evidence of Israeli lawlessness
Life after the Peak: Capitalism and the Market Economy (tags)
All over the world there are experiments with renewable energy, solidarity economies and non-profit economic forms. A growth acceleration law will be absurd when fossil energy runs out. We will need a growth de-acceleration law.
Dr. Steve Best on "The Left, Capitalism, and Animal Rights" (tags)
This is an excerpt of Jon Hoch interviewing Dr. Steven Best on April 29, 2010. To hear the entire interview, please see: http://negotiationisover.com/2010/05/11/an-interview-with-dr-steven-best-the-left-capitalism-and-animal-rights/
Mexico Bleeds: Free Media Against the Invisible Tyranny (tags)
We write to on behalf of the Ke Huelga, a free radio project in Mexico City which started in 1999 during a student strike. After 11 years of existence, we face a difficult situation because of interferences and government threats. This is why we have launched a campaign to inform and denounce about the actions against us. As a first step, we produced the text "Mexico bleeds". We invite you to read it and diffuse it.
Stop the Fascist Attacks on Immigants (tags)
A written a critical and sweeping analysis of SB 1070 that addresses not only what is at stake for immigrants and anyone who looks like an immigrant, but what’s at stake for society as a whole, and warns that long agreed upon social and legal norms in society are being shredded by this law. It digs deeply into the history of the U.S., whose rosy dawn was based on the genocide of Native Americans and the kidnapping and enslavement of African people. It reveals the larger economic pressures that compelled millions of undocumented immigrants to travel to the U.S. It analyzes the sharp present day polarization between the Republicans and the fascist and, yes, racist tea party followers, on the one hand, and the Democrats, on the other, and the reasons the Democrats are unwilling to call their social base into the streets. Most importantly, it speaks to the crucial need for resistance to SB 1070, why extreme times like these provide openings for advances to be made in preparing for revolution.
Responsabilidad Social del Grupo Pellas: Comunidades Sanas gracias a ANF y BAC (tags)
Miles se benefician con aporte a centros médicos y campañas de salud preventiva
VIDEO and Book Review: "The Long Emergency" (tags)
Maybe BP should finance the relocation of Gulf citizens. Do corporations and rights and responsibilities or are they extra-legal tyrants? Americans are also brave, resilient, compassionate, resourceful and adaptable.
VIDEO and Book Review: "The Long Emergency" (tags)
Maybe BP should finance the relocation of Gulf citizens. Do corporations have rights and responsibilities or are they extra-legal tyrants? Americans are also brave, resilient, compassionate, resourceful and adaptable.
Start Paddling or Get Outta Our Canoe (tags)
Homelessness in not the problem, it is the symptom of a warped societal structure. Land-grabbers took title of the land, and the people have to buy/rent from them. Land is not made available for dwelling untill 100s of dollars can be squized out of each square-foot.
Abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex --An interview with Criminal Injustice Kos (tags)
Focusing on the prison abolitionist movement, we interview two co-editors of an exciting new series at Daily Kos, called Criminal InJustice Kos, a weekly series "devoted to exploring the myths of 'crime', 'criminals', and criminal justice and the intersection of race/ethnicity/class/gender/sexuality/age/disability in policing and punishment. Criminal Injustice Kos is committed to furthering action towards reducing inequity in the US criminal justice system." Look for Criminal InJustice Kos every Wednesday at 6 pm CST.
The Case for War: The Iron Mountain Report (tags)
evidence of America's permanent war strategy
The Financial and Economic Crisis as a Normative Orientation Crisis (tags)
Prof. Ulrich presents three core theses: (1) Economics is not an end-in-itself but the means to the good life and human coexistence. (2) There is no "free" enterprise system free of ethical and political prerequisites. (3) The need for emancipatory economic citizenship rights.
Erich Fromm and His Proposal for a Basic Income (tags)
Philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm never abandoned his vision of a humanist non-estranged society where persons were not commodified or mere goods producers. His book "Having or Being" was written at age 76.
Deficit Hysteria: Wrongheaded in Times of Depression (tags)
proposed policies are wrecking economies
Stimulus or Austerity: the People vs. the Banks (tags)
The most powerful nations in the world met recently at the G-20 in Toronto and managed to agree on only one thing of significance: the need to reduce deficits, “half by 2013.” Implied by the statement is the need to lower deficits via “austerity,” meaning eliminating or reducing social programs. Why does every mainstream political pundit or corporate CEO fanatically agree that reducing deficits is the most important thing to do now? Let Obama explain:
Five years after a failure: FARE STRIKE! San Francisco 2005: First-Hand Accounts (tags)
A review of a not-too-terribly accurate account of an attempt at a mass "self-reduction" movement on a big city public transit system in the United States...and some ideas on how to avoid the mistakes we made...
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."
Competing Ideologies: G20 v. US Social Forum (tags)
state terror on Toronto streets
The future of the welfare state in the context of globalization - the German example (tags)
Following the political, social, economic and human catastrophes of the first half of the twentieth century and the liberation from fascism in 1945, there was broad consensus in Germany that the socio-economic reconstruction should move toward securing economic prosperity...
Philippine President-elect Aquino dared to reverse mom’s neo-liberal policies (tags)
MANILA, Philippines — Akbayan party-list Representative Walden Bello on Tuesday dared President-elect Benigno Aquino III to reverse his mother’s neo-liberal policies that he said have killed Philippine agriculture and industry.
Brazil’s 2010 Elections, Part 2: Dilma Rousseff (tags)
"If elected, Dilma would likely carry on many of the same policies that Lula has advanced. This means a strong role in the economy for state companies and the continued development of Brazil’s social programs. Dilma would also be likely to maintain Lula’s foreign policy strategy of creating alliances with other developing nations, especially China, India, and Russia, as well as the friendly outreach to bordering countries that has made Brazil the leading nation in South America. Dilma, like Lula, would probably be generally friendly towards the US and the rest of the first world, but she would probably also be unafraid to take an independent stance on many key issues. Brazil’s continued opposition to US plans for renewed sanctions against Iran is an example of the type of independent stance that Dilma would likely continue. She is also likely to continue Brazil’s push for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council."
Freedom is not an impossible dream (tags)
A New Zealand Tragedy
100 Filipino Organizations ask Aquino: Adopt pro-poor agenda (tags)
MANILA, Philippines—Some 100 non-government organizations from all over the country under the umbrella network of Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP or Dignified Life for All Campaign) are asking incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to adopt their pro-poor agenda.
MDS WORKSHOP-MEETING at the US SOCIAL FORUM (tags)
Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) hosts workshop-meeting at US Social Forum in Detroit, June 24th.
Venezuela: The jail bars will not silence people protest (tags)
* National and international campaign of epistolary solidarity with trade unionist Rubén González *
Coming Soon: Corporate Town halls Against Social Security (tags)
In the old days the U.S. government used different tactics to trick the population into accepting policies that only the elite wanted. For example, it took legions of hired speakers (propagandists) to travel the country and to explain to people the “necessity” of fighting WWI and WWII. Movie stars were put on the government payroll, too, dazzling and awe-striking working people into buying war bonds and constantly cheerleading the war effort. Not much has changed. Although the corporate-controlled media is a highly effective tool to influence the public to accept wars-for-profit (Iraq and Afghanistan), some policies are so unpopular they require the old tactics be revived.
Free from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (tags)
"The World Crisis and Beyond," 178p, "The Idea of Global Social Rights," 4p and "The Turmoil within the Elite, the Course of the Crisis and the Left," 4p
Can a Person Own HIs/Her Mother? (tags)
No one can own what exists in nature except nature. A human cannot own its own mother. However western ownership systems have been forced on us again and again that contradict our worldview and our values. Ubunto is another example: "I only live when you live."
Food Sovereignty Tour + Agroecology Short Course in Venezuela – July 19-Aug.2 (tags)
You are invited to participate in a two week study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements and social change in Venezuela, 19 July to 2 August, 2010. The tour will examine issues of land reform, urbanization issues, rural development and food sovereignty within a dynamic political context. Venezuela is an outstanding example of a country that strives to ensure its citizens’ right to food while bolstering its domestic agriculture sector, with an emphasis on organic practices and agroecology. We will also explore other areas of social transformation, including education, healthcare, and direct citizen participation in the political process.
Food Sovereignty Tour + Agroecology Short Course in Venezuela – July 19-Aug.2 (tags)
You are invited to participate in a two week study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements and social change in Venezuela, 19 July to 2 August, 2010. The tour will examine issues of land reform, urbanization issues, rural development and food sovereignty within a dynamic political context. Venezuela is an outstanding example of a country that strives to ensure its citizens’ right to food while bolstering its domestic agriculture sector, with an emphasis on organic practices and agroecology. We will also explore other areas of social transformation, including education, healthcare, and direct citizen participation in the political process.
Overcoming the Dominance of Finance Capital (tags)
Changing power relations means taking up the social and political struggle against finance capital and regaining control over social resources. Reversing the redistribution of income from top to bottom is a prerequisite for containing the money flows in the financial sector.
Greece: Blood and tears for the proletariat! (tags)
In order to resist the policy of blood and tears which the bourgeoisie inflicts on it, the proletariat has no other possibility than the resumption of the class struggle, starting with the rejection of anti-worker measures by the government and the calls for “national solidarity”, and for sacrifices “to defend the fatherland and democracy”.
The Rebirth of Economic Thought from the Ashes of the Crisis (tags)
Reagan announced the state was "the problem" for the functioning of the economy. State action could not solve economic problems. The latest reality of economic crisis thoroughly destroyed the neoclassical theses. The crisis showed its ideological limitation and conditionality.
Work- and Social Criticism in the Time of Capitalist Running Amok (tags)
The term social goes through a fundamental change of meaning. Earlier social described an obligation of society to its members. Today the little word social stands for the caring duty of members of society toward the capitalist machine
How Recessions Cause Wars and Revolutions (tags)
A quick glance around the globe reveals a ruined international economy, wars and more wars in the works, and revolutionary movements aplenty — all connected phenomena. No, the apocalypse is not coming; but the international economic system currently used to arrange the social order is crumbling, taking everyone down with it. The global capitalist system is in far worse shape than most people realize: it may only take the tiny economy of Greece to go bankrupt to break this camel’s back — and finally the word “recession” will be antiquated and “depression” will be in vogue.
Memorandums on Alternative Economic Policy (tags)
The social state, solidarity, sharing and social justice open doors while neoliberal deregulation leads to exploding inequality, generalized insecurity and disappearance of the public spirit.
The Economics Behind Immigration Reform (tags)
How convenient for Goldman Sachs. Just as most working people were demanding that the Goldman bosses and other Wall Street criminals either be massively fined, jailed or worse, the nation’s attention is suddenly forced to react to the racist immigration law in Arizona. And although the two incidents are not directly related, they represent a trend that is likely to increase in the months and years ahead.
For a Proletarian and Communist May 1st! (tags)
Workers! The general conditions of life and work have been deteriorating for years, becoming ever more intolerable.
Attac's Bank Tribunal: The Jury's Verdict (tags)
This crisis did not break out over society like a force of nature. Financial managers spread the legend that financial crises belong to capitalism as water belongs to the ocean and that euphoric phases of bubble formation and the bursting of bubbles come and go like the seasons.
This is not a social state any more (tags)
Building community centers (as in Vancouver BC), redistributing income and assets from top to bottom, reducing working hours, expanding the public non-profit sector and accepting housing, education and health care as rights not privileges would be important steps to a bright future.
The Chicago Conspiracy West Coast Tour 2010 (tags)
Social struggles, reclamation, occupation, and combatant youth culture in Chile. Film showing, photo exhibit, and discussion in LA in early May
Philippines' Election Campaign Ignores Real issues (tags)
The Global Economic Crisis: Riots, Rebellion and Revolution (tags)
"In the same month, the highest-ranking general in the United States, “Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ranks the financial crisis as a higher priority and greater risk to security than current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” He explained, “It's a global crisis. And as that impacts security issues, or feeds greater instability, I think it will impact on our national security in ways that we quite haven't figured out yet.”[22] Rest assured, they’ve figured it out, but they don’t want to tell you."
Fight for the Dream: Whoever has a vision can be a physician (tags)
Brave New Films presents "War on Greed" starring Larry the Loophole
Citizen Money as a Bold Social Utopia (tags)
"Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems." (Rainer Maria Rilke) Citizen money would guarantee a reasonable life for all. Citizen money challenges our social and cultural assumptions and uncouples work and income.
Website for South African Social Movements Research (tags)
The Centre for Civil Society Website an excellent resource for activists unionists & academics!
Californians Pretending to be Homeless (tags)
Bumrise (www-bumrise.com), the role-playing game where gamers play as a homeless beggar and roam the streets of New York looking for trash, collecting bottles and picking fights- is most successful in California. Especially in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the game has literally thousands of visitors and registered users.
There is only one economy (tags)
The stock exchange produces nothing. Speculations and bets do not create any assets, even if the daily stock market reports on television try to get us to believe the opposite. That the financial markets make themselves independent is the result of political decisions.
Hate Is Not A Family Value (tags)
Medical malpractice is a universal experience of torture victims. Dr. Steven Miles describes this terrifying trend in Oath Betrayed, America's Torture Doctors. "The news that the United States tortured prisoners in the war on terror has brought shame to the nation,..."
The Student Movement That Never Was (tags)
This past Fall and during some of the Winter there was a small social uprising along the West Coast primarily concentrated at higher education public universities. (Much information at: http://occupyca.wordpress.com
Protect Detroit and protect the nation. (tags)
"Protect Detroit and protect the nation. The following articles show what we’re up against. Also see reports on DemocracyNow.org (04/02/10)." "While the Mayor’s urban renewal plan has high-level backing, many have condemned it as a form of land-grabbing. I’m joined now by a vocal critic of the proposed downsizing of Detroit. Sharon “Shea” Howell is an activist and a professor of communication and journalism at Oakland University. She writes a weekly column for the Michigan Citizen."
Internet revolution in Venezuela and No Going Back (tags)
"There's an Australian journalist and documentary film-maker, John Pilger, who said that, 'What you're seeing is really an unprecedented propaganda campaign that's being waged against the Chavez government' – FF: It's a media war – KJ: It really is a media war. And I think if you go to Venezuela and see what the media says, this will become clear immediately. You often hear the claim that there is no freedom of speech and so on, but internally in Venezuela there are more than 50 daily newspapers and about 45 of those newspapers support the opposition and are constantly attacking the government everyday – including having front page headlines calling for the military overthrow of the government... Then you have those 4 newspapers that support the Bolivarian process; and then you have one newspaper that, you know, presents itself as being neutral. So, on the level of the print media, the opposition to the government is overwhelmingly dominant... A lot of the television stations are extremely hostile as well. The other important aspect to note is that, as a result of the Bolivarian process, you actually have a massive explosion of community media in Venezuela, in particular community radio stations in the Barrios...but also a number of community television stations and other independent media websites and so on. So this is like the first time where a lot of the grassroots groups and Venezuelan poor are actually getting to participate themselves in the production of the their own media; whereas prior to the Chavez government, they didn't have a voice in politics or the media."
COMMEMORATION DOS 25 YEARS OF BRAZILIAN MST WITH CAMP IN PARIS (tags)
Land reform in Brazil it commemorates 25 years.
Capitalism and Democracy (tags)
Citizens are protected from incursions of the state and on the other side must accept the sovereignty of the state and the general law as prerequisites of property and security. Whoever has visions should be the physician. A good physician will urge changing one's way of life.
Dueling Strategies in the Defense of Public Education, Part 2 (tags)
In Part I of this essay we looked at strategies in defense of public education that are referred to as “ultra-left,” meaning that they veer so far left that they sever ties with the working class and consequently lose all traction when it comes to influencing the movement. Here we will examine strategies that veer to the right, often ending up in the camp of opportunism, which means sacrificing principles and working class independence for the sake of quick but illusory gains. The interests of working people are subordinated to those of the capitalist class and the politicians who represent them, be they Democrats or Republicans. Finally, we will return to the question of how to proceed forward.
"Campaign against the Weak" (tags)
Social justice, solidarity and sharing opens doors. We have to do some rethinking. The social state does not create the problems that efficient workers are lacking and jobs for many are lacking. Mass unemployment is a social declaration: "We don't need you."
Preventing the State’s infiltration of social movements (tags)
*This article was originally published in El Libertario #58, March-April 2010. Although originally based on the actual experiences of Venezuela’s social struggles, it deals with situations and facts of interest to activists anywhere.
There Is No God — and He Can Prove It (tags)
There is no God, says 85-year-old author and ex-Roman Catholic Horacio Hanson — and he can prove it. That’s the claim he makes in his self-published book There Is No Creator: Religion Is a Fraud: What Now? — a title he readily admits is a deliberate in-your-face challenge to believers — and repeated when he spoke about it to the San Diego Humanist Association at the San Diego Public Library downtown on March 13. After noting that the worst insult in the Arabic language is, “May God deprive you of your religion,” Hanson launched into an hour-long presentation that made it clear that depriving his listeners — and the rest of humanity — of religion is precisely his intention.
Democracy and Insurrection in Greece and the World (tags)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
CLAREMONT, California - Southern California got a taste of Greek-style anarchism and insurrection in a series of talks given by Peter Gelderloos, author of How Nonviolence Protects the State, and Greek comrades from the Void Network Tasos Sagris and Sissy Doutsiou. With Audio.
Leer este artículo en español: Democracia e Insurrección en Grecia y el Mundo
Freedom from our social prisons require Rights Revolution (tags)
New Zealanders come home - you are needed. Submission below before UN Human Rights Commission today re NZ. Below shows NZ headed to third world status. Obama also follows UN and global elites - mass discrimination re social class.
Reference to partner Lambros Foundas (tags)
The struggle of those who fight against all forms of power, which is anxious for each "moment" that should not be "wasted" and stubbornly maintain the belief that we are weak unable to consolidate a world free anexousio and refrain from any kind of mythology as the Earth from the moon.
The Way Forward for the Movement in Defense of Public Education (tags)
On March 4, students, staff, teachers, faculty and their unions on all levels of public education created history by uniting and pouring out onto the streets to engage in what were overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations to defend public education. The movement swept through small towns and large cities with demonstrators, including young elementary school students, carrying picket signs while yelling chants expressing their determination to fight back
This society cannot afford to dismantle the social state. The social state guarantees inner peace. The strength of a people is measured by the well-being of the weak, those not born with a silver spoon. Solidarity, social justice and equal opportunities are key words and open doors.
Education as Tranquilizer (tags)
"A false strategy of combating poverty results inevitably from a flawed analysis of the causes of poverty. Whoever culturalizes the problem relies on education reforms without repairing the structural causes.."
The Business of Water: Privatizing an Essential Resource (tags)
Water is life, not a commodity
¡Solidaridad con la ANAIRC! (tags)
NOTA DE PRENSA
Alternatives to Capitalism (tags)
Neoliberalism, financial market-driven capitalism, intensifies the crises. However the root of evil lies in the developmental laws of capitalism. Neoliberalism is based on double standards and double speak where CEOs are job creators and workers are cost factors.
El Libertario # 58: Más chiquito pero igual de picoso (tags)
Ya está en Internet (www.nodo50.org/ellibertario) la edición correspondiente a Marzo-Abril 2010 del vocero anarquista de los movimientos sociales antagonistas, cuya versión impresa confiamos tener en la calle dentro de pocos días.
The sociologist Dr. Atilio Boron, professor of political theory at the University of Buenos Aires, is an internationally known radical political author. UNESCO awarded him the “International Jose Marti prize” on July 17, 2009
Finance Capitalism Devalues Labor (tags)
Businesses are capital investments in the hands of shareholders. Consequently managers only serve the interests of shareholders.
An open letter to the organizers of International Women's Day (tags)
The struggle of the Arab lesbian community
The Olymptics' Shady Side (tags)
Before the official games in Vancouver, downtown and unemployed groups called attention to social injustices.
March 4 Socialist Program to Defend Education (tags)
On March 4, students and workers throughout California and the US will demonstrate against the attack on public education and increases in tuition that are making a college education unaffordable for the majority of working class youth.
Debt Dynamite Dominoes: The Coming Financial Catastrophe (tags)
-When the crisis is over, the middle classes of the western world will have been liquidated of their economic, political and social status. The global economy will have gone through the greatest consolidation of industry and banking in world history leading to a system in which only a few corporations and banks control the global economy and its resources; governments will have lost that right. The people of the western world will be treated by the financial oligarchs as they have treated the ‘global South’ and in particular, Africa; they will remove our social structures and foundations so that we become entirely subservient to their dominance over the economic and political structures of our society.-
The Neoliberal Agenda is Over and The Despised Social State (tags)
Neoliberalism is the political-economic experiment of individualizing social risks and claiming growth and employment will be higher. This claim is refuted convincingly by the global financial crisis destroying enormous assets and causing growth and employment to crash.
20 Theses against a Green Capitalism (tags)
Is a Green New Deal possible? These theses were published in an English translation in: Prager Fruhling (Prague Spring) in December 2009.
The Great Bi-Partisan Deception (tags)
Some cancer is too aggressive even for chemotherapy. The US political system is infected with such a disease; and we may be witnessing the first death spasms. In a country ravaged by war and economic crisis, with tens of millions of people suffering, politicians are capable of doing absolutely nothing to help ordinary people. The only two “achievements” of the Democrat’s super majority in the Senate — over the course of five months — were an ineffectual stimulus package and a “surge” of troops in Afghanistan.
Cops forcing religion on homeless folks in Venice Beach (tags)
Looks like the cops want to force religion on people in Los Angeles - Just what part of the First Amendment don't these police thugs understand?
Climate Justice, Not Growth Mania (tags)
"In green capitalism, the bio-crisis is at the center of the growth strategy. The Green New Deal represents a kind of ecological inversion of Kennedy's famous sentence: Ask not what you can do for the environment but what the environment can do for you..."
February 6, 2010
RIVERSIDE, California - Riverside-area anarchists hosted a day-long event that included a series of presentations, a group discussion, and musical performances.
Descent Into Barbarism: The US and NATO Wage War on the World (tags)
"In our time, war, it seems, has already begun. The US oligarchy and its NATO allies are waging a veritable war on the world: killing, disappearing and incarcerating millions of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan – a war that is expanding into Yemen, Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa, with the militarisation of sea lanes and oceans (see Chossudovsky, www.Globalresearch.ca) and the setting up of “forward projecting” military and missile bases in every continent (see Rozoff, ditto). On top of ordinary poverty and misery, the world is truly seeing another historic descent into barbarism. Given this war-mongering dynamic, the growing US antagonism with Iran, Russia and China is far from an idle threat. It is the logical next step for a deeply illogical economic system. But history is not inevitable. We are not necessarily programmed to repeat its horrors. A combination of global communications among citizens and political and social consciousness may be enough to prevent a military conflagration and overthrow the misrule of the oligarchy. What is needed is a) a widening of the recognition that capitalism as a system of social production is finished; and b) the case has to be confidently made that an alternative is very possible."
Greed, the Corrupt System and Shadow Banking (tags)
A sudden change of thought patterns has occurred. For thirty years, the dogmas were in effect: trust in the self-healing powers of the market, the sleek state is the best of all possible states and economic policy will be unnecessary if the central banks fights inflation.
The Democrats are Coming After Social Security (tags)
It’s official: the Democrats are coming after Social Security and Medicare. How refreshing that all the backroom scheming and political conspiring is finally out in the open. Before, the corporate elite had been having this conversation in private, via right-wing think tanks and business journals. Now, mainstream media is promoting these ideas, including the Democrat’s media mouthpiece — The New York Times. In a three-page editorial, entitled The Truth about the Deficit, The New York Times gives its solution to the country’s debt problems. The main idea is summed up here:
LA: Thursday Night Community and Social Justice Fundraising Series (tags)
Los-cost beginning social justice and community fundraising workshop series on Thursdays in February.
"L'HOMME QUI MARCHE I" AND GIVES PROFIT (tags)
The art is of doing the price.
Taxing the Rich Wins in Oregon (tags)
Victory! Thousands of Oregon workers fought valiantly over the past weeks to ensure that corporations and the rich will see their taxes raised, so that social services, health care, and education could be saved. Massive phone banking operations, door-to-door canvassing, and rallies were used by union and community members to educate the public about a progressive tax measure used to offset the state’s dire budget situation.
The End of Illusion and the Beginning of the Future (tags)
Elite democracy with its corruption of wealth distribution, language and community is not the last word. The future could be a human future of a social contract, not a war of wolves against each other. Access could replace excess.
Disaster Capitalism Headed to Haiti (tags)
worker exploitation follows disaster
Israeli Democracy or Hypocrisy (tags)
Its illusory even for Jews
All Cards on the Table: For a Social Ecological New Deal (tags)
The neoliberal and fossilist finance market capitalism has become a discontinued model. With his New Deal, Roosevelt introduced state pensions, unemployment insurance and the minimum wage, reduced working hours and strengthened unions.
The Origins of Modern Socialism (tags)
The specter of socialism is again haunting the minds of the corporate elite, from the Americas to Europe and beyond. This, after decades of pro-capitalist campaigning from the corporate media, which has always confused “capitalism” with “freedom.” But of course freedom and democracy cannot exist alongside tremendous inequalities of wealth — or next to corporations wielding absolute power over elections and governments.
Obama Is Preparing for War in South America (tags)
"The first and foremost important achievement during the Chávez administration is the 1999 Constitution, which, although not written nor decreed by Chávez himself, was created through his vision of change for Venezuela. The 1999 Constitution was, in fact, drafted - written - by the people of Venezuela in one of the most participatory examples of nation building, and then was ratified through popular national referendum by 75% of Venezuelans. The 1999 Constitution is one of the most advanced in the world in the area of human rights. It guarantees the rights to housing, education, healthcare, food, indigenous lands, languages, women's rights, worker's rights, living wages and a whole host of other rights that few other countries recognize on a national level. My favorite right in the Venezuelan Constitution is the right to a dignified life. That pretty much sums up all the others. Laws to implement these rights began to surface in 2001, with land reform, oil industry redistribution, tax laws and the creation of more than a dozen social programs - called missions - dedicated to addressing the basic needs of Venezuela's poor majority. In 2003, the first missions were directed at education and healthcare. Within two years, illiteracy was eradicated in the country and Venezuela was certified by UNESCO as a nation free of illiteracy. This was done with the help of a successful Cuban literacy program called "Yo si puedo" (Yes I can). Further educational missions were created to provide free universal education from primary to doctoral levels throughout the country. Today, Venezuela's population is much more educated than before, and adults who previously had no high school education now are encouraged to not only go through a secondary school program, but also university and graduate school.??The healthcare program, called "Barrio Adentro", has not only provided preventive healthcare to all Venezuelans - many who never had access to a doctor before - but also has guaranteed universal, free access to medical attention at the most advanced levels. MRIs, heart surgery, lab work, cancer treatments, are all provided free of cost to anyone (including foreigners) in need. Some of the most modern clinics, diagnostic treatment centers and hospitals have been built in the past five years under this program, placing Venezuela at the forefront of medical technology.??Other programs providing subsidized food and consumer products (Mercal, Pdval), job training (Mission Vuelvan Caras), subsidies to poor, single mothers (Madres del Barrio), attention to indigents and drug addicts (Mission Negra Hipolita) have reduced extreme poverty by 50% and raised Venezuelans standard of living and quality of life. While nothing is perfect, these changes are extraordinary and have transformed Venezuela into a nation far different from what it looked like 10 years ago. In fact, the most important achievement that Hugo Chávez himself is directly responsible for is the level of participation in the political process. Today, millions of Venezuelans previously invisible and excluded are visible and included. Those who were always marginalized and ignored in Venezuela by prior governments today have a voice, are seen and heard, and are actively participating in the building of a new economic, political and social model in their country.??2 MW---On Monday, President Chavez threw a Venezuelan judge in jail on charges of abuse of power for freeing a high-profile banker. Do you think he overstepped his authority as executive or violated the principle of separation of powers? What does this say about Chavez's resolve to fight corruption?"
Journalism, Redistribution and Social Generosity (tags)
"The earth does not belong to people; people belong to the earth." (chief Seattle)> Nature is not a free good, external or sink but our living mother and basis for future human life. Alternative economics and community centers could lead us out of the dystopia of imperial wars.
End the Fed? Or End the Market Economy? (tags)
When Republican Congressman Ron Paul recently introduced legislation to audit the Federal Reserve, diverse sections of the political spectrum applauded. And rightfully so. The Fed’s role in the still-developing bank bailouts is one of utter secrecy; the total cost of which — as estimated by the bailout’s Special Inspector General, Neil Barofsky — could cost taxpayers $23.7 trillion. The fact that legislation needed to be introduced to raise the question of the whereabouts of these funds points to a larger breakdown in U.S. democracy.
The US Healthcare Sham and the Scandinavian Model (tags)
The reforms that Barack Obama is proposing will not change the US' abysmal healthcare system because those who profit from it have been able to buy protection from the lawmakers.. The Golden Age of the welfare state began after the Second World War.
THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
A commentary on the Nov 23 slaughter of 57 civilians in Maguindanao, Philipppines, sketching the historical parameters of the event and the converging political and social forces involved, with a focus on the U.S. role in establishing the groundwork for the evils of the prevailing Arroyo state terrorism.
Call to the Peoples of México to Organize the Revocation of the Presidency of Felipe Calde (tags)
"This crisis brings into question the future of the Mexican Nation and it’s people. In this political scheme by the grand capitalists, domestic and foreign, we lack hope. The Mexican people do not have a place in this world of neoliberal globalization except as pariahs and a disposable labor force. Given these circumstances, we need a patriotic transformation and a democratization of the political system, the economy and the culture that can confront this deep crisis of our country and the problems of the Mexican people. We need a transformation that will push out the bourgeois oligarchy and the political class that governs the state and the imperialist domain of Mexico. There is a need to construct a new majority that includes all of the patriotic forces that will install a new government and a new state. A new majority that is capable of taking back control and the property of the productive forces and strategic resources of the nation, and also able to guarantee sustainable development, social justice, national sovereignty, the autonomy of the indigenous pueblos and the practice of popular democracy."
The Rules of the Game, Not the Players (tags)
In the last three decades, the financial markets have grown much faster than production.. The respective players (whether public or private) are not the problem but the rules of the game.. The goals and means of production must be redefined
A call to unite and confront the converging global crises of our times, replace the trade and investment pacts and related juggernauts of the corporate-driven global economy, and start building a sustainable economic future together.
A call to unite and confront the converging global crises of our times, replace the trade and investment pacts and related juggernauts of the corporate-driven global economy, and start building a sustainable economic future together.
Venezuela: The error of being Lusbi Portillo (tags)
* The latest demonstration of political criminalization of autonomous social movements by the Venezuelan government is exposed by Rafael Uzcategui, a member of the anarchist collective El Libertario.
A New Paradigm: The New Deal of the 1930s (tags)
The New Deal that led out of the worldwide economic crisis in the 1930s was based on the combination of a new technical-economic model with a new socio-economic model. Obama's achievement is not turning the necessity of overcoming the crisis against the social principle
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.
BTL:Use of Twitter in U.S. G-20 Protest Leads to Arrest; Erodes Civil Liberties (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
Building community centers could be a way to learn from O Canada and break from the false religion of the market and profit. When the market and competition are made absolute, they become idols. CEOs are called job creators and workers "cost-factors."
What Obama Isn't Telling American Workers (tags)
A lot is happening in the tumultuous realm of global economics. The “Great Recession” has caused tectonic shifts internationally, with outcomes that will dramatically change the lives of millions of people in the U.S. and beyond. And while Obama is acknowledging this fact with repeated references to “a new world order,” he isn’t explaining how this adversely affects working-class Americans.
U.S. IMPERIALISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
After more than a century of brutal colonization of the Philippines, U.S. troops continue to battle Moro insurgents and the New People's Army guerillas to protects its investments, support the bloody oligarchs headed by the Arroyo clique, and preserve its neocolonial stranglehold. The U.S. public should wake up to demand that Obama stop its support of the Arroyo regime and withdraw U.S. troops. E. San Juan's two books might help inform the US public of what's going on in the Philippines today.
Amy Goodman's mother dies (tags)
In case you have not heard...Amy's wonderful mother Dorothy died on Monday... Dorothy Bock Goodman GOODMAN - Dorothy Bock, 79, of Setauket, NY. Beloved mother, grandmother, aunt, wife, friend, died October 5, 2009. She is survived by her children Steven, Amy, David and Daniel, five grandchildren, and predeceased by her husband George. She made the world a better place. Funeral Service Thursday, October 8, 1pm, at I.J. Morris Funeral Home, Dix Hills, NY.
How Neoliberal Ideology Destabilized the World Balance: Krugman and Galbraith (tags)
"If the depression has not openly erupted, all the features of the 1930s are having a spectacular comeback." (Paul Krugman) To free the US from the claws of private interests, James Galbraith urges the public authority to set social and ecological norms.
Philippines: statements and solidarity calls after tropical storm Ondoy devastation (tags)
We are posting below statements and solidarity calls from Philippine left forces after typhoon Ondoy devastation. We shall add more as soon as we receive them.
Venezuela: The murderers can not make justice. On the exhumations of the Caracazo (tags)
* Different organizations and individuals from Venezuela with tradition in the social struggles linked to different anti-authoritarian and critical leftist approaches, with whom we have converged at the space called INSURGENTES, set position before the exhumations of the Caracazo.
Globalization and the New Political Movements (tags)
Attac, a global justice network in many European countries, demands closing off-shore tax havens and debt cancellation for the third world. The word globalization has a function as a threat. Be flexible because capital is flexible and the state can do nothing!
Film Night: Venezuelan Autonomous Social Movements (tags)
FILM NIGHT!!! VENEZUELAN AUTONOMOUS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Thursday, Oct. 1st, 2009 7:30 PM KIWA 3471 W 8th St. K-Town 90005
Today your freedom is being signed away (tags)
Today at the UN New York States are signing a treaty which by its exclusion of core obligations and the right to development will create a people more dependent on the State and Corporations as well as discriminating against the poor. Obama ( & other States) is following such policies.
The freedom of the Internet is inviolable. The Internet's open architecture constitutes the basic IT law of a society which communicates digitally and, consequently, of journalism. The web constitutes an infrastructure for social exchange superior to that of 20th century mass media.
Beyond Market and State (tags)
In a "post-democracy," the interests of global corporations prevail with the continuing facade of democratic institutions and procedures. Interest in politics in the population is very low. Criticism of neoliberalism brings together many movements and groups.
Global Systematic discriminationagainst the Poor due to be signed (tags)
International human rights law to be signed by States on Sept 24, 2009, systematically discriminates against the poor. The establishment is pitted against the independent peoples and the most disadvantaged. A mediocre nation and a dependent people are the very likely outcomes.
How to Lower the U.S. Deficit Without Killing Social Security (tags)
When it was recently announced that the federal deficit was $2 trillion higher than previously estimated, corporate vultures — after years of high-altitude circling — began their descent. The dying entity they’re after is the U.S. social safety net — Social Security, Medicare, etc. Years of waiting have finally paid off; the long awaited pretext for scavenging has arrived in the huge federal deficit.
Inside Honduras - Day 65 (tags)
The popular Resistance Front is threatening to boycott elections due to be held at the end of November, if their President is not reinstated. The situation becomes more and more tense as the election day draws near.
The Crisis of Capitalism: Credit-Doping (tags)
"The social market economy blows the wealth of this society in speculation rather than in higher wages, higher pensions or unemployment benefits.. All capital transactions with tax havens should be prohibited.. Instead of democratization, we growing centralization in a few hands.."
Cash for Geezers: Retirement for Boomers at 55 (tags)
Beloved Air America host in the mornings, Thom Hartmann and Eduardo Galeano could turn our days to light.
Global Depression and Regional Wars - Part II (tags)
continued imperial plunder
Economic Policy after the Financial Crisis: Keynes (tags)
Keynes saw political control of markets and a distribution and social policy in favor of lower income groups as essential prerequisites of a stable long-term macro-economic development.. Three-hour workdays or a 15-hour week would be enough.
We Fight Capitalism, Not the Crisis of Capitalism (tags)
Capitalism is a social system, not a natural law. Capitalism has proven it cannot end wars, prevent crises or make possible a good life for all people. Instead of solidarity, the capitalist social system teaches us envy and egoism. Now those who privatized the state cry for state bailout packages.
Global Depression and Regional Wars (tags)
economic hard times and wars
A Cure for an Ailing Economy: Taxing the Rich (tags)
Healthcare isn’t the only social ill in the U.S. that needs a serious remedy. The list is long and growing: state budget crises, unemployment, infrastructure, education, housing, food assistance, etc. These are all things that must be paid for, but the money seems to be in short supply. When a country is in as much debt as the U.S., – $12 trillion and counting — the tasks at hand seem all but unachievable. And this is exactly what many politicians would like you to believe.
For the Iranian workers, only one solution: the class struggle ! (tags)
The brutal repression of street demonstrations that have hit Tehran and the larger cities shows the determination of the Iranian government's Ahmadinejad not to tolerate any questioning of his political power. Accused of electoral fraud, the supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei and the outgoing president have responded with arrests, beatings and shootings; the police, the Pasdaran, and Basji volunteers headed by the Pasdaran are the instruments of the current repression.
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.
Bottom-up rights, ethical globalization for a Great Country (tags)
A Great Country is inclusive - neo liberal social exclusion settles for mediocrity. Bottom-up rights are those excluded by the UN and States considered incompatible with neo liberalism. The discontented need to struggle for these rights which entail an ethical globalization.
New Book Calls for Fundamental Political and Social Revolution in the United States (tags)
x
"Crises belong to capitalism as the cyclone belongs to the weather.. A social division went along with the neoliberal turn. The welfare state mutated to a repressive crisis management of a growing mass poverty..Greenspan's dollar glut kindled a global deficit economy.."
problem with china: they NEED a war (tags)
Piece.
BTL:Honduras Coup: Reaction to President Zelaya's Social Justice Agenda (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
I’d Rather Be a Socialist (tags)
Where do you stand? Are you a socialist or a capitalist?
The Zeitgeist Movement is not a political movement.
"The basic trust in capital still exists. Modern capitalism has gained a firm place in our subconscious. The debacle of the global financial markets should have led to a rethinking long ago. But the culprits will probably get off lightly because the capitalist system is held as divinely ordained."
Showdown in Honduras: The Rise and Uncertain future of the Coup: Urgent please read now. (tags)
"Mobilizations and Strikes in Support of Zelaya Members of social, indigenous and labor organizations from around the country have concentrated in the city's capital,organizing barricades around the presidential palace, demanding Zelaya's return to power. "Thousands of Hondurans gathered outside the presidential palace singing the national hymn," Telesur reported. "While the battalions mobilized against protesters at the Presidential House, the TV channels did not report on the tense events."Bertha Cáceres, the leader of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares yIndígenas, said that the ethnic communities of the country are ready for resistance and do not recognize the Micheletti government."
Interview with El Libertario (Venezuela – June 2009) (tags)
* From Madrid the anarchist group Star, linked to the Iberian Federation of Anarchists Youths (Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Anarquistas-FIJA-), has raised questions whose answers will let us know today and in detail what is doing and saying the known Venezuelan anarchist newspaper.
BTL:The Progressive Magazine Celebrates 100 Years (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
God's Power and Powerlessness (tags)
"The stock market conditioned destruction of jobs widens into a new atom bomb of our days through which the social and cultural peace in the one world is destroyed..Jesus told parables, lives as God's parable and enables believers to be God's parables.."
Ecological Justice Instead of Growth Economy for the Rich (tags)
"Now the market, the god of neoliberals, cannot help any more and speculators cry for the already instrumentalized state.. Studying pre-capitalist approaches is vital to develop a post-capitalist vision. The vision of the Bible is an economy of enough for all, an economy for life."
Solidarity with the Struggle of the Amazonian Peoples of Peru! (tags)
International Libertarian Declaration We ask our libertarian comrades to organise mobilisations and demonstrations outside Peruvian embassies in every country, in coordination with other sectors in struggle, in order to denounce the actions of the State and the multinationals in this country. Español http://www.anarkismo.net/article/13365
General Strike Needed to Oppose Cal Gov cuts & Obama's no aid (tags)
Republican Governor Schwarzenegger refuses to ask for loans until the gains of the workingclass are destroyed and Democratic President Barack Obama has refused to provide aid to California, although he did give over $700 billion to the banks with no accountability , the same banks which refuse to provide loans to anyone who has serious need where it be private businesses or governments. Bank excess reserves have skyrocketed from almost zero to over $800 billion since Fall 2008. Labor must respond with GENERAL STRIKE.
Social Panic ¿How is it created? (tags)
Journalists from Tele5 caught by surprise with hidden camera.
Sept. G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, US -- CALL FOR A GLOBAL MOBILIZATION (tags)
A CALL FOR A GLOBAL MOBILIZATION AGAINST THE G20 SUMMIT IN PITTSBURGH, PA., U.S. SEPTEMBER 24 AND 25, 2009 ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT! BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE JOBS & SOCIAL NEEDS--NOT WAR AND GREED
Italy - Document of summit protest against G8 economy in Lecce, June 12-13 2009 (tags)
In 2001 G8 met in Genova. They were violent days of the suspension of civil rights that still weigh on the collective consciousness, along with the memory and sorrow for the death of Carlo Giuliani. They were also days in which the "greatest men of the earth" developed the new creed of liberal globalization as it was a new universal religion.
July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty & Social Change (tags)
July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty & Social Change The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY invites you to join us in July for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social change.
The Market Must Serve Society (tags)
In the past, the village green and market swuare were surrounded by the church, town hall, school and hospital. Without these social institutions, there would be no market. This is also true for today's global financial markets.
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
The End of Neoliberalism and the Crisis of Capitalism (tags)
"Guaranteeing the social infrastructure and social security for everyone should be central instead of guarantees for banks and corporations and socialization and democratization of the economy instead of nationalization!"
The Most Credible Challenge to Neoliberalism (tags)
The People's Age is near but will have to be struggled for by focusing on the 'bottom-up' human rights approach which are the rights left out by the Global Elites at the UN in their discussions of economic and social rights over the past four years which resulted in the 'we are all in it together' approach presently being adopted by States.
July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty & Social Change (tags)
July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty & Social Change The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY invites you to join us in July for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social change.
July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty & Social Change (tags)
July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty & Social Change The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY invites you to join us in July for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social change.
Santa Cruz Anarchsit Convergence Workshop Descriptions (tags)
The Anarchists are Coming! There will be almost 40 workshops and discussions at the Santa Cruz Anarchist Convergence from May 7-11th. Here are times and descriptions of all of them! Also: flyers, dates, times, and descriptions of several events surrounding the convergence. Check it out!
For the Resumtion of the Class Struggle! (tags)
The economic crisis which has crashed down on society has already had and for a long time will have disastrous consequences for the lives of the masses, as every worker can see in his daily life or her work. The bourgeois economists themselves admit it: they do not know what the causes of the crisis are – satisfying themselves by blaming the greed of the bankers or excessive financial deregulation – and they do not know when it will end and give way to the long-awaited “economic recovery”. The current crisis is the crisis of the capitalist mode of production, incapable of stopping itself, forced to produce always more commodities, at a certain point it comes up against the limits of the market.
The End of Finance Market Capitalism: Renaissance of Socialism? (tags)
The crisis offers an historical chance to civilize an unbridled capitalism with reform policy. The future relation of market and state is the focus of attention.. Financial markets are characterized by herd behavior. Risk consciousness disappears.
The Vacuum of World Trade Breaks Down (tags)
The unbridled free market was an illusion that gave free rein to greed and speculation and the dominance of the financial markets. Shareholder value made the profits of shareholders absolute and set short-term gain over long-term necessity.
The crisis calls for system alternatives and redistribution from top to bottom. Will the financial crisis encourage the transition to a new social order? A certain mix of good functioning markets and a strong welfare state leads to the best results.
Unconditional Basic Income for All (tags)
Laziness at everyone's expense is the argument brought by opponents of basic income because they haven't understood the cause.. The work incentive will change. One will work to increase quality of life and for the meaning of work itself.
Albert Einstein was a socialist (tags)
Famous physicist Albert Einstein wrote the essay entitled "Why Socialism?" for the first issue of left-wing magazine "Monthly Review" (May 1949).
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.
Fascism and racism in Denmark and Sweden (tags)
Well, before 2 days I was discriminated again, so I decided to spread information about institutional racism and fascism in Scandinavia.
The Culture of Mistrust (tags)
"Total mistrust prevails on the financial market. How can the state restore trust when trust in the state was decried for years? When all public affairs are changed into private affairs, citizens only see themselves as private citizens and the state becomes a business.."
Venezuela: The People’s Struggle is the Best Response to the Crisis! (tags)
* Soon El Libertario #56 will be available in the street and on the Internet (www.nodo50.org/ellibertario). El Libertario is the voice of free ideas and independent social movements in Venezuela and Latin America. As a preview of its usual combative, irreverent and uncompromising position with regard to authoritarian power and oppression, here's the editorial:
The Neoliberal Revolution Devours Its Children (tags)
"Where is the child who uncovers the nakedness of the money economy?..The financial geniuses pretend to be the new gods of globalization. The builders of the Tower of Babel were modest compared to the new financial rulers of the world.
You don’t want to pay for the crisis of capital? Then just don’t do it. (tags)
A critique of the calls for demonstrations against the G20 in Berlin, Frankfurt and London under the slogan “We won't pay for your crisis! – For a solidarity society”
GERMANY: Notes on Neoliberalism (tags)
"The neoliberal revolution was the product of an historical development, a reaction to changed circumstances. In its course, many western states in the 1970s and 1980s reordered the relation of state and private power.."
Global Day of Action: We Will Not Pay for Your Crisis March 28 Berlin (tags)
Dominance of the profit logic and economization of all areas of life must be ended. Capitalism cannot solve global problems like poverty, insecurity, climate change, destruction of the environment, wars and dismantling democracy-it causes them!
Each speech President Obama has delivered since his inauguration seems to paint a picture of change that is being created on the fly. I believe that – by nature of our humanity – we are all artists, and that we can all add a spontaneous stroke here or there to this potential masterpiece. But our current circumstances, as you will read in the below Op-Ed piece, present a serendipitous opportunity for public audiences to participate in community-based theater, and through that, to collaboratively address our social problems. If President Obama continues to publicly hold us accountable for re-creating a better America, this is one proven avenue for us to respond.
Faith in the Invisible Hand of the Market is Over (tags)
The people will not be so easily convinced of liberalization, deregulation and privatization. On the contrary, people will have a clearer consciousness of the primacy of politics. The false incentive systems in the businesses must be removed.
On the Psychology of Neoliberalism (tags)
The claim of non-wage benefits was stylized as social misuse, recipients of high incomes as achievers and unemployment as personal responsibility. According to this ideology, the optimal conditions for gaining profits lead to prosperity for all.
VALENTINE'S DAY CELEBRATION IN FACLA FEB 14 (tags)
The Filipino American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA) held an “Affair to Remember” in commemoration of Valentine’s Day last February 14 from 6:00 PM to 12:00 PM at the FACLA Social Hall. The program was capped by the coronation of Mrs. Valentine- Mrs. Alicia Albano Parino; Miss Valentine Ms. Carolyn Pesquiza Sabas and Miss Teen Valentine Ms. Kimberly Padua Esliza.
Anarchist Fun Faire (with an E) in Riverside (tags)
Saturday, February 21 2008 RIVERSIDE California -- A small crowd gathered at multiple sites in Downtown Riverside for a series of workshops, talks, and entertainment, all part of the Anarchist Fun Faire.
CAPITALIST CATASTROPHE AND PROLETARIAN STRUGGLES (tags)
Hi fellows, here is the very first draft translation in English of the first pages of our last review in French "Communisme" N°60. Sorry for the language but improvements will come later. Meanwhile, have a good reading and we are waiting for your comments and critics...
he revolution delayed: 10 years of Hugo Chávez’s rule (tags)
* A translation of a March 2008 interview conducted by the French anarchist Charles Reeve with two members of the El Libertario group www.nodo50.org/ellibertario in Caracas, the nation’s capital, which offers some stark insights into the reality of the situation.
A Simple Solution to the States' Budget Crises (tags)
On February 16, in Salem, Oregon a rally of more than 5,000 students, teachers, parents, and social service workers assembled in front of the state capitol, demanding a solution to the state’s financial crisis. This was but one of many similar protests nationwide; and Oregon is par for the course when it comes to U.S. states neck deep in a budget crisis. It is estimated that, unless other sources of revenue are raised immediately, the state will make $800 million in cuts…by June. The projected deficit for the next two years is $2.5 billion.
CRISIS RAISES RISK OF SOCIAL UNREST IN ASIA (tags)
The global economic crisis heightens the potential for social unrest in Asia, where millions of people suddenly out of work will demand governments take swift and decisive action, analysts said.In the Philippines, of the country’s 36 million labor force, an estimated 40,000 to 200,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs this year, the National Economic and Development Authority said.
The problem is not understanding but ideology. Market fundamentalists insist government jobs are not jobs. Those working government jobs under FDR are sometimes classified as unemployed to belittle FDR's great achievement in reducing unemployment from 25% to 10%.
The Neo liberal elite seize their opportunity to increase unemployment globally. (tags)
The neo liberal elite seized their opportunity to create global unemployment when an ideological shift by the global elites occurred over the past four years at the UN from right wing neo liberalism (Bush) to left wing neo liberalism (Obama).
The Rape and Murder of Sali, the Christian Bale Injustice and the Power Of Music (tags)
A Punk band made an awesome song about the Murder of Sali and other women and activists. Just as music and an audio recording brought justice in the incident with Christian Bale, we look forward to using music, arts and activism to bring the glorious day when the Government (and the mainstream media) admit that their lack of investigation and attention to these increasing rapes and murders is found to be "inexcusable and out of order beyond belief."
Neoliberal Definitional Power (tags)
"What is central is ending the constant expropriation of employees, not the expropriation of entrepreneurs." Market fundamentalists stylize every tax as expropriation as though they had no responsibility for paying for roads, schools, health care, police, fire departments and water-food supervision.
Competing Ideologies: Davos v. Belem (tags)
alternate ideological views
The Great Chance: Basic Guaranteed Income (tags)
How else should the economy and society become more sustainable without a partial turning away from the growth society of more and more? The de-acceleration of work and life is necessary. A basic income could initiate both.
The world today is undeniably chaotic — war, abject poverty, and unimaginable wealth exist side by side. In an attempt to explain the current social turmoil, some have resorted to religion and apocalypse, while others place the blame on the few bad apples that held positions of power as the economy slid into destitution. And then there are those who blame conspiracy, immigrants, or a society-wide lack of morality. All of the above explanations seem to be missing a crucial ingredient. A simple observation should be central to any explanation of the current economic crisis: There are huge surpluses (or overproduction) of houses, cars, food stuffs, and many other products that millions of people desperately need, but cannot afford to buy. This is the essence of the problem.
The Future Role of the State: Guaranteeing Rights (tags)
"The modern state as a constitutional state and participative democracy has a universal social security function and overall responsibility for the development of the economy according to basic rights."
Democrat Obama Cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (tags)
Before he even takes office, the ruling class' selected president, Democrat Barack Obama, announced his plans to cut Social Security, Medicarre and Medicaid. He did not say anything about cutting US aid to Israel, which receives $15 million a day from US taxpayers to murder Palestinians and steal Palestinian land and gas fields because he is 100% pro-Israel.
Obama Declares Social Security a "central part" of his deficit-reduction plan (tags)
What will it take for progressive Democrats and KPFK talks show hosts to realize that they lost the election?
Venezuela: No concentration of power is ever revolutionary (tags)
*As Chavez attempts to allow indefinite presidential reelections for himself by way of the approval of the Referendum for Constitutional amendment, anarchists publish this declaration, which is also the Editorial of El Libertario #55, January-February 2009 (now on line, in Spanish www.nodo50.org/ellibertario).
Social capital has dangerously disappeared in the last years and decades. In the whole economy, there should be more cooperation and less competition, more sustainability and less monetary striving for gain. One cannot solve problems with the same thinking that caused the problems,
Understanding the origin of public insecurity (tags)
* Article originally published in spanish language in El Libertario, Venezuela, # 54, September-October 2008, that analyzes and goes over the problem of criminal violence through its social impact on contemporary Venezuela.
RESISTANCE! Day of International Action Against State Murders - Saturday, Dec. 20th (tags)
At this moment, they fear us, and they will keep on fearing us if we are thousands and everywhere. We are calling everyone to actions of solidarity, to fight for the rights of all of us. Let 20 December be the beginning.
May the Anger of the Unemployed and Students be Tranformed into Combativeness for the Resumption of the Class Struggle of the Proletariat !
Memorandum 2008 Summary-Crisis Underrated (tags)
Without increasing internal demand, the upswing based on replacement investments and exports cannot continue. Without reduced working hours, adequate jobs will not be created in a world of reduced work volumes, rationalization and information technology.
Spreading the Wealth: A Review of Unjust Deserts (tags)
The foremost ethical question is, given that we owe most of our productivity to a common social inheritance, to what extent can we say that we have "earned" our personal wealth? There is a growing consensus in favor of a new robust public compact to regulate our shared conditions.
Letter about the Spanish Civil War in HARPERS, Dec. 2008 (tags)
A slightly different version of this was published in the most recent issue of 'Harpers' magazine...
The capitalist system does not make a mistake; it is the mistake. Capitalism is the problem. The solution would be an independent-socialist social order whose highest principles are mutual aid, respect for nature and a nonviolent rule-free humanly just world.
"Wild Speculation is Sin" (tags)
"Marx recognized the core of globalization as a globalization of capital..He also warned against the economization of all areas of life..A capitalism without ethical and legal frameworks is misanthropic..The social market economy is a civilization product.."
The Bailout Intensifies (tags)
Even through its muffled language, it was obvious that the typically non-alarmist New York Times was having trouble digesting the latest government announcements. On November 26, the Treasury and Fed revealed it would spend 800 billion more tax dollars towards new “lending” programs. That day, the Times concluded that the government was “sending a message that they will print as much money as needed to revive the crippled banking system.”[!] Later in the article we learn that “the government has assumed at least $7 trillion [!!] in direct and indirect financial obligations in the form of Wall Street bailouts, emergency lending and government guarantees on bank deposits, inter-bank loans and home mortgages.” The term “blank check” doesn’t begin to describe the vast amounts being tossed about.
Holy Scripture is the Standard, not Capitalism (tags)
Describing the dominant system as a social market economy is a deception. Social justice should be the integrating element of our economic order. Justice is not something additional to faith in God. Trust in the invisible hand is the core of the religion of the market.
Media Response to Venezuelan elections (tags)
one-sided and inaccurate as usual
Klaus Offe, a left thinker, once proposed Offe's paradox, the idea that"while capitalism cannot coexist with, neither can it exist without the welfare state." Canada has done better than some countries in protecting social welfare. The welfare state is not dead; what is dead is econ security.
Rich of the World, Enrich Yourselves! (tags)
Financial jugglers speculating with food, oil and other raw materials caused double-digit inflation and made staple foods like rice and wheat into luxury items for millions. Neoliberalism with one blow managed to drive nation states to the defensive.
Philippine social movements storm US Embassy (tags)
Philippine social movements hit G-20 summit’s exclusivity, call for a new and democratic world order
Obama and the Crisis of Expectation (tags)
With Obama elected President but not yet inaugurated, the question on everyone’s mind is, “what’s going to happen next?” Millions of people around the world are hoping that a Obama presidency will radically change the course of US politics, and with it, world politics. This is especially true for the huge numbers of mostly young volunteers working for Obama’s campaign, most of whom had never been involved in politics before. And while it is impossible to predict the future precisely, one can make an educated guess as to Obama’s future actions, based on answering two fundamental questions: which social class is Obama and the Democratic Party going to represent while in office, and what are the current interests of that class. For example, if Obama were to act in the interests of the working class, a number of measures would be immediately taken, such as increasing wages, improving healthcare, funding schools, ending war, etc. If, on the other hand, Obama is going to represent the ruling class, we can expect policies similar to the Bush Presidency, who long ago proved himself to be a puppet for the banks and corporations.
Barack Obama, new mouthpiece of ruling class interests (tags)
In renewing its great traditions of struggle, the American proletariat will have to fight the coming blood and tears policy of the Obama presidency
Immigrants to March in Washington on Jan 21, 2009 (tags)
Immigrants to march in Washington the day after the Inauguration to demand Immigration Reform.
Racism in Italy. On the day of Barack Obama’s triumph... (tags)
TO VIEW THE VIDEO TESTIMONY VISIT: http://www.everyonegroup.com/EveryOne/Anton_Caldarar.html
Nov. 29th Anarchist Cafe! (tags)
A call out to all radicals, drop outs, would-be revolutionaries, anarchists, and restless dreamers young and old. A social experiment in urban anarchy. A message in a bottle.
Social Contract and the Emergency Hour (tags)
The financial crisis is also an opportunity to reflect on our priorities and perspectives. Elite consciousness is a frozen consciousness where there are not alternatives and bankruptcy are only normal business practices.
Tribunal for Speculators (tags)
The collapse of the delusional neoliberal idea frees our view for the necessity of a completely different society and a planetary social contract. Bankers are jungle highwaymen. Investments only pay where human rights are realized. The price of rice soared 83% within only six months.
Santa Represión y sangre sobre el asfalto (tags)
Las fotografías de manifestantes con los rostros ensangrentados y activistas tendidos contusos en el asfalto que hoy muestran los periódicos en Paraguay, nos dicen que la frase podría aplicarse al momento que vive Paraguay bajo la conducción del obispo Fernando.
The Grand Illusion-Mega-Bubble World Economy (tags)
Self-righteousness is really the grand illusion. The global North consumes the resources of the global South. We are literally devouring the future. Given resource scarcity and climate change, the world economy as a whole is a bubble economy, a monstrous bet on an impossible future.
The particular problems of the old in the US version of unregulated capitalism
The Neediest Need Help Like the Banks (tags)
The same state haggles over every bowl of soup for welfare recipients. For banks, billions appeared overnight. There must also be money for higher wages and more social services.
"The Financial Crisis has made Heroes out of Rogues" (tags)
The state should make the economy more social and democratic. The conversions of Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Peter Steinbruick from market fetishism to state optimism were cabaret-style conversions. Democracy should dominate the economy.
Venezuela: National Security = Personal Insecurity (tags)
* This Editorial from El Libertario (#54, September-October 2008, Venezuela) examines – from the current Venezuelan perspective – how authoritarian power builds its own security upon the destruction of collective security.
The Fleecing of America (tags)
Public and private looting.
Ona Russell Publishes Evolution-Themed Mystery (tags)
Mystery writer Ona Russell's latest book, "The Natural Selection," takes her female detective Sarah Kaufman to Dayton, Tennessee in 1925 for a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the Scopes trial, the attempt by the radical Right of the day to ban the teaching of evolution in schools. The book deals not only with the progressive implications of the theory of evolution but also its racist and classist outgrowths, social Darwinism and the eugenics movement, and the way the Ku Klux Klan made common cause with evolution advocates to advance their racist agenda.
The Future as Possibility: Elmar Altvater (tags)
The state should not be a trough for the super-wealthy. Representatives representing money and not the people are marionettes of a corrupt campaign financing system. The system must be changed if it is to survive. Call Congress 1-800-270-0309.
Why Socialism? (by Albert Einstein) (tags)
This essay was originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).
The Credit Crisis may reflect concern with likely growing trade union power. (tags)
The credit crisis may reflect a likely increase in the power of the trade union movement as a consequence of decisions made at the UN.
Philippine women’s groups urge lawmakers to pass Reproductive Health Bill (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – A day before several lawmakers deliver their respective sponsorship speeches on the controversial bill promoting the use of both artificial and natural means of family planning, among others, a network of more than 50 non-government and people's organizations advocating women's and people's rights today urged other members of the House of Representatives to affirm women’s right to reproductive self-determination, and to support the immediate passage of the Reproductive Health Bill.
ARMAGEDDON: Bush Administration's Plan Reaches Next Plateau (tags)
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: All a part of the irresponsible Bushian design
An Open Letter to White Progressives and Activists- AWARE-LA (tags)
The Ballot Box and Beyond: White Anti-racists stand for social justice
Further Oppression of the Poor likely at the UN: America – both the Problem and the Soluti (tags)
After many years I devised a human rights approach to address the problems faced by societies, national and international. This includes immediately addressing core minimum obligations (i.e. dealing with the most serious violations), including the empowering rights to human rights education (re democratic support for human rights) and the right to development (re small business promotion) as well as non-retrogression (the protection of existing rights). However remarkably I was to find that the rights I focused on were virtually identical to the rights excluded by the complaints procedure due to be adopted by the UN General Assembly next month. I am now even more convinced than ever that my socially responsible ‘bottom-up’ human rights approach is the path forward while the global elites, international and national institutions fear any change that threatens their positions and lifestyles.
Criticism of Consumerism and Criticism of Capitalism (tags)
With the striking climate change, the "western lifestyle" has come into crisis. Our consumption is more environmentally-friendly but we simultaneously consume more and more so the environment is hardly relieved. Necessary social framing conditions are faded out.
Biblical Sabbath Economy (tags)
Franz Segbers insists the Biblical Sabbath economy cares for the oikos, not speculation and accumulation When the right of speculation trumps the right of housing, we end up protecting the sharks from the sardines (cf "Housing as a Human Right")
Energy and Climate - Hunger and Money (tags)
At the World Economic Forum, the extensive global crisis is trivialized to four "great risks." The neoliberal elite does not want a system change. It wants to assure itself against the threatening fourfold injustice. A 20% loss in the global social product could be avoided.
Growth and Social Justice: Joseph Stiglitz (tags)
The trickle-down economy does not function. The left understands the market and rhe role the market can and should play in the economy. The right doesn't understand either. The Bush administration is nothing but the old corporatism in a new garment.
Against the Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
The homo oeconomicus supposedly acts completely rationally and makes his decisions in a social vacuum. Mark Buchanan introduces the discipline of social physics. He criticizes Gary Becker for replacing persons with pseudo-subjects w/o bodies, history and society.
Distribution Justice is the Command of the Hour (tags)
Mass unemployment, low wages, precarious jobs and falling real income strain the social budgets, not demographic development. Something is not right when poverty grows while the super-wealthy receive more benefits and subsidies.
Towards Women’s Liberation (tags)
The cause of women’s liberation and the rights of women against sexual discrimination, exploitation and violence
Corporate Media Bash New Chavez New Enabling Law Decrees (tags)
Corporate media denigrate Venezuelan democracy.
Human rights violation in colombia as a state crime
The Forgotten Priority of Labor Over Capital (tags)
Politics is responsible for a social market economy and its rules and structures. When the state is reduced to only setting the framework for competition and then appeals to the responsibility of individual entrepreneurs, one falls at once in a neoliberal trap.
The Women's Studies Student Association of CSULB educated many about the concept of a rape culture at the 2008 LA Social Forum and gained press.
"Outreach" or Alliance Building? (tags)
At the end of June, I participated in the "Los Angeles Social Forum," an attempt to hold a unifying gathering of people from many different movements and organizations in Los Angeles (and other parts of southern California) on the model of the World Social Forum and the first US Social Forum held last year in Atlanta.
Without Ethics the Economy Runs into the Wall (tags)
Only 27% of Germans think the population benefits when business does well. Only 40% believe the economy and the population sit in the same boat. With tendencies to screen itself socially and give priority to its own goals, the economy loses the important capital of trust.
Theses on the Basic Income Discussion (tags)
Poverty can only be overcome globally. A change in perspective is necessary where social assistance is seen as positive and not negative. Without a committment to human dignity and a human future, barbarism seems inevitable.
LA SOCIAL FORUM - REPORT BACK (tags)
Thanks to everyone who made the first LA Social Forum a success. We had over three hundred and fifty registrations the first two days and handed out 425 programs.
Life is Gift, not Possession (tags)
In "Kaspar Hauser," Jacob Wassermann describes a town suffering under a long drought. With the wells dry, the town becomes enmeshed in violence and recrimination until a little boy plays so beautifully on his flute that water rises again in the wells.
LA Indymedia Workshop June 28th at the LA Social Forum (tags)
What is alternative media and how is it important in the current political and social condition? How can the Indymedia network find new outlets and reach a larger audience?
Doug Dowd's "At the Cliff's Edge - Part II" (tags)
a stinging indictment of US imperialism
Doug Dowd's "At the Cliff's Edge" (tags)
an indictment of imperialism
Deregulated Markets and Alternative Economics (tags)
In the last ten years there was more speculationthan ever, more than before the 1930 worldwide economic crisis. A policy of deregulated financial markets made this possible. That real investment profits turn out relatively small encourages the speculation tendency.
Los Angelino Artist Speaks Out About Censorhsip And Marginalization In The Arts (tags)
A public statement about a police intel domestic terrorism campaign aimed at the censorship and marginalization of artists
The Seven Energy-Related World Crises (tags)
The market is not total, absolute and self-healing but a tool helpful after we decide what kind of society we want. The state has a social nature and can't be only a power and security state or treasure chest for the super-rich and special interests.
Work and Work Moralists (tags)
The machine offers less and less work to more and more people. The person of the work-based society believes only work can give meaning to life. Redefining work, security, health and strength is imperative for civilization to triumph over barbarism
“Hunger riots”, it's the struggle of the proletariat! (tags)
http://www.geocities.com/icgcikg/leaflets/hungerriots.htm
Frances Fox Piven's "Challenging Authority" (tags)
Advancing disruptive social protests for change.
Welfare State and Inner Security (tags)
The punitive side of welfare state reform is read as a success. Problems result because firstly there is not enough work and secondfly thoser integrated in work can often hardly live from that. Massive exclusion and precariousness exist everywhere.
Limits of Private Property (tags)
If life does not consist in the abundance of things and if time is borrowed from the future, do possessions invalidate community? Is life colonized by instrumental rationality (Habermas) when all life and relations are determined by money?
Robert Reich's "Super-Capitalism: How the Economy Undermines Democracy" (tags)
When everyone talks about stocks and consumption, what happens to social responsibility and public welfare? We suffer under a schizophrenia. The consumer in us opposes the worker. Businesses cannot be socially-responsible because they serve only one goal-maximization of profit.
Struggling for the autonomy of Venezuela’s social movements (tags)
* This editorial comes from issue #53 (May-June 2008) of El Libertario, a Venezuelan anarchist voice of ideas and proposals for action. It confirms our commitment to autonomous social mobilization, which has already begun to express itself through concrete struggles from below, as in the recent steelworkers conflict.
Civil Society by Stephen Hume (tags)
Improvements in people's lives often have come about when society listened to voices on the periphery, not just the political and economic elites.
Ayer y Hoy del Anarquismo en Venezuela (tags)
* He aquí un apretado bosquejo de la huella libertaria en el proceso histórico de este país, preparado por integrantes del Colectivo Editor de El Libertario www.nodo50.org/ellibertario. Esperamos que sirva como referencia útil para quienes se interesen en el tema.
Anarchism in Venezuela, past and present (tags)
* This is a brief outline of the libertarian footprint in the history of Venezuela, prepared by members of the Collective Editorship of El Libertario www.nodo50.org/ellibertario. We hope that this serves as a useful point of reference for those who are interested in the subject.
Civil Society - Fact or Fiction (tags)
Civil society is simultaneously a goal to aim for, a means to achieve it, and a framework for engaging with each other.
Peter Hallward's "Damming the Flood" - Part I (tags)
A superb book on recent Haitian history.
Non-Profits, Privatization, and Capitalism (tags)
As soon as we begun organizing our workplace into a union— a drug and alcohol rehab center— the murky non-profit world proved to be an obstacle. When first approached, many of our coworkers asked the same question, “would a union even work at a non-profit”? And to this we normally answered, “why not?” – Although a better answer might have been, “Why do non-profit workers believe they should have less rights or pay than other workers?” And with this question you’ve opened a Pandora’s Box that leads down a series of questions and answers that reveal a lot about how modern society functions, especially the relationship between workers’ standard of living, non-profits, and the present state of the capitalist system itself. To help explain the gargantuan role that non-profits play in modern society, a book of essays about the subject -- cleverly named The Revolution Will Not be Funded-- was released by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. In its introduction chapter, the book explains how non-profits have evolved into organizations that divert political movements into dead ends, shape public opinion, and most relevant to this article, perform services previously done by the state.
"The workers who have to sell themselves bit by bit are a commodity like every other commercial article." This quotation from the 1848 Communist Manifesto is an accurate description of the current system which is morally sick and lacks consensus.
GABNet Chair Annalisa Enrile receives award from V-Day Movement (tags)
GABRIELA Network (GABNet) National Chair, Dr. Annalisa Enrile was honored by the Fiipino Women's Network and Eve Ensler's VDAY foundation as a "Vagina Warrior" for her work in stopping violence against women.
The Downhill Plunge Speeds Up (tags)
The state has a social nature and cannot only be power and security state. In crisis, we are all Keynesians. Taboo for a long time, the New Deal program slowly sounds promising again. The 1933 "Home Owners Loan Act" was created in the first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency.
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.
Venezuela 2008: A libertarian proposal for the current situation (tags)
* The Collective Editorship of El Libertario, www.nodo50.org/ellibertario, expounds its vision of which path to follow in the current situation in Venezuela, summed up in the slogan, “Against the (B)oligarchy, demagoguery and corruption: Autonomous struggle of the underdogs!
Inequality and Equal Opportunity: A German Perspective (tags)
A fifth of Germans no longer believe the national economy is just. With false signals, false promises and false goals, politics kindles the feeling of injustice. The idea of equal opportunity turns out to be the grand delusion of Germany.
Social Darwinism in America (tags)
Senator Edwards was right all along in his depictions of the two America. And thanks to the Bush Admnistration the gap between the "Have" and the " Have not" has reach an obscene level. To see photo of homeless and of NOLA post Katrina go to my web site.
CEO Salaries and the Minimum Wage (tags)
"After the fall of the Berlin Wall, capitalism let its mask fall. Capitalism did not have to be social any more since socialism did not exist any longer as a counter-movement..Most economic leaders act irresponsibly today toward Europe's people and the future."
SOCIAL SECURITY SEND ALL MY EMBEZZLED PENSION CHECKS TO KNIGHTS LANDING ADDRESS (tags)
POSTAL INSPECTOR, ORDER TO ARREST MAIL THIEVES POSTMASTER KNIGHTS LANDING LARRY SARGENT, P.I. FLOYD SMITH, ORDER TO SOCIAL SECURITY TO MAIL ALL EMBEZZLED CHECKS TO 9410 LOCUST STREET BOX 927 KNIGHTS LANDING, CA.
Vivisection of Neoliberalism (tags)
"Therer is no such thing as society," said Margaret Thatcher. "The neoliberal understanding of democracy is marked by skepticism and open hostility." (Ptak) That market pressures are often more severe and oppressive is repressedf as long as possible.
Crisis en Kenia e hipocresía del FSM (tags)
* Un integrante del Colectivo Editor de la publicación venezolana El Libertario expone las inconsecuencias de la burocracia que manipula al Foro Social Mundial, a través de la lección de su silencio huidizo ante la tragedia que hoy se vive en Kenia.
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.
“Antiwar” candidate Kucinich backs leading Democrat in Iowa primary (tags)
Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich has announced to his supporters in Iowa that if he does not reach the 15 percent threshold of votes needed to proceed to the second round of nominating the party’s presidential candidate, he “strongly encourages” them to vote for Senator Barack Obama. This further underscores the cynical and deceptive nature of Kucinich’s campaign and his supposedly leftist, antiwar stance. Kucinich’s statement states, “In those caucus locations where my support doesn’t reach the necessary threshold, I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change.” Obama is one of the top-tier Democratic candidates and is thoroughly in line with the militarist strategies of the ruling elite. Just like the Democratic Party as a whole, Obama’s criticisms of the Iraq war are not about ending it, but how to make it succeed. Currently he advocates a partial withdraw from Iraq to re-focus on the “war on terror.” He has called for more troops in Afghanistan, and unilateral US military incursions into Pakistan.
Welfare State in the Market Trap (tags)
"The crisis of the welfare state is a crisis in the heads of the economic and political elites. The welfare state is a political barrier against the marketing of human labor. The welfare state can be regained through democratic solidarity.. Today one farmer feeds 88 non-farmers."
Arroyo's bankrupt and deceptive economic policy (tags)
Gloria M. Arroyo, the fake president, keeps on babbling that her regime is propelling the Philippines to become a "first world country". She is obviously lying.
Traces of the Authoritarian Personality in the Three Abrahamic Religions (subtitle of enti (tags)
We will examine whether terror is institutionalized in the psychology of some religions. There are many interesting and provocative ideas discussed. Arguably, this work is as controversial as it is timely. Such an intelligence estimate, if you will, would not have been written had it not related to many important and critical political issues and crises of our day (particularly as related to dominant “cultural clashes” as so framed by various think-tanks). But this work also significantly relates to political theory, history, criminal justice, jurisprudence, as well as social and political psychology etc.
Friar Louis Cappio must live (tags)
The Brazilian semi-arid is immense: 912 thousand square km. It is populous: 22 million people in rural areas. It is the most rainy of the planet: 750 mm / year, on average, which corresponds to 760 billion cubic meters of rainfall per year. It is not true, therefore, that there is no water there.
Holiday Season Hypocrisy (tags)
Consumerism corrupts the holiday season.
2nd Screening of Videoactivism and Independent Documentaries, Caracas January 2008 (tags)
* The collective editors of the Venezuelan journal El Libertario and the Organizacion Nelson Garrido, have issued a call out for filmmakers and video activists from all over the world to present their recent autonomous works concerning active social movements in struggle. This will be held in Caracas, Venezuela, between the 21st and the 28th of January 2008.
Bolivia: Drastic action needed (tags)
In Bolivia, poverty and inequality are on the increase because the government has not been able to implement its National Development Plan. A report drawn up by the Planning Ministry in Bolivia and an arm of the United Nations, the UNFPA, came to the following conclusion: "There is social and economic inequality in the country due to a lack of government policies to bridge the gaps and these inequalities will increase as time passes." The figures say it all. Poverty affects 6 out of 10 Bolivians, while 4 out of 10 live in extreme poverty. The situation is getting worse each year because the annual growth rate of the population is 200,000, but 174,000 of these will live in poverty. While the bourgeoisie plays with hunger strikes to gain so-called Autonomy, some 15,000 children die each year from hunger or hunger related diseases. On the same day that the UN report appeared, it was announced that annual economic growth had fallen from 4.5% in 2006 to 3.8% in 2007. At the same time inflation has risen to 12% mainly due to the rising cost of foodstuffs. Here are two examples. In 6 months a kilo of rice in Santa Cruz had doubled in price from 4 Bolivianos to 8. Gas bottles used for cooking had risen from 25Bs to 50Bs, but it was still hard to find any because most are being exported to Peru where they will sell for up to 125Bs. So business does not worry if Bolivians have no gas to cook with as long as they make a profit.
WHEN GOD BECAME THE TERRORIST: Traces of the Authoritarian Personality in the Three Abrah (tags)
Arguably, this work is as controversial as it is timely. Such an intelligence estimate, if you will, would not have been written had it not related to many important and critical political issues and crises of our day (particularly as related to dominant “cultural clashes” as so framed by various think-tanks). But this work also significantly relates to political theory, history, criminal justice, jurisprudence, as well as social and political psychology etc. It has something of interest to many inquiring minds. Ideas here will not likely be easily dismissed—irrespective of one’s stance.
Another Economy is Possible (tags)
The world economy increasingly has the character of a plutonomy, a wealth economy where the rich appropriate an ever larger share of the social wealth. Imagine an economy that serves justice, peace and creation, where competition and cooperation coexist and the future is safeguarded
Venezuela's Social Democracy Hits A Speed Bump (tags)
Venezuela's democratic spirit will rebound from Sunday's electoral setback.
Roque de Pablo opina-entrevista (tags)
REPORTAJE A ROQUE DE PABLO EN PARAGUAY* Hace algún tiempo, leímos por Internet un reportaje a Roque de Pablo, posiblemente había sido hecho en Buenos Aires, luego algunos escritos, opiniones y su paso por Bolivia. Actualmente reside en Paraguay, su país natal y desde allí, después de mucho tiempo, se decidió a hablar sobre algunos temas que seguramente desatarán nuevamente la polémica. Escritor, cantautor, es un personaje muy influyente sobre la opinión de algunos políticos, intelectuales, y estudiantes de América y Europa.
History, Sublime, Terror: Notes on the Politics of Fear (tags)
"The new powers of violence that are out of the box after 1945 belong to the state. They are properties and prerogatives of the modern nation-state."
When God Became the Terrorist (tags)
Arguably, this work is as controversial as it is timely. Such an intelligence estimate, if you will, would not have been written had it not related to many important and critical political issues and crises of our day (particularly as related to dominant “cultural clashes” as so framed by various think-tanks). But this work also significantly relates to political theory, history, criminal justice, jurisprudence, as well as social and political psychology etc. It has something of interest to many inquiring minds.
Mexican political prisoners need your help (tags)
International campaign to free Adán Mejía López and stop the persecution of Militante and the CLEP-CEDEP Free the political prisoners! The Calderon government, desperate in the face of its complete lack of legitimacy and its intense fear of the increasing class polarisation, has intensified the repression and criminalisation of social struggles, murdering and imprisoning many of the millions of worker and youth who have dared to raise their voices against the misery and oppression so predominant in Mexico. For years the working class has been squeezed to no end, all the social tensions generated as a consesquence of this opened the way to insurrectional struggles such as that which occured last year in Oaxaca and, on a national level, against the electoral fraud.
Reviewing James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer's "Multinationals on Trial" (tags)
How corporate giants plunder developing nations.
Failing Senior Care System Burdening Families (tags)
The war is still the number one issue in the 2008 Elections, but even as we work to bring this war to an end, it is essential that the country look at real solutions rather than illusory for-profit “solutions” to our basic problems: the crisis facing an aging working class, poverty, homelessness, the cost of living, low wages, inflation, the recession, and many other issues on a national agenda of things-to-do. The government must take care of seniors and relieve their families, friends and caregivers of the financial burden.
Coup E'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela (tags)
The Bush administration aims to crush democracy in Venezuela.
Criticism of Neoliberalism: Book Review (tags)
The neoliberal understanding of freedom restricts the possibilities of individuals to participation in the market. Structural and economic power are faded out.
Hillary and Kucinich Drop Bombs in Democratic Debate (tags)
1) Hillary Admits Ross Perot won NAFTA Debate; 2) Hillary calls top six percent income earners "middle class;" 3) in Freudian slip, Hillary Admits Acceptance of Present Washington System; 4) Kucinich Raises Possibility of Third Party Campaign
INSURGENTES against Venezuela´s constitutional reform (tags)
* Various organizations and individuals within Venezuela, each with a history of social struggle and each bringing with them diverse proposals from the anti-authoritarian and critical left, have assembled in the space of INSURGENTES (INSURGENTS) to forge a position against the proposed constitutional “reform” offered by the republic’s President, Hugo Chavez Frias.
Venezuela: Reforms take away what is gained through the struggle (tags)
*This is the editorial of the latest edition of El Libertario(Venezuela, #51, November 2007, now available -in spanish- in www.nodo50.org/ellibertario) in which this mouthpiece of Venezuelan Anarchism set outs its position with regard to the Constitutional Reforms which the current Government seeks to impose on this country.
Reforms and the System Question (tags)
According to Marxist perspectives, capitalism develops with crises and ruptures. Possibilities of revolutionary social upheavals open up in these crises. The old wisdom of the Fordist age that cars cannot buy cars has lost all value to the elites.
Neoliberalism in Crisis (tags)
Liberation theology warns the future of the first world is the third world. Everyday time is replaced by kairos time, the time of decision, when lawlessness masks as lawfulness. The language of proclamation runs crossway to the language of time. Cast your net on the other side!
The Bank of the South: An Alternative to IMF and World Bank Dominance (tags)
Latin America's alternative to the IMF and World Bank
"We Want Disarmament, not Social Cuts!" (tags)
After 1 million Iraqi deaths and a war cost between $1 and $2.3 trillion, the horror and scourge of war must end. This speech by a German union leader could give us courage in resisting the irrationality of war and the confusion of offense and defense.
Money for Firefighting & Prevention; Not for War (tags)
The World Socialist Website has 2 excllent articles providing the details of the Southern California fire crisis and their relation to the neglect of our domestic needs in favor of war profiteering.
Retirement under capitalism (tags)
Sometimes small statistics can have huge implications. The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics recently reported that the age at which U.S. workers retire has risen for the first time in 100 years. According to the report, in the mid-1980s, 18 percent of people in their late 60s still had jobs; today, it is 29 percent. Millions of U.S. workers can no longer look forward to the “Golden Years” of guaranteed Social Security, Medicare health insurance and employer pensions. One in four baby boomers surveyed said they would likely never be able to retire – in other words, they will “work until they drop”. For those that do want to retire, the age at which they can do so is also being systematically raised. Workers born in 1960 or later must wait until age 67, rather than 65, to get their full Social Security benefits. There is talk of raising it further to 70. The mainstream media took scant notice of this, and for good reason; it’s a huge indicator of deeper processes that are destroying the standard of living of workers in the United States and internationally. A quick look into why workers are delaying retirement – if they have the “luxury” of retiring at all – points a condemning finger at the current state of international capitalism, while at the same time warning younger workers of the even worse conditions they’ll certainly face under the auspices of the capitalist system.
Promised Social Change in Ecuador (tags)
Hope for social change in Ecuador
Social Economies and Political Conflicts (tags)
Most of our serious social, ecological and economic problems can only be solved bottom-up with the insight and will of concerned citizens. The challenge consists in a radical democratization of the economy. Otherwise we put the cart before the horse and bridle the horse by the tail.
For a Future of Solidarity and Justice (tags)
The Economic social model is an alternative to the American mini-welfare state. The irrationality of finance capitalism appears in that the stock price rises while the value of labor falls. Labor is shamelessly robbed of its rights and dignity.
lords and kings are unAmerican...
Reviewing James Petras' "Rulers and Ruled in the US Empire" (tags)
An in-depth review of James Petras' important new book.
"Capitalism and Freedom" Unmasked (tags)
The dark side of Milton Friedman's economics.
Greenspan's Dark Legacy Unmasked (tags)
Alan Greenspan's true record of public disservice.
Tunick o la sed de expresión (tags)
La vivificante presencia de la ciudadanía mexicana en el evento nudista es un cariz más de una poco advertida, brotante revolución cultural. Es la encarnación de un exultante deseo civil de asir algo contundentemente “verdadero”, simple y brutal, contrapuesto al infinito engaño. La sociedad reconfigura a fondo su rostro y cotidianidad.
2nd Screening of Videoactivism and Independent Documentaries, Caracas January 2008 (tags)
* The collective editors of the Venezuelan journal El Libertario and the Organizacion Nelson Garrido, have issued a call out for filmmakers and video activists from all over the world to present their recent autonomous works concerning active social movements in struggle. This will be held in Caracas, Venezuela, between the 21st and the 28th of January 2008.
Venezuela today: complexities and outright lies (tags)
* A member of the editorial collective of El Libertario (www.nodo50.org/ellibertario; in Spanish & English) prepared this article for the 6th edition of the Costa Rican (A) journal La Libertad [September 2007; http://revistalalibertad.blogspot.com] in response to an inconsistent effort to establish impossible affinities between Chavism and Anarchism.
Asesinan a trabajador de prensa alternativa. (tags)
El periodista Salvador Sánchez Roque, acudía generalmente a las convocatorias de prensa que las organizaciones sindicales y sociales realizan para dar a conocer sus demandas y posiciones. Por eso Salvador Sánchez, era una persona conocida en el ámbito de los movimientos sociales, su trabajo fue un vehículo de difusión de las posturas del movimiento popular salvadoreño.
Reviewing Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" (tags)
The human wreckage of disaster capitalism.
The Future of Work-driven Society (tags)
When less and less time needs to be spent working for a living in Western industrialised countries, this partial freedom of gainful occupation is increasingly becoming a problem for those dismissed. The vision of working less and living longer is a utopia that is also realistic.
Renovación y continuidad en la ideología anarquista. (tags)
Quizás las controversias mayores entre los anarquistas tengan lugar al momento de considerar qué y cuánto es lo que hay que modificar y en qué punto los cambios deberán detenerse
Lebanon: loans with World Bank, EU (tags)
The Lebanese government signed several loan agreements with the World Bank and the European Union on Friday to help the reform and reconstruction efforts. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who attended both signing ceremonies at the Grand Serail, underlined the importance of implementing reforms on time.
The War on Working Americans - Part II (tags)
Part II of how American workers are losing out.
Privatization Endangers Democracy (tags)
Neoliberal hegemony or market radicalism is a danger for democracy because economic mechanisms replace politics. Neoliberals change the understanding of justice in society. The less generous the social benefits, the more powerful must be its security machine.
At Best Americans Ruled By Slick Used-Car Salesmen (tags)
Are we just stupid?
Venezuela: Izquierda no chavista dialoga y reafirma sus compromisos (tags)
El pasado 5 de agosto, activistas y militantes de diferentes corrientes y ciudades del país participaron en el "Diálogo (a)bierto: Izquierda no chavista y revolución", realizado en Caracas. El objetivo del evento fue abrir uno de los tantos espacios necesarios para la reconstrucción y recuperación de un tejido social autónomo de base entre los diferentes movimientos sociales y populares
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.
Paraguay: A Laboratory for Latin America’s New Militarism (tags)
Castillo, in his cool Asunción office, with the standard Paraguayan herbal tea, tereré in his hand, said these operations marked a shift in US military strategy. "The kind of training that used to just happen at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia is now decentralized," he explained. "The US military is now establishing new mechanisms of cooperation and training with armed forces." Combined efforts, such as MEDRETEs, are part of this agenda.
The High Social Cost of Low Corporate Taxes (tags)
It is now taken for granted that social services in the U.S. will be under-funded – if they are funded at all. This isn’t because average people think that such things are unimportant, but because we’ve been taught by “our” representatives in government that even a miniscule social safety net is economically impossible (it is never explained why – it just is). As this approach continues to dominate mainstream political life, the living standards of working people everywhere are being destroyed, and the meager reforms politicians have always promised us have devolved into even tinier crumbs and counter-reforms. Indeed, reforms that benefit the working class seem to be impossible in Washington now-a-days, precisely at a time when the wealth of the country has never been greater. To make sense out of such irrationality, one has to consider that this issue isn’t limited to the 50 states of the U.S. – it’s an international problem, and its cause is no accident.
Manifesto of solidarity with Venezuelan anarchists and social movements (tags)
* The newspaper Tierra y Libertad, mouthpiece of the Iberian Anarchist Federation, published in edition 227 of June 2007 this manifesto of the International of Anarchist Federations (IAF-IFA; www.iaf-ifa.org) in support of those who in Venezuela today confront the bureaucratic capitalist project of the Chavez government as well as their social democrat and right wing opponents.
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!
Venezuela: Interview with El Libertario (tags)
* Interview with indonesian anarchist journal EMPTY HEAVEN - May 2007 (http://otonomis.org/ -- EMPTY HEAVEN collective website; http://pustaka.otonomis.org/ -- indonesian anarchist/autonomist archive). More info in english & spanish about El Libertario: www.nodo50.org/ellibertario
Reviewing Michael Parenti's "Democracy For the Few" - by Stephen Lendman (tags)
America's democracy serves only the privileged.
MAKE A MINT GETTING REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT; HAVE A PARTY (tags)
Ceasar, Nero, and Hitler all said they were elected, too. Without Representative Government (a Properly-functioning Grand Jury), who knows whether they were or not (as now), it's impossible....without a bill, at least, everytime wrongdoing's officially-alleged. Have your parties and save more lives than any MD could, now.
“Green” capitalism: German Greens adopt new economic programme (tags)
Germany’s Green Party recently agreed to a new economic programme, published under the title “The Green free-market economy.” The programme paper was developed by prominent party figures under the auspices of the party’s parliamentary faction leader Fritz Kuhn, heralding the free market as the guardian angel of the environment—and their own wallets. Every line of this document reflects the class outlook of the upper middle class—those owning medium-sized businesses and the better-off self-employed—by glorifying the market and private property, while simultaneously expressing the authors’ fear of mounting social inequalities. The entire document is characterised by a continuous “on the one hand...and on the other hand” type of argument.
THIS AUGUST: Convergences 4 Climate Action -- Down w/ the Fossil Fuel Empire & Up w/ Life! (tags)
COME CO-CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE TO AN ENERGY-DEPENDENT WORLD!
Just under a month from now -- August 8-14th -- regional North American Convergences for Climate Action will bring hundreds of social justice and environmental activists together to fight the fossil fuel empire and create truly sustainable, bio-regionally appropriate and community-based responses to climate change. The events on the West Coast and in the Southeast are modeled after the inspiring 2006 Climate Camp in the UK, which will reemerge this year at Heathrow Airport from August 14th-21st.
Political Crisis in El Salvador (tags)
A political crisis of explosive proportion is looming this week in El Salvador. In an apparent Effort to decapitate the leadership of one wing of the social movement, Salvadoran national police detained and imprisoned leaders of the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES), a social organization which has worked since the 1980’s with over three hundred organized communities to advocate for their rights. Along with 10 community members, the leaders were placed in “preventative detention” for up to three months pending trial by special tribunal on charges of terrorism.
Privatization as a Threat (tags)
Privatization undermines the nature of the state, the state's reason to exist, and leads to the loss of identity and sovereignty. The state revenue side is weakened by privatizing profitable state expenses. Siegfried Bross is a judge on the German Constitutional Court.
Brazil/Curitiba: Eighty a thousand families without dignified home. (tags)
Cities that do not have public policy of popular habitation do push devoid populations for non buiding areas as fertile valleys of the rivers. The result is periodic flooding, with all the ominous and known consequences for local inhabitants, other populations and for the environment.
Loan defaults escalating: Big Finance and governments Responsible (tags)
Many articles have been written on the tactic of pervasive and continuous debt as a form of economic social management. However, few financial ‘wizards’ and politicians understood the ramifications of such a tactic. To meet regular needs average people have been forced to borrow at rates never before seen. As a result of the created necessity to borrow large amounts and the ease of obtaining large loans, a rapid increase in loan defaults is occurring. Perhaps statistical information on the ‘spike’ in long term debt servicing and mortgagee defaults highlights the failure of the debt strategy. Hailed at the time as the optimum method of economic and social management, today it is proving to be just another strategy of big business appropriating more at the expense of EVERYTHING and everyone else.
The Neoliberal Catechism (tags)
Turning away from the state causes old age poverty and endangers life and limb.. The consequences of privatization are faded out in the US and Germany.. Defining freedom as only entrepreneurial freedom and freedom of capital can be easily veiled.
Death in Los Angeles hospital exposes social crisis in US (tags)
Edith Isabel Rodriguez died on May 9th while two people called the emergency services phone number, 911, frantically trying to get her medical help. She died just outside the emergency room in Los Angeles’ King-Harbor hospital after spending hours seeking treatment for a steadily worsening condition. The entire tragedy reveals the strained and unhealthy state of social relations in America today. The case received much media attention in recent weeks after the release of tape recordings of the 911 calls and a hospital video showing Rodriguez in the hours before her death—including segments showing a janitor mopping up around Rodriguez as she writhed in pain on the floor of the emergency room.
Why your revolution is no liberation! (tags)
During the recent weeks and months a spirited debate developed in different German left wing newspapers and groups about the sense or non-sense, the perspectives and the means and goals of the mobilisation against the G8 summit. Different German and Austrian anti-fascist groups started a campaign to criticise a wrong analysis of capitalism widely spread in the anti-globalisation movement. In the context of this campaign several public discussions and lectures were held, a special webpage was set up but above all reader was published that contains a set of basic texts referring to this problem. This reader is available in German and English and will soon also be published in French in order to spread the debate also across other countries. Check it out: www.no-liberation-reader.tk
Homo Oeconomicus and Economic Theories (tags)
The neoclassical theory dominant today is different from the Keynesian theory that defined the decades after the 2nd World War. "Bad ideas flourish because theya re in the interest of powerful groups." (Paul Krugman)
Once more on the failed transit system fare strike in San Francisco in 2005 (tags)
A brief re-examination of this missed opportunity in working class-based radical mass action in this part of the world...
The "Dark Cloud" of Domestic Imperialism Hangs Over Our Soldiers (tags)
Letter to the international labour movement (tags)
On May 31, at 7:00 am, 150 police armed to the teeth invaded Cipla, a factory controlled by the workers, and "installed" an administrator appointed by the federal judge at the request of the INSS (Social Security). The management elected by the workers along with other selected workers were expelled or prevented from entering the plant. Armed terror has been imposed in the factory. One of the first measures taken by the administrator was to cover with a black canvas the plaque at the entrance of the factory which said: "CIPLA, company controlled by the workers." A marvelous national and international compaign demanding the end of the intervention at Cipla was launched just a few hours after the Federal Police carried out their war operations. Messages began to arrive to the Lula government and the Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, who is responsible for the Federal Police and Luis Marinho, Minister of Social Security, from whose ministry the request for the intervention in Cipla came. Messages were also sent to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Carlos Lupi. This strong and immediate reaction gave us the strength and energy to organize the resistance against these riduculous events.
A Missionary of Ignorance (tags)
The king of arrogance and the missionary of ignorance are part of a frozen elite consciousness of fear and indifferent reason where there are no alter-natives and bankruptcies are just normal business practice. Another world is possible of open arms, not clenched fists!
Capitalist Globalization and the "middle-class" (tags)
Since the 1970s, the social consequences of the current period of capitalism (commonly referred to as globalization) have primarily affected the working class, especially those in manufacturing jobs. Despite the consequential deterioration of large cities and countless smaller towns — not to mention the pauperization of large segments of the population — the effects were dismissed by politicians and the mainstream media as necessary evils. The victims of this process were told to pick themselves up by their boot-straps, go back to school, and learn to integrate into the new, technology-driven global economy. How things have changed! Experience has exposed all the promises of globalization to be lies, and now those who think of themselves as "middle-class" are finding themselves on the chopping block. These skilled workers — engineers, Information Technology workers, accountants, legal and medical personnel, etc. — are confronted by the combined forces of a shrinking labor market, outsourcing, and the corporate-led importation of foreign workers through the H-1B visa program.
Do We Need a New Social System? (tags)
Only half of all employees today (in Germany) enjoy the old standard job.. The erosion of normal working conditions has been underway since the middle of the 1970s.. The basic income is the answer to the precariousness of working conditions.
Neoliberal Rule as Trauma (tags)
With the absolutizing of profit maximization, the neoliberal elites ruthlessly dehumanize workers by reducing them to a cost factor to be lowered.
"We Have an Upper Class Problem" (tags)
The unconditional basic income is a revolutionary idea but can only be realized in an evolutionary way.. We have long been in a foreign-provision economy. No one can provide for himself.. The state should offer people a basic income so they can live a modest humane life.
Working Without Coercion (tags)
Basic income is not a plant-closing bonus. Labor productivity will continue growing if the tax burden on the factor labor is reduced. The belief that full employment could return through economic growth is wishful thinking. Ecologically it could prove a horror.
People's Network request for a public apology from CHIRLA, CARECEN, MIWON (tags)
People's Network in Defense of Human Rights requests a public apology from CHIRLA, CARECEN, and MIWON for statements blaming youth and anarchists for police violence.
6th UNPF Session to Focus on IP Land Rights (tags)
The Sixth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) slated to start on May 14 in New York will focus on indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories and natural resources. The UNPFII sessions will also include presentations on other key issues such as urban indigenous peoples and migration, data collection and disaggregation. Three Cordillerans will be among the over 1,000 representatives of indigenous organizations and communities around the world and advocate groups who are expected to participate in the two-week long UNPFII sessions. Joan Carling, from the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA)’s Advisory Council will present issues on political killings and worsening militarization of indigenous communities in the Philippines. She will also give a presentation on the continuing violation of the ancestral land rights of indigenous peoples and the manipulation of the Free Informed and Prior Consent (FPIC) process by mining and agribusiness companies, among others with the connivance of some government officials.
TOOLKIT FOR DISMANTLING THE ARROYO KILLING MACHINE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
On this May 14 election week, the brutal Arroyo regime in the Philippines backed by the Bush administration is facing the people's judgment for "crimes against humanity." This essay reflects on themes and issues surrounding the crisis of the neocolonial polity in the context of Bush's war of terror and barbaric, predatory globalized capital's assault on the peoples of the world.
Review of E. SAN JUAN's ON THE PRESENCE OF FILIPINOS IN THE UNITED STATES (tags)
Filipinos in the U.S. today comprise the largest community of Asians in the U.S. But knowledge about Filipinos is scarce; instead, trivialities, cliches, and stereotypes are disseminated by Filipino historical associations. This review calls attention to one serious effort to approach Filipinos from a historical-materialist point of view.
Tear Gas & Chronic Health Problems - Physicians For Social Repsonsibility (tags)
Tear gas contains chemicals that cause birth defects, infertility, brain damamge, and cancer. Infants and children are particularly sensitive to these chemical hazards. Here's much more info from our friends at Physicians For Social Responsibility - LA ("Tear Gas Clouds and Chronic Health Problems")
What is good for the economy and what is good for people diverge more and more! Nevertheless the opposite is drummed into people..Capitalism only knows the irrational end-in-itself, making more money out of money until the end of time. Capitalism strikes its own limits.
Presidential Candidate Wants to Supplement Social Security (tags)
The Social Security Administration was established in 1937 under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was an important part of Roosevelt’s New Deal to America; now 70 years since the system was introduced, Stewart Alexander, Candidate for President, wants to give more to an aging America.
Basic Income: Freedom for Every Individual (tags)
Katya Kipping rightly characterizes basic income as a democracy package. Solving a material question and strengthening civil rights and personal autonomy are joined.
Of Irish Hunger-Strikers and Iraqi Suicide Bombers (tags)
Similarities to Iraqi protests of America's abuse and destruction of their land exist in Western culture.
Art and the Oaxaca Commune (tags)
At a time when many US citizens feel powerless to stop the criminal direction of ‘their’ government, the examples of revolutionary movements elsewhere give not only hope, but practical education towards organizing a society where humans outrank profit on the list of social priorities. The ‘Oaxaca Commune’ in Mexico is such an example. For three months, the Mexican state of Oaxaca was controlled by a people’s ‘popular assembly’ that took rapid measures in ousting the corrupt state government and its accomplices within the media and police. The Mexican federal government has since taken severe action in repressing this popular movement, but further organizing and revolutionary momentum has already begun. The huge successes of the movement and its continued political evolution should thus be an inspiration for all those interested in social progress.
SpiritHouse Launches campaign to end the image war against African American women (tags)
On the tails of the hurtful words of Don Imus, the Our Name is Our Own Campaign™ will target the systemic level of this habitual branding, and how it sabotages the work of social justice and obscures the vision for our common dreams. This grassroots campaign will be unveiled by Ruby Sales -- acclaimed civil rights activist, social critic, public theologian and history maker -- at the Lucy Florence Cultural Center located in Los Angeles, at 11am this morning. See below for press release.
Sustainability or Consumerism (tags)
The industrial nations must lower their CO2 emissions at least 80% by 2060.. Consumerism, accumulating goods as a substitute for meaning, is the great enemy of climate protection today.
Web 2.0 Promotes Narcissism (tags)
"Young persons born after 1982 are the most narcissistic generation of recent history and far removed from a social orientation.. Narcissism is a business or income in the attention economy.
The Failure of Modern Western Society (tags)
Wind down from your artificially induced stress/pace and confront your personal reality – take stock for a moment. Your existence has been confined to sustaining and maintaining a system that makes ever-increasing demands on your liberty and freedom – the pillars upon which joy and satisfaction are built/derived! The frenzied pace of western society is largely the result of the manic need for ever increasing profits and greater concentrations of wealth in the fewest possible hands, which inevitably makes higher demands on those at the bottom of the financial scale. Obtaining wealth is simply a matter of applying unfair downward pressure in favour of upward flowing benefits; wealth is not created it is the result of manipulation and/or theft – the historical record bears this out. Put simply, profit is exploitation/theft!
Pete Seeger for Nobel Peace Prize (tags)
Pete Seeger has worked for Peace and Social Justice over the course of his 87 year lifetime. We can be influential in getting him nominated for the honor he deserves. http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet...=3774
Self-Organization and Precariousness (tags)
The phenomenon of precarity points to the return of social insecurity in the rich and secure societies of the West. Job growth in the last decade represented a growth in flexible precarious job conditions.
The paradigm defining conventional social science, history, economics, social psychology needs to be changed. This article sets out a few of the needed pieces
Toxics Coalition Joins Worker's Protest (tags)
Toxics Coalition Interupts Conference to Join Hotel Worker Protest
US Locomotive Losing Steam (tags)
In 2006 after the crash of the New Economy boom, we are again witnessing irrational excess in the credit system and in the prices of assets and property titles.
Two Washington Meetings, One Goal: Stop Political Killings in the Philippines (tags)
Leaders and members of Baptist, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, ANSWER Seattle, Veterans for Peace and the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) will fund-raise on Mar 16, Friday at 6 PM at the University Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington to publish a full page ad in the leading newspaper in the Philippines demanding among others an immediate end to political killings that to date have claimed 840 lives of social activists.
Global Social Rights versus Neoliberalism (tags)
Building community centers, limiting the power of corporations and reflecting on a basic citizen income are steps to democratization and a positive public spirit.
Health Reform: Turning from the Solidarity Principle (tags)
Neoliberal economic and labor market policy, stagnating working income and continuing mass unemployment have withered the extent of employment paying into social security.. The next financing crisis of health insurance is pre-programmed.
www.NomadsLand.com – a new Internet platform for social issue filmmakers, political satir (tags)
NomadsLand.com – an internet video platform for social issue filmmakers and political satirists – has launched its Alpha website in its mission to offer alternative distribution for cinema with a social message.
A talk with Alyson Slator on the Global Reporting Initiative.. Not only the financial bottom line counts, but also the social and environmental ones.. Obviously it is very embarrassing if a company has been cooking its environmental books.
Kucinich on the Issues: Make 2008 the year of We the People (tags)
The problems facing America today are many, but they can be solved with a President that has the best interests of all Americans at heart. Too many politicians are tied to corporate interests, depending on these vested interests to finance their campaign, which adversely affects the Politician's stance on issues. From ending the war in Iraq, to providing Universal Health Care, Dennis Kucinich's platform is based on what is good for the people, not the corporations. please read the issues and download a copy for friends and family.
the welfare state is exposed to serious shocks. Working life is essentially changed. The welfare state protects from the injustice of the free market and creates an identity for those who must claim its benefits.
Full Employment as a Grand Delusion (tags)
The third labor market isnot a panacea. However it is the only possibility for bringing a large number of persons into meaningful employment..Whoever wants to stop right-wing extremists must take the bottom out of their arguments and expand the labor market
Governing against the People (tags)
The dream of 1989 that democracy and capitalism can be reconciled fades.. Elected governments orient their decisions in trans-national groups and global finance markets.
More Employment through a Different Distribution (tags)
More employment comes through reduced working hours and public investments more than tax subsidies. The state has destroyed jobs. The global attack of neoliberalism has gravely damaged the democratic welfare state.
Campamento Zapatista-EVENTO (tags)
El gobierno Mexicano tiene una larga historia de maltratar e ignorar las voces de sus pueblos indigenas. ¿Quién puede olvidar las masacres, los desplazos y la marginación extrema? En pocas palabras, el genocidio de nuestrros pueblos Indigenas!
FIRMA las conclusiones de la V CCIODH por los sucesos de Oaxaca (tags)
En el documento, advierte al gobierno mexicano que en esta entidad existe una “preocupación extrema” porque el escenario tiende a agravarse y salir del control de las autoridades. El organismo internacional de derechos humanos confirma en su investigación que las acciones represivas se han ejercido indiscriminadamente contra la población civil.
Kenya Indymedia coverage of the 2007 World Social Forum (tags)
Kenya Indymedia coverage of the 2007 World Social Forum
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.
Greece:Anarchists take over the Polytechnic University in solidarity to the May6 prisoners (tags)
Greece: Anarchists take over the Polytechnic University of Athens in solidarity to the May 6 prisoners -2 of them are on hunger strike for 46 and 28 days respectively-
Historic Danish Anarchist Center Faces Destruction (tags)
Undomgshuset, an historic Scandanavian anarchist youth center located in the an historic leftist/communist building, is slated for destruction by the new owners, an ultraconservative Christian sect.
Basic income would revolutionize today's work society. Workers would gain negotiating power and employers would have to pay more for onerous work. Everyone would receive a basic income without being tested for neediness or beingforced to a return favor.
Following
Bush, Somalia and the Future (tags)
Bush’s impending demise is marked by frantic and desperate attempts to portray the illegal Iraq invasion and subsequent plunder of the precious oil resource, as a war of “noble” intent! Wars based on deception, lies and plunder, with over half a million civilian casualties, would be difficult to record as anything other than what they are – theft, murder and neo-colonial expansionism at any cost. Unfortunately for Bush and his neo-cons, the Truth regarding Iraq is widely known and it is that knowledge which will enter the historical record, not the drivel that issues from the mouths of imbeciles and psychopaths!
Venezuela 2006: Continued repression of popular protest (tags)
* El Libertario, the voice of the Comision de Relaciones Anarquistas of Venezuela, analyzes the how and the why of the increasing state repression against the growing social discontent that belies the pseudo-revolutionary discourse of the Chavez regime.
Advice to Democratic-led Congress: to shift US away from contributing to global insecurity (tags)
The first action should be calling upon the UN General Assembly to invoke Article 22 of the Charter of the United Nations to set up an international Tribunal to charge Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld et al for Crimes Against the Peace.
Welcome to 2007, the year of plain sight and little doubt! The criminal incompetence of the Bush regime is impossible to hide, thanks in part to a highly successful American son, Bill Gates – and everyone thought that Bin Laden posed the greatest threat to the American way of life! It was Bill Gates, the world’s most successful capitalist, who, a decade ago, accelerated the development of the “information super highway”. His superbly streamlined and devastatingly efficient marketing machine facilitated the age of open communication that many take for granted today.
Against the repression in Oaxaca, Anti-capitalist class struggle! (tags)
For several months the town of Oaxaca, capital of the Mexican State of the same name, has been the center (of a movement) of important struggles which have undergone (or suffered) repeated attacks by the forces of repression (police, army and paramilitary) with many victims: at the end of November the toll was 22 dead and 34 disappeared.
Freedom: A Christological Contribution (tags)
Christmas is a revolution, a new beginning and a change of loyalties where weakness becomes strength and power is seen as blindness. Poverty of spirit keeps us from the idolatry of riches and power as ends-in-themselves.
Christian Morality and Economic Reason (tags)
Finance capital circling anonymously around the globe seeking only short-term profit must expect the resistance of the affected and of the church that turns to the affected. The question is who profits from globalization.
The Welfare State and Democracy (tags)
The German presidential cabinets following the Mueller government cut the basic social rights of employees and unemployed at a breakneck speed and dismantled the welfare state and democracy.
Social Cuts Cause Suffering (tags)
"Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come" (Victor Hugo).. Liberated from their existential worries, people could develop their talents.. A basic income could expand the efficiency of our society.
Direct solidarity with the oppressed and exploited in Oaxaca (tags)
When we read the communiqués sent out by APPO [Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca / Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca] and by all the organizations, collectives and individuals that are today a part of it, including some anarchist companions that innocently follow these shitpile bourgeoisie and authoritarians, we honestly ask ourselves if we are talking about the same thing, or worse yet, if we even co-exist in the same country or if they are narrating to us what occurs in a distant galaxy.
Exploitation and Precarity (tags)
The exclusion processes are actually the result of radicalized capital exploitation strategies.. In the last two decades capital has learned that low-wage zones can be enforced when the collapse zones are intimidatingly present.
On November 24th, 2006, I traveled to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, to observe and document how people were spending their time on “the busiest shopping day of the year,” the day after Thanksgiving. To narrow down the focus of my documentary, I decided to use photos of people and the bag or bags that they were carrying. The bag a person carries can lead to many assumptions about the person carrying the bag. In some cases, the owner of the bag may not be the person who carries the bag, though I believe the bags shown in Baggage are all carried by their new or longtime owners.
Rightwing Anti-Capitalism (tags)
The interests of the working class are no longer defended by the dominant parties. On the background of this representation crisis (cf Gramsci), rightwing populist parties have electoral successes all over Europe.
Congress on Solidarity Economy (tags)
Solidarity economy is part of a strategy against neoliberal exactions. Economic self-help must not be used as a social fig leaf for the continued neoliberal reorganization of society.
Reforming or Dismantling the Welfare State (tags)
The neoliberal residual state is more a criminal than a welfare state..The welfare state that has constitutional rank in Germany is now without intrinsic value for neoliberals and subject to the location logic of economic and power interests.
Spirituality and Liberation: Segundo Galilea (tags)
Advent is a time of beginning as crisis can be a time to pause and gain new perspectives and priorities. We are called to be internation-alistas, to create a new language and a new mathematics. The world will be changed when people speak as Jesus spoke, in a way that scandalizes and attracts by its power
A recent news report detailing the effects of Globalisation – western economic/military expansionism by any other name – and the explosion of organised criminal activity in the Balkans was aired today on ABC Radio Australia. The primary item of interest dealt with the negative impact that Western Europe, including the UK, is experiencing as a result of the activities of Albanian, Turkish, Bosnian, Bulgarian and Serbian criminal syndicates. According to the report NATO’s intervention and the subsequent elimination of traditional regulatory forces and authorities in the region has facilitated the “explosion”.
Economic Values and Impending Collapse (tags)
Foreboding has hit the ranks of private equity firms; try as they might to unload vast amounts of funds (monetary value is inextricably linked to the movement of those funds) they have been unable to spend/invest at a rate that would sustain value let alone increase real profits! The ‘healthy figures’ reflecting increased acquisitions/investments are on paper only – it ‘looks good’ at the moment!
Release of Free Video Workshop (Inspired by Argentina's Piqueteros) (tags)
Interested in new ways to connect inspiring international social movements with the work going on in your community? Check out this new video featuring behind the scenes interviews and footage with Argentina's piquetero movements. The video is divided into short sections designed for use in workshops to spark conversation about the tactics, goals and strategies of your projects. And, it’s free.
Venezuela, Elections 2006: Anarchists Speak (tags)
From the Commision of Anarchist Relations (Comision de Relaciones Anarquistas) and its organ El Libertario, we disseminate three texts in which we publically express our perspective on the upcoming Venezuelan elections of December 3, 2006.
International Conference on Immigrant Rights at San Diego State University on December 9th (tags)
Immigrant Rights Conference with Keynote Speaker Nativo V. Lopez
NGO of the Week: Basic Income Network (tags)
The internationally practiced social cuts sold as combating unemployment have terrible social and economic effects. A grave psychic depression has already seized society. Since the world economy becomes ever more efficient, what will become of 80% w/o work?
Disintegration has three central dimensions and starts when access to the functioning systems of society becomes unstable.. Democratic substance can be lost when citizens are told they have no influence and are not needed.
For the Globalization of Sustainability (tags)
The euphoria of Rio was based on the certainty that these visions could be realized thanks to a peace dividend.. Consumption is till the first civic duty in industrial countries.
The solution to the problem cannot be curfews and terar gas.. Profit and power are set above social peace. Who is really responsible when the villa surrounded by barbed wire is charred one morning?
Sedition and Popular Media (tags)
Conservative (far right) ‘governments’ – presentation marionettes of Corporate and Financial interests – have unanimously implemented “new sweeping” (slogan) anti-terrorist and sedition laws to constrain or otherwise stifle dissent and opposing ‘views’. Conservatives can always be relied upon to implement the most lacklustre ‘solutions’. In characteristic mode they have all resorted to Legislation in a futile attempt to silence dissenting and protesting ‘voices’. Legislation has always been the refuge of all scoundrel governments and inept politicians. Nevertheless, the popular media remains unaffected by the new laws and continues to demonise, misrepresent, distort and omit details in order to present a ‘tailored reality’ to the public. Circumventing the ‘new sweeping laws’ is child’s play for any journo, analyst, artist or professional media manufacturer/fabulator/fabricator – WHY?
Fear of the Working Class At Home And Internationally Stirs Some Debate Among the Bankers (tags)
There is growing concern among sections of the capitalist class that the rising opposition to their global offensive and the market will get out of control.
The Right of All People to Self-Determination (tags)
With the military strike against Iraq, the intervention forces have fulfilled the fact of aggression.. Aggression is one of the worst crimes according to the 1999 statute of the International Court.
Philippines: AKBAYAN holds successful 3rd Congress (tags)
Amidst escalating repression and political crisis, the Akbayan Citizens Action Party recently held its Third Regular Congress last October 14 and 15, 2006, at the Riverbend Hotel in Marikina City. With the theme "Ipaglaban ang Dangal ng Pilipino, Ipaglaban ang Kinabukasan Ngayon" (Claim the Future Now), Akbayan marked its more than eight years existence as an alternative national political party in the Philippines.
The fake compassion of Europe's right-wing (tags)
It’s interesting to see what issues can infiltrate and corrupt the Left. Usually the offenses are blatant— supporting the ‘war on terror’, electing ‘progressive Democrats’, calling for military intervention into a troubled region (Yugoslavia— and now Sudan). Sometimes though, more subtle topics can confuse and disorientate the Left, the most recent example being the sudden reemergence of the WWI Armenian genocide as a hot-button issue.
Communistic persistences in the course of human history (tags)
What characterizes the manufacturing division of labour? The fact that a partial worker doesn't produce any commodities; that only the partial workers' common product becomes commodities
Street Signs and Solar Ovens! Social Craft in LA (tags)
A though provoking exhibition featuring artwork created with social activism as its inspiration. The exhibit explores the inventive objects and strategies created by artists in response to the environmental, political and social issues of our time. The objects featured will include protest art meant for public display as well as tools for socially conscious living.
‘Honeypot’ for Keelty and Ruddock (tags)
We have recently received some unverifiable information from our government sources regarding a purported obsession shared by Mick Keelty and Philip Ruddock. The information referred to the existence of a “missing category” of terrorist activity, the existence of which has been severely hampering the ability of both regulatory authorities to adequately fulfil their social obligations. Keelty and Ruddock, in their quest for tighter social regulation, have encountered certain aberrations in the social matrix, the cause of which remains a mystery!
Open Letter to the Rulers in Germany (tags)
We were almost convinced we really had the same interests as your corporations, banks and politicians. We almost believed that all our desires could become reality in capitalism.
Globalized capitalism means precarity and exclusion in the North and increasing exploitation and impoverishment in the South. Global social rights could be a counter-power.
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Day of the Dead Celebration (tags)
A Day of the Dead Celebration on Sat. Oct. 21st from 3-9pm, live music and refreshments all day!
Not to the evict of the Almagro`s Assembly ! (tags)
¡No al desalojo de la Asamblea de Almagro!
UNHCR links with social development centres to help Lebanese IDPs (tags)
And Lebanon's displaced will clearly need help and continued support from overseas for some time to come.
A well-known method of subjugation utilised by conquerors and rulers alike is, “divide and conquer”; this strategy applies equally in times of war and peace. It may surprise many but this method remains the principal means of social control in today’s western societies. The primary divisive structure today is the (separate, ‘closed-door’) nuclear family and the principal divided unit is the psychically isolated, competitive individual. [It should be noted that the ‘individual’, as distinct from the group, is a relatively recent social creation.]
Capitalist at the start of the 21st century set out to realize the utopia of a life without work-and cannot face this fact-because of its own inner pressures. Reducing working hours is crucial for lowering unemployemnt. Creating a social net is a precondition for sharing work
Future Prospects for the Young Generation (tags)
The social contract of modern times based on lifelong full-employment in paid work is broken.. We produce with Bill Gates and dis-tribute with Bismarck..After 200 years, we need a new social contract, a new reconciliation of work and income.
Minuteman Project in Ventura County (Thousand Oaks) (tags)
Minuteman Project founder speaks at Thousand Oaks Borders 9/25 - - hiss, hiss, BOOOO
Dissecting the war on terror (tags)
After five years of post 9/11 government, U.S. foreign and domestic policy continues to be dominated by the all-encompassing ‘war on terror’. Events have since exposed this so-called war for what it is: a gross propaganda campaign used to suppress civil liberties and launch global war.
Quinta MegaMarcha photos and SlideShow: Por un Oaxaca Mejor (tags)
SlideShow of photos taken on September 1st, 2006, during Oaxaca's 5th MegaMarcha which started in the community of San Felipe and ended at the zócalo in the center of Oaxaca City. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets and marched to demand the immediate departure of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO), liberation for political prisoners, the cancellation of 70 government arrest warrants for people involved in the leaderless Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO, by its Spanish initials) movement and the desire for popular governance. (4:22 minutes / 6.5 MB)
Pathological Fixation on Work (tags)
Work mania-voluntarily-has become social normality.. We have largely internalized the norms of the work society. In other words, we are susceptible to work mania.
How Much Poverty Can a Society Endure? (tags)
Pretending that justice is possible with growing inequality is pure ideology. Distribu-tive justice is the key for a peaceful future.. Spending for the welfare state has not grown in Germany.
Anger with the Establishment: Jean Ziegler (tags)
Free trade is like heavyweight champion Mike Tyson climbing in the boxing ring against a half-starved unemployed from northeast Brazil..Without social justice, the republic is worthless..The world order of globalized pre-datory capitalism seems like cruel absurdity
As the shaky ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel lumbers on, the European governments expected to ‘enforce the peace’ have been stuttering and stalling in the face of actual commitment. It was France who took the initiative originally, who as head of UNISFL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), promised 3000 troops. After analyzing the situation further, an about-face occurred, and the troop level was reduced to 400 non-combatant personal. Italy saw opportunity and declared itself the replacement, promising 2000 troops; France, not to be outdone, reasserted leadership responsibilities, but with 2000 troops this time; Italy was then, thanks to its charitableness, awarded France’s old job as head of UNISFL. After all this, the seesawing attitude of the rest of Europe continues. These governments are demanding more definitive ‘rules of engagement’; they’re curious about the prospects of actual fighting, and are rightfully scared of being viewed as a foreign occupier in Hezbollahland. Bush is intent on seeing that his backfired war-effort is partially salvaged, and has insisted that Europe “hurry up” with military aide, since the U.S. has none to spare. It may be prudent to examine why Europe— who views Israel and the U.S. with apt distrust— is both eager and terrified to help them pursue their interests. Note: a working assumption will be that ‘humanitarian reasons’ is a sophistic answer, meant to lure citizens into obedience.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE COLLAPSED WTO DOHA ROUND TALKS (tags)
ALTERNATIVES TO THE FAILED WTO WORLD TRADE MODEL.
Any Time Now #24 Online (tags)
Issue #24 of Any Time Now: For Social Anarchism is now out.
Venezuela: Levantando los cimientos de la represión (tags)
* Este texto, escrito por la redacción del periódico El Libertario para el # 48, agosto 2006, explica con detalles y hechos porqué es una verdad a medias la afirmación del actual gobierno venezolano referida a que, a diferencia de sus épocas anteriores, hoy se ejerce sin coerción alguna en el país el derecho a manifestar publicamente en favor de las reivindicaciones colectivas.
Why Democracies evolve into Dictatorships (tags)
It took only six years with Bush Jr. as President to give birth to a new generation of radical political activists, journalists, and commentators, whose main concerns are subjecting the insane policies of the President to exposure and condemnation; this, it seems, constitutes the foundation for nearly the entire realm of real political opposition in the U.S. The strategy here is limited to educating people about the destructive policies of the Republicans and hoping that in response, a protest or political movement will evolve powerful enough to either reform or displace those in power. Education of course, is absolutely crucial in transforming any dissident organization into an entity capable of action and results. However, by focusing only on the policies of the Republicans, without explaining the larger framework from whence they came, political education is greatly hindered, limiting the potential for effective action.
Uniting the Liberals, Lefties, and Progressives (tags)
Ever since the classic revolutions that begun the current epoch of ‘democracy’, and more importantly capitalism, there have remained an inherent disunity among those loosely defined as progressives. Why this lack of unity exists, and why our political opponents do not seem to suffer from the same ailment is something worth examining.
Impeachment as a System Remedy (tags)
The thief came to steal, kill and destroy, the Son came that we might have life in abundance.. If faith can move mountains, it can move an accidental president to retirement and save the planet.
In Defence of Mel Gibson (tags)
The major communication mediums of the world continue to bombard the public with images and descriptions of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. The media works tirelessly to deliver our social consciousness. Today’s mass media maintains its status as the principal means of creating and sustaining social realities. The internet-based ‘independents’ lack real independent front-line resources and continue to rely on the mainstream for most of their information (much to their chagrin).
Oil Robbery by Law: The Economic Invasion of Iraq (tags)
The US does not rob Iraq of its oil. The emphasis is on sharing. Production Sharing Agreements are long-term agreements between oil corporations and coil states. Richard Perle once said solidarity means countries agreeing with the US.
Middle EastHizballah, the Lebanese Shi‘i movement whose militia is fighting the Israeli army in south Lebanon, has been cast misleadingly in much media coverage of the ongoing war. Much more than a militia, the movement is also a political party that is a powerful actor in Lebanese politics and a provider of important social services. Not a creature of Iranian and Syrian sponsorship, Hizballah arose to battle Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon from 1982-2000 and, more broadly, to advocate for Lebanon’s historically disenfranchised Shi‘i Muslim community.
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.
Los Angeles Social Forum Planning Retreat (tags)
Please join us Saturday, July 29 from 10-4 pm downtown LA for a LA Social Forum planning retreat. Local activists are planning a Social Forum in Los Angeles in the spring of 2007. This will be a city and regional affiliate of the World Social Forums.
surviving the bush democracy (tags)
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ALTERNATIVE G8 ST Petersburg DECLARATION OF COMMON SECURITY July 14, 2006 (tags)
ALTERNATIVE G8 ST Petersburg DECLARATION OF COMMON SECURITY July 14, 2006
Global Social Rights Worldwide! (tags)
Deregulation of finance markets leads to a concentration of power in the hands of a few banks and investment funds..Social rights gained by struggle are already sacrificed on the altar of the market.
Michael Zinzun Presente! (tags)
WE MUST GIVE OUR BROTHER COMRADE A HOMEGOING THAT WILL BE RMEMBERED UNTIL THE END OF TIME!
On Jonathan Kozol's "Manifiesto" (tags)
The struggle for social justice can begin in schools, with a mass movement to take direct action in order to overcome racist high-stakes tests, and imperialist wars.
Sec. of State candidate Dr. Forrest Hill at LA Greens, July 19 (tags)
The focus of Dr. Hill's talk will be our broken two-party election system and what we need to do to reclaim our democracy. He will discuss how corporate money and our winner-take-all voting system not only disenfranchises millions of voters, but is instrumental in usurping the social movements in this country (such as the immigrant rights and peace movements).
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.
Democracy and its Despisers (tags)
Characteristics earlier ascribed to totalitarianism like control of the whole social life by the state could now be considered typical for modern democracies.. The whole dfemocratic life degenerates to a kind of market.
Joaquin Cienfuegos: Live from the Struggle in Mexico – Days 1 and 2 (tags)
The following is a correspondence from Joaquin Cienfuegos, traveling throughout Mexico reporting on the struggles on the streets, the anarchist movement, the Other Campaign, the Zapatista’s, and the over all radical climate that is building. More updates to come. All messages are free for broad distribution and will be sent across the net. Please forward, and let this be an inspiration to a growing movement in North America towards internationalism.
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Czech Greens enter right-wing government (tags)
Following the Czech parliamentary elections of June 2 and 3, the Green Party is now preparing to join the right-wing government of the arch-conservative Citizens Party (ODS). The Greens have now entered an Eastern European parliament for the first time, with Strana Zelenych (SZ) receiving 6.3 percent of the vote. Clearly, the Green Party in Prague is beginning its political odyssey at the point it left off in Germany—as a governing party; but this time no longer in alliance with the Social Democrats, but instead with politically conservative and right-wing parties.
Break the Neoliberal Hegemony! (tags)
This call to a new LEFT party in Germany could give hope to all who yearn for social justice and structural/systemic corrections. While corporate profits and assets incomes set new records, wages, unemployment benefits and pensions are cut.
Worldwide Wars and Anti-Military Options (tags)
The author suggersts three reasons for the nerve-wracking calm in Germany: 1) objective and very cruel mass unemployment, 2) self-stigmatization and 3) people don't think there is anything to share. At the end he urgers: Be IMI-Instinctively Mainstream Ignoring.
Brazil: "Petists" and "Toucans" have an agreement with bankers to prom (tags)
The "reform" of the Social Security, mixing interests of pension funds and of the financial system, will be implemented in the next government - no matter who will occupie the chair of the president of the republic at "Palácio do Planalto"
A Brief Explanation of the CPE, the November riots, and French politics in general (tags)
The riots in French suburbs have always been detonated by police violence. The first of these riots happened in Lyon's suburbs, in Vaulx-en-Velin, a working class hub with Renault factories. Monstrous urbanisation, tens of thousands of workers who became jobless after corporate downsizing in the 1970s, inexistent public infrastructures, stigmatisation against people of foreign origin, schools that only proposed dead ends, heroin for the young and alcohol for their parents; voila the situation of this peripheral city forgotten by all until police violence led to the death of a young man. Police violence triggered this riot in 1990, and those that followed, all the way up to those of November 2005...
Beyond Entertainment: How Roger Waters Has Influenced Other Artists To Take A Stand (tags)
Roger Waters is an example of an artist who has taken a stand against injustice. His work has influenced others in music, film and other forms of creative expression.
The Enron verdicts: corruption and American capitalism (tags)
The guilty verdicts handed down by a Houston jury last week against former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling provide an opportunity to evaluate the significance of the company’s rise and fall within the context of American capitalism. Accounts by jurors given after the verdicts were announced indicate they all agreed that the evidence against the two executives was overwhelming. It consisted mainly of testimony from over a dozen former executives, who implicated Lay and Skilling for their roles in defrauding investors and employees through various forms of accounting manipulation. The jurors quickly rejected the absurd position of the defense that Enron was basically a healthy company that collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001 largely as the result of Wall Street machinations and negative press coverage.
Latin American Anarchist Journal (tags)
Incendio Publicacion! - English and Espanol New Bi-lingual Anarchist Journal focused on Latin America! Incendio is... An endeavor that some of us have taken up to increase communication with anarchists in Latin America, network, learn from their struggles, illuminate opportunities for solidarity actions, provide a forum for Latin American anarchists to share ideas and analysis, break down the language barrier, and make support efforts more possible.
ANSWER-LA Summer Internships - Apply Today (tags)
Become an intern with the ANSWER Coalition in Los Angeles this summer. Help build the independent people's movement against war and racism and for immigrant rights!
The Dilemma of Capitalism (tags)
Without capitalism, we could not live but we can hardly survive with it. Shifting social costs is the real core of capitalism..Politics is powerless toward the economy. Governments are forced to weigh the control of capital against positional deterioration.
The new typoe described by the sociologist Christopher Lasch in his book "The Blind Elite" is unscrupulously fixated on economic calculation.. He cannot feel a sense of responsibliity for the community of a city, region or country.
GOVERNMENT Lula: The NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENT THAT WORKED? (tags)
Ivo Lesbaupin is a sociologist and professor of the School of Social Service of the UFRJ. He studied at a Dominican seminary, contemporary of frei Beto, frei Tito and others.
Solidaridad con la revuelta de Atenco (tags)
Por l@s pres@s de Atenco y del mundo
STOP CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION: ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE! (tags)
A Statement of Unity from the OUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE Network:(www.ourworldisnotforsale.org)
US-Arroyo regime, Filipino Social Democrats and the AFP death squads, (tags)
If Marx called Christian Socialism the holy water in which the reactionaries dip their fingers in to become holy, we in the First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN) call the Social Democrats led by Fr. Romeo Intengan and Norberto Gonzales as the vinegar that these reactionary brutes dip the wounds of the victims of their deadly terrorist killing campaigns. The latest pronouncement of Norberto Gonzales that the NPA hit squads are in Manila and are out to assassinate Gloria and some members of her cabinet (including him of course) is a dirty psy-war to set the stage for their death squads to kill leading progressive leaders like the Batasan 5 and other progressive leaders in Metro Manila. No doubt it is a cheap attempt to divert attention from the widespread public outcry nationally as well as internationally against the Arroyo regime’s bloody campaign which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of progressive mass activists.
"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.
Don White speaks on Latin America's struggle for social justice - MONDAY MAY 8 at CSULA (tags)
Veteran activist Don White will give a presentation on the upsurge in Latin American movements for democracy and socialism, and what it may mean for us.
"AQUI ESTAMOS Y NO NOS VAMOS!": THE STRUGGLE FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS (tags)
By William I. Robinson
Se puede? Not by protest alone (tags)
It only took a day for the effect of the immigration protests to be known. On May 2nd politicians from both parties gave a wealth of interviews and speeches that clarified their positions: nothing had changed. In fact, many had remarked that the protest had a ‘backlash effect’, hardening and inflaming the already conservative opinions of Republicans, while dulling the already flimsy stance of Democrats. Trent Lott, in speaking for many on the right, implied that a massive deportation sweep during the protests would have been appropriate, given that “we had ‘em all in a bunch”. On the other side of the isle, Diane Feinstein gave a more passive response to the protests, representing the unaffected character of most Democrats to the millions who appeared in the streets; the passionate outcry from the masses was referred to as ‘counterproductive’, since protesting does not “changes votes on the floor of the senate”— the latter point is certainly true, becoming more obvious as pro-immigration and anti-war protests continue to draw millions, but fall onto deaf ears in Congress. Demonstrations, boycotts, protests, or any other indication of public opinion has proven unable to sway the actions of either party. The façade of the two-party system is unveiling itself with impressive speed as social tensions near the boiling point.
The implications of the immigrant demonstrations for the class struggle in America (tags)
The demonstrations, strikes and boycotts by immigrant workers in cities across the United States are an indication of a sharpening of the class struggle, both in the US and internationally. Literally millions took to the streets May 1 in cities from Los Angeles to New York, Miami to Seattle and scores of towns in between. This mass protest movement, which has been building since March, is without precedent in both its size and its national scope.
In "1984," George Orwell warned that war would become a domestic necessity to divert the people from economic contradictions. Inequality may promote productivity but also undermines public spirit and social ochesion
Washington renews demand for cuts to Social Security, Medicare (tags)
The Bush administration, echoed by much of the mass media, seized upon reports released May 1 on the fiscal health of the Social Security and Medicare system to renew its demand for drastic cuts to these two major entitlement programs, thereby gutting retirement benefits and health care for older Americans. According to the reports, issued by the trustees of the programs’ trust funds, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is projected to become insolvent by 2018, due largely to rapidly rising costs of American health care outstripping the payroll taxes that fund the program. The report on Social Security indicates that this program will be able to pay out 100 percent of benefits until 2040, when the trustees predict the fund will be exhausted—a year earlier than previous projections. After that it would be able to cover 74 percent of promised benefits out of revenues until 2080, when it would decline to 70 percent.
UCLA Students Demand sweatfree Collegiate Apparel (tags)
Students march to demand that the UCs adopt a program to ensure that collegiate apparel is made in sweatfree conditions.
France: Government launches assault on immigrants (tags)
A demonstration called by a broad alliance of anti-racist organisations has been called in Paris today, assembling at the Place de la République at 2 p.m. The French government has launched a major racist offensive against immigrants. Despite the tenacity and extent of the protest movement against the First Job Contract (CPE—giving employers the right to fire young workers at will), which continued throughout February, March and much of April and witnessed days of action bringing up to 3 million university and high school students and workers onto the streets, the government is continuing its programme of reactionary legislation with the Immigration Bill. This bill, which will greatly increase the social and job insecurity of immigrants, is to be put before parliament May 2, without any disruption in its parliamentary schedule.
Why politicians hate immigrants (tags)
Throughout the history of the United States immigrant workers have been the victims of racism, exploitation, and in times of war, internment and violent attacks. While Spanish-speaking immigrants have had especially turbulent periods in the past, only recently have politicians made attempts at further marginalizing this already oppressed layer of society. Why these attacks are suddenly reemerging is something left unexplained in the mainstream media, and is thus an important issue to examine.
As support for Bush plummets, no alternative from Democrats (tags)
A series of opinion polls released in recent weeks have shown a massive increase in popular opposition to the Bush administration. The US president’s approval rating has dropped to barely one third, on a par with that of Richard Nixon on the eve of his resignation over the Watergate scandal. The latest results published Thursday were from a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News, showing only 36 percent of respondents approving of Bush and his policies (compared to 48 percent a year ago). The same poll indicated that 67 percent believe that the US is on “the wrong track.”
A little perspective, please (tags)
Forget the Middle East: North America Harbors the World's Most Dangerous Terrorists
The state has a social nature and isn't only a security and power state. If the state is reduced to a trough or waterboy for capital, the class compromise is dissolved and justice becomes an abstraction. Neoliberal myths legitimate the growing precariousness
Regarding Ted Hayes and 'Black' Minutemen (tags)
"The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was... The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it..." --Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE
HOLD THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE! (tags)
The election cycle of 2006-2008 has started, a time for all militants to run for cover. It will not be pretty and certainly is not for the faint-hearted. The Democrats smell blood in the water. The Greens smell that the Democrats smell blood. Various parliamentary leftists and some ostensibly socialists smell that the Greens smell blood. You get the drift. Before we go to ground let me make a point.
Macho Men and State Capitalism - Is Another World Possible? (tags)
* Latin America is boiling with revolutionary potential these days that could redefine economics, politics and social relations. But sometimos things aren't always as they seem. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is widely seen to be at the center of Latin America's transformation by building a regional trade bloc through the creation of ALBA and Venezuela's membership in Mercosur to oppose U.S. dominance and its constant push for free trade agreements with Latin American governments.
The Contradictions are our Hope (tags)
Multilateral trade agreements-like the WTO-are not per se something good, especially when they only codify the rules of the rich. Until trade policy changes, massive changes of social hierarchies of power are necessary Th WTO is undemocratic and unjust.
Lucerne, Switzerland Becomes GATS-Free (tags)
Over 80 communities in Switzerland have insisted on stopping GATS-liberalization for social, ecological and democratic reasons.. In Europe, over 1000 communities have declared themselves GATS-free zones.
Hillary Clinton outlines Democrats’ big business agenda (tags)
New York’s Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton delivered a speech last week to the Economic Club of Chicago that served as an introduction to the right-wing economic platform upon which she and her party intend to run in the 2006 US midterm elections, as well as her own agenda in an expected bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
It’ no accident that many people are finding a rekindled interest in the writings of Karl Marx; the international assault of workers wages and benefits, continued warfare, and economic instability in general are causing a revival of the buried and slandered ideas of Marxism. Many of these concepts offer tremendous insight about the origins and workings of capitalism, and thus the causes of many of society’s current problems. Needless to say, involved are immense implications for anybody interested in becoming an activist. A “Marxist” is someone who accepts some of the key points about history and society first explained by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, and elaborated further by the writings of Lenin, Trotsky, and many others (Stalin, Mao, etc are Marxists in name only). Unfortunately, one cannot learn about these ideas by going to college, aside from the many biased and bastardized versions of the subject. The following is a brief explanation of some of the more important concepts of Marxism.
THE ABC'S OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, 1917. (tags)
THIS IS A REVIEW OF LEON TROTSKY'S HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, ORIGINALLY PBLISHED IN 1930-23, BY AN UNREPENTENT DEFENDER OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
French government withdraws “First Job Contract,” enlists unions in assault on job securit (tags)
President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced yesterday that new legislation will be drawn up to replace the “First Job Contract” (CPE), which sparked a massive wave of protests and strikes in recent weeks. Leaders of the trade unions, some student unions and “left” political parties immediately declared the shift marked a decisive victory for the anti-CPE movement and signalled their intention to halt further mass mobilisations against the government.
Report from April 10th march (tags)
Thousands fill Placita Olvera to demand amnesty, rights, and justice for immigrants.
Lack of job stability, future, basic social income and freedom (tags)
Some ideas about lack of job stability, future, basic social income and freedom.
POVERTY ERADICATION By Ruby BIRD Rabinouchette@aol.com Arab Countries To improve people’s skills facilitation their entry into emloyment sectors through integrated capacity building schemes (programs on social skills, human rights and business skills). Were noticed increased illiteracy, high school dropouts, gender gaps, and school graduates with limited life skills. For example : series of direct training workshops for poor and deprives youth have been held in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon and Palestinian Camps. Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal Poverty undoubtedly has a women’s face. Two third of the world’s poor live in this region. The majority being women, two third of them are of schoolage. To help them to acquire appropriate technology-related knowledge and skills in order to help opening them the door to more job opportunities and increasing their status in the society. Girls and young women in those societies are a particular vulnerable group. Often, rights to Education & Training, Decent Work & Benefits of Science are denied to poor girls. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan The highest concentration of the world’s poorest population, mostly having a female face. Need to break the poverty cycle of women in this region. Seek to demonstrate that it is opportune to focus on vulnerable adolescent girls caught in the process of pauperisation, it is crucial to go beyond the narrow perspective of considering them only as « people with needs ». Their rights have to be defended for the well being of all. To emphasize Education & Microfinance, Science, Communication & Information as well as Monitoring & Evaluation. Those components are closely inter-related. Central Asia & Afghanistan Continental climate with extremes of heat and cold, wet and dry. The region is prone to earthquakes. It is urgent to revive the traditional skills needed on the one hand to preserve the cultural heritage sites and on the other to build ecologically sound houses and public buildings affordable by all, including the poorest rural populations. To promote the right to good housing and living conditions affordable to all sections of the population and adapted to the climate. To promote the right to a substainable environment by using energy efficient construction and renewable energies. To promote the right to good health by avoiding harmful modern construction materials and promoting natural materials. Latin America To improve the lives of artisan and small-scale mining communities in the fragile ecosystems of latin America. The common factor is often the predominance of vulnerable social groups and widespread poverty. Artisanak ans small-scale mining largely depends on local ans sub-regional economic links. One of the most prinicpal objective is to improve social, economics and technical conditions, to reduce the environmental impact and poverty. To focus on Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Mining can cause environmental damages, to support the right to a healthy environment by improving methodologies for the biodiversity protection. By trying to diminish people’s health risks, we support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights « Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of works and to protection against unemployment ». Young and female migrants in China and Mongolia The integration of migrant workers in the urban social and economic fabric through services including training in life and basic skils, vocational training, career counselling, family planning, health & rights awareness. The targeted group is young female migrants who suffer from double denial of human rights & double discrimination as female and as to promote migrants rights in the national, regional & local governements through : - advocacy on the ratified international treaties - legal assistance activities - capacity building for officials - awareness raising activities ans at preparing recommendations for new laws and regulations on working & living conditions of migrants. Exploitative migration of women and children in Africa Poverty is one of the main explanatory factors of human trafficking. This is a modern form of slavery. To fight against poverty by eradicating human trafficking, espacially that of women & children in Africa. To organize awareness campaigns adapted to local cultures. Poverty, an extreme discrimination is combined with gender discrimination & lack of education. The fight against human trafficking is organized around : - the right to formal education & informal education wich empowers potential victims against human trafickers - right to health which is often lacking in trafficked victims, especially the one involved in sexual exploitation - right to a decent work for removed from the modern form of degrading slavery that human trafficking represents - right to security & justice, especially for the trafficked victims who try to escape from the human traffickers - right to non-discrimination, gender & minority discriminations being factors of vulnerability vis-à-vis human trafficking. Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Benin To integrate a human rights approach in order to faster strategies & policies in the fight against poverty in Western Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal). The reinforcement of human security & the respect for the human rights of local populations (particularly women). Civil society actors & representatives of programms, funds & specialiszed agencies of the United Nations are regularly invited for meeting within the framework of projects. UNESCO & the Millenium Development Goals (MDG’s) - Goal 1 : Eradicate extremen poverty & hunger - Goal 2 : Achieve universal primary education - Goal 3 : Promote gender equality & empower women - Goal 4 : Reduce child mortality - Goal 5 : Improve maternal health - Goal 6 : Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases - Goal 7 : Ensure environmental sustainability - Goal 8 : Develop a global partnership for Development. Arab Countries To improve people’s skills facilitation their entry into emloyment sectors through integrated capacity building schemes (programs on social skills, human rights and business skills). Were noticed increased illiteracy, high school dropouts, gender gaps, and school graduates with limited life skills. For example : series of direct training workshops for poor and deprives youth have been held in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon and Palestinian Camps.
small WORLD weekend Mix - The Afrobeat Edition
More Sensitivity and Less Prejudice (tags)
Since journalists influence the political and social climate in the subject of migration, they should show greater sensitivity toward racist exclusion..Integration is not a one-way street but can only succeed when we create the prerequisites and grant equal rights.
Right/Left Complicit in Perpetuation of War (tags)
How? Never exposing the reigning bigoted assumptions of the privileged and resulting meta policies against we, the "stupid" masses, for one. Article quotes from Noam Chomsky and the little known Christopher Simpson, author of Science of Coercion.
On the Set of Walkout (a new film debuting on cable TV) (tags)
"In those times, people were energized, and they were more intellectual. People were processors of information, whereas today you don't see a lot of that." -- David Sanchez, former leader, The Brown Berets
The Libertarian Anarchist Antiauthoritarian Forum in Athens, Greece, May 4-7, 2006 (tags)
Libertarian, Anarchist and Antiauthoritarian Forum, in Athens
Editorial El Libertario, Venezuela, #46, marzo-abril 2006 (tags)
* Un nuevo número con la habitual variedad de contenidos del vocero de la Comisión de Relaciones Anarquistas – CRA, donde destacan el balance del Foro Social Alternativo y la propuesta que condensa la consigna de la portada: “Alto a la demagogia, ningún chantaje más. Recuperemos la autonomía de los movimientos sociales.”
The right would rather spend a billion to kill than five bucks to feed the poor.
ACTÚE - Academia de Periodismo Activista (tags)
A Academia de Periodismo Activista es un Frente de Acción integrada al Movimiento Humanista, que actúa contra la violencia, la discriminación y tiene el Ser Humano como valor céntrico.
The Tax State in the Globalization Trap (tags)
The middle class cannot do what corporations do..German corporations pay little corporation tax; their share amounts to 2.6% of all taxes. For decades, they even received more subsidies than the profit taxes paid in Germany. Corporate enrichment in the US leads to state deficits and social cuts.
The Land Needs a New Vision (tags)
In capitalism, production is for the market instead of for satisfying needs..The postulate `Work as cheap as possible and at the worst possible conditions' leadsus back to the 19h century. We are far removed today from the watchword More Time for Living and Loving'.
Venezuela 2006: Anarchism against all odds (tags)
Our friends from abroad continuously ask us to explain our views about the current situation in Venezuela. This reply is based on two recent texts by the editing team of El Libertario, already published in their entirety in the internet (in Spanish), and from which we extract our main points.
FILIPINOS IN THE U.S.A. AND AROUND THE WORLD: WHENCE AND WHITHER? (tags)
About ten million Filipinos are now scattered in the U.S. and around the world, chiefly as exploited migrant labor. Meanwhile, 85 million Filipinos--with the exception of a tiny privileged minority--are sufffering and resisting the current repressive regime in a rapidly deteriorating neocolonized social order. The Philippines has one of the most durable and vibrant revolutionary traditions in the whole world--the first Asian people to revolt against Western colonialism. 4.1 million Filipinos died opposing U.S. domination in the Filipino-American War at the turn of the last century. Today Filipinos are engaged in a popular democratic revolutionary process against U.S. imperialism and its local agents. Can overseas Filipinos contribute to the radical transformation of a world afflicted by the atrocities and terrors of global capitalism?
The new social and national demagogy entirely comaprable to German fascism conjures away the social question from mass consciousness..Rightwing ideologists know that the war goal and war are irrational.
Mental "Health" as Stealth warfare--a radically critical approach (with art) (tags)
Radical's radical comments on the widespread way in which so-called mental "health" ideology has integrated itself into the very psyches of those claiming to see the value of dissenting from all manner of corporate hold on people. Question: is psychiatry and formal therapy, corporate? anti-copyright.
CRISIS AND DISINTEGRATION OF THE ARROYO FASCIST REGIME IN THE PHIIPPINES (tags)
A critical analysis of the inherent contradictions in the current regime in the Philippines would reveal the logic of irreversible fascist decay. While objective conditions have polarized and sharpened the divisions within the ruling bloc, the subjective forces of national democracy and anti-imperialism have not fully organized and united to deliver the decisive blow. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its agents are working behind the scenes to pick a successor to Arroyo and re-consolidate its neocolonial stranglehold. But will millions of concerned Filipinos allow the U.S. and its "guns, goons and gold" to determine again our collective fate and national destiny? Filipinos in the Philippines and around the world will have to decide as the Arroyo cabal, convulved with death-pangs, lashes out at everyone within reach.
Crimethinc: In Love With Love Itself (tags)
A true review in three parts of Crimethinc's "Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook"
LIFE OVER DEBT & POVERTY IN AFRICA: THE REAL STORY (tags)
Leaders address the most pressing and widespread challenges facing the African continent
Memorandum 2005: Alternative Economic Policy (tags)
In Germany and the US, the corporation is often stylized as the suffering servant. The market is made sacrosanct; all problems are defined as interferencs with the market. Profits soar and investments fall. Corporations pay increasingly less tax.
President Hugo Chavez welcomed thousands of social activists at the Poliedro-Stadium in Caracas, Venezuela on January 27, 2006
No Work instead of Precarious Work (tags)
After the fall of the New Economy, flexibility, individualization and outsourcing are obviously threats not promises and mean nothing but poverty and precarious working conditions.
Marcy Winograd, peace activist, to challenge 36th District Rep. Jane Harman in Primaries (tags)
Marcy Winograd, teacher, peace activist and president of Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, has announced her decision to challenge 36th District Rep. Jane Harman in the Democratic Party primary!
Beyond Mere Survival in the American Dystopia (tags)
...1984 has come to pass, both chronologically and in the Orwellian sense. Americans are "liberators" in Iraq. Opponents of this "peace initiative" are "doubleplusungood". Unchecked by the judiciary, the NSA electronically trolls for perpetrators of "crimethink". Pundits and the "liberal media" (owned by a handful of monolithic corporations despised by people with the values which many define as liberal) have become the Ministry of Truth for the Party...
BTL:International WTO Opponents Strategize on... (tags)
...Blocking Hong Kong Accord's Implementation. ~ Excerpt of World Social Forum speech by Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, produced by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Bush's Social Security Sleight of Hand (tags)
On page 321 of the budget proposal, you see the privatization costs..$712 billion is the seven-year total (from 2010). There are plenty of ways to fix social security besides offering private accounts as a substitute for part of the basic benefit.
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA - IT'S SPELLED C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N (tags)
US past and present policy using a broader definition of corruption
The Alternative Social Forum in Caracas: voices from the left (tags)
* In Caracas, Venezuela between the 23rd and 29th of January 2006, 10 local socio-political organizations offered an alternative forum and critique of national politics in response to the World Social Forum. The result was a smaller-scale event but self-directed and reflective of current self-organizing capacity. The alternative forum was independent, self-managed and borne out of years of experience of organizing in the Venezuelan context.
Can the State Save Us from Work? (tags)
Whenever more profits are produced with fewer and fewer workers, income should be separated from work. Every citizen should automatically receive a part of the money cake to buy goods produced without his help and find his or her own fujlfillment.
Sustainable Solutions to Social Problems (pamphlet) (tags)
Ready-to-print version of "Sustainable Solutions to Social Challenges" from the SocialPacifists. Please print and distribute freely.
Law Suit: Housing Authority Abuses Citizenship Question (tags)
[Note: By the time this story reaches it's reading audience during the month of February, please be aware that an Injunction has just been filed in Federal Court in an effort to stop the Oakland Housing Authority from violating Federal Law.]
Competition leads to Unemployment without Taxation (tags)
To create jobs, the profits from the Common Market must be brought back into the economy as investments.. Competition leads to higher unemployment without the recycling of profits.
On the Scandinavian Model (tags)
The Scandinavian model could help us find our way to social compromise and true security through investments in education and apprenticeships. Has our wealth blinded us to alternatives and encouraged our altered state of paralysis, insecurity and fear?
Today's internationalization of capital is part of a drastic crisis process.. In the 1970s, several hundred so-called multis existed worldwide. Today there are 60,000 multi-national businesses with 50 million employees.
The Work Society and the Work Religion (tags)
Work is only a part or fragment of life. Where it becomes everything as a steamroller or religion, it leads to idiotism where social questions and reproduction are ignored.
The “Free Market”: The Greatest Terror Of All (tags)
The economic system of production we live in is called capitalism or the free market. We are supposed to be fortunate because we are free to starve to death amidst abundance. This form of social organiztion has not existed for all time and need not exist in the future. The first step in eliminating it is accepting this simple idea.
-International Terrorism: definition. -Globalization: a simple definition. -Update Capitulate corresponding book "DIEZ HORAS CON LA GLOBALIZACION”(GOOGLE) If to somebody it interests the extensions to him of the appointments, look for in google /yahoo "Terrorismo global y local” According to the book “DIEZ HORAS CON LA GLOBALIZACION” (amazon, google, yahoo, netbiblo, Foro-los retos de la globalización, foro recoletos, elpais.es, elcorteingles, netbiblo, indymedia.org..) !POR UNA GLOBALIZACION QUE SITUE EN SU CENTRO EL DESARROLLO HUMANO INDIVIDUAL!
About the FSA-Caracas 2006 and the venezuelan situation (tags)
º In this interview with the mexican alternative news group La Rosa Negra (LRN-ci), the CRA from Venezuela explains the importance of the Alternative Social Forum, which will take place in a few days, and comments about their activity as an anarchist group.
WAR OR PEACE WITH THE URWRNC
Martin Luther King Day Parade (tags)
Martin Luther King, Jr fought racism, and used his powerful voice to oppose the Vietnam war. There is no better way to comemorate his life than to bring an anti-war, social justice message to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade. Martin Luther King, Jr fought racism, and used his powerful voice to oppose the Vietnam war. There is no better way to comemorate his life than to bring an anti-war, social justice message to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.
VENEZUELA'S BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION - ITS PROMISE AND PERILS (tags)
A review of the Bolivarian Revolution achievements and the threat to Hugo Chavez from the U.S.
Against the Neoliberal "Modernization" of the Labor Market (tags)
he predicted employment effects of the neoliberal strategy do not go beyond expanding low-wage sectors and under-employment.
Al habla sobre el FSA-Caracas/2006 y la situación venezolana (tags)
º En entrevista con La Rosa Negra - contrainformación de México, la CRA de Venezuela expone la importancia del Foro Social Alternativo a realizarse dentro de poco y comenta aspectos significativos de su actividad como grupo libertario.
The Social Contract and God's Reign (tags)
The truth will set us free but the truth is a process, not a cudgel. Discovering the Bible in the Bible, the kerygma or proclamation of Jesus, is vital to disarm the literalists, Litera-lism can repress mystery, uncertainty, diversity, engagement and interdependence,
On the Theological Foundations of Religious Socialism (tags)
Under today's conditions, the option for a life in abundance for all people necessitates preserving the natural foundations of life.. God's reign has a transcendental dimension that Jesus compares with a treasure in a field.
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.
Pension schemes and the labor market are in an irreconcilable opposition. This schizoid argumentation has long sunk into mass con-sciousness..A society with the highest productivity of world history chains seniors to production longer than in the Middle Ages.
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...."?
The Iron Cage that has Descended upon Modern Humanity (tags)
We are not becoming emancipated; we are becoming automated.
What are Social Human Rights? (tags)
Who prosecutes those responsible that more than a billion people must live from a dollar a day while wealth constantly grows?
FSM Caracas: mortaja para los movimientos sociales venezolanos (tags)
* Un integrante del grupo promotor del Foro Social Alternativo explica por qué el Foro Social Mundial, a realizarse en enero de 2006 en Caracas, es otra vuelta de tuerca en el esfuerzo del gobierno de Chávez por impedir el desarrollo autónomo de luchas sociales consecuentes en el país.
Tras ataque virtual, website del FSA de nuevo on-line (tags)
* El colectivo promotor del Foro Social Alternativo - Caracas 2006 informa que, habiéndose reparado las consecuencias del sabotaje al portal Contrapoder, la casi totalidad de las páginas alojadas en él se encuentran on-line, despues de permanecer fuera de servicio durante dos dias.
THE ZAPATISTA APPROACH TO POLITICS (tags)
Mexico - The "Other Campaign" -An Interview with Sergio Rodriguez of the Zapatista magazine "Rebeldia" by Miguel Romero
Green Party Window Dressing Undermines Working Class Power (tags)
Electoral politics for socialists has always been tricky. Eugene Debbs, the firebrand organizer and SP candidate for President fought a huge uphill battle based on his forward facing confrontation with capital, while always clearly identifying class lines. Of course, I expect nothing less from Todd Chretien, the Green Party US candidate for Senate.
The total commercialization of the world has triumphed..A dynamic of growth withdrawal could be initiated through a few simple measures..Internalizing costs would drastically change our societies..Democratic local initiatives are realistic.
Katrina’s Aftermath: The Catastrophe Continues (tags)
Katrina was not a natural disaster; it was and still is a social disaster. Katrina and its aftermath is the market at work for you
Selling off the Social State (tags)
Attitudes are the only disability. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. "Social solidarity with the sick is eroding. The solidarian security from risks is the prerequisite for personal responsibility."
No Room for Grace: Book Review (tags)
If abundance of life for all people is the heart of the biblical vision, economic thinking focuses on the shortage of resources.. Not subjecting everything to the market-benefit-calculus is vital.
Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, 89, Dies (tags)
ormer Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89.
How the People Saved Social Security (tags)
The Social Security defeat shattered GOP unity long before the indictment of Tom DeLay and the public's sharp turn against the Iraq War. it defined core differences and demonstrated the power of an organized progressive mobilization that informs citizens and arouses their opposition.
The fianncial markets, the fifth branch, are probably the most important markets today. Many remain excluded from this time- and space compression. Most people are barred from the advantages of globalization like greater mobility and improved communication
:: 20 HipóTesis AnTagonisTas: La InTervención ExTraParlamenTaria de la MuLTiTud (tags)
El levantamiento social de Haedo es inteligencia política en acto. Conciencia en acción. Conocimiento práctico del enemigo y lucha de clases. Puro desparpajo desprendido de hipotecas ideológicas. Con el “Haedazo” sigue creciendo la autonomía y la antagonía de la nueva izquierda social y política contra el Capital-Parlamentario.
Finland has the highest productivity in the EU and the lowest rich-poor differential. Inequality is not a panacea. According to a 2004 study, the Scandinavian model is the best protection against increasing income differences and poverty rates.
Paul Samuelson Attacks a Dogma (tags)
The best-known economist of the world doubts that shifting services to india and buying cheap goods from China bring advantages to Americans when the income of workers falls through foreign competition. The rich North will lose its monopoly profits under the conditions of globalization.
Thousands to Rally to Demand - Closure of Controversial US Army Training School this Weeke (tags)
Mass Convergence at Fort Benning, Georgia November 19-20 to Close School of the Americas
Anarchists and the Caracas ASF/January 2006 (tags)
* The Venezuelan anarchist movement invites you to participate in the Alternative Social Forum at Caracas in January 2006, a gathering of anti-establishment social movements, in response to the bureaucratic World Social Forum promoted by the Venezuelan government.
Is Work a Basic Social Right? (tags)
"Hard work including persuasive work is necessary so the ruled free themselves from the worries of the rulers and then become the rulers themsevles."
Humane Freedom and the Free Market (tags)
"MOre free market is a social-political program involving a redistribution of power and money - in favor of a few special interests of the already rich and powerful.."
CRFI Declaration on the youth uprisings in France (tags)
November 7 Declaration of the Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International
"The social state is dismantled in favor of the globalization of industry..The democratic idea of equality is incompatible with ever-greater inequalities..If globalization produces third world conditions, theology of liberation logically becomes universal.."
Sheep Dreams and Kitten Memes (tags)
The revolution is now. The revolution is all the time. Welcome to the revolution.
L@s libertari@s y el FSA-Caracas/enero 2006 (tags)
* Desde el movimiento anarquista venezolano se invita a participar en el Foro Social Alternativo de Caracas en enero de 2006, un encuentro de movimientos sociales antagónicos en respuesta al burocrático Foro Social Mundial auspiciado por el Estado venezolano.
Since unemployment has reached an unparalleled dimension under the combination of increased productivity, global wage dumping, weakened unions and non-existent system competition, I prefer a radical redistribution of work and income.
ALERT! South Central Farmers in Danger of Being Forcefully Removed (tags)
On October 19, the Superior Court of the state of California declined to hear the petition of the South Central Farmers against the city of Los Angeles, and the real estate developer, Ralph Horowitz.
This is the judgement
Alternative Social Forum - Caracas, January 2006 (tags)
* From Venezuela we extend an invitation to an international event of and for social movements in the struggle, as a more valid option to the bureaucratic spectacle the World Social Forum has become.
CounterHegemony Podcast: Call for Activist Stories (tags)
Podcast re: Activist Methods and CounterHegemony theory - looking for activists and organizers to interview
BTL:White House & Congress Link Gulf Coast Aid to Deep Cuts in Social Programs (tags)
Interview with Max Wolff, economist at the University of Massachusetts, conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
Foro Social Alternativo - Caracas, enero 2006 (tags)
* Desde Venezuela se lanza la invitación para realizar un evento internacional desde y para los movimientos sociales antagonistas, como opción consecuente frente al espectáculo burocrático en que ha derivado el Foro Social Mundial.
Another world is possible. This is directed against the famous and thoughtless assumption of the impossibility of alterna-tives at the "end of history".. The substance of societies is tapped for financial institutions.
What is anarcho-primitivism? (tags)
Anarcho-primitivism (a.k.a. radical primitivism, anti-authoritarian primitivism, the anti-civilization movement, or just, primitivism) is a shorthand term for a radical current that critiques the totality of civilization from an anarchist perspective, and seeks to initiate a comprehensive transformation of human life.
Anarchism is a political theory which aims to create anarchy, "the absence of a master, of a sovereign." [P-J Proudhon, What is Property , p. 264] In other words, anarchism is a political theory which aims to create a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. As such anarchism opposes all forms of hierarchical control - be that control by the state or a capitalist - as harmful to the individual and their individuality as well as unnecessary.
preliminary comments re Venezuela (tags)
included are some preliminary comments concerning Venezuela
Time Autonomy for Everyone (tags)
Given the enormous advances in productivity, radical reduction of working hours is an overdue demand. However working hours are actually lengthened.. Power relations are hidden behind the distribution structures.
Irrationalism and Ideology in Risk Capitalism (tags)
Reductionist worldviews promise "order" in the mixed-up social consciousness.. Psycho-analysis has coined the term "regression" for this process of escapism..Psychic regres-sion involves withdrawal to a state of original immediacy, an earlier less complex stage.
"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.."
Katrina and the Death of Social Darwinism (tags)
After so many years of Social Darwinism, Hurricane Katrina could reawaken the American people's appetite for compassion in government.
Spectacular Terrorism and the Terror of the Spectacle (tags)
“Such a perfect democracy constructs its own inconceivable foe, terrorism. Its wish is to be judged by its enemies rather than by its results. The story of terrorism is written by the state and it is therefore highly instructive. The spectators must certainly never know everything about terrorism, but they must always know enough to convince them that, compared with terrorism, everything else must be acceptable, or in any case more rational and democratic” (Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle).
From the XVI SYWF to the VI WSF: Chavez's shindig in Venezuela (tags)
* From El Libertario, # 44 September-October 2005, voice of the Comision de Relaciones Anarquistas, exposing the show of international mega-ceremonies the Chavez regime uses to try and acquire revolutionary legitimacy by means of petro-dollars and verbosity.
The Real Story: Germans Reject Thatcherism and Being US Puppets (tags)
American media reports speak of a loss for Germany’s socialists and of a more pro-business Germany, but the voters of Europe’s biggest state actually stood solidly for a progressive, caring socio-political system and for a foreign policy that doesn’t follow in lockstep behind Washington.
What the Hell happened to us, America? (tags)
Please think about this for awhile.
Fa;se Hopes: The Debate about Growth (tags)
"Developed industrial countries do not need global economic growth but a better distribution of economic success.. The dependence of tax revenues and social spending on economic growth is a homemade fairytale.."
Security State Replaces Social State (tags)
"The political realm has largely uncoupled from the everyday life of people.. The wheel of social development was turned back.. The social state is degenerating into a security state. Governments have abandoned protection of citizens.."
Reno: Rebel without a Pause (tags)
Reno will appear at SPARC this Sunday 9/11/05 5pm
More Time for Life, Laughter and Love (tags)
"Fewer and fewer persons produce more and more goods in an ever shorter time through increasingly efficient technology, better training and growing labor intensity." Growth cannot solve mass unemployment.
Now is the Time? Now is the Time! The Potential of the Gulf Coast Crisis (tags)
Now is the Time? Now is the Time! The Potential of the Gulf Coast Crisis: Points for Discussion and Intervention
Working Three Hours a Day is Enough (tags)
"Keynes predicted 60 years ago that three hours work per day would be enough. Instead more than seven million (in Germany) are in a desperate situation.. The system logic is obviously exhausted.."
Uncontrolled capitalism proved to be a completely wrong track toward the end of the 19th century. The governing church of work does everything so people only have time and strength for two things in life: work and job-hunting. The 30-hour work week could be a life-giving goal.
Reflections on the VI Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle and the new Latin American left (tags)
* The Cuban Libertarian Movement (CLM; in Spanish: Movimiento Libertario Cubano - MLC) presents for collective debate its reflections on the declarations made by the EZLN (the Zapatista rebels) in July 2005 in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
How I Solved Sweden's Finance Problems (tags)
"Sweden has strong public finances today. Sometimes I compare the Swedish model with a bumblebee..I believe in our welfare model. It survived the crisis of the nineties. It will help us master the demographic challenges."
"How can the state finance itself in times of worldwide competition without damaging the national econmy? How can it find the old strength without creating new poverty?.. There is no system-conforming way out of this vicious circle.."
Political Forum - Eyewitness Report from Venezuela (tags)
Political Forum - Eyewitness Report from Venezuela and the World Festival of Youth and Students
"New networks arise that support people without locking them in a cage.. We need positive freedom, the freedom to something..For that we must create new institutions. We may not return to the old.."
Barquisimeto, Venezuela: Successful Meetings of the CMR (tags)
Bolivarian revolution
Alternatives: Another World is Possible! (tags)
"The neoliberal policy of the last years is entangled in a deep legitimation crisis. Unemployment is not lowered through social cuts..Dismantling democracy and increased repression go along with militarization.. Another world is possible..."
"Rebuilding the social state is imperative.. Leftist feminists never wanted half of the mouldy cake but sought to change the bakery completely.. An alliance against education- and social cuts is vital.."
Queeruption 9 in Tel Aviv (tags)
You are invited to the 9th Queeruption in Tel-Aviv, August 2006! PLEASE HELP SPREADING THIS INVITATION. Se incluye texto en espanol.
Disinformation as a Strategy of Power (Part II) (tags)
"Perpetual growth is not possible in nature or anywhere else..Globalization, the free market with its absolute competition protected by the WTO agreements doesn't have anything to do with fair competition...A global network of resistance is developing.."
The 9/11 Key to Political Transformation (tags)
There is now an enormous amount of scholarly evidence and expert testimony that a) clearly demonstrates the official 9/11 story is a sham, and b) supports the millions of New Yorkers who, according to a recent Zogby poll, believe that top US officials "consciously" allowed the attacks to happen and that we desperately need a new investigation now.
"Redistribution to poorer groups can increase growth..The public debate about the economy and economic policy is dominated by the practical necessity logic. Desires, interests and goals of social groups play no role in the discussion of economic reforms."
Magical Mysterious 1967 (tags)
Nobody could have predicted 1967 in 1966. It seemed to come out of the clear blue sky. But it didn’t. It had been germinating for a long, long time. And there is no reason to think that if we couldn’t see it coming in 1966 that we would see it coming now.
Margaret Hassan - a letter to Iraq (BKH) (tags)
Will King George get brave and take the next reckless step?
Time to Get Back to Where We Once Belonged (tags)
Forget all the scare tactics about not having enough of a nest egg, about Social Security going bust. We Baby Boomers already know the answer for living well in our old age. We just need to get it together again. --------------
Disinformation as a Strategy of Power (tags)
"What caused this development? How could an economic system be built where ever-larger parts of the population are excluded from sharing in growth? ..In neoliberalism, the person is not regarded as a person but downgraded to mere labor power.."
Theses on Domination and Barbarism (tags)
"The policy of scapegoats in Germany and elsewhere devours the liberal foundations of society little by little and produces tears in the fundamentals of demcoracy.. A counterpart could be a new social contract for the 21st century.."
United States: Unsecured Futures (tags)
"Founded on principles of general solidarity and publicly shared risk, social security is the most important part of what remains of the US social protection system..Bush has manufactured a crisis to promote changes in social security inspired by neocon ideas."
Theological Reflections on Econmic Values (tags)
"The quality of a society is measured in its relations with the weakest..The economy exists for the sake of people..God's economy aims at the survival capacity of planet earth and its people..Our life is connected with all life.."
THE DEATH OF PENSIONS? by Mumia Abu-Jamal (tags)
Everybody wins -- except the workers.
Europe and the Power of Capital (tags)
"The economic form of neoliberalism is based on political decisions, not practical economic necessities.. Only the democratic nation state can show the economy its place entitling it to exist for people and not vice versa.."
Reflections on Socialism (tags)
The main political task at this moment is to assemble the necessary social forces to defeat Bush and his counterparts in Congress and elsewhere.
Capitalism Criticism: Inexorable Struggle for Survival (tags)
"The civilized foundation of cooperative human life is furtively undermined by the capitalist form of organizing society.. Rational objectives often capsize into social irrationa-lity.. Unemployment is a form of violence.."
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IS NOW IMPEACHABLE (tags)
This is from the Portland IMC: author: Joseph Hillier The evidence of brutality, torture, murder, corruption, conspiracy, and complete contempt for all standards of human decency that is certain to come out during the impeachment of Bush and his high administrative officials will forever discredit the evil neo-con, capitalist, corporate, militarist ideology.
J6-8: Anti-War & Anti-Capitalist Convergence and March (July 8) Against the G8 (tags)
Take the Streets and Resist the Capitalist War Machine on July 8! Come to the West Coast anti-war and anti-capitalist mass convergence, July 6-8 of 2005 in San Francisco, in solidarity with the mobilization against the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland.
Onward, Christian theocrats: the Yankee Taliban on the attack (tags)
“Our goal is a Christian nation,” says Terry Randal. “We are called by God to conquer this country.”
China: los tres grandes desafíos de su economía actual (tags)
Para un país tan grande y con una población de 1.300 millones de habitantes, la materialización de la emergencia pacífica es una cuestión nada fácil. Particularmente en la primera mitad del siglo XXI, China vivió un “período áureo de desarrollo” y a la vez un “período de contradicciones notables”. En cuanto a las contradicciones notables, al referirse al desarrollo económico y social, las fundamentales son tres grandes desafíos. Ellos son los que siguen:
Venezuela from below - voice of the rank and file (tags)
Bolivarian Revolution
The Bolivarian Revolution: Advances & Obstacles (tags)
For those interested in looking beyond biased mainstream media news on Venezuela, there aren’t many better options than hearing about the nation’s ongoing social and political revolution from a key advisor to President Chavez.
Environmental Protection is a Question of Justice (tags)
Enviroinmental protection can only be realized when there is a relatively equal distribution of prosperity and social peace.
Experimenting from Nova Scotia to Nazi Germany (tags)
Eugenics is about ridding the world of undesirable human beings. It was practiced by the Nazis and before that, it was the cure for future social ills for many so called progressives in the West. What they did not know was that they, the judges of the unfit, were themselves one of the worst social ills of modern times.
Salaries Soar for More than 800,000 Cuban Workers (tags)
Salaries Soar for More than 800,000 Cuban Workers
Capital and Labor: Deeds Must Follow Criticism (tags)
A new balance between capital- and labor income is necessary. Unfortunately the opposite is happening. The constant lowering of capital taxation in Germany fans the European tax lowering competition. The public infrastructure deteriorates.
Eleven Arguments for a Basic Income (tags)
Social logic is more future-friendly than profit logic. With the end of cheap oil and the dollar crash on the horizon, a basic income would make the future human rather than predatory Social Darwinism, winner-takes-all, hire-and fire and right of stronger could be dinosaurs.
BTL:Military Spending Cuts Could Enhance National Security and... (tags)
...Restore Funding for Some Social Programs ~ Interview with Anita Dancs, research director of the National Priorities Project, conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
1,400 at D.C. meet say 'Take Back America' (tags)
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of protesters, chanting "Hands off my Social Security" and "Not wise to privatize," marched to the White House in the rain June 3.
The demand for a basic income attacks one of the basic pillars of the capitalist society:the notion that only persons who work may eat. Every person on this earth has a right to share in socvial life and wealth only because he or she exists as a person.
The Difference Between Bolivia's Incas and Us (tags)
The Incas and Bolivian workers who are protesting and driving from power their sell-out leaders have a clear understanding of how the ruling elite is attacking them. We Americans have been easily tricked by the ruling parties’ sleight-of-hand use of “wedge” politics, into actually supporting our own destruction. -------------------
If you like peace the notion of silent violence may be uncomfortable - disturbing even. But the elements that make violence what it is; fear, pain, danger, and death are all contained within deprivation. The only difference perhaps is that one is a result of aggression and the other a result of ignorance.
Mobilizing against Education- and Social Cuts (tags)
This struggle is imperative from the knowledge that the political measures of the neoliberal project are morally and economi-cally false..We can only resist this false policy together. Students must convince students that the interests of workers are their interests
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.
Economic Growth as Myth and Sickness by Marc Batko (tags)
We are called to be subjects, to struggle for equal opportunities and the minimum essentials of life. Our gifts and talents, hidden, ignored or buried by the neoliberal steamroller, can be rediscovered as we reclaim self-determination.
Basic Income as a Democratic Civil Right (tags)
The ecnomic conditions in which the utopia of Aristotle or John M Keynes could become a real utopia objectively exist. We live under our real economic possibilities.The end of the work society is not the end of work but the transition to a really free society of citizens.
APPEAL AGAINST THE PROJECT OF EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION (tags)
All member states of the European Union will soon have to agree to or reject the project of European Constitution. A European campaign has just been launched in order to contribute to develop a large movement against this project of constitution. This Sunday the French citizens are voting.
Economic Growth Alone Cannot Solve Social Problems (tags)
One of the central questions of this century is: How will we deal with the losers of this economic dynamic so we don't ignore their status as free citizens?.. No country has ever solved social problems by means of economic growth alone.
The Crisis of Work and its Future (tags)
"Producing more with less labor, distributing the fruits of technical progress better, crea-ting a new balance between required work and freely disposable time and giving every-one the possibility for a more relaxed life and more varied jobs are the new goals.."
The Unconditional Basic Income (tags)
Alternatives to the work society are necessary. A political movement is only credible today if it positions itself to the changes of the world of work and presents alternatives to the crisis of the work society. Basic income is a first step to freedom.
The Vile and Self-Defeating Betrayal That is Bipartisanship (tags)
The Democrats finally had a plan to put a wrench in the Republican juggernaut—a shutdown of the Senate. And what did they do? Let a bunch of sell-out DLC-types blow it with a bi-partisan compromise that will just put more right-wing judges on the appellate bench. ----------------
Is the Social State Ending? (tags)
Socially just means people have comparable chances to develop in their lives, may have work, are protected against the great risks of life and can age with dignity. To that end, social systems and personal effort are necessary.
Freedom according to the Stock Market (Gunter Grass) (tags)
"Our freely elected delegates are not free int heir decisions..Profit maximization is passed off as a basic value instead of the social obligation of property..Democracy perishes, not the state.."
"The Way is Clear": Venezuela (tags)
Venezuela is one of the few states whose government is taking new paths against the global trend to political stagnation.. No one has the illusion that the people and the political system can change from one day to the next but the way is clear.
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The market assumes control more and more while social policy is driven down with the argument of "personal responsibility." Growing impoverishment and social exclusion of ever-larger groups are the inexorable consequences.
Bush ‘means test’ would wreck Social Security (tags)
WASHINGTON — Defenders of Social Security charged this week that a “means test” on Social Security as proposed by President George W. Bush would inflict huge benefit cuts for 70 percent of recipients, clearing the way to destroy the system vital to Americans’ economic security.
The Web: Reforming Social Security online (tags)
Karl Rove reveals a secret plan to reform social security.
Bush Has Grasped the Third Rail; It's Time to Turn on the Juice (tags)
Now that Bush has admitted his plan is to cut Social Security for the middle class, it’s time for progressives to take him down. No compromises, no cutbacks, and a call for the rich to pay Social Security taxes on all income, not just the first $90,000. ---------------------
Vietnam and Cuba - Thirty Years After Liberation (tags)
Thirty years ago today Vietnam fell...into the hands of the Vietnamese. Actually, it was taken by the Vietnamese after decades of struggle. Cuba was there to support Vietnam all the way. A discussion of Vietnam and Cuba's links to it.
Social Justice and Social Policy (tags)
We run the risk of making economic success absolute. However economicsuccess is a means to an end..Economic success is only legitimate when it improves the living conditions of citizens..The social foundations of democracy fade when poverty, unemploy-ment and social insecurity increase.
Five Reasons for an Unconditional Basic Income for All (tags)
Participation in modern societies is only possible when one has an income.. The pro-posal to grant a basic income to every person independent of gainful work results from human rights and from pragmatic-economic considerations.
Other causes contribte to the economic misery besides the distribution problems. There are two developmental problems. There is the shift of profit from labor to capital. There is the worldwide opening of markets causing wage pressure.
With Gladys – We’ll win a thousand times (tags)
SANTIAGO, Chile — It was with a heavy heart that I arrived in Chile. Compañera Gladys Marin, president of the Communist Party of Chile (CPC), had died March 6 of a brain tumor. She was 63. Communist and workers party representatives came from around the world to pay tribute to this revolutionary heroine. My party — the Communist Party USA — asked me to represent it at Marin’s funeral.
Against Rightwing Demagogues (tags)
Migrants did not only serve Nazis as scape-goats. As the fascists declared the Jews scapegoats, their grandchildren today blame foreigners for unemployment and social cuts. We need a literacy campaign against the social demagogues of the right wing.
Are Bush's Social Security Program and John Bolton Nomination Dumb Ideas or Diversions? (tags)
The Bush Social Security “reform” proposal is so ridiculous, and John Bolton is such a jerk, that you have to wonder: could there be a reason Bush is proposing such stupid things? Maybe they are meant to be outrageous, to keep us ineffectively spinning our wheels while the real dirty business gets done.
Industry without Happiness: On the Guaranteed Minimum Income (tags)
A basic income could heal our fragmented society caught in work fanaticism and work fetishism while work disappears..A basic income could change social attitudes and goals and give real meaning to the human rights to life and participation.
Greenpeace Cofounder in L.A. April 20: "Sustaining Activism" (tags)
The LA Greens will host accomplished writer, activist and Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler for a lecture and discussion in honor of Earth Day on April 20, 2005. Author of the newly published "Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World," Weyler will speak about keeping our commitment to the Earth, organizing and fostering social and political action.
THE NEW AMERICAN SLAVERY (tags)
---------------- REPUBLICAN BANKRUPTCY LAW EXPLAINED ----------------
10 Reasons Why a Basic Income is Necessary Today (tags)
A basic income could heal our fragmented society caught in work fanaticism and work fetishism.. A basic income could change social attitudes and goals and give real meaning to the human rights to life and participation.
blackout in Alabama and Canned Cheers for Bush's Social Security Scheme (tags)
A slick suburban magazine in Montgomery, Alabama, touts the President’s Social Security wrecking scheme, but it seems to be only talking to white folks.
Labor can't win in a house divided (tags)
Like no other time in the last 50 years, a united labor movement is critical to defending the working class and the American people. It is decisive to any hope for a progressive agenda for the whole nation, not just for union members.
‘Don’t pick our pockets to line your own’ (tags)
“Privatizing Social Security may be good business for Charles Schwab, but it’s a bad deal for working Americans,” Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon told the multiracial and multigenerational crowd of 300 that overflowed the sidewalk in front of the giant investment firm’s office here. “The stock market is a gamble,” Gannon continued, “I’ve got a mother who is 83, a daughter who is 22 and I’m 52. Privatization puts us all in jeopardy.”
Bush's Road Trip: Potemkin Town Meetings and a Potemkin Opposition (tags)
The president is tightly controlling who gets into his Social Security public gatherings. No surprise there. But why aren’t Democrats complaining that tickets are only being offered to Republican members of Congress?
The Web: Social Security numbers online? (tags)
A story about criminals stealing social security numbers online.
Opposing the European Rage of Privatization (tags)
Telecommunications, postal service, gas and transportation were the first public sectors that fell victim to the rage of unbridled liberalization..A drastic structural change of the state has occurred from a producing to a guaranteeing state.
Dots: Social Security Reorganization (tags)
The real motivations and results of the social security debate on Americans and the World
Barry Goldwater, Social Security & My Mother (tags)
Goldwater's stand on Social Security became a turning point in my life
BTL:French Farmer and Global Social Justice Activist Jose Bove Describes... (tags)
...Fight for Food Sovereignty Around the World ~ Interview with Jose Bove, Anti-corporate globalization activist conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
A Stygian Dream - (Chalk Another One Up To The Culture Of Death) (tags)
No Summary
Every search for alternatives must question the "great narratives" of the free market, efficiency, competition and entrepreneurship. Economic laws could be analyzed as social constructions and economic models as social models.
A Snow Job on Social Security (tags)
Bush’s stump campaign to sell his divide-and-conquer plan for wrecking Social Security has been a failure. So now he’s sent out his Treasury Secretary to try crying “wolf” in hopes of scaring retirees and workers about the security of the system. It’s WMDs all over again.
John Digweed and NextAid.org team up for Tsunami Relief (tags)
Please join us to kick off the new year in the spirit of humanity...
Offensive and Defensive Aggression: Herbert Marcuse (tags)
In this 1970 interview in the midst of the Vietnam aggression, Marcuse insists that affirmation of life is the distinction between offensive and defensive aggression. The phy-sician cutting off a leg and a pilot ordering passengers are defensive aggression.
The Future of the Movement Against Global Capital: An in-Person Report on the World Socia (tags)
A lecture and conversation with Peter Hudis
The Social Security Distraction Game (tags)
Left, Right, Center - not the real solution, just a distraction so they can continue pushing their real agenda - imperialism.
The Fifth World Social Forum (tags)
In the debates hardly any doubt existed in Porto Alegre that this alternative solidarian economy cannot be an island in the furious ocean of the capitalist world market. Thisalternative economy needs state assistance.
Manifesto of Porto Alegre (unofficial translation) (tags)
Another devel,opment model should be realized based on an energy-saving way of life and democratic controls on natural mineral resources, particularly drinking water. Military bases of foreign countries should be closed.. Another world is possible.
From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freed (tags)
A press release regarding an upcoming abortion rights and social justice conference.
Alemania: noticias de ayer y de hoy (tags)
Julio Carreras (h), escritor, analista internacional, no sólo ha acertado en prospecciones políticas -como en lo relacionado con las guerras de Afganistán e Iraq- sino también en cuestiones económicas, políticas y sociales. También denunció la manipulación de la prensa por parte de Aznar, al día siguiente del terrible atentado del 11 M.
The Enough-for-All Campaign (tags)
The neoliberal policy is international and supposedly without alternative. However policy is man-made and therefore can be changed.. Every person has a right to share in the social wealth.
The Social State is Affordable (tags)
That "we" can no longer afford the social state is gossip. Thinking this gossip will end is wishful thinking. In truth, we cannot afford the prevailing financial policy.
Rolling Letter Campaign Targets rep. Jim McCrery (tags)
Making The News, LA's Rolling Letter Campaign Targets Rep. Jim McCrery!
Greenspan: Why is Anyone Still Listening to this Partisan Hack? (tags)
He’s a schill for the President, collects full Social Security benefits and a $200,000 salary, stands to collect another $100,000 a year in federal retirement benefits, and he wants to cut your Social Security benefits! Why should anyone listen to a guy with his lousy trackrecord as an economic and stockmarket forecaster anyway?
"The US is Stuck in Quicksand": Arundhati Roy (tags)
This interview was given at the 2004 World Social Forum in Mumbia, India.
Forget Compromising on Social Security; First Let's End Employer Theft of Worker Pensions (tags)
Compromise approaches to “saving” Social Security that involve voluntary private accounts on top of the current program are not going to help low-income workers. If Congress and the President really wanted to help protect low-income retirees, they’d end the legal theft of pension “vesting” so workers got pension contributions for every working day of their lives.
Sign Petition- Save Social Security From Bush! (tags)
Feel Free To Sign Petition To Save Social Security From Bush!
Reviving the Debate about Human Rights: Book Review (tags)
The author describes the development of human rights: the first generation-civil andpolitical rights, the second generation-economic, social and cultural rights and the third generation-collective rights.
BUSH'S 'OWNERSHIP SOCIETY' (tags)
Bush often speaks of an 'ownership society' where all Americans must strive to own our own property, our own homes, cars, educations etc. So why not own our own energy-producing technology?
A World Civil Society is Arising: Leonardo Boff (tags)
In porto Alegre spiritual, human and ethical values were central..Everyone senses that we are on a wrong way since we don't have a social contract any more. This wrong way only leads to ears as in Iraq.. Relying on force for world order is very dangerous.
What you didn't know about Taxes and the Crown (tags)
This is for all those who resent being corporate whores and slaves
Mike Davis Speaking at UC Riverside (tags)
Mike Davis, socialist historian, will be speaking at UC Riverside.
Social Security Calculator [GOP scheme exposed] (tags)
Making The News, The Social Security Calculator Exposes The Wall Street/Bush Scheme To Ripoff The American People!
Repressing the Class Struggle (tags)
As the employers' president said, capital and labor have long been reconciled among us. He said this while employers forced down wages with the help of politicians, cut pen-sion claims, reduced social benefits and extorted dependent persons.
Will Dean Make a Difference? (tags)
With Dean at the head of the Democratic Party, will it wtop being a confrontation-averse, Republican-aping, corporate-cash wheedling…and election-losing opposition, or will it start fighting back? The Social Security battle will be a good place to find out whether Dean can still yell.
Billion dollar scam exposed (tags)
This seemingly genuine study turns out to be a carefully engineered piece of propaganda intended to give the green light to manditory testing. The result would be billions of dollars in sales for these multi million dollar machines.
Importance of French Workers’ Struggle to Keep 35 Hour Week Shouldn't be Underestimated (tags)
The real reason for U.S. capitalism's attempt to create anti-French sentiment is the French workers' stand for the 35 hour week at a time when U.S. and global capitalism is trying to normalize going backwards
The End of Globalization (tags)
The economy ought to serve humanity; humanity should not serve the econmy. Beware the neoliberal idolization of growth and competition! If growth becomes a law, ecological collapse is unavoidable. If com-petition is made absolute, mass unemployment will occur everywhere.
All the President's Friends: A Riefenthal Moment in Montgomery County, PA (tags)
Those happy crowds cheering the president’s Social Security wrecking scheme, are being hand picked by Republican Senators, while Republican goons guard the gates to keep out the riffraff.
Empire and Social Insecurity: Battle Plans of This White House (tags)
It was hard to sit still and watch his smug bully’s face during the February 2 State of the Union speech. It was infuriating to watch the standing ovations of the surrounding Congress, or hear the fawning patter of the news media.
In official traditions, the President tells Congress each year how the "Union" (meaning the United States) is doing. In reality, the State of the Union speech is a "bully pulpit" where presidents build public support for their next actions.
George W. Bush didn’t dare breathe a word of truth about the real "State of the Union." Bush couldn’t mention how most of the planet thinks he is a bloody cowboy who wants to rule like a new Roman emperor. He didn’t mention how the invasion of Iraq has turned into a brutal counterinsurgency. He didn’t discuss how bitterly the U.S. "homeland" is divided between "two Americas"—half of which hates the sight of him.
Kucinich: Proposed Social Security price indexing would slash benefits (tags)
Kucinich added that while much attention has been focused on private accounts, price indexing, once understood by both the media and the American people generally, will create such an uproar that it will jeopardize not only the Administration’s plans, but could create great political risk for members supporting the plans.
BTL:5th Annual World Social Forum Tackles Global Justice Issues (tags)
Interview with Njoki Njehu, director of the 50 Years is Enough Network, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
World Conscience as a Superpower (tags)
A revolution in thinking against mechanical models of action and knowledge has occurred in the past 30 years..The new thinking about knowledge and society understands non-linear, non-instrumental and non-rational dimensions.
Weapons of Mass Distortion: The President's New Campaign of Lies About Social Security (tags)
Like a man shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater, like a charlatan trying to create a run on a bank, the president is trying to create a panicky run from Social Security among younger people with this new WMD-like campaign of lies.
Health in Neoliberalism (tags)
A cost explosion has not occurred in legal health insurance in Germany. If there is a financial problem, it is the problem of inadequate revenues. Mass unemployment is the central cause of the rising health premiums.
World forum seeks solutions to war, poverty (tags)
Forum registration lines reflected a rainbow of colors and ages. Young people were a very strong presence.
Building Bridges Radio - Social Insecurity plus The Next Pres. of Chile? (tags)
Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report presents this 28 min radio program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON WEB ADDRESS LINK BELOW
Social Security Tele-Truth Campaign (tags)
Join the Social Security Tele-Truth Phone Campaign to call the DIRTY THREE!
BTL:White House Campaign to Privatize Social Security Based on... (tags)
...Phony Crisis ~ Interview with economist John Miller, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Bush's secret journalistic payroll keeps getting longer (tags)
Word that the Bush administration has been paying journalistic shills to pimp for its programs tells us something about the state of the media, but also about those programs: they don’t stand up to genuine scrutiny and need paid propaganda to sell them to the public.
“Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” (Calvin 1962)
Groups charge Bush is lying: Social Security ‘crisis’ is phony (tags)
Huge coalition moves to stop privatization
Social Security and Modern Society (tags)
Social security is not a mere burden but a benefit of productivity. Countries with comfortable social security systems are internationally very competitive. Social security supports economic growth and employment.
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.
Social Security Tax Hike Feared (tags)
Bush official predicts 50% jump with no revamp. YOU JOB, YOUR LIVLIHOOD...ALL FUCKED !
Diverting our taxes into wealthy Republicans' portfolios is the American way: making the rich get richer.
The Phony Social Security Crisis (tags)
Bush's Phony Social Security Crisis Gains National Attention!
A Moralist on the Social State (tags)
A hundred years ago eight farmers worked to feed one non-farmer. Today one farmer feeds 88 persons..Income from assets and business activities have been consistently relieved of taxes in the last 25 years. Profits soar while investments fall.
Social Security Rolling Letter Campaign! (tags)
LA's Rolling Letter Campaign To Save Social Security From Bush!
Primal Fears Seize the Middle (tags)
Social justice decays to mere equal opportunities.. Demography often serves economic circles, established parties and the media as a tool for social-political demigogues in legitimating neoliberal recon-struction or dismantling the welfare state.
Globalization and the Social State (tags)
The economy exists for people, not vice versa. The economy needs a framework offering orientation to economic actors and showing the limits of the tolerable. This framework is not a limitation of freedom but the necessary condition for success..
Unprofitable of the World, Unite! (tags)
Capaitalism is a threat to humanity, not a chance.. The logic underlying this system is simple and brutal. Only what is profitable is entitled to live.. Capital is insatiably greedy for human labor to transform labor into more and more capital..
Building Bridges Radio: Social Insecurity Bush Style & Working the Unfriendly Skies (tags)
Building Bridges : Your Community and Labor Report presents this 28 minutes radio program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON WEB ADDRESS LINK BELOW
Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalization (tags)
All the alternatives begin with resistance agaisnt the neoliberal globalization that is increasingly aggressive and openly violent. The essential levers are redistribution from top to bottom and an economic policy promoting employment.
Building Bridges Radio: Social Insecurity Bush Style & Working the Unfriendly Skies (tags)
Building Bridges : Your Community and Labor Report presents this 28 minutes radio program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON WEB ADDRESS LINK BELOW
LA's Media Blitz To Save Social Security! (tags)
Save Social Security From Bush!
Worried about saving money for retirement? With new SSA approved social security investments, you can save your retirement in Free Market valued commodities.
Part-Time Work for Everyone (tags)
The advantages of part-time work must gain general approval.. When the just distribution of work makes headway, the state and the economy will be freed from a considerable part of social expenditures and cuts in individual living standards will be balanced.
Please help send a Los Angeles Independent Journalism crew to Jan. 20 DC protests.
Paid Work and Basic Income (tags)
The goal of basic income advocates is to neutralize capitalism in one of its central premises: the generalziation of paid labor as the only or at least dominant path of securing existence. The future would be brighter if this were on the agenda.
L.A.'s Social Security Now- Update (tags)
Stop The Privatization Of Social Security!
Beyond Violence and Domination (tags)
Responsibility is completely ignored by fundamentalism of all origins. Fundamentalism thwarts the change to mature towards human autonomy.
SHAC 7 Benefit Show this SATURDAY! (tags)
Attention Southern Californians! The Animal Liberation Coalition is holding a SHAC 7 Benefit Concert on December 4th to support and raise awareness about the SHAC 7 and the Campaign to Close HLS (Huntingdon Life Sciences)!
Hang on to Your Waqllet! Don't Let Them Touch Social Security! (tags)
The administration and congress are pushing a huge scam, claiming Social Security is in trouble and needs to be destroyed in order to save it. Don’t believe a word of it. After all, when’s the last time you can remember a Republican doing anything nice for a poor person voluntarily?
For a Real Independent Journalism: criticism to the Indymedia Network. (tags)
For a Real Independent Journalism: criticism to the Indymedia Network. Collective Indymedia Santiago. (Official notice from the Collective Indymedia Santiago about it’s imminent expulsion from the Indymedia Network).
One SOAW Prisoner Of Conscience Dead, Another Missing (tags)
I began investigating this story Saturday night when Sue was known missing but we hadn't heard yet that Nik was dead. This is a very disturbing developing story.
Caracas: the opening of a Libertarian Centre & social library (tags)
* The Venezuelan Comision de Relaciones Anarquistas (CRA) calls for solidarity with a project which is the first of its kind in our country: the opening (sunday 14th November 2004) of a Libertarian Social Studies Centre (Centro de Estudios Sociales Libertarios - CESL), together with a social library.
When the social contract, the social compromise between labor and capital, is scorned, people become wolves to one another.. The dance around the golden calf is already a disaster..
NO SURPRISES IN BANANA-BRAIN'S VICTORY...
The Politics of Imperialism (tags)
Latin America provides a powerful reference point for the toilers of the world suffering from the imperial re-division of their countries.
Review of Chaz Bufe's "DESIGN YOUR OWN UTOPIA" (tags)
Review of Chaz Bufe's "DESIGN YOUR OWN UTOPIA" - by Bob Black
The progressive left must reach out to the youth of heartland America in order to educate them to the possibility of revolution change. And we must do so through Jesus.
¿Quién garará la Elecciones EE.UU?: en mi pueblo (42 hab) piensan que ganará SEGURIDAD (tags)
Oscar Sánchez Fernández de la Vega (google) Autor del libro “Diez horas con la globalización”(google,elcorteingles.es,elpais.es,eldebate.es,amazon,yahoo,galiciadixital,foro-los retos de la globalización,yahoo,wanadoo,netbiblo.....)
A Note Of Appreciation From The Rich (tags)
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
"An European Social Forum in London" PHOTOS REPORTAGE from LondonESF2004 (tags)
320 photos, the days of the ESF, the demonstration against war and the intelligent police of Blair. Things of the other world...
Bush and the Cowboy Soul (tags)
"There is a very narrow concept of strength in this country, says David Paletz. Strength is something between Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwartznegger and has a clear connection to militarism, killing animals and chopping down trees with the axe.."
Criticism of the Social State is Irrational (tags)
"Paul A Samuelson, an important economist of the 20th century, worries about the state of the US economy. He fears falling wages..`We in the US are on the way to a plutocratic democracy. Neither Bush nor Kerry can stop outsourcing'."
Rhine Capitalism, Anglo-Saxon Capitalism and Redistribution (tags)
Anglo-Saxon capitalism is an unbridled capi-talism whose profit logic overrules all social and environmental interests. Rhine capitali-sm has a social net so workers are not redu-ced to cost factors. "The Cold War against the social state leaves..another republic."
Noam Chomsky and Marxism (tags)
Noam Chomsky and Marxism
Anarchists, especially within American society, are often confronted with the argument that human society has always been hierarchical and, therefore, hierarchy in human society exists by nature. Put more succinctly, there is a natural law governing the organization of humankind such that any and all manifested societies will be hierarchical. This paper will address that argument.
Venezuela: After the Referendum (tags)
* The August 2004 elections legitimized Hugo Chávez's presidency, approved by the multinational powers-that-be, despite the opposition's claims of electoral fraud. We, at El Libertario (issue 39, September/October 2004), presented an indepth analysis of the consecuences of the referendum, as well as proposals for action in the new circumstances. We shall now quote a couple of notes from that issue that express the essence of the venezuelan anarchists' perspective.
The Social State is a Civilization Achievement (tags)
"The social state is a civilization achievement Since free enterprise mechanisms alone cannot guarantee social security, the state has the task of guaranteeing social security for all and pursuing a policy of social equali-zation. Democracy needs a social foundation
Beyond State and Paid Labor (tags)
"Basic security is the positive answer to the crisis of the capitalist work society. The far-reaching uncoupling of labor and income contradicts essential premises of the capitalist exploitation logic and contains a dynamic that points beyond the system.."
"For the richestg 1%, the Reagan tax cuts were pure elixer.. Reagan's budgets slashed social spending. Domestic discretionary spending was the special target.. Hardest hit were programs for low-income Americans.."
Social Justice instead of Hartz IV - We Have Alternatives! (tags)
"Millions of jobs are missing in Germany.. This unsocial policy of redistribution from bottom to the top is pursued by the govern-ment and mainstream parties to assure extra profits for the mammoth corporations.. No new jobs will be created.."
Boston Social Forum: Significance, Achievements and Some Lessons Learned (tags)
analysis of the recent Boston Social Forum by two of its organizers
Social Collapse through Privatization (tags)
"A view of the person underlying the reforms should be opposed by the peace movement: the person as an isolated being competing unscrupulously for better living conditions in a state that sees its task more in establishing peace from above.."
Economics and Ethics: The Stakeholder Model (tags)
"Businesses cannot be reduced only to the principle of profit maximization.. Businesses are bound in a relational structure of different claimant groups including a critical public alongside the traditional economic actors.. Brent Spar is an example.."
S. KOREA. MSSC's Weekly Struggle Report (tags)
Now since more than 300 days migrant workers (MSSC/Myeong-dong Sit-in Struggle Collective) in S. Korea are in sit-in strike to get legalization, human and labor rights.
Corporate America’s Plan for the Future: A Nation of Retirees Left for Dead (tags)
With few people paying attention, corporate America is doing away with retiree health benefits. Couple that with the ongoing attacks on Medicaid, and the picture for the next generation of retired Americans is not pretty. So where’s John Kerry?
Bush Administration Endangers the Middle Class (tags)
"Nation-wide the social descent of many families sees a real threat.. the number of newly created jobs still lags behind the population growth. More Americans have been completely dismissed from the labor market.."
FINAL OCAP APPEAL BEFORE WE ARE FORCED TO LAY OFF ORGANIZERS (tags)
OCAP needs Your Help
Confessions of an Anarchist Tech-Stock Speculator (tags)
The big tech-stock bubble of the 1990s was starting to sag just a little bit in the spring of 2000, when I sat down for lunch with a former coworker named Phil in a diner in midtown Manhattan. After a lot of catching up, we got onto what was still the big topic for all kinds of people who should have known better: the stock market.
Globalization Strikes Back (tags)
"The war against terror must be a war against poverty.. Washington reserved to itself the right to attack other states.. Distribu-tive justice is a demand of security policy, not only of morality and humanity.."
Another world is possible: Countering the (il)logic of political violence (tags)
With the publication of his book The Logic of Political Violence, former ELF spokesperson Craig Rosebraugh is following in the footsteps of Ward Churchill, whose Pacifism as Pathology provided a gloss of intellectual credibility to the advocates of "Diversity of Tactics" during the peak of the global justice movement. An excerpt from Rosebraugh's book has begun to circulate on the internet. Will his advocacy of revolutionary violence appeal to a re-vitalised anti-war movement, or is fighting for peace about as smart as fucking for virginity?
Cuts to Social Security (tags)
Greenspan warns cuts to Social Security may be “abrupt and painful”
INVASION OF SOCIAL SECURITY (tags)
BUSH DECLARES"OWNERSHIP SOCIETY"TELLS CONVENTION HE’S ORDERED INVASION OF SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND
Social Security is Not for Sale (tags)
The market is a tool effective after fundamental political questions are answered: What kind of society do we want? Are education, health care, housing, water and land public goods or privileges?
Litmus Test: Time for Kerry and Democrats to Take a Stand for Our Votes (tags)
Alan Greenspan, a banker who stands to retire on over $140,000 a year, has called for cutting the Social Security retirement benefits for Baby Boomers. It’s high time for John Kerry and the Democrats to admit that there is no such “crisis” in Social Security. All that’s needed is full Social Security taxation on the rich and the employers who pay their salaries.
Guatemalan human rights activist speaks @ Unitarian Church, Anaheim, Friday, Sept. 3rd (tags)
Dr. Raul Molina, member of the Board of Directors of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA and former Coordinator of the National University of Guatemala's Truth Commission, will deliver a talk about the political situation currently existing within that country.
Over 6 million jobs would be created in Germany if the 33 million employees worked 20 percent less. 100 billion Euro would be restored to state treasuries. All that is needed is political will, not neoliberal indifference.
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.
"The Young Must Have a Chance" (tags)
"The whole financial regime between the country, territories and communities is out of order. The communes were sacrificed on the altar of tax reform. Enough money is there.. Lengthening working hours in a time of weak growth and high unemployment is absurd.."
The High Priests of Economic Nonsense (tags)
"The rules of social state restraint of wild capitalism are ignored. The class struggle from above has long been a fact since the coalition of capital with the government is fairly stable and the media play along. Resistance is inevitable.."
"MARK VALLEN: MORE THAN A WITNESS" LA Art Exhibit (tags)
"... LA artist Mark Vallen establishes himself as one of the most profound political artists of our time." - LA.com review
PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION - FIRST LA MEETING, SAT 8/21, 2 PM (tags)
PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION FIRST PUBLIC MEETING IN LA This Sat, 8/21, 2 pm So Cal Library for Social Studies & Research 6120 S. Vermont, L.A. 90044
GRANPA JEANMARRY : America became insane ? !! (tags)
Each moment a child dies in the world, it is unacceptable!! help the UNICEF
Review of Paul Krugman's "The Great Unraveling" (tags)
"We face one of the most wicked rogue governments on earth in democratic enlightened America. This administration denies the legitimacy of the existing political system and seeks to abolish it.."
Anyone but Bush? Anyone? THE HYPOCRISY OF REPRESENTATION (tags)
This is a contingent in the anti-war community.
GUATEMALA: 8 YEARS AFTER THE PEACE ACCORDS, Unitarian Church, Anaheim, Sept. 3rd (tags)
Learn more about what's going on in Guatemala today by coming to a special presentation at the Unitarian Church of Orange County on Friday, September 3rd, 2004 at 7:30 pm.
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.."
This article is about third party politics, and the role progressives, disgruntled, and discarded voters can play in stirring our country to greener pastures.
Hiroshima Day, Art Slide Lecture by Artist Mark Vallen (tags)
Artworks clockwise: German Expressionist Felix Nussbaum's 1940 "Self-Portrait with Jewish Pass"; Mark Vallen's 1982 anti-Nuke "There Goes My Career"; Gert Wollheim's 1919 "The Wounded Man"; Atom Bomb survivor Takakura Nobuko's vision of a civilian melting in atomic fire; Vallen's 2001 "I Am Not The Enemy"; Vallen's 2003 "Not Our Children, Not Their Children" (published in the book Peace Signs).
Continental Social Alliance decides its own re foundation (tags)
Gathered in Quito, at the Americas Social Forum, the Hemispheric Council of the Continental Social Alliance has decided to remove the opposition to the FTAA from its foundational declaration, as one of its main goals. After analyzing the international scenario as well as evaluating the impact of its actions, delegates from all the American countries and the most important social organizations of the continent, decided the “fight against the FTAA” would become a “fight against free trade”.
North American Anarchist Convergence (tags)
Join us in the beautiful foothills of Appalachia to network, brainstorm, and discuss social change through building a positive movement toward a free and responsible society. We will focus on practical alternatives to problems associated with power-based governments, institutions, and internalized systems of oppression.
Flor Y Canto Art Auction (tags)
Lend a Hand is a silent art auction for Flor Y Canto
Lend a Hand to Flor y Canto (tags)
Art contributions of any medium are needed by 7/29 for a silent auction benefitting Flor y Canto Centro Comunitario in Highland Park
MARK VALLEN: MORE THAN A WITNESS (tags)
MARK VALLEN: MORE THAN A WITNESS A Shenere Velt Gallery Now - August 26, 2004 A major retrospective art exhibition encompassing thirty years of work.
Making transsexual lives visible (tags)
Interview with transsexual scholar viviane K. Namaste from The New socialist Magazine, Issue 39: December 2002 - January 2003
Un-manageable Saturday July 24th 2004 at Flor y Canto 6 PM www.florycanto.org A discussion on the ways in which institutions have been using discipline and normalization as tools to mold the individual into docile and manageable bodies. The primary target of control is no longer just our body but also, if not primarily, our 'soul' ...
SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS ART EXHIBIT (tags)
MARK VALLEN: MORE THAN A WITNESS A retrospective exhibition encompassing thirty years of socially conscious artworks.
Annulling Debts as a Great Step (tags)
"The goal must be redefined beyond goods production and abstract labor, beyond the market and the state.. The great step of debt cancellation occurs when the burden can no longer be endured. The new finance capita-lism is a bubble and debt capitalism.."
Top 100 'poor' on social impact (tags)
A new report by a pro-business consultancy reveals corporate responsibility is sorely lacking among the world's top 100 firms, especially in the US.
The Politics of Silence (tags)
Transgender women of color are disproportionately target for the most violent of hate crimes. 35 years ago, their outrage at New York City policemen sparked the gay liberation movement. Now, as the Gwen Araujo case stalls in a mistrial, most mainstream LGB group seem to have forgotten.
Activist and Art Convergence in Northeast LA (tags)
October Surprise This is our city, lets live in it!
Did Ronald Reagan 'torture' blacks? (tags)
THE CONTINUING STRUGGLE OF AFGHAN WOMEN: A THREE PART FILM SERIES (tags)
Part one of a film series dedicated to raising awareness of Afghan women, while also raising funds to save a refugee high school from closier in Pakistan.
Brave New World of Work: The Political Economy of Insecurity (tags)
"The utopia of the free market has an unintentional upshot: the Brazilianization of the West.. What is most remarkable is the new similarity of development profiles, the incursion of the precarious, intermittent, fluffy and unsanctioned in the Western bulwarks.."
Secondary Illiterates: The Crisis of Education in Western Industrial Countries (tags)
"Euroepan literacy and the schooling of society were not generous civilizing gifts to people but part of that process described as `inner colonialization'..Infrastructural institu-tions are not market enterprises but overall social conditions for the market economy.."
THE COMING OF AGE OF THE ELECTORATE (tags)
this article is about our current political state of affairs, and the coming presidental elections that will be in the offing this coming November. Do we remain on this neoconic political course or shiftour weight into a new and braver course.
BTL:The Life of Peace, Social Justice Activist Dave Dellinger (tags)
Remembered Interview with Leonard Weinglass, human rights attorney, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists: Mobilize the vote (tags)
Bush lies ‘coming and going,’ CBTU leader charges
TV programming is designed to shepherd viewers into compromising their values. To preserve freedom, Americans should severely limit or entirely eliminate their TV viewing.
Day of Action at the Olympic Games (tags)
Day of Action at the Olympic Games
THURS 7PM: Sonali & Medea on Afghanistan & Iraq (tags)
Night of Resistance & Solidarity with the People of Afghanistan and Iraq WHEN: May 27th 2004 - 7:30-9:30pm WHERE: Immanuel Presbyterian Church 3300 W. Wilshire Blvd @ Berendo, LA
Abolish the welfare state (tags)
"The neoliberal medicine Less State and More Market does not work.. That the neoliberal medicine does not heal the economy and society but damages them must be clear to everyone who hasn't suc-cumbed to the neoliberal delusion."
"Making it in L.a> - Social Justice Reporting (tags)
USC students unveil multimedia project http://www-scf.usc.edu/~jour556/ 2004-05-06 01:13 EDT | 2004-05-07 05:13 GMT - Heather Somers, Managing Editor A group of graduate journalism students at USC Annenberg presented their multimedia reporting project Thursday. The project, titled Making it in LA, examines the lives of six Los Angeles residents and the social issues that impact their lives. The students reported and produced the project in conjunction with a class on online journalism taught by Visting Professor Elizabeth Osder and Lecturer Robert Berger.
Interview with Colombian activist (tags)
Obando Villota is the head of the Human Rights Department of FENSUAGRO, the Colombian National Federation of Agricultural Workers
Students in Mexico are victims of the Dirty War (tags)
In the last few months, several students have been attacked and beaten by undercover infiltrators for trying to have a voice in the university councils and the center of activism at UNAM - Okupa Che Guevara - is under threat of eviction. The current situation with Pavel (see below) has had very little coverage outside of the university and has continued to be declared by the media as a suicide. Pavel was very active and participated in a lot of events at Che and was a dedicated volunteer of Smaliyel.
ILWU10 Calls For Million Worker Rally (tags)
San Francisco ILWU Local 10 has voted to initiate a call for a million worker rally during mid-October in Washington DC. It will demand an end to privatization, deregulation, the repeal of the Taft-Hartley, Patriot Act and other issues.
HUD To Force Injected Spychips On Homeless (tags)
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that it was about to begin testing a new technology designed to help more closely monitor and assist the nation's homeless population.Under the pilot program, which grew out of a series of policy academies held in the last two years, homeless people in participating cities will be implanted with mandatory Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that social workers and police can use track their movements.
Who Owns the Sky? Reviving the Commons (tags)
"Not since the Golden Age of the 1890s has so much public wealth been shoveled into private hands with such brazen efficiency. Timber companies, corporate ranchers and foreign mining companies.. are plundering our national patrimony.."
Speaking out on the issues
Anti-Social Security group defrauds the elderly with 'ARP' designation (tags)
The Alliance for Retirement Prosperity was founded by Republicans like Grover Norquist (president of Americans for Tax Reform) and Steve Moore (president of the Club for Growth), who view the elderly as dangerously selfish welfare-addicts.
Elections or Resistance: Bolivar y Resistencia (tags)
US has military programs, bases or spies in every country in Latin America Only Cuba and Venezuela restrict US official activities. We want this entire military-espionage regime out! We won’t pay you anymore debt peonage and we take back all of our resources, our industries and our power
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
Six Social Security Myths (tags)
Alan Greenspan got a lot of people talking about Social Security last month by pointing out that future funds won't be enough to fund future obligations. What a surprise! What is far more surprising, however, is how much the continued fallout exposes our collective ignorance about Social Security.
Los Angeles Social Centers (tags)
This is a thread of photos mapping Los Angeles' Social Centers, or Cafes.
A century of What to do? of Lenin: A critical defense at the light of the Argentinazo (tags)
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The Democratic Party is not a vehicle for ending corporate control of our lives. It is an obstacle to building a new society.
Claudia Jones — Dynamic champion of equality (tags)
Claudia Jones used her brief years (1915-1964) to the fullest. She was involved with everything and everyone having to do with the rights of African descendants and women.
Corporation as Psychopath (tags)
Management guru, Peter Drucker: "If you find an executive who wants to take on social responsibilities, fire him. Fast." chair of the libertarian Cato Institute, William Niskanen: says that he would not invest in a company that pioneered in corporate responsibility.
A little news about this website.
Using History to Advance Social Justice (tags)
Come hear about the provocative book that labor experts and book critics are raising eyebrows -- and often tempers -- over at a compelling panel discussion sure to shatter enduring myths about the history and role of women, minorities and the Left in U.S. labor organizing.....
The Roots of the PIC in American History (tags)
by Daniel Horowitz de Garcia, Walda Katz-Fishman, Clark McKnight, explores the roots of the Prison Industrial Complex back to slavery.
Building Bridges presents Dr. King in the fight for civil rights, labor rights and peace (tags)
Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report presents this 28 minute radio program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON INDYMEDIA LINK.
BTL:Left-Right Coalition Resists President Bush's Call to Renew USA Patriot Act. (tags)
...Political Action Interview with William Fisher, co-editor of "Another World is Possible: Popular Alternatives to Globalization at the World Social Forum," conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Demonstrations against the FTAA in the entire continent will increase (tags)
The possibility of create an opposition front to the FTAA that includes some Latin-American governments and the increase of popular demonstrations will be main issues of discussion in the 3rd Hemispheric Encounter against the FTAA, that is having place in Havana, Cuba.
Social Nerve: Radical Art (tags)
check us out
World Social Forum challenges inequality (tags)
MUMBAI, India – On the sidewalk of a busy Mumbai street, two tiny children and their baby brother, clad only in a shirt, sit in a patch of dirt, directly in front of a cell phone store.
Let's Build Liberation: A Conversation with Chris Crass (tags)
An interview with Chris Crass about anti-racism, anarchism, feminism and movement building
CHERYL SEAL REPORTS: To Win in 2004, the Democratic Party Must Reclaim Its Soul (tags)
As Election Day 2004 approaches, Democrats and all liberals must confront the fact that the Bush Reich and neofascists in Congress have pulled the nation's center so far to the right we are about to topple over.
First publicated on the trotskyist review Marxism Alive 6
CHILLING DEJA VU: The Original, Eerily Premonitive Bush:Hitler Comparison from July 2001 (tags)
When this essay comparing Hitler's rise to power with Bush, and the tactics of the present GOP with the 1930s Nazis and Stalin's communist regime was first published in July, 2001, I was the recipient of a flood of hate mail and even a couple of death threats from militant rightwingers. But the comparison hit home: the article has been been circulating all over the world, reprinted in at least five languages. Unlike the lame, even bizarre comparisons rightwingers try to make between Clinton, Dean, et al. and Hitler, the similarity between Bush's regime and the rise of the Nazis is REAL and has evoked a shock of recognition in readers - or, as the title says, a "Chilling Déja Vu."
Do you know a poverty pimp? (tags)
The winter holidays sometimes seem more like a time of greed for many charity and social programs than a time to redouble efforts to aid the poor. The poverty pimps put their hand out and look like every good and helpful program out there. So how can you tell whom to support? And if you work or volunteer in a program how do you know if it or some the people in it deserve your support?
Call for an International Congress of the IV International (tags)
This call for an international congress of the Fourth International comes from the Movement for the Refoundation of the Fourth International.
Can the Znet Demand to Produce Vision Lead to Vanguardism? (tags)
The demand that the global justice movement should produce a detailed “vision” or blueprint of a future post-capitalist society is today most forcefully made by Znet. I will seek to present an opposite view in this article
The Crash has Already Begun (tags)
"The crash has already begun! Every crash comes inthree steps, the stock market crash, the banking industry crash and finally the real crash, the collapse of the economy, businesses, jobs and the financial system.. The coming depression is the correction.."
submission call- Journal of Aeshtetics & Protest iss.#3 (tags)
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"Two currencies exist for prosperity: money and time.. What we need is shorter full-time work for everyone, a new culture of contented-ness and an intelligent working hours policy oriented in the needs of people." translated from the German
Neoliberalism: Definitional Problems (tags)
"Neoliberalism starts from a negative.. assumption that every person prefers him- or herself or circle. Therefore corruption is inevi-table. This development can only be prevented by reduction of the public sector and the absolute self-control of the market."
JFK Retrospectives Adnauseam: Few Ask The Real Questions (tags)
The consequences for the nation have devastated the dream of a Republic. The notion that the federal government has an obligation to be an activist instrument for social engineering, became ingrained in the distorted consciousness of a guilt ridden public. The country of today is a hollow shell of individualism. The quest to secure community has required the surrender of personal ascendancy. The standard of distinctive achievement has been transformed into a culture of hopeless interference.
UDHR 31st Article/ 28th Bill of Rights Suggestion (tags)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, anti-corruption, anti-cultic, referendum, new people's branch of government. In spirit of green party facilitation/process, change, add, delete to improve.
THE SEVEN VARIETIES OF GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES (tags)
The right of decent private citizens to personally possess, transport, and responsibly use arms without government interference is the ultimate freedom and the main pillar supporting all other liberties. Few cultures have allowed their general population access to weapons, the tools of power, to the same degree as the United States. Instead, most societies have restricted the keeping and bearing of arms to a select few power brokers and their agents, often resulting in oppression on a grand scale.
US to the 3rd World: ''Do as I say, not as I do'' (tags)
Emerging markets like Brazil, India, and Mexico should not strive for a mythical free-market economy (which never existed, nor follow the encomiums of US special interests -- for they preach free markets but rely on the government to advance their aims.
Howard Zinn Speaks against the War and for Social Jusctice (tags)
Howard Zinn Speaks against the War and for Social Jusctice
The Intelligent Student's Guide to the New World Order (tags)
The essence of the New World Order (NWO) or world management system is that it is management by social engineers, rather than government based on a written constitution. How you are affected by this management system depends on what the social engineers decide the system should do for you and require of you.
Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution (tags)
Legitimating prostitution as "work" does not empower the women in prostitution.
Speech By Swedish Prime Minister at Memorial for Foriegn Minister Anna Lindh (tags)
With her burning international involvement since her teens, with Olof Palme as her model. . .Anna Lindh did not just speak for Sweden in the world. She also spoke for the world in Sweden.
THE ANARCHIC REVOLUTION
Wal-Mart's benefits come under fire (tags)
Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, points to Wal-Mart employee hand-outs about social services like Medicaid, food stamps and temporary assistance as proof that the retailer uses state and federal tax dollars to supplement "poverty" level wages and benefits.
The regimes selective view of freedom. (tags)
Last month, prominent clerics and academics issued a statement warning against calls for equality and increased rights for women, saying such efforts aim to make Muslim women more like "infidel" Western women.
Commerical Activity Allows Freedom of Social and Economic Restrictions (tags)
The real revolution is to become an entrepreneur. See Alex Jones (www.infowars.net) for more on government abuses.
With some fifteen hundred Panamaños living in LA, events en la Patría are heard all over the Hemisphere.
Panama-General strike to defend social security (tags)
Panama
Gulliver Calls and the Dwarfs Follow (tags)
"Imperial overreach threatens Europe's economic resources and military arsenals already strained to the limit.. The emperor and his people should quickly understand that the Imperium Americanum cannot subjugate the globe." Translated fr German
BTL:D.C. Congresswoman Fights to Reprioritize U.S. Spending from... (tags)
...Weapons Programs to Social Needs. Interview with Eleanor Holmes Norton, U.S. representative, conducted by David Goodman and Marc Stern
The Sage of Imperialism: Harry Magdoff (tags)
This conference report was published in: Monthly Review Newsletter, Summer 2003. "Neoconservative hawks should be seen as frustrated outsiders involved in a desperate gamble to shore up declining US power by throwing legitimacy to the winds."
Activating State or Active Social State (tags)
"Cuts in benefits are not social reforms but a relapse to the last century when society didn't protect its members from general life risks on account of deficient resources.The welfare state is indispensable for the society altogether and for the socially disadvantaged
the_multitude_connected :: call to participate (tags)
September 2nd -4th. The multitude connected is an experimental meeting of hackers, activists and artists to build a public virtual space based upon real time exchange of audio/video information among different geolocalizations. Eco-base: La Rabida (Southern Spain)
With a $38 billion state deficit, California is labeled the nation's basket case. The election to recall the governor will be held this fall. It will determine if Bush and his gang will gain control of the state.
Federal Courts and the Imaginary Constitution (tags)
Ridiculous as sodomy laws may be, there clearly is no right to privacy nor sodomy found anywhere in the Constitution. There are, however, states' rights -- and Texas has the right to decide how to regulate sex using local standards.
HUNGER STRIKE! Activists Demand An End To Psychiatric Repression (tags)
Posted on behalf of Mind Freedom. Mental health reform activsits are trying to bring to light the quiet state of terror that exists in the so called field of psychiatry today. Educate yourselves about how psychiatrists are an alternative to the police and prisons as a form of repression and social control:
Furor Over Gay Marriages: The Insane Ravings of the Marriage Police (tags)
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Not In Our Name's 3rd Truth Underground Series On The Occupation In Iraq (tags)
3rd Installment of NION's Truth Underground Lecture Series. This lecture includes eyewitness accounts of the current occupation of Iraq. Speakers will include reps from Code Pink, Physicians For Social Responsibility and Voices in the Wilderness.
"Another world is possible and another economy is necessary, an economy in which massive social resources are used according to plan..`We are attacked as in the dying phase of the Weimar republic'." This review is translated from the German.
Social Misery Increase In Direct Proportion to the Size of the State. (tags)
War is the health of the State. War centralizes the State.
On the Human Right to Laziness (tags)
"Paul Lafargue spoke satirically about the first sinister acceleration thrusts of early industry: "All individual and social misery comes from a passion for work. O laziness, be merciful with your endless misery!: O laziness, you are the balm for the pains!"
More State Intervention (tags)
"The German economy has skidded into a recession.. In a recession, the state must take a leadership role in solving the main problem, inadequate demand.." Translated from the German
Family Compensation for Miltary Deaths (tags)
There are a few inequities that need to be addressed. I know my fans at Indymedia will help me get the word out. I'm counting on you Diogenes, Sheepdog, and X.
With the resistance of iranian people (tags)
The Charter of the Organization of Iranian People's Fedayee Guerrillas on the Treshhold of the Twent First Century
Venezuela- the revolution faced with sabotage (tags)
Venezuela
7/5: Town Hall Meeting - Closing Ceremony for the PJ Fest! (tags)
"Take Back the World! Take Back Our Community!"
July 4-5: Los Angeles Peace And Social Justice Convergence! (tags)
Final Events for the PJ Fest!!
Bush Wants To Bankrupt America: There is Method To His Madness (tags)
This plan is so obvious at this point that it is hard to believe because it is happening so fast and the Democrats and even conservative non- neo-con Republicans don't realize what Bush and his neo-con buddies are up to.
7/2: PJ Fest Conference: Fight Against Patriotic Acts, Know Your Legal Rights!! (tags)
ActionLA, Peace And Social Justice Convergence WEDNESDAY JULY 2, 2003 6 PM TO 11PM "A Celebration in Support of the Constitution"
Dean vs. Kucinich - comparision in a nutshell (tags)
good quick summary
6/28-29: Los Angeles PJ Fest-Film SHowing, Book Fair and Conference!!! (tags)
web: tel: (213)413-1778
6/27: PJ Fest Political Prisoners Night!!! and Bush Protests (tags)
Benefit show in solidarity with the struggle to free Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!
6/25: ActionLA Peace and Justice Film Festival (tags)
Movies, Music and Education!
The Real Clash of Civilizations: Progressives versus the Neo-Cons (tags)
I have no quarrel with honest, decent conservatives. The essence of conservatism is the preservation of what is best from the past, the unwillingness to change what remains useful or valid just for the sake of change.
6/25: ActionLA Peace and Justice Film Festival (tags)
6/25 (Wed) 8:00 PM – 12:00 AM, Peace and Justice Film Festival Arts in Action, 1919 W. 7th Street 4th Floor, Los Angeles and 6/24 (Tue) 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM, Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado St., youth film night, featuring 2-hour film “Justifiable Homicide,” and discussion afterward.
6/25: ActionLA Peace and Justice Film Festival (tags)
6/25 (Wed) 8:00 PM – 12:00 AM, Peace and Justice Film Festival Arts in Action, 1919 W. 7th Street 4th Floor, Los Angeles and 6/24 (Tue) 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM, Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado St., youth film night, featuring 2-hour film “Justifiable Homicide,” and discussion afterward.
6/25: Peace and Justice Film Festival (tags)
6/25 (Wed) 8:00 PM – 12:00 AM, Peace and Justice Film Festival Arts in Action, 1919 W. 7th Street 4th Floor, Los Angeles and 6/24 (Tue) 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM, Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado St., youth film night, featuring 2-hour film “Justifiable Homicide,” and discussion afterward. ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence June 20 - July 5, 2003 Los Angeles Web: www.PJFest.net e-mail: PJFest@ActionLA.org For More Information, Tel:(213)413-1778 PJ Fest is the project of ActionLA Web: www.ActionLA.org
6/20 Opening Ceremory for LA Peace And Social Justice Convergence (tags)
When: Friday, June 20, 8:00 - 10:00 PM Where: Arts in Action, 1919 W. 7th Street 4th floor, Los Angeles For More Info: (213)413-1778, e-mail: PJFest@ActionLA.org Web: www.PJFEst.net
Why come to Sacramento? (tags)
A major grassroots mobilization and convergence is planned in Sacramento from June 20-25. This is an opportunity for people to say no to a genetically engineered future, and to voice instead a living world vision, rooted in social justice and ecological sanity. It is also a chance to stand in solidarity with the people's movements and hundreds of peasant farmers groups from around the world that have called on social movements in the US to denounce and protest this meeting.
Present situation in Latin America (tags)
The present situation promises to be a period of growing social and political polarization in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Argentina. Before the end of 2003 we are likely to see a new alignment of political and social forces from below and perhaps some "regime changes" from above or from below.
ActionLA Los Angeles Peace and Social Justice Convergence (6/20-7/5) (tags)
ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence June 20 - July 5 2003 Los Angeles Web: www.PJFest.net Tel: (213)413-1778 PJ Fest is the project of ActionLA Web: www.ActionLA.org 6/20 (Fri) 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM, Arts in Action: Opening Ceremony for the Peace and Social Justice Convergence in Arts in Actions, music, community dialogue!!
Radical Exchange / Solidarity with Argentina (tags)
Call for Translators
ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence (6/20-7/5) (tags)
ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence June 20 - July 5 2003 Los Angeles Web: www.PJFest.net Tel: (213)413-1778 PJ Fest is the project of ActionLA Web: www.ActionLA.org
AMonomaniac with a Bad idea-Bush against the Economy (tags)
Bush and the economy
AGAINST THE EU SUMMIT OF JUNE IN THESSALONIKI (tags)
...
Los Angeles ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence (6/20-7/5) (tags)
ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence June 20 - July 5 2003 Los Angeles Web: www.PJFest.net Tel: (213)413-1778 PJ Fest is the project of ActionLA Web: www.ActionLA.org "Take Back the World! Take Back Our Community!"
USA: Los Angeles ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence (6/20-7/5) (tags)
ActionLA Peace and Social Justice Convergence June 20 - July 5 2003 Los Angeles Web: www.PJFest.net Tel: (213)413-1778 PJ Fest is the project of ActionLA Web: www.ActionLA.org Take Back the World! Take Back Our Community!
Radical Exchange / Solidarity with Argentina (tags)
We hope that through workshops and translations about social movements in Argentina we can begin to discuss new ways to organize in our own communities; to talk about autonomy, popular education and direct democracy by way of the example of social movements in Argentina.
The Twilight of Vanguardism (tags)
Revolutionary thinkers have been saying that the age of vanguardism is over for most of a century now. Outside of a handful of tiny sectarian groups, it's almost impossible to find a radical intellectuals seriously believe that their role should be to determine the correct historical analysis of the world situation, so as to lead the masses along in the one true revolutionary direction.
Liberalism And The Arab World's Crisis (tags)
Liberalism is the main feature for the change that is underway in our present world. And unless the Arabs realize that fact, they will not be able to accompany time.
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.
Public Order and Market Laws (tags)
This essay focuses on the erosion of international law in international relations and the undermining of democratic and social standards in the nation states of the First world. The author urges reflection on the ideas and values of civil society as weapons..
EU-SUMMIT IN THESSALONIKI,GREECE (tags)
On the way to Thessaloniki against the lordships of the EU! The next EU-summit in Thessaloniki can be blocked! Thousands of demonstrators are planning to come from all over Europe!
Economy for Human Needs (tags)
"If the peace movement, globalization critics and unions unite their struggles, sand can be thrown in the gears of neoliberal globalization. Then changing direction will be possible." Translated from the German
EU-SUMMIT IN GREECE, JUNE 2003 (tags)
ON THE WAY TO THE EU-SUMMIT IN THESSALONIKI,GREECE, JUNE 2003
Survey: Israel yet to grasp concept of democracy (tags)
The general conclusion of the survey, which is dubbed the "Israeli Democracy Survey" and will be conducted every year, is that Israel is basically a democracy in form more than in substance, and that it has yet to internalize fully the concept of democracy.
A short history of the rise of Italian and German fascism and the reasons for the occurrence. Excerpted from Michael Parenti's book Blackshirts and Reds.
The Reflection of Proudhon on the Religions (tags)
The Reflection of Proudhon on the Religions
The Education of a Peacemaker (tags)
"Nationalism is not the same as culture..This triad of chosenness, glory and trauma produces vicious types of nationalistic ideologies that are constantly threateing world peace..Nationalism lays claim on land and times.."
Demands regarding the invasion, occupation and 'reconstruction' of Iraq (tags)
This statement will be presented to the "Iraq and the Global Peace Movement: What next?" conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, 19-21 May and at the peace and anti-war movements events during the G8 in late May.
In the sudden aftermath of the war, folks might find the following uplifting. It's taken from a longer talk given by Steven Miller, a high school teacher, at a LRNA forum in San Francisco on April 18.
Argentina/U.S. Radical Exchange (tags)
spanish/english translators needed to help build and strengthen link between the U.S. and Argentina
Against Social Darwinism (tags)
"The conquest of Africa and large parts of Asia was not morally justified by anything. Only peace is morally justified. Today social Darwinism appears in the guise of Anglo-Saxon capitalism..Ecology and pure market ideology are in conflict.." Translated German
Against Social Darwinism (tags)
"The conquest of Africa and large parts of Asia by invading European forces was not morally justified. Only peace is morally justified..Today social Darwinism appears in the guise of Anglo-Saxon capitalism..Ecology and pure market ideology are in conflict."
Marcha For Social Justice In Our Communities (tags)
MARCH FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND AGAINST WAR
DISCOVER THE MOST DANGEROUS WRITERS ALIVE! (tags)
Introducing the Howling Dog megasite: radical writing, art, poetry by iconoclastic visionaries. These dogs never learned to fetch, roll over, or lay down--but they did learn to speak. Get dangerous, get discovered ...
Capitalism: A Very Special Delirium (tags)
Capitalism: A Very Special Delirium an interview with Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in: "Chaosophy", ed. Sylvere Lothringer, Autonomedia/Semiotexte 1995 with permission by the publishers
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Capitalism : A very special delusion~G. DeLeuze (tags)
Capitalism: A Very Special Delirium an interview with Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
PROUDHON: THE ART AND IS SOCIAL DESTINY (tags)
PROUDHON: THE ART AND IS SOCIAL DESTINY
Serving the Individual Strengthens the Group (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
Drug Abuse, Left Alone, is a Self-limiting Problem. (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
BTL:Disorder, Protests Challenge U.S. Occupation of Iraq, Undermining... (tags)
...White House Triumphalism. Interview with Roger Normand, executive director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris
Nine Theses on Moving the Peace Movement Forward (tags)
[Editor: John Gershman, Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) Editor's Note: This piece was commissioned under the auspices of the Project Against the Present Danger. Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org]
Drug Abuse, Left Alone, is a Self-Limiting Problem. (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
Intelligent Life Will Naturally Resist Laws & Rules. (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
Social Systems Are Corrupt (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
Angry crowds greet Troops - CNN perplexed (tags)
When they find out that the oil profits will, of course, be going into the pockets of the U.S. oil robber barons, they will be even more pissed off...After all, these are the Americans who are liberating Iraq's oil fields, and in America, there is no such thing as 'developing the oil for the benefit of all the people' and, despite George W. Bush's socialist talk, the people of Iraq will be robbed blind and then left with nothing, just like Africa after colonialism...
The Origin of Social Dysfunction (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
All Americans are War Criminals (tags)
You are either for or against the war criminals in the White House!
Impeachment as an anti-war strategy (tags)
After 9-11 Bush remarked, 'it looks like I hit the trifecta' and someone was so offended by his out of place remark that they leaked it to the media. Note that a 'trifecta' connotates something that you gamble on. Bush's August 6, 2001 briefing memo was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S." Sometimes the mainstream media can really surprise a person, as the piece quoted here demonstrates...
Making The World Safe...For Bankers (tags)
I do not neccessarily agree with everything Dr. Makow has to say. I sometimes find him a trifle sexist. However, this is provative food for thought so decided to throw it up on the wall for people to think about.
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
Recovering the Power of the Global Grass Roots in the Antiwar Movement (tags)
Feel free to reprint this essay
Studio City Protests Are Heating Up (tags)
Studio City Protests Are Heating Up
VENEZUELA: ALL OF THEM MUST GO! (tags)
ALL OF THEM MUST GO!
The Privatization of the World (tags)
"State tax receipts rapidly decline through the globalization of capital. Heavily indebted states, provinces and communes have become economic crisis factors instead of being active as masters of crisis. They sell off cheaply the state table silver."
Flor y Canto Benefit, Tonight! (tags)
Benefit show for Flor y Canto @ Mr T's
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
The social construction of consciousness (tags)
This paper gives a theoretical discussion of the source and methodology of the social construction of consciousness. The first section introduces the piece. The second establishes the relationship between "interests" and "consciousness." The third describes growing inequality in the US. The fourth develops the structural source of consciousness. The fifth details the interlocking nature of politics and economy in the US. The sixth section discusses how our consciousness can be constructed. The final section offers some solutions.
Democratic Socialism: A Transformational Project (tags)
Democratic socialism as a transformational process could remedy the social coldness and ecological blindness of neoliberalism and its total absolute market. This article is translated from the German in: Utopie kreativ 2000.
RTH=RAISE THE HEAD = NEW ANARCHY (tags)
THE NEW ANARCHIST
The history of humanity teaches that people have always resisted when the social inequality was outrageous and blatant. The increase of criminality in the South as in the North is caused by the despair of the poorest in view of worldwide injustice.
Peace Demonstrators in US & UK Take Message to the Pumps: No War for Oil! (tags)
National Release: Peace Demonstrators in US & UK Take Message to the Pumps: NO WAR FOR OIL Day of Action at Over 100 Gas Stations Calls for Peace, Security, and Environmental Protection via Reduction of Dependence on Oil
LA Peace Activists Take Message to the Pumps: NO WAR FOR OIL (tags)
A Peace Activists Take Message to the Pumps: NO WAR FOR OIL Day of Action at Gas Station Among Peace Demonstrations Across US
BTL:Third Meeting of World Social Forum in Brazil Addresses Issues of... (tags)
...War, Peace and Economic Inequality. Interview with the Soren Ambrose, of the 50 Years is Enough Network, conducted by Between the Lines'Scott Harris
UNIVERSAL SELF-EMANCIPATION (tags)
DIRECT ANARCHO-ACTION
Human Rights Activists On Trial for Action at SOA (tags)
Defendants Aim to Expose Double Standard in War on Terrorism, Put SOA and US Foreign Policy on Trial
The naked truth about anarchists! (tags)
You see that sign down there? Its the sign of of dirty smelly lazy dull bastards!
5 Reasons ANSWER is not the answer (tags)
We can and should do bette than ANSWER!
Hundreds of millions of people are forced to work migration between countries and continents.. People are transformed into socially uprooted vagabonds of markets..Flexibility means ..more output and more stress for less money. From German
plug & play social event: streaming (tags)
How dou you know when the future lands on top of you Plug & Play Social Event: Sevilla, Spain An autonomous experimental event dealing with ICTs, video, music, urbanism and social networking, live from an abandoned high speed train station
IF WE DONT MAKE IT WHO WILL (tags)
DEMONSTRATION = POLICE CONTROL
Environmentalism, Zionism and the Social Framing of Natural Open Spaces (tags)
The dominant Israeli discourses on nature and the environment act as elements that contribute to framing the public's conception of their social space. These environmental constructs, which partially stem out of, and partially become reintegrated into the Zionist nationalist discourse, are utilized by different social elements as a legitimation for both the creation of demarcated open 'natural' spaces, and the enforced retention of their 'pristine' state.
The WSF and a “Movement of Movements” (tags)
..
Joe Strummer Tribute on KPFK's Morning Show on X-Mas Day (tags)
I was the guest host of KPFK's the Morning Show on X-Mas day; and I did a short tribute to Joe Strummer in the show's first segment (roughly from 7:05 to 7:15am). Below is a rough draft for what I said on the air.
The Welfare State, Globalization and the Rule of the Market (tags)
The welfare state regressing since 1974/76 or since 1982 must be reformed, democratized and decentralized.. What is central is refuting the neoliberal positional logic, reestablishinig solidarity and reorganizing and extending the welfare state
Social conflicts are always conflicts around terms and definitional power..Whoever has definitional power over what is reality and what is realpolitik dominates ideological semantics. Translated from the German
This Will Make You Angry (tags)
Article about anger is the fuel for activism and social change. Focuses on prison issues and hip-hop activism.
Educational Indocrination (tags)
This organization is dedicated to fighting political and social bias and indocrination in universities.
New Online Progressive / Activist Forum Launched (tags)
This is to introduce and announce a new website called Progressive Forum. The Progressive Forum aims to provide an online political community for progressive political activists.
The DIALECTIC and the SOCIAL in PROUDHON (tags)
The DIALECTIC and the SOCIAL in PROUDHON Join some of the works and articles, published and unknown, that the author of these pages had chance to write in these last sixteen years. http://www.franciscotrindade.com 1- The DIALECTIC and the SOCIAL in PROUDHON 2 - INTRODUCTION TO THE FEDERATIVE PRINCIPLE OF PROUDHON
Ecuador-Lucio Gutierrez opens a new revolutionary stage (tags)
Ecuador
The Right to Development (tags)
"The 1994 UN Development Program proposed a world social charter with the goal of building a society where the right to food is as sacred as the right to vote..and the right to development is a fundamentaql human right Brigitte Hamm is a professor in Duisberg.
Please check our manifesto and subscribe it if you fell it expresses what you feel. Or even best... come to Porto (portugal) by the end of November and stay for a few days. Please feel free to ask for english updates to our mailing list
FOR THE RESTORATION OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE IN GREEK SOCIETY (tags)
We are publishing this document so as to inform and ask for your support. This concerns a very important matter - the imprisonment of worker and social fighter Yannis Serifis and the wider repression by the state in Greece. Follow the link to sign for the release of Y. Serifis and against the greek terrorlaw: http://www.yserifis.org/solidarity.php
work of Alexander Schauss could be a great boon to problem of urban crime
Proposal of netstrike de Isole nella Rete against the last detentions (tags)
The arrests of the political activists in South of Italy are really grave. It's urgent to give an strong and united response. Isole nella Rete is proposing a netstrike. Over the skin of the activists from the South is the future of all the political activism.
Spiritualism of Activism: Alan Clements Interview on KPFK (MP3) (tags)
1 hour interview with Clements on freedom, spiritualism and social activism
Guns And Roses Fans Riot in Vancouver, Canada (tags)
Thousands of Guns And Roses fans rioted Thursday night, November 7, 2002, after an announcement outside GM Place in Vancouver that the show had been canceled.
Uribe Velez: A Regional Danger (tags)
The ascension of Alvaro Uribe Velez to the Presidency of Colombia signifies the apogee of the violence and a new war surge that threatens to overflow the Colombian borders and involve the countries of the region. An analysis by the editor of Ecuador’s Opción Magazine:
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 Flexible Person: Critical Psychology and Fitness Training (tags)
With athletic and medical metaphors, persons even in nursery school are urged to fitness training. Under globalization, societies find themsevles in positional competition. National chances are set against the global threat. Trans.from German
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.
On the subject of so-called "Trust Fund Kids" (tags)
I've noticed that some of the right-wingers and Bush lovers who post on IMC -- most notably those with nothing of substance to say -- are fond of using the term "Trust Fund Kids" as a pejorative to somehow diminish the contributions of those whose financial circumstances are anywhere above the poverty level. Let's dispel some of the "popular" misconceptions.
Nov. 13 Virtual Sit-in against the WTO (tags)
Please give your time to the movement for social justice and participate in the Electronic Civil Disobiedience
Manchester, England: Epicenter of Social Change (tags)
‘Earthquakes are very often associated with periods of great social change or unrest, and from such locations the fault lines originate and are projected outward.’
Sketches of a post-Foucauldian anarchism (tags)
A development of two lines of thought on the nature of power based on the work of Michel Foucault
Pig Cabin Lonely, Tecumpse’s Contempt: Thinking ShawanoeNabeg or thinking ..... (tags)
Scary Pig Cabin Lonely People Need Good Will Too, to remember when tricking or treating this Ween. Trick, I didn’t proof read, your treat, but how much Nabeg-ness is on IMC. And that is the question, personally in the costumes of social constructions and maybe identity when and where they create bad or ill will. This is Dave ‘Min-like musing for a Indigenous or Nabeg Ween for everybody’s global tribal ‘anti-globalizm/anti-war’ door knocking. One reference article follows.
LESSONS FOR ANARCHISM COMING FROM ARGENTINA (tags)
It is remind that if the state and the institutions are denouncing situation for now in Argentina as anarchy, it is not anarchy in the country ! What is happening is a step toward the decay of power. In fact the chaos in argentina is caused by the state and capitalism, not by anarchists ideals.
The history of the guerilla movement in Colombia (tags)
The guerilla in Colombia has not been invented by the left. It dates further back and is the answer of the lower classes to the violence of the rich and mighty.
examines the reality of poverty in contemprary america, asks "where is the left" and offers solutions
BTL: U.S. War Against Baghdad Could Result in Use of Nuclear Weapons (tags)
Interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility conducted by Melinda Tuhus
Maxine Waters Town Hall Meeting and Speakout (tags)
October 5, 2002 First Church of God
Maxine Waters Town Hall Meeting and Speakout (tags)
October 5, 2002 First Church of God Inglewood, CA
The Appetite of Leviathan (tags)
Money replaces the `cosmos' as the unifying social characteristic. Every pack of wolves is more socially organized than free enterprise persons..The little monsters should be tamed by the enormous monster"Leviathan". The state share has increased everywhere.
Leftist Conservatism Part Two (tags)
In Part One of this two part series I demonstrated through personal experience how the leftist elite is stifling progressive growth and preventing constructive social change in the United States
December 20 and 21 days of social disobedience to help Argentina (tags)
CALLING ALL GRASSROOTS GROUPS, COLLECTIVES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.. December 20th - 21st 2002 - TWO DAYS OF SOCIAL DISOBEDIENCE IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE ARGENTINEAN POPULAR REBELLION
DECEMBER 20 &21, days of social disobediece, to help Argentina (tags)
CALLING ALL GRASSROOTS GROUPS, COLLECTIVES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.. December 20th - 21st 2002 - TWO DAYS OF SOCIAL DISOBEDIENCE IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE ARGENTINEAN POPULAR REBELLION
an essay on the necessity of direct action
NOW OR NEVER
An Introduction to Dual Power Strategy (tags)
The great task of grassroots dual power is to seek out and create social spaces and fill them with liberatory institutions and relationships. Where there is room for us to act for ourselves, we form institutions conducive not only to catalyzing revolution, but also to the present conditions of a fulfilling life, including economic and political self-management to the greatest degree achievable. We seek not to seize power, but to seize opportunity vis a vis the exercise of our power.
CAPITALISM IS TERRORISM (tags)
THE REVOLUTION OF EVERYDAY ANTI-CAPITALISM
Socialist Planning -- Liberation from the Market (tags)
The following is written by the Maoist political economist Raymond Lotta. It is excerpted from a larger discussion on http://2changetheworld.info where Ray posted a series of comments called "Socialist planning vs. Market Socialism."
How Revolution Can Overturn Consumer Society (tags)
The following was written by political economist Raymond Lotta -- as part of a longer analysis of "Socialist Planning vs. Market Socialism." It was posted as part of the debate over revolutionary strategy in the General Discussion forum of http://2changetheworld.info
World Leaders Debate Environment and Economics at Largest UN Summit Ever Held (tags)
World leaders, activists, and business elite gather in Johannesburg to decide the fate of the planet in what is shaping up to be merely another clash between globolizatiion proponents who want to impose free markets and privatization as the path to sustainable development, versus environmental and social justice activists who say the neoliberal model is inherently unsustainable.
US is financing murder of possibly millions in Cauca (Columbia) (tags)
We must help to stop the murder... please read and spread the word.. public awareness deters the evil force
Why Socialism? By Albert Einstein (tags)
Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition.
"The Internationale" on KCET (tags)
"The Internationale," an award-winning independent documentary about a radical song, will be shown on KCET in L.A. on Sunday night, Sept. 1, at Midnight
Direct Action Versus Electoralism (tags)
Anarchists engage in direct action as opposed to voting. This anti-electoralism (or anti-parliamentarianism) may seem strange and even perverse to many. After all, virtually the whole left believes in the importance of voting. In the US, liberals and state socialists have voted for the Democrats with a steadfastness that is almost religious, even as the Democrats have steadily moved to the right. In Western Europe, they have voted consistently for the Socialist or Labor Parties (social democrats), or Communist Parties, or, more recently, ex-Communist Parties.
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.
Witness Against an Insane Nuclear Policy; Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki (tags)
Interfaith group to hold a rally and march to address current U.S. Nuclear policy.
Beware! The Maussians Are Coming! This article by David Graeber discusses the concept of the gift economy, an idea first explored by Marcel Mauss in his descriptions of the Kwakiutl of British Columbia. He describes how the historical reality of such economies refutes many of the assumptions made by neo-liberal economists about the historical development of economic systems. Also discussed are contemporary groups (such as the MAUSS group in France) who take their inspiration from such findings to attack and dismantle the philosophic basis of capitalist economic theory.
Saving and improving Social Security: The Communist Party’s solution (tags)
Marx’s observation that the task of a movement goes beyond mere interpretation of events was never more apt than when it comes to the struggle to defend – and improve – the Social Security system.
NO-RIO+10, against the Johanesburg Summit (tags)
against civilization, aganinst RIO+10
The time has come to learn the truth about how you have been insidiously enslaved to a greedy few scumbags.
Awake brother and let me tell you a story of how a great people became slaves to a few greedy weazels.
Conspiracy Theories and Clandestine Politics (tags)
A useful analysis of distinctions which should be maintained between "conspiracy theory" (a pathological orientation) and "clandestine [or "deep"] politics". From Lobster #29, June 1995.
update
U.S. COGNITIVE DAMAGE HAS PASSED THE CRITCAL POINT! (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by Everett Allie.
THE ORIGIN OF SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION (tags)
From the book "The Origin of Social Dysfunction" by E. Allie.
Southern Girls Convention 2002 (tags)
CONVENTION ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR WORKSHOPS
Panther Rises In Red, But Flourishes In Green (tags)
Socialism or Green Direct Democracy?
Two Lids and the Communist Chipmunks (tags)
Creative fiction about Kiva State University that parodies political realities.
Venezuela, Neither Chavez nor Carmona (tags)
anarchists declare thereselves opponents of both Left and Right authoritarians
Political Strategy: PFLP (tags)
The strategic vision of the PFLP is based on the following: 1. liberation from Israeli occupation 2. construction of a democratic society 3. recognition that the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab Nation 4. recognition that the Palestinian struggle is part of the international, democratic struggle toward liberation, progress, democracy, and social justice
New Revolutionary Discussion Website! (tags)
We are trying for a space that is "high and wild" -- where folks gather to tackle the hard problems of radical social change.
Rome, 2 millions protest! What is really happening in Italy ? (tags)
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RISE UP 2002: Hundreds of activists join with Farmworkers at UCLA (tags)
The RISE UP 2002 Conference has started. Hundreds of participants collected at Perloff Quad on UCLA campus this morning for the opening plenary; and are presently filling the classrooms of both Royce and Rolfe Hall in the first series of workshops. The conference has been organized by the Coalition of Imokalee Workers (CIW)as part of the Taco Bell Truth Tour.
Environmental Justice Workshop Saturday in Santa Cruz (tags)
REPORTERS ARE NEEDED TO COVER THIS GREAT EVENT!!! VIDEO, AUDIO, PHOTO, and PEN/PAPER are encouraged!!! Environmental Justice Workshop entitled Ethnic Communities, Social Justice, and the Environment: Making the Connection on Saturday March 2, 2002 at UCSC’s Oakes College room 105 starting at 11:30 until 3:30 pm.
Labor 's View: Europe Wins Olympics (tags)
Europe won the 2002 Winter Olympic Games; the United States was a distant second. The Olympics represents the collective wealth of the workers of the world which allows some people to spend their time worrying about figure skating routines. Because labor is better organized in Europe, Europe spends more on social services and less on the military, and has the championship at the Olympics and the better overall health and welfare of its people to show for it.
just came across this reading a great essay by buddhist David Loy. Check out his essay "A Buddhist Critique of Transnational Corporations" as well.
IMC Italy Raided this Morning (tags)
This morning around 7.00, police knocked at the doors of a few social centers: Gabrio in Torino, Cecco Rivolta in Firenze, TPO in Bologna, as well as those of the Cobas offices in Taranto. The huge mobilitation (a lot of cars, vans, and riot cops) was due to an order from Genova's attorney.
BTL: Intl Global Justice Movement Discusses Alternative Development Models... (tags)
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, who attended the World Social Forum and discusses the deliberations and action plans that came out of the Porto Alegre gathering.
Epidemics of "Social Darwinism" in America (tags)
The racist prescription for perfecting the human race, which is presently having a major revival, is the doctrine of "survival of the fittest" guided by the ethic of "Social Darwinism"! In this story the author points to epidemics of this racist idea now at work in America and what can be done to overcome the problem.
One way we can inform ourselves and others! (flyer art) (tags)
This is a flyer I've been passing out to hundreds of people where I am. I hope you will find a flyer of this type--broad demystification orientation--valuable enough to either use this same one or make one even better. The trick is, make one that may "bridge" with as many people as possible, instead of the usual "single issue" (usually topical) flyer we see all over. The beauty of this method is that it undermines all the "us vs. them" hysteria that most anti-war protesters are facing when they remain stuck in the single issue of the situation in the middle east.
Chomsky Blasts WEF From Brazil (tags)
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Noam Chomsky arrived here for the World Social Forum (WSF) and immediately blasted the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New York as power-hogging, anti-global, and linked to "crude and vulgar" exploitation of the September 11 attacks.
World Social Forum Agenda (tags)
The list below, from the World Social Forum Website is a break-down of the four topics of conversation to be addressed at the WSF
The Argentine Government Resigns in Block After the New Social Outbreak (tags)
A second government in a term of ten days falls. The social outbreak reflects a mobilization capacity that seemed forgotten in Argentina, in a social outbreak carried out by very diverse sectors of the society, without a defined leadership, something that is disturbing to power.
Translation of Argentina Rebellion (tags)
* Translation of the situation and events in Argentina. * The unequal redistribution of money in favour of the banks. * People protests in different provinces including the capital city in where the police is taking an active and authoritary action.
INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIVE FOR CLASS WAR (tags)
We are an international collective formed for the working-class struggle of freedom and social justice.
Bush Commission: No Social Security Crisis (tags)
There is no crisis today, and everyone on the commission knows it. According to their own numbers, Social Security can pay all promised benefits for the next 37 years. And the shortfall over the whole 75-year planning period is small relative to our national income (less than three-quarters of one percent). While the commissioners may say something different, its actions confirm the facts: there's no need to deal with Social Security anytime soon.
Debunking The Conservative Attack On Social Security (tags)
Conservatives have been attacking Social Security since 1936. They've grown more sophisticated since Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon. called it a "cruel hoax...unjust, unworkable,...and wastefully financed," but they haven't grown more honest. A quick guide to some major lies, written several years ago, with only the links updated.
Debunking The Conservative Attack On Social Security (tags)
Conservatives has attacking Social Security since 1936. They've grown more sophisticated since Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon. called it a "cruel hoax...unjust, unworkable,...and wastefully financed," but they haven't grown more honest. A quick guide to some major lies, written several years ago, with only the links updated.
100 Nobel Laureates: Security Depends on Environmental & Social Reform (tags)
On the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize, 100 Nobel laureates warn that our security hangs on environmental and social reform. (Published in the Toronto Globe & Mail, Friday, December 7, 2001 - Print Edition, Page A21.)
The Role of cultural producers during war (tags)
Panel Discussion at CalArts focuses on role of art and artists in “Post-9-11” World
Violence?
ARTIST'S RESPONSE TO WAR (tags)
Multidisciplinary Art Performance oppossed to War slated for this weekend at "HIGHWAYS" Art Complex in Santa Monica.
I pulled this from the NY-IMC, and though I think Zizek has issues as well, i really enjoyed reading this little critique of Chomsky. His cult of personality is a little much. I really enjoyed another theory book called- The End of Education by William Spanos. Writen by a much less known theorist (another reason to dislike zizek and Chomsky) this book goes into detail about some of what zizek says-while talking about 60s political movements and their "failure of the radical moment."
Come on out and support Denise Robb's Campaign (tags)
Let's get out there and help elect a Green, and a lifelong activist, to the LA City Council in Tuesday's Fourth Council District election. I received the following impassioned call to support Denise Robb's campaign via e-mail.
Black Panther Party Cofounder Bobby Seale Relates Struggles of 1960s... (tags)
On June 20, Seale returned to New Haven, and spoke about the relationship between the radical politics of the 1960s and the rebirth of activism and today's growing worldwide movement for social justice(A RealAudio Version of this interview may be found At http://www.btlonline.org).
Physician's Group Calls for a Halt to Depleted Uranium Ammunition Use (tags)
Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Martin Butcher, director of security programs with Physicians for Social Responsibility, a group founded more than 20 years ago to oppose the nuclear arms race. Butcher explains why his group is concerned with the use of depleted uranium weapons, and what he believes should be done about it.
NASCENT TRANSGENDER ACTIVISTS PROD WE HO FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, CURBS ON COPS (tags)
Transdenders' apperance Tuesday before West Hollywood community meeting pleading for social services and limits on policing signals new activism by group previously quiescent.
undercover cops in genoa (tags)
Carabinieri: A handout photo released by the Genoa Social Forum Sunday, July 22, 2001, allegedly shows people dressed as rioters brandishing batons close to a uniformed Carabinieri officer in front of Carabinieri police barracks in downtown Genoa, Saturday, July 21, 2001. Leaders of the Genoa Social Forum accused the police of sending plainclothes officers to blend with the cloud of rioters against the G8 summit. (AP Photo)
Perspectives on Bush's Social Security Commission (tags)
The interim draft report of President Bush's Social Security Commission is driven by ideology, not truth. Here are some corrective voices.
Raid "Weapons." Genoa Social Forum, NONVIOLENT main umbrella of G8 countersummit (tags)
Outrageousness of July 22, 2001 brutal police raid of Genoa Social Forum, NONVIOLENT main umbrella of G8 countersummit. Dozens injured, hospitalized, and still detained. World outrage. The outrageousness of the July 22, 2001 combined raid of Genoa Social Forum, Italy Indymedia, and Radio Gap is sinking in. Dozens of brutal injuries. Unprovoked beatings of people to unconsciousness. Pools of blood everywhere. Witnesses galore. Mainstream politicians and press as witnesses.
Hey, running is healthy! (tags)
Ironic title against that ridiculous point that anarchists -and not only- are running back!
More reports of Italy Indymedia and Genoa Social Forum raid, brutality. LINKS. (tags)
The latest reports really flesh out the brutality of the raid July 22, 2001 of the Genoa Independent Media Center and the Genoa Social Forum. Photos, detailed reports, videos, etc.. Even some of the mainstream press is getting it right. The outrageousness of the raid is sinking in. Dozens of brutal injuries. Unprovoked beatings of people to unconsciousness. Pools of blood everywhere. Witnesses galore. Mainstream politicians and press as witnesses.
Though it may be hard to imagine in America, in Italy, communists, anarchists, ravers, punks, hackers and artists have seized vast, abandoned factories, forts, boarded-up schools and churches and transformed them into cinemas, concert halls, bars, squats and art galleries. Far from being scabies-infested scum pits with gutter punks spray-painting the names of their favorite bands on the walls, Italy’s social centers are among the country’s most vital cultural institutions.
A New Declaration of Independence by Emma Goldman (tags)
The history of the American kings of capital and authority is the history of repeated crimes, injustice, oppression, outrage, and abuse, all aiming at the suppression of individual liberties and the exploitation of the people.
Drawing: Chaia Heller makes the connections (tags)
Chaia Heller of the Vermont Based Institute for Social Ecology
Drawing: Chaia Heller makes the connections (tags)
Chaia Heller of the Vermont Based Institute for Social Ecology
"Security" has been hyped into the stratosphere lately, not only by burglar-alarm salespeople, but mostly by politicians as a key ingredient in their smokescreens. Leaving aside the understandable personal desire for a room of one's own, the bleat of security has been used to tear-gas the population in attempts to effect a siege mentality among its members.
Labor Historian Examines Challenges Ahead for Global Social Justice Movement (tags)
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with labor historian Jeremy Brecher, author of "Globalization From Below: The Power of Solidarity," who discusses the challenges ahead for the growing global social justice movement.
Progressive Technology Project Grants (tags)
Progressive Technology Project Accepting Applications for Spring 2001 Grants Pool works to raise the scope and scale of technology resources available to grassroots organizing groups working for environmental, economic, and social justice.
"George W. Bush's plans for federal entitlement programs---and some Democratic plans that also embrace partial privitization based on alarmist rhetoric of Medicare and Social Security 'crises'-- will destroy hard-won protections of elderly and disabled people's health care and retirement. Many of these beneficiaries are not a good risk for private health insurers. "
Green Candidate For Upcoming Congressional Race (tags)
Congressman Julian Dixon Dies-Green Party Activist Donna Warren announces she is running for the 32 Congressional District Seat! Go Donna!!!
IMC NEWS BLAST | WORLD SOCIAL FORUM -- WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (tags)
A compilation of photos, video, and audio and text reports from the Independent Media Center's coverage of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brasil, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Released Thursday, February 1, 2001. Check the www.indymedia.org newswire for upcoming translations of this News Blast.
EmpowermentBooks.com offers lower book prices, coupons&deals as a ChristmasGift (tags)
EmpowermentBooks.com offers lower book prices, coupons and deals as a Christmas Gift. EmpowermentBooks.com is being relaunched for Christmas 2000 with various improvements and is launching a small publicity campaign to publicize its books and resources for personal growth, social change and ecology in a Co-op America-style approach to social change. Activists will probably also find EmpowermentResources.com-- Tools for Personal Growth, Social Change and Ecology, and EmpowermentStores.com-- Empowering the Consumer interesting and useful. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Pare los Abusos en las Maquilas en Nicaragua (tags)
La ropa vendida por la cadena target (la cual incluya Mervyn's, Hudson's, Dayton's, y Marshall Fields) y Kohl's es elaborada en la maquila Mil Colores por trabajadores nicaraguenses, la mayoria muferes jovenes. HORAS EXTRAS OBLIGADAS, SUELDOS DE HAMBRE,SERVICIOS HIGIENICOS MUGRIENTES,METAS DE PRODUCCION EXCESIVAMENTE ALTAS, ESTAFA CON LOS PAGOS DE SEGURO, DESPIDOS MASIVOS Y QUIEBRA DE SINDICATOS.
In response to:Voting Doesn't Create Social Change? Tell That To The Descendents (tags)
Although those amendments may have "changed" the status of slavery. voting by far was the least of all the factors that changed slavery. If not for social pressure the 13th 14th and 15th amendment would have not been in place. And even after passing these amendments many states did not recognize thier existence. Thus further social action had to be implemented at the grassroots level.
Voting Doesn't Create Social Change? Tell That To The Descendents of Slaves (tags)
Voting doesn't create social change without the larger context of a social movement. But social movements have created enormous social change over the centuries, and voting has played a vital role bringing about this change.
Mainstream Corporate Media Dismisses Democracy (tags)
By ignoring critical social issues mainstream corporate media dismisses democratic values in the United States.
FBI definition of "Terrorism." (tags)
The FBI's definition of "terrorism," appears to include civil disobedience. Go to www.fbi.gov, and go to search, type "Domestic Terrorism" in the search engine space, and hit go, then look through it all, peticularly the first one on the list.
Interview and discussion about why activists protest.
The Dubious Character of Jesse Jackson's Politics (tags)
A brief essay calling into question the class character of Jesse Jackson's political activity
Philadelphia: DHS Threatens Taking Mass Custody of Protester's Children (tags)
This is the latest from Philadelphia: A leaked DHS Memo threatens taking mass custody of protester's children. Read a social work professor's response. See www.kwru.org for more information.
Global Social Justice Movement Organizing for Political Conventions (tags)
Kevin Danaher, an organizer with Global Exchange and co-editor of the book "Globalize This! The Battle Against The World Trade Organization," examines the future direction of the social justice movement born in Seattle and Washington D.C.