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.
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.
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
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.
Insult to Injury in Egypt (tags)
Egypt
Egypt
Systemic Injustice in America (tags)
police state
Egypt
Anti-American Sentiment in Egypt (tags)
Egypt
What’s Next for the Egyptian Revolution (tags)
Egyptians are making history at a frantic pace. After the largest protests in Egypt’s history initiated the downfall of the first Muslim Brotherhood government, a military-led massacre of Muslim Brotherhood faithful quickly altered the political dynamic. Everything is in flux.
History, subordination weigh heavily on unfinished Arab Spring (tags)
Western imperial powers have a long history of interference in Egyptian affairs. The failures of the Arab Spring can’t be disentangled from this history.
Naked Israeli Aggression (tags)
Israel
Libya and Syria: When Anti-Imperialism Goes Wrong (tags)
Reflexive opposition to Uncle Sam’s machinations abroad is generally a good thing. It is a progressive instinct that progressively declined in the 1990s, as presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton deftly deployed the U.S. military to execute “humanitarian” missions in Somalia, Haiti, and the Balkans and progressively increased in the 2000s, as Bush Jr. lurched from quagmire to disaster in transparent empire-building exercises in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Israel: Land of Inequality and Injustice (tags)
police state
BTL:Days Before Egyptian Presidential Election, Court Sentences Mubarak, Ignites Massive P (tags)
Interview with Seif Da'Na, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, conducted by Scott Harris
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
Coalition of the disaffected (tags)
Occupy Wall Street represents our social nature ("We are bound to one another like the waves of the sea" Norbert Elias). Occupy represents an alternative to unbridled competitiveness and commodification (You can make fish soup out of an aquarium but .
BTL: Egypt's Second Popular Uprising Targets Military's Hold on Power (tags)
Interview with Seif Da’Na, associate professor of sociology and international studies at the University of Wisconsin, conducted by Scott Harris
Rage for Change in Egypt (tags)
Egypt
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S RESPONSE TO THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES (tags)
Egyptian Military Power Grab (tags)
Egypt
MDS STATEMENT on "Stop The Machine, Create a New World" (October2011) (tags)
Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) reports on the October2011 organizing effort. Calls for dialogue in the face of abuses.
Occupy San Diego Draws Thousands Downtown Oct. 15 (tags)
Despite attacks by police wielding pepper spray and Mace, confiscation of their possession and a series of threats to evict them forcibly from the Civic Center Plaza, over 1,000 members and supporters of Occupy San Diego reclaimed their downtown space October 15. The day was busy, including three marches and two rallies as well as Occupy San Diego's usual open discussion about its goals.
Social Justice Occupations Head Everywhere (tags)
social justice
Stop the Machine Occupies Washington (tags)
social justice
Anti-Israeli Rage in Egypt (tags)
Israel
Egyptians Again Rally for Change (tags)
liberation
Oct 6 DC Stop the War Machine & Create A New World (tags)
October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions. As Mother Jones said, "Someday the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!."
Arab Spring Yet to Bloom (tags)
democracy
Police State Terror in Bahrain (tags)
police state
The Arab Revolutions and the Democratic Imagination (tags)
The Arab democratic uprisings have brought a rush of nostalgia to many people who staged their own democratic revolutions years earlier. As they watched events unfold in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Al Jazeera and CNN, that feeling of “all that is solid melting into thin air,” as Marx would have put it, returned to many of those who went to the barricades during the original People Power Revolution in the Philippines in 1986.
Middle East Protests Continue for Unmet Demands (tags)
protests
Mubarak Toppled by CIA Because He Opposed US Plans for War with Iran? (tags)
"In terms of imperialist mentality, not all that much has changed since the days of 1956, when British Prime Minister Anthony Eden would become apoplectic at the mere sight of Colonel Amal abd-el Nasser, the gallant Egyptian leader who successfully nationalized the Suez Canal in defiance of the British and the French. When the imperialists look across the northern edge of Africa, the valuable assets they see are the oil of Algeria and Libya, and above all the Suez Canal, one of the classical naval choke points of the world, through which 8% of world maritime trade currently passes. The Anglo Americans are acutely aware of the endless possibilities for mischief against countries like Iran, China, and Russia that could be derived from a reassertion of the old imperialist control of Suez. If some pretext could be found for banning Chinese ships from the Suez Canal, China’s entire trade with Europe would be severely disrupted. However, in order to make a grab for Suez politically feasible, Egypt would have to descend into chaos. This may in fact be one of the prime motivations of what is currently going on. If the national states collapse, then the empire is free to step in and seize what it wants."
The following is an editorial written for the March 2011 issue of Zenger’s Newsmagazine before the uproar in Wisconsin over the bill introduced by that state’s governor, Scott Walker, which would essentially destroy public-sector unionism in that state and therefore likely be the final nail in the coffin of America’s labor movement as a whole. People — not just union workers directly affected by the proposal but others as well — have turned out in the streets and blockaded the state capitol, while “Tea Party” counter-protesters have been mobilized nationwide by talk radio and Fox News to come and support the governor. The Wisconsin protests have been compared to those that recently brought down Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak — though America’s corporate media have carefully avoided that analogy — but despite the uproar over Walker’s bill, America’s white working class has so far remained largely opposed to the progressive agenda and supportive of radical-Right attempts to destroy what’s left of America’s social safety net.
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.
Middle East Protests Continue (tags)
liberating struggles
Egypt's Military Declares Martial Law (tags)
liberating struggles
Strikes, workers’ protests spread throughout Egypt (tags)
“According to a detailed account published by Al Ahram, the dictator had intended to step down but was persuaded by his wife and son Gamal not to. When this threatened to provoke a further upsurge in the revolutionary movement, the military stepped in and seized power to try to maintain control over the situation. Notably, none of the official middle class “opposition” parties—including the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed ElBaradei’s National Association for Change—has condemned the military’s threats against the working class. Striving to maintain illusions in the role of the army, these forces have urged an end to the demonstrations and strikes. ElBaradei and his colleagues are now preparing to enter the military regime. Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague said yesterday that Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told him that the current government would be reshuffled to include opposition figures by next week. While the successful elevation of these “opposition” forces would open up opportunities for the individuals involved, for the Egyptian working class it would signify no more than providing a civilian fig-leaf for the military government.”
'The Egyptian Revolution enters a new stage' and more (tags)
"The struggle that is now unfolding in Egypt will be of a protracted character. The responsibility of revolutionary Marxists is to develop among workers, as they pass through colossal political experiences, an understanding of the necessity for an independent struggle for power. The revolutionary Marxists must counsel workers against all illusions that their democratic aspirations can be achieved under the aegis of bourgeois parties. They must expose ruthlessly the false promises of the political representatives of the capitalist class. They must encourage the creation of independent organs of workers’ power which can become, as the political struggle intensifies, the basis for the transfer of power to the working class. They must explain that the realization of the workers’ essential democratic demands is inseparable from the implementation of socialist policies. Above all, revolutionary Marxists must raise the political horizons of Egyptian workers beyond the borders of their own country. They must explain that the struggles that are now unfolding in Egypt are inextricably linked to an emerging global process of world socialist revolution, and that the victory of the revolution in Egypt requires not a national, but an international strategy. After all, the fight against the Mubarak-Suleiman regime and the Egyptian ruling class is, in the final analysis, a struggle against the entire Arab bourgeoisie, the Zionist regime in Israel and American and European imperialism."
Egypt at Dawn's Early Light (tags)
liberating struggles
Egypt: Revolution in Motion (tags)
"A revolution is not a single event-it is a process. A process with ebbs and flows, advances and setbacks that can take place over weeks, months and even years..The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky developed the theory of `permanent revolution.'" Links to Howard Zinn and Marcos
Hold the Celebration: Egypt's Struggle Just Began (tags)
liberating struggles
Mubarak's Failed Bait and Switch (tags)
liberating struggles
BTL:Egypt's New Vice President is Washington's Proxy Torturer (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.
People Power v. Duplicity in Egypt and Washington (tags)
people power
Essentials on the situation in Egyp (tags)
"Then, over the weekend, came the public statement by Frank Wisner, the former ambassador to Cairo tapped by the Obama administration to serve as its envoy to Mubarak. Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Wisner declared, “President Mubarak remains utterly critical in the days ahead as we sort our way toward the future.” He added that the dictator “must stay in office in order to steer those changes through.” The State Department immediately responded that Wisner was speaking in a personal capacity and had not cleared his remarks first with the US government. While mortified that Wisner had the audacity to say publicly what the administration—behind all its phony rhetoric about democracy—is actually doing, no one disputed the content of Wisner’s statement. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs found a somewhat more elegant way to echo Wisner’s view, declaring that the issue was one of “process not personality.”
Mubarak's Thirty-Year Dictatorship (tags)
dictatorship
We're All Egyptians Now! (tags)
liberation
The 7 Demands of The Tahrir square Protestors: (tags)
Democracy!
Heroic resistance in Cairo to state-orchestrated repression (tags)
"A significant piece of direct evidence of collusion is the texts sent out by the government via various mobile phone networks to rally its forces. One published on Flickr gallery states, “The Armed Forces asks Egypt's honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our people and honor and our precious Egypt.” The fact is that the army and the police are headed by the same people who control the government, with Mubarak's newly appointed vice-president, Omar Suleiman, acting as the prime culprit."
Pro-Mubarak Thugs are Traitors to Egypt! (tags)
The pro-Mubarak thugs in Egypt attacking peaceful pro-democracy protesters are traitors to their people and nation. The pro-Mubarak thugs are most likely plainclothes police fearful of losing their favored status once Mr. Mubarak accepts his status as a deceased dictator and steps down ASAP. Here in the U.S., we question our government's funding of Egypt's military and CIA collaboration with a thirty year tyrant!
Live From the Egyptian Revolution (tags)
I grew up in Egypt. I spent half my life here. But Saturday, when my plane from JFK airport touched down in Cairo, I arrived in a different country than the one I had known all my life. This is not Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt anymore and, regardless of what happens, it will never be again.
Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution? (tags)
"Understand that the “War on Terror” is a complete lie, a concoction meant to obscure the imperial attack on the worldwide insurrection of the people’s revolt the imperialist ruling class knew would be coming. Of course 911 was a false flag attack perpetrated largely by imperialism to serve as a defense against this revolt. But before that the outlines of this “defense of the system” was likely behind the crash of a jumbo jet in the ocean when an Egyptian pilot, with no record of radical ideas, supposedly crash dived a fully loaded passenger plane shouting, “God is great.” One can review and study these manipulations and begin to see the strategy and heartless efforts being waged by our rulers in a desperate attempt to maintain our world in bondage. The U.S. will claim to be defending democracy and human welfare while attempting to utterly crush both."
ASHRAF MARWAN, SON IN LAW OF PRESIDENT NASSER OF EGYPT WORKED FOR MOSSAD ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN AHRON BREGMAN