People Before Profit blog

UK: 2 million strike to save their pensions

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:23:00 +0000

The right-wing Tory attempts to belittle public-sector industrial action rang pathetically hollow Nov. 30 as millions of workers joined the fight against government-imposed pension cuts.

Services across England, Scotland and Wales ground to a halt in the strongest show of union strength in a generation.

Schools, courts, museums and job centers were paralyzed in the 24-hour strike which also brought extensive disruption to transport, hospitals and government departments.

In Scotland over 300,000 workers took to the streets while in Wales an estimated 170,000 walked out in opposition to the brutal cuts.

Rallies up and down England drew tens of thousands - and received the overwhelming support of the public.

Speaking at a rally in Birmingham, England, TUC (Trades Union Congress, The national trade union center in the UK) general secretary Brendan Barber said: "On this unprecedented day when 30 unions have members taking action together we are sending a crystal-clear message to the government.

"That we are strong, that we are united, and that our campaign will go on until we secure justice and fairness for every public servant."

PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "The government is carrying out a massive raid on pensions which is a reflection of its unrelenting mismanagement of the economy.

"Suffering and misery are a price the government wants us to pay - this is an all-out attack on public services."

This article was originally published in the Morning Star newspaper. Pictured above is the newspaper's current front page.

UN summit talks global warming

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:30:00 +0000

In its yearly briefing to the UN climate summit, the World Meteorological Organization said that 2011 is, so far, the world's tenth warmest year on record, despite the warming being masked by cooling La Nina conditions, reported BBC News.

The La Nina event - which was the strongest of the past 60 years - was linked with many of this year's troubling climate events, such as the drought in east Africa, the central Pacific, and the southern U.S., and flooding in southern Africa, eastern Australia, and southern Asia.

At the summit, which took place in Durban, South Africa, delegates discussed key issues. For one, global warming is getting a cold reception from Canada, which may formally renounce the Kyoto Protocol. This protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is aimed at fighting global warming, and is part of an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving greenhouse gas stability.

Canada is worried its economic development may be stunted if the country takes stronger measures against greenhouse gas emissions than the U.S.

Russia and Japan are also unwilling to make further emission cuts under the protocol, though it is not yet known if they will formally withdraw alongside Canada.

Developing countries are strongly pushing for rich nations to pledge further emission cuts under the protocol. As noted in a report by the International Energy Agency, the need to keep the rise of global average temperature below 2C requires that emissions peak and fall at around 2020, which U.S. deputy climate negotiator John Pershing doubts will happen. He feels so because he does not think governments will change their existing pledges on emissions before that year.

"The idea that countries would change their current pledges that they listed in the Cancun agreements [from the previous year's summit held in Mexico] seems unlikely to me," said Pershing. "I don't see the major economies shifting those actions."

Countries worldwide are split on the issue of curbing these emissions and pursuing economic competitiveness. Many countries insist that curbs are vital in defending against climate impacts, including rising sea levels.

The WMO mentioned that the 13 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1997, and that, this summer, Arctic sea ice melted to the smallest volume ever recorded.

"Our science is solid," said WMO secretary-general Michael Jarraud. "It proves unequivocally that the world is warming and that this warming is due to human activities.

"Concentrations of greenhouse gases are very rapidly approaching levels consistent with a 2.0-2.4C rise in average global temperatures, which scientists believe could trigger far-reaching and irreversible changes in our Earth, biosphere, and oceans."

Photo: A delegate observes TV screens at a climate conference in Durban, South Africa. Schalk van Zuydam/AP Images

In Britain too, public workers under fire

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:46:00 +0000

Chancellor* George Osborne careened ahead with disastrous economic policies Nov. 29 as he launched a vicious new attack on public-sector workers.

He imposed a harsh new clamp on public-sector pay and ordered the destruction of national pay bargaining.

Multimillionaire [Conservative MP] Mr. Osborne told millions of public-sector workers who are currently suffering a two-year pay freeze that their pay would be capped at a measly 1 percent for a further two years after 2013.

In a dictatorial outburst which enraged the unions, he said that pay review bodies will be asked to consider local pay differentials so that "public-sector pay can be made more responsive to local labor markets."

Civil Service Union Prospect protested that its members are now facing an effective pay cut of 15 percent.

"Our members are dismayed that on the day before they hit the streets over pensions, the Chancellor is aiming yet another punch at them," said general secretary Paul Noon.

North East Labor MP Grahame Morris warned that pay differentials would hit his struggling area very badly "and squeeze living standards even further."

Delivering his Autumn Statement [treasury report focusing on economic growth and government finances] to Parliament on the eve of the Nov. 30 huge public sector strike, the Chancellor brazenly accused the unions of "damaging our economy."

He launched a new £15 billion wave of public spending cuts, with spending dropping by nearly 1 per cent in 2015-16 and 2016-17. And he announced a saving of £59bn by bringing forward to 2026 the increase in the state pension age to 67.

Mr. Osborne blamed the crisis in the eurozone for adding to Britain's problems, with his stooge Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) slashing its growth forecast to just 0.7 per cent next year.

If the euro area failed to find a solution to its crisis, the OBR expected "a much worse outcome" for Britain, he warned.

Mr. Osborne attempted a few economic conjuring tricks aimed at pumping a little life into Britain's fraying infrastructure.

But basically he rejected urgent demands for a Plan B for the economy - sticking instead to his kamikaze-style Plan A.

In a shameless performance, he promoted a massive sale of council homes [public housing] declaring that the Right to Buy policy was "one of the greatest social policies of all time."

The state pension will rise by £5.30 to £107.45 next April based on September's CPI inflation index. But there will be a big cut in spending on Working Tax Credit [for low income workers].

Mr. Osborne published a "National Infrastructure Plan" which involves cutting £5bn government spending from other programs.

*The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. The Chancellor controls the government's treasury department. In British politics, the position is the most powerful office after the Prime Minister.

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star newspaper, the daily newspaper of the Left in the United Kingdom.

General strike shuts down Portugal

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:02:00 +0000

A general strike called by Portuguese unions against austerity measures imposed by international finance capital practically shut down Portugal last Thursday.

The Nov. 24 strike was called by Portugal's largest union federation, the General Federation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP-IN), which is close to the Portuguese Communist Party. It was supported by the socialist-affiliated General Workers' Union (UGT) and by many other labor and civic organizations. It was especially effective in shutting down the transportation system and government offices, but also extended to basic industry and other areas of the economy.

The strike was in response to continuing efforts by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to intensify the austerity measures that have been imposed on Portugal by the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for further extensions of credit to this beleaguered country.

These measures come on top of privatizations, layoffs and cuts in wages and pensions already imposed by Passos Coelho's predecessor as prime minister Jose Socrates, whose Socialist Party was heavily defeated by the conservatives in the June 2011 elections because of public repudiation of the measures. The new austerity measures have a particular bite now because they include a 50 percent tax on Portuguese workers' customary Christmas bonuses. This comes on top of a dire situation with 12.4 percent unemployment, and a national debt burden of 100 percent of annual gross domestic product.

Portugal is part of a group of countries referred to as the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) which are having serious problems triggered by the world financial and economic crisis. Ireland, Portugal and Greece, with 4, 10 and 11 million inhabitants respectively, are relatively small scale. But Spain, with 41 million, and Italy with 59 million, are large enough economies that the possibility that they default raises fears for the whole European Union and Euro area.

International finance capital, European banks and the governments of the wealthier European countries have been demanding action to reduce deficits as a condition for further help. PIIGS governments have responded by cutting their social welfare systems, laying off millions of workers, slashing wages and pensions, privatizing state enterprises, and gutting labor protections.

The communist left and allies in each country, along with major labor and civic organizations, have reacted to this with mass protests and strikes. There are almost continuous demonstrations in Greece, where the government of former Prime Minister George Papandreou's Pan Hellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) has been replaced, under pressure from international creditors, with a three-party coalition including PASOK, the right-wing New Democratic Party and the ultra-rightist Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party. There also have been ongoing demonstrations in Spain, and mass demonstrations are building in Italy, where right-wing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was, at long last, forced to resign Nov. 12.

Not only right-wing governments, but also social democratic, or "Second International" socialist parties in power in Greece, Portugal and Spain have imposed austerity in spite of the fact that it has alienated their working class (blue and white collar) social bases. This has led to falls from power by the social democrats in all these countries: in Spain and Portugal through electoral defeats; in Greece through agreeing to coalesce with the right and ultra-right.

In contrast, the communist parties have taken a firm stand against the austerity measures, calling rather for taxes on the rich and drastic changes in their countries' participation in the European Union and the Euro currency group rather than have their countries' budgets balanced on the backs of the workers. Yet the electoral strength of the communists and their allies is not yet sufficient to let them fill the political space caused by the social democrats' fall, so the right has advanced electorally in Portugal and Spain. But the right's program is more austerity, which working people will clearly not accept.

And now two important bond rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch, have downgraded Portugal's sovereign debt to BB+ from BBB-, i.e. to junk bond status, which means that in spite of all the suffering, it will be very hard for Portugal to borrow. The austerity strategy can not be seen as a success.

So the success of the Portuguese general strike may be a harbinger of a further leftward mass trend. Jeronimo de Silva, secretary general of the Portuguese Communist Party, feels so, stating, "The struggle ahead will be even more demanding, but the strength and determination that this strike showed brings confidence that it is not only necessary, but possible to materialize a patriotic and left-wing policy that will contribute to save the country from the path of disaster that they [monopoly capital and the right] want to impose on it."

Photo: A Portuguese Communist Party poster calling for a general strike stands at Lisbon's nearly deserted Rossio main square Nov. 24, during a general strike as trade unions protest austerity measures linked to a euro78 billion ($104 billion) international bailout. With no ferries working and few trains running many commuters were unable to get into town that morning. Government offices, medical services, school classes, mail deliveries and trash collection were all affected. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

In a first, U.S. allows Cuban envoy to travel to Ohio

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:21:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a small sign that U.S. relations with Cuba may be improving, Ambassador Jorge Bolaños Suarez, head of the Cuban Interest Section in the United States, traveled to Ohio last week. It was first time in 10 years that the United States has permitted Cuba's highest ranking diplomat to travel away from the Washington D.C. area, where the Interest Section is based. Bolaños spoke on Thursday to a small audience at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center, in a talk that revisited key points of common history shared by the U.S. and Cuba, described some of Cuba's outstanding achievements, and contemplated the long-term future of relations between Cuba and the United States.

Bolaños reminded the audience of the close relationship that the U.S. and Cuba have shared over two centuries, beginning in the American Revolutionary War when a Cuban military hero fought in George Washington's army and ultimately died in Washington's home. U.S. participation in Cuba's wars of independence from Spain ultimately led to a diminution of Cuba's national sovereignty, until the victory of the revolution in January 1959 restored the nation's self-determination.

Cuba is an internationally respected nation with outstanding achievements to its credit, Bolaños said. He cited its 35,000 professionals - doctors and teachers - who are at work abroad in poorer countries where help is desperately needed. Cuba has achieved accolades for its high ranking among Latin American countries in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The international community overwhelmingly supports Cuba, as evidenced in consistent calls in the United Nations for the end of the US embargo against Cuba. Bolaños recalled that Cuba was the first foreign destination for Nelson Mandela when he was finally elected president of a free South Africa. Ambassador Bolaños was at the UN when Mandela spoke there and recognized Cuba as the leader in the international fight against apartheid.

Bolaños' discussion of U.S./Cuba relations centered on the embargo, which has both economic and moral costs to both Cuba and the United States. Bolaños reminded his audience that the original purpose behind the U.S. embargo against Cuba was to cause suffering amongst ordinary Cubans. U.S. officials hoped and expected that when Cubans were hungry and desperate, they would rebel against their government. That of course never happened, and more than 50 years later, the policy is still preventing Americans from buying Cuban products and from visiting Cuba for themselves.
Cuba is linked closely by geography, culture and history to the United States, Bolaños noted. Cuba has never been at war with the U.S. and poses no threat to U.S. security, he said, adding that Cubans hope the two countries can live in peace based on mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and self-determination.

Bolaños credited Ohio State University President Gordon Gee for organizing his visit to Ohio. He went on to speak at Youngstown State University on Friday before returning to Washington.

Photo: Jorge Bolaños Suarez. (Anita Waters/PW)

Uprising against authoritarian regime is renewed in Egypt's streets

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

On February 11 this year, a massive nonviolent uprising involving all sectors of the population succeeded in ousting long-time Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak. However, since Mubarak's departure, Egyptians have been frustrated in their desire for a democratic transformation, and the armed forces, one of Mubarak's main support bases, has maintained its control of the country. But over the past weekend, more mass demonstrations, involving hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country, have brought the country to the point where the army might be forced out as well.

The context of the new mobilizations includes the poor performance of the Egyptian economy, as well as rough treatment meted out by security forces against demonstrators.

According to a report by Reuters reporter Una Galani, the country's budget deficit nears 10 percent of gross domestic profit, and foreign reserves are sharply depleted, while tourism and direct foreign investment have declined.

The wave of rebellions which, starting in Tunisia in January, have swept through the Arab world have been rooted in economic woes as well as dissatisfaction with the lack of democratic institutions, and Egypt is no exception. Jobs are scarce and, if Egypt is goes hat in hand to international lending institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund it is likely that the social safety net will take a hit, as cuts in social benefits will be the price extorted for any extension of credit.

The demonstrations that started up four days ago began in Tahrir Square in Cairo, but have spread to Alexandria, Port Said and other cities and towns. The numbers appear to be as great as in the protests that toppled Mubarak in February, and the police crackdown is just as vicious, with at least 33 protesters killed so far. The deaths have resulted from gunfire, rubber bullets, and tear gas.

Protesters, representing a large number of organizations and societal sectors, are demanding first of all the resignation of the de-facto military ruler of Egypt, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, and of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has been ruling the country since Mubarak resigned.

Legislative elections are scheduled for Monday, November 28, and a presidential election by November 2012, but protesters fear that if these elections are carried out by a military government, they won't be honest. Rather, they want the government to be handed over immediately to a civilian National Salvation Council.

The military is digging in its heels. However, on Monday the interim cabinet headed by Prime Minister Sharaf did resign (the idea being to set up an "un-political" technocratic government), and Field Marshall Tantawi did offer the protesters the possibility of a referendum to decide whether the military should cede power, but this offer was indignantly rejected.

Besides an end to military rule, demands shared by all protesting groups are

*An end to trials of civilians in military courts.

*Holding the presidential elections in April 2012, not November.

*Investigation and punishment for state security agents accused of killing protesters, and a complete overhaul of the state security system.

Various meetings have been taking place among opposition parties, including some Islamist parties and liberal democrats. The powerful Muslim Brotherhood, however, has held back from participating in the protests at this stage, fueling fears that it might eventually make common cause with the military government.

On Tuesday, an agreement was announced between the military government and the Muslim Brotherhood, along with some smaller parties and organizations. According to this plan, the presidential election would take place toward the end of June, but the military would remain in control until then. This agreement was immediately rejected by the street movement, as an opportunistic ploy designed to allow the military and the brotherhood to exercise undue influence on the writing of a new constitution. This agreement was also contemptuously rejected by the thousands massed in Tahrir Square.

On the left, 13 political parties, including the Egyptian Communist Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Revolutionary Socialists and the Free Egyptians Party met on Monday and issued a statement in support of the protests. They added the demand that all protesters detained by the authorities be released immediately, and strongly denounced the repressive measures being employed against protesters.

It is expected that protests will continue this week.

Spain: crushing right-wing victory as economy teeters at brink

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:41:00 +0000

As expected, the Nov. 20 election to the Cortes Generales (the Spanish parliament) was a massive defeat for the ruling Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), as voters punished the incumbents for a brutal economic crisis and for imposing austerity measures demanded by European bankers. However, the Marxist left advanced.

The elections saw a loss of 59 seats in the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's PSOE, resulting from a more than 15.14 percent drop in its popular vote since the last elections in 2008. The right wing People's Party (Partido Popular or PP) gained 32 new seats, resulting from an increase of 4.68 percent of the popular vote.

The United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU), of which the Communist Party of Spain is a major component, also surged, picking up nine seats based on an increase in its popular vote from 970,000 votes in 2008 to 1,600,000 votes in this election. A number of other smaller parties of both left and right, including ones representing the autonomous Basque and Catalan regions, also picked up seats, mostly at the expense of the PSOE. Turnout was 71 percent.

This gives the PP, headed by Galician politician Mariano Rajoy, an absolute majority in the 350-seat lower house, with 186 of the deputies as opposed to 110 for the PSOE, 11 for the IU, and the rest for smaller parties. The only party to lose seats besides the PSOE was the Catalan leftist party, ERC, which lost one seat. In the 208-seat Senate, the upper house of the Cortes Generales, the PP also won an absolute majority.

Rajoy moved quickly to establish a new government to take power on Dec. 20, with himself as Prime Minister (actually called "president" in Spain, in spite of the fact that King Juan Carlos is the head of state).

The defeat of the PSOE was predicted by public opinion polls and political commentators of all stripes. Like social democratic governments in Portugal and Greece, Rodriguez Zapatero's government in Spain has found itself facing a massive economic crisis and has been implementing austerity measures which the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (collectively called the "troika") have been demanding.

Social democrats in Portugal were already punished in the June 2011 elections for following similar policies, when they lost heavily to the right. It is clear that if an election were held in Greece today, the same thing would happen. But reports from Italy are that the center-left would defeat the incumbent right in an election today, which suggests that voters across the economically beleaguered "PIIGS" group of European countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) are punishing incumbents rather than shifting ideologically to the right.

Both social democratic and conservative parties in power have given in to the "troika's" pressures for austerity in exchange for bailouts of their critically endangered economies, while in each country the communist party or parties has resisted the austerity policies, and have advanced or held their own in elections. But the increased support for communist candidates has not been enough to prevent right wing parties from taking advantage of the anger with the incumbents.

Rajoy's electoral strategy was based on letting the PSOE government take the blame for the poor condition of the economy (including 20 percent unemployment and very high deficits) and for the austerity measures, which had led to a widespread protest movement by the "indignados" (indignant ones) similar to, and related to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States, while being vague about what he would actually do in power. But Rajoy is likely to implement policies even further to the right and even more painful to the Spanish working class than did Rodriguez Zapatero. Rajoy is close to conservative Catholic Church sectors and is likely to put the brakes on liberalization of social policy initiated under Rodriguez Zapatero. Abortion rights and the rights of gays and lesbians will be endangered.

In foreign policy, Rajoy has clearly stated that he will repudiate the policies of Rodriguez Zapatero's government, which had improved relations with left wing governments in Latin America, especially those of Cuba and Venezuela, and return to the hostile attitude of Rodriguez Zapatero's predecessor, the PP's Felipe Aznar.

Meanwhile, German chancellor Angela Merkel called for the new Spanish government to move decisively to implement even harsher privatization and austerity measures demanded by the troika. Rajoy will do this willingly, with the probability that protests by labor and the general population will increase in the coming period.

Sandinista landslide in Nicaragua elections

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:29:00 +0000

Nicaraguans lined up last weekend to cast their ballot in the nation's first presidential election since the Supreme Court abolished term limits in 2009. The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which in 1979 led a revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship, won a landslide victory in the largest nation in Central America.

The Supreme Electoral Council reported that 62.66 percent of the nearly 2.5 million voters who turned out in Sunday's election voted for Daniel Ortega, followed by the center-right candidate Fabio Gadea at 31.13 percent. FSLN deputies also consolidated their majority in the National Assembly with 60.76 percent of the votes, and the Central American Parliament with 60.86 percent.

This year's election marks Ortega's second consecutive win, and third term as president of one of the least developed countries in the Western Hemisphere. Much of FSLN's support stems from the large working class, which has benefitted from Ortega's economic policies. Since returning to power after 16 years in the opposition, the Sandinistas have enacted laws expanding access to health care, housing and education, lifting many out of poverty.

President Ortega's victory was the latest chapter in the region's debate over the appropriateness of term-limits in a democracy. Critics say the Supreme Court's decision to strike down term-limits was unconstitutional and could pave the way for the former Cold War revolutionary to become "president for life." Ortega's close ally Hugo Chavez will also run for a third consecutive term next year after a constitutional referendum which made it possible was approved by the electorate in 2009.

The Sandinistas' close ties with Hugo Chavez have been strengthened by the country's membership in the left-leaning regional trade bloc, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). Assistance from Venezuela in the form of loans and subsidies has helped boost Nicaragua's economy, which, in 2010, grew by 4.5 percent. Cuba, which is also a member of ALBA, frequently sends doctors to treat poor patients in Nicaragua.

Criticism of the electoral process has mostly come from opposition leaders and Western observers. Fabio Gadea, the radio personality who came in second place, has called the election fraudulent. Deputy Foreign Minister Orlando Gomez pointed to the Organization of American States (OAS), which has accepted the results of the election as legitimate. It attributed any irregularities to flaws in the electoral system that were in place before Ortega was elected in 2006.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Central America Julissa Reynoso said, at Tuesday's assembly of the Organization of American States, that the U.S. State Department is deeply concerned over Nicaragua's electoral process. He cited "procedural irregularities" and problems voters faced in obtaining voter identification, even as state lawmakers in the U.S. use similar tactics to attack voting rights.

Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and sympathizer with the right wing Cuban-American lobby, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that she is "gravely concerned" over the elections in Nicaragua. In the letter, she urged the State Department to "condemn the recent actions by Daniel Ortega to manipulate the democratic institutions of Nicaragua to serve his own authoritative aspirations."

Photo: Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, left, greet supporters after delivering an address to the nation in Revolution Square in Managua, Nicaragua, Nov. 8. (Esteban Felix/AP)

Colombia’s students defend public education, join worldwide movement

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:21:00 +0000

Colombian students, on strike since October 12, took to the streets nationwide on November 10. They've been protesting a government proposal aimed, they say, at privatizing public higher education. Their leadership group, the Broad National Council of Students (MANE by its Spanish initials) calls for "an alternative education democratic, free, and in the service of the great majority."

The students oppose proposed "reforms" of Law 30 which President Juan Manuel Santos' government announced in April. That "Law of Higher Education" has been in effect since 1992. The government is calling for private funding of public higher education, specifically that industries and banks subsidize tuition, salaries, and research programs. Government funding for public universities has lagged far behind mounting costs. Yet funding levels for Colombia's strong private educational sector have been maintained successfully.

The student strike closed down 32 public universities to some 500,000 students. Demonstrations have been ongoing for a month. Then on November 10 hundreds of thousands of students, joined by teachers, parents, indigenous people, and unionists, marched throughout Colombia, with an estimated 80,000 mobilized in Bogota alone. A nationwide outpouring of protesters had occurred on October 26. Speakers at rallies have evoked the memory of student Yang Cheng Lugo, killed by a bomb thrown at an early rally in Cali.

For social movement leader Diana Sánchez, the recent Bogota march, the largest in decades, was a "novel, creative movement never seen before," she said, adding "it brings new life to the scenario of Colombian social struggles. It deconstructs the traditional logic of violent mobilizations."

Reports highlighted extravagant body painting, music verging on the exotic, and resort to "Besaton" - wholesale kissing of police shields. Four hours were required for marchers to pass through Bogota's Plaza Bolivar.

MANE issued a statement before the November 10 protest that "reiterates commitment to the political and social demands of the Colombian people in defense of their rights, and as such, we identify with rightful struggles for land and health care as a right, for decent working conditions, for sovereignty and against the [U.S.] free trade treaty." Student leaders asserted also that "defending education as a right is the business of all Colombians."

Ahead of the marching, President Santos relented to the extent of withdrawing his proposed reforms pending discussions later on with students and university officials. Students were urged to return to classes, although Interior Minister German Vargas warned them of eventual approval of the reforms if demonstrations continued.

At meetings November 12 to 13, the MANE group decided on not ending the strike until the national Congress, where the proposals were under consideration, gave up on them, as did the president. The students demanded that troops leave the campuses and students be allowed to finish the present semester, and that detained students be released. They called for collaborative decision making to shape future educational changes. Meetings between students and Ministry of Education officials began on November 15. The Senate broke off consideration of reforms the next day, fulfilling conditions for the strike to end.

Colombian student leaders have communicated with the British student movement whose protests against educational cuts convulsed British cities almost a year ago. They are taking a lead from beleaguered Spanish youth, who, having demonstrated off and on for six months, set November 17 for major protests in Madrid. In Latin America, Puerto Rican and Chilean students have set the tone with hundreds of thousands of Chilean students rallying over six months for "free, quality education."

Together Colombian and Chilean students are planning on November 24 as a day of bi-national actions in defense of public education - a "Continental March." The Colombian students are inviting "Colombian society" to join them. Thus major student mobilizations have materialized in the two South American countries most dedicated to privatization of social services and capitalist inspired neo-liberal reforms.

Colombia's well-oiled machinery of repression was evident on November 10. Former Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, the President's cousin, petitioned legal authorities to authorize the use of electrical crowd immobilization tools. The Black Eagles paramilitary group issued a threat against students at Bogota's INCCA public university. In Popayán Municipality, riot police and troops using tanks, armed personnel carriers, rubber bullets, and tear gas dispersed 3000 peacefully protesting students, wounding several.

Guatemala once more under “hard hand” after election runoff?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:45:00 +0000

Guatemalans went to the polls Nov. 6 for a runoff presidential election between a military man who promised to rule with a "hard hand' (mano dura) and a businessman who promised to carry out public executions. With a choice like that, it is perhaps not surprising that turnout was low, about 50 percent.

The Patriotic Party's General Otto Perez Molina, the one with the hard hand, won with 53.7 percent over the execution-happy businessman, Manuel Baldizon of the LIDER Party, who got 46.3 percent.

In a region where the left has considerable strength, how did it come about that the runoff was between two right wingers? Perez Molina is credibly accused of involvement in massive human rights abuses during the long period of U.S.-supported military dictatorships that began with the C.I.A.'s overthrow of left-wing President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954. Baldizon, besides his enthusiasm for public executions, has been accused by his opponents of having ties to drug cartels.

In the first place, the main center-left political alliance, the National Unity of Hope-Grand National Alliance, of incumbent President Alvaro Colom, made a miscalculation. Under the Guatemalan constitution, Colom could not succeed himself, so his party decided to run his wife, Sandra Torres, as their candidate. But the constitution also forbids relatives, including the spouse, of the incumbent president from running. Colom and Torres tried to get around this by having her divorce him, but the courts did not buy this. So the center-left ended up with no candidate at all.

Further to the left, the "Broad Left" alliance consisting of the Winaq, URNG-MAIZ and Alternative New Nation organizations ran Nobel Peace Prize winner and indigenous Maya rights activist Rigoberta Menchu. However, she only got about 3 percent of the vote Sept. 11. Given Menchu's international and national fame and the fact that the organizations backing her candidacy were, in part, derived from the old guerilla movement, which at one time had considerable grassroots support, such a low figure may seem surprising. But although the wars that were set off by the 1954 C.I.A.-led coup were "settled" by negotiation in the 1996s, Guatemala is still the land of impunity, where the rich and powerful rule the impoverished majority by violence and fear. Rural Guatemalans especially are vividly aware that political activism on the left can get you killed.

The major reason for the move to the right, however, is the consternation generated among the Guatemalan people by a massive increase in violent crimes during Mr. Colom's tenure as president. This is a regional phenomenon, seen also in El Salvador and Honduras. Mexican drug cartels have been colonizing whole areas of Guatemala, especially the Peten, which sticks up into the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, and along the border with Mexico, so as to control the routes by which cocaine is transported up through Central America and Mexico and into the United States. Gangs like the infamous "Zetas" eliminate anybody who gets in their way. Very seldom are any of the murderers brought to book. Evidently there was a feeling that Mr. Colom's government was inadequate to the task of dealing with this crime wave.

Perez Molina promises that he will use the same methods of dealing with crime used by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in spite of the fact that in both cases a military approach (supported materially by the United States) has led to much greater violence. Perez Molina is going to increase the size and presence of the military and police. What he will do about Guatemala's struggling economy and endemic poverty is unknown.

The new president is likely to get support for this from his 158 seat unicameral Congress. In the Sept. 11 general election, his Patriotic Party picked up 26 new seats (for 56 total), while Mr. Colom's National Unity of Hope-Grand National Alliance lost 37 (leaving them 48). Rigoberta Menchu's leftist coalition picked up a seat, giving them only three in total. Baldizon's LIDER Party picked up 14 seats to give them a total of 14. Most of the other parties represented in Congress are also right wing.

How hard will the hard hand be? Among the first cabinet appointments announced by Perez Molina was of Colonel Mauricio Lopez Bonilla as Minister of Interior, in charge of internal security. Lopez Bonilla was an advisor to dictator Efrain Rios-Montt, who ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983. Rios-Montt, with the full support of the Reagan Administration, unleashed a genocidal wave of repression against the indigenous Maya population of the highlands, killing around 70,000.

So chances are the "hard hand" will be very hard indeed.

Photo: The president-elect stands next to the current president (at podium), via the Patriot Party's website.

New Honduran political party weighs in against chaos and crime

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:47:00 +0000

Honduras' murder rate, now the world's highest, jumped from 37 per 100,000 in 2004 to 82 last year. With 15 journalist murders over 19 months, Honduras is at the top in that category too. Killings and crime make present day Honduras look like the former U.S. "wild west." Yet the "sheriffs" - read police and armed forces - are in cahoots with the bad guys.

Since January 2010, thugs serving Miguel Facussé have killed 50 small farmers in Lower Aguan. Honduras' richest mogul helped inaugurate the military plot that deposed President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. Facusse is emblematic as an entrepreneur seizing land to create a bio-fuel empire. Private paramilitaries, the police, and soldiers collaborate as enforcers against small farmers fighting to keep land they acquired through agrarian reform.

The police murder on October 22 of two university students in Tegucigalpa was different. Impunity was not automatic, because one of the victims was the son of Julieta Castellanos, rector (president) of Honduras' National Autonomous University. Although eight police were detained as suspects, four went missing after they didn't return to jail from an authorized leave.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo dismissed police officials and retained Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla whose predecessor Lobo had fired two months earlier for trying to remove corrupt police officers. The National Congress supposedly is considering legislation allowing for "rapid and effective" cleaning out of the police force.

Honduran security forces have friends in high places. U.S funding for the Honduras' police and military skyrocketed over the past year, with $40 million having been added to last year's $10 million grant directed at drug trafficking. The United States recently allocated $45 million for military construction at three new military bases and at its Palmerola Air Force Base, which hosts drones and 550 U.S. troops.

Honduran expectations were evident recently as military head René Osorio told reporters of his "great satisfaction at the announcement of these troops operating in our country." The general had misinterpreted an expression of dismay from U.S. presidential candidate Michele Bachmann that the United States would soon have more troops in Honduras than in Iraq. He'd assumed U.S. soldiers in Iraq would be heading for Honduras.

The U.S. government provides financial backing for a Honduran brigade of 1,000 troops presently beating up on small farmers in Lower Aguan. According to reporter Dana Frank, U. S. Rangers train some of them and also paramilitaries serving Miguel Facusse.

The U.S. role in Lower Aguan came under a cloud due to Wikileaks revelations that Facusse is involved with drug trafficking and meets with U.S. Embassy officials.

AP writer Mark Stevenson indicates, "Almost half of the cocaine that reaches the United States is now offloaded somewhere along [Honduras'] coast and heavily forested interior." He quotes a U.S. official who claims, "Honduras is the number one offload point for traffickers to take cocaine through Mexico to the U.S."

Officials cite the robbery recently of 300 high caliber rifles and ammunition from a police storehouse as an example of widespread drug trade participation. A helicopter landing pad built next to the house of a small-city mayor sends a similar message. .

Nevertheless, massive popular mobilization is developing to confront these murders and other crimes under state auspices. "The police and the army are one and the same," and both must go, says the left leaning El Liberador website. According to an editorial, "Policies of division, infiltration and electoral fraud" are protected through "low intensity warfare...behind which are U.S. and Colombian occupation troops, mercenaries, and thugs." Disarray suits the "geopolitical interests of the United States and well off officials."

On November 3, the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP) held a press conference at which sub-coordinator Juan Barahona explained that repression, always a constant, had worsened since the 2009 coup. He noted that "crimes, impunity, and political repression" are aimed primarily at the poor and that 62 young people have been murdered over four months. A new police force is essential, he stated.

On October 30, Manuel Zelaya, the deposed Honduran president and now FNRP coordinator, led a front delegation to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. There, he gave notice of FNRP formation of a political party called the Liberty and Refoundation Party (Free). The Tribunal took delivery of supporting documents and 81,000 signatures. Included was a Declaration of Principals appearing under the slogan, "Revolution is inevitable."

In a speech to thousands of adherents nearby, FNRP leader Carlos Reyes observed that, "Unfortunately we come in under the hegemonic power of the United States and they have us trapped inside a fence. They use us as a drug war frontier," he stated, "and it's the United States that has to run things inside its frontiers."

Build solidarity among 99 percent to change economic system

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:50:00 +0000

The protest against poverty and disparity that started in Wall Street in New York has spread to many other cities in the United States as well as abroad.

Demands raised by the Wall Street protesters touch on various issues, including unemployment, expensive tuition and housing, peace, and environment. What they share is the following call: the 99 percent of the population can no longer accept the corruption and greed of the 1 percent.

In Japan, the wealthy are treated even more preferentially than those in the U.S. The tax rate on capital gains through stock dealings and dividends is extraordinary low in Japan. The effective tax rate on 100 million yen of capital gain is only 10% in Japan while it is 26.4 percent in the U.S.

The "super-rich" (excluding overnight billionaires) comprise 0.02% of the Japanese population, and their total financial assets amount to about 50 trillion yen, almost the same as the total in national tax revenues. The profits that they create through margin trading based on their assets are levied on only 10 percent of total profit. Meanwhile, the tax rate on interest earnings from savings accounts is 20 percent.

The internal reserves amassed by major corporations with more than 1 billion yen in capital (in April-June quarter 2011) is at a record 257 trillion yen, 2 trillion yen more than the record achieved before the 2008 global financial crisis. They comprise only 0.32 percent of all business firms in Japan. The annual salary of the chairs of Sony and Nissan is, respectively, over 900 million yen and 800 million yen.

On the other hand, during the same period, the total amount in Japanese employees' salaries dropped by 10 trillion yen from 264 trillion. By increasingly using temporary workers as their disposable labor force and by cutting unit prices paid to subcontractors, major corporations are controlling all the wealth.

Japan also needs to build solidarity among the 99 percent of the general public in order to change the current economic system that is most heavily benefitting the top 1 percent.

This article was originally published in Akahata, the newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party.

Ugandan opposition warns of assassination plot after leader's arrest

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:39:00 +0000

Uganda's largest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), claimed last Thursday that a plot to assassinate leader Kizza Besigye was under way, only a few days after Besigy was arrested and detained while leading a "walk to wor"' protest. FDC Vice-President Salaamu Musumba said at a press conference that the party had "reliable information about plans to let Dr. Besigye walk to work and assassinate him in the process," reported Uganda's WBS television. Musumba cited an incident last week where suspicious men approached Besigye's home as well as an attempt on his life in the south central town of Maska in August.

Besigye, a physician, former military officer, and a candidate in the country's last three presidential elections, was arrested and briefly detained last Monday during a demonstration against surging prices and government corruption. Aiming to walk nearly 10 miles to Kampala with about 20 supporters, the 55-year-old was seized shortly after passing through the gate outside his home, a party official told Agence-France Presse.

A critic of long-ruling incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, Besigye has been arrested several times this year after leading or participating in the "walk to work" demonstrations, named to highlight in particular frustrations over the rising cost of fuel affecting motorists and commuters. Originating from a campaign by the Ugandan group Activists for Change (A4C) as a show of solidarity by the country's middle class, the walk actions have sometimes occurred alongside other protests that have turned violent - nearly 500 people were injured and 11 killed in demonstrations during April and May. Police used teargas late last month on protesters in downtown Kampala, but demonstrations matching the strength and consistency of Arab Spring movements have not yet materialized.

During Thursday's press conference, Musumba said that the plans have been organized and sanctioned by the country's Inspector General of Police Major-General Kale Kayihura and other military and security officials. She warned that they would be held responsible in the event that harm should befall Besigye or other FDC members, but also emphasized that the walk to work actions have been successful in "[exposing] how low the NRM government can sink to remain in power", reported the Kampala Dispatch magazine.

FDC officials also said that they were unable to secure a meeting with Kampala's police department, while police and government sources have rejected the allegations as baseless, pointing to Besigye's declining political performance and suggesting that the FDC is motivated by attempts to gain influence or taint Major-General Kayihura's image in the face of an upcoming vetting process. Besigye saw his vote share in the election earlier this year decline from numbers in the 2006 race against Museveni, his former patient and military colleague, but claimed that the president exercises complete control over the electoral commission itself, in a June appearance on Voice of America's Straight Talk Africa.

This year's election results, in which Museveni's National Resistence Movement (NRM) secured strong control of the legislature, were rejected by the opposition amidst claims of intimidation. European Union observers noted improvements from the 2006 poll but lamented administrative problems, while African Union teams emphasized an urgent need to pass new laws before the next election. Commonwealth observers ultimately concluded that the elections "did not fully meet national, regional and international standards for democratic elections", while East African intergovernmental groups expressed that they met "minimum international benchmarks for free elections."

Amnesty International released a report last Tuesday focusing on the decline of press freedom and the right to peaceful assembly, evidenced in part by the crackdown during the April and May protests. A background briefing by Human Rights Watch on the 2006 election has also raised concerns about violence by the opposition - the men who approached Besigye's home recently claiming to be FDC members were beaten and injured by his supporters - though a strong majority of reports of violent incidents were leveled against state and NRM forces.

Besigye said on Friday that he was unsurprised by the reports and said he did not plan to stop protest participation, but urged police to investigate the allegations. When asked why he was not willing to seek police participation, he described such a move as being "like entrusting a goat to the custodianship of a hyena."

While coverage so far has not raised the issue of foul play, a prominent FDC politician was seriously injured over the weekend. Beatrice Anywar, the party's energy critic who gained attention for her anti-deforestation activism, was involved in a car collision Friday morning but is reported to be in stable condition.

The FDC obtained 34 seats in this year's election, equal to that of all five other opposition parties combined, though still far less than the ruling National Resistance Movement. A bloc of independents and 10 representatives of Uganda's armed forces also sit in the legislature.

In Libya, Al Qaeda banner flies over Benghazi: false flags or true colors?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:50:00 +0000

Al Qaeda's black flag was recently spotted flying atop the Libyan city of Benghazi's courthouse, according to news reports and video footage posted on the Internet.

Libya's governing National Transitional Council said they had no knowledge of who hoisted Osama Bin Laden's standard, although it was seen flying next to the Libyan government's new banner. The Benghazi-led rebellion abandoned the former Gaddafi government's flag in favor of the colors flown by Libya's former king.

News of the terrorist pennant adorning the courthouse building, said to be the symbolic site of the anti-Gaddafi uprising, was first reported by New York-based news and cultural website Vice.com.

While the Libyan rebellion, which grew out of the Arab Spring, is composed of diverse Islamic, secular and ethnic tendencies, Al Qaeda operatives were - and are - in the mix.

Notwithstanding the all-too-easy dismissal of Muammar Gaddafi's early warnings to President Obama regarding their presence in the rebellion, U.S. political and financial circles were already aware of it.

"None of this should be surprising. In Tripoli, Abdelhakim Belhaj, a well-known al Qaeda fighter and founder of the notorious Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is now leading the rebel military counsel in Tripoli. A few weeks ago, Belhaj ordered his fighters to take command of the Tripoli airport, then controlled by a group of Zintan fighters, a brigade of Berber Libyans who helped liberate the capital from Gaddafi loyalists," Vice.com reports.

Apparently Belhaj had the support of the new civilian authority.

"A few days later, Belhaj gave a speech emphasizing that his actions had the blessings of Libya's National Transitional Counsel, who appointed him to the leadership of Tripoli's military command," the website says.

Belhaj was also a former prisoner, once held at the infamous Guantanamo Bay military prison.

A recent Wall Street Journal article details the infighting between various factions jockeying to fill the power vacuum, and identifies Belhaj as "a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and veteran anti-Gaddafi fighter."

The WSJ says efforts to find a new secular defense minister has led to power blocks scrambling to curb "Islamist militias that emerged mainly in Libya's eastern region during the early days of the revolt and that now identify" with commander Belhaj.

Ominously, a top contender to head a new defense ministry is one Khalifa Heftar. Heftar is a "controversial ex-Libyan military officer who spent more than 20 years in exile in the U.S. and is said to be close to the U.S. intelligence and military agencies, according to three officials familiar with the discussions," the WSJ reports.

Reacting to the Al Qaeda's flag incident, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio called for an end to U.S. military involvement in Libya and other places.

Kucinich asked, "What is going on in America? On the one hand, we have soldiers dying in Afghanistan fighting Al Qaeda, and on the other hand we just helped a group of people take over Libya and the Al Qaeda flag is flying over their capital city."

The congressman concludes, "It's time for America to get its priorities and its story straight."

Of further concern are the hundreds of competing militias now patrolling the country's streets with little or no central control. And, warned United Nations envoy Ian Martin, huge stashes of weapons have gone missing from Libyan weapon depots.

African diplomats involved in efforts to negotiate a cease-fire during the Libyan civil war fear that these weapons are now the hands of terrorists. "Libya and north Africa will make Iraq look like child's play," one diplomat declared.

Needless to say, should right-wing Islamist tendencies with ties to Al Qaeda gain ascendancy Libyan democratic hopes will be dashed. NATO involvement, in an attempt to gain Western dominance of the Libyan oil fields, could lead to another despotic government.

Photo: The Al Qaeda-linked flag was said to be flying over the Benghazi courthouse building alongside the Libyan national flag. (Youtube)

Greece - and the world - at the crossroads

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:45:00 +0000

Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece stunned the world with his announcement of a national referendum on the new austerity measures demanded by European Union rich nations in exchange for additional loans to the debt-ridden and depressed Greek economy. The referendum has now been shot down by opponents in the Greek parliament afraid of even temporary postponement of the latest "deal".

EU leaders and banks - motivated by stark fear at the thought that ordinary Greek people may get to vote on the proposed draconian cuts to their standard of living - are screaming "foul!" and indeed have much cause for alarm. So far, their affection for austerity has meant massive cuts in pensions and wages, education, health and services, and jobs. But NONE of the magic growth that the "market confidence fairy" (who hates public investments) is supposed to fix has transpired. Neither have corruption and bribery receded with austerity. Austerity is making all the economies worse, not better: Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Estonia, and others. Even the UK. Even the U.S.

In fact, the exact opposite policy is the right one. And it is the one that will eventually have to be deployed after all the dangerous fictions in Republican and conservative talking points have played out, perhaps after many existing institutions are in ruins. But it must - and thus ultimately will - be done.

Public investment - especially in the abilities and talents of the people - must be aggressively increased.
There must be more not less democratic influence over national and international industrial policy.
Progressive taxation on excessive inequality of the top 1% must be increased to help shoulder the burden of these public investments.
And, government must be an employer of last resort in high unemployment times.

The banking industry is shocked at this misery of new moral isolation: Oh! the "elegance" of market failures "working themselves out"!! (with taxpayer assistance as millions fall into ruin and poverty). But their shock and arrogance clarifies for working people their rights - and duty - to bring their political power to bear on the entire austerity regime. Bank-driven austerity politics - where the 1% increase their wealth at public expense and protection while the 99% are getting poorer - is not compatible with democracy.

Long ago Greeks helped found the ideals of democracy. In a profound sense, they are now opening a new door on the future of democracy in this new, globalized world.

A vast contest is unfolding across the world with national characteristics in each country. The Greek struggles will be the pivot. A class and political restructuring of great magnitude, of both global and national institutions, is well under way. It is responding to imperatives of a global re-division of labor driven by the wide deployment of advanced technologies, economies of scale, new markets in emerging economies, and the vast infrastructures required to support 21st century commerce.

None of us will escape the challenge now before the Greek people. We too must directly confront and turn back the banker austerity agenda. Much of the future we see through a glass darkly. And like in Greece, the landscape here is already strewn with the failures of austerity policies and there are more failures coming.

If the Greek people by protest or vote defeat the "deal," Greek default on its debt will follow. So will the collapse of Greek banks, requiring their likely nationalization and the return to the drachma currency. The currency switch will mean a 50% pay cut - maybe even more in the immediate short-term panic. The global reverberations will be large. But, on the other hand, Greek exports might grow when its currency is devalued - if any financing could be obtained after a default and exit from the Eurozone. Voting no is a risky path, and no picnic. There is no escape from globalization. With defeat of the deal, Greece will likely have to exit the Eurozone barring the onset of a EU-wide upheaval that takes a progressive direction toward greater EU-wide governance, working class empowerment and social democracy. No one knows how far-reaching the consequences of even calling the referendum, never mind its result, will be. The blindness of the banker regime to the huge threat against the EU project inherent in their austerity agenda -- noted by Nobel prize winning economists the world over -- seems obvious. But not to them!

Saying "yes," however, while averting the shock of immediate default, will lead to another 30 percent austerity program with both pay cuts AND no growth to boot! And a loss of sovereignty too! There is no light at the end of that tunnel. And without growth, default, on an even bigger debt, is inevitable.

No one should be surprised if the Greek people say no to the new EU austerity regime, regardless of the consequences of "going it alone". There is austerity down either path, and fearsome storms too. But in either outcome, the working class of Greece has the best chance to make its voice known and demonstrate that ITS voice, especially when harmonized, delivers the most powerful and wisest song!

Photo: Dan Cross // CC 2.0

Eurozone chiefs rage at Greek PM, global unions demand Robin Hood tax

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Furious eurozone leaders demanded "an explanation" from Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou over his decision to offer the Greek people a referendum on the EU bailout deal. He is expected to arrive in Cannes, France on Nov. 2, the site of the G-20 meet, reports the UK's Morning Star.

At the same time, union leaders across the globe demanded a Robin Hood tax on financial speculators to help relieve the world economic crisis. (See video below.)

Hours after Papandreou gained his Cabinet's backing for the referendum, officials gathered in the elite resort for the G20 economic summit hinted that France and Germany would put pressure on him to call it off.

The embattled PM claims that a Yes vote would give his government "a clear mandate" to push through the devastating assault on workers' salaries, pensions and the public sector demanded by the EU and IMF as the price for loans to repay its debts to French and German banks, at a 50 percent loss, reports the Associated Press.

In exchange, Greece receives about $140 billion in rescue loans from European nations and the International Monetary Fund.

But Greeks have been outraged by repeated rounds of tax increases and salary and pension cuts imposed as the government struggles to meet the conditions of a first $153 billion bailout the country has been relying on since May 2010, suggesting the people would reject the new deal.

A No vote would raise the prospect of a formal default and the country's withdrawal from the eurozone, says the Morning Star.

While some Greeks support the call for a referendum, others, including members of Papandreou's own party, PASOK, heaped scorn upon it.

"Why call for a referendum when everything has been decided already? So they can shed their responsibilities and create a problem for Greek people? It's not right," said shop owner Dora Sigala, reported Euornews.net.

Pensioner Angelos Paraskevopoulos agreed, saying, "The poll represents the government's failure and this is an attempt to blame it on the people. If this referendum takes place there will be no good outcome. If we vote for the IMF we're condemned and we're also condemned if we return to the drachma."

Several Socialist lawmakers openly rebelled, with one going as far as defecting, which whittled Papandreou's parliamentary majority to just two deputies, leaving the party with 152 seats in the 300-member legislature, reports the Associated Press.

A No vote would rock financial markets and lead to huge losses for speculators, says Morning Star.

Germany warned yesterday that the €130 billion deal cobbled together last week was "non-negotiable."

In general, EU proposals have a track record of being decisively rejected when put to the popular vote so the organization's big guns closed ranks to browbeat Greece into submission.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel complained that Greece had "a responsibility to its European partners" because a "decision in one capital has effects on other countries."

Greek government officials said today that the referendum could be held in December - the same month the government will need the next installment of its bailout loan to avoid bankruptcy.

That is if Papandreou survives a confidence vote called for Nov. 4.

Meanwhile, labor leaders from around the globe are gathering near the G-20 economic summit to represent the needs of the world's workers.

Among their demands is a Robin Hood tax on banks and financial institutions that would exact a nano-percentage of each financial transaction to the tune of 0.5 percent, reports AFL-CIO Now Blog. (Story continues after video.)

Also known as a financial speculations tax, or a financial transactions tax, Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation says, "Banks don't come with an internal switch that says 'Enough! Let's slow down a little.' Or 'Let's just share this wealth around for the benefit of the community now.' We need a new political contract. The G-20 leaders' meeting...is a chance for leaders to set a new direction for their governments and to re-establish a fractured trust with their citizens."

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join union leaders at the Labor Summit in Cannes to call for governments around the world to focus on creating jobs and to raise much-needed revenue from financial speculators via a Robin Hood tax.

For more on the Robin Hood tax, click here.

Photo: Protesters hold a banner which reads in Greek "We are struggling to live" at a protest in central Athens on Nov. 2. (Petros Giannakouris/AP)

Interview with Chilean student leader Camila Vallejo: They'll see that it's worthwhile

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Reporters call her the Chilean La Pasionaria, the name given to Spanish Civil war hero Dolores Ibarruri. For the UK Guardian, she's "Commander Camila" and a "Latin American folk hero." She's president of the Chilean Students' Federation, and a picture of Karl Marx hangs in her office. Camila Vallejo, 23 years old, has been instrumental in propelling Chile's student movement, mobilized now for almost six months. Student demands have ranged from free, quality education to basic constitutional change. Vallejo, a member of the Chilean Communist Youth organization, was interviewed recently by Voz ("Voice, the Truth of the People"), the Colombian Communist Party's weekly newspaper.

-- W.T. Whitney Jr.

In the midst of turbulent struggle unleashed in the streets of Chile, Camila Vallejo runs from meeting to meeting, keeping up with her obligations as a militant of the Chilean Communist Youth, student head, and people's leader. Right in the streets of Santiago, Chile, Voz spoke exclusively with Camila Vallejo who from the perspective of the movement discussed with us the student struggle in Chile. And she confessed to following the Colombian students' struggle and encouraged the students there not to weaken.

What does the student movement represent for Chile today?

This is no movement that comes of spontaneity. It's a movement that's been developing over many years based on historical demands of the Chilean student movement, like state funding of public education and the democratization of institutions, the latter being no more than the government allowing for three way participation - students, educational officials, and outsiders, especially workers. This would be with students involved not only in institutional affairs but also in shaping the educational project and us coming up with proposals on the environment needed for universal access to education - minus devices causing it to waste away. Everything would be subjected to class criteria that also would generate knowledge in the service of the great majority and not just knowledge sold on the market and to companies with particular interests. We fight for a re-ordering under state auspices in which public institutions have to serve the development of the country.

In the streets of Chilean cities one sees student mobilizations, but indebted professionals are also joining these marches, some of them parents with a family. They're out there with their children. What's that kind of popular involvement due to?

What the student movement is now asking are demands that have been worked on for a long time. There is widespread questioning throughout society as to market parameters serving the business of education, the profiteering, and the concept of quality being measured by market objectives. So, many of these demands have been in place from a long time ago. What's happening goes back to past mobilizations that once were asking for the same things. Those mobilizations were obviously frustrated, did not reach their objective, and the Concertacion government - the [left center] alliance of parties coming out of the dictatorship - betrayed the student movement of that time. It's united today in making these demands that were never met.

Other sectors within Chilean society share these frustrations you mention. I refer to the workers, miners, unions, women, and unemployed that have associated themselves with the student demands. Why?

After raising the banners of student struggle, we find ourselves with a whole society that is asking why education wasn't given guarantees. And beyond that, they are questioning the entire system: the democracy we don't have, the absence of real participation, the elections always decided between four walls that always come out the same. Then it becomes necessary to ask where this problem came from. The reply obviously is the military dictatorship. And above all, we have to think about the future, and that future has to be something new because this neoliberal model now makes no sense and that new something has to be built with the Chilean people's own hands.

What's the goal of the Chilean mobilization?

We have a movement that succeeded in raising those issues we are talking about, ones that began to materialize in the demonstrations. It may have happened through the quantity of the people that came out in the streets in historic numbers. Or it may be a qualitative thing, the diversity of the marchers, since one sees now not only students but also, as you mention, families, workers, townspeople, and many organizations of varying complexions. So that indicates that what comes across as problems with different sectors amounts to social problems that have everything to do with the economic system - the political system of unjust distribution of power in economic terms. But politics are also involved. There is the necessity above all else for us to put respect for the rights of human beings at the center, and obviously the rights of the environment. There's where we're going.

Let's return to the student struggle. What's going on?

In the present circumstances, we are disposed to enter into a new dialogue with the Pinera government, but there are several obstacles. Even when we enter into talks with a right-wing government, the impact we have in advancing certain areas of structural reform is reassuring to us. These, we can say, serve as clear steps pointing in a correct direction. Nevertheless if it falls on us again to leave the negotiating table, we will do it.

Negotiations with a government like Pinera's make me think it's not going to be easy. What short-term difficulties do you see in negotiating?

Indeed, the new obstacle is the assault he's carried out against the movement. There's a projected law that penalizes, even criminalizes, the occupation of high schools, grade schools and universities. They implemented state terrorism. Students, for example, that go around hooded are penalized. Those that do it within a school are put on the same level as ones carrying out a criminal act like robbery or emptying out a commercial place. And that's what's worrisome because now the Pinera government is showing its most reactionary face. Here they are telling us that the movement was co-opted by the most radical sectors of the left, and we respond that the government is co-opted by the most radical sectors of the ultra right.

In Colombia we are in the middle of a national student strike, in the struggle against Law 30 and governmental [educational] reform, which is a very similar fight to what you have in Chile. Camila, through "Voz" you could send greetings to the comrade students advancing this struggle for education throughout Colombia. (N. B. Colombian President Santos wants to change Law 30, which governs education, to advance privatization.)

To all the comrade students of Colombia I do want to send very fraternal greetings through Voz. I desire for you all the success in the world. You have a model there quite similar to our own. In terms of the realities of the type of government and its right-wing political orientation, it's quite comparable. Thus I truly do want to express solidarity and wish you every strength in your struggle. And in truth you will go through all the issues and exhaust all your much-needed resources, because, as you will see, it's worthwhile. In the process you will find yourselves facing many difficulties. This struggle carries with it a lot of ingratitude but it's necessary you do it and that young people do it - yet not only young people, but the rest of society too, called in to be with you.

The important thing is that this not be confined to the student setting, but that it transcend all Colombian society, so that everyone understands changes are necessary. Stay strong and every success!

(Translated by W. T. Whitney Jr.)

Photo: Camila Vallejo (Voz)

Union leaders to G20: World must focus recovery on workers, jobs

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:57:00 +0000

CANNES, France - World leaders must pivot and focus the international economy - and its recovery - on getting workers into jobs, union leaders will tell international leaders meeting in Cannes, France.

In the unionists' own "Labor 20" summit, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, National Nurses Union (NNU) Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro and other unionists said getting workers into jobs should drive the recovery, not the other way around. Their summit will be held to present conclusions to the "G-20" summit on Nov. 3-4 of international leaders in the French seaside city.

Excessive emphasis on budget-cutting, deficits and forcing nations to eliminate programs to help stricken people must stop, the union leaders said in their report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). "Appropriate public revenues must be raised to sustain public services," ITUC added.

Whether the international leaders, including Democratic President Barack Obama, will listen and agree is another matter. A deficit-cutting GOP-run Congress is hamstringing Obama. German Chancellor Angela Merkel may well heed the unionists, along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. That leaves others unaccounted for.

"The dismal and faltering recovery, spiraling unemployment figures and record poverty levels in the deregulated U.S. labor market contrast with stronger, job-rich growth in Germany, which harnessed strong employment protection, collectively negotiated flexible working time agreements and short-time working schemes to keep workers in jobs when the crisis hit," ITUC pointed out in its report to the G-20.

"Employment needs to be at the center of recovery action plans, requiring G-20 governments to prioritize raising demand and restoring growth. In addition, development and financial regulation are issues the G-20 needs to prioritize," the "L-20" leaders said, introducing the ITUC report. The union leaders demanded that its recovery proposals "be taken into account in the final G-20 conclusions."

In a statement released before he left for Cannes, Trumka said that, "in the U.S. alone, 25 million workers are unemployed or looking for full time employment." The G-20, he said, must "adopt a plan for jobs and recovery that sustains the recovery and stems the immediate jobs crisis."

That plan should include a small tax on financial speculation, imposed on each financial trade. The tax is one of the recommendations in the ITUC report, and its presence drew DeMoro to Cannes, too. NNU has made enactment of the tax a key part of its nationwide discussion about the economy and its effect on workers.

But Obama might not be listening to that tax plan, which would also curb the unregulated gambling casino the world financial markets became before their collapse caused the ensuing crash and worldwide recession.

"It is long past time for" Treasury Secretary Tim "Geithner and President Obama to get on board with other world leaders in supporting this common-sense approach to raise badly needed revenues to help fund the critical programs we need to revive the U.S. and other global economies," she will tell the L-20 press conference in Cannes.

The financial transactions would mainly target "the big banks and investment firms whose reckless activities caused the current economic crisis," NNU says. It calculates the tax would raise as much as $350 billion annually in the U.S., which could be devoted to job creation, universal health care and quality public education.

"The Obama administration has been an obstacle for the Wall Street tax, and in the face of a growing international demand for other nations, especially in Europe, to adopt their own FTT, Geithner lobbied European finance ministers to oppose the FTT," NNU said. Besides enacting the financial transfer tax, ITUC also recommended:

* "Give a strong message of confidence to working families, not just financial markets, by breaking the vicious circle of jobs insecurity, depressed wages, suppressed consumption and blocked investment. Employment expansion is now necessary for restoring growth, not just growth for restoring employment.

* "Establish differentiated but coordinated jobs targets for the G-20 countries" to "include immediate measures of job-intensive infrastructure programs, 'green jobs' investment and labor market programs to raise skills.

* "Transform the structural policy agenda to strengthen labor market institutions, social partnership, collective bargaining, negotiated and legislated minimum wages, and income support for low-income groups so as to reduce income inequality.

* "Move forward on conclusions of the G-20 labor ministers to establish a social protection floor supported by adequate funding according to levels of development.

* "Implement rapidly the reforms to the financial sector agreed upon at the G-20 London Summit but never effectively enacted, and go beyond this to effectively restructure financial groups that have become too-big-to-fail and establish a financial transaction tax."

UNESCO grants Palestine membership: Bethlehem, Dead Sea could gain world heritage status

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:35:00 +0000

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, granted the Palestinians full membership on Monday. Palestine thereby becomes the body's195th member.

UNESCO protects world historic heritage sites and works to improve world literacy, access to schooling for girls and cultural understanding. One of the first results of Palestine's membership could be that the traditional birthplace of Jesus, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, is listed as a world heritage site for the first time, providing it special protections. The Palestinians have already prepared an application for listing the site, the Associated Press reports.

The Palestinian request for UNESCO membership passed 107-14, with 52 abstentions. It was far more than the 81 votes needed for approval. A huge cheer erupted in UNESCO's General Assembly in Paris after the vote, according to news reports.

In a surprise, France voted yes. The 107 in favor also included Ireland, Austria, Brazil, Russia, China, India, and South Africa . The U.S., Canada, Germany, Israel, Sweden and the Netherlands were among the 14 voting no. Britain, Italy, Japan and New Zealand were among the abstainers.

The membership formally takes effect when Palestine signs UNESCO's founding charter.
It is part of a broader Palestinian move for greater international recognition in hopes of moving closer to statehood through channels other than simply relying on stalled negotiations with Israel's right-wing government.

The Palestinians sought UNESCO membership after formally requesting the UN Security Council to upgrade Palestine to full UN membership in September. That request is now under review by a committee, and the U.S. has said it will veto the move.

The UNESCO vote "is not directed against anyone, but represents support for freedom and justice," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement. "This vote is for the sake of peace and represents international consensus on support for the legitimate Palestinian national rights of our people, the foremost of which is the establishment of its independent state."

U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland called Monday's UNESCO vote "regrettable, premature." The U.S., she said, "will maintain its membership in and commitment to UNESCO," but "Palestinian membership as a state in UNESCO triggers longstanding legislative restrictions which will compel the United States to refrain from making contributions to UNESCO." According to the Associated Press, the U.S. says it will not make a $60 million payment to complete its contributions to the agency for this year and will suspend future funding. The U.S. provides 22 percent of UNESCO's budget - but the agency has survived without it in the past, the AP notes.

Israeli's ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, complained the vote was a Palestinian "unilateral maneuver" and would mean the "politicization" of UNESCO, news media reported. He said, "We regret that the organization of science has opted to adopt a resolution which is a resolution of science fiction."

Yet Palestinian officials said on Monday, they were joining Israel and Jordan in the campaign to add the Dead Sea to a new list of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency reported.

All three countries border the Dead Sea and the participation of all three is required for the application to go forward. The Palestinian Authority included the Dead Sea on the list of world heritage sites it submitted to UNESCO. The bid could "allow for Palestinians to invest in tourism and use of its natural resources in the panoramic and historical site," the Palestinian tourism and antiquities ministry said in a statement.

Photo: Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. lyng883 CC 2.0