Carta abierta de la CUP a Pablo Iglesias (Podemos)

Bienvenido a Barcelona; bienvenido a Catalunya;
bienvenido en los Países Catalanes

2014-12-20 03 CUP Como el resto de pueblos del estado y de todo el sur europeo, hoy los Países Catalanes son víctima de graves injusticias que cristalizan en una mayoría social empobrecida por una oligarquía política y económica que opera al amparo del capitalismo senil. Una oligarquía que es la única beneficiaria del régimen constitucional, autonómico y económico pactado por las élites el final de la dictadura con el objetivo de blindar España. Empobrecimiento generalizado a cambio del enriquecimiento de una minoría. Impunidad para los delitos de corrupción contra el bien común. Y papel de súbditos para una ciudadanía que hasta hace muy poco se creía que gozaba de ciertos derechos democráticos.

"Black Lives Matter": A new civil rights movement is arising in the United States

LA BOTZ Dan

2014-12-20 01 La-Botz-Dan Across America from New York to California, in all of the major cities, there have been militant, disruptive demonstrations involving altogether tens of thousands in protests against the police killing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the failure of grand juries in either Missouri or New York to indict the police officers who killed them. Beginning in Ferguson, Missouri (near St. Louis) in August, the protests have continued throughout the fall, culminating in a massive movement for days in December. On December 13 hundreds of thousands of protestors marched New York City and Washington, D.C. and other cities. We may be at the beginning of something new, big, and important.

OPINIONES SOBRE LOS CAMBIOS QUE SE ESTÁN PRODUCIENDO EN PODEMOS

Javier Cordón (*)

2014-12-18 01 Podemos Podemos ha estado en permanente transformación desde su nacimiento, en enero pasado. Pero los cambios que se vienen sucediendo desde la Asamblea Ciudadana pareciera, al menos esa es mi opinión, que más que un desarrollo están suponiendo un cambio de modelo. ¿Es así? Y en caso afirmativo, ¿ese nuevo modelo ayuda o perjudica en la consecución de los objetivos por los que nació Podemos?

CAMBIAR LAS BASES FUNDACIONALES PARA GANAR LAS ELECCIONES

 En el Círculo de Sanidad de Madrid recientemente hemos tenido un debate ocasionado por la elección de “un grupo de apoyo” que ha hecho una persona perteneciente al Consejo Ciudadano (CC). A muchas nos causó malestar que tal nombramiento se hiciese al margen del círculo y “a dedo”. Pero bien mirado este era el método usado en la elección de esta persona y de las otras 61 que conforman el citado organismo.

La Chine, deuxième puissance mondiale

ROUSSET Pierre

2014-12-14 03 Rousset Pékin a été, mi-novembre, l’hôte du Forum de Coopération économique de l’Asie-Pacifique (APEC). Les événements « off » accompagnant sa tenue ont confirmé que le statut de la Chine comme deuxième puissance mondiale se voyait de plus en plus reconnu.

 Les Etats-Unis s’avèrent toujours – et de loin ! – la première puissance mondiale, mais son leadership est entamé par la crise de la présidence Obama ainsi que par son incapacité à répondre à l’ensemble de ses engagements internationaux. La constitution de l’UE n’a pas permis l’émergence d’un impérialisme européen unifié ; la France, la Grande-Bretagne et l’Allemagne ne pèsent plus que marginalement sur le plan géopolitique global. Le Japon ne s’est pas encore émancipé de la tutelle stratégique US ; politiquement incapable de se projeter militairement au-delà de son environnement immédiat, son poids se joue encore essentiellement sur le terrain économique, alors que son économie stagne.

Why the Portuguese public debt is not payable

by Vitor Lima

2014-12-11 09 Vitor-Lima There has been “not one historical incidence” where austerity policies have led a country to get out from under a heavy debt burden.

Ashoka  Mody,  former  IMF chief for mission to Ireland

 Summary

Conclusions

1 - The debt is an instrument of domination.

2 - A partnership between States and Capitalists

3 - Portugal - Scenarios for a continued debt payment

3.1 - Proactive and radical continuation (Hypothesis I)

3.2 - A proactive amortized continuation (Hypothesis II)

3.3 - A prolonged continuation (Hypothesis III) 4 - An evaluation of the debt installment not to be paid 5 - How to get out of this?

100 years ago today: When Karl Liebknecht said ‘no’ to world war

A historic call gives new impetus to socialist antiwar currents

Presentation

2014-12-09 01 Liebknecht3 During the first four months of the First World War, no statement from German socialists appeared denouncing the war. Government repression and the bonds of Social Democratic Party discipline prevented antiwar voices, such as those of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, from gaining a hearing.

 This changed 100 years ago today—on December 2, 1914. Liebknecht took a bold stand against the slaughter as the first deputy to vote in the German parliament (Reichstag) against allocating funds for war spending. His protest resounded across Europe and gave new hope and energy to socialist antiwar currents.

Balkans for the peoples of the Balkans

by MATIJA MEDENICA, ANDREJA ŽIVKOVIĆ

2014-11-28 01 Medenica-Zivkovic The Balkans struggles under a triple crisis of foreign debt, mass unemployment, and the productive sector. In reality this is a crisis of dependency on European capital. Economic life is completely dependent on importing expensive European capital to cover the yawning trade and budget deficits, representing a vast plunder of national wealth to the European bankers. With the crisis, the foreign bankers who control the financial system of the region stopped lending and the debt pyramid collapsed. Since then Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Romania and Bosnia have been under the receivership of the Troika (IMF, EU, ECB), which has imposed, with the connivance of the official political class, austerity programs so savage as to provoke a humanitarian disaster. A new European war rages. Its aim is to make the Balkans and the rest of peripheral Europe pay for the debts of the Northern European banks.

Debt and the international context in the South and in the North from 2000 to 2014

   by Eric Toussaint

2014-11-25 00 Dette-Devons-rien-payons-rien This article reviews a number of developments that occurred between 2000 and 2014 related to the debt issue, various aspects of the international crisis |1|, international financial institutions, the scope of attacks against social and economic rights, and CADTM priorities.

Several changes have occurred since the end of the 1990s.

1. Several countries in the South have moved away from neoliberal policies

 After over twenty years of neoliberal policies and multiple forms of resistance, towards the end of the 1990s and at the beginning of the new millennium, several Latin American nations disposed of their neoliberal presidents thanks to massive social mobilisations and elected heads of state who implemented policies that meet the people’s interests. The people of those countries wanted to free themselves from measures derived from the ‘Washington consensus,’ as imposed by the IMF and the World Bank (privatisations, cuts in public services, ‘liberalisation’ of trade that deprives small local producers of any protection, enforced commodification, destruction of decent jobs, cancellation of subsidies for food staples and services such as water, electricity, gas, and transport). These policies were implemented on the pretence of repaying their public debts, much of which was illegitimate or illegal, as was the case in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia… |2| Ecuador’s government took a remarkable initiative in 2007-2008 when it carried out a complete audit of its debt with the active participation of representatives from social movements |3|. On the basis of this audit, it then suspended repayment of the part of the external debt identified as illegitimate, and imposed a significant reduction of the debt to its creditors |4|. This made it possible to increase social spending. Unfortunately, this initiative did not snowball as had been hoped, since other countries in the area did not follow suit.

Review of “Insurgency Trap”:

Behind China’s Wildcat Strike Wave

SLAUGHTER Jane

2014-11-19 00 China-Wildcat strikes Review: Insurgency Trap: Labor Politics in Postsocialist China, by Eli Friedman. Cornell University Press/ILR Press, 2014 [1].

 When Honda workers in China went on strike for higher wages, their union sent thugs to convince them to return to work. Eli Friedman’s new book Insurgency Trap shows why the rising wave of protests sometimes wins concrete gains, but stops short of forming lasting organizations that could alter the balance of power.

 China is the world center of wildcat strikes—given that no strike in China is officially allowed under the law. The government doesn’t issue statistics, but one source found 1,171 strikes and worker protests from June 2011 through 2013 [2].

Brussels: huge success of the national demonstration called by the the common trade union front

120,000 demonstrators against Michel 1!

ROUSSET Pierre

2014-11-16 02 Bruxelles -120.000 The national demonstration in Brussels, the beginning of the plan of action of the common trade union against the Michel 1 plans (and the cuts at the regional level) was a huge success. With 120,000 participants, all expectations were broadly met. Contrary to what was feared at one time, the mobilization was a great success in Flanders also: there were thus 20,000 participants from the province of Antwerp, close to 9,000 from Eastern Flanders and so on. The fear created by some that the CSC and the liberal CGSLB union would only mobilize verbally also proved unfounded.

Democratic Union Party Rojava (Syrian-Kurdistan):

A revolution for life – “We have, in essence, developed a democracy without the state”

MUSLIM Saleh, STAAL Jonas

2014-11-16 01 saleh-muslim On Sunday November 10 Saleh Muslim Mohamed, co-president of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) representing the independent communities of Rojava (Syrian-Kurdistan) and its armed wings, the People’s Defense Unit (YPG) and Women’s Defense Unity (YPJ), visited the Netherlands. Muslim spoke about the fight of Rojava against the Islamic State (ISIS) and the development of democratic autonomy during the Rojava revolution. Artist Jonas Staal interviewed him afterwards.

9-N, “Escolta, Espanya”

Jaime Pastor (*)

2014-11-14 01 Jaime-Pastor El acontecimiento vivido en Catalunya este domingo ha sido un ejercicio de participación democrática y de desobediencia masiva, alegre y festiva, frente a un Estado y un gobierno que, como ha escrito Suso de Toro, han hecho el ridículo ante el mundo anunciando, primero, que la consulta no se iba a celebrar y, luego, ante el hecho consumado, que era “antidemocrática, inútil y estéril”. Un ridículo que puede ser mayor si, respondiendo a la presión electoralista de UPyD, se les ocurre recurrir al Código Penal para criminalizar a los promotores.

Réchauffement climatique : le cri d’alarme du GIEC

TANURO Daniel

2014-11-07 01-Daniel Tanuro Le Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (GIEC) vient de rendre public le rapport de synthèse de son 5e rapport d’évaluation et le résumé à l’intention des décideurs [1]. Le diagnostic est sans surprise :

• le réchauffement est en marche, il est dû principalement à la combustion des combustibles fossiles, et les effets négatifs sont nettement plus importants que les effets positifs,

• il est probablement encore possible d’éviter que la température moyenne s’élève de plus de 2°C par rapport à la période pré-industrielle, mais les mesures prises au cours des 20 dernières années nous entraînent tout droit vers un réchauffement de 3,7 à 4,8°C (2,5 à 7,8°C en tenant compte de l’incertitude climatique) qui entraînerait des « risques élevés à très élevés d’impacts sévères, largement répandus et irréversibles ».

9N, la hora de la verdad

Esther Vivas

2014-11-08 01 Vivas Han pasado meses, semanas, días en los que la consulta soberanista ha sido tema central de debate. ¿Habrá consulta o no la habrá? ¿9N sí o no? ¿Legalidad o legitimidad? ¿Unidad de los partidos proconsulta o ruptura? ¿Permiso o prohibición? ¿Aceptación o desobediencia? ¿Nuevo 9N? ¿Consulta o proceso participativo? La ilusión pero también un cierto hartazgo de tanta incertidumbre han marcado las semanas previas al gran día, ese que parecía imposible e inalcanzable pero que finalmente ya está aquí. El 9N ha llegado.

“In general, those who have less eat worse” –

Of the class struggle and the things we eat

 VIVAS Esther

2014-11-05 04 Esther-Vivas Do the rich and poor eat the same? Do our incomes determine our diet? Today, who is overweight? Although often, and from certain quarters, the call for healthy and wholesome food is viewed with disdain, as “a fad” “posh”, “hippy” or “flower power” the reality is rather different than these short-sighted comments imply. To defend ecological, local, peasant food is most “revolutionary”.

 If we look closely we see how today’s agricultural model is determined by the interests of capital, by the interests of large companies (the agroindustrial sector and supermarkets), which seek to profit from something as essential as food. The capitalist system, in its race to transform needs into commodities, rights into privileges, making food, and especially food products of quality, into a luxury. Just as it has made housing only accessible to those who can afford it, and the same fate awaits our health and education systems.

2014-11-01 00 CATALONIAAgainst the banning of the consultation of 9 November:

THE PEOPLE OF CATALONIA HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE AND TO DECIDE THEIR FUTURE

2014-11-01 01 Catalunya -Independence The Catalan people have proven to the world that they are ready to take the reins of their own destiny.
 Since the 2010 ruling by the Spanish State Constitutional Court cutting down the Catalan Statute of Autonomy – after it had been approved by the Catalan and Spanish parliaments and endorsed by a majority vote of the Catalan people in a referendum in 2006 – there have been street demonstrations and a range of other actions in favour of sovereignty have united most people behind the demand for the power to vote for an independent state. The most recent was the march in Barcelona on September 11, Catalonia's national day, attended by 1.8 million people.

Bosnie – « Nous voulons vivre de notre travail et pour cela les ouvriers doivent contrôler la production » : Un euro ouvrier de l'Europe pour cent ouvriers de Tuzla !

 

PAVLOVIC Radoslav, BUSULADJIC Eminka, KARBOWSKA Monika

2014-10-30 07 Bosna-Dita Après la guerre sanglante importée qui a divisé la classe ouvrière bosniaque, le nouveau pouvoir sous protectorat international a promis aux travailleurs le « paradis suédois », mais il les a plongés dans l' « enfer grecque » : il n'y a plus de travail ni pour les vieux, ni pour les jeunes, il n'y a plus d'accès libre et gratuit aux soins médicaux, il n'y a plus d'école laïque et gratuite, il n'y a plus de droit de vote pour ceux à qui l'administration tarde à fournir la nouvelle carte d'identité... Pas plus que de poursuite des criminels de guerre et de soutien aux combattants et victimes de guerre.

De l’indignation au pouvoir (partie 1)

​Espagne:​

​ ​Un contexte propice à l’indignation

 

  par Jérôme Duval

2014-10-27 01 Jerome Duval Alors que l’Espagne vit une crise humanitaire sans précédent, le mouvement social subit une répression constante d’un régime qui a peur du changement et protège ses intérêts. Le bipartisme qui s’alterne au pouvoir depuis la fin de la dictature est fort affaibli par une succession de luttes sociales victorieuses et l’irruption d’initiatives populaires qui mettent en pratique de nouvelles façons de faire de la politique. A n’en pas douter, l’Espagne entre dans une phase de mobilisation qui augure de possibles changements politiques importants.

 « Une situation pré-révolutionnaire éclate, annonçait Lénine, lorsque ceux d’en haut ne peuvent plus, ceux d’en bas ne veulent plus, et ceux du milieu basculent avec ceux d’en bas. »

CADTM prompts Argentina to embrace the Calvo doctrine and to follow the example of Ecuador in setting up an integral debt audit

by CADTM

2014-10-25 01 Deuda-no-pagar The Argentine parliament has just passed legislation for launching a debt audit commission. It will look into the debts contracted by the country since the military junta took over in 1976. The Commission, which is yet to take off, is supposed to submit its report within 180 days. The audit can genuinely serve the interest of the people. Thus, CADTM urges the Argentine government to follow the example of Ecuador which set up a commission in 2007 for an audit of the debt incurred between 1976 and 2006.

That commission included members of the public administration and the government, the Ecuadorian and the Amerindian social movements, and also international representatives like the CADTM. On the basis of the commission's conclusions the Ecuadorian president Correa took two important steps without asking for the creditors' approval.

URGENT CALL FOR ACTION
1 November 2014, Global Rally, against ISIS – for Kobanê – for Humanity!

2014-10-24 01 kobane-solidarity ISIS launched a major multi-front military campaign against the Kurdish region of Kobanê in northern Syria. This is the third ISIS onslaught on Kobanê since March 2014. As the ISIS was unsuccessful on the two previous occasions, they are attacking with larger forces and want to take Kobanê.

In January this year, the Kurds in western Kurdistan (Rojava) established local administrations in the form of three cantons. One of the three cantons formed is Kobanê. The Turkish border is to the north of Kobanê and all the other sides are surrounded by ISIS-controlled territories. The ISIS has approached the Kobanê borders, using US made heavy weapons. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are threatened by the most brutal genocide in modern history. The people of Kobanê are trying to resist using basic weapons against the most brutal attacks of ISIS terrorists, with only the assistance of People's Protection Unit in Western-Kurdistan, the YPG and YPJ, but without any international help.