A multifaceted mobilization:

Strong headwinds are making

France a stormy sea 

by CREMIEUX Léon

“The 49-3 is a brutality. The 49-3 is a denial of democracy.” Despite François Hollande’s opinions on this article of the French constitution in 2006, his government under Manuel Valls (who had himself been among the MPs proposing it be suppressed in 2008) used it to force through the unpopular law proposed by Minister for Labour Myriam El Khomri on May 10. This provoked an immediate reaction from the coordinating committee of workers’ and students unions calling days of national mobilisation and strikes on May 12, May 17, May 19, to continue on May 26 and June 14. [1]This article, originally written just before the government’s decision to use the 49-3, explains the development of the movement against the El Khomri law up to that point. It was updated on 24 May.

NPA: Dans le bras de fer avec

le gouvernement, notre carburant,

c’est la lutte !

Hebdo L’Anticapitaliste - (26/05/2016)

La lutte pour le retrait de la loi travail n’en finit pas de rebondir. C’est déjà un échec pour le gouvernement qui comptait bien, dans la foulée de l’état d’urgence et d’une offensive sécuritaire et autoritaire sans précédent, marquer un point décisif dans la mise à mort du Code du travail...

Il aura tout utilisé, du coup de force institutionnel avec le 49-3 à la répression et aux provocations policières, pour diviser les opposantEs, en passant par les mesures d’exception avec les interdictions individuelles et collectives de manifester... Dès la semaine dernière, il faisait intervenir le Raid contre la Maison du peuple à Rennes et interdisait purement et simplement la manifestation de Nantes de jeudi dernier ! Mais rien n’y fait, la journée du 19 mai en témoigne, la mobilisation demeure. Et maintenant, la seule réponse à la multiplication des blocages des raffineries est l’envoi des forces de « l’ordre » pour dégager les barrages... Avec pour réponse immédiate la généralisation de l’arrêt des raffineries !

Communiqué de Ensemble! Bloquer l'économie et étendre la mobilisation

Cela fait 2 mois que l'intersyndicale, les collectifs Nuit Debout partout en France, les organisations de jeunesse, des associations et des partis politiques sont mobilisés contre la destruction du code du travail.

Malgré les provocations et la brutalité de la répression policière, le recours au 49.3, la mobilisation, loin de faiblir, s'étend.

Après les routiers et les cheminots, et bientôt la RATP, ce sont les ouvriers de toutes les raffineries et du terminal pétrolier du Havre qui sont en grève. Plusieurs dépôts de carburant sont également bloqués.

Quel internationalisme dans le contexte de la crise ukrainienne ?
Les yeux grands ouverts contre les “campismes” borgnes

par SAMARY Catherine

Nul doute que les Etats-Unis se sont saisis de la crise yougoslave pour maintenir et relancer l’OTAN quand elle aurait du être dissoute en 1991 en même temps que le Pacte de Varsovie. On ne peut non plus douter du fait que Washington s’efforçait de propulser une forme de gestion “euro-atlantique” des conflits balkaniques. C’est pourquoi les internationalistes devaient se mobiliser contre les bombardements “humanitaires” de l’OTAN. Mais en même temps, n’était-il pas nécessaire de dénoncer la politique “grand’serbe”, en particulier sur l’enjeu concret du Kosovo, tout en combattant les positions “anti-Serbes” ? Est-ce que la question nationale albanaise était simplement une “création impérialiste” ? Et est-ce que le fait que le “Parti socialiste” de Milosevic avait noué une alliance organique avec les partis et milices nationalistes grand-serbes était un enjeu secondaire ?

Part I of the series “Greece and debt: two centuries of interference from creditors”

Newly Independent Greece had an Odious Debt round her Neck

by ERIC TOUSSAINT

Since 2010, Greece has been the centre of attention. Yet this debt crisis, mainly the work of private banks, is nothing new in the history of independent Greece. The lives of Greeks have been blighted by major debt crises no less than four times since 1826. Each time, the European powers have connived together to force Greece to contract new debts to repay the previous ones. This coalition of powers dictated policies to Greece that served their own interests and those of a few big private banks they favoured. Each time, those policies were designed to free up enough fiscal resources to service the debt by reducing social spending and public investment. Thus Greece and her people have, in a variety of ways, been denied the exercise of their sovereign rights, keeping Greece down with the status of a subordinate, peripheral country. The local ruling classes complied with this.

This series of articles analyses the four major crises of Greek indebtedness, placing them in their international political and economic context – something which is systematically omitted from the dominant narrative and very rarely included in critical analysis.

Bern: The Bernie Sanders Movie

 "Bern" The Bernie Sanders documentary will tell the story of Bernie Sanders' life growing up, the historic campaign currently taking place, and the people working to get him elected. We have a unique opportunity to capture a pivotal moment in American culture and its impact on the country's political and social landscap.

 We are independent filmmakers, producers, animators, editors, writers and other creative and communications professionals who are interested in adding dimension to the current political discourse by learning more about one of the most intriguing participants of the 2016 presidential election. As an independent collective, we are beholden only to the story we are telling, and we are committed to discovering and telling it as authentically as possible.

Armenia, Azerbaijan & the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Behind the Four-Day War

by LIAKHOV Peter

On the afternoon of April 2, Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, was gripped with anxiety. On the street, the dour, worried faces of passersby clashed with the unusually warm and sunny spring weather. By evening, the normally bustling bars and restaurants were nearly empty, and the few patrons that did come were loath to touch the food and drinks they ordered. Waiters too were morose, having dropped any pretense at a customer-service smile. Earlier that morning the “frozen” Nagorno-Karabakh conflict had erupted in violence, and just like that, the country was at war.

It seems that under the cover of darkness, Azerbaijani troops on the border with the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh pushed across the line of contact, and with the support of tanks, gunships, and heavy artillery overran many of the Armenian positions, including three villages.

Eric Toussaint à la Nuit Debout - Témoignage

L'occupation de la place de la République à Paris par Nuit Debout se poursuit depuis 3 semaines. Hier je m'y suis rendu. J'ai commencé par écouter les discussions qui se déroulaient dans le cadre de la commission finance et économie qui se tenait en plein air à partir de 17h30. Y participait une bonne centaine de personnes. Dans le même temps avaient lieu deux autres commissions. Par ailleurs, en dehors des espaces occupés par les commissions, beaucoup de monde se rassemble pour des dialogues improvisés un peu partout sur la place. Il y a également des animations musicales, du théâtre action,...

USA: Labor Notes Conference Gathers Over 2,000 ‘Troublemaker’ Workers and Organizers in Chicago – “To create a militant and democratic unionism”

by MOBERG David

Every two years since 1981, the Detroit- and Brooklyn-based monthly newsletter Labor Notes has rallied union members and wannabe members, as well as some union staff and elected leaders, to join in a long weekend of sharing stories, strategies and wisdom gained in their workplace skirmishes.

They are the sort of people that bosses everywhere—and a few union officials—might call “troublemakers,” and they have adopted the moniker as a badge of honor (including holding “troublemaker schools” and producing tactical handbooks for do-it-yourself organizers).

Last weekend, around 2,200 labor activists, from diverse age groups, industries, personal experiences and nations (about 150 visitors from 22 countries), gathered in Chicago for a packed line-up of workshops and plenary sessions in the largest of these conferences.

Bulgaria in the trap of neoliberalism

Daniela Penkova

In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and the so-called “transition period” for Central and Eastern Europe began. The goal pursued was a radical change of society at economic, political and social level. In relation to this, Bulgaria endorsed a variety of development programs, which were manipulated by the two supranational institutions – the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The country was quickly encompassed by a wide network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) whose number amounts nowadays to 38,000. The UN agencies, supranational authorities and NGOs organized and coordinated Bulgaria’s transition through the same methods, ideas and language, which were being used for the Third World Countries by that time.

Britain: Three Tax Avoidance Schemes and you’re out, Cameron

by DOWLING Felicity

Cameron has tried – but failed – to distance himself from the Panama papers, says Left Unity Principal Speaker, Felicity Dowling.

The recent revelations and admissions show that he has dissembled the sources of his wealth. He has profited from offshore banking, inheritance tax management and the tax avoidance schemes that are the preserve of the very rich. He has criticised others for tax evasion but now the mask has slipped and his hypocrisy is exposed. He is revealed for what he is: both a beneficiary and an agent of extreme class privilege. And while profiting himself he has driven forward the most savage attacks on working people and the poorest in our society.

The Panama papers show clearly that offshore banking and the complex system of tax evasion have been carefully constructed by the very rich and their political representatives. They have been developed and established over years, in law and in tax regulation. And it is not something confined to corrupt individuals and regimes elsewhere – as some would have us believe. Britain is at the very heart of it: the whole legislative framework of the Virgin Isles, laws in the Channel Islands and in the Isle of Man and more. Tax minimisation lawyers have been “consulted” by HMRC while tax collection employees have been reduced in numbers.

Aire fresco agita la sociedad francesa

Olivier Besancenot y François Sabado

Militantes del NPA (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste)

Un millón de personas se echó a la calle el 31 de marzo para expresar su rechazo a la “Ley del trabajo” del gobierno Hollande. Ya el 9 de marzo, cerca de 500.000 personas habían marchado por las calles de más de 250 ciudades. Se trata de una movilización popular nacional, en proceso de construcción y ampliación, de la juventud, de las personas mayores, de la gente asalariada, de los estudiantes de bachiller, de los universitarios y de las paradas y parados. Pero sobre todo, y es lo más importante, se ve como emerge una nueva generación, no sólo en las huelgas y manifestaciones de la escuela secundaria y universitaria sino también en los cortejos de los asalariados y asalariadas y de los sindicatos. Aunque en cada país el movimiento tiene sus propias características, ¿cómo no acordarse de esos miles de jóvenes que ocuparon las plazas de las grandes ciudades en el Estado español, de los “indignados, sin los que no se puede explicar el surgimiento de Podemos, o de esas luchas de la juventud de “Occupy Wall Street” en EE UU? Esta nueva ola de radicalización de la juventud ya se había expresado también con anterioridad en la manifestación  del pasado diciembre, durante la COP21 organizada por la ONU, exigiendo soluciones a los gobiernos ante los efectos y amenazas del cambio climático.

English & Español

Sanders Statement on Puerto Rican Debt Crisis

APRIL 1, 2016

NEW YORK – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders issued the following statement today calling on Congress and the Obama administration to put the people of Puerto Rico over the interests of financial firms in any legislation to address the Puerto Rican debt crisis:

“There is a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico that Congress and the administration must address as soon as possible. But let me be clear: Establishing an unelected oversight board that would be given the power to inflict even more economic pain on the 3.5 million American citizens in Puerto Rico would be a move in exactly the wrong direction. It must be defeated.

My Endorsement

by MICHAEL MOORE

My Dear Friends,

When I was a child, they said there was no way this majority-Protestant country of ours would ever elect a Catholic as president. And then John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected president.

The next decade, they said America would not elect a president from the Deep South. The last person to do that on his own (not as a v-p) was Zachary Taylor in 1849. And then we elected President Jimmy Carter.

Irlande – Il y a cent ans : l’insurrection de Pâques 1916 à Dublin – Au delà des mythes

par FOULON Dominique

Depuis cent ans, l’insurrection républicaine irlandaise donne lieu à diverses interprétations plus ou moins malveillantes : du sacrifice sanglant au putsch raté en passant par une escarmouche inutile. Or, ce soulèvement armé en pleine guerre mondiale, ne prend sa signification que si on l’englobe dans une période révolutionnaire en Irlande qui s’étend sur plus de dix ans, de 1912 à 1923, et que si l’on tient compte de l’environnement international d’alors.

Bien peu de personnes à l’époque comprirent que les premiers coups de feu qui résonnèrent à Dublin le 24 avril 1916, sonnaient en fait le glas de l’empire britannique. La presse de l’époque ne note qu’une tentative de sédition ratée, qui plus est, fomentée par l’Allemagne. Or cet événement s’inscrit dans un contexte très ancien.