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

by CADTM

 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!

 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.

Iraq/Syria: Da'esh [Islamic State] - Golem is turning against its creator

WARSCHAWSKI Michel

 The United States is once more experiencing the reality of this old Jewish saying. Supporting the most fundamentalist Muslims in Afghanistan in the hope of putting and end to Soviet influence, finding itself a few years later confronted with a total war against al-Qaida and its cloudy international, and whose result will be far from being a victory. In the background is the, always mistaken, idea that the enemies of my enemies are my friends. Back in the 1930s, the "democratic" countries thought that Hitler could be an ally against the communist danger. We know what happened then...

« Prix nobel » d'économie : des cocoricos déplacés

par Attac France

 Le « prix de la Banque de Suède en sciences économiques en l'honneur d'Alfred Nobel », improprement appelé prix Nobel d'économie, vient d'être attribué au français Jean Tirole. Alors qu'un déluge de commentaires élogieux en forme de « cocoricos » se propage dans les médias, Attac déplore ce choix qui s'inscrit dans la lignée des prix attribués à Hayek, Friedman et autres économistes néolibéraux en grande partie responsables de la crise actuelle.

 Présenté comme « un des économistes les plus influents de notre époque » par la Banque de Suède, Jean Tirole est récompensé par « son analyse de la puissance des marchés » et ses recommandations en faveur d'une déréglementation dans les domaines de l'industrie, de la finance et du travail.

Africa & Ebola: Who are the Architects of Death and How Can We Combat Them?

BATOU Jean

According to the latest predictions of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if the Ebola pandemic continues to progress at the current rhythm, it could affect 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone between now and January 2015, leading to the deaths of 700,000 in a year, and thus making Ebola the third leading cause of death from infectious diseases in Africa, after AIDS and respiratory diseases. The two countries most seriously affected could suffer the loss of 10 percent of their populations in a year, if one takes into account the impact of such a catastrophe on food production and the overall health of the populations involved. Our understanding of the causes then is urgent in order to avoid the worst and to prevent similar tragedies in other regions of the global South.

Give Catalonia its freedom to vote - by Pep Guardiola, Josep Carreras and other leading Catalans

Our nation deserves the chance to decide on its future

 The Catalans just want to vote. In 1773, just 59 years after Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, was taken by the Spanish army and the region’s institutions were abolished, the Sons of Liberty led the audacious Boston Tea Party. At the core of their protest was the belief that the American colonies were overtaxed while their opinions were not taken into account in London. That action ignited the revolutionary process by which the American colonies became the United States of America, having the defense of liberty, justice and democracy as the frontispiece of its new Constitution.

The Dutch Socialist Party: From Sect to Mass Party

DE JONG Alex

The Dutch Socialist Party went from fringe force to national contender. But it lost its soul along the way.

In many Western countries, the far left remains dominated by groups rooted in the radicalization of the 1960s. Most never became more than propaganda outfits of a few hundred members. The Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands is an exception. What started as just another left splinter developed into a mass party that seems posed to become the largest left of center force in the country.

The May 2014 municipal elections saw a dramatic change in the politics of the Dutch capital of Amsterdam: for the first time since its foundation in 1946, the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) disappeared from the municipal executive. Instead, two right-wing parties formed a coalition with the SP. So far, the Socialist Party’s attempts to overtake the PvdA nationally have failed, but it’s on the more established party’s heels.

Argentina passes law to establish debt audit commission

 by Jubilee Debt Campaign

The move comes as the South American country continues to resist the activities of vulture funds NML Capital and Aurelius Capital Management who are seeking a gigantic profit out of Argentina. The two vulture funds have refused to accept a debt restructuring agreed by 93% of other creditors, and have had their claim backed by a US court, preventing Argentina from paying their debts to everyone else.

Occupy Hong Kong – An update on events of the last few days

BAI Ruixue

In the last few days the Occupy Central movement has continued to grow phenomenally. Following a very tense day and night on Sunday as police continually tried to disperse the protesters with force, firing numerous rounds of teargas, the large numbers and protesters determination to keep the roads meant that on Monday morning the streets were still occupied and the riot police were withdrawn from attacking the protesters. The atmosphere in Central by Monday night was a complete contrast to the night before as calm ensued and thousands more arrived to participate in the protests, appalled by the government's response and use of force the day before, to occupy large sections of the roads and calls for the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down were repeatedly shouted by the crowd. Thousands of protesters again stayed on the streets overnight on Tuesday, despite at times being battered by heavy rain, and yesterday was then National Day -the original planned start date of Occupy Central. However those initial plans of the OC leadership trio have long become worthless, paling in comparison to the dynamic the movement has taken on and the actions of ordinary people in their struggle for democracy. With a two day public holiday and many not having to go to work, even larger numbers have come out to take part. Protesters have gathered in their thousands over the last few days not just in Central District, but in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, and yesterday also spread to Tsim Tsa Tsui.

Hong-Kong : Occupy Central—What's Next for the Democracy Movement?

A Brief Observation on the Current Movement

AU Loong-Yu

Monday 29th September 2014/Occupy Central Day 3 - Occupy central continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
I. The Situation

The general public has come out to support the students, and with their own bodies have resisted the tear gas to defeat the offensive of the regime of Leung Chun-ying, better known as C.Y. Leung, the Chief Executive of the Executive Council of Hong-Kong, sparking a new generation of people's democracy activists. This movement has the following characteristics:

1. The students and the public have shown that they have the ability to think for themselves, to take bottom-up direct action, without relying on the leaders. It is within a context where the movement displays deep distrust of not only the Pan-Democracy parties, but also of the Trio of three leading liberal academics and clergymen who suggested the occupation a year earlier. Even the Hong-Kong Federation of Students, which was for a while the vanguard of the movement, saw its proposal to withdraw on September 28 in view of escalation of crackdown was rejected by the masses.

Fundamentalismo constitucional vs. legitimidad democrática

Jaime Pastor*

Con una rapidez sin precedentes, el Tribunal Constitucional ha admitido a trámite los recursos presentados por el gobierno contra la ley de consultas del Parlament catalán y el decreto, firmado por el President de la Generalitat, de convocatoria de una consulta no vinculante el próximo 9 de noviembre. Pretende, además, paralizar no sólo la consulta sino también “las restantes actuaciones de preparación para la convocatoria de dicha consulta o vinculadas a ella”. De esta forma, una suspensión cautelar “exprés” sitúa en la ilegalidad a una mayoría social y política en Cataluña.

The largest climate protest in American history

Climate Convergence Moves Us Forward, but Challenges Us to Create a Strategy

LA BOTZ Dan

The Global Climate Convergence [1] with its more than one hundred workshops, its large plenary sessions, and its miles-long mass march of more than 300,000 people, the largest climate protest in American history, represents a turning point for the environmental movement. The gigantic and passionate parade of indigenous people, ethnic groups of all sorts from everywhere in the country, students by the tens of thousands, neighborhood organizations by the dozen, several major national labor unions, and every conceivable sort of ecological cause tramping through New York City carrying huge banners and giant puppets, striding and dancing to the tunes of 29 marching bands, put the issue of the environment and climate change on the national agenda as never before. The national climate movement has arrived—now what will it do?

¿Después de Escocia, Catalunya?

Esther Vivas

  Escocia ya ha votado, ¿Catalunya lo va a hacer? El parlamento catalán ha aprobado este viernes la ley de consultas que así lo permite. Un 78,5% de la cámara le ha dado su apoyo. Y lo que es más importante: un millón 800 mil personas lo exigieron el pasado 11 de septiembre en una masiva movilización en la capital catalana.
 Sin embargo, el Reino Unido no es España, ni David Cameron es Mariano Rajoy. No lo digo porque tenga una especial simpatía por el “Imperio británico” ni por su primer ministro, más bien al contrario, no olvidemos el pasado opresor y colonial del Imperio y la política de recortes de los conservadores. Pero sí que estos días hemos visto que en algunos países hay una democracia de primera y en otros una de segunda. Y la democracia española, visto lo visto, está a años luz de jugar la Champions.

Declaration before the Ban Ki-Moon Climate Summit: Mobilize and organize to Stop and Prevent Planet Fever!

Collective

When we, as human beings, get a fever, we immediately get worried and take action. After all, we know that if our body temperature rises to 1.5ºC, let alone 2ºC [3.6 ºF] above the normal average, there can be severe damage, while an increase of 4-6ºC [7.2-10.8 ºF] or more can cause a comatose situation and even death.

So it is, when planet Earth gets a fever. For the past 11,000 years, the average temperature of the Earth has been around 14ºC [57.2ºF]. It is now about to reach an increase of 1ºC. And, if we do not take appropriate measures now to stop this fever from spreading, the forecast is that our planet will be well on its way to anywhere between 2ºC to 6ºC rise in temperature before the end of this century. Under such feverish conditions, life as we know it will dramatically change on planet Earth.

September 18, 2014 referendum: Why the international left should support a yes vote for Scottish independence