Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mostar Rising: The Most Divided City in Bosnia is Standing up to Nationalism and Government Corruption
25 February by Revolution News
Every day more and more citizens are overcoming their fears and misconceptions and joining the protest movement in Mostar, one of the most essential cities active in the current uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They gather every day, and have plenums (popular assemblies) a few times a week. They teach themselves direct democracy and activism – they will not be victims anymore. They are building civil power through direct action, and aim to reclaim their lives – the war is not over.
About six months ago, this amazing man Muharem Hindić – aka “Mušica” or “fly” in english – stood here and demonstrated alone.
Photo: Avi Blecherman
Every day, Mušica would stand in the square near city hall, holding a banner in his hand, protesting the government’s ineffectiveness that led to the lack of medical attention which caused the death of a sick baby. Government officials could not decide who should take responsibility for the care of the baby, and time ran out before they acted. Beyond the tragedy of the case, the incident serves as a symbol of how stuck the every day lives of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are, when politics and politicians are not in service of the citizens, but a burden weighing on their shoulders.
As "Borotba" predicted in the November-December, victory of Maidan will lift to power ultraliberal and Nazi block. Approximate composition of new government recently published just proves our conclusion.
Près de 80 morts sur les pavés de Maïdan, devenus les martyrs du peuple tout entier révolté, ont fait basculer une part importante de l'appareil politique et policier du président Ianoukovitch, se déclarant « du côté du peuple ». S'agit-il d'une sortie de crise ?
Back in mid-December, our estimate of Ukraine's political crisis as a "revolutionary situation" resulted in a lot of critical reviews. Further, the use of the word "revolution" in the context of Ukraine was condemned as a kind of sacrilege, because the events in Kiev appeared to be totally incomparable to the grandeur of past revolutions. There are no proclamations about the beginning of a new world, and no discussions of the socialization of property, while the social order established over the last two decades of post-Soviet rule has itself not been called into question. But a revolution's political content may not totally correspond to its dynamics: the masses' actual experience, their determination and ability to organize on their own, may be far ahead of their "political imagination." And if the revolution fails simply by virtue of a lack of independent political projects, it never ceases to be a revolution.
Depuis que l’Ukraine a refusé de signer un accord d’association avec l’Union européenne, d’imposantes manifestations pro-européennes ont lieu à Kiev, la capitale. En leur sein, on trouve paradoxalement des partisans de la formation politique ultra-nationaliste Svoboda. Une présence qui mène Louis Monnier, professeur d’histoire-géographie à la retraite, à relater une scène à laquelle il a assisté il y a quelques mois.
En 2014 nos encontramos ante una situación extremadamente difícil, una situación límite, de emergencia social, que nos convoca a dar una respuesta colectiva y masiva de la clase trabajadora, la ciudadanía y los pueblos.
Parce-que tout simplement, sans cultiver la terre et sans manger, un autre monde n’est pas possible. N’oublions pas que dans les pays en crise, se nourrir redevient une priorité absolue.
We, the undersigned, express our full support for the legitimate demands and justified outrage of citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Their cry for a decent life, true democracy, solidarity that knows no borders—be them ethnic, national or religious, social equality and justice—resonates throughout the world. In a similar fashion to the citizens of Tahrir, Zuccotti Park, Taksim or Syntagma, the Bosnian protestors showed a courage to go beyond all institutional obstacles and all limitations that governments around the world impose on their citizens and reclaimed their streets and squares. The people of Bosnia-Herzegovina are standing against the system of exploitation, injustice and inequality that has been serving only and exclusively a tiny political, economic and financial elite.
Le printemps est en avance sur le froid qui règne. Nul ne sait jusqu'où ira l'explosion sociale et démocratique. Mais dores et déjà, on sait qu'elle laissera des traces profondes et pourrait faire tâche d'huile : les peuples de la région commencent à voir « ce qui fait système », tant dans les griefs que dans les aspirations exprimées. De la dénonciation des « privatisations criminelles » on pourrait voir émerger celle des institutions euro-atlantistes qui les ont encadrées.
The most significant gain to date of the workers' uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the foundation and daily activities of the Tuzla Plenum. It's natural that in the town where the uprising began, where from the very beginning the strength of the movements' working base was most clearly expressed – which had gathered around it the students, the unemployed and pensioners – would be the first to introduce into the life of the country a new political form in the service of the oppressed.
Victory against Madrid’s hospital privatisation – and other recent struggles in Spain – shows popular resistance delivers results.
What started as a demonstration by unpaid workers in the north has expanded to more cities and other issues
On January 26 in Madrid, cancer finally conquered the tenacious resistance of Miguel Romero Baeza (born Melilla, 1945). A journalist and revolutionary militant, who experienced and fought the Franco dictatorship and the capitalist system with the same passion, intelligence and dignity which with he faced his disease. He never lost the capacity of indignation faced with injustice, he was always on the side of those at the bottom, was immune to accommodation and at all times maintained analytical lucidity and decisiveness in action. As happened with so many others and other revolutionaries, his was first sensitivity towards other people’s suffering, then an ethical option (“with the poor people of this earth I want to share my fate ") and later, only later, came tactics and strategy, party and program. He lived exactly as he thought. Neither a drop of ambition, nor an ounce of profit. Decently. Austerely. Incorruptible. 
El cáncer pudo, finalmente, 
The enormous financial burden the Philippines labours under in servicing international debt while struggling to recover from Typhoon Haiyan and prepare for future emergencies must be lifted, said Christian Aid today.
María Lucia Fattorelli, coordinatrice nationale de l’organisation brésilienne Auditoria Cidadã da Dívida (Audit Citoyen de la dette), travaille depuis plusieurs années au côté d’une excellente équipe de femmes et d’hommes à la sensibilisation et à la conscientisation de la population brésilienne ainsi que des autorités administratives, judiciaires et des organismes de contrôle. Ils/elles sont parvenu-e-s à étendre leur rayon d’action à de nombreuses régions du pays, dans lesquelles des groupes d’audit citoyen avancent dans la recherche et l’analyse des budgets et des dettes de leur localité. L’organisation dispose maintenant à la fois d’un grand réseau national couvrant une ample zone géographique et d’un fort potentiel de participation citoyenne.
Au XIXe siècle, alors même qu’était réaffirmé le principe de souveraineté des États hérité de la paix de Westphalie, se déployaient de puissants dispositifs de dépendance liés à la dette. Comme d’autres États et Empires de la « semi-périphérie » (Empire russe, Égypte, Chine), l’Empire ottoman se trouva progressivement engagé dans une intense relation de subordination envers les « grandes puissances » de l’époque, France, Angleterre, (Allemagne, de manière secondaire). C’est l’usage de l’endettement public externe qui lia l’Empire au « centre » ; d’abord financière, la subordination fut rapidement étendue aux champs administratif et diplomatique.
Reader’s notes: The Body Economic. Why Austerity Kills. 
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