The land is a source of wealth for a few, here and on the other side of the planet. In the Spanish State, the housing boom has left a legacy of ruinous urban development, airports (almost) without airplanes, ghost towns, huge, obsolete infrastructure projects… And in the global South, the desire to profit from the land has driven off peasants and indigenous peoples, and imposed monocultures for export, large infrastructures for the exclusive benefit of capital and the plundering of their natural resources.
An equilibrium that is precarious and full of dangers
9 March 2013, byThere is one “economic” forecast which is unlikely to be proved wrong as far as Greece is concerned: the one regarding unemployment. ELSTAT (the Greek Institute of Statistics) has just published the “results” for October 2012: the official number of unemployed amounted to 1,345,715; an increase of 36,000 in a month. As a reminder, the number of unemployed stood, for the same month of October, in 2007, at 398,085; at 375,528 in 2008; at 498,211 in 2009; at 694,508 in 2010 and 977,614 in 2011. An increase in one year of 368,701.
Declaration by Marea Socialista to the Bolivarian civilian and military people
9 March 2013Drawing strength from pain, from this sad feeling of having been orphaned felt by all our people. The people that are today on the street, affectionately following our Comandante to honour him as he deserves. Drawing strength from that pain, we want to talk to this people, to the Abriles and Febreros.
Do we know what we eat?
8 March 2013, byIf before they sold cat as hare, today they sell horse as cow. Knowing what we eat has become something which is every day more difficult. The recent food scandal where horse meat was detected in beef highlights this clearly. Cannelloni from La Cocinera, burgers from Eroski, ravioli and tortellini from Buitoni, and Ikea meatballs are some of the products that have been withdrawn from the market. It is clear that we don’t have any idea of what we are putting in our mouths.
Reproductive justice needed
7 March 2013, byMany wonder why the fight to maintain legal abortion is still so heated forty years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Dianne Feeley points to attitudes about women that provide the political space for the right-wing’s attacks.
Two years after Fukushima
7 March 2013, byThe triple disaster of 11 March 2011 constituted a major turning point in contemporary Japanese history – its political impact is not however unequivocal. It has provoked a radical break in the way in which many Japanese people perceive the authorities and institutions of their country. It has informed a profoundly progressive citizens’ revolt. But it has happened at a time when the geopolitical situation in East Asia is increasingly unstable: the popular sentiment of insecurity is accompanied by a great uncertainty as to the regional evolution of the relationship of forces between the powers; which has led to a dangerous renewal of reactionary nationalist and militarist movements.
Mass demonstration against austerity
3 March 2013, byThe demonstration "Screw the Troika! Power to the People!" gathered 1.5 million people in dozens of Portuguese cities on 2 March. The main demand was the resignation of the Government and the immediate halt of the austerity measures that drove Portugal into a deep recession.
The historic responsibility of the left in Greece
3 March 2013, by , ,Sibylle Kaczorek and Jody Betzien, from the Australian Socialist Alliance, interviewed Yiannis Bournous in Athens on December 12 2012 for the journal Links. Yiannis is a leading activst in the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), Greek’s rapidly growing left party. He is also a member of the central political committee of Synaspismos, one of Syriza’s affiliate groups, and a member of the executive board of the European Left party.
Syriza came close to winning elections in June 2012 on the basis of rejecting the brutal austerity being enforced on the people of Greece. Instead, a coalition of three parties (Greece’s tradition conservative party New Democracy, its social-democratic rival PASOK and a right-wing split from Syriza, the Democratic Left) was formed, committed to greater austerity measures.
Greater than the Might of Armies
2 March 2013, by , ,Over one hundred million workers across India struck work for two days, on 20 and 21 February. The precise number is difficult to ascertain, but the strike went beyond the expectation of the trade union leaders and the bosses alike. This makes it probably the biggest general strike in working class history. Throughout the two days of the strike, Indian television channels and the internet were filled with comments on how the strike was a flop, how it was useless, how workers were violent, how the trade union leaders were selfish people leading poor workers up the garden path. The very vehemence of these campaigns was evidence of the gradual awakening of a sleeping giant, the working class of India, showing its massive power. Were this force to be mobilised properly, were it to fight for its goals with a greater clarity of vision, it could claim to be greater than the might of armies. But today, it is still partially hobbled. Both dimensions—the struggle and the limitation—require explanations.
Continuity and Change in Turkish Politics
2 March 2013, byOn the 21st of February, Berfo Ana, the mother of Cemil Kirbayir, who “disappeared” while in custody during the 1980 military coup died at the age of 105 in Istanbul. She was one of the “Saturday Mothers’ who have been gathering in Galatasaray Square in Istanbul on Saturdays since 1995, for 17 years, to claim their sons and daughters who were declared to have disappeared during custody. Hers was a 33-year-long struggle to find the remains of her son. Despite the 2011 reports of the parliamentary commission, which recorded Cemil Kirbayir’s death under torture, no measures were taken to bring the culprits to court. Her last will was not to be buried before the remains of her son were found, a wish that could not be realized.