IV431- December 2010

Not so long ago the defeat of the right wing candidates in the municipal elections in the two major cities in Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki, would have been followed by scenes of popular enthusiasm in the streets throughout the night. There was nothing like that this time, when the right was defeated in cities where it had ruled for decades!

On October 3, Mahmoud Abbas. de facto Palestinian President (his term of office was officially completed in January 2009), stated that he would reject all dialogue with Israel if the settlement freeze on the West Bank was not renewed. The same day, outgoing Israeli chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi was “visiting” Bethlehem, where he met officials of the Palestinian security forces. The coincidence of these two apparently contradictory events illustrates the increasingly flagrant lack of synch between, on the one hand, diplomatic posturing to revive a “peace process” which is long dead and buried and, on the other, the reality on the ground, the continuation of Israeli expansionist policies and the ever stronger integration of the Palestinian Authority in the apparatus of colonial oppression.

The preparation of the Woerth-Sarkozy reform on pensions has generated one of the most important social mobilizations that this country has known, comparable to, if not more important than, those in November-December 1995 against the Juppe plan and in spring 2003 against the Fillon reform, concerning pension systems. Although having as yet only a little hindsight, we can already draw some lessons from the movement…

Delegates from all over Europe, from Ireland to Poland, from Greece to Norway, met for the Third European Anti-capitalist Conference met in Paris on October 16 and 17 at the height of the demonstrations against the French pension reform.

It is interesting to read the debate among Chinese on Liu Xiaobo being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Although most liberals welcome this as encouragement for fighting for democracy in China, there are people who claim that Liu is not the proper candidate for the prize.

The third Seminar of the Assembly of the Social Movements took place from 5-7 November in Dakar, as part of the preparation of the World Social Forum scheduled for February 2011. The Assembly adopted the following declaration:

Britain has the first coalition government seen in Britain for 75 years. It was formed in June after an inconclusive election by an agreement between the Tory Party (main party of British capitalism) and the Liberal Democrats (the junior party of capitalism) — who in their previous form as the Liberal Party have not been in government since the early part of the 20th century.

On the 19th and 20th of November, the warlords arrived in Lisbon. The heads of state of the 28 country members of NATO gathered to sign the alliance´s new strategic concept. The Portuguese government prepared the most security expensive operation of all times in Portugal. Without any public consultancy, more than 5 million euro were spent on anti-riot equipment, like tear gas, armored vehicles, shields, helmets, etc.

In 1989, Chinese students and workers fought against the authoritative bureaucracy and corruption, for democracy and human rights. The struggle had been brutally suppressed, but over the past 21 years, the reality has shown us that it is essential to continue the struggle. It has also adversely proven that the repression has exacerbated the many abuses in the aftermath of the repression.