The 22nd congress of Tunisia’s UGTT trade union federation was held from December 25-28, 2011. A large part of it was devoted to the election of the new national leadership.
“We have a collective responsibility to strengthen and develop the February 20th movement (M20)”
21 January 2012, byThis Appeal from the Al Mounadil-a current to the Moroccan left
was made on January 1, 2011.
A seminar on Daniel Bensaïd
19 January 2012, byIt is two years since Daniel Bensaïd left us. To mark the occasion, the Fourth International secretariat organized a seminar on his thought and action. This was not a big public initiative but three days of work to look further into a series of questions tackled by the theoretician, philosopher and political militant that Daniel was.
The Bouazizi Spark: The Beginning of a Long Revolutionary Process
19 January 2012, byPeople gather on December 17, 2011 in Sidi Bouzid’s Mohamed Bouazizi square, named after the fruitseller whose self-immolation sparked the revolution that ousted a dictator and ignited the Arab Spring. Thousands of Tunisians rallied in celebration of the first anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled their long-standing dictator and unleashed the Arab Spring revolutions.
Euskadi: Between hope and uncertainty
18 January 2012, byIn spite of the catastrophic results of the parliamentary elections in Spain on November 20, 2011 (an absolute majority for the Popular Party) some good news was brought by the vote (333,624) obtained by the nationalist coalition Amaiur (made up of members of the former Batasuna and the parties Eusko Alkartasuna, Aralar and Alternativa) in the Basque Autonomous Community and the Community of Navarre: 14.78% in Navarre, 19.11% in Alava, 19.21% in Biscaye and 34.80% in Guipúzcoa.
Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution
18 January 2012, by ,Atef Said is a Ph.D candidate in sociology at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. A human rights lawyer and a political activist in Egypt before moving to the United States in 2004, he is the author of two books (in Arabic) on torture under Mubarak. Said was interviewed on December 2 by David Finkel for the editors of Against the Current
Pushing demands at OWS
17 January 2012, byA debate is going on about whether Occupy Wall Street should adopt a list of demands. A number of people I know and respect have supported the Demands Working Group in New York and have called for the General Assembly to adopt their list. The draft includes great demands — there is nothing I’ve seen that I don’t agree with, and I’ve worked hard for some of them for much of my life. Yet I keep thinking that pushing the list of demands is not the way to go right now.
A Convergence of Realities
17 January 2012, byWhat’s striking about the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Movement and its popular slogan “We are the 99 percent” is how much the central demand of the movement resonates with the Black community. African Americans with few exceptions are in the bottom 20% of income and wealth. Double digit unemployment is the norm in “good” economic times.
Part IV: Common features of the various 2011 mobilizations
16 January 2012, byIn 2011 we come across several common features when looking at the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street or the Indignados movements in various countries.
From Occupy to .....
16 January 2012, byThe question isn’t whether the magnificent “Occupy” movement will continue after police action and the onset of winter have largely emptied the encampments. The righteous rage that made the movement possible, and the enormous social and economic crisis that made it necessary, are not going away anytime soon. Quite the contrary — capitalism’s inherent contradictions, made worse by economic policies in Europe and the United States that seem calculated to maximize the damage, pose the real possibility of a new global financial meltdown and potential world depression.