Living conditions in Tunisia and Egypt, neither of which export raw materials, or only marginally, have worsened over recent years. The resulting civil protest has been met with brutal repression. In Tunisia first, this led to a mass reaction, which quickly took on a political dimension. People gathered in the streets and squares to face the forces of repression, which left 300 dead, and demanded the departure of the dictator, Ben Ali. He was forced to step down on 14 January 2011.
Part II: The global crisis that preceded the Arab Spring, the Indignados, and the Occupy Wall Street movement
12 January 2012, byIn 2007, the capitalist sky started to darken: the biggest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s had erupted. The different crises that ensued were interconnected: the banking and financial crisis, real estate crisis, and economic crisis in the most industrialized countries, and the food crises in the Southern countries, particularly in Africa and certain Asian countries (Latin America was less significantly affected), which mainly resulted from the economic policies practiced in the most industrialized countries, in particular the shift away from real estate speculation (when the housing bubble broke) towards the grains futures markets; and support for biofuel production.
Nazarbayev regime murders strikers
12 January 2012, by ,On Friday December 16, 2011 Kazakh police attacked a gathering of striking oil workers in Zhanaozen (or Janaozen, a town of 100,000 inhabitants on the coast of the Caspian Sea), who have for some months been occupying the town’s central square, demanding trade union rights and a wage increase. The pretext for this attack was that the square was to be used for ceremonies marking the twentieth anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence.
One year on
11 January 2012, byOne year after the start of a revolutionary process which swept through the Arab region and continues today, International Viewpoint asked Gilbert Achcar to look at the current state of play throughout the region. This interview was conducted on December 14, 2011.
Salmaan Taseer: The political context of a “religious” assassination
9 January 2012, byJust over a year ago, Salmaan Taseer, governor of Pakistan’s largest province, the Punjab, was assassinated in the most cowardly manner by a government-assigned security guard in federal capital, Islamabad. The killer, a trained commando of the Punjab Elite Force, Mumtaz Qadri, pumped 27 bullets into the Governor’s back as he headed to his car on the afternoon of January 4, 2012.
The Greek left and the question of the European Union
9 January 2012, by , ,Since Greek capitalism has entered the whirlwind of the global financial crisis and particularly from the point that the debt crisis in Greece broke out, the questions of the European Union (EU) and the Euro have emerged as some of the most important debates among the forces of the Left and the working class movement who attempt to shape radical political and movement responses to the crisis of the system. This debate has gained an even bigger importance among those political currents and forces that want to forge a clear revolutionary political proposal targeting the socialist transformation of the society.
A balance sheet of the December movement
4 January 2012, byOn the occasion of the elections to the State Duma on December 4, thanks to Internet and with information provided by thousands of voluntary observers, Russian society has been able to take the measure of the massive vote-rigging to the advantage of the party led by Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev, United Russia. The protest meeting organized on December 5 was the starting point for a movement of protest against the present political system, a movement which is still accelerating. On December 10, massive mobilizations “For honest elections” organized by opposition groups coming from different political tendencies took place in Moscow and in almost all the big cities of Russia.
Consuming seriously damages your health… and that of the planet
4 January 2012, by"A woman, desperate to get the best offers in the Wal-Mart sale, discharged pepper-spray at people in order to drive them away from the items she wanted.” This could be a scene from a Pedro Almodovar film had it not been seen in real life. On the 25/11/2011 such a story appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
Part I: Looking back on the movements that preceded the Arab Spring, the Indignados, and Occupy Wall Street
3 January 2012, byIn 2011, social and political rebellion has re-emerged in the streets and on squares all over the world. It has appeared in new forms and been given new names: the Arab Spring, the Indignados, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. The main regions affected are North Africa and the Middle East (including Israel), Europe and North America. Not all countries in those areas have been equally affected by this new wave of mobilizations and new forms of organization, but everybody has heard about the movement.