IV479 December 2014 PDF
Now, let’s throw out the internal troika!
31 December 2014, byThat’s it: the 180 votes necessary to elect the president in the Greek Parliament were not obtained in the third round, despite the government’s threat and manoeuvre
Is Africa rising? A critical perspective (1)
29 December 2014, byThe popular idea of “Africa Rising” is based on claims of GDP growth rates of 5-6 per cent. But much of this is due to soaring primary commodity prices, especially in the extractive industries. Oil, for example, rose from $20 a barrel in 1999 to $145 in 2008. Although the price has fallen since, it remains way above the levels prevailing in the 1990s.
Is Africa rising? A critical perspective (2)
29 December 2014, byThe narrative about Africa in the international media, in particular the economic press, as well as in academic journals, is changing. It is no longer dominated by what is frequently labelled ”afro-pessimism”, which allows development NGOs especially to dedicate themselves to the civilising, neo-colonial mission in Africa. Now we are faced with ”afro-optimism”, which has a strong tendency to supplant the ”afro-pessimist” discourse, based on the roughly 5 per cent average GDP growth rate for all of Africa over the past 10 years. By bourgeois economic logic, this effectively makes it the world’s second economic driving force after Asia, at a time when a significant number of economies in the traditional capitalist centres oscillate between an end to recession and fears of a fall back into one.
Internal Democracy and Social Division: Lessons from NUMSA’s shop steward tradition for the South African labour movement
28 December 2014, byASK ANY NUMSA SHOP steward what happened to the once-mighty National Union of Miners (NUM). How did it allow its membership to collapse? You’ll very likely be met with a consistent answer: ‘social division’.
Why We Can’t Breathe
26 December 2014, byTHE BRUTAL INJUSTICE and the social eruption in Ferguson, followed by nationwide outrage over the on-video murder of Eric Garner and police impunity, are suddenly reshaping the U.S. political climate. “We Can’t Breathe” and “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” express the righteous anger, especially of young people of color, in response to an unresponsive system — a system that’s politically blocked and utterly indifferent to the desperate conditions facing those at the bottom in capitalist America.
Cuba: a victory and some risks
24 December 2014, byThe resumption of diplomatic relations between the USA and Cuba as well as the release of three Cubans sentenced to life imprisonment in the USA for espionage constitutes a victory for the Cuban people. For more than 50 years and under a dozen presidents, the US administration has tried everything to destroy the Cuban revolution. Military intervention in 1961 at the Bay of Pigs , conspiracies to assassinate Cuban leaders, an economic embargo to strangle the life of the island, pressures of all kinds to isolate the country, everything has been tried to break Cuba. As was recognized by Obama, this strategy has failed. Facing the biggest world imperialist power, Cuba has held fast. It was not without difficulty, without suffering, but Cuba has held on, becoming an anti-imperialist reference for the entire Latin American left.
“Arab Spring has now turned into a winter”
24 December 2014, by“It began on December 18, 2010, as a popular uprising triggered by the self–immolation of Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, protesting against the country’s corrupt and autocratic regime. What it eventually led to was a chain of revolutionary uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), toppling dictatorial governments in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Popularly known as the “Arab Spring”, the movement has since descended into chaos, with Islamic fundamentalist forces gaining in power.”[The Hindu intrrview with Gilbert Achcar.]
Resistance on the rise in Italy but political crisis on the left remains.
22 December 2014, byThis interview with Franco Turigliatto, ex-senator for Rifondazione and currently a leader of Sinistra Anti-Capitalista was conducted by Alain Krivine and originally appeared on the site of the French NPA.
From Ferguson to CIA Torture Cells
22 December 2014, byTwo current high-profile stories—police killings of Black people and the secret torture prisons run by the U.S. military and CIA in the “war on terror”— might seem separate and distinct. In truth, the path between them is short. A system that tortures prisoners abroad will murder people at home, and the targeted populations are not randomly chosen. There are several common elements: