Spanish State: What will Podemos do in the European Parliament

 RODRIGUEZ Teresa, ARTACHO Francisco

Teresa RodriguezTeresa Rodriguez is a member of Izquierda Anticapitalista (IA), the section of the Fourth International in the Spanish State, who was number 2 on the radical left list Podemos which had five deputies elected at the European parliamentary elections of May 25, 2014. This interview was conducted by Francisco Artacho and is translated from the online periodical Andaluces Diario.

 

Francisco Artacho – How do you explain such a strong eruption of Podemos onto the Spanish political scene?

Teresa Rodriguez — This has probably to do with the need to consider alternatives which are not exactly those of the traditional parties, that are closed spaces, difficult to penetrate for citizens, subject to an identity-based framework, but at the same time in permanent conflict due to the policy of budget cuts and which have lost contact with reality inside governments of “possibility” and “continuity”. It is also due to the fact that we had put forward a coherent practice since the beginning, arguing that we must not depend on bank loans but, on the contrary, forge loyalties only with the victims of financial power. In fact to say that we are the majority, to propose the “deprofessionalization” of politics, the daily control of political representatives, the right to recall. The requirement that public representatives resemble, in their daily living conditions, those who they represent. We were able to build this candidacy by gathering 50,000 signatures in less than 48 hours, by organising open primaries with a record participation, a participatory programme and creating more than 300 popular and citizens’ circles. This was a very well used 4 months of existence and a very good campaign.

Deuda argentina

¿Cuántos buitres acosan a la Argentina?

Claudio Katz

KatzArgentina afronta nuevamente un chantaje financiero, pero esta vez la extorsión no tiene precedentes. Los especuladores que compraron bonos por 48 millones de dólares lograron en Nueva York una sentencia de cobro por 1.500 millones.

Este fraude retrata cómo funciona el capitalismo actual. Al pueblo argentino le quieren imponer la misma confiscación que padecen los pequeños deudores norteamericanos, los desalojados de viviendas de España y los empobrecidos de Grecia.

Cuando se convoca a reforzar la integración internacional a este sistema se empuja al país a nuevos padecimientos. Los buitres se disponen a repetir el mismo despojo que ya realizaron en otros lugares como Perú.

Middle East & ISIS – Iraq and Syria: The struggle against the 'multi-sided' counterrevolution

KARADJIS Michael

Table of contents

Iraq and Syria: the forces (...)
What accounts for strength of (...)
A Sunni uprising against (...)
US-Iranian intervention?
A US 'war on ISIS': a war (...)

2014-07-04 01 isis-iraqAs a coalition of Sunni-based forces, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), took the major northern Iraqi city of Mosul and then most of the Sunni heartland in the north and west of Iraq, regional and western capitals went into crisis mode: the entire post-US occupation stabilisation had collapsed in a heap.

And the coalition leading this revolt consists of none other than the same forces which led the Iraqi resistance to US occupation throughout the middle years of the last decade. Yes, once again the arch-reactionary ISIS itself has revealed its brutality, with reported mass killing of captured soldiers, a crime against humanity; in the same way that monstrous acts, such as bombing work queues and Shiite mosques, were carried out during the anti-US resistance by al-Qaida in Iraq (i.e., what became ISIS); horrific repression is partly to blame for breeding horrific reactions. In both cases however, this most violent and irrational element does not define the movement, still less explain its strength.

« Jubilation when the end of the longest strike in South African history was announced » : Voices from the Platinum Belt Victory

SCHUTTE Gillian, SINGISWA Sipho

south-african-miners-strikeThe stadium in Phokeng outside Rustenberg exploded in jubilation when the end of the longest strike in South African history was announced on June 23. Men and women waved their arms victoriously in the air and resounding ululations and cheering reverberated as a great burden of domestic hardship lifted. Workers had changed history. They had valiantly resisted the dogged state and corporate attempt to smash their strike despite the personal hardships that they had to endure to reach this point. It was they who dealt a blow to capital because it was they who held out determinedly and who accumulated five months of unpaid accounts, became black listed, kept their kids out of schools through necessity and went without food. They are indeed, the central heroes in this story.

“Five months is a long time to go without – but it is what you do when you want to change history,” says Andile [1], a community leader. “We had told ourselves that we will not give up – that united we are going to break this economic hold over us, and we did.” He thrusts his fist into the air defiantly.

Pesticides systémiques : le déclin massif des insectes menace l’agriculture – Toute la chaîne de la biodiversité est contaminée

FOUCART Stéphane

Une vaste étude scientifique dénonce le rôle des pesticides systémiques dans l’érosion globale de la biodiversité.

« Je pense que j’ai dû me réveiller vers le milieu des années 2000. Un jour, alors que je marchais près de chez moi, dans la garrigue, je me suis demandé où étaient passés les insectes, car il me semblait qu’il y en avait beaucoup moins qu’avant, raconte Maarten Bijleveld van Lexmond. Et puis j’ai réalisé qu’il y en avait aussi de moins en moins collés sur le pare-brise et la calandre de ma voiture. Presque plus, en fait. » En juillet 2009, dans sa maison de Notre-Dame-de-Londres (Hérault), le biologiste néerlandais, 77 ans, réunit une douzaine d’entomologistes partageant la même inquiétude.

Tous notent un déclin accéléré de toutes les espèces d’insectes depuis les années 1990. Selon eux, l’effondrement des abeilles domestiques n’est que la partie visible de ce phénomène aux conséquences considérables pour l’ensemble des écosystèmes.

« Au terme d’une longue journée de discussions, nous avons décidé d’examiner tout ce qui avait été publié dans la littérature scientifique sur les insecticides systémiques dits “néonicotinoïdes”, poursuit-il. Cette nouvelle génération de molécules, mise sur le marché dans les années 1990, nous semblait être un élément déterminant pour expliquer la situation. »

International Year of Family Farming – Small farmers need their rights to feed Humanity

La Via Campesina, Uniterre

2014-06-28 01 via-campesinaLa Vía Campesina's position on the International Year of Family Farming - 2014

A space for the promotion of concrete policies on peasant family farming

(Harare, June 2014) La Vía Campesina defines participation in the International Year of Family Farming, propelled by the UN in 2014, as the creation of a space for discussion and collective action to to push Food Sovereignty that has peasants and small farmers as a basis. All throughout the world they continue to grow and distribute healthy, self-produced food in their towns, in stark contrast to the commercial food industry, whose priorities are profit and speculation and whose strategy is to make agriculture increasingly dependent on agro-toxics, increasing their profits through the sale of herbicides, whilst damaging and contaminating natural resources.

Diego Rivera et Frida Kahlo artistes révolutionnaires

Michael Löwy

Diego y FridaDiego Rivera (1886-1957) et Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) étaient des artistes révolutionnaires, c'est-à-dire des individus profondément engagés dans les combats politiques de leur époque, un engagement qui se traduit directement dans - une grande partie de - l'œuvre murale du premier, mais beaucoup moins dans ses peintures de chevalet. L'œuvre de Frida Kahlo est quant à elle authentiquement subversive, mais cela ne s'exprime pas, sauf pour la toute dernière période de sa vie, en des termes politiques traditionnels. Elle ne contient pas moins une sorte de protestation féministe contre la condition des femmes dans les sociétés patriarcales modernes. Ses tableaux sont personnels, autobiographiques, intimes, mais si l'on considère, l'instar du mot d'ordre fémi-niste, que «le personnel est politique», sans doute l'art de Kahlo traduit-il le désir d'affirmation des femmes : elle rompt de manière provocatrice avec l'imagerie traditionnelle de la féminité, en représentant l'accouchement, l'avortement, le fœtus, et d'une façon générale l'expérience féminine de la souffrance corporelle. Aucun des deux n'a participé à la Révolution mexicaine : Frida, née en 1907, était trop jeune, et Diego était alors en Europe. Elle ne constitue pas moins l'arrière-plan de leur engagement. On présente parfois l'histoire de cette révolution comme une succession de meurtres et d'assassinats : un soulèvement populaire renverse le dictateur Porftrio Diaz en 1911; le démo-crate Francisco Madero assume la prési-dence, mais il est assassiné par le général Victoriano Huerta en 1913. Contre la dictature de ce dernier se soulèvent Emi- liano Zapata dans le Sud et Pancho Villa dans le Nord, ainsi que l'armée constitu-tionnaliste de Venustiano Carranza et d'Âlvaro Obregôn. Ils renversent Huerta, mais bientôt la guerre civile éclate entre Zapata et Villa d'une part, Carranza et Obregôn de l'autre. Carranza fait assassiner Zapata en 1919, puis est tué par Obre- gôn en 1920. Retiré dans sa ferme, Villa est assassiné en 1923 par les hommes d'Obregôn, qui est tué à son tour en 1928, par un catholique fanatique. Cette chronique sanglante n'est pas fausse, mais il manque l'essentiel : première révolution sociale du xxe siècle, la Révolution mexicaine a profondément bouleversé les structures économique, sociale, politique et culturelle du pays. Cette «révolution interrompue» - selon l'expression de l'historien Adolfo Gilly - atteint son apogée quand les forces les plus radicales, celles de Zapata et de Villa, occupent pour quelques mois, en 1914-1915, la capitale du pays. Cette aile paysanne et populaire de la Révolution sera vaincue, mais ses adversaires devront promulguer en 1917 une Constitution qui compte parmi les plus avancées de l'époque : réforme agraire, lois de protection sociale, droit de grève, contrôle du commerce extérieur, séparation de l'Église et de l'État. À partir de ce moment, la Révolution «s'institutionnalise», et connaîtra une sorte de prolongement sous la présidence de Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940), qui nationalisera le pétrole, approfondira la réforme agraire et établira l'éducation socialiste.

Big banks’ tampering with interest rates

Series : The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (part 5)

by Eric Toussaint

Fiddling with the LIBOR key interest rate

Toussaint EricThe extremely tolerant approach to the manipulation of interest rates by the governments of the main industrialised countries shows the extent to which the ’Too Big to Jail’ principle is applied. In 2010 the media revealed that a group of eighteen banks had been manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from 2005 to 2010. LIBOR is a benchmark rate used for a market of $350 trillion, in assets and financial derivatives, which means it is the second most important benchmark rate in the world after the dollar exchange rate. The rate is based on information provided by eighteen banks about their funding costs in interbank markets. In 2012 evidence was provided of collusion among big banks such as UBS, Barclays, Rabobank, or Royal Bank of Scotland in order to manipulate LIBOR in their own interests.

Although steps were taken by oversight authorities all over the globe (US, UK, EU, Canada, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong), so far no penal prosecution against the banks has been filed and the fines have been ludicrously small compared with the amounts at stake |1|. Roughly, they reach a total of less than $10 billion and each banks’ share is minimal compared with the damage caused. The scandal resulted in the resignation of several bank CEOs, as was the case with Barclays (2nd British bank) and Rabobank (2nd Dutch bank), in the layoff of dozens of traders but significantly no banks lost the right to continue operating on the markets they conspired to rig, no CEO was jailed.

« Arrêtez la guerre en Ukraine ! » – Appel des forces de gauche de Russie, d'Ukraine et de Biélorussie contre la guerre

Conférence des forces anti-guerres

No WarLes 7-8 juin, une conférence des forces anti-guerre de la gauche de Russie, d'Ukraine et du Belarus a eu lieu près de Minsk. Son but était de renforcer l'unité des internationalistes des trois pays dans la lutte contre la violence endémique, contre l'hystérie nationaliste et la répression des deux côtés de la frontière russo-ukrainienne. Ci-dessous le texte de la déclaration de la conférence. Cet appel a été traduit par David Mandel. Nous invitons d'autres personnes à le signer.

Presse-toi à gauche

Nous, les participants à la réunion d'organisation des organisations et des groupes de gauche et des marxistes de Biélorussie, de Russie, et d'Ukraine, considérons que notre tâche principale est de mettre fin à la guerre civile en Ukraine. Ce conflit militaire qui a suivi la victoire des forces néo-libérales et nationalistes de l'« Euromaidan » de Kiev a emporté des centaines de vies et a contribué à une montée sans précédent du chauvinisme et de la xénophobie dans les sociétés ukrainienne et russe. Cette guerre permet à la classe dirigeante de rassembler la société ukrainienne autour de son régime, de distraire les travailleurs de l'ouest et l'est du pays de la lutte pour leurs droits sociaux et politiques, les opposant les uns aux autres dans l'intérêt de la grande bourgeoisie. Les gouvernements de Russie, de l'Union européenne et des États-Unis exploitent cette guerre civile en Ukraine pour le même but ; les gens qui meurent au Donbass sont des pions de leur concurrence. Nous exprimons notre solidarité avec tous les participants des mouvements ukrainiens de gauche qui luttent contre la guerre, contre le nationalisme et contre la xénophobie, et nous considérons qu'il faut leur fournir toute l'information, tout l'appui politique et matériel possible. Nous nous opposons à la pression et à la répression de la part des parties au conflit. Nous nous opposons aux pogroms, à la torture et aux enlèvements dont les victimes sont des militants de gauche anti-fascistes et de tout autre citoyen ukrainien, indépendamment de leurs opinions politiques.

«Assassinare, incendiare, bastonare non vuol dire aver vinto»

 

di GUIDO PICELLI da «L'Ardito del popolo», 1 ottobre 1922

PicelliMai come oggi il proletariato ha sentito la necessità della difesa; ma la situazione in Italia è tale ormai, per cui nessuna difesa è possibile senza addivenire alla immediata costituzione di un organo solido, perfetto, con a disposizione mezzi tecnici ed a carattere «militare».
Trattandosi perciò di dar vita ad un organismo perfettamente nuovo per noi, occorre anzitutto creare una nuova mentalità in mezzo a noi; far comprendere come solo con l’inquadramento delle nostre forze, con un movimento coordinato e disciplinato in tutta Italia si potranno respingere gli attacchi dell’avversario, siano essi in piccolo che in grande stile.

Sino a due anni fa circa le battaglie sindacali e politiche erano combattute, dalle Camere del Lavoro e dai partiti, con vari mezzi compreso quello, ultimo estremo, dello sciopero generale.

Oggi invece occorrono metodi nuovi. Uno sciopero generale di qualche giorno, per esempio, sboccherebbe senza dubbio in un movimento insurrezionale. Le Camere del Lavoro ed i partiti sovversivi, così come sono e data la loro costituzione organica, non sarebbero capaci di impedirne la soffocazione da parte delle truppe fasciste, con tutte le prevedibili e disastrose conseguenze.

GUIDO PICELLI, EROE ANTIFASCISTA

Giancarlo Bocchi

Giancarlo BocchiIl 5 gennaio 1937, sulle alture spagnole de El Matoral, una pallottola vigliacca colpiva alle spalle e uccideva Guido Picelli, vicecomandante del Battaglione Garibaldi.
Sulla vita di uno degli oppositori antifascisti più importanti e ingiustamente anche più misconosciuti della storia del nostro paese, da più di 10 mesi sto portando avanti una ricerca storica-documentaristica per la realizzazione di un film, che mi ha portato a viaggiare attraverso gli archivi riservati e segreti di Russia, Spagna, Francia e Italia.
Qui sotto ho voluto ricordare un episodio poco conosciuto della vita del rivoluzionario di Parma, ma importante per il suo significato storico-politico e simbolico: nel 1924 Picelli inalberò la bandiera rossa sul Parlamento italiano sfidando Mussolini che aveva abolito la Festa del Primo Maggio.
Ma chi era quest'uomo coraggioso, altruista, nobile, libertario e beffardo? Negli anni '20 e '30 fu una vera leggenda per il proletariato internazionale. Il teorico della «guerriglia urbana» era in realtà un fervente anti-militarista che si serviva delle tecniche e strategie militari per difendere il proletariato. In questo senso sarà sempre ricordato per la «Battaglia di Parma» del 1922, quando sconfisse con 400 Arditi del popolo i 10 mila squadristi fascisti guidati da Italo Balbo. Fu una vittoria unica, un capolavoro tattico che le forze politiche democratiche nazionali non vollero trasformare in strategia. Così tra errori, settarismi e divisioni, misero il paese in mano ai fascisti.

Jeux Olympiques et Coupe du monde : terrains de jeux d’un néolibéralisme de choc

PETITJEAN Olivier

PetitjeanLes grandes compétitions sportives planétaires coûtent de plus en plus cher. Surtout, le Comité international olympique et la FIFA, qui commercialisent ces produits phares du divertissement mondial, sont devenus de véritables holdings sans aucun contrôle. Résultat : présomptions de corruption, optimisation fiscale, violations du droit du travail, expulsions des populations pauvres pour laisser place à des infrastructures souvent inutiles et remise en cause de la démocratie accompagnent ces évènements. Pour le plus grand profit de ces holdings et de leurs sponsors, et sous les acclamations des stades.

HSBC: the bank with a shameful past and scandalous present

Series : The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (part 4)

by Eric Toussaint

Eric ToussaintThe British bank HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) employs 260,000 people, has offices in 75 countries, and 54 million customers. |1| From its earliest days, it has been involved in the international narcotics trade. It was founded in the wake of the British victories in the Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) against China. These two wars were very important to the strengthening of the British Empire and the century and a half waning of China. Through the Opium Wars, the British Empire forced China to accept opium importations coming from British India. China tried to oppose this commerce, but British arms, backed by Washington, proved stronger. London established a colony in Hong Kong in 1865, where HSBC was created by a Scottish merchant specializing in the opium trade— the basis of 70% of Hong Kong trade with the Indies.

Finance: Drug and Bank Lords

Series: The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (part 3)

TOUSSAINT Eric

Eric ToussaintThe British bank HSBC, which employs 260, 000 people worldwide, is present in 75 countries, and claims to have 54 million customers [1] is another example of the “Too Big to Jail” phenomenon. [2] Over the last ten years, HSBC has laundered $881 million [3] for Mexican and Columbian drug cartels that are responsible for tens of thousands of firearm related assassinations. These relations continue in spite of dozens of warnings from different US government agencies including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The profits from this business are so important that not only does HSBC continue, but it has also opened specialized services in its Mexico offices where drug dealers may simply hand in stocks of cash for cleaning. [4] It has been revealed that HSBC was accused of failing to respect regulations, to prevent money laundering, on nearly $700 billion of transfers and over $9.4 billion in US currency purchases from HSBC Mexico. The bank also violated sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Burma, amongst others. Although HSBC is openly contemptuous towards the law, it has hardly been subjected to any legal consequences. In December 2012, HSBC was condemned to a fine of $1.9 billion – about one week of revenue – as the full and final penalty for its money laundering activities. Although aiding and abetting terrorist organisations, and drug trafficking, are punishable by five years in prison not one director or employee has been criminally prosecuted. Bank directors have a free hand to take part in drug trafficking, sanction violations, or any other crime.

Fumble and late recovery: The Comintern response to Italian fascism

RIDDELL John

• The rise of Italian Fascism
• United anti-Fascist defence
• The ECCI grabs the ball (...)
• Fascism: the search for a (...)
• About face

Riddell JohnIn a comment on this [John Riddell's] website [1], Jara Handala raised a number of questions regarding the evolution of the Comintern's position on fascism, a topic touched on in my article Weighing the Legacy of Lenin's Comintern [2]. I do not know of any full treatment of this topic in English. I am therefore providing the summary account prepared for the introduction to my book on the Comintern's Fourth Congress, Toward the United Front [3] (Haymarket Books). This draft (Copyright © 2011, 2014 John Riddell) differs slightly from the final text in the book.