Spain: popular resistance delivers results

 by Esther Vivas

“Resisting is pointless”, we hear endlessly repeated. “So many years of protest but the crisis continues, why bother?” insist others, inoculating us with apathy and resignation. “Protests could lead to something that’s even worse”, whispers the machinery of fear. They want us submissive, heads bowed. Dreams of change are forbidden. However, history rebels, indomitable. And it shows us, despite the naysayers, that struggle is worth it. The victories against the privatisation of the Madrid’s public health system, of the Gamonal neighbourhood standing up to speculators and the corrupt, of the cleaners in their battle for jobs in the capital and the struggle against evictions and the banks, are good examples.

Bosnia anti-government protests spread

What started as a demonstration by unpaid workers in the north has expanded to more cities and other issues

Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in cities across Bosnia on Friday, as demonstrations by unpaid workers in the northern city of Tuzla spread to other parts of the country and morphed into widespread discontent — in an election year — about unemployment and rampant corruption.

Miguel Romero (“Moro”): Revolutionary dignity

Tuesday 28 January 2014, by Manuel Garí

On January 26 in Madrid, cancer finally conquered the tenacious resistance of Miguel Romero Baeza (born Melilla, 1945). A journalist and revolutionary militant, who experienced and fought the Franco dictatorship and the capitalist system with the same passion, intelligence and dignity which with he faced his disease. He never lost the capacity of indignation faced with injustice, he was always on the side of those at the bottom, was immune to accommodation and at all times maintained analytical lucidity and decisiveness in action. As happened with so many others and other revolutionaries, his was first sensitivity towards other people’s suffering, then an ethical option (“with the poor people of this earth I want to share my fate ") and later, only later, came tactics and strategy, party and program. He lived exactly as he thought. Neither a drop of ambition, nor an ounce of profit. Decently. Austerely. Incorruptible.

Miguel Romero 'Moro', la dignidad revolucionaria 

 MANUEL GARÍ, Miembro del consejo editorial de Viento Sur

El cáncer pudo, finalmente, el 26 de enero en Madrid, con la tenaz resistencia de Miguel Romero Baeza (Melilla, 1945). Periodista y militante revolucionario, que vivió y combatió a la dictadura franquista y al sistema capitalista con la misma pasión, inteligencia y dignidad con la que enfrentó su enfermedad. Nunca perdió la capacidad de indignación frente a la injusticia, siempre se puso del lado de las gentes de abajo, fue inmune al acomodo, en todo momento mantuvo la lucidez analítica y la decisión en la acción. Lo suyo, como ocurrió con tantos otros y otras revolucionarios, primero fue una sensibilidad hacia el sufrimiento ajeno, luego una opción ética ("con los pobres de la Tierra quiero yo mi suerte echar") y más tarde, sólo más tarde, vinieron la táctica y la estrategia, el partido y el programa. Vivió exactamente como pensaba. Ni una gota de ambición, ni un gramo de lucro. Decentemente. Austeramente. Incorruptible.

Philippines debt must be cancelled to support typhoon recovery work

by Christian Aid

The enormous financial burden the Philippines labours under in servicing international debt while struggling to recover from Typhoon Haiyan and prepare for future emergencies must be lifted, said Christian Aid today.

Brésil

L’Audit citoyen de la dette au Brésil (Auditoria Cidadã da Dívida) : une source d’inspiration

25 novembre par William Gaviria Ocampo

María Lucia Fattorelli, coordinatrice nationale de l’organisation brésilienne Auditoria Cidadã da Dívida (Audit Citoyen de la dette), travaille depuis plusieurs années au côté d’une excellente équipe de femmes et d’hommes à la sensibilisation et à la conscientisation de la population brésilienne ainsi que des autorités administratives, judiciaires et des organismes de contrôle. Ils/elles sont parvenu-e-s à étendre leur rayon d’action à de nombreuses régions du pays, dans lesquelles des groupes d’audit citoyen avancent dans la recherche et l’analyse des budgets et des dettes de leur localité. L’organisation dispose maintenant à la fois d’un grand réseau national couvrant une ample zone géographique et d’un fort potentiel de participation citoyenne.

L’Empire Ottoman face à une « troïka » franco-anglo-allemande : retour sur une relation de dépendance par l’endettement

Au XIXe siècle, alors même qu’était réaffirmé le principe de souveraineté des États hérité de la paix de Westphalie, se déployaient de puissants dispositifs de dépendance liés à la dette. Comme d’autres États et Empires de la « semi-périphérie » (Empire russe, Égypte, Chine), l’Empire ottoman se trouva progressivement engagé dans une intense relation de subordination envers les « grandes puissances » de l’époque, France, Angleterre, (Allemagne, de manière secondaire). C’est l’usage de l’endettement public externe qui lia l’Empire au « centre » ; d’abord financière, la subordination fut rapidement étendue aux champs administratif et diplomatique.

The Health of the Populations Battered by Austerity

  by Patrick Saurin

In a recently published book, The Body Economic. Why Austerity Kills, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu present an enlightening panorama of the consequences for public health, of the austerity based policies applied to the economic crisis. Adapting work they have published in the specialised press they arrive at the conclusion, that austerity not only kills, but it aggravates the economic problems it is supposed to solve.

From serious research in referenced and incontestable sources, often coming from the very institutions or States whose actions they criticise, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu build up a detailed and precise inventory of the major crises since the 30s: starting with the great depression in the US at that time; the crisis of masculine mortality in Russia after the fall of the communist regime, the breaking up of the Soviet Union and the liberalising of the economy; the Asian crisis in 1997, and finally the Worldwide recession that began in 2007, are the events these researchers have studied.

The great recession of these last years has given the authors the opportunity to study the policies applied by a certain number of States, particularly concerning their attitudes to the banks, who are largely responsible for the crisis, and the results obtained.

The Age of Austerity

by Isabel Ortiz , Matthew Cummins