[LAAMN]
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34491.htm?utm_source=ICH%3A+9%2F11%3A+Illegitimacy+of+US+Governmentutm_campaign=FIRSTutm_medium=email 9/11: Illegitimacy of US Government New York City asks: What happened to the 1,116 missing 9/11 victims? By Dr. Kevin Barrett April 02, 2013 Information Clearing House -Press TV - More than 11 years after the catastrophic destruction of the World Trade Center, New York Citys government is finally asking: What in the world could have happened to the missing 1,116 victims? In every building collapse in history, all of the victims bodies have been recovered more or less intact. That is because falling buildings crush human bodies. They do not shred them into tiny pieces, or cause them to vanish into thin air. Yet on September 11th, 2001, the most famous building collapses in history somehow caused the bodies of more than 1,000 victims to magically disappear. Not even a shred of skin, a fragment of fingernail, or a shard of bone from any of these bodies was ever recovered, despite meticulous sifting and bucketing efforts. But thats not the only mystery. Hardly anything was left of the 1,634 WTC occupants who did not completely vanish. Most of the human remains discovered and DNA-identified were in the form of tiny, shredded pieces, not intact bodies. What happened to the nearly 3,000 human bodies that were annihilated during the ten-second disappearances of the 110-story Towers? Answer: The same thing that happened to the office furniture, filing cabinets, telephones, computers, and other contents of the Towers. Virtually no remains of these objects were ever recovered, either. They - like the human bodies - were somehow transformed into a mixture of tiny shards and sub-100-micron dust, which floated out to sea and slowly settled into the Atlantic. As one of the sifters-and-bucketers remarked, the biggest piece of office furniture recovered from Ground Zero was a tiny fragment of a telephone keypad. Now, more than 11 years later, the New York City government is finally acknowledging the mystery. In a memo to the 9/11 victims families, NYC official Casey Holloway announced that this Monday, April 1st, the citys Chief Medical Examiner will begin sifting through 60 truckloads of World Trade Center construction debris at Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. The city says it hopes to find remains of at least some of the 1,116 missing victims. Unfortunately, the chances of finding remains of more than a few additional victims seem remote. After all, the Twin Towers debris - which amounted to less than 50% of the mass of the Towers (what happened to the rest of the mass?) - was already meticulously sifted and bucketed more than a decade ago. The citys decision to sift through recent construction debris beginning April 1st bears more than a passing resemblance to George W. Bushs decision to get down on his hands and knees to look under his desk for the missing Iraqi WMD. Is this some kind of cruel April Fools Day joke? The absence of crushed-but-intact human bodies, office furniture and equipment, and 50% of the Towers mass suggests that the Twin Towers did not collapse - they exploded. (See the Youtube film North Tower Exploding.) This would explain why tiny human bone fragments were discovered scattered all over the roof of the neighboring Deutsche Bank building in 2006. No simple gravitational collapse, like the one posited by US governments official NIST Report, could possibly blast human skeletons to smithereens and deposit those smithereens all over the roof of a neighboring building. Were the Twin Towers, and the thousands of people inside them, blown to bits by explosives? That is what many of the 9/11 victims family members believe. Robert McIlvaine, whose son Bobby was murdered in the Twin Towers on 9/11, has stated that roughly half the family members share his suspicion that the Towers were explosively demolished in a false-flag attack. William Rodriguez, the famous 9/11 hero who has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, is another representative of the 9/11 survivors who asserts that the evidence for controlled demolition is an open secret. Scientist Carl Sagan once pointed out that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. But sometimes absence of evidence IS a smoking gun. The absence of intact bodies, office contents, and half of the mass of the Twin Towers is a smoking gun proving that the Towers were explosively demolished. The missing contents and mass of the Twin Towers are not the only mysterious absence connected with 9/11. Other notable missing evidence includes: * The absence of the US governments 80-plus videos of the attack on the Pentagon, some of which were confiscated by FBI agents just moments after the attack. Only a few frames have been released, and those frames show an explosion at the Pentagon but no big airliner. * The absence of the 100,000 kilos of Boeing 757
[LAAMN] 4/2: Iran War Weekly
Iran War Weekly April 2, 2013 From: _fbrodhead@aol.com_ (mailto:fbrodh...@aol.com) http://www.actionla.org:8080/actionla/front/detailed3.jsp?title=4/2:%20Iran% 20War%20WeeklynewsId=933filename=1364983798562ext=jpg Hello All – Following a “successful” renewal of negotiations in February, and an ambiguous round of technical talks in March, Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) are set to meet again in Kazakhstan at the end of this week. What are the prospects for progress in resolving disputes about Iran’s nuclear program and (not incidentally) reducing the prospects for war? The basic parameters of these talks will pit demands by the United States that Iran cease or reduce critical parts of its uranium enrichment program against claims by Iran that progress can only be based on “the West’s” acceptance of Iran’s right to enrich uranium under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and on the lifting of economic sanctions. The “ success” of February’s negotiations was based on the apparent willingness of both parties to discuss these issues; but pundit pessimism about the prospects for this week’s negotiations stems from how little the United States appears willing to give Iran in exchange for anything. Among “Western” analysts, there are two broad areas of discussion and disagreement: what are Iran’s nuclear intentions and capabilities; and whether economic sanctions are forcing the Iranian leadership towards modifying its nuclear program. This week, in the good/useful reading linked below, we have the ingredients for an interesting discussion on both Iran’s nuclear program and the effect of economic sanctions. In my view, the differences among antiwar analysts about Iran’s nuclear program and the actual effect of the economic sanctions point to the need for the US antiwar movement to pay more attention to Iran and to some of the issues that serve as the basis for pro-war propaganda. The political-military climate surrounding this weeks negotiations in Kazakhstan keeps getting worse. This is primarily due to the war in Syria. The stepped up shipments of weapons to the armed opposition, President Obama’s discussions with Israel (whatever they were), Secretary of State Kerry’s warnings to Iraq about Iranian overflights, the apparent rapprochement between Israel and Turkey, Israeli military action on its borders with Syria and Lebanon, and yesterday’s news that the United Nations is developing a post-Assad “peacekeeping” force all increase the probability of a regional war. And it is difficult to imagine how the regionalization of the war in Syria could fail to drag in Iran and unleash the military action against Iran that the United States and Israel have long had as “options on the table.” Once again I would like to thank those who you who have forwarded this newsletter or linked it on your sites. Previous “issues” of the Iran War Weekly are posted at http://warisacrime.org/blog/46383. If you would like to receive the IWW mailings, please send me an email at _fbrodhead@aol.com_ (mailto:fbrodh...@aol.com) . Best wishes, Frank Brodhead OVERVIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES A Curate’s Egg (Good in Parts) By Peter Jenkins, Lobe Log [March 31, 2013] [Being British, former IAEA envoy Peter Jenkins assumes that we are familiar with the 1895 Punch cartoon that brought “curate’s egg” – meaning that (contrary to fact) something basically rotten has good parts nevertheless – into our common English language. I learned this factoid at _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curate%27s_egg_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curate's_egg) .] Last week, while visiting Israel and Jordan, President Barak Obama publicly emphasised that there is still time to resolve the nuclear dispute without resorting to force and that this is his preference. For peaceniks everywhere, those were encouraging words. But, advertently or not, the President’s words also revealed two of the most perplexing aspects of his administration’s Iran policy: their insistence on making unique demands of Iran, and their reluctance to give weight to US intelligence findings. http://www.lobelog.com/a-curates-egg-good-in-parts/ Iranian People Caught in Crossfire of Dueling Messages By Farideh Farhi, Inter Press Service [March 27, 2013] This year, like the first year of Obama’s presidency, the two leaders’ public messages had added significance because of the positive signals broadcast by both sides after Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany met in Almaty, Kazakhstan in March. The second meeting is slotted to occur Apr. 6. Considering that the exchanged messages came in the midst of ongoing talks, a degree of softened language and the abandonment of threats was expected. In his first Norouz speech in 2009, when both
[LAAMN] Events-Days of Action in Support of the Bolivarian Revolution
[image: Hands Off Venezuela]*Hands Off Venezuela* @*HOVcampaign*https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign Montreal le 3 Avril UQAM Chávez: Une vie de révolutionnaire http:// marxist.ca/component/gcal endar/event/c2loMGZ2MjBxcTJoaW9rcnU1M2xkamt2dDQgbWFyeGlzdC5jYUBt/7.html?start=1365033600end=1365040800 http://t.co/i4XQ6av0sG FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/3529553 31477309/ https://t.co/235LsQ2gSu pic.twitter.com/vmYyktq3Y5http://t.co/vmYyktq3Y5 [image: Hands Off Venezuela]*Hands Off Venezuela* @*HOVcampaign*https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign Toronto April 5, Socialist Fightback at UofT and Ryerson University present: THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED http:// marxist.ca/component/gcal endar/event/ODFxbGtqNmNkMzAxZHBuZ21tbnJoM2NwYXMgbWFyeGlzdC5jYUBt/7.html?start=1365202800end=136521 http://t.co/1a5ZBu41El 1. [image: Hands Off Venezuela]*Hands Off Venezuela* @*HOVcampaign*https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign Mallorca, April 6, debate on the achievements of the Bolivarian revolution https://www.facebook.com/events/518590444859545/ https://t.co/iT0UmdyO3i * * 2. ** [image: Hands Off Venezuela]*Hands Off Venezuela* @*HOVcampaign*https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign Mallorca, April 5 - homage to Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution https://www.facebook.com/events/502366053145495 https://t.co/0KQZ5rT8YJ --- *In DC Commemoration concert* [image: Commemoration concert in Washington DC!]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151392562993123set=oa.342540885856162type=1relevant_count=1ref=nf ** Follow Post · March 30 at 1:13pmhttps://www.facebook.com/events/172119516270450/permalink/183035731845495/ [image: Hands Off Venezuela]*Hands Off Venezuela* @*HOVcampaign*https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign Toronto, April 13, anniversary of defeat of the coup and support for @* nicolasmaduro* https://twitter.com/NicolasMaduro campaign pic.twitter.com/Qe6qwOP9LA http://t.co/Qe6qwOP9LA 11m https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign/status/319405536988778496 Toronto, April 13, anniversary of defeat of the coup and support for @* nicolasmaduro* https://twitter.com/NicolasMaduro campaign pic.twitter.com/Qe6qwOP9LA http://t.co/Qe6qwOP9LA *Details* https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign/status/319405536988778496 - *Chavez Vive,La Lucha Sigue! Chavez por siempre, Maduro President https://www.facebook.com/events/172119516270450/* [image: Photo]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151505591668695set=oa.342540885856162type=1relevant_count=1ref=nf ** * * *A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO SUPPORT THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION No U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Elections TELL WASHINGTON THE VENEZUELAN ELITE: NO TO DESTABILIZATION EFFORTS IN VENEZUELA, A day of Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution: Thursday APRIL 11, 2013* After the tragic death of our beloved president Chavez, the imperialist nations of the world are preparing to attack the Bolivarian Revolution. Venezuela is getting prepared for a new presidential election and the imperialists are intent to intervene and sabotage the election. The solidarity movement in the United States right now faces a critical challenge with regards to Venezuela as well as the revolutionary process in Latin America. The tragic death of our comrade President Hugo Chavez has many believing that the important process for progress in Venezuela, Latin America and the world, has been dealt a crippling blow but we know that the Venezuelan people and the region will never go backward. And our solidarity will continue as they move forward in their struggles for self-determination, sovereignty, integration and social justice. The people of Venezuela will honor the last will of President Chavez by overwhelmingly voting this coming April 14 for Nicolas Maduro for President. The Venezuelan people clearly remain committed to the process of fundamental change in their country, no matter what. We are confident that the roots of the Bolivarian Revolution will remain strong and grow. But the death of our dear President Hugo Chavez will be used by US imperialism and the elite oligarchy in Venezuela to carry out aggressive plans to destabilize the revolutionary process in Venezuela. We must send a strong message to Washington right away: we are organizing our voices of solidarity with the Venezuelan people and demand no intervention during this coming election in Venezuela. Why April 11? The Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 was a failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002, that saw late President Hugo Chavez ousted from office for 47 hours, being restored by a combination of military loyalists and massive public support for his government. Chavez was initially detained by members of the military and of pro-business elites represented by Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras) president Pedro Carmona, who was declared as the interim president. Carmona's
[LAAMN] The ironies of the Venezuelan opposition, part 14
http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/04/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-14.html The ironies of the Venezuelan opposition, part 14http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/04/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-14.htmlApril 3, 2013 Sabina Becker [image: bolivarian-students] You know how the Venezuelan opposition is always bragging about how its got all the students on its side? Even when theyre actually eating their candidates alivehttp://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/03/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-11.html, and some of them arent even studentshttp://www.sabinabecker.com/2007/09/a_pretty_boy_with_an_ugly_hist.html? Or how their demonstrations are all so peaceful, even when theyre demonstrably*not?*http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/04/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-12.html Well, get ready, because here comes another ironic little fact, straight out of Majunches own state of Miranda:http://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n226063.html *On Tuesday, university students from the state of Miranda protested near the state government offices, in Los Teques, demanding the resignation of Henrique Capriles Radonski, current right-wing presidential candidate and governor of the state.* * The students came from Simón Rodríguez National Experimental University (UNESR), the University College of Los Teques (CULTCA), the National Experimental Polytechnic University of the Armed Forces (UNEFA), and the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV). Also present were members of the Bolivarian Organization of Students (OBE). Linder Crespo, president of the student centre at CULTCA, said that the young people are tired of the disorder and lack of government in Miranda due to bad leadership over the last four years, with Capriles as governor. We are protesting peacefully to demand that the fascist governor either step down or start paying attention to his job, because he has used this important office as a slush fund for his personal use, to support his political party [Primero Justicia] and his presidential campaign, with no respect for the people of Miranda. Miranda is in a state of decay. Capriles destroyed the Regional Institute for Youth, he tried to rob the UNEFA of its seat, he tried to eradicate education in Miranda, and he has not invested in primary, secondary or post-secondary education in the state, Crespo said. Erick Díaz, vice-president of the UNESR students federation, said that the state of abandonment in which Miranda finds itself is a tangible example of how Capriles is not fit to govern Venezuela. * *The University students of Miranda are on a war footing. We are fed up with Capriles abandoning the state, the insecurity which has us in a state of siege every day. As spearheads of our country, as our Comandante Chávez said, we will recuperate the state of Mirada with Elías Jaua and our president, Nicolás Maduro.* Translation mine. Oh dear. There are *Chavista* students! In *Miranda!* And they point the finger for the decay and insecurity they suffer not at the Bolivarian federal government, but at the fascist state government, which isnt even paying attention to their most basic needs. Well, *somebody* has got to, and it aint the opposition; even the acerbic Henry Ramos Allup has been silent as the grave on this matter. And thats funny, because the opposition is always banging on about the chaos and uncertainty Venezuela has supposedly plunged into as a result of Chavecitos 14-year reign. Funnier still, states and municipalities with Bolivarian governments yes, thats right, CHAVISTAS in charge dont seem to have this problem! Meanwhile, Majunche a true oligarch, if nothing else is treating the office like his own personal ATM (what, is all that gringo dinero not enough?) while he carries on his quixotic vendetta against a dead man and a bus driver, ignoring the duties to which he was supposed to have been elected. And hes lagging behind by about 20 points in the polls now. And the best HIS student backers can do is launch guarimbas, burn cars and block major roadways. I cant imagine why hes not more popular, can you? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com
[LAAMN] for unionists, iraq's oil war rages on
For Unionists, Iraq's Oil War Rages On The leader of Iraq's oil union is being threatened with prison - again. By David Bacon In These Times, web edition, 4/2/13 http://inthesetimes.com/article/14808/for_unionists_iraqs_oil_war_rages_on/ Hassan Juma'a, head of Iraq's oil workers union Many Iraqi oil workers thought the fall of Saddam Hussein would mean they would finally be free to organize unions, and that their nationally owned industry would be devoted to financing the reconstruction of the country. But the reality could not have been more different. Earlier this month, the head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Hassan Juma'a, was hauled into a Basra courtroom and accused of organizing strikes, a charge for which he could face prison time. The union he heads is still technically illegal: Saddam's ban on public-sector unions was the sole Saddam-era dictate kept in place under the U.S. occupation, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki hasn't shown any interest in changing it since most U.S. troops left. Union oil workers in the Rumaila field And the oil industry? The big multinational petroleum giants now run the nation's fields. Between 2009 and 2010, the Maliki government granted contracts for developing existing fields and exploring new ones to 18 companies, including ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, the Italian Eni, Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil, Malaysia's Petronas and a partnership between BP and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation. When they started, the U.S. military provided the initial security umbrella protecting all of their field operations. Contingency Operating Base Basra was fully functional and supplying security to oil companies through the beginning of 2010, after the contracts were awarded in 2009. Over time, its operations were reduced as the companies began supplying their own security, but the base is still the site of the U.S. Consulate in Basra. The Ministry of Oil technically still owns the oil, but functions more as the multinationals' adjunct, while stripping workers of their rights. Since 2003 the ministry has denied the union its right to exist and retaliated against its leaders and activists. As the oil corporations rush in to lay claim to developing fields, ministry spokesman Assam Jihad told the Iraq Oil Report in 2010, Unionists instigate the public against the plans of the oil ministry to develop [Iraq's] oil riches using foreign development. In 2011, Hassan Juma'a and Falih Abood, president and general secretary of the Federation of Oil Employees of Iraq, were first subject to legal action by the ministry and threatened with arrest. Many of the union's elected officers have been transferred from jobs they'd held for years to remote locations far from their families, in an effort to break up its structure and punish activists. The government doesn't want workers to have rights, because it wants people to be weak and at the mercy of employers, said Juma'a. The repression has been unsuccessful in stifling dissent, however. This year has seen escalations in both workers protesting broken promises of better wages and treatment, and in local farmers objecting to the seizure of their land and the lack of jobs to replace their lost income. Oil workers on the drilling platform In February hundreds of workers demonstrated on three separate occasions outside the building of the government-run South Oil Company in Basra, calling for its director and his aides to resign. The company, managed by the national oil ministry, promised to build housing for workers, an urgent necessity in a province still recovering from war. Workers said they hadn't been paid their normal bonuses for two years and accused the company of hiring temporary workers, and then keeping them in that status indefinitely instead of giving them permanent jobs. They also demanded better medical care, especially for those suffering the effects of exposure to depleted uranium. This heavy metal was used extensively in shells and other munitions by U.S. forces, and war remnants are still piled high in neighborhoods and across the countryside. In one of the largest protests, union members joined farmers in a demonstration at the West Qurna 1 field, operated by ExxonMobil. They demanded higher payment for land taken to develop the field, and for jobs created by oil development. Mohammed al-Traim, the sheikh of the Beni Mansour tribe, told the Iraq Oil Report, We have become farmers without land. Tank treads, shells and other war remains next to apartments in the middle of Basra A desperate situation Farming is the traditional occupation for most families in southern Iraq, who have been cultivating the soil there for thousands of years. The Iraqi government set up a committee to compensate them when oil companies moved in, but farmers accuse it of grossly undervaluing their land. Compensation for one donum (six-tenths of an
[LAAMN] All I want for Nowruz is life-saving medicine for Iranians
[image: Havaar] *Dearest friends and allies,* Happy Persian new year! We hope youre enjoying the start of a new season and expecting a wonderful year ahead of you. As you may know, Havaar recently launched a campaignhttp://havaar.org/medicine/statement/to oppose the sanctions that have had such a devastating effect on average Iranians. As a starting point, we are focusing on pressuring banks to enable financial transactions that will help Iranians to acquire life-saving medicines, some of which have been unavailable or unaffordable in recent months. You may have already signed our petition http://havaar.org/medicinetargeted at several banks, and if so thank you! If you haven't, please take a moment to sign http://havaar.org/medicine and help push us toward our goal of 5,000 signatories. Please help to spread the word about this campaign and petition via e-mail, Facebook http://goo.gl/n21RO, Twitterhttp://goo.gl/dloYJ, and other social media. Havaar will be providing updates in the weeks ahead over this e-mail list and at havaar.org. You can stay even more in touch by liking Havaar's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/HavaarForJustice, which also helps us to spread the word about the campaign. Here are what some who have signed are saying about this campaign and about the sanctions against Iran generally: Kathy Kelly (founding member of anti-Iraq sanctions group Voices in the Wilderness): Campaigners dedicated to ending economic sanctions against Iraq learned from Iraqi mothers and children about how lethally punitive economic sanctions could be. The pediatrics wards of Iraqi hospitals were like death rows for infants. Now, ordinary Iranians with minimal capacity to control their government are nevertheless being punished by economic sanctions which forbid them access to life saving medicines. The Havaar campaign needs and deserves support from civil society around the world. Azadeh Shahshahani (President of the National Lawyers Guild): The U.S.-imposed sanctions regime has inflicted great suffering upon the Iranian people. As people of conscience, we have to speak out and act decisively to end the sanctions and to ensure that Iranians have adequate access to life saving medicine and other necessities. *Denis J. Halliday (UN Assistant Secretary-General 1994-98)*: Sanctions, smart or comprehensive, are a form of warfare and a blunt weapon of aggression on the most vulnerable citizens, including infants, children and the aged. When the Health Sector is endangered as in Iran today, loss of life results - demonstrating how sanctions constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Sanctions do not destroy governments, they destroy the basic human rights of human beings. Among the many people who have already signed on are Anthony C. Alessandrini, Tariq Ali, Stanley Aronowitz, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Silvia Federici, Arun Gupta, Adam Hochschild, Zachary Lockman, David McReynolds, Molly Nolan, Vijay Prashad, Chris Toensing, Adaner Usmani, and Julia Wrigley. In solidarity, Havaar http://havaar.org/ Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression [image: powered by phpList2.10.17, copy phpList ltd]http://www.phplist.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Egypt: Which way forward for revolutionary socialists? - Part two
http://www.marxist.com/which-way-forward-for-revolutionary-socialists-pt-2.htm Egypt: Which way forward for revolutionary socialists? - Part twohttp://www.marxist.com/which-way-forward-for-revolutionary-socialists-pt-2.htm Written by Hamid AlizadehWednesday, 03 April 2013 [image: Print]http://www.marxist.com/which-way-forward-for-revolutionary-socialists-pt-2/print.htm[image: E-mail]http://www.marxist.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,1cb790934ba68dd3a5bcedf83db801a04e25843f/tmpl,component/ In the second part of this article we take a look at the contradictions of Egyptian capitalism, which are hindering it from solving the most basic tasks that it is posed with. Only a socialist revolution can solve the tasks of the revolution. But how do we connect the struggle for socialism with the day to day struggles of the masses? [Part 1]http://www.marxist.com/which-way-forward-for-revolutionary-socialists-pt-1.htm Democracy and Socialism [image: Freedom-Latuff]http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/egypt/Freedom-Latuff.gifWithout a clear class position it is impossible to move forward. Seen from the point of view of advancing the revolution, the presidential elections were the most important political struggle. The RS comrades demonstrated that they were not prepared for the tasks that lay before them and therefore they were cut off from a whole layer of workers and youth who at that time were moving into the field of organised politics. The massive growth of Sabahis tendency is a reflection of the possibilities that were present. These opportunities will occur again, but in order to seize them, a correct class stance is needed. It is not enough to be able to say who to support or not - in fact that is only the ABC. What Marxists must be able to do is to present a coherent programme that takes as its starting point the concrete situation that the revolution is in. Unfortunately, again we must say comrade Naguib comes short when it comes to developing such a programme. In comrade Naguibs critisism of the Brotherhood and the Liberals he points out, It is unimaginable that a revolution on this scale can simply be contained by a limited and superficial democratic transition without deeper changes in terms of the redistribution of wealth and power in the country. This is the root of the Brotherhood's crisis. The protests over the constitution are not just about defending democracy, but also reflect people's anger as the expectations that the Brotherhood themselves had fostered are being dashed. People expected that wages would rise and that life would get better and this hasn't happened. (Egypt: the Muslim brotherhood under pressure http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=12217 ) Apart from the fact that we do not believe that the size of a revolution tells us much about its course and character, we fully agree with the comrade that the revolution was not just for democracy. The main underlying factors that caused the revolution were poverty, unemployment, corruption as well as the suffocating Mubarak dictatorship. Neither the SCAF nor the Muslim Brotherhood were able to address these problems and therefore the masses, through direct action, have been trying to address the problems themselves. Over the course of 2012 there were more than 3400 strikes in Egypt, of which 2400 took place after Morsis election as president. This is compared to approximately 1200 the year before - which was a historical record in itself. [image: bread] http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/egypt/bread.jpgThe question remains though. How can we address the question of bread? Comrade Naguib has the following explanation: The problem for the Brotherhood and for the liberals is that they cannot even start taking limited steps to ease the impact of the crisis on ordinary people without breaking the deal with the army and big business. That populist road is closed because the world has changed. [When the global economy was growing] during the 1950s and 1960s there were opportunities for reformist and populist policies which don't exist today. Without genuine progressive taxation, they can't spend money on hospitals, schools, housing or create new jobs. They are even refusing to renationalise the corrupt monopolies which were directly connected to Mubarak. People keep asking,Where are we going to get the money from? There is no shortage of money in Egypt: we have a thousand families of billionaires. There is no way to win even a degree of social justice without making these people pay.(Egypt: the Muslim brotherhood under pressurehttp://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=12217 ) So, what we understand is that the liberals and the Brotherhood cannot ease the impact of the crisis because they have a deal with the army and big business, which they are not willing to break. The populist road is closed because there is a world crisis (We do not really know what the comrade means, but
[LAAMN] Today's LUV News: 3 April, 2013
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyunderground/message/4187 - *STILL WORKING THE TWO PARTY SCAM * ** *Mainstream media are pushing a media blitz that President Obama is fundraising with the hope of getting a Democratic majority in the Congress next year. Even British news is reporting http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/us-usa-campaign-obama-idUSBRE93204Y20130403 The president has an interest in making the effort, because without a significant change in the make-up of Congress, he faces possible paralysis for many of the initiatives laid out in his inaugural address and State of the Union speech. * *But weren't we told by Obama supporters that the Republicans wouldn't let Obama do anything when he had both houses of the Congress, and a super majority in the Senate? When Obama previously had more Democratic Party power than he is currently working to attain in the Congress, he achieved what no Republican could have accomplished (particularly as Bush left power with polling numbers south of whale poop), including increasing the Bush bloated defense budget, increasing the Bush bankster bailout, and expanding the unpopular Bush wars. * *Democrats continue to say If only more of us were elected we would change things, but all evidence goes against this. In Bill Clinton's first two years as president, he also had both the House and Senate controlled by Democrats, and passed NAFTA and GATT to undermine labor and the environment. Of course, sold-out labor and environmentalists sat on their hands during the mid term elections and the Dems lost both the House and Senate as a consequence, just as Obama lost the House and much of his Senate majority after his sellouts, as Democratic voters stayed home.* *NAFTA and GATT were Ronald Reagan's dream, but it took a Democrat to pass them, with control of the House and Senate. In his second term, like Obama, Clinton encouraged people to donate to the Democrats to try to win back Congressional Democratic Party control, the scam we are currently revisiting, and many will fall for it, buying into the massive media blitz to keep people from straying from their two party prison.* *Many activists, understanding the scam, are working to build a public interest opposition with parties like the Green Party, rather than continuing to fall for the scam, understanding that yes, the Republicans will screw you if they take control of the government, but so will the Democrats, who have taken it further than Republicans have dreamed is possible. * *MASS MEDIA NOT NOTICING THE WORLD IS ON FIRE * ** *Major TV stations including ABC, NBC and CBS need to connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather and provide far more climate change coverage during their evening newscasts, a coalition of environmental and media groups urged with the release of a new petition campaign Tuesday, begins a piece at /Common Dreams/ http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/02-9.* *A MERE SEWER OF CORRUPTION WOULD SMELL BETTER THAN THIS * ** *How could Monsanto get the President and Congress to sell out the American people so horribly as to get the Monsanto Protection Act signed into law by President Obama? On yesterday's /Democracy Now!/ http://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/2/the_monsanto_protection_act_a_debate, Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food Water Watch and author of the book, Foodopoly: /The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America/, said, * *I think we have to look at how much money that the biotech industry has spent on lobbying. I mean, over the last 10 years, the biotech industry has spent $272 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. They have a hundred lobby shops in Washington. They've hired 13 former members of Congress. They've hired 300 former staffers for the White House and for Congress. And Monsanto alone has spent $63 million over the last 12 years on lobbying and campaign contributions. This is about political muscle and forcing their will on the American people.* **People often ask me, Why don't you run more Paul Krugman articles in /LUV News/? I haven't run many, because he is on the wrong side of many issues, from a public interest perspective, the one we use at /LUV News/. ** **Unlike the mainstream media, we try to take a larger view, to see if the poor and working class are considered. The traditional middle class-- the professionals and small business owners, and the wealthy, make up the top 10% and are well represented, but the poor and working class, the bottom 90%, are largely invisible in the mainstream economic news. ** **Krugman does better than most economists at defining what's wrong with our economic system, but if he
[LAAMN] URGENT-NOW: San Onofre Restart NRC Hearing (via Internet w/public comments)
URGENT-NOW: San Onofre Restart NRC Hearing (via Internet w/public comments) STARTS 11am, Pacific/Arizona time, 12noon Mountain time California Against Nuclear Power Radiation https://www.facebook.com/groups/CAagainstNuclearPowerAndRadiation/: Lily Champion https://www.facebook.com/lily.champion: ACTION ALERTS! REMINDER:The NRC will discuss Edison's License Amendment proposal at 11:00 on Weds 4/3/13. (that is only an hour from the time this was sent) The meeting will be held in Maryland, far from the issue but participation is still possible. Interested members of the public can participate in this meeting via Webcast link or toll-free audio teleconference. The Webcast link can be accessed at: http://video.nrc.gov/ . This link to the NRC webcast page will permit the user to select the meeting to be viewed and the viewing speed. The meeting link will become active approximately one hour prior to meeting start. The teleconference bridge number is 888-677-3916; passcode 2670631. Callers will initially be placed in a listen only status. At the designated point in the agenda, two way calling will be enabled, so that the public may ask questions of the NRC staff regarding the meeting discussions. Please prepare a little statement to say during the call in period making it explicitly clear that we don't want the NRC to give Edison a quick restart prior to and adjudicated License Amendment. ### --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] April 5, CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA and the new latin American
Bolivarian Circle Alberto Lovera of NY invites everybody from NYCAPRIL 5, CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA. and the new latin Americana documentary by aleida Guevara an oceanfilm310 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036Fri. April 5 @ 7:00PM AuditoriumJoin us for a screening of Chavez, Venezuela and the new Latin america.An intimate encounter between the charismatic Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Che Guevara’s daughter AleidaAfter the screening we will have a conversation with Ramsey Clark who just came back from Venezuela, Natasha Lycia Bannan and Julio EscalonaWilliam Ramsey Clark (born December 18, 1927) is an American lawyer, activist and former public official. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, which included service as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He supervised the drafting and played an important role in the passage of theVoting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968.Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan is a human rights attorney and Co-Chair of the International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild. Natasha was an Ella Baker Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights where she worked to hold governments accountable for human rights violations. She graduated from CUNY School of Law, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the CUNY Law Review and a Fellow at the Center for Latino/a Rights and Equality. Julio Escalona Venezuelan deputy ambassador in the UN About the film/50 minutes.Chávez is interviewed by Aleida Guevara, the daughter of the legendary revolutionary Che Guevara. He expresses a fiercely nationalist vision for Venezuela and a commitment to a united Latin America. He also discusses the significance of the military coup against his government in April 2002,Venezuela’s new democratic constitution, the extensive social programs undertaken as part of the Bolivarian revolution and assesses his country’s relations with the United States and Cuba.In what became a remarkably intimate dialogue over several days, Chávez is probed about his personal political formation and his views about the legacy of Che Guevara’s ideas and example in Latin America today.Included as an appendix is an exclusive interview with Venezuela’s former minister of defense Jorge GarcíaCarneiro, who played a key role in defeating the 2002 coup against Chávez.“There is a different Venezuela where the wretched of the earth know that they can free themselves from their past. And this is a different Latin America.” — Hugo ChávezAleida Guevara is the eldest daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara and Aleida March. She works as a pediatrician in Havana, Cuba, and is a prominent figure in the anti-globalization movement.Chavez Vive! La lucha sigue!Todos Somos Chavez! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] RADIO UNNAMEABLE ~ Screening Friday April 5th - Thursday 11th at Arena Cinema in Hollywood ~ About Legendary Radio Personality Bob Fass, Who Revolutionized Late Night FM Radio. April 5th wil
Sent From Lost Footage: lostfootagefi...@gmail.com RADIO UNNAMEABLE Screening Friday April 5th thru Thursday April 11th At The Arena Cinema in Hollywood 1625 North Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood 90028 Next to Egyptian Theater www.arenascreen.com/movie.aspx?movie_id=137221 Screening Times: 7:30 PM 9:15 PM With 5:45 PM Screenings on Saturday Sunday Friday, April 5th will be a Benefit for Pacifica Radio Archive $30 Ticket Includes Film Reception RSVP at: sh...@pacificaradioarchives.org - tel:800-735-0230%20x264 800-735-0230 x264 QA with Filmmakers Bob Fass Opening Weekend! Legendary radio personality Bob Fass revolutionized late night FM radio by serving as a cultural hub for music, politics and audience participation for nearly 50 years. Long before today's innovations in social media, Fass utilized the airwaves for mobilization encouraging luminaries and ordinary listeners to talk openly and take the program in surprising directions. Radio Unnameable is a visual and aural collage that pulls from Bob Fass's immense archive of audio from his program, film, photographs, and video that has been sitting dormant until now. www.radiounnameablemovie.com -- Co-Director, Co-Producer Radio Unnameable Lost Footage Films LLC 212-966-4345 www.radiounnameablemovie.com LIKE US on https://www.facebook.com/RadioUnnameableMovie FACEBOOK FOLLOW US http://twitter.com/RadioUnnameable @RadioUnnameable In http://www.radiounnameablemovie.com/screenings-2/ Theaters Now! Watch the http://youtu.be/tTyjhlu8QUA FILM TRAILER! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Brasil: MST leader,Fábio dos Santos Silva assassinated
On Tuesday, gunmen on motorcycle opened fired with 15 shots and brutally executed Fabio doe Santos Silva in front of his wife and child. Once again, the paramilitary arm of the bourgeois institutions murdered another MST leader. Now more than ever, it is urgent and necessary to hold a national meeting of workers from the countryside and the city to stop the killings, arrests and persecution of our bodies and our leaders. Report from MST site: In Portuguese http://www.mst.org.br/content/dirigente-do-mst-%C3%A9-executado-por-pistoleiros-com-15-tiros-na-bahia *and the Brasil section of the IMT:* http://www.marxismo.org.br/?q=blog/2013/04/03/dirigente-do-mst-e-executado-por-pistoleiros-com-15-tiros-na-bahia [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Free Screening of: ReGENERATION ~ Thursday, April 4th, 7:00 PM at the St. Matthias Episcopal Church in Whittier ~ Narrated by Ryan Gosling ~ Featuring Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman,
The Whittier Area Peace Justice Coalition Invites You to A Free Screening of ReGENERATION Thursday, April 4th - 7:00 PM At http://www.stmatthiaswhittier.org St. Matthias Episcopal Church 7056 Washington Avenue, Whittier 90602 Corner of Wardman Street Washington Avenue ReGENERATION http://www.regeneration-themovie.com/#ABOUT-TRAILER www.regeneration-themovie.com/#ABOUT-TRAILER This film explores how today’s generation approaches activism, how it is impacted by technology, our disconnection with nature and history, our consumer culture, and the economic factors holding many of us back from becoming more active participants in our communities. Through a diverse and intelligent series of stories, interviews and insights, we come to a deeper understanding of the influences shaping our society. We have entered uncharted territory, economically, environmentally, and intellectually–and we must look honestly at ourselves to create a sustainable future. The award-winning documentary film, #ReGENERATION, explores the galvanizing forces behind the Occupy Movement and the state of social activism in our society. The film takes an uncompromising look at the challenges facing today’s youth and young adults as they attempt to engage on a myriad of social and political issues. Focused on how our education, parenting, and media can influence us, the film follows three separate walks of life representing today’s generation. Each brings their own unique perspective – from an inspired collective of musicians working outside the corporate system, to a twenty-something conservative family about to welcome the birth of their second child, and a group of five high-school students from the suburbs looking for their place in society. Their stories are interspersed with the knowledge, wisdom, and personal reflections of some of the country’s leading scholars, social activists, and media personalities, including Noam Chomsky, the late Howard Zinn, Adbusters’ Kalle Lasn, Andrew Bacevich, Talib Kweli, and many others. Narrated by Ryan Gosling and featuring a riveting soundtrack from STS9, the film explores how today’s generation approaches activism, how it is impacted by technology, our disconnection with nature and history, our consumer culture, and the economic factors holding many of us back from becoming more active participants in our communities. Through a diverse and intelligent series of stories, interviews and insights, we come to a deeper understanding of the influences shaping our society. We have entered uncharted territory, economically, environmentally, and intellectually–and we must look honestly at ourselves to create a sustainable future. #ReGENERATION is the story of today’s generation… It is the story of us. http://www.stmatthiaswhittier.org St. Matthias Episcopal Church N/E corner of Wardman St. and Washington Ave. Washington Ave (not Blvd) runs north and south two short blocks east of Greenleaf Park on Washington (there is additional parking in the back of the church) Walk through the second gate north of Wardman http://mapq.st/fNC6wI MAPQUEST directions http://www.whittierpeace.org/pdf/Regeneration.pdf PDFprintable PDF flyer for this event Facebook event page http://www.facebook.com/events/401434063287118 HERE For More Information Contact: 562-587-6270 or 562-233-8579 chare...@aol.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whittier-Area-Peace-and-Justice-Coalition/70538254927 CLICK: go to our Facebook page Spread the word! ~ Charell Webmaster: http://www.whittierpeace.org/ www.WhittierPeace.org Whittier Area Peace and Justice Coalition [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com ---
[LAAMN] Esteban Morales-The Cuban Revolution Began in 1959
The Cuban Revolution Began in 1959April 2, 2013 | | Esteban Morales* http://estebanmoralesdominguez.blogspot.com/ Esteban Morales HAVANA TIMES Under a title devoid of historical accuracy and objectivity, Roberto Zurbano (the director of Cubas Casa de las Americas publishing house) is trying to characterize the situation of blacks in Cuba today. As a critical evaluator of the subject, I share some of his assertions, but not in such absolute terms, much less with the lack of objectivity with which these are formulated or his conclusions in a recent *The New York Times* article. Claiming that For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasnt Begunhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/opinion/sunday/for-blacks-in-cuba-the-revolution-hasnt-begun.html?_r=1%20above., his argument doesnt hold up, not even within the complex reality of Cuba today. Truly at the crossroads, the country is trying to find its own economically sustainable model so as not to repeat undergoing the degrees of economic dependence to which it was subject during three periods in less than a century (under Spain, the United States and lastly the USSR). During the final period (1960-1991), which was the most beneficial for the island, time was too short to definitively overcome the realities of a developing country. Therefore, any explanation of whats taking place today in Cuba with respect to blacks necessarily involves a deeper understanding of those periods of dependency, when poverty on the island was also massively white, though wealth was never black. This situation was something that dragged on for several centuries until the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. It was then that the poor population in Cuba benefited from a social policy an extraordinarily humanitarian one that fought against and still fights against poverty and inequality to the very edge of egalitarianism. Within the social reality generated by that policy, blacks and mestizos also benefited greatly. As a result, we now have a significant number of black physicians, scientists, intellectuals and skilled workers a situation that we owe to this social policy that profoundly marked Cuban society during the 30 years after 1959. Theres no denying that mistakes were made. One of them perhaps the most significant was to not consider skin color as a variable of social differentiation. It wasnt taken into account that because of their different historical starting point, blacks (in addition to being poorer) had suffered firstly for their enslavement and secondly from the disadvantages involved in their having had to endure racism and racial discrimination. This meant they always stood in a position of disadvantage relative to whites, even though the latter were also poor in the main. Our society hadnt been designed for whites, blacks and mestizos to be equal. During the years of revolution despite how humanitarian and radical its efforts could have been it wasnt possible to completely erase that ballast of colonial slavery. This is the explanation for many of the inequalities and social difficulties that continue to weigh upon us and that the revolution that started in 1959 has tried to solve. Everyone involved in this process would like progress to be made more rapidly, but the subject is difficult and its treatment has been complicated by the accumulation of years of delay. Unlike what happened in 1962, when it was suggested that racism and racial discrimination had been overcome, and especially since post 80s crises that shook the Cuban economy, a debate on the subject has been continually growing. The economic crisis served to show us that it had been idealistic to believe that the race problem had been solved or was being solved. This failed to correspond to reality. In fact, the very economic measures taken to deal with the economic situation brought to the surface differences and inequalities. Despite the progress, these had still existed, though they had remained hidden, lurking in the shadows for a more opportune moment to reemerge. Thus began a new period of the struggle against racism and discrimination. It was Fidel Castro himself who raised this in speeches at educational conferences, before UNEAC and during his speech in a church in New Yorks Harlem neighborhood. The maximum leader was aware that what he had insisted on in his speeches in March 1959 had still not been achieved. With this, it was the leader of the revolution who reopened the issue and initiated a new debate, but with more understanding of the failures in social policy that had resulted in the inability to eliminate racism and racial discrimination. New studies were initiated, experiences were analyzed, and like never since 1959 there appeared critical writings about this subject that began to permeate the intellectual world. Several commissions on the topic were created at different levels within the PCC, UNEAC, the National Library, and community
[LAAMN] Third issue of our Arabic magazine Freedom and Communism is out now!
http://www.marxist.com/arab-magazine-freedom-and-communism-out-now.htm Third issue of our Arabic magazine Freedom and Communism is out now!http://www.marxist.com/arab-magazine-freedom-and-communism-out-now.htm Written by In Defence of MarxismWednesday, 03 April 2013 [image: Print]http://www.marxist.com/arab-magazine-freedom-and-communism-out-now/print.htm[image: E-mail]http://www.marxist.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,ac85af264e911fcfe44f6ec4eaeb62dcf7c9ed65/tmpl,component/ We are delighted to announce the publication of the third issue of our Arabic language magazine Freedom and Communism under the heading *Tunisia: Towards a Second Revolution*. The present issue includes our analysis of a variety of topics related to the revolution in the middle east, north Africa as well as current events in the world [image: arabic-comm-free-3]http://www.marxy.com/pdf/communism-freedom-3.pdfClick on the picture for a PDFContent: 1. Tunisia: Towards a Second Revolution? 2. Egypt: the conjuncture of the revolution and the tasks of the Marxist 3. Imperialist intervention in Mali 4. Perspectives of the revolution in the Middle East 5. Hugo Chavez is dead, long live the struggle for socialism [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Historic victory of PTUDC Comrades in Pakistan Post
http://www.marxist.com/historic-victory-of-ptudc-comrades-in-pakistani-post-union.htm Historic victory of PTUDC Comrades in Pakistan Posthttp://www.marxist.com/historic-victory-of-ptudc-comrades-in-pakistani-post-union.htm Written by Niaz Lakho (Information secretary, Pakistan Post Office Directorate General Employees Union CBA, Islamabad)Wednesday, 03 April 2013 [image: Print]http://www.marxist.com/historic-victory-of-ptudc-comrades-in-pakistani-post-union/print.htm[image: E-mail]http://www.marxist.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,d54ee66c0ccffbb49e160788e6d5f45025fd4076/tmpl,component/ Pakistan Post Office Directorate General Employees Union elections were held on 11 March 2013. The revolutionary group of PTUDC comrades won a landslide victory and got 70% of the votes. [image: postal workers protest 4 january]http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/pakistan/postal_workers_protest_4_january.jpgPostal workers also organised a massive day of action against privatisation in January of this year. For more information please click herehttp://www.marxist.com/pakistan-postal-workers-protest-against-privatisation.htmThe group in power, supported by Pakistan Peoples Partys leadership, had to face a humiliating and historic defeat. Sensing their imminent defeat the Itehad group used every cheap trick to prevent the elections from taking place. With the support of PPPs Federal Information Minister and Peoples Labour Federation, twice they managed to get stay orders from NIRC (National Industrial Relations Court) and High Court. But with determination and courage the Inqilab group fought the legal battle for two years and defeated them to get the elections held on 11 March. During the past five years in power workers had to face immense problems due to the anti labour policies of the government. Though the PPP is the traditional party of the workers and was created in the revolutionary movement in 1968-69, its leadership is following the dictates of the IMF and World Bank which is increasing poverty, unemployment and misery. [image: post-union-referendum-poster]http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/pakistan/post-union-referendum-poster.jpgPoster of the Revolution slate with the eagle as their electoral symbolIn order to create illusions for the workers the Peoples Labour Federation was formed which only served as an organized platform for the opportunists inside the PPP with the aim of defeating the genuine workers movement. It was the shared agenda of the Ministry of Information and the Peoples Labour Federation to create anti worker policies. Agents of the People Labour Federation had their fangs inside the Pakistan Post as well and they were advocating the implementation of capitalist policies and preparing the ground for privatisation while making hefty commissions. For the past two years the workers of the Post were fighting them legally and practically. In particular, a month before the elections all kinds of religious and ethnic prejudices were used. But the workers rejected all these divisions and fought a rebellious struggle to a victorious conclusion. The intervention of the PTUDC in this movement attracted many workers resulting in the election of four members and sympathizers of PTUDC in the central panel with a huge majority. Comrade Imran Ali as representative of the Assistants, Comrade Niaz Lakho as Information Secretary, Comrade Sayyed Muhammad Afzal Jaffery as senior Vice President and Comrade Aftab Khattak was elected as representative of LDCs. Inqilab group candidate for President Muhammad Naseem and General Secreaty Parvez Akhtar also won by a landslide majority. Despite the hectic election campaign the weekly branch of the PTUDC was held regularly. In the branch meeting held two days after the election victory, a strategy was drawn out to expand the class solidarity with the workers from other institutions and a proclamation was made to fight for the working class on all fronts. The comrades vowed to use this victory to organize the workers from the Post and other institutions in the fight for a Socialist revolution in this region for the emancipation from oppression and exploitation. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post:
[LAAMN] US Protection Racket Root of Korea Conflict
US Protection Racket Root of Korea Conflict by Finian Cunningham / April 2nd, 2013 The best way to understand the seemingly reckless, recurring threat of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is this: the East Asian region is being run like a Mafia protection racket. And the criminal Mafia is the US. The conflict emanates from Washington and is perpetuated by Washington. Why? To justify what would otherwise be seen as simply outrageous US militarism in the Asia Pacific hemisphere, and in particular a criminally aggressive agenda towards the main geopolitical targets of Washington: China and Russia. Korea’s conflict is not primarily about North and South “enemy states”. It is, as it has been for the past 68 years since the end of World War II, about Washington using military force to criminally assert its hegemony on the global stage. But you wouldn’t know this from a casual reading of the Western news media. No, we are told over and over again that the US is “protecting” South Korea and its other Asian allies. The military presence of the US is “serving” as a “deterrent” to aggression from a “sinister” North Korea. In this depiction, the US is the good guy, while North Korea is the menacing reprobate that is a scourge on everybody’s well-being and security. Kim Jong-un is the embodiment of the Axis of Evil. That so-called “quality” news media such as the BBC, New York Times and Guardian can get away with seriously presenting this situation in terms portraying the US as a benevolent force is an astounding feat of reality inversion and brainwashed mind control. The irony is that such media implicitly mock North Korea as a Stalinist “Big Brother” state, where critical thought and expression are forbidden. Yet, these media display the very same habit of mental conformity that they disparage North Korea for. As noted above, the only way of properly interpreting the recent weeks of threat and counter-threat of all-out war in Korea is to recall scenes from the classic Mafia movie, The Godfather. You know the drill. The mobster goes around the neighborhood demanding loyalty, respect and tributes “for protection”. If the residents don’t conform to the racket, then the boss arranges self-fulfilling violence to rain down on those who dare to reject his magnanimous “protection”. The exact same arrangement applies in Korea under the tutelage of the US. The Peninsula was unilaterally partitioned in 1945 by Washington into North and South statelets because the US could not abide the fact that the Korean population at that time was strongly anti-imperialist and yearning for socialist democracy. That egalitarian sentiment helped the Koreans resist the occupying Japanese imperialists prior to and during World War II. Tellingly, in order to assert its hegemony over Korea and the Asia Pacific, the US worked the neighborhood over assiduously in order to defeat the popular movement for independence and democracy that the Korean people exhibited so boldly. Washington achieved this by installing pro-Japanese collaborators as the rulers of newly formed South Korea. Think about that one. The US fought a war allegedly to defeat fascism and imperialism, only to immediately collude with the same political forces to defeat Korean democracy. The dropping of the atomic bombs by Washington on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was part and parcel of American efforts to demarcate a postwar hegemony in the Asia Pacific to the Soviet Union and China – and this is why Korea was also fractured into two alien states that were then precipitated into war between 1950-53. That war — in which a third of the northern Korean population were exterminated by American indiscriminate carpet-bombing and napalm incineration — has never officially ended. The armistice signed in 1953 under Washington’s dictate is technically only a ceasefire. For decades, North Korea’s demand for a full peace treaty has been repeatedly rejected by Washington and its South Korean client state. In other words, Washington has retained the implicit prerogative to resume its aerial bombardment of the North Korean population at any time it chooses. That constitutes a constant threat, or a policy of state terrorism by Washington. The threat from the US towards the Korean population has and continues to include nuclear annihilation. During the Korean War, the US air force would regularly fly nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Peninsula. People on the ground would recognize the aircraft, but they did not know what the operational intent was. Can you imagine the terrorism that this conveyed? — barely five years after the US vaporized the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and at the same time that US military were compelling Koreans to live in caves as the only way of escaping mass destruction from conventional bombing. This same thuggish behaviour by the US government is consistent with its authorization during this
[LAAMN] Corporations get the vote?
If you thought your vote wasn't worth enough before, this is to let you know that it is going to be worth even less, unless you fight for your right to be represented above the interests of Corporations now legal voting rights, their dollars against you single vote. Scott -- Hi Scott, Here is a link to the story on our website: https://movetoamend.org/corporations-voters Here is a link to the article mentioned in the email blast: http://www.thenation.com/article/173242/supreme-court-uphold-voting-rights-actgt;# Here is the text of the email: The headline reads, âMontana Considers Giving Corporations The Right To Voteâ â laughable if it werenât true. Legislator Steve Lavin, a member of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), introduced the bill, which to the legislatureâs credit was quickly tabled in committee. Even the most uninformed citizen understands that voting is for people, not corporations. Wait a minute, following this attempt to endow more rights to corporations by giving them the vote, the Supreme Court heard arguments to weaken key provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). After a number of states passed ALEC-sponsored Voter ID laws last summer, and this latest exploit to undermine the VRA, it is clear thereâs an effort to minimize the power of âwe the peopleâ by limiting our access to the ballot box, while simultaneously maximizing the power of corporations and businesses by giving them the vote. Please sign the Motion to Amend petition: http://tinyurl.com/mta-motion-to-amend It may sound completely wacky, but this is an obvious next step for corporations because they are legally recognized as people. Itâs a good thing that the Move to Amend Coalition is educating and organizing in communities across the nation. Only a grassroots movement determined to restore the power of âwe the peopleâ can overcome the money and power behind ALEC. In order to be effective, we must keep growing our community, which is why we have set a goal of 500,000 signatures on our Motion to Amend petition by yearâs end, nearly doubling our supporters. It doesnât matter which side of the aisle you sit on. Ours is a non-partisanâand winning issue--in red and blue districts alike. Itâs in every personâs best interest! Please sign the petition! We want people voting, including those protected by the VRA, and we certainly donât want corporations endowed with the right to vote. Help us build a movement with power enough to reestablish âwe the peopleâ as the sovereign rulers of this great nation. Sign the petition today. Thanks for taking action, Ashley Sanders, Ben Manski, Daniel Lee, David Cobb, Egberto Willies, George Friday, Jerome Scott, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Laura Bonham, Nancy Price Move to Amend National Leadership Team I hope that helps! Shannon --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
