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Ivan Ovsyannikov, Russian Socialist Movement (RSD): The companies engaged in this business are the very same “domestic producers” whose profits are the cause of the comedy with the produce crematoria on the border. To assure yourself this is the case all you need to know is that the man who encouraged Putin’s decree, agriculture ministerAlexander Tkachev, is a major latifundista. (Some label him one of the largest landowners in Europe.) Relatives of the former governor of Krasnodar Krai own 450,000 hectares of farmland. When they speak of defending Russia’s economic interests, they are talking about defending the sharks of Russian agrobusiness from foreign competition, not about the welfare of consumers, the plight of the poor or the salaries of farm workers. How import substitution has affected the condition of farm workers can be seen from the Timashevskaya Poultry Farm (the largest poultry producer in the Samara Region), where an attempt by workers to organize an independent trade union has met fierce resistance from the farm’s prosperous owner. Of course, the destruction of produce appears cynical given that seven percent of Russians suffer from chronic malnutrition, an even greater number of people have been forced by the crisis to save on food, and there are three to five million homeless people, of whom over fifty thousand are children. However, the reaction of public, who have demanded the confiscated produce be given to orphanages or sent as humanitarian aid to Donbass, is insufficient, despite its moral validity. To deal with the social consequences of the crisis, what we need are not random acts of charity but consistent policies of redistributing incomes, defending jobs, and providing assistance to the poor. We must introduce progressive taxation, provide citizens with social benefits on which they can live, index pensions and wages, and regulate the labor market and prices of essential goods. In other words, we have to reject neoliberal policies that deliberately lead to the destruction of the welfare state. The issue of social welfare should not be an appendix to Internet discussions of the plight of Spanish ham and parmesan, but the central point in the agenda of all opposition forces claiming popular support. Meanwhile, as bloggers crack jokes about the cheese Auschwitz at the Russian Customs Service, the government is preparing a draft budget for 2016–2018. It provides for measures such as raising the retirement age, reduction of the number of free tuition spots in universities, higher taxes and charges on ordinary citizens, a freeze on social benefit payments, and a refusal to index pensions, benefits, and teachers’ salaries. The specter of austerity has risen in Russia. Against this truly ominous threat, the games at customs appear to be nothing more than a red herring. Read the full post here: https://therussianreader.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/hunger-games/ George Losev, Petersburg leftist activist: The EU and US have imposed sanctions against a number of Putin’s friends and several major Russian companies. The sanctions basically boil down to the fact that these people and companies cannot borrow money from foreigners. In response, the Russian authorities have announced that these sanctions are against the whole of Russia. The Russian authorities have been seeking to make it possible for Putin’s friends and major Russian companies to borrow from foreigners once again. In addition, the Russian authorities have imposed retaliatory sanctions. They have banned the import of produce from several countries. Not from specific individuals and companies, but from whole countries. Of course, even just six months before the sanctions were introduced, no one knew anything about them and was not preparing for anything of the sort. This has led to yet another hike in food prices and has primarily hurt the working class. And yet the official propaganda of the Russian Federation declares that this produce is dangerous (!), and that all countries destroy contraband (!!), and the murderer and mafioso [Russian agriculture minister Alexander] Tkachevhas been doing the rounds on TV, explaining that the problem should be solved once and for all. That is the picture. Total capitalist whack jobs who have privatized the state and have been using it for their own personal interests are plundering the working class and the poor and pushing the country towards war with the whole world. And yet half the folks on my Facebook feed, including leftists, have started moaning, Oh, enough of this destroying produce already, oh, shame on them, shame. But what do you want to see? What issues are more important? See the full post here: https://therussianreader.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/hunger-games-2/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
