hessaloniki Mitropoleos Cops beating people without reason

Video: Hossam el-Hamalawy on the workers' movement in Egypt

Photo O' The Century (so far), February 14, 2012

Photo O' The Day, February 13, 2012

High stakes in Seattle port drivers' strike

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/13/high-stakes-for-seattle-port-drivers

Al-Qaeda behind Syria blasts: US

Interesting bit of propaganda here. According to "US officials", Washington and AQ are on the same side in this one. How odd!

Wild guess: Washington believes that a good deal of "unconventional" violence (i.e. terrorism) will be necessary or advantageous in the overthrow of Assad, and that attributing it to AQ will be politically expedient in maintaining support back home. It will also provide pretext for intervention and/or escalation if and when it appears AQ will be taking over in Syria.

Nevertheless, it is a violation of the basic tenets of propaganda to afford the targeted group, in this case AQ, any favorable press, the opportunity to be on the "right side" of any conflict. It appears we are entering a new evolutionary stage in the history of criminal statecraft.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/alqaeda-behind-syria-blasts-us-20120211-1syc0.html

Propaganda Alert: Report: Mossad chief's secret U.S. visit meant to gauge American response to Israeli attack on Iran

He is not here to gauge responses, he is here to receive his instructions.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-mossad-chief-s-secret-u-s-visit-meant-to-gauge-american-response-to-israeli-attack-on-iran-1.412613

The foreclosure fraud settlement: An amnesty for Wall Street criminals

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f13.shtml

KYRGYZSTAN: Efforts to Tackle Bride Kidnapping Hit Polygamy Snag

http://ipsnews.net/newsTVE.asp?idnews=106725

Class War Update, Irish Front: Shocking injustice of austerity taxes revealed

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shocking-injustice-of-austerity-taxes-revealed-3017101.html

Slavery by Another Name

European “democracy” in fragments

Interesting piece.

http://eagainst.com/articles/european-democracy-in-fragments/

'Responsible Capitalism?' Interview With Eric Hobsbawm

Long live Eric Hobsbawm!

And fuck the BBC!

"You're just an old Marxist clutching at straws, aren't you."

He was sent to interview Hobsbawm to deliver that canned line.

But enough about the "Beeb."



I must confess I had no idea Hobsbawm was still alive. He must be about 100 years old.

The series of books he wrote on the 19th century are historiography at its best. He and his circle of comrades and fellow historians, especially E. P. Thompson and Christopher Hill, are owed a debt of gratitude--they democratized the study of history. The group of historians within the Communist Party of Great Britain were determined to write "history from below", and they succeeded brilliantly. They were aggressively revisionist, which might in lesser hands have led to biased, unbalanced work. Not so here. Hobsbawn, Thompson, and Hill are the gold standard on the rise of capital and imperialism, the British working class, and the English Civil War respectively. They are unequaled.

Photos Of The Demonstration In Greece

http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Turmoil+in+Greece/G2767

Iran’s Historic Anniversary

http://bravenewworld.in/irans-historic-anniversary/

Welcome to The Political Compass

This is a political orientation test. Though it is not to be taken seriously, you might find it interesting.

From an anarchist perspective, some of these questions are impossible to answer. Hence I didn't chart as far to the left and bottom as I think I should.

Anyway, here's the test, and my chart.

Poster O' The Day, February 12, 2012

Activists and Anarchists Speak for Themselves at Occupy Oakland

Nice piece.

http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-oakland/1328726021

Genocidal Racist Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Indian Holocaust And UK - US Muslim Genocide

However ignored in the celebrations will be the reality that Charles Dickens, like many of his English and British contemporaries, was a genocidal racist. Thus Charles Dickens in a letter to Emile de la Rue on 23 October 1857 about the so-called Indian Mutiny of 1857 : “I wish I were Commander in Chief over there [ India ]! I would address that Oriental character which must be powerfully spoken to, in something like the following placard, which should be vigorously translated into all native dialects, “I, The Inimitable, holding this office of mine, and firmly believing that I hold it by the permission of Heaven and not by the appointment of Satan, have the honor to inform you Hindoo gentry that it is my intention, with all possible avoidance of unnecessary cruelty and with all merciful swiftness of execution, to exterminate the Race from the face of the earth, which disfigured the earth with the late abominable atrocities [2,000 British killed in the 1857 Indian War of Independence aka the 1857 Indian Mutiny] (see Grace Moore (2004), “Dickens and the Empire. Discourses of class, race, and colonialism in the works of Charles Dickens” (Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot , UK ): http://www.amazon.com/Dickens-Empire-Discourses-Colonialism-Nineteenth/dp/glanceands=books/0754634124 ).

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya100212.htm

A Ruling Class Alliance In An Agitating Egypt: One Year After Mubarak’s Ouster

“I appeal to you”, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Egypt’s highest Islamic authority Al-Azhar, said in a message, “not to disrupt work even for one hour.” “Civil disobedience”, Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III said in a statement, “is not accepted by religion and the state does not accept it and there are many verses in the Holy Book that talk of following the ruler.”

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury100212.htm

Why Millions Won’t Get Help From Big Mortgage Settlement

http://www.propublica.org/article/why-millions-wont-get-help-from-big-mortgage-settlement

Will Chevron case take down trade pact investor-state system?

This is a NAFTA court they refer to, which this article doesn't explain very well.

http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2012/02/will-chevron-case-take-down-trade-pact-investor-state-system.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eyesontrade+%28Eyes+on+Trade%29

Is Israel Really Iran’s Main Adversary? The West Doth Protest Too Much

Good piece.

http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/02/07/is-israel-really-iran%E2%80%99s-main-adversary-the-west-doth-protest-too-much/

Egypt military takes up positions by airport ahead of strike

Bloodbath coming. The SCAF ruse isn't working anymore.

http://bikyamasr.com/56472/egypt-military-takes-up-positions-by-airport-ahead-of-strike/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

48 hour General Strike announced for February 10-11 as Greek government announces full-on war against the people

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/

Children of Immigrants Targeted by Tax Warfare in Congress

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30476.htm

Occupy Wall Street... Can it Move from What it is To What it Could Be Beyond Chris Hedges's Promotion of Salvation

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2717

Romania's PM resigns over austerity protests

Photo O' The Day, February 9, 2012

Metro Transit Cuts Update

Open house in Ballard next Monday on Sept. service changes
Hide Details

FROM:

King County Metro Transit



Open house in Ballard next Monday on Sept. service change proposal

The latest set of proposals for next September’s bus service changes reflects feedback we heard from the community last fall. Now Metro is seeking a second round of input to help shape our final September recommendation, which will be submitted to the King County Council later this spring.

Please join us next Monday at an open house in Ballard to learn more and share your thoughts about Metro's suggestions for improving its transit system.

Join us in Ballard
Monday, Feb. 13
6-8 p.m.
Ballard High School
1418 NW 65th St
Seattle, WA 98117

Can’t make the meeting? Learn more and take our online survey »

What’s in the proposal

Here’s a rundown of some of the revised proposals you’ll see for Seattle’s north-end neighborhoods:

Metro wants to make transfers easier, improve bus connections in North Seattle, and avoid duplicating service on the RapidRide D Line when it starts in the fall. But we’re now proposing to keep some trips on Route 15 Express to prevent bus overcrowding in this corridor during peak hours. Routes 17 Express and 18 Express will also keep their current routing to complement this change.

During public outreach in November, we suggested replacing Routes 26, 28, and 30 and revising Route 28 Express as part of a set of related changes in North Seattle. We also suggested revising Route 5 to use Fremont Avenue N and Dexter Avenue N, and replace Route 26 with alternate service. We’ve decided not to move forward with these changes now, but will consider making changes in this area when we launch RapidRide E Line in 2013.

The current proposal also includes some revisions to Route 30 and the planned routing of new Route 32 to Uptown via Fremont and Wallingford.

Bookmark and Share
King County Metro www.kingcounty.gov/metro

Manage your Subscriptions:

Update your preferences or unsubscribe.
Questions about the service? support@govdelivery.com

This email was sent to metrobusman@yahoo.com using GovDelivery, on behalf of: King County Department of Transportation • 201 S Jackson St. • Seattle, WA 98104 • 206-684-1955 Powered by GovDelivery

Reply to: Reply to King County Metro Transit
Send

Cote d'Ivoire: Blood Shortages Causing Deaths in West

So where has all that USAID and IMF money gone? Obviously not to the people who need it.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201201060327.html

Economic Recovery? What Recovery?

http://bravenewworld.in/economic-recovery-what-recovery/

Hedging Our Bets on the Black Bloc – by Zakk Flash

Good critique of Hedges' diatribe.

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2012/02/07/hedging-our-bets-on-the-black-bloc-by-zakk-flash/

NYC Transit Workers’ Fare Strike 2012: Can Occupy Open Horizons for a Frustrated Labor Movement?

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2012/02/07/nyc-transit-workers-fare-strike-2012-can-occupy-open-horizons-for-a-frustrated-labor-movement/

Egypt’s radicalized hooligans: “Tantawi, we want your head!”

Initially, the massacre in the football stadium of Port Said — leaving at least 75 dead and 1,000 injured – was presented as an extreme example of Egyptian football hooliganism. Soon, however, it became apparent that the violence was actually an act of revenge orchestrated by the military regime. Their target: the Ultras, fans of the Al-Ahly football club, who from the first day of the revolution stood at the very front-lines of Tahrir Square. Bart Griffioen, editor of socialisme.nu, spoke at length with the Egyptian activist Mohamed Waked about the Ultras and their role in the revolution.

The Egyptian people deserve all praises! They won't let the revolution die. What an inspiration they have been.

http://roarmag.org/2012/02/egypt-port-said-stadium-massacre-hooligans-ultras/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29

The [Black Bloc] Cancer in Occupy, by Chris Hedges

Apparently Chris' Harvard degree in divinity has failed him.

There are lots of problems here.

He uses the phrase Black Bloc movement. Black Bloc is a technique, not a movement, and one which is employed by a range of groups, not just anarchists.

There is a branch of anarchism, quite small, that employs property destruction as a strategy. These are called Insurrectionists, or 'Wreckies', and presumably some of their number do participate in Black Bloc actions.[1]

Hedges says that the Occupy sites were shut down because they were peaceful. This is utterly preposterous. They were shut down because they were a threat to the ruling class, to capitalism. And it didn't matter a damn whether the protesters were wreckies, pacifists, or Raging Grannies, the were going to be removed.

"Black Bloc adherents detest those of us on the organized left and seek, quite consciously, to take away our tools of empowerment."

Well it's good to hear that Chris sees himself as being on the left--it wasn't apparent.

First, Black Bloc events are organized. Does Hedges believe all those folks dressed alike showed up at the same place and time by accident?

Second, While it is no doubt true that BB events attract people who are not political and are just there for the mischief (besides the police, I mean), far from being an act of hatred directed at the organized left, they are undertaken by a section of the organized left. Again excepting the police who invariably don the balaclavas and masquerade as BBers, nobody is trying to disempower the left. This was a curious comment by Hedges indeed.

The real enemies, [BBers] argue, are not the corporate capitalists, but their collaborators among the unions, workers’ movements, radical intellectuals, environmental activists and populist movements such as the Zapatistas.

Hedges has lost his mind.

Again it must be remembered that it is not just anarchists who participate, and further I must say that I am not a Wrecky, and cannot and will not speak even for them specifically, nor the anarchist contingent within the BBs, be that as it may, to say that BBers and/or anarchists do not regard the corporate capitalists (not to mention real estate and finance capital) as the enemy is one of the most memorably stupid things I have ever read, and Hedges should be ashamed of himself. They are precisely whom anarchists regard as the enemy. And to the extent that the others he mentions "collaborate" with them then yes they too are the enemy. Although I don't know anybody who believes that unions, workers' movements, eco-activists, and radical intellectuals are necessarily collaborating with capital. In fact, these groups might be seen as the backbone of the resistance to capital.

Because Black Bloc anarchists do not believe in organization, indeed oppose all organized movements...

Here Hedges stoops to the tired old canard about anarchists not believing in organization. This isn't true and never has been. It is hierarchy and power to which anarchists object, not organization.

John Zerzan, one of the principal ideologues of the Black Bloc movement in the United States, defended “Industrial Society and Its Future,” the rambling manifesto by Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, although he did not endorse Kaczynski’s bombings.

Zerzan is an Anarcho-primitivist, and there is an area of mutual concern and sensitivity between the two. I'm not a Prim, but Kaczynski's manifesto contained what I thought was a pretty good appraisal of industrial society and its shortcomings. While flawed, the manifesto is not without merit. When he leaves the analytical realm Kaczynski veers off into the pathological and what he says can be quite ugly, but I think it is inaccurate to dismiss his critique as worthless. It was facile of Hedges to use this against the Zerzan or the Black Bloc.

With regard to the Zapatistas, Hedges says the following:

In Zerzan’s now defunct magazine Green Anarchy (which survives as a website) he published an article by someone named “Venomous Butterfly” that excoriated the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN). The essay declared that “not only are those [the Zapatistas’] aims not anarchist; they are not even revolutionary.” It also denounced the indigenous movement for “nationalist language,” for asserting the right of people to “alter or modify their form of government” and for having the goals of “work, land, housing, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace.” The movement, the article stated, was not worthy of support because it called for “nothing concrete that could not be provided by capitalism...“Of course,” the article went on, “the social struggles of exploited and oppressed people cannot be expected to conform to some abstract anarchist ideal. These struggles arise in particular situations, sparked by specific events. The question of revolutionary solidarity in these struggles is, therefore, the question of how to intervene in a way that is fitting with one’s aims, in a way that moves one’s revolutionary anarchist project forward."”

I think Venomous Butterfly's critique of the EZLN (which is not a pacifist organization, the type which Hedges favors) is a good one. I, and I think most anarchists, find inspiration in the Zapatista movement, but its similarity to anarchism goes only so far. There is a nationalist strain in their ideology, and it is entirely consistent with traditional anarchist belief not only to denounce it, but to not want to intervene in such a way which provides support for ideas which are inimical to anarchism. This is hardly a valid line of criticism for Hedges, but it's about to get worse:

Solidarity becomes the hijacking or destruction of competing movements, which is exactly what the Black Bloc contingents are attempting to do with the Occupy movement.

This is disgraceful. There has been no anarchist attempt to hijack either the Zapatista or the Occupy movement. We advance our ideas as do all the other ideological factions within Occupy. To suggest that anarchists have broken ranks with, or denied solidarity to, revolutionary, anti-capitalist movements with whom we have ideological differences is just an ugly lie.

Here Hedges brings in reinforcements to bolster his defamatory claims:

“The Black Bloc can say they are attacking cops, but what they are really doing is destroying the Occupy movement,” the writer and environmental activist Derrick Jensen told me when I reached him by phone in California. “If their real target actually was the cops and not the Occupy movement, the Black Bloc would make their actions completely separate from Occupy, instead of effectively using these others as a human shield. Their attacks on cops are simply a means to an end, which is to destroy a movement that doesn’t fit their ideological standard...I don’t have a problem with escalating tactics to some sort of militant resistance if it is appropriate morally, strategically and tactically,” Jensen continued. “This is true if one is going to pick up a sign, a rock or a gun. But you need to have thought it through. The Black Bloc spends more time attempting to destroy movements than they do attacking those in power. They hate the left more than they hate capitalists.”

Human shields! Hedges has a lot of nerve peaking of immorality. What happened to all that religious training? Even Trotsky never told lies like these about anarchists.

I could go on, but why bother, I'm sure you get the idea.

I no longer have any respect for Chris Hedges, and wonder as to what motivates him.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_cancer_of_occupy_20120206/





[1]There is a terrible history of anarchist terror and violence, which I wrote about here: http://www.countercurrents.org/fryett030411.htm

Chuck Norris Endorses Newt Gingrich--Because He Is Anti-Establishment

He's the former Speaker of the House and Norris says he's not a Washington insider.

You cannot make this shit up!

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/02/06/chuck-norris-newt-gingrich-endorsement/

What caused the soccer massacre in Egypt?

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/07/behind-the-soccer-massacre

Labor's stand in Indianapolis

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/07/labors-stand-in-indianapolis

Occupy Wall Street and Labor: The Closest of Strangers

nice piece.

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/occupy-wall-street-and-labor-the-closest-of-strangers/

Labor and Occupy on the Same Road?

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/labor-and-occupy-on-the-same-road/

Egyptian revolution continues (report of a visit in Cairo)

http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article24169

The backlash against Occupy Oakland

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/06/backlash-against-occupy-oaklan

Occupy Cape Town distances itself from COSATU WCape

Very sad. COSATU was one of SA's and the world's most radical unions. It, like the once great ANC, has gone corrupt.

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=278583&sn=Detail&pid=71616

Quelle Surprise! New York and California Attorneys General Look Ready to Sign on to Mortgage Settlement

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/quelle-surprise-new-york-and-california-attorneys-general-look-ready-to-sign-on-to-mortgage-settlement.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

More on the Role of Second Liens and the Mortgage Settlement as Stealth Bank Bailout

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/more-on-the-role-of-second-liens-and-the-mortgage-settlement-as-stealth-bank-bailout.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Arizona Set to Abolish Public Unions

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2012/02/06/arizona-set-to-abolish-public-unions/

Roosevelt High School [Iowa] Under Fire For Communism v. Capitalism Worksheet

This is hysterical.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/05/roosevelt-high-school-und_n_1255842.html#assignment

Dear Savers And Retirees: Here's How You Are Being Screwed

http://www.coveringdelta.com/2012/02/01/dear-savers-and-retirees-here-is-how-you-are-being-screwed-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoveringDelta+%28Covering+Delta%29

Schneiderman MERS Suit and HUD’s Donovan Remarks Confirm That Mortgage “Settlement” is a Stealth Bank Bailout

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/schneiderman-mers-suit-and-huds-donovan-remarks-confirm-that-mortgage-settlement-is-a-stealth-bank-bailout.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Egypt’s 6th of April calls for dissolving Cabinet, elections

http://bikyamasr.com/55921/egypts-6th-of-april-calls-for-dissolving-cabinet-elections/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Egypt mothers protest against military junta, demand justice

http://bikyamasr.com/55979/egypt-mothers-protest-against-military-junta-demand-justice/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Some Good Advice For Law Enforcement: Consider Just What You Are Doing

Navajo Code Talker Jimmie Begay’s Life Commemorated

Short piece but worth a look.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/03/navajo-code-talker-jimmie-begay%E2%80%99s-life-commemorated-by-president-ben-shelly-95712

Revolution & Counter Revolution in Egypt: Military Power vs. Protest

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/revolution-counter-revolution-in-egypt-military-power-vs-protest/

Exposed: The Arab Agenda in Syria

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30444.htm

new inappropriate test answers from young children

Way off topic for this space but absolutely hysterical. Worth a look.

http://www.happyplace.com/3907/unintentionally-inappropriate-test-responses-from-children/page/1

Service ChangesMeetings For Metro (Seattle Transit System)

Metro hosts next round of public meetings on fall service changes
Hide Details



Metro hosts next round of public meetings on fall service changes

Nearly 5,000 transit customers have connected with King County Metro Transit face-to-face and online in recent months to help restructure bus service to be more productive while meeting the needs of more people. That public input has prompted a new round of proposals for September bus service aimed at reducing overcrowding, increasing ridership, and providing service where it’s needed the most. Please note that routes 26, 28X, 31, 48X, 355X, 773 and 775 were previously considered for revision but will now remain unchanged for the time being.

Metro is inviting public comment on the newly revised September service proposals during a second round of public review this month. Six open houses, 14 information tables, and more than a dozen presentations have been scheduled in neighborhoods that would see the most changes under these proposals. Please check our online calendar for a list of these events.

Open Houses (all 6-8 p.m., except as noted below)

Monday, Feb. 13 – Ballard High School
Wednesday, Feb. 15 – Madison Middle School, West Seattle
Thursday, Feb. 16 – Chief Sealth High School, Delridge/White Center
Tuesday, Feb. 21 – Union Station, Downtown Seattle (12-2 p.m.)
Thursday, Feb. 23 – Queen Anne Community Center
Monday, Feb. 27 – Washington Middle School, Central Area/Mount Baker

During this round of open-house meetings, customers will have an opportunity to review the revised proposals and share their comments. That feedback will help shape final September service recommendations that will be forwarded to the King County Council for action this spring (probably in May). Those unable to attend one of these forums can give us their comments via an online survey on Metro’s website.

To learn more about the status of proposed services changes, visit our Have a Say website.

Port truckers stay off work to protest labor conditions

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2017408835_port_truckers_stay_off_work_to.html?syndication=rss

Pie Chart O' The Day, Feb. 3, 2012: Ain't Capitalism Grand?

Ontario Caterpillar Workers Locked Out for Refusing Half Pay

http://labornotes.org/2012/01/locked-out-refusing-half-pay

Occupy Oakland, by Nathan Brown

We live in a time when tents have become the singular weapon of the people which power cannot tolerate, and against which it does not know how to defend itself. The bureaucrats are in shambles; the ‘city’ and its ‘police’ are at each other’s throats; middling reformists have no idea where to position themselves. Everyone agrees: it’s about to explode.

This is the situation as I write on the night before the morning of what will be the second police raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment, announced in a memo leaked this afternoon. It is a situation that devolves, primarily, from the fallout of the first evictionon 25 October. Like any important historical sequence,the story of what has happened in this city during the past two weeks is harrowing and inspiring, beautiful and unbearable.

Occupy Oakland has distinguished itself within the US occupation movement by its radicalism – its ‘intransigent elements’, the City Council likes to say. In defiance of city policies, it makes use of a sound system for its General Assembly and of open flame in its kitchen. Unlike the majority of occupations, and to the chagrin of civic authorities, it refuses to seek permits or to negotiate with the Mayor’s Office, though it is camped directly on its doorstep outside City Hall. ‘I want to remind you all’, the mayor’s husband has written in an email to neighbourhood organizers with whom he hopes to divide and conquer the occupation, ‘that OO has no negotiating team. They are the only ones in the country that do not. You need to know how exasperating this has been for this type of encampment to exist in a city with a progressive mayor who is offering to help but nobody to talk to about it.’ Oakland’s ‘progressive mayor’, Jean Quan, wants to ‘help’ in so far as she wants to move the Occupation elsewhere, out of plain sight at the main intersection of downtown Oakland, off to some other place where it will not impinge upon the operations of business as-usual. Suffice it to say, this is not the sort of help Occupy Oakland is seeking.

http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/news/occupy-oakland

Californian nurses strike over patient care and pensions

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2012/02/02/californian-nurses-strike-over-patient-care-and-pensions/

Year one of the Egyptian Revolution

Mostafa Ali, a member of Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists and journalist for Ahram Online, talked about the first year of Egypt's revolution--and what comes next.

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/02/egyptian-revolution-after-one-year

Propaganda Alert: Egypt association goes after Obama, CIA, SCAF over football violence

Control ends in a conflict and you control the whole thing. This association is filing nonsense suits against The CIA on behalf of the CIA.

The charge is specious and the evidence easily refutable. This suit serves to make it appear that this 'association' is anti-US, and to keep talk of US involvement in Egyptian affairs contained within an acceptable range.

It may well be true that the football (soccer) rumble was a psy-op, and maybe a CIA psy-op, the behavior of the riot squad was indeed suspicious, but making the charge in such a way as to be easily dismissed serves as a cover for future provocations. Have one of your agents make the allegation, disprove it, and future accusations of this type will have a much higher credibility threshold.

http://bikyamasr.com/55752/egypt-association-goes-after-obama-cia-scaf-over-football-violence/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Transit cuts punish workers in Boston

The stuff about the T not being a good transit service is utter nonsense, if industry standards mean anything. I lived a very long time in Beantown and the transit service is about as good as it gets.

Aside from this lunacy, this is a good article.

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/01/transit-cuts-punish-workers

IWW Members discuss organizing, “activism,” and Solidarity Unionism

Good discussion.

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2012/01/31/iww-members-discuss-organizing-activism-and-solidarity-unionism/

Music can play many roles, interview with Ani DiFranco

A little off topic, but not so much really.

Just for the record: I adore this woman. She's probably achieved the best fusion of poetry and music of anyone I've ever heard. (Whether this makes for the best music is another question.) But I have to say that her theory that patriarchy is the cause of all our social problems is just profoundly wrong. Not that it isn't an important issue, and not that feminism, particularly radical feminism, hasn't made a contribution beyond that which it treats directly, but the word 'all' is just an abuse of other worthy struggles. And really is just insane.

But I still love her anyway...and her version of the song is the best I've heard.



But her best contribution to social justice remains, in my humble opinion, this:



http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/31/music-can-play-many-roles

Occupy DC Protesters Stay Put Amid Eviction Threats

http://ipsnews.net/newsTVE.asp?idnews=106594

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners Update: Bets Against Homeowners Must Stop, Freddie Mac Was Told

Cries of "outrage" emanating from the very same government which was a party to the crime (read earlier post on this topic). As Frank Zappa once said: "Government is the entertainment wing of the military/industrial complex," it just dabbles in extortion, and only when so ordered by its ownership.

http://www.propublica.org/article/bets-against-homeowners-must-stop-freddie-mac-was-told

#SCAF and US Aid : No smoke without fire

http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/01/scaf-and-us-aid-no-smoke-without-fire.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EgyptianChronicles+%28Egyptian+chronicles%29

Occupy South Africa: “we are all kings and queens!”

Corporations from America to Europe through Israel and Saudi Arabia and all the way East to Japan, China and Australia have a dominant control of our countries resources and property while we the people who were already poor are becoming even poorer.

This means what you think it means. It means that those in control of the struggle movements of the past, once they reached power sold their souls to the corporate devil overnight and took their parties with them, with the exception of a few. The South African government with its two dominant parties the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance passed neo-liberal economic policies over these last 18 years such as GEAR and NEPAD that saw the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and millions lose their jobs.

It may surprise you, but today, 18 years after 1994, South Africa has the widest class divide in the world. In a nation of 50 million people, 40 percent are jobless. Among the balance who have jobs, the poorest 50 percent collectively earn 6 percent of the wealth while the wealthiest 12 percent earn 50 percent of the wealth. South Africa has Africa’s strongest economy in terms of income but has the world’s worst disparity in wealth distribution.

What gets said far too little also is how this greed has a direct effect on our society as a people and it is this that I would like to emphasize. What many of you do already know is how violent South Africa is. It takes a little imagination to figure out the logical source of this violence, as science shows that the wider the class divide in a given area the more violent that area becomes.

We have the widest class divide in the world and therefore we have the most violent society in the world. While I of course do not condone violence and crime it would behoove anyone concerned to consider the source so that it may be firstly known how to eradicate it and secondly to know who the biggest criminals are.

Fantastic! I'm not familiar with Joe, but Hani is a famous name in SA history. Chris was assassinated, imho, to make way for Mandela, whose repulsive neo-liberal policies were more acceptable to international capital. Hani would never have cooperated the way Mandela/Mbeki/Zuma have.

Prediction: South Africa wil play a pivotal role in the initiation of the global revolution. Immense resource riches and a level of exploitation unexceeded anywhere--a recipe for revolution.

http://roarmag.org/2012/01/occupy-south-africa-we-are-all-kings/#comment-14478

Judge Strips Power from Oakland Police

http://www.baycitizen.org/policing/story/judge-strips-power-oakland-police/

Journalists—Myself Included—Swept Up in Mass Arrest at Occupy Oakland

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/01/journalists-arrested-occupy-oakland

One million dead in Iraq

That sentence is a cognitive litmus test. Some people's immediate reaction is, "That can't be right," because the United States couldn't do that. Or because crimes on that scale don't still happen. Or because they do happen, but only in horrible places that the United States hasn't rescued.

One million is a "Grandpa, what did you do to stop it?" number. It's a number that undeniably puts the American state among history's villains. Those who are not willing or able to accept this are physically unable to retain the fact that over a million Iraqis are dead. Their brains expel it like a foreign germ.

Noam Chomsky once wrote that the "sign of a truly totalitarian culture is that important truths simply lack cognitive meaning and are interpretable only at the level of 'Fuck You,' so they can then elicit a perfectly predictable torrent of abuse in response."

http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/30/one-million-dead

Psy-op Alert: Egypt bank robbers steal in two separate incidents

I don't believe a word of this. Shooting out the tires of an armored car doesn't get you the money; and anybody seriously contemplating robbing one would surely know that.

They robbed the bank in traditional Bedouin dress and turban; well, doesn't everyone?

Gee, you think maybe, just maybe, these folks were trying to call attention to themselves?

This thing screams intel' operation. Whose and why? Who knows, but it seems quite likely that the folks in the armored car and the bank, some at least, were complicit. Remember this incident, I think we'll be hearing more about it someday.

Bedouin dress, nice flourish! Well at least they have a sense of humor.

http://bikyamasr.com/55393/egypt-bank-robbers-steal-in-two-separate-incidents/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners

There are three shocking things about this story:

1, This happened two years after the collapse of '08 and the bailouts.

2, These treacherous, larcenous trades were and are still legal.

3, This illicit activity occurred while the company was taken into receivership by the Feds.

In other words, the thieves are still stealing, and the government is a partner in these crimes.

Once again I yield the floor to the late George Carlin:

THEY OWN YOU

http://www.propublica.org/article/freddy-mac-mortgage-eisinger-arnold

Sudanese rebels seize 29 Chinese workers

Workers? Anti-Chinese sentiment is growing all over with rank-in-file Africans even as their government sign sweetheart deals with the Beijing bourgeoisie.

http://bikyamasr.com/55287/sudanese-rebels-seize-29-chinese-workers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Occupy Oakland Rally, January 28, 2012 Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz

Great piece.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/roxanne-dunbar-ortiz/occupy-oakland-rally-january-28-2012-roxanne-dunbar-ortiz/10150616681806064

Energy.gov: Where information goes to die

http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/dawn-stover/energygov-where-information-goes-to-die

Gilad Atzmon On History And The Bogus Palestinian Solidarity Campaign

Great essay.

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-the-wandering-hugh.html

Sugarcoating the Lies: A New York Times Sampler

http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/01/16/sugarcoating-the-lies-a-new-york-times-sampler/

China’s advantage- Serfdom

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/chinas-advantage-serfdom/

How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the ‘1 Percent’

Nice piece. Norway is unimportant enough to the global economy that such reformism can be tolerated by international capital. The process described in the article could not be duplicated in the US or UK or South Africa, but a nice story nonetheless.

http://occupylosangeles.org/?q=node%2F6116

Social protests spread in Eastern Europe

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/pers-j27.shtml

The Education Crisis and the Politics of Contempt

Another great essay from Richard Pithouse.

http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1181?frommailing=1

Nigeria: Was it a 14-day dream?

Great piece. politics are the same wherever capitalism exists.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79406

Photos Of Egyptian Protest

http://roarmag.org/2012/01/egypt-commemorates-its-ongoing-revolution-in-pictures/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29

http://www.arabawy.org/blog/

Corporations from America to Europe through Israel and Saudi Arabia and all the way East to Japan, China and Australia have a dominant control of our countries resources and property while we the people who were already poor are becoming even poorer.

This means what you think it means. It means that those in control of the struggle movements of the past, once they reached power sold their souls to the corporate devil overnight and took their parties with them, with the exception of a few. The South African government with its two dominant parties the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance passed neo-liberal economic policies over these last 18 years such as GEAR and NEPAD that saw the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and millions lose their jobs.

It may surprise you, but today, 18 years after 1994, South Africa has the widest class divide in the world. In a nation of 50 million people, 40 percent are jobless. Among the balance who have jobs, the poorest 50 percent collectively earn 6 percent of the wealth while the wealthiest 12 percent earn 50 percent of the wealth. South Africa has Africa’s strongest economy in terms of income but has the world’s worst disparity in wealth distribution.

What gets said far too little also is how this greed has a direct effect on our society as a people and it is this that I would like to emphasize. What many of you do already know is how violent South Africa is. It takes a little imagination to figure out the logical source of this violence, as science shows that the wider the class divide in a given area the more violent that area becomes.

We have the widest class divide in the world and therefore we have the most violent society in the world. While I of course do not condone violence and crime it would behoove anyone concerned to consider the source so that it may be firstly known how to eradicate it and secondly to know who the biggest criminals are.

Fantastic! I'm not familiar with Joe, but Hani is a famous name in SA history. Chris was assassinated, imho, to make way for Mandela, whose repulsive neo-liberal policies were more acceptable to international capital. Hani would never have cooperated the way Mandela/Mbeki/Zuma have.

Prediction: South Africa wil play a pivotal role in the initiation of the global revolution. Immense resource riches and a level of exploitation unexceeded anywhere--a recipe for revolution.

http://roarmag.org/2012/01/occupy-south-africa-we-are-all-kings/#comment-14478




Here's Joe Hani's Facebook page:

http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Joe-Hani/100002124467546

Chart: Nearly One Quarter of American Workers are in Low Wage Jobs, More Than In Other Developed Nations

http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2012/01/27/5266/

Destruction Of Ron Paul Update: 27 January

Here's the Post's latest bullet fired at Ron Paul. The allegations in the hit piece may well be true, I suspect they are as Paul's explanations are robustly incredible, but since when has the Post given a damn about racism? They never have before, and they still don't. A cursory survey of recent Republican presidential candidates reveals an extensive range of bigots. I'm 51 and I cannot remember an election year when the Repubs didn't produce multiple presidential hopefuls with unassailable racist credentials--they never let their base down! Racism has long been an essential plank in the Party's platform. Yet I cannot remember a defamation campaign against any of them such as we are witnessing directed at Ron Paul.

Why? Next to socialism, the thing which the plutocracy fears most is real capitalism. As it stands now there is a ruling cabal of oligarchs which stands astride the government and directs it in their interest. It collects taxes which go to the oligarchy as debt, subsidies and aid to the dictators of the world whom they control; it maintains an enormous military which protects the gangsters at the top and establishes and perpetuates their hegemony over the globe; it provides basic infrastructure services; and it suppresses rebellion against their rule. This is all done free of charge and if Ron Paul gets elected (assuming he is sincere) this comes to an end. The state is a machine by which the oligarchy maintains their domination, they do not want to see it dismantled.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-signed-off-on-racist-newsletters-sources-say/2012/01/20/gIQAvblFVQ_story.html

South Africa: The reign of thugs

The fact that a hugely disproportionate number of black men live in prisons in the US, and the fact that black men are regularly harassed by the US police, is an expression of the living legacy of Jim Crow. And we shouldn’t be surprised that in the Chile of Pinochet the police became a branch of the oppressive apparatus. In a chameleon-like fashion, as soon as the dictatorship ended, police behavior came to mirror the new democratic ethos. The biggest thugs suddenly became soft teddy bears seemingly working for a new kind of future. And as soon as the façade of quasi-perfect democracy crumbled and student unrest threatened to destabilize the status quo, founded on some kind of not-so-noble lie, the Chilean police rapidly changed its colours once again in accordance with the demands of the state.

Great piece.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79404

Cartoon O' The Day, 27 Jan.

Quote O' The Day, January 27

"We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."

- Edward Bernays

Toronto Mayor Set to Lock Out City Workers

http://labornotes.org/2012/01/toronto-mayor-set-lock-out-city-workers

Longshore Union Settles Grain Dispute as Confrontation Loomed

Th4e devil is in the [ undisclosed ] details, but a unanimous vote tells me all I need to know. The only issue is whether EGT decided to cave on their own, or whether this came from a high-ranking Federal official worried about re-election.

In either case, congrats to the ILWU.

http://labornotes.org/2012/01/longshore-union-settles-grain-dispute-confrontation-loomed

Conditions “horrific” for HIV/AIDS patients in the Congo

No global shortage of medecine, just a glut of capitalism.

http://bikyamasr.com/54988/conditions-horrific-for-hivaids-patients-in-the-congo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Egypt’s brutalization of women continues

http://bikyamasr.com/55005/egypts-brutalization-of-women-continues/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

and

Woman tells of having pants ripped off, assaulted and prodded in Egypt’s Tahrir Square

and

Foreign woman stripped of clothes, assaulted, in Egypt’s Tahrir Square

Launch of women’s club’s sex education drive raided in Malaysia

http://bikyamasr.com/55038/launch-of-womens-clubs-sex-education-drive-raided-in-malaysia/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BikyaMasrNews+%28Bikya+Masr+|+Independent+news+for+the+world%29

Generals Still in Charge Tough Days Ahead in Egypt

Good piece.

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/generals-still-in-charge-tough-days-ahead-in-egypt/