Class Struggle

Remember the “Labor” in Labor Day

“They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people … Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.” ~ Eugene Debs

Notes On The Future Of Activism

Contemporary activism begins from the realization that for the first time in history, a synergy of catastrophes face us. Our physical environment is dying, our financial markets are collapsing and our culture, fed on a diet of junk thought, is atrophying — unable to muster the intellectual courage to face our predicament. While some may caution against immediate action by pointing out that societies often predict perils that never come, what is remarkable about our times is that the apocalypse has already happened.

Holding on to our humanity

…for anyone in a dead-end job whose spirit is not yet crushed, or for those who have given up but whose inner flame of resistance can still be reignited, and for all of us fighting to recover – or hold onto – our humanity while struggling against the torrent of a life-denying culture of rampant consumerism and political double-think which ceaselessly attempts to undermine our striving for a life of meaning and authenticity.

Racial violence in Ferguson reminiscent of apartheid, UN rights chief says

Clashes between police and protesters in the U.S. town of Ferguson are reminiscent of the racial violence spawned by apartheid in her native South Africa, the top U.N. human rights official said on Tuesday.

Navi Pillay, who is due to step down at the end of the month after six years in the U.N. hotseat, urged U.S. authorities to investigate allegations of brutality and examine the “root causes” of racial discrimination in America.

Rebellion in Ferguson: A Rising Heat in the Suburbs

“I’m growing increasingly skeptical of the ability of electoral politics to bring about the kind of social change that not only African-Americans need but that working and poor people in general need,” he said. “We made the most progress when we were in the streets in the ’60s. There were more than a thousand urban uprisings. And that is what we need to do most—put people in the streets.”

The ‘tragedy of the NHS’

THE NHS is being dismantled before our eyes. Since the 1990s it has been forced to mimic the market with competition between NHS providers.
This has created a less efficient and more chaotic system of health provision.
The last Labour government introduced private finance inititives, where private companies built hospitals but saddled the NHS with appalling debt in return.
The Con-Dem government has massively accelerated the process of NHS destruction.

Did Argentina Actually Default on Her Debts?

Argentina has now taken the US to The Hague for blocking the country’s 2005 settlement with the bulk of its creditors. The issue underscores the need for an international mechanism for nations to go bankrupt. Better yet would be a sustainable global monetary scheme that avoids the need for sovereign bankruptcy.

The ‘Accelerated’ Crash Course

In 2008 the global economy lurched to a halt, threatening another Great Depression, only this time on a global scale. Oil prices nearly hit $150 a barrel. Soaring cost of living led to revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East. Fukushima and the Deepwater Horizon crises exposed the fragility of our energy systems.

And here is 2014, we’re still grappling with the repercussions of these issues. And their root causes remain sadly under-addressed.

Libya’s Destruction a Warning to Egypt, Syria, & Ukraine

But for these three nations, and the participants on all sides, Libya’s current state must be examined. These “revolutions” have but one logical and predictable conclusion – the plundering, division, and destruction of each respective nation, before it is folded into Wall Street and London’s growing supranational order to be exploited indefinitely as much of the US, UK, and EU already are today. For those wondering what will become of Egypt, Syria, or Ukraine, should NATO succeed, one needs only to look at Libya. And for those that supported the “revolution” in Libya, they must ask themselves if they are they satisfied with its final outcome.

“He Who Makes The Rules Never Goes To Jail For Breaking Them”

Working for the government was always pitched as somehow being better guaranteed than risky corporations. However, he who makes the laws never goes to jail for breaking them – a plain fact of life. The problem with government pensions has been they promised whatever sounded nice, with zero accountability. The presumption that tax revenue was an endless pit is one of those fallacies that nobody ever investigates.

The return of George Orwell and Big Brother’s war on Palestine, Ukraine and the truth

As the Iraqi city of Mosul fell to the jihadists of ISIS, Obama said, “The American people made huge investments and sacrifices in order to give Iraqis the opportunity to chart a better destiny.” How “cool” is that lie? How “finely spoken” was Obama’s speech at the West Point military academy on 28 May. Delivering his “state of the world” address at the graduation ceremony of those who “will take American leadership” across the world, Obama said, “The United States will use military force, unilaterally if necessary, when our core interests demand it. International opinion matters, but America will never ask permission…”