politics for the 99%

A push to make America’s banks safer creates new uncertainties – Published on The Economist, Dec 14, 2013.

The 37 words inserted into the 848-page Dodd-Frank law overhauling the regulation of America’s financial institutions seemed innocent enough. Lawmakers wanted regulators to come up with strictures that would prevent banks from gambling with deposits insured by the federal government. The resulting rule, named after a prominent proponent, Paul Volcker, a former head of the Federal Reserve, prohibits banks from “proprietary trading”, meaning transactions conducted purely for their own gain, rather than to serve clients. On December 10th five different regulatory agencies approved the Volcker rule; it will come into force, awkwardly enough, on April 1st.  Continue Reading…

Watch this video: The Secret History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in South Africa, 50.27 min, on Democracy Now, December 11, 2013.

As the world focuses on Tuesday’s historic handshake between President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, we look back at the pivotal role Cuba played in ending apartheid and why Castro was one of only five world leaders invited to speak at Nelson Mandela’s memorial. In the words of Mandela, the Cubans ‘destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor … [and] inspired the fighting masses of South Africa.’  Continue Reading…

Watch this video: Registering Class, 17.28 min, published on Socialist Project.ca, Nov 24, 2013:

The 50th volume of the Socialist Register is dedicated to the theme of ‘registering class’ in light of the spread and deepening of capitalist social relations around the globe. Today’s economic crisis has been deployed to extend the class struggle from above while many resistances have been explicitly cast in terms of class struggles from below. This volume addresses how capitalist classes are reorganizing as well as the structure and composition of working classes in the 21st century …; Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Sven Böll, Martin Hesse, Christoph Pauly and Anne Seith, Dec 10, 2013 (Photo Gallery).

Authorities around the world are taking action against large banks for questionable practices including collusion and rate manipulation, but the power of these financial institutions continues to grow. Germany’s Deutsche Bank in particular finds itself under fire.   Continue Reading…

Published on Euronews, Dec 7, 2013.

As the dark nights draw in, the French city of Lyon provides a little light relief. The annual Fête des Lumières held over four days in December is an electricity-sapping feast for the eyes.   Continue Reading…

International Anti War Conference Stop the War Coalition, uploaded to YouTube by Fourman Films, December 2013 – Speakers:

• Lindsey German, 6.48 min; … and many more … see all 24 videos in autoplay;

or see individually some 10 of the 24:  Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT, Dec 6, 2013.

The World Trade Organization has formally approved a historic package of agreements after over a decade of negotiations. Trade talks among 159 world economies came to an end after Cuba dropped its objections to the draft agreement.

“For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered,” WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said. “This time the entire membership came together. We have put the ‘world’ back in World Trade Organization.”   Continue Reading…

The government is insisting on enforcing the controversial protest law despite wide opposition – Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Ahmed Morsy, Dec 4, 2013.

Over the past 10 days, the recently endorsed protest law has been met with strong opposition from various political parties, public figures, political and legal activists and human-rights organisations.

Protests have been staged on a daily basis in clear defiance of the law and in order to object to the arrests of anti-law activists and politicians. The 6 April activist movement has called for a week of protests starting on 30 November. The Friday Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations were staged with acts of violence recorded and with dozens arrested.   Continue Reading…

in german – Gregor Gysi: Eröffnungskeynote Bundeskongress Compliance Management BCM, 43.04 min, von BCM Kongress am 26. November 2013 auf YouTube hochgeladen;

Schockierende Rede von Sahra Wagenknecht: die Linke Über den Umgang mit unserem Geld, 12.34 min,  von elton rabbel am 24. November 2013 auf YouTube hochgeladen.

Uploaded on YouTube by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung:

• Younas Alam Chowdhry: Socialism and Culture, 29.54 min, uploaded Nov 18, 2013: Left wing cultural activism in Pakistan, a presentation by Younas Alam Chowdhry;
• in german: Euros letzte Chance? Expertengespräch, 65.09 min, am 4. Dezember 2013 hochgeladen: Start der Eduard-Heimann-Colloquiums-Reihe 2013/14 «Europa am Scheideweg».   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Martin Hesse and Anne Seith, December 03, 2013.

Central banks around the world are pumping trillions into the economy. The goal is to stimulate growth, but their actions are also driving up prices in the real estate and equities markets. The question is no longer whether there will be a crash, but when … //

… It Might Go Badly: … //

… A Hunger for German Stocks: Continue Reading…

Published on truthout, by Henry A Giroux, Dec 2, 2013.

In the current historical moment, the line between fate and destiny is difficult to draw. Dominant power works relentlessly through its major cultural apparatuses to hide, mischaracterize or lampoon resistance, dissent and critically engaged social movements. This is done, in part, by sanitizing public memory and erasing critical knowledge and oppositional struggles from newspapers, radio, television, film and all those cultural institutions that engage in systemic forms of education and memory work.  Continue Reading…

Free Energy, ET’s and Freeing Humanity from the NWO, 82.33 min, (with Steven Greer), uploaded by Revolutionize TV,  July 5, 2013: Steven M. Greer, MD is Founder of The Disclosure Project, The Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and The Orion Project.
He is the author of four books and multiple DVDs on the UFO/ET subject. He teaches groups throughout the world how to make peaceful contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, and continues to research bringing truly alternative energy sources out to the public.  Continue Reading…

… to advance $1.2 billion debt relief plan – Published on Russia Today RT, Dec 1, 2013.

Iceland’s government has announced that it will be writing off up to 24,000 euros ($32,600) of every household’s mortgage, fulfilling its election promise, despite overwhelming criticism from international financial institutions.

The measure was introduced by the country’s prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, the leader of the Progressive Party which won the late-April elections on a promise of household debt relief.   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Bartholomäus Grill in Bagamayo, Tanzania, Nov 29, 2013. (Photo Gallery).

Chinese companies have pumped billions into Africa to secure access to natural resources, boosting countries’ economies along the way. Ordinary citizens aren’t reaping the benefits, though, and have become increasingly wary of the new investors.

In a three-part series, SPIEGEL is exploring fundamental changes occurring in Africa – a continent the West has long written off, but is now being embraced by other countries. This is Part I of the series. An introduction can be read here.   Continue Reading…

2013-11-01: Growing wealth disparities;
2013-11-02: Infra-Theory, the State Effect, and the Technopolitics of Oil;
2013-11-03: Report: State lawmakers enable wage theft, child labor;
2013-11-04: Dirty Money: Will Singapore Clean Up Its Act?
2013-11-05: women concerns;
2013-11-06: Eisenhower’s Drones;
2013-11-07: Swiss may grant unconditional income for all;
2013-11-08: Mass surveillance: 10 key questions for UK intelligence agency chiefs;
2013-11-09: Web of financial secrecy: Britain, satellites dominate tax haven rating;
2013-11-10: local agriculture for and with communities;
2013-11-11: UTOPIA – A film by John Pilger;
2013-11-12: Tide Thefts, Cargo Hijacking and Cattle Rustling;
2013-11-13: BBC Documentary on WikiLeaks, and more;
2013-11-14: The Untold Story of War;
2013-11-15: Eco-localism: A Constructive Critique;
2013-11-16: Public banking in Costa Rica: A remarkable little known model;
2013-11-17: NSA vs Anonymous and The Young Turks;
2013-11-18: Christopher Hedges;
2013-11-19: Egypt: A better start for child’s rights;
2013-11-20: Western firms hawk mass surveillance technology to developing world;
2013-11-21: Unprepared: Government Failings Intensify Haiyan Aid Disaster, Part 1;
2013-11-22: Cyprus University world first to accept bitcoins for tuition;
2013-11-23: The Kennedy Assassination, November 22, 1963: 50 Years Later;
2013-11-24: Articles published on Al-Ahram weekly online, Nov 20, 2013;
2013-11-25: links on my dashboard, in english and in german;
2013-11-26: Interest-Free Money – Dept-Free Economy;
2013-11-27: 10 Problems with Markets;
2013-11-28: Eric Hobsbawm;
2013-11-29: Land Grab: Foreign Firms Drive Cambodians from Farms;
2013-11-30: Privacy and the Right to Strike in Canada.

All articles sorted chronologically.

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 902, by Charles Smith, November 28, 2013.

The neoliberal assault on labour has now entered its fourth decade. While Canada’s labour union density continues to hover around thirty percent, that number hides declining density rates in the private sector. Equally concerning for the labour movement has been the long assault on the post-war labour freedoms to organize, bargain, and strike. As Leo Panitch and Donald Swartz have shown in their book, governments routinely seek to limit labour’s core freedoms, especially the right to strike. When Stephen Harper’s government claimed that the fragility of the Canadian economy was justification to take away the right of thousands of federal workers to strike, it became clear that strikes themselves were in danger of being legislated away … // Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Andreas Lorenz, Nov 27, 2013 (Photo Gallery).

Each year, foreign agricultural corporations deprive thousands of Cambodian farmers of their fields — with the government’s help. Human rights groups claim German taxpayer money is used to fund a program that benefits land grabbers.

Everyone in the Cambodian village of Chouk remembers what happened on the morning of May 19, 2006, when bulldozers appeared on National Route 48, which cuts through the town. Men from a Thai company, Khon Kaen Sugar Industry PCL, presented the Cambodian villagers with documents and said: “This land now belongs to us.”   Continue Reading…

• The Late Show – Special: Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes, 38.13 min, uploaded by se146np, Nov 11, 2012;
• Newsnight on responsible capitalism, Prof Eric Hobsbawm (19Jan12), 5.51 min, uploaded by liarpoliticians, Jan 20, 2012;
• How to Change the World, Socialist History Society, 25 Feb 2011, 33.56 min, uploaded by Adrian Cousins, March 1, 2011;
• Eric Hobsbawm: After the XXth Century: A World in Transition, 45.22 min, uploaded by fundacionvidanta, June 26, 2013;
• Eric Hobsbawm – Intellectuals and the Spanish Civil War, 54.58 min, uploaded by ashikmlakonja, August 31, 2012;   Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet, by Mitchell Szczepanczyk, Nov 25, 2013.

In a time when supposedly nothing is taboo and anything goes and everything is up for re-evaluation, it’s as close to an untouchable taboo catechism as there is in current times: Markets (by which I refer to the formal economic institution of markets) are awesome. Markets are efficient. Markets can do no wrong. Markets are the greatest economic system humans have created, and ever will create. Markets are the best thing since sliced bread and multiple orgasms … // Continue Reading…

in english:

• Richard Werner: Debt Free & Interest Free Money, 7.09 min, uploaded by Charles Bazlinton, May 26, 2011: …  facts about money creation that are at the core of every modern economy. About how the creation of the essential money that is needed to sustain growth is founded on debt. This suits banks, of course. Governments have huge debts, to banks, and few people realise that it does not have to be like this …;  Continue Reading…

in english and in german:

Pale Blue Dot Raumschiff Erde Ein Staubkorn im Universum, 4.00 min, (spoken in english, subtitled in german), uploaded by Daniel kryszkowski,  Sept 14, 2013;

Dr Gregor Gysi DIE LINKE:

• Debatte zu den Abhöraktivitäten der NSA Deutscher Bundestag, 13.04 min, von Daniel kryszkowski am 23. November 20113 hochgeladen;

Continue Reading…

… Nov 20, 2013:

Beyond the constitution, by Gamal Essam El-Din: Major obstacles still lie in the path of implementing the post-30 June political roadmap …;

Radical shifts, by Ahmed Eleiba: The significance of Cairo’s drawing closer to Moscow continues to stir debate …;

A heap of tangled metal, by Reem Leila: Tough talk, by Nader Noureddine: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/4736/17/Tough-talk.aspx
Ethiopia fails to see reason over the River Nile …;   Continue Reading…

on Global Research.ca, by Paul Craig Roberts, Nov 21, 2013.

… The true story of JFK’s murder has never been officially admitted, although the conclusion that JFK was murdered by a plot involving the Secret Service, the CIA, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been well established by years of research … //

… To briefly review, the facts are conclusive that JFK was on terrible terms with the CIA and the Joint Chiefs. He had refused to support the CIA organized Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.  He had rejected the Joint Chiefs’ “Operation Northwoods,” a plan to commit  real and faked acts of violence against Americans, blame Castro and use the false flag events to bring regime change to Cuba.  Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT, Nov 21, 2013.

The University of Nicosia (UNic), one of the major English language universities in the Mediterranean, will become the world’s first to accept bitcoins for tuition. The university will also begin a new Master of Science course in Digital Currency.

According to the university those who wish to pay tuition fees in bitcoins, will be able to use an online merchant processing service or by paying directly to the university’s finance office.   Continue Reading…