politics for the 99%

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin no. 1043, by Richard Fidler, Oct 3, 2014.

Superficially, the 55-45 victory of the No forces in Scotland’s referendum September 18 was a clear rejection of independence. The Yes forces won a majority only in the four poorest and most deprived of the nation’s 32 local divisions, although a class breakdown of the vote would show a majority of the working-class voted for independence.   Continue Reading…

Published on The Economist, Oct 4, 2014: The model of development through industrialisation is on its way out.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago Shenzhen was a tiny fishing village just over the river from British Hong Kong. Its inhabitants, like most Chinese, lived in poverty. In 1978 the average income in America was about 21 times that in China. But in 1979 China’s leader, Deng Xiaoping, chose Shenzhen as the country’s first special economic zone, free to experiment with market activity and trade with the outside world. Shenzhen quickly found itself at the leading edge of Chinese economic development, using the same model as Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong itself had done at earlier stages.   Continue Reading…

Published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Oct 2, 2014.

… Yves here. The word “collapse” may seem overwrought when applied to Europe, but cold-blooded, clear eyed colleagues who have good connections and have spent a bit of time there recently say things that are broadly similar to Ilargi’s take. Despite the conventional wisdom that the cost of a Eurozone breakup is catastrophically and thus will never take place, that confidence may prove to be the currency union’s undoing. Ideological rigidity about austerity is leading to policies that are crushing large swathes of the population. And Europe, unlike the US, had enough of a tradition of popular revolt that that uprisings, either on the street or in the ballot box, are real possibilities, as the sudden rise of the anti-EU right shows.   Continue Reading…

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Published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Sept 29, 2014;

… Now you might say, isn’t this media firestorm a great thing? It’s roused Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown to demand hearing. The Fed has been toadying up to Wall Street for years. Shouldn’t we be pleased that the problem is finally being taken seriously?   Continue Reading…

2014-09-01: The U.S. Still Decides the Future of Capitalism, Not the G20, and Not the BRICS Nations;
2014-09-02: Organized Labor in America Today;
2014-09-03: Female fighters of the PKK may be the Islamic State’s worst nightmare;
2014-09-04: Interview with Rosneft President Igor Sechin: Russia Didn’t Initiate the Ukraine Crisis, part 1;
2014-09-05: France and Friends: Merkel Increasingly Isolated on Austerity;
2014-09-06: Real Democracy and the Capture of Institutions;
2014-09-07: Islamic rights;
2014-09-08: The Making of Global Capitalism;
2014-09-09: Global War;
2014-09-10: Finance and Social Justice;
2014-09-11: Kashmir’s epic floods link India and Pakistan in disaster;
2014-09-12: Asylum, Migration and Integration: African passage to Europe, two brothers, two paths, two struggles;
2014-09-13: 6 Innovative Ways We’re Reinventing Birth Control;
2014-09-14: Film: Song From the Forest;
2014-09-15: Moves to contain water fears;
2014-09-16: Q. and A.: Yong Zhao on Education and Authoritarianism in China;
2014-09-17: a mix of items wanting catch us now;
2014-09-18: Brazil Removed From UN World Hunger Map;
2014-09-19: Haiti: A Movement of Solidarity to End the UN’s Illegal Occupation;
2014-09-20: Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution;
2014-09-21: War, Circus and Injustice Down Under;
2014-09-22: money system – système monétaire – geldsystem;
2014-09-23: Turn Left for Earth;
2014-09-24: Europe’s Original Sin: What Asylum Policy Says about the EU;
2014-09-25: The American Withdrawal from Iraq – the Debate;
2014-09-26: Progressive Struggles against Insidious Capitalist Individualism – Interview with Angela Davis;
2014-09-27: Housing, Fair Wages, Water, Food, Schools — Ya’ Gotta Bomb them First;
2014-09-28: RACE IN AMERICA – The Violence of the Status Quo: Michael Brown, Ferguson and Tanks;
2014-09-29: Interview with Ebola Discoverer Peter Piot: It Is What People Call a Perfect Storm;
2014-09-30: Beyond 2015: Is Another Development Possible?
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All articles sorted chronologically.

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin no. 1040, by Benjamin Selwyn, Sept 28, 2014.

A we near 2015, the United Nations (UN) will probably set new objectives on behalf of the global community to supersede the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are held largely by the UN, the World Bank and many anti-poverty campaigners, which I label here the anti-poverty consensus, to have been a success. According to the UN, The First MDG – the objective of halving world poverty between 1990 and 2015 – was achieved already in 2010 … // Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, Interview Conducted by Rafaela von Bredow and Veronika Hackenbroch, Sept 26, 2014 (Photo Gallery).

Almost four decades ago, Peter Piot was part of the team that discovered the Ebola virus. In a SPIEGEL interview, he describes how the disease was isolated and explains why the current outbreak is different than any that have come before.

SPIEGEL: Professor Piot, as a young scientist in Antwerp, you were part of the team that discovered the Ebola virus in 1976. How did it happen?   Continue Reading…

Published on Antropology News, by Pem Davidson Buck, Sept 15, 2014.

Years ago I thought about writing a paper I would call “The Violence of the Status Quo.” I never wrote that paper. Perhaps now is the time—although it would have been appropriate any time in the last 500 years of US history. Michael Brown, yes, and as of August 19 four other young Black men, all unarmed, perhaps not perfectly behaved, but killed in the last month by White police under circumstances in which Whites are almost never killed by police … // Continue Reading…

Looking at the hardware and software of the killers, Murder Inc., really sets out what we are up against – Published on Dissident Voice, by Paul Kirk, September 25, 2014.

You don’t need to be a Georgetown graduate of the diplomatic killing corps or a rocket scientist or some overpaid pig of entertainment journalism or pundit or war hero or black president or a member of the publishing class to understand what bombing Syria and Iraq and any other country means to the military and civilian murder machine. Below, just the facts, ma’am. Clearly laid out as the direct military profiteers engaged in killing people abroad or in their neck of the woods (sic) as in Israel, you know, all those companies that are the GE’s and Boeings of the world. But do not be misled — Americans and Westerners make their livings directly tand indirectly killing people. Continue Reading…

Published on Jadaliyya, by Frank Barat, Sept 24, 2014 (also on ZNet).

In this interview, Angela Davis, and activist, teacher, author, and icon of the Black Power movement, talks about the linkages among global struggles. Touching upon black feminism, the importance of the collective, Palestine, the prison-industrial complex, and much more, Professor Davis expounds on the role that the people can and should play.
(A shorter version of this interview was first published in The Nation http://www.thenation.com/article/181386/qa-angela-davis-black-power-feminism-and-prison-industrial-complex … // Continue Reading…

Published on International Affairs Forum, by Dr. Erik Lindell, Sept 24, 2014.

The “who lost Iraq” blame game has begun in earnest. Conservatives have attacked the Obama Administration for withdrawing all U.S. forces from Iraq at the end of 2011. It was premature, they argue, and contend that the current mess in Iraq, with the terrorist group ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) now taking control of Mosul and other cities in Northern Iraq, is attributable to this disastrous decision by the President.[1] With no American troops left after 2011 the political leverage of the U.S. diminished accordingly, leaving free -for- all sectarian clashes in its wake. Senator John McCain has been the most vocal critic of the President on this point, even claiming that the war had been “won” until the Obama Administration foolishly pulled all the troops out.   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, an Essay by Jürgen Dahlkamp, Sept 22, 2014.

European asylum policy is a messy compromise that has led to vast suffering on the EU’s external borders. But having become used to our prosperity, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s time to talk about asylum, about our European Union with its execrable policy based on deterrence, fortification and deportation. It’s time to talk about the fact that people are starving, drowning and otherwise suffering on their way to our borders. And it’s time to address the question as to why these things happen every day: today, tomorrow and the day after that. Continue Reading…

Published on War is a Crime (also on David Sanson’s BLOG – and on ZNet), by David Swanson, Sept 21, 2014.

… I’m in favor of mixed-use protests, not just urban developments. Don’t just let the conservative marchers know about opportunities for more direct protest, but get them involved. Take a safe march to a resistance action, where its size will keep it safe and its members will be energized. Let the crowd demonstrate within sight and sound of the people it is petitioning for a redress of grievances, and let those who are ready join in disruptive protest actions.   Continue Reading…

• New Book Agenda 21 For Dummies – The End Game, 9.31 min, uploaded by Ole Toddster, Sept 19, 2014;
• Kriege als Mittel zur Rettung des Finanzsystems: Andreas Popp im Gespräch mit Michael Vogt, 61.50 min, von Wissensmanufaktur am 16. September 2014 hochgeladen;
• A fraudulent, corrupt Monetary System, 21.08 min, uploaded by WeAreChangeHollywood, Sept 14, 2014;
• [57] The Emergence of New Economics, 44.01 min, uploaded by LivingIncomeGuaranteed, Sept 14, 2014;
• UNETENET: Les Monnaies Complémentaires en Europe, 9.17 min, mise en ligne par ignasi.unetenet, septembre 11, 2014;
• Des trésors contre des armes – DocArte, 51.58 min, mise en ligne par Papillon Rouge, le 5 septembre 2014;
• Petro-Dollar, US-Geopolitik, Ukraine und Rolle der Medien – Bernd Senf, 57.47 min, von Bernd Senf am 1. September 2014 hochgeladen;   Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet, by John Pilger, Sept 19, 2014.

There are times when farce and living caricature almost consume the cynicism and mendacity in the daily life of Australia’s rulers. Across the front pages is a photograph of a resolute Tony Abbott with Indigenous children in Arnhem Land, in the remote north. “Domestic policy one day,” says the caption, “focus on war the next.” Continue Reading…

Published on the National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book No. 484, Sept 16, 2014 (Source: provided to book author Richard Whittley by Col. (ret) Mark A. Cooter, USAF).

… As detailed in Richard Whittle’s Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution (Henry Holt and Company, September 16, 2014), the Predator’s configuration was derived from drones developed in the 1980s by former Israeli aeronautical engineer Abraham Karem. Documents obtained by Whittle and posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, www.nsarchive.org, confirm key facts about the Predator’s transformation by the Air Force into the first armed drone used to stalk and kill individual enemies by remote control at intercontinental range.   Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by Dr. Ajamu Nangwaya, Sept 17, 2014.

… We are no longer living in the 19th century with the spectre of Haiti’s successful struggle for its freedom haunting the consciousness of slave masters across the Americas. Yet the military occupation of this country since 2004 by way of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is sending a clear message that the Haitians’ tentative step toward exercising control over the destiny in the 1990s and the early years of the new century is still “a source of alarm and terror” to imperial overlords such a Canada, France, and the United States. Continue Reading…

Published on abc news, Sept 16, 2014.

The Brazilian government Tuesday hailed a new United Nations report that for the first time removed Latin America’s biggest country from the World Hunger Map.

“Leaving the Hunger Map is a historic milestone for Brazil. We are very proud because overcoming hunger was a priority for the Brazilian state,” Social Development Minister Tereza Campello said in a statement. Continue Reading…

• UK: Government given a ‘red card’ for its efforts to prevent flooding after the winter storms battered the South West, on North Devon Journal, Sept 16, 2014;
• Tony Abbott warns Australians fighting FOR Islamic State could be targeted by RAAF bombs, 2.09 min, on The Sydney Morning Herald, by Mark Kenny, Sept 16, 2014;
• Mediterranean shipwrecks leave over 700 refugees dead, many fleeing Mideast wars, on WSWS, by Bill Van Auken, Sept 16, 2014;
• US Corporate Executives to Workers: Drop Dead, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Sept 16, 2014;
• Hours worked per worker in industrialized countries 1979-2013, on RWER Blog, by David F. Ruccio, Sept 16, 2014;   Continue Reading…

Published on NYT Sinosphere Blog, by DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW, Sept 14, 2014.

Yong Zhao is professor of education, University of Oregon and author of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World,” being published this week … //

… Following are excerpts from an interview with Mr. Zhao:

Q. You hav said that traditional Chinese education actively “harms” children. How?   Continue Reading…

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Doaa El-Bey, Sept 11, 2014:

Confidence-building measures are key to resolving the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hossam Moghazi has been invited by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to visit Addis Ababa and the Renaissance Dam construction site this month.

The fourth tripartite meeting, held in Khartoum last month, Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri’s visit to Addis Ababa last week and Moghazi’s trip are part of ongoing confidence-building measures between Addis Ababa and Cairo … // Continue Reading…

reviewed at Intl. Documentary Festival Amsterdam - running time 96 min – Published on Variety, by Peter Debruge, Chief International Film Critic, Nov. 29, 2013 … American ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno’s journey into the Congo (and back) is the subject of this mesmerizing documentary.

Having left his native New Jersey long behind, Louis Sarno has dedicated the better part of his life to documenting one of the rarest and most remote musical traditions on earth — that of the Central African Republic’s Bayaka pygmies. In “Song From the Forest,” German director Michael Obert displays only passing interest in this music, offering instead a mesmerizing glimpse into Sarno’s search for a sub-Saharan Walden and the implications of that choice. Best suited to NPR-listening, New Yorker-skimming culture-philes, this loosely structured but intricately sound-designed docu serves as a fest-friendly follow-up to both Sarno’s little-read autobiography and “Oka!,” the even-less-seen fish-out-of-water dramedy inspired by his story … // Continue Reading…

Published on Mashable, by Matt Petronzio, Sept 11, 2014.

Birth control pills and traditional latex condoms have been among the most popular and effective methods of contraception for decades. But innovators think it’s time for an upgrade — not only to increase protection, but also to establish safe sex as a basic human right.

Health organizations and forward-thinking companies are making breakthroughs in the field of contraception, working to develop new products such as hormone-releasing microchips, radically redesigned condoms and even low-cost male birth control injections that could last up to 15 years.   Continue Reading…

Published on YahooNews, by Zach Campbell, Sara Miller Llana, Sept 7, 2014 - (Recommended: 10 Immigration myths debunked, on Christian Science Monitor, by Amy Taxin, July 12, 2014).

Two brothers from Senegal sought a better life in Europe. Only one of them made it. But their experiences highlight the pressure on European governments to fairly tackle illegal immigration … //

… Today, Yalou is part of Spain’s undocumented migrant class, working as a street seller in Bilbao. Ndiaye also works as a street seller, but in a market on the outskirts of Tangier, Morocco. They haven’t seen each other in years.   Continue Reading…