Dionisio Barrantes Blanco ( militante de IA-Madrid)

Recordando a Juan Antonio, se me viene a la cabeza una conversación que tuvimos hace muchos años. Fue al comienzo de la campaña Anti-Otan, cuando el tandem Felipe González- Solchaga empezaba a poner las bases para la reacción neoliberal. Estábamos perplejos y nos preguntábamos cual sería el desenlace de la situación política. Yo quise mantenerme optimista y le solté una perorata hablando sobre el tercio de la humanidad que había escapado del capitalismo, sobre cómo se combatía en Nicaragua, a las puertas mismas de Estados Unidos, bla ,bla, bla. Juan Antonio simplemente dijo: ‘Yo creo que tal vez ganen, pero yo se lo voy a poner difícil’.

 Comunicado del Ejecutivo Nacional de Sinistra Crítica

Las elecciones regionales del pasado fin de semana en Italia han ofrecido algunos resultados indiscutibles: sobre todo la “victoria” del abstencionismo –casi 2 millones de electores más respecto a las elecciones europeas de 2009 esta vez no han ido a votar– que tiene como efecto directo el éxito político de la Liga Norte, en el cuadro de una consolidación de la derecha del gobierno y de Berlusconi (derecha que no solamente quita 4 regiones al centroizquierda, sino que sobre todo no paga el precio de sus políticas de gobierno y no pierde apoyos, al menos en términos relativos).

Los números absolutos señalan que el abstencionismo afecta a (casi) todos

 "Tus amigos y amigas de IA-Madrid"

Nuestro compañero de Izquierda Anticapitalista de Madrid Juan Antonio Sánchez Beltrán falleció el pasado 29 de marzo en la Sierra de Gredos, mientras hacía aquello que más le gustaba: surcar los montes y disfrutar de la naturaleza. Una caída fortuita se llevó su vida. La tristeza que nos embarga a toda la gente que le conocimos y le quisimos es enorme en estos momentos. Juan  Antonio estaba lleno de vida, era un deportista nato, no de los que compiten, sino de los que disfrutan caminando, montando en bici  o recorriendo las cumbres de las cadenas montañosas,  fueran del Pirineo o del sistema central. El golpe ha sido tan duro como inesperado. Porque hace apenas unos días sujetábamos la pancarta en la concentración por la retirada de las tropas de Afganistán o nos reuníamos en el grupo de Rivas-Corredor del Henares de IA, al que él pertenecía. La sola idea de que ya no vamos a tenerle nunca más es terrible.

Juan Antonio tenía 50 años y desde muy joven se hizo militante de la LCR. Participó en la célula del Barrio del Pilar, donde conoció a sus amigos y compañeros de fatigas  Dioni, Mariví y  Forges, que han seguido militando con él hasta el mismo día de su muerte. Desde hace muchos años, vivía en San Fernando de Henares, donde era Conserje de un Colegio Público y miembro de la sección sindical de CCOO del mismo. Crítico siempre, nunca dejó de luchar para construir un mundo más justo  que no explotara ni a las personas ni a la naturaleza que tanto amaba. 

Coordinadora Anticementiri Nuclear de Catalunya. Nou cop fort contra la candidatura d'Ascó després que el passat diumenge 28 març el municipi de Vinebre, per una aplastant majoria, votés no al cementiri nuclear. - Catalunya / Ecologia, Catalunya

Vilaweb. Es pot seguir en streaming per internet · El (D') Evolution Summit ha organitzat accions reivindicatives durant tot el dia, mentre els ministres de cultura europeus es reunien a la Llotja de Mar de Barcelona. Veure vídeo>> - Catalunya / Cultura, Estat espanyol

Entrevista a Esther Vivas y Sandra Ezquerra en Radio Televisión Canaria

El Análisis de Canarias en punto 2ª edición entrevistó, el pasado 15 de marzo, a Esther Vivas y a Sandra Ezquerra sobre la situación actual de los movimientos sociales, los retos que tienen frente a la crisis actual, el impacto que ha tenido el movimiento antiglobalización en esta década de resistencias, entre otros.

La entrevista conducida por el periodista Javier Granados sirvió también para presentar el libro Resistencias globales. De Seattle a la crisis de Wall Street (Ed. Popular, 2009).

Escuchar entrevista aquí.

Izquierda Anticapitalista / Viento Sur

Daniel Bensaid fue una de las figuras más relevantes del marxismo crítico de los últimos 30 años. Su fallecimiento el pasado 12 de enero nos dejó un gran vacío, que ahora vamos a intentar rellenar evocando su memoria y su lucha con tres actos de homenaje en Bilbao, Barcelona y Madrid. El primero será organizado por Viento Sur, el de Barcelona por Revolta Global-Esquerra Anticapitalista y el de Madrid por Izquierda Anticapitalista. Para los tres, contaremos con la presencia de Alain Krivine, compañero de siempre de Daniel y uno de los fundadores de la LCR.

Daniel Bensaïd, comunista herético 

Michael Lowy 

Daniel Bensaïd nos ha dejado. Es una pérdida irreparable, no solamente para nosotros, sus amigos, sus camaradas de lucha, sino para la cultura revolucionaria. Con su irreverencia, su humor, su generosidad, su imaginación, había sido un raro ejemplo de intelectual militante, en el sentido fuerte de la expresión. Recuerdo nuestras largas conversaciones, a veces discusiones, alrededor de una mesa, sobre todo a la hora entre el postre y el café, en “Le Charbon”, su restaurante preferido.

The outcome of the contemptible farce of the Conference of the Parties, or the climate change talks in Copenhagen, will shape politics globally for years to come. No one can be left in any doubt that capitalism’s solutions will involve death, drought, starvation and displacement for millions of people.

Senator Jim Inhofe is the leading Republican on the United States Senate  Environment and Public Works Committee. He’s a climate change denier but he’s not wrong about everything. His assessment of what happened in Copenhagen is that there are no mandatory reductions of emissions of gases for either developed or developing nations; no verification of claimed reductions and the deadline has been shifted from 2010. “It’s a nothing agreement” was his summary.  If it were an agreement then the parties would be committed to doing something, no matter how feeble, instead what has been delivered after a fortnight of shabby dealing and years of political preparation is a political declaration which says only that the world’s rulers have decided to ignore the science and allow the planet to carry on warming.

One of Sudan’s representatives, Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping, hit the nail on the head when he said that Africa was being asked “to sign a suicide pact, an incineration pact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries”. From a Sudanese point of view his vision of the prolonged mass deaths through climate change is already a reality and the Copenhagen deal was a guarantee that it will get worse.
The real leadership for sustained meaningful action came from Latin America. The Bolivians face a future in which their major cities lose their water as the glaciers melt. They had called for the creation of an International Environmental Court with the power to impose penalties on states which do not meet their obligations. The big flaw in that idea is that international courts and treaties are not really meant to punish the rich and powerful, otherwise Tony Blair would be serving a whole life term somewhere. Hugo Chavez articulated superbly the anti-democratic imperial nature of the rotten deal that Obama stitched up.
Obama’s role in the whole process was abysmal. It amounted to little
more than making the Chinese the scapegoat for the capitalist system. The obvious point to make is that a vast chunk of what China produces is shipped to the rich world and if these emissions were to be entered into anyone’s ledger it should be into the rich world’s column.

One of the few positives to emerge from Copenhagen has been the complete collapse of the world’s rulers’ attempt to impose their solution. Their chimera of carbon offsetting, carbon trading, carbon capture while the rich produce and consume in the same old way are unsustainable.  Obama stitched up a deal with South Africa, India, Brazil and the US momentarily forgetting his special relationship with Britain and explicitly rejecting the demands of poorer countries to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees and not allowing them to take part in the discussion. It is not hyperbole to say that Copenhagen’s outcome is a death sentence for tens of millions of people in the coming years, overwhelmingly among the planet’s poor. Resistance to it has to take the form of mass activity, winning the arguments in the trade unions, insisting that radical political organisations make it a centrepiece of their activity and listening.

NUT: Oppose amendment 46.1 Support Motion 46 Tackling Climate Change
The Executive amendment 46.1 seriously weakens the motion in two aspects. It deletes the call to affiliate to the Campaign against Climate Change and Stop Climate Chaos coalition and replaces it with “Work with…”. The deletion of the fourth paragraph deletes opposition to “renewed investment in nuclear power and carbon trading.”

The main motion is a good summary of recent campaigns and proposals for the way forward. Support resolution 46.2 from Bristol/Birmingham which notes the failure of the UN talks in Copenhagen and supports the call of the Bolivian President Evo Morales for a People’s World Conference on Climate Change in April 2010.
This editorial appeared in the Socialist Resistance bulletin distributed at the National Union of Teachers’ conference, which is taking a major debate on climate change.

Two policies together are designed to unleash market madness in our school system:
•    All schools, primary as well as secondary, will be able to become Academies run by private organisations.
•    220,000 new school places will be created in schools run by alternative providers.

The Tories claim that parents are queuing up to run schools. This is a myth. The Tories’ model is the so-called ‘free schools’ in Sweden. They are funded by the state but most are run for profit by private companies. The big question is, will the Tories allow them to they be run for profit here? The CEO of Kunsskapskolan, the largest Swedish state-funded schools-for-profit provider, Anders Hultin, has said that the Tories’ plan won’t work unless the schools are allowed to make a profit. Michael Gove has aid they won’t, but according to The Economist (4 October 2009) ‘Mr Gove says his position on profits is driven by a desire not to fracture a growing but fragile consensus within and without his party, and could be rethought if necessary.’ There is a growing lobby which will be pressing a Tory government to do so, including Mr Hultin himself, who is sponsoring two Academies in Richmond. Are these just ‘loss leaders’, waiting for a Tory government to give them the profit-making go-ahead?

The result of the combination of these two policies – turning schools into Academies and creating hundreds of new schools, many run for profit - would be devastating for the school system as we know it.
•    The creation of hundreds of new schools, all chasing the same pupils, would force many existing schools to close down for lack of numbers.
•    It would destroy the role of local authorities, which would lose many if not all of their schools, leaving an uncoordinated market-place of competing providers.
•    Local parents and citizens would lose any influence over the schools, either through the elected local council or through governing bodies, where they would be almost entirely unrepresented. Power would lie with unaccountable large private organisations running chains of schools.
•    Teachers and other school workers will also suffer because their new employers will break with national pay and conditions, in the interests of private profit.
And don’t forget all this will take place in the context of massive cuts in school spending. One certain outcome is that the existing gap between children from better-off and poorer families will widen even more.

Will market madness rule the schools?
There are two obstacles to this education market scenario. The first is a tension within Tory policy itself. It stands for business interests, but while the schools market will suit education-business companies, the big question is will there be enough private providers, and will they be capable of delivering the sort of future workforce which employers as a whole demand, or whether (as New Labour found) the market will need a strong steer from the state, creating, for example, vocational schools from age 14, as Kenneth Baker proposes with his ‘university technical college’ Academies?

But the only way to block the market takeover is mass opposition from parents, teachers and the labour movement. The NUT needs to be in the lead of a broad campaigning coalition to defend our schools against Tory attacks. It should start now, as the general election approaches. Demand that Tory and Lib Dem candidates give an unequivocal commitment that they will never support state-funded schools being run for profit. And demand of Labour candidates that they support a mass campaign against Tory marketisation and privatisation.

Richard Hatcher

This is the lead article in the Socialist Resistance bulletin distributed at the National Union of Teacher’ conference.

 Redacción Corriente Alterna Madrid

En la mañana del pasado domingo, 28 de Marzo, comenzaron a agruparse cientos de mujeres en la plaza Jacinto Benavente, para demostrar que el servicio domestico es un trabajo que existe. Izquierda Anticapitalista estuvo presente, mostrando su apoyo a esta lucha, aunque dejando todo el protagonismo, para este sector laboral tan olvidado.

Es un trabajo sin derechos, abierto directamente a la explotación más vil, olvidado por los grandes sindicatos, que no lo deben de considerar importante y por la población en general que se olvida de esta realidad.