EFE Rabat

La Asociación Marroquí de Derechos Humanos pide una investigación independiente para determinar responsabilidades

La Asociación Marroquí de Derechos Humanos (AMDH) ha denunciado que las autoridades marroquíes no respetaron la ley en el desmantelamiento del campamento de protesta saharaui el pasado noviembre en El Aaiún y pidió una investigación independiente para determinar responsabilidades.
En un extenso informe presentado en Rabat, destacó que "la ofensiva no se hizo con el tiempo suficiente para que la población comprendiera lo que estaba ocurriendo y se preparara para partir".

Not so long ago the defeat of the right wing candidates in the municipal elections in the two major cities in Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki, would have been followed by scenes of popular enthusiasm in the streets throughout the night. There was nothing like that this time, when the right was defeated in cities where it had ruled for decades! - IV431- December 2010 / Greece, Economy

Enric Llopis | Rebelión

Entrevista a la activista social Esther Vivas sobre posibles estrategias de los movimientos sociales en un contexto de crisis global

¿Cuál es la fórmula para vincular las luchas de los movimientos sociales a las aspiraciones de una “mayoría silenciosa” atrapada en el pensamiento único, el consumismo y los efectos de una crisis devastadora? No hay recetas mágicas. Pero según Esther Vivas, reconocida activista social y miembro del Centre d’Estudis sobre Moviments Socials (CEMS) de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra, cualquier propuesta transformadora ha de pasar por la “autoorganización de las clases populares desde una perspectiva anticapitalista, y un ecologismo radical”.

La movilización de las clases populares es uno de los principales retos del presente. “La historia no está escrita y el sistema capitalista se encuentra más deslegitimado que nunca”, afirma Esther Vivas. Por eso, en un contexto de crisis global, la autora de “Supermercados, no gracias” o “Resistencias globales. De Seattle a la crisis de Wall Street” apuesta por avanzar coordinando las resistencias y evitando los sectarismos.

Kjell Pettersson ser sig om i det absurda land vi hamnat i
Att sammanfatta ett år som 2010 och framför allt vad som har hänt på den inrikespolitiska fronten på några sidor låter sig inte göras på några sidor.

Läsaren av detta får nöja sig med några nedslag i en allt mer kaotisk tillvaro.
Med tanke på att vintern började redan i mitten av oktober med minus 10 på det västgötska höglandet kan vi konstatera att Sverige är ett land – som någon tänkare har sagt – med elva månader med kallvalla och en månad med tövalla.
Vi flyttar oss tillbaka i tiden och hittar ett av de mer bevingade uttalanden, detta avregleringens och privatiseringens jubelår.
Det är SJ-chefen Jan Forsberg som tar till orda i april månad.
”Jag önskar att det blir en likadan vinter så att vi får testa ordentligt att våra förbättringar fungerar”.
Han fick sin önskan uppfylld, och nu har ”förbättringarna testats”. Resultatet vet alla resenärer.
Kaoset i det avreglerade SJ är totalt.
De ansvariga kallar till presskonferenser. SJ-chefen, chefen för Banverket, ansvariga politiker och diverse andra underhuggare.
Efter att SJ och Banverkets representanter ägnat en stor del av mötet till att skylla på varandra lyckas alla potentaterna samla ihop sig till en gemensam slutsats. Den blir att det är för mycket folk som åker tåg och egentligen är det resenärernas fel att tåg varken går eller kommer.
Kontentan tycks vara att om folk inte åker tåg så uppstår det heller inte några problem… Nobelpriskommittén hallå, här har ni några givna kandidater till nästa års prisfest.
Det är inte utan att man blir lite småsvettig när man betänker att dessa figurer – var man nu har hittat dom – har det högsta ansvaret för en av landets viktigaste infrastrukturer.

En annan verksamhet som har bolagiserats, med benägen hjälp av såväl borgerliga politiker som socialdemokratiska, är posten. Ett postverk som liksom SJ sedan lång tid har till uppgift att tjäna mammon och inte allmänheten.
På många håll, framför allt ute landet har postkontor efter postkontor slagit igen, och för att skicka ett julkort eller paket får man söka sig till andra näringsställen.
Ett av dem är Konsum, och då kan det gå som det gick i det lilla samhället Alvarsmåla, vet tidningarna att berätta. Det är inte direkt en solskenshistoria, snarare om den totala solförmörkelse som blivit ett konkret exempel på vart det nyliberala tidevarvet fört samhället..
Torsdagen den 9 december fyllde lille Ted ett år.
Hans omtänksamma moster hade till bemärkelsedagen skickat ett presentpaket.
Så långt allt väl.
Paket ska ju hämtas ut och i grannsamhället Rödby är det nu för tiden Konsum som handhar detta. Så mot Konsum styrde pappa, mamma och lille Ted.
Men det blev inget paket. Anledningen var att lille Ted saknade legitimation.
– Min syster hade skrivit Teds namn som mottagare och då måste han kunna visa legitimation berättar hans mamma.
Postens pressansvarige beklagar händelsen men säger i samma andetag att ”på grund av säkerhetsskäl har vi numera legitimationskrav”.
Det kan man ju i för sig ha viss förståelse för. Men för en ettåring?
Än mal den svenska byråkratins kvarnar.

När vi ändå är inne på Posten och vad som finns kvar av den så kommer företaget att inom kort lansera en ny löneförmån. Nämligen ett erbjudande om provrörsbefruktning för de 27 000 anställda. Och det låter ju fint. Men är det inte hela lite feltänkt? Vore det inte bättre att höja de anställdas löner så att de har råd att skaffa sig barn och ta del av detta förmånserbjudande.
Med barn är det ju så beskaffat att de blir större och hamnar i skolan, eller vad som kommer att finnas kvar efter att flumminister Björklund fått härja ett tag till. Den kasernpolitikern är snart inne på sitt femte år som ansvarig minister. Under detta år har kvalitén på undervisningen stadigt sjunkit enligt nya rapporter. Och förra veckan kom beskedet att lärarutbildningen inte håller måttet vid ett antal högskolor, företrädesvis i de norra delarna av riket.
Kanske de nya signalerna från flum-Björklund nått fram: att det inte längre handlar om att lära för livet utan för näringslivet.

Ska ett år som detta sammanfattas går det knappast att undvika att det är valår, inte heller det katastrofala läget för arbetarrörelsen. En arbetarrörelse där de styrande politrukerna i det som en gång var det socialdemokratiska partiet med näbbar och klor tycks kämpa för att partiet ska hamna under 20 procent nästa val, om det inte sjunker ihop helt som den berömda sufflén.
Att socialdemokratin sedan urminnes tider haft ett nära samarbete med fackföreningsrörelsen är inte obekant för någon. Ett samarbete som i mångt och mycket var förödande för den fackliga rörelsen och inte minst medlemmarna. Inte minst efter det att socialdemokratin under de senaste 25 åren stadigt varit på glid högerut.
Men nu tycks en del högersocialdemokrater tröttnat på detta samarbete och inlett ett samarbete med Svenskt Näringsliv för att driva ännu längre mot den nyliberala stupkanten.

En av dem som ingår i detta nya projekt är den gamla SSU-pampen Niklas Nordström som den 11 november i år var med i Aktuellt för att diskutera socialdemokratins framtid. Bland annat detta hade Nordström på hjärtat:
– Städa bort frågorna där S inte ligger i samklang med väljarna. Det handlar om kärnkraften, RUT-frågan, införande av fastighetsskatt och valfrihet i välfärden. Det är hygienfaktorer, där får man bara acceptera att väljarna tycker på ett annat sätt, konstaterade Nordström.
Smaka på ordet ”hygienfaktorer”. Spotta ut, och var god skölj. ”Hygienfaktorer”, känns inte begreppet bekant från nittonhundratalets värsta infernoår?
Det tycks som om Niklas Nordström inte bara tjänar Svenskt Näringsliv utan har blivit konsult på Anticimex där den eventuella ohyran är alla de socialdemokrater som inte accepterar hans och de andra högersossarnas politiska recept.
Ett italienskt ordspråk lär lyda att ”en fisk ruttnar från huvudet”. Något som stämmer tämligen väl när man utifrån läser om och betraktar socialdemokratins sönderfall.
Ett år är till ända. Ett mörkt moderat år för alla oss som fortfarande står fast vid en socialistisk politik och har kvar drömmer om en annan och bättre värld.
Med den drömmen går vi in i 2011.
För det kan snart inte bli värre… eller kan det det?
God jul och Gott Nytt År.

Kjell Pettersson
kjell@internationalen.se

Ernesto M. Díaz Macias | Militante de  Izquierda Anticapitalista-Cádiz y de la asamblea de estudiantes.

¡¡Si nos bloquean el futuro, nosotros bloqueamos la ciudad!! ¿Se acuerdan de esta frase? Con ella nos sorprendió el movimiento estudiantil italiano a muchos militantes de la izquierda este último mes. Su radicalidad junto con el tamaño de las movilizaciones que la realizaron dieron por fin certificado de que algo estaba cambiando definitivamente entre los y las de abajo en partes significativas de Europa, aunque de momento se reduzca a estallidos del movimiento estudiantil y al caso francés. 

Albert Sales i Campos. Més d'una vegada he sentit a periodistes de mitjans de “desinformació” de masses argumentant que amb els informatius també es busca audiència i que, en conseqüència, les notícies que surten són un reflex del que la gent demana. - Internacional / laboral, Internacional

Can Piella. Can Piella és una masia del S. XVII que es troba en una de les poques zones rurals encara existents en les immediateses de La Llagosta y Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, en el municipi de Montcada i Reixac. - Catalunya / Cultura, Catalunya

Alf Filer draws some conclusions from the far right’s announcement that it plans to attack student demonstrations.

“The next time the students want to protest in our capital, the English Defence League (EDL) will be there.” So threatened ex British National Party (BNP) supporter Tommy Robinson, aka Stephen Yaxley Lennon , in a speech at Peterborough on 11 December. The EDL , as expected, have thrown in their lot with those forces attacking both the students and any other trade union opposition to the cuts. Fascism is the last defence of capitalism.

Such a statement confirms what most of us knew. The EDL are committed to developing into a hardened street fighting organisation determined first to attack Muslims and then to use that to divide working people, through the scapegoating of innocent victims of the capitalist crises. They see mass student resistance on the streets as being a real challenge, with an ability to mobilise and unite working class youth and trade unionists, whilst making it clear the enemy is not Muslims but the ConDem government, the City, their banker friends and the ruling class.

The racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and reactionary statements coming from the EDL represent a classical attempt by fascists to attack the working class and their allies, in defence of capital. Whilst claiming to be a working class movement of ordinary people, the EDL does not in any way represent or class. It is a crude and violent attempt to act as the storm troopers of capitalism. Some of their organisers may be of the working class but they are certainly not for the working class. Many of its leaders are petty bourgeois small business men, with a few secret financial backers. Their role is certainly not to protect workers from the ravages of the crises, far from it. Congratulations must go to those who recently hacked into the EDL website and exposed some of their supporters.

The history

In Germany, the Brown Shirts violently attacked Jews, gays, trade unionists and socialists in the 20’s and 30’s, blaming unemployment and economic crises on a so-called Zionist Conspiracy. They resurrected the old Tsarist blood lie to frighten voters into supporting them, whilst using street violence to intimidate and attack opponents. Only a divided working class, resulting from a failure of the Communist and Socialist Parties to unite, enabled the Nazis to take power, using the jackboot and the ballot box. The lessons of the rise of fascism in the 30’s and the defeats and human tragedies that then followed in the Holocaust, must be fully understood by the movement today if we are to successfully prevent this being repeated. Stalinism and Social Democracy attempted then to disarm the proletariat in the struggle for Socialism. The united front tactic put forward by Trotsky and his supporters then are just as relevant and essential now.

We totally endorse the statement by the Unite Against Fascism (UAF) national officer Martin Smith:

“Some people in the antifascist movement have argued that if the EDL comes to your town, you should stay at home, ignore them and hope they’ll go away. We think that’s wrong. There are fascist elements with a growing influence in the EDL – and if you give an inch to a fascist, they’ll come back for more.

… When they attack one community, it’s an attack on all of us. And we should remember that if we all come together and stand united, there are many, many more of us than them.”

The EDL is planning to return to where it first started its racist marches, in Luton, on Saturday 5^th February. Students and young workers will be there, alongside trade unionists, socialists, community groups, anti-cuts campaigners and many others to make it clear whose streets it is and that it does not belong to the fascists.

Resistance

In Harrow, Tower Hamlets, Manchester, Glasgow, Burnley, Cardiff and in many other towns and cities across the country, thousands marched in defence of all communities against fascist and racist threats. The cry, “They shall not pass” and “ No Platform for Fascists”, was once again raised in defiance of attempts by the police, the media and the Establishment to protect the EDL whilst arresting anti-fascists and bringing of charges against the leaders of the UAF. This duplicity by the state was rewarded by the EDL subsequently attacking police lines on recent marches, to try to prove who the better street fighters were.

There are those in the anti-fascist movement, who have argued for a position that state bans should be relied on to prevent the fascists from marching. Instead of mass mobilisations organised through local based and democratic anti-fascist committees, Hope Not Hate and others have argued that we should call on the police and the Home Office to ban the EDL. Unfortunately, even if they wanted to, the state representatives make it clear that static demos are not illegal. This does not prevent them using police horses, illegal kettling, batons and other similar tactics to prevent students and youth from opposing the cuts. Some in the media have even suggested the use of water cannons and rubber bullets to put down the students, whilst turning a blind eye to the fascists.

The state is not, and never has been, neutral. State violence is used to reinforce class oppression and oppose resistance by working people and organized labour. The same capitalist state that inhumanely mistreats the children of asylum seekers at places such as Yarls Wood, batons and assaults students such as Alfie Meadows in Whitehall, will be the state that attacks workers on picket lines in defence of jobs. Only united action on the streets, as shown at Cable Street in the 1936 and in Harrow 2 years ago, can prevent the fascists from marching.

Although the BNP lost their seats in Barking and Dagenham, along with other electoral losses in the last general and local council elections, their vote had increased to over half a million nationally. This, combined with votes for other far right and nationalist candidates, shows that they are not finished, in spite of recent splits and faction fights. Nick Griffin is considering whether to run in the forthcoming Oldham and Sandlewood by-election.

Labour and immigation

Yet is the Labour Party able to present a challenge, given its record on immigration controls, support for public spending cuts and accepting the case for cutting the size of the budget deficit?

Disillusionment by working people is understandable when all three political parties argue that cuts are inevitable in one way or another. The disgraced former Labour MP, Phil Woolas, was happy to play the race card by accusing his Liberal Democrat opponent of trying to woo the votes of Muslim extremists.

Similarly, in the middle of the Dagenham election campaign, Margaret Hodge, New Labour Culture Minister at the time, called for tighter immigration quotas. Yet in campaigning against Griffin, anti-racists had to point out the racist nature of immigration controls and how racism cannot be fought with racist arguments. All immigration controls are by definition racist. Theresa May, the ConDem Home Office minister has now also faced defeats following successful appeals over immigration restrictions that her Government had recently introduced. Even the City accepts that immigration controls can have a harmful effect on the economy, yet they only want the restrictions lifted on their “ overpaid key workers” not all workers, many on very low pay.

Democracy in UAF

Over the past 2 years, many in the anti-fascist movement, along with Socialist Resistance, have been urging the UAF to maximise the support it has attracted by convening its long delayed AGM. The aim of this is to enable full and frank discussion within the wider movement on tactics and strategy for organising mass mobilisations effectively and so strengthen the anti-fascist movement. Such an AGM would also permit a more open, democratic and approach, with wider representation on the national committee of the UAF. Unfortunately this is where we must disagree with the dominant political force in the UAF, the SWP. Whilst we welcome and recognise the dedication of their members to this struggle, we do not agree with their methodology.

A more open and democratic structure at local and national level , as opposed to a top down approach, would enable the UAF to deepen its links within the labour movement, at the base. Whilst having endorsements from trade union and political leaders, it is the participation of activists in its everyday life that will enable the UAF to succeed. Perhaps this is where the UAF can learn some of the lessons from the Coalition of Resistance, with over 100 people on its National Council. Internal democracy is not a luxury it is a necessity.

Similarly it has been raised for the need by the UAF to convene an international conference, bringing together the international experiences of the anti-fascist movement, linking in with the international struggle against austerity measures across Europe and beyond. The present crises is international and the struggle against this and fascism must be international also.

The emergence over the past year of Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts, and their active involvement in the Coalition of Resistance is a very positive development in the struggle against racism and the cuts, based on the important principle of autonomy and self organisation. It is not sufficient to simply sloganise “black and white unite and fight”. This shows how the victims of racism can unite with the anti-cuts movement and so strengthen the struggle. Similarly we are seeing similar movements emerging amongst women, gays and people with disabilities. They quite rightly are not prepared to accept being patronised but be accepted and welcomed as equals, who have the right to maintain their independence.

The challenge facing the anti-cuts campaigns at a local and national level is to develop a unifying strategy that can reach out to all sections of the working class communities, developing a clear anti-racist and anti-sexist perspective. The labour movement must totally reject any formula that is based on protecting “British jobs for British workers”. The only winners from such a campaign will be the racists and fascists. Internationalism must be at the forefront of our struggle against austerity measures at all times.

In this article for the next issue of our magazine Bob Whitehead explains Socialist Resistance’s decision to leave Respect.

It was an amicable split; a polite divorce that permitted continuing joint work and one that lays open the possibility of a future convergence. But for the latter to happen, the differences that arose will need to be addressed.

We were aware as anyone else of the weakness of Respect following the damaging split three years previously and the defeat at the General election. We had problems with the lack of intent to build Respect as a national organisation, the lack of interest in having a regular paper of its own and such matters as the irksome non-appearance of its leading members at the National Council. We did not support the decision to campaign for an elected Mayor in Tower Hamlets and then, strangely, not put up a Respect candidate. Yet we were prepared to soldier on and help work towards a Respect renaissance. Up to a week before the annual conference in November, we had no plans to depart. We knew that the conference would be smaller than last year, but hoped that by immersing the organisation in the anti-cuts movement, and combining this work with its excellent record on the war, Palestine and racism, to put new life into the organisation.

Then, a few days before the conference, the bombshell hit us. George Galloway announced that he would be standing as a Respect candidate in Glasgow for the Scottish elections. This was a huge point of departure. Up till then, Respect had correctly left the Scottish scene for Scottish socialists to sort out. But at the conference it was announced that with the ‘divisions and weaknesses’ on the left in Scotland, Respect was going to plant the flag and sort things out, as it were. In our view that would only add to the divisions in Scotland and at the same time cut across the principle of self-determination. When the Scottish left is campaigning for a socialist independent Scotland, the last thing it needs is an English based organisation to parachute in, cavalier style, to tell them what they should be doing.

At the very least, a decision such as this would have required a serious discussion within the whole of Respect throughout its pre-conference period of many weeks; a discussion on what members thought about self-determination, what policies would be appropriate for a Scottish audience and whether it should stand at all. An informed debate could then have been held at conference. We must not have been the only ones to be caught on the hop by this decision. The conflict at conference must have come out of the blue for many members not in the know.

Instead of a proper debate, the proposal for George to stand in Scotland was presented as an amendment to a cuts motion a few days before November 13^th! This was not serious. And at conference itself, it was clear that the decision had already been taken and members would be expected to fall into line once the issue was presented to them. Our views were democratically aired, but then dismissed. There was no attempt at engagement. Salma called the decision to stand in Scotland a “no-brainer”.

On top of all this, if the Respect leadership had cared to look at our close links to the Scottish Socialist Party, they would have known that a decision such as this would put us in an impossible position when it came to Scottish elections.

So, we had to accept being bounced into the new line and effectively severing our links with the SSP, or declaring that this whole sorry business was just one bridge too far. We chose the latter. Socialist Resistance has made much of the need for left unity in recent years, so our decision to withdraw was not taken lightly. We stayed with Respect when the SWP tried to take their ball away if they were parted from their stranglehold control. We donated the resources of our own paper to help Respect get a regular publication off the ground. We worked hard for Respect throughout its hard times. But we were not prepared to give left cover to this latest wheeze of its leading players, despite the pioneering and exemplary work done by many of the same in support of Palestine, against the war and so on.

We consider our departure as a defeat and do not rejoice at that. Instead, we must now recognise that there is a vacuum at the electoral level for an anti-capitalist party in this country. On the new drawing board, we can sketch out a few principles for the future; the need to organise as a national party, the need to involve all members in democratic and socialist debate, decision making and education at all times as a matter of course and to recognize that no matter how talented, hard working or inspiring its leaders may be, they are servants of the party and nothing more.

Eldebat.cat. Esther Vivas, cap de llista per Des de Baix al Parlament, fa una valoració dels resultats de les eleccions. Veure video>> - Catalunya / Catalunya, eleccions al Parlament de Catalunya