On “Half a million demonstrate in London against austerity measures”
The biggest march in British history didn’t stop the Iraq war. And didn’t prevent the reelection of the party that launched it (Labour by name, pro-capitalist by choice). So a walk in the sun, behind the leaders of the ever reactionary TUC. Followed by speeches that I would walk an equivalent distance to avoid. After the Zombie Banks the Zombie Trade Union Officials. Their dead hands forever reaching out to drain away the life force out of any resistance. And when unemployment rises by another million, another march? But nothing more, surely. And since nothing more, no impact at all on government policy. Under the current leadership of the working class its defeat is as certain as anything can be.
Chris
Ireland
28 March 2011
***
There is a huge amount of anger in the working class about the bailout of the banks due to their financial speculation. When governments say they have no alternative to make massive public spending cuts against working families this does ring true. For these stooges represent the capitalist class.
The TUC will do everything in their power to sabotage the workers movement and to subordinate workers to the dictates of capital; even Brendan Barber [TUC General Secretary] sitting on the board of the Bank of England has a vested interest in bringing these cuts to fruition.
Workers should take note from its history with trade unionism, the ending of the General Strike in 1926, the isolation of the miner’s strike and ultimate defeat in 1985 in England, or the recent air traffic controllers who were force back to work at gunpoint by the military in Spain, in which the Union did nothing, or even the sell out by the UAW (who has direct shares in General motors) to cut wages in half for new employees in the US just to name a very minute portion. Workers need to utilize the Internet and organize themselves independently of the unions to build rank and file committees in all workplaces based on international socialism, throughout all the industrialized countries.
Most importantly is the need to build our own mass party that rejects all compromise with the capitalists and looks to take their wealth from the elitists and distribute it evenly to forward mankind. The Socialist Equality Party is the only party to put this perspective forward.
All the other so called lefts like the SWP or the ISO say we can pressure the unions and governments to change. This is false hope as the last 200 years are a testament that millions of workers have died from countless wars of aggression from the imperialists.
This has been the outcome of pressure politics.
Julian H
Queensland, Australia
28 March 2011
On “The war in Libya and the new scramble for Africa”
Does anyone find the timing suspicious about our blitzkrieg-like involvement in Libya? One minute, the catastrophe in Japan dominated the news, replete with quotations and video clips of Obama promoting “clean nuclear power” (State of Union Address) on the model of the Japanese (townhall meeting, 2009) as a cornerstone of his energy policy. This embarrassing revelation was played repeatedly on MSNBC in the early days of the Fukushima explosion. Now the clear and present danger of nuclear irradiation of the planet is soft-pedaled as an “old news” story. Do I hear, “wag the dog,” anyone?
Robert S
California, USA
29 March 2011
On “American media silent on CIA ties to Libya rebel commander”
One can easily see why Hifter was sacked years ago... the rebels conduct themselves as if they are extras in a scene from Woody Allen’s Bananas.
Richard C
30 March 2011
On “Reports suggest French intelligence encouraged anti-Gaddafi protests”
Dense details, Alex, but this reads like a cloak-and-dagger story a Le Carré would have been happy to author. Unfortunately it is a bloody reality, where blood of countless civilians has been spilled, country destroyed in a new neo-colonial war by the West. Interestingly, the preparations for this assault date back to last year, with close cooperation of secret services of the US, France and Britain, although we might have to wait for WikiLeaks to publish the details of the latter.
An important point is that this gives a new “humanitarian intervention” pretext, that of “protecting civilians” to the imperialist lexicon. After all, “war on terror” has lost its pristine gloss, and is being treated all round with cynicism, so that narrative is being scaled down, for this more “humane” approach.
What is now abundantly clear is that the Libyan revolution was never a popular movement, such as in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, but similar to Rose and Orange “revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine respectively, i.e., with Western help. Clear also is that imperialism is extremely worried by the development in working class militancy in Maghreb and the Middle East, showing “bad examples” and “contagion” throughout the world, and decided on a counter-attack. Events in 2011 will be crucial in the interests of the world and its working class!
Mirek S
New South Wales, Australia
28 March 2011