posted 02/7/12
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Published bimonthly since 1986, AGAINST THE CURRENT is a Solidarity-sponsored analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left. The January/February 2012 issue features fourteen articles on the Occupy movement, its strategies, and actions in a number of U.S. cities. ATC’s Black History feature: Paul Ortiz on C.L.R. James’ Visionary Legacy and Derrick Morrison reviews a study of the least-known slave uprising. Hisham H. Ahmed writes about the Arab Spring, the West and Political Islam and ATC interviews Atef Said on Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution. Additional reviews by Bruce Levine, Kathlene McDonald, Susan Dirr and Tessa Echeverria and Michael Löwy. Subscribe today!
I'd be interested in seeing a 4 days 9 hours
The Socialist Party has not folded 4 days 15 hours
The Obama administration and the Poor 1 week 28 min
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International Viewpoint is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.
02/10/12 02:15
On February 1, 2012, Robert Fisk ended his article in the British daily newspaper “The Independent” as follows: “But there is one unasked question. Just suppose the regime [of Bashar al-Assad] did survive. Over what kind of Syria would it rule?” In other words, the revolt has reached a point of no return.
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IV445 - February 2012
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Syria,
Arab Revolutions
02/9/12 10:04
"Prosecute the Cabal!" With millions of on strike and crowds singing Solidarity Forever, Occupy Nigeria has shut down the most populous country in Africa. Here in New York, the diaspora is rallying in support as well, and on Saturday, Jan. 14, I went to the second rally at the Nigerian Embassy and the UN this week. Though big labor actions might be more common in Nigerian than in the US, folks are saying this one feels different. Maybe it's the wave of protest against neoliberalism around the world in 2011, maybe it's the corruption—facilitated by neoliberal deregulation — or maybe it's the high unemployment rates (over 40% among young workers), maybe it's that oil is so central to the economy; or maybe it's all of this together.
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IV445 - February 2012
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Nigeria,
Trade unions,
Global Justice
02/9/12 07:46
Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) is not the typical politician. He says what he thinks and lets the chips fall where they may. He's against the war in Afghanistan and against any U.S. invasion of Iran. He points out that U.S. policy in the Middle East “has only intensified strife and conflict” and “U.S. tax dollars have militarized the entire region.”
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IV445 - February 2012
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USA
Order these eye-catching buttons to spread the demand for social and economic justice. If you don't have paypal, email us!
Reads Bail out People, not Wall Street!. Around the edge, these 2 1/8" buttons read "Free Health Care," "Defend Public Services," "Living Wage Jobs," "Free Higher Education," "Troops Home Now," "Rebuild the Gulf Coast," and "Affordable Housing."
Brown and black buttons demand: "Bring all the Troops Home Now!" Wear one everywhere to start a conversation about why US occupation can never be a force for liberation, and people's needs should come before the massive military budget.
These 2 1/8" buttons read, in Spanish and English: ¡Alto a las deporaciones - Legalización para todos! Stop the deportations - Legalization for all!
Know where to look
The point of a poll is to show a frozen-in-time snapshot of public opinion. They're instructive as an assessment of where we are at, and a clue as to how to proceed.
I have yet to see a complete poll results (the more granularized results are behind a for-pay firewall). The most complete results are for adults under 30. The results there are, in fact, encouraging: the population in that age group is evenly divided among those who favor socialism, those that favor capitalism and those that are undecided.
What such a poll tells you explicitly is that the population least exposed to the Cold War and Reagan is wavering in at least the most reflexive McCarthyist thinking. That is indeed a promising sign.
Dealing with a more nuanced fashion: the even division gives a clue for that generation, which is that there is at the very least a big pool of the population that are out there and at the moment something of a blank slate. They have not been won to capitalism or to us.
As such, I would say that the consolidation of the "socialist" segment of the population into something that shoots itself in the foot a lot less is a first step, but it is a part of a process of engaging with those who are not yet socialists.
Moving on to further segments of the population, reading between the lines, it's clear that while the older you get the more concerned one is about two things: the preservation of one's wealth in the markets (i.e., in one's 401(k) or pension) and the overall stability of the system (i.e., the basic security that tomorrow will be like today).
Thus far, I think the U.S. left has done precious little to allay the fear that socialism = equal impoverishment and wasteful bureaucracy. "Socialism" is being defined all too much by the government's share of the economy over basic class relationships, and further is being defined by private income taxes rather than social wealth.