GPJA #428: Part 2. International news and analysis

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.” – John Lennon

“When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.” – Dresden James

“We must not repeat the pattern of the last decade when a few gathered enormous wealth, while the vast majority of New York families were left behind or saw very modest gains.” John Liu, New York City comptroller, on new data placing the top 1 percent share of local income at 32.5 percent, Times Ledger, May 24, 2012

STATS OF THE WEEK

How much has speculative trading cost JPMorgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, in this spring’s biggest financial scandal? The estimates now run up to $7 billion. How much has the scandal cost Ina Drew, the JPMorgan Chase exec who ran the errant trading office — and is now taking the fall for JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon? Analysts are putting the ultimate value of Drew’s total severance package at somewhere near $32 million. JPMorgan insiders are now claiming that the bank’s trading troubles started when Drew caught Lyme disease and had to miss long months of work. Fortunately for Drew, JPMorgan has one whale of a sick leave policy. Despite her long absences from work, Drew pulled in compensation worth $15.5 million last year . . .

FEATURES

Jeremy Scahill: A Short History of Drone Warfare http://www.thenation.com/video/168007/jeremy-scahill-short-history-drone-warfare?rel=emailNation

Child Poverty in Rich Countries: Report Card 10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nv2-VScnzS0

Evald Ilyenkov: The ‘heretic’ philosopher who challenged Stalinism http://www.aworldtowin.net/resources/SpinozaIlyenkovWestern%20Marxism.html

Roma made scapegoats for the crisis http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/roma-made-scapegoats-for-crisis.html

DeColonize the Ninety Nine: Voices of Indigenous Peoples http://www.facebook.com/pages/DeColonize-the-Ninety-Nine-Voices-of-Indigenous-Peoples/144482485650811

The Julian Assange TV Program: Occupy Movement: In the latest edition of Assange’s very own interview programme Julian Assange meets with prominent Occupy activists who say their collective efforts target global institutions. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31446.htm

CULTURAL DISSENT

Music video: One day more http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MSiIen1hMqU

From Columbus to corporate theft – Spanish actress Icíar Bollaín directs a sophisticated take on Cochabamba’s water wars. Review of Even The Rain by Susan Jappie http://www.aworldtowin.net/reviews/EvenTheRain.html

“Inside Job” Director Charles Ferguson: Wall Street Has Turned the U.S. into a “Predatory Nation” http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/29/inside_job_director_charles_ferguson_wall

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

David Brooks Gets Private Equity Wrong for the Team http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-gets-private-equity-wrong-for-the-team

David Harvey: ‘The financial crisis is an urban crisis’ http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/commentisfree/video/2012/may/28/david-harvey-financial-crisis-urban-crisis-video

Time For Policy Rethink To Tackle Global Economic Crisis, Head Of The ILO Says http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/news/WCMS_181905/lang–en/index.htm

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIROMENT

‘When civilizations start to die they go insane’ by Chris Hedges Truthdig http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/05/02/welcome-to-the-asylu/

Can Market Forces Really Be Employed To Address Climate Change? http://tinyurl.com/6ojqx38

AFGHANISTAN

No One Hears The Poor By Kathy Kelly http://www.countercurrents.org/kelly290512.htm

AUSTRALIA

Fairfax workers to strike over outsourcing to New Zealand http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10809640

CANADA

From Quebec, with Love… http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/from-quebec-with-love.html

Protest in Montreal against the rise of tuition fees in Quebec and the new law 78. Every evening at 8pm people meet in the street with their pots and pans and make all the noise they can. A big thank you to the band Avec pas d’casque and their record label Grosse Boîte. http://vimeo.com/42848523

‘Biggest Act of Civil Disobedience in Canadian History’ – Marchers defy Bill 78; Neighborhoods fill with sound of banging pots and pans https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/23-5

Government Repression of Quebec Student Movement Sparks Massive Protests by Roger Annis http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/641.php

Pensions, right to strike, now unemployment insurance under attack by Canadian government http://www.rogerannis.com/pensions-right-to-strike-now-unemployment-insurance-under-attack-by-canadian-government/

Student protests: A weekend of peaceful defiance – Thousands rally for student cause, with no major confrontations http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Student+protests+weekend+peaceful+defiance/6687923/story.html#ixzz1wCLQ1JIr

Workers at CP Get Railroaded by Andrew Stevens and Doug Nesbitt http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/642.php#continue

CUBA

Eyewitness Cuba: March Against Homophobia celebrates new outlook http://links.org.au/node/2884

EGYPT

Syriza’s Rise by Michalis Spourdalakis – The rise of Syriza, Greece’s Coalition of the Radical Left, in the May elections and in polls since has changed the political landscape of Europe. Michalis Spourdalakis, professor of political science at Athens University, talked to Alex Doherty (of New Left Project) about Syriza, the reasons for their success and what the prospects are now for the radical left in Greece and beyond. http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/643.php#continue

Protests Erupt in Egypt As Mubarak’s Ex-PM Secures Spot in Presidential Runoff

Thousands protest against Egyptian election results; Shafiq HQ set on fire http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/36/43152/Presidential-elections-/Khaled-Ali-leads-protests-in-Tahrir-against-Egypt-.aspx

GREECE

Syriza Programe For Greece http://www.countercurrents.org/syriza290512.htm

Giorgos Pittas – Crisis and Turmoil Across Europe: How Can the 99 Percent Win?

Christine Lagarde attack on Greece backfires as she pays no tax http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9298501/Christine-Lagarde-attack-on-Greece-backfires-as-she-pays-no-tax.html

IRELAND

All pain, no gain: The Irish backlash that could mean a ‘No’ to Europe’s austerity plans: With Ireland getting fed up of belt-tightening, the odds are shortening on a No vote to the referendum on the European fiscal treaty http://tgr.ph/JY4Vfg

JAPAN

Fukushima Reactor 4 Poses Massive Global Risk by Andy Johnson http://www.countercurrents.org/johnson290512.htm

PACIFIC

West Papua’s indigenous people hurt by Indonesia’s resource extraction – video http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/global-development/video/2012/may/17/west-papua-indigenous-people-indonesia-video

The ‘Jayapura Five’ are activists who organised, and were jailed for, a peaceful demonstration called the Papua People Congress in October 2011, demanding West Papuan’s right to self-determination. http://www.facebook.com/FreeTheJayapuraFive

Catherine Delahunty speaks in the House about human rights in West Papua http://www.greens.org.nz/speeches/catherine-delahunty-speaks-house-about-human-rights-west-papua

PALESTINE

How ‘Closing the Doors of Learning’ (to the Israeli State) Opens the Doors of Freedom – The Academic Boycott of Israel by PATRICK BOND and MUHAMMED DESAI http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/24/the-academic-boycott-of-israel-2/

Thoughts on an attack by a Jewish mob – Two days ago, my girlfriend and I were attacked by a mob of proud Jews in south Tel Aviv. Still trying to understand why. By Yossi Gurvitz http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31426.htm

The Forcible Transfer of the Palestinian People from the Jordan Valley by Mercedes Melon http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=7&p=88356&s2=28

Why we say ‘no’ to Habima at the Globe: Miriam Margolyes

Veolia Not Awarded Public Transport Tender in The Hague http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/targets/accountability/72-hermesveolia/577-veolia-not-awarded-public-transport-tender-in-the-hague

The Fluidity of Resistance by Rich Wiles and Nidal Azza – May 25, 2012 – “We did not go into the battle because we love to be hungry or in pain, but for our dignity and the dignity of our nation.” With these words, Thaer Halahla from Hebron encapsulated the spirit of resistance. Halahla, and the hundreds of dignified hunger strikers who carried on their struggle even in the face of imminent death each made personal decisions to resist. An act of resistanc e is not a selfish one; it is an act for the dignity and liberation of humanity. http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=7&p=88341&s2=28

USA

Letter from the US: ‘We don’t work for you no more!’ NATO war makers confronted http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51112

Time to fight for a minimum wage increase: The federal minimum wage is now $7.25 cents an hour, about $15,080 for a full time, year round worker. Poverty wages offend both justice and common sense. It is time to raise the floor http://tinyurl.com/89udocm

VENEZUELA

Venezuela Represents “Hope” in the Midst of a Crisis of Capitalism http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7020

Media & Opposition: False Perceptions of Venezuela’s Democracy http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7008