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GPJA #436: Part 2. International news & Analysis – 27/7/12

July 27, 2012 Leave a comment

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

CULTURAL DISSENT

Gordon Campbell on the death of Alexander Cockburn http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/07/23/gordon-campbell-on-the-death-of-alexander-cockburn/

Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier turns 75, Scott Hamilton http://www.readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/peerless-in-wigan.html

A hip-hop coming out: Alexander Billet reports on hip-hop artist Frank Ocean’s decision to come out as bisexual–and why it will take more than that to end homophobia in the music industry. http://socialistworker.org/2012/07/19/hip-hop-coming-out

Songs made for you and me: Nicole Colson tells the story of Woody Guthrie on the 100th anniversary of his birth. http://socialistworker.org/2012/07/12/songs-made-for-you-and-me

By Light Alone. What if capitalism eliminated hunger? A brilliant new science fiction novel explores the social consequences of introducing a technological fix for hunger into a world where profit makes the rules http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/07/17/by-light-alone-what-if-capitalism-eliminated-hunger/

Batman’s political right turn – The new Batman film isn’t the simple conservative parable rightwingers would like, but it is a reactionary vision http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/22/batman-political-right-turn

How the Dark Knight Rises reveals Batman’s Conservative soul http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9405999/How-the-Dark-Knight-Rises-reveals-Batmans-Conservative-soul.html

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES VS. THE 99% By Eileen Jones http://exiledonline.com/the-dark-knight-rises-vs-the-99/

Agency of Their Own, An Sex Worker Union Organizing – Sex workers of the world are uniting and fighting to gain control over their working lives. http://www.zero-books.net/books/an-agency-of-our-own

FEATURES

Fists of Freedom: An Olympic Story Not Taught in School http://www.thenation.com/blog/169069/fists-freedom-olympic-story-not-taught-school

George Monbiot: The Promised Land – This is the fate of young people today: excluded, but forbidden to opt out. http://www.monbiot.com/2012/07/16/the-promised-land/

Europe : What emergency programme for the crisis? by Damien Millet, Eric Toussaint http://cadtm.org/Europe-What-emergency-programme

Stuxnet and the Bomb – With confirmation that the United States was behind the 2010 cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility, the world has officially entered a new era of warfare. DICT | 15 JUNE 2012 http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/kennette-benedict/stuxnet-and-the-bomb

Why WikiLeaks is a gift to history http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51650

Human Rights Defenders Should Support Ecuador’s Right to Asylum, Rather than Attacking Ecuador http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/21/rights-groups-lost-plot-ecuador

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth http://www.epi.org/publication/ib330-productivity-vs-compensation/

Killing the competition: How the new monopolies are destroying open markets http://harpers.org/archive/2012/02/0083788

Reports from the Economic Front by Martin Hart-Landsberg – Apple And The Labor Process http://media.lclark.edu/content/hart-landsberg/2012/07/19/apple-and-the-labor-process/

The LIBOR Scandal: The Rotten Heart of Finance http://tinyurl.com/ckp543s

Reports from the Economic Front by Martin Hart-Landsberg – Apple And The Labor Process http://blogs.lclark.edu/hart-landsberg/2012/07/19/apple-and-the-labor-process/

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Mind the gaps between climate science and social policy http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/kennette-benedict/mind-the-gaps-between-climate-science-and-social-policy

Save the planet and ditch capitalism: Thousands of experts have contributed to establishing the reality of climate change, despite furious attempts by industry lobbyists to undermine their work. Gerry Gold reviews Capitalism versus Planet Earth by Fawzi Ibrahim. http://www.aworldtowin.net/reviews/capitalismvsearth.html

Trillions disappear offshore to tax havens http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10821400

Cheap Labour, Cheap Lives – Contextualizing Farm Worker Deaths in South Africa and Canada by Chris Webb http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/670.php

Has the Meaning of Nothing Changed? In his quest to understand the origins of the universe, Jim Holt stands up for the big 0. http://tinyurl.com/bp7an9c

AFGHANISTAN

To Aid Afghans, Not Just Afghanistan – Giuliano Battiston, highlights the drawbacks in the allocation of humanitarian aid provided to Afghanistan. 84.6 % of this aid is spent on military operations in the country, 9.4 % on developmental aid and just 0.3% on UN Peacekeeping missions http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/general-analysis-of-empire/51747-to-aid-afghans-not-just-afghanistan.html?itemid-id=#580

ARGENTINA

Justice catches up with Argentina’s baby-snatchers http://www.newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2012/07/10/justice-catches-up-with-argentinas-baby-snatchers/

AUSTRALIA

Australia’s refugee policy: illegal and immoral http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51622

Watermelons or tomatoes? Social democracy, class and the Australian Greens http://unimelb.academia.edu/NickFredman/Papers/1809905/Watermelons_or_tomatoes_Social_democracy_class_and_the_Australian_Greens

BOLIVIA

Bolivia’s Mine Nationalization of South American Silver in Mallku Khota by Celia Garces and CEDIB http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/666.php

CANADA

Tens of thousands march in Montreal to support student strike, condemn ‘neo-liberalism’ – Quebec Court of Appeal turns down another request to suspend Law 78 By Roger Annis, July 23, 2012 http://www.rogerannis.com/tens-of-thousands-march-in-montreal-to-support-student-strike-condemn-neo-liberalism/

Failing in both Afghanistan and Pakistan http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/1228520–failing-in-both-afghanistan-and-pakistan

The CLASSE Manifesto and ‘social strike’ strategy, July 2012 http://www.rogerannis.com/the-classe-manifesto-and-social-strike-strategy-july-2012/

Forum: Lessons From Quebec: Student Activists from Quebec visit Ryerson Student Centre http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls147.php

CHINA

The family fortunes of Beijing’s new few http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/86a82f3e-bc69-11e1-a470-00144feabdc0.html#axzz20PlWHfDq

China’s Power Families http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/6b983f7a-ca9e-11e1-8872-00144feabdc0.html#axzz20PlWHfDq

A prescription for workplace democracy in China: The democratic election of trade union officials at an electronics factory in Shenzhen in May this year, highlighted in CLB’s last ebulletin, has generated considerable debate among labour scholars in China. http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/110098

CUBA

Mariela Castro speaks in US on rights of women and gays – Cuban Revolution ‘fights all forms of discrimination’ http://www.themilitant.com/2012/7624/762450.html

Olga Salanueva, wife of Cuban 5 revolutionary, describes her years as immigrant worker in US http://www.themilitant.com/2012/7626/762650.html

‘My years in US taught me about capitalism’ ‘And made me value even more the gains of the Cuban Revolution,’ says Olga Salanueva

http://www.themilitant.com/2012/7627/762750.html

Abortion in Cuba: a health care approach by Tim Anderson Posted at: http://www.facebook.com/notes/tim-anderson/abortion-in-cuba-a-health-care-approach/10150958751016234

What would Che say about co-ops? http://www.newint.org/features/2012/07/19/cuba-co-operatives/

ECUADOR

Roots of Correa’s Ecuador

EGYPT

Mahalla takes the lead again http://socialistworker.org/2012/07/17/mahalla-takes-the-lead-again

Morsi, the military and the media http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/egypt-morsi-the-military-and-the-media/

The Revolution in Permanence http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6482/the-revolution-in-permanence

Morsi orders the release of military convicted prisoners http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/morsi-orders-the-release-of-military-convicted-prisoners/

FRANCE

What Will Change in France? By François Laforge http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/668.php

GREECE

Greek leftist leader predicts social, economic collapse http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/finance-public-debt.huc

Greek Steel Workers Strike: 264 days of struggle http://www.opednews.com/articles/Greek-Steel-Workers-Strike-by-Nicolas-Mottas-120719-335.html

INDIA

India has adopted a plan to provide free medicine and to ban branded drugs. http://tinyurl.com/c9jm3ww

LEBANON

Nasrallah: Hezbollah Will Surprise Israel in Any Future War http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/07/nasrallah-hezbollah-will-surprise-israel-in-any-future-war/

LIBYA

Libya’s heavy price for freedom – Nine months after Gaddafi’s death, Libyans from the town of Tawergha are still facing a vendetta over alleged abuses they committed for his hated regime. Kim Sengupta meets them http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libyas-heavy-price-for-freedom-7953517.html

MALAYSIA

Media welcome repeal of Malaysian sedition law amid cautious warnings http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/region-media-welcome-repeal-malaysian-sedition-law-amid-cautious-warnings-8025

MEXICO

Mass Protests Against Mexican Election Results

PACIFIC

FIJI: Coalition for Democracy protests over incorrect Stuff ‘raid’ news item http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/fiji-coalition-democracy-protests-over-incorrect-stuff-raid-news-item-8033

Fiji’s ‘multiracial’ coup – a frank reality check on the regime http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2012/07/fijis-multiracial-coup-a-frank-checklist-on-the-regime/

PALESTINE

Uniting the Global Movement for Palestine http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19406

What’s driving Israeli dissent? http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/whats-driving-israeli-dissent/

Arab Spring crumbles Israel’s old certainties http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/arab-spring-crumbles-israels-old-certainties/

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT & SANCTIONS (BDS) VIDEO http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/

Israel pushes on with settler colonisation of West Bank http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/israel-pushes-on-with-settler-colonisation-of-west-bank/

Economic crisis looms large in Gaza and West Bank http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/economic-crisis-looms-large-in-gaza-and-west-bank/

Zionism being questioned in Israeli social justice protests http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/zionism-being-questioned-in-israeli-social-justice-protests/

PHILIPPINES

SONA 2012: How the rich is getting (scandalously) richer under Aquino (Part 1 of 2) http://www.thepoc.net/thepoc-features/politi-ko/politiko-features/16474-sona-2012-how-the-rich-is-getting-scandalously-richer-under-aquino-part-1-of-2.html (Part 2 of 2) http://www.thepoc.net/thepoc-features/politi-ko/politiko-features/16475-sona-2012-how-the-rich-is-getting-scandalously-richer-under-aquino-part-2-of-2.html

SPAIN

Mass anti-austerity protests on Spanish streets http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-spain-protests-idUSBRE86I1HZ20120719

Slideshow http://news.yahoo.com/photos/spaniards-march-against-austerity-measures-slideshow/

SYRIA

Inside Syria: rebels and regime trapped in cycle of destruction http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/24/inside-syria-rebels-regime-destruction

Syria crisis: western troops ‘increasingly likely’ to intervene http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/25/syria-crisis-western-troops-intervene

Stymied at U.N., U.S. Refines Plan to Remove Assad http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/world/middleeast/us-to-focus-on-forcibly-toppling-syrian-government.html

Not everyone hates al-Assad – Some people even like the Syrian president, but they’re afraid to admit it http://www.salon.com/2012/07/21/not_everyone_hates_al_assad_salpart/

UKRAINE

Corruption in Ukraine scales new heights of plunder http://www.spectrezine.org/corruption-ukraine-scales-new-heights-plunder

How G4S is ‘securing your world’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/20/g4s-securing-your-world-policing?INTCMP=SRCH

USA

Black America’s Mobility Crisis http://www.thenation.com/blog/168952/black-americas-mobility-crisis?rel=emailNation‘

Obama and the "March of Folly"