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GPJA #437: Part 2. International news & Analysis – 8/8/12

August 8, 2012 Leave a comment

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“I’m Aboriginal, representing my culture, not only my country but all my people as well. I’m very proud and that’s what I wanted to do and I’m happy I did it.” Damien Hooper, Australian aboriginal Olympic athlete

“What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy; you own Wall Street; you own the coal companies; you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.’” Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), in Senate Judiciary subcommittee testimony, July 24, 2012

“It’s very odd how for some progressives and liberals in this country wars, secret detentions and bailouts and violations of habeas corpus, that were heinous and terrible and hideous when an inarticulate white Republican from West Texas does it, becomes curiously okay when a sophisticated black lawyer does it.” – Paul Street, a journalist and author

STATS OF THE WEEK

– World’s Super-Rich Hide $21 Trillion Offshore http://www.rferl.org/content/interview-worlds-super-rich-hide-21-trillion-dollars-offshore/24659537.html

– Since 2004, between 2,464 and 3,145 people are reported to have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan, of whom up to 828 were civilians (535 under Obama) and 175 children. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/29/americas-drone-campaign-terror

– The one Olympic record sure to fall this week in London: most super yachts docked at one time in one small stretch of river. City officials are expecting 100 mega pleasure boats to dock on the Thames for this year’s Olympiad, including the biggest boat of them all, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s 557 foot-long Eclipse, as well as the $200 million supersized dinghy that belongs to Microsoft founder Paul Allen. Billionaire wannabees don’t have to gawk from the shore. They can pull alongside by chartering their own super yacht. Boats like the 213-foot Seanna, Time reports, run just $450,000 a week.

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s super-yacht Eclipse

– Since the 1970s in the United States, the tax rate on income over $400,000 has dropped from 70 to 35 percent. Over that same span, households in America’s top 1 percent have over doubled their national income share, to 20 percent. http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/TJF_7-2-2.pdf

CULTURAL DISSENT

West of Memphis, and Beyond – New Zealand hosts Damien Echols, and the new film on the West Memphis Three by Gordon Campbell http://werewolf.co.nz/2012/08/west-of-memphis-and-beyond/

Gore Vidal in ‘The Nation’: Elder statesman of American letters and long-time Nation contributor Gore Vidal passed away July 31 at the age of 86. Here are some of his more powerful essays from nearly half a century of writing for this magazine. http://www.thenation.com/article/169187/gore-vidal-nation

Three outstanding Asian films – As nations with a distinct identity going back for thousands of years, China, Korea and Japan provide a deep well of historical sagas on a par with Beowulf, the Iliad or any other more familiar Western tales. Not surprisingly, the film industry of each country has tapped into this rich vein in order to create memorable works. http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/three-outstanding-asian-films/

Paul Le Blanc: Occupy, insurgencies and human nature: Paul Mason and/or Karl Marx http://links.org.au/node/2966

GET THE FRACK OUT OF HERE! A fracking good song: Hydraulic fracturing, sure, it’s making you a buck, While the rest of us get sick and die and you just say “tough luck.” http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/07/25/get-the-frack-out-of-here-2/

New Batman film reveals distrust, fear of working class http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51705

FEATURES

Mike Marqusee at the Olympics: ‘Individual excellence at the service of the nation-state and multinational capital’ http://links.org.au/node/2975

Olympic uproar as Welsh and Scots refuse to sing ‘God Save the Queen’ http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51724

Olympics show how political sport is

Richard Levins is an activist for Puerto Rican independence, Harvard Professor and ecologist: here professor Levins covers a wide range of topics from climate change to evolution to sugar metabolism and workers’ struggles to illustrate the scope of dialectical inquiry. Richard Levins on Dialectics: Video 1 of 2 Richard Levins on Dialectics: Video 2 of 2

The rotten history of the Olympics http://enpassant.com.au/2012/07/29/the-rotten-history-of-the-olympics/

Is human behavior controlled by our genes? Richard Levins reviews ‘The Social Conquest of Earth’: “Failing to take class division into account is not simply a political bias. It also distorts how we look at human evolution as intrinsically bio-social and human biology as socialized biology.” http://wp.me/p2hhYl-3mG

In Hiroshima’s Shadow By Noam Chomsky http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10660-in-hiroshimas-shadow

Thomas Sankara: Revolution and the emancipation of women http://links.org.au/node/2969

The Criminality Of Nuclear Deterrance http://www.countercurrents.org/boyle050812.htm By Francis A. Boyle

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

Reports from the Economic Front by Martin Hart-Landsberg – Declining Faith in Hard Work and Capitalism http://blogs.lclark.edu/hart-landsberg/2012/07/27/declining-faith-in-hard-work-and-capitalism/

Capitalism in Crisis with geographer David Harvey & economist Richard Wolff http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12474

How the ECB came to control the fate of the world economy http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/30/ecb-control-world-economy

Major Banks Help Clients Hide Trillions in Offshore Tax Havens

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Climate change study forces sceptical scientists to change minds – Earth’s land shown to have warmed by 1.5C over past 250 years, with humans being almost entirely responsible http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/29/climate-change-sceptics-change-mind?CMP=twt_fd

A fracking good song:Hydraulic fracturing, sure, it’s making you a buck, While the rest of us get sick and die and you just say “tough luck.”

We can’t put a price on nature: Advocates of the ‘green economy’ are promoting the same old dirty economy under a new banner http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/07/23/we-cant-put-a-price-on-nature/

A new Dust Bowl? Chris Williams, author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis, argues that the drought gripping the U.S. can’t be separated from climate change. http://socialistworker.org/2012/08/06/a-new-dust-bowl

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan: 23 US-backed militias change sides http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/afghanistan-23-us-backed-militias-change-sides/

AUSTRALIA

CLASSE leader speaks on Quebec’s student struggle http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51608

Food plan will feed corporate hunger http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/07/25/australias-national-food-plan-will-feed-corporate-hunger/

Indigenous leaders want officials to drop ban on flags http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/off-the-field/indigenous-leaders-want-officials-to-drop-ban-on-flags-20120731-23d74.html#ixzz22GjHRUBG

BOLIVIA

Bolivia consults locals on jungle highway project http://boliviarising.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/bolivia-consults-locals-on-jungle.html

CANADA

Quebec: ‘Share Our Future’ – the CLASSE manifesto; CLASSE rep explains struggle (video) http://links.org.au/node/2972

Thousands declare “defiance” of Charest government in streets of Montreal as Quebec election is called http://www.rogerannis.com/thousands-declare-defiance-of-charest-government-in-streets-of-montreal-as-quebec-election-is-called/

Canada’s failed aid in Afghanistan–four part article series in Toronto Star http://www.rogerannis.com/canadas-failed-aid-in-afghanistan/

The Day the Wheat Board Died by Gavin Fridell http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/671.php

Quebec gives more power to Cree Nation http://www.rogerannis.com/new-agreement-with-cree-of-eeyou-istchee-northern-quebec/

Living wage gives boost to staff struggling to make a living http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Living+wage+gives+boost+staff+struggling+make+living/6857663/story.html#ixzz22AAgwOOq

Guillaume Legault speaking at Resistance conference 2012

Student strike set to resume http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51640

Remembering Sask Oil: It Can Be Done! By John W. Warnock http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/672.php

Breaking News: Police violently attack peaceful protest in Burlington, VT http://climate-connections.org/2012/07/29/breaking-news-police-violently-attack-peaceful-protest-in-burlington-vt/

CHINA

China paper blames poor government decisions for violent protest http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/30/us-china-environment-protest-idUSBRE86T04N20120730

‘Occupy’ with Chinese characteristics http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NH04Ad02.html

China’s class struggle environmentalism http://sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7437:china%E2%80%99s-class-struggle-environmentalism

Massive Protest Near Shanghai Scuttles Wastewater Pipeline http://tealeafnation.com/2012/07/massive-protest-near-shanghai-scuttles-wastewater-pipeline/

CUBA

Cuba’s internationalism: 11,000 doctors graduate; 5315 Cuban and 5694 from 59 other countries http://links.org.au/node/2971

DENMARK

Red-Green Alliance Congress Grapples With Increased Influence http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/674.php

EGYPT

Egypt’s Morsi tackles Gaza siege in Palestine talks http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/egypts-morsi-tackles-gaza-siege-in-palestine-talks/

FRANCE

The rise of the Left Front (Front de Gauche) – a new force on the left http://links.org.au/node/2974

GREECE

Syriza shines a light: In Greece, a radical left coalition is actively preparing for power in society and in parliament. Hilary Wainwright reports from Athens http://www.redpepper.org.uk/greece-syriza-shines-a-light/

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras serves food at an annual anti-racist festival organised by 250 civic organisations. Photo Aggelos Kalodoukas.

INDIA

Down and out on India’s shop floor http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/article3697113.ece?homepage=true

Behind the Present Wave of Unrest in the Auto Sector http://rupeindia.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/behind-the-present-wave-of-unrest-in-the-auto-sector/

INDONESIA

Indonesian commission urges trials of military rights abusers http://directaction.org.au/indonesian_commission_urges_trials_of_military_rights_abusers

IRAQ

Iraq: After the Americans http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/iraq-after-the-americans/

JAPAN

Anti-nuke protesters surround Japanese parliament http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3699810.ece

MALAYSIA

One year after activists’ release, questions remain unanswered http://links.org.au/node/2968

MAURITIUS

Victory in struggle for decriminalisation of abortion http://links.org.au/node/2964

MEXICO

The New Student Rebellion and the Mexican Left: Challenging the Corporate Media and the Electoral Fraud by Richard Roman and Edur Velasco Arregui http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/673.php

PACIFIC

Australia’s humiliating backdown over failed foreign policy on Fiji http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2012/08/australias-humiliating-backdown-over-failed-foreign-policy-on-fiji/

Nothing predictable about Fiji – except unpredictability http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2012/08/nothing-predictable-about-fiji-except-unpredictability/

PALESTINE

Egypt takes concrete decisions towards ending Gaza siege http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/egypt-takes-concrete-decisions-towards-ending-gaza-siege/

The Case for Sanctions Against Israel http://www.versobooks.com/books/956-the-case-for-sanctions-against-israel

Gaza kids traumatised by Israel’s war and siege http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/gaza-kids-traumatised-by-israels-war-and-siege/

A girl holds a portrait of a Palestinian held in an Israeli jail

Israel’s creeping ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/israels-creeping-ethnic-cleansing-of-east-jerusalem/

RUSSIA

The Pussy Riot Trial Begins: Feminist Activists Take on Putin http://www.thenation.com/blog/169167/pussy-riot-trial-begins-feminist-activists-take-putin

Pussy Riot and the Two Russias http://www.thenation.com/blog/169211/pussy-riot-and-two-russias

SPAIN

Millions protest economic and political crisis; Audio: Spain’s crisis, the popular fightback and its impact on Europe http://links.org.au/node/2973

Spain eyewitness: Millions march to fight the cuts http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51703

Rising protests point to political crisis http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51702

SYRIA

Syria divides the Arab left http://mondediplo.com/2012/08/04syrialeft

Robert Fisk: Syrian war of lies and hypocrisy http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-syrian-war-of-lies-and-hypocrisy-7985012.html

The Syrian Civil War and Big Power Rivalry

Syria Between Revolution and Counterrevolution by Sungur Savran http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/676.php

The anti-war left’s concerns over Syria are understandable, but ill-founded – There may have been outside attempts to hijack the Syria uprising, but evidence suggests this is still a popular revolution http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/26/antiwar-left-syria-uprising

Myth and reality in the struggle for Syria: Maher Arar came to public attention after he was rendered by American authorities to Syria, his native country. While imprisoned there he was subjected to torture and other degrading and inhumane treatment. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/marar/2012/07/myth-and-reality-struggle-syria

Al-Qaida turns tide for rebels in battle for eastern Syria http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/30/al-qaida-rebels-battle-syria/print

As Syrian War Drags On, Jihadists Take Bigger Role http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/world/middleeast/as-syrian-war-drags-on-jihad-gains-foothold.html?_r=1

Salameh Kaileh: Assad’s collapse imminent – Popular movement will prevail over foreign meddling http://www.antiimperialista.org/salama_kaileh_assads_fall

Syria: When Destruction is a Foreign Policy Objective http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/266-security-council-and-syria/51797-syria-when-destruction-is-a-foreign-policy-objective.html

Syrian rebel forces execute clan leaders loyal to Assad regime http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/rebel-forces-execute-clan-leaders-loyal-to-assad-regime/article4457043/

As Syria War Roils, Unrest Among Sects Hits Turkey http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/middleeast/turkish-alawites-fear-spillover-of-violence-from-syria.html

Syria’s Crumbling Pluralism http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/opinion/syrias-crumbling-pluralism.html

Sick and disabled people are being pushed off benefits at any cost | Sharon Brennan http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/31/disabled-people-benefits-panorama

Blair, Olympic deals and the glimpse of another Britain By John Pilger http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51674

Mark Steel: The Olympics are great — when someone else hosts them http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51675

USA

America rots from the inside, while overreacting to threats from outside – The White House will start wars in the name of beating terrorism, yet gun crime and poor healthcare provision kill far more http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/25/america-overreacting-to-outside-threats

Georgia Prisoners’ Hunger Strike at Critical Stage