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September 30, 2008
Letter to the Wall Street Journal from the Ambassador for Equador
Equador has just had a referendum with around 70% supporting a socialist-leaning administration. (see report from Granma below), Frustrated by Wall Street Journal jibes about the country Equador's Ambassador to the US has written to the Wall Street Journal. The offensive term used was "Banana Republic".
At such a time seems to me that Wall Street needs to review its attitude just as services to the World Economy are in need of a makeover.
The "Yes" vote wins with 70% in Ecuador
• according to exit polls
The "Yes" vote wins with 70% in EcuadorQUITO.-- Some 70% of Ecuadorians have voted in favor of the new Constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly, according to exit polls by the Cedatos company, announced prior to official information, reported EFE.
"According to exit poll results announced on the Ecuavisa television channel, just 25% of the ballots registered a "No" vote, while 4% were spoiled and 1% left blank.
President Rafael Correa confirmed that there was a "historic triumph" in terms of last Sunday's referendum to establish a new constitution with a socialist bias which, according to the exit polls, had been approved by a wide majority.
"A new victory thanks to God and thanks to the Ecuadorian people," said the president, who claimed the referendum had been a victory, even in the city of Guayaquil, Reuters reports."
Translated by Granma International
Posted by John at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2008
At last something's moving
It's taken the Tories, who are holding their conference here in Birmingham, to announce plans for a high speed rail link from Scotland, through Manchester and Leeds as well as Brum, to London, then on to Paris and Brussels. This would make a third runway at Heathrow unnecessary and cut a substantial number of flights.
There have been mutterings for some time now but nothing substantial has emerged. Dozy New Labour, who after a long delay, have finally come up with a revamp of New Street Station. This does something for passengers using New Street, but nothing for rail capacity so on its own won't add up to much apart from cosmetics.
The Tories need to redeem their credibility on transport in Birmingham. Since they came to power propped up by the Liberal Democrats in 2004 they have moved backwards. The planned Metro has been delayed, possibly terminally, first by a very costly and unnecessary investigation into an underground system with no plan B in place. Earlier work on tackling congestion has been severely compromised.
Intercity communication improvements is fine, but for Birmingham people local transport is of even greater importance, opening up both job and leisure time opportunities. Conservatives in power (supposed to be jointly with Lib Dems with little apparent how they have done anything but tow the Tory line). Opposition to new Metro routes has come mainly from those who live along proposed routes and local politicians have amplified their views at the expense of the larger community. In consequence those cities with a greater will to succeed, like Nottingham, have systems in place. The existing Metro which runs between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, Snow Hill, is popular, with free parking at its stations. These often reach capacity.
Posted by John at 9:44 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2008
Dealing with political toxic waste
The progress of creating a bailout of billions makes gripping reading as Republicans try to keep their heads below the parapet. The Democrats have become an indispensable part - presumably the Republicans think that if they're seen as responsible if it goes pear-shaped. The encouraging thing is that so many people have been communicating their feelings so they can't be ignored. Consequentially the deal which Paulson drew up originally looked like bailing out those largely responsible for the mess in the first place.
Back in the UK Satandar is picking over the bones of B & B encouraged by the government who won't then have to nationalise it, well not in its entirely that is. The "toxic" bits would be added to those of Northern Rock. Perhaps we ought to be getting down to e-mailing the hopeless MPs who are allowing this to happen in this way.
Posted by John at 3:45 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2008
Williams and Sentamu speak out
Even if belatedly it's good to see those entrusted with higher office in the land speak out on the unspeakable. So both Canterbury and York Archbishops have waded into the fray on the practices which have hastened our economies into the inevitable crisis of free markets and unregulated profiteering. Both men are known for their personal beliefs, but all to rarely does it come through in the headlines. John Sentamu was well known to us in Birmingham and is full of surprises. I didn't realise that he had allowed himself to be blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination to meet with the armed gangs who frequent our streets. He dropped by parachute for a cause dear to his heart, and his ordination as Archbishop of York displayed his continuing attachment to Africa. We have come to understand he will say it like it is.
The church's power has been curtailed long since and like the monarchy appeals to our conservatism. We can't do without the comforts of something familiar as a child is attached to it's teddy bear. It's not something for the grown up world or economics and politics. Dare speak out and the vicars are told to shut up and attend to religion.
Posted by John at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2008
Big fish eat little fish
The economic crisis seems to have left politicians clueless. Empty rhetoric at the Labour Party Conference from the gloomy Chancellor, with the absence of any clear strategy to deal with a financial system open to exploitation by those charged with its control. "We have a Manifesto commitment to not increasing taxes" he says. Well that's a relief anyway since the population as a whole is having to pay for everything else regardless of ability to pay extra.
So here the government is a big fish, but the economic giants, the private sector, calls the tune. Can't tax the wealthy because the will leave the City and move to Frankfurt or some place else. What hope do we have when there's not an intermediary batting on our side. Getting rid of New Labour and replacing it with a Tory alternative won't help us. As we note time and time again the Lib Dems in Birmingham are allowing the Tories power here.
I read with interest a view of what went wrong with Thabo Mbeki's tenure in South Africa. He had come to power after working alongside Nelson Mandela, but once in power himself he cut an isolated figure. His view on Aids is well known, but his involvement in arms deals was less so. At least I know of BAe's work in Saudi Arabia and Tanzania, but hadn't picked up arms sales to South Africa. Here too rulers susceptible to the arms dealers' smooth talk and lubrication methods paid off once more. They sold expensive and unnecessary arms to a country with no apparent threat to itself.
Tony Blair's blocking of an enquiry into BAE left a bad taste. That things can look a bit different is illustrated by a move - backed by Brown against cluster bombs. A significant move in the right direction of curbing the seemingly unlimited power of businesses to rewrite the rules according to expediency.
Posted by John at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2008
Crisis Deepens and the Poor Pay the Price
The following is from Ian Johnson of the Socialist Labour Party who makes a case for a socialist response to the current crisis of capitalism. All the major parties offer, including the New Labour Government, is more of the same. They think the very same forces that have landed us in the crisis are the ones that can solve the problem. How likely is that?
Crisis Deepens and the Poor Pay the Price
The deepening financial crisis gripping the capitalism system has already seen a swathe of banks and financial institutions go to the wall or be taken over or merged.
The list already contains household names of US and British finance and more will be added.
Moreover the interventions of the US Federal Reserve Board and the UK's Bank of England carry with it the real threat of state bankruptcy.
Politicians and economists may belatedly throw up their hands in mock horror at the unregulated and unrestrained activities of the parasites of finance capital, yet they were all very well aware of what was going on long ago. Nevertheless, while these institutions were generating obscene amounts of profit for the few, at the expense of the majority of the population, they were content to say nothing. Only now, when the reckless speculation, criminal incompetence and sheer orgy of greed threatens to bring the entire global financial system crashing down do they murmur any criticism.
It is only three months ago that the Sunday Times ran a headline that boasted "Rich Get Richer under New Labour" and only last year that the City of London paid itself over £14 billion in bonuses alone. However there is no mention by our politicians and bourgeois economists that any of this amount should now be returned. On the contrary, the Brown government has told the working class, the very victims of the financial rogues, that they must accept below inflation pay rises, and that they must economise on their food purchases and be prepared for 'difficult times'.
Moreover, what no British or US mainstream politician is mentioning is that the financial speculators and hedge funds have also played a crucial role in driving up basic commodity prices, including food items, that has resulted, according to the United Nations World Food Programme "in plunging more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger. This is the new face of hunger - the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are". (WFP 22nd April 2008).
This occurred when, because of the approaching turmoil, the speculators moved out of the property, credit and debt markets and into food and raw materials, without a second thought for the catastrophic outcome this would mean for millions of the world's poor.
Yet it is not these millions who the US and UK governments are now rushing to help; on the contrary, like the loyal servants of capitalism that they are, they are hurrying to assist the very financial institutions responsible for this increasing poverty and hunger.
The following came to me from Ian Johnson of the Socialist Labour Party. For me it puts the current crisis of capitalism in context with New Labour vying with the other parties for the affections of the rich - getting richer- and powerful. It's a crisis which has happened largely through speculation and greed. The solution? All we can see is more of the same. A speaker at a meeting I attended yesterday spoke of the nationalisation of failing banks and mortgage lenders as reminiscent of fascism in Germany in the 1930s.
Furthermore, the deepening financial chaos will only serve to spur on the Labour government's privatisation plans and their attacks on welfare, pensions, health and education, as they attempt to impose the full effects of the crisis onto the backs of workers. It is their belief that every penny spent on unemployment and incapacity benefits, on pensions and on health, is a drain on profits.
Only the introduction of socialist policies can counter this unfolding nightmare and that means building the SLP into a Party capable of government. That is the task ahead.
Ends.
For background information, in view of the 'credit crisis' developments in the capitalist economy, we are reissuing an article from 2001 by Ian Johnson which traces the rise of finance capital in the 20th Century.
NEW LABOUR AND THE RISE OF FINANCE CAPITAL.
When we talk about finance capital we are talking about the banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions and their representatives, in short, we are talking about 'the City'.
This section of society does not manufacture anything, it does not build or create anything, yet it is now the most dominant sector in the U.K. Its chief objective is the movement of money in search of the biggest profit margin in the quickest possible time.
In the early part of the 20th century the financial sector was subjected to government controls and confined its activities to the sterling area of the Commonwealth, indeed, even through the latter part of the 1940s the stock market and merchant banking was at best static, and at worst transactions were actually in decline. In the 1950s the financial sector tried to break free from government controls but achieved only partial success. It was not until the late 1960s that the City really began to expand with the development of London as an off‑shore base for American money fleeing the low interest rates in the United States.
FINANCIAL INSTABILITY
This was followed in 1971 by the Tory Government removing controls on credit growth which meant that market forces, namely interest rates, would now control the growth of credit in the system. This led to an end to limits on lending and meant that banking would have greater control over British industry and the economy as a whole. This coincided with the ending of the post‑war Bretton Woods agreement which had backed paper money with real value by linking it to the gold standard at the rate of 35 dollars equalling an ounce of gold. Now however, paper money was being printed and was not backed by any real value whatsoever.
Between 1979 and 1982 Margaret Thatcher's Tory Government removed all remaining controls from the financial sector and left it virtually unregulated and unchallenged.
Thatcher abolished restrictions on bank lending and hire purchase transactions and lifted all controls over building society lending, thus starting them off on the road to becoming banks and creating the basis for the great credit explosion in the late 1980s.
The Tory Government crucially abolished all exchange controls with the immediate effect that capital previously invested in the U.K. began going abroad in search of greater and quicker profits. There has been hardly any investment in U.K. manufacturing since exchange controls were abolished.
The dominance of finance capital became obvious in the 1980s when manufacturing output fell by 25%, when house building plummeted and thousands slept on the street, yet the City boomed. The banks made so much money in the '80s that even the Tories eventually levied a national 'windfall tax', though this was compensated for by tax allowances on bad overseas loans.
The Tories and the financial sector were responsible for the squandering of North Sea oil revenue during this period, with not one penny invested in U.K. manufacturing. The City wanted to use it to recreate their earlier role of financiers of the world, and the Tories believed that North Sea oil had made sterling a petro‑currency which signalled the days of manufacturing were over and that Britain was on a path to becoming a post‑industrial service economy.
THE GREAT RIP OFF
The looting of the British economy for the benefit of the few reached its most obscene proportions with the privatisation process of state assets which was first elaborated in the Tory election manifesto of 1983 and which resulted in the following years with the privatisation of coal, steel, gas, electricity, water, railways, telecommunications, shipbuilding and also took part of the oil and road haulage industries. This is not to mention the devastation of council housing that took place in the same period.
The sell‑off of state assets was overseen by City merchant banks who acted as 'advisors' and received literally hundreds of millions of pounds in fees for this 'service'. This period will rightly go down in history as one of the great rip‑offs of all time.
Alongside this privatisation came the reform of the National Health Service, schools and universities, prisons, the police force and justice departments and their regulating authorities, with the plan being to remove them from the control of democratically elected local authorities and place them under the control of unelected quangos and Next Step Agencies. By such means the market mechanisms of compulsory competitive tendering, performance related and profit related pay and other such devices, were introduced into all public services.
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
Of course none of the above would have been possible without an attack on the traditional defensive organisations of the working class ‑ the trade unions. The destruction of the trade union movement was a clear objective of the Thatcher regime and resulted in confrontations with virtually all sections of workers. Indeed, the destruction of manufacturing and the move to a service based industry made it imperative for the ruling class to introduce anti‑trade union laws to shackle workers and reduce their ability to fight back.
That they were partially successful is a reflection not on the fighting capacity of the working class but on its social democratic leaders.
With a few honourable exceptions these politicians and trade union leaders functioned as policemen for the capitalist state against their own members. These careerists and opportunists are tied to capitalism, their status and significant salaries are dependent upon it, and forced into a situation where they have to choose, they will always come down on the side of the present system.
The introduction of new employment law effectively weakened the trade unions and created a more individualist labour market, moreover a labour market that would be open to the whims of a free market economy, modelled on the American labour market with its high levels of mobility, downward flexibility of wages and low employer costs.
As a result of these policies there has been an increase in part‑time and contract work and an ending of any traditional career with its accompanying security. Furthermore, many low‑skilled workers now earn less than the minimum needed to support a family, resulting in the diseases associated with poverty, TB, rickets and others, returning.
At the same time the restrictions on welfare entitlements, particularly with unemployment benefits such as the Job Seekers Allowance introduced in 1996, are designed to compel recipients to accept work at market‑driven rates.
NEW LABOUR
It was the finance sector that Blair's New Labour courted for over a year prior to the 1997 general election. They had to convince the financiers that they were the Party for them, and that they would continue to create the framework where they could operate freely. New Labour people threw so many banquets for these financial parasites that the City's nickname for the Labour Party is, 'the prawn cocktail party.'
Members of the then Shadow Cabinet began touring the dining rooms of the City of London assuring their hosts that Labour had no intention of bringing back exchange controls and had no intention of doing anything they would not approve of.
Stuart Bell MP went to New York on a trip paid for by Kleinwort Benson Securities to reassure Wall Street that the 'financial markets will be safe in the hands of a future Labour government.' (Sunday Telegraph 17th Dec. 1995). Consequently, by the beginning of 1996, the financial pages of the newspapers were full of articles in praise of Labour's policies. Thus the stage was set for New Labour to not only continue Tory policies but to take them farther than even the most right wing Tory dared to imagine.
The Labour Party had concluded that the only way to get elected was to accept the agenda of the Americans and the City, to be pro Nato, pro EEC and pro non regulation of the City.
Due to the massive exportation of British capital, which began during the Thatcher years, Britain now has the largest overseas investment after America, and this will dictate that they continue to support American political and military hegemony as the best way to protect those interests. Indeed, all the key Labour personnel are linked to the United States, with the intent to preserve the so‑called Anglo‑American special relationship, to compensate for British capitalism's long term decline.
Ian Johnson.
Posted by John at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2008
Maintaining dignity as markets crash around you
Cuba's response to the U.S. offer of help in assessing damage done by two storms was firm but polite. What a marked contrast to the unprincipled dealings going on in the US as the administration takes over substantial ownership of insurance giant AIG.
My friend was wearing a Man United t-shirt emblazoned with this sponsor's initials. We wondered if he was up-to-date, or whether he really existed under this banner!
In UK we're now seeing how it's all being done, the Independent printing articles with explicit details. What it describes is worse than hard porn, yet dealing with hedge funds remains a legal sport which if not responsible certainly helped HBOS on its way down as it had Northern Rock. Individuals not only make their millions, billions - now trillions are mentioned while the ordinary citizen - nay consumer in modern parlance - contributes to their limitless desires. A deal was done between Lloyds-TSB and HBOS at a party in one of the most luxurious town houses around, we are told.
The latest news is that banks around the world are pumping money like flood water to stabilise the economy. Job done, governments have assisted the needy bosses who turned rock into sand and others who need the extra million or two to keep going.
Sustainable living, is this it? We are facing crisis upon crisis. Certainly extra fuel and food costs don't add up to the starvation faced by millions worldwide for most, but there will be many who are hit hard and the most vulnerable will be at considerable risk surviving the winter. Who is the government supporting? Indeed what are the links between the speculators and those who hold political power? Their interests lie demonstrably with the top not the bottom.
So back in Cuba they are struggling but keep their dignity. Although in difficulties themselves their doctors continue to work in neighbouring Haiti and other parts of the area affceted even more drastically than themselves. It's very refreshing to see a difference in priorities exists and is at work.
Posted by John at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2008
Frightening Scenario of Gujarat
Professor B.D. Desai visited us in U.K. last year as a guest of the Asian Rationalist Society (Britain). We visited Professors John Rex and Mohammed Anwar at Warwick University, Ranjit Sondhi at Heart of Birmingham teaching PCT, the Social Science Department at Birmingham University and Professor Desai gave talks to well-attended meetings in Birmingham and Derby. He sent the following account of the current situation in Gujarat where he describes the Muslim communities having to bear the brunt of the backlash following terrorist attacks. While these may have been done in the name of Muslims it has become an excuse to terrorise and scapegoat the Muslim community bringing back frightening memories of Germany in the 1930s.
Frightening Scenario of Gujarat. Babubhai Desai, Surat
A very serious situation prevails in Gujarat since the blasts in July 2008. The print and the electronic media carry headlines about the arrest and so called confessions and statements of the witnesses. The media carries a bias against the Muslims in general. Nobody is worried about the consequences of generating hate campaign against the Muslims which constitute a substantial section of the society. The entire community ,as it were, has been driven to the wall. Less than half a percent is supposed to have been involved in the criminal acts but an atmosphere has been created as if the entire community is criminal!
Let guilty be Punished
Let it be made clear ,that such acts of terror need to be wholly condemned, killing of the innocents be never underrated. The guilty must be booked and be awarded the harshest punishment they deserve. Nobody has a right to take law in their hands and disturb communal peace and law and order.
A grave situation has arisen as a result of the way Indian state in general and Gujarat in particular has reacted to these unfortunate developments.
A myth has been systematically built up ,over the years ,that India is the land of the Hindus and that they are being reduced to minority by the vote bank politics.The fact is Hindus enjoy obvious dominance in positions of power, economy and cultural/educational institutions, they are being indoctrinated by radical Hindu parties like the BJP, to see themselves as under attack by aggressive, monotheistic religions, especially Islam, which is invariably framed as a terrorist religion, pampered minority by the secular state in order to garner votes. That the Muslims constitute a pampered minority is a most pernicious myth that has been swallowed by many educated Hindus who should know better. The evidence, in fact, points to the exact opposite. Muslims in Gujarat, and for that matter in India, are at the bottom of the heap according to many key indicators of wealth and literacy which has been detailed in the Justice Sachar Committee report. There has been no significant increase in the population growth either. This has been the sad position of Muslims in spite of the so called pampering of Muslims by the Congress party that has been in power for over major parts of years since Independence. There has been a growing suspicion of the Indian state claiming to be secular. Minority religions in India - Islam/Christianity/Sikhism - do not see the Indian state as respecting their legitimate religious demands. Muslims are angry at the destruction of the mosque in Ayodhya and the Gujarat state's complicity in violence in 2002. Sikhs still carry deep wounds that years of harsh anti terrorism measures have left behind. Hindus in turn accuse the Indian state of not being Hindu enough and pampering the minorities for political purposes.
Victims of mutual hatred
This background should give us the clue why things are as they are today. This has generated anger in both the communities. Muslims are angry at the way the state has been behaving with them, Hindus are angry at the Muslims because no party has ever given them secular ideas, as against this, media education has painted them in a bad light all these years. This ANGER is rooted wrongly and unless it is uprooted enough this unfortunate developments will continue dividing the Indian society widely.
Anger is the root of all terrorism . Once peaceful Muslim groups tended to become radical due to internal anger over domestic grievances, such as treatment of Muslims in Gujarat. There is an increase in the flow of new recruits of Muslims to radical organizations, .Thus formerly peaceful Muslims now tend to get radicalized. The Indian Muslim community is alarmed at this development and have, rightly, begun to condemn terrorists acts taking place in India.( the habit of suspicion is so strong that the Hindus are not taking this seriously enough ) Actually this has led to a split in the SIMI between those advocating terrorism and those advocating peaceful political means of dissent. Radicalization has always been there among Muslims in Gujarat since 1969 riots, but what is comparatively of recent origin is extreme militancy since since 2002 genocide in Gujarat.
SO HERE IS A SITUATION WHERE BOTH THE COMMUNITIES ARE PLACED AGAINST EACH OTHER NOURISHING STRONG SUSPICIONS.There is a vicious circle of hatred unless this is removed communal virus will continue to take its toll.
The Rural Scene is no different
The rural scene is no different. Though Gujarat has a long history of peaceful existence of various communities and a rich syncretic culture, the systematic communalization of the rural Gujarat has been underway especially since the BJP came to power in the state. Even the SC and ST sections who are part of the victims of Hindu's ire and anti propaganda have fallen prey to the communal virus.There are certain villages with signboards telling that this is a PURE village meaning, there are no Muslims!
Human Rights
The middle class psyche of Gujarat wants the state to be of a totally homogenized one. Any attempts by the sober or the secular people to rethink has been fiercely opposed. Human rights activists are being ridiculed in the media. Any indirect sympathy will result into opposition, as if it is a crime to show sympathy for the underdog. NON VIOLANNT RESISTANCE AGAINST OPPRESSION IS THE ONLY WAY OUT.A movement should be generated in solidarity with concerned people of the country to destroy the communal poison.
Role of the Congress
In Gujarat the Congress has done precious little to win the confidence of the Muslims. Between the BJP and the Congress, it is the Congress that should be blamed for the present situation as it had promised to remain Secular, the Muslims trusted and gave votes but the Congress betrayed.. The genocide of 2002 was a glaring example when the Congress fared poorly.. The BJP did not raise false hopes, instead it preferred to remain pro - Hindu openly. For fear of losing , the Congress did not give tickets to Muslims, perhaps except one, and today, there is not a single Muslim MLA in the Gujarat assembly. The commitment of the Congress is skin deep , and tolerated only for tactical purposes.
It is said that the Congress party has been pampering the minority at the cost of the majority. Had the Congress been following pro minority policy the socio economic condition of the Muslims should have been much better than what it is today. The Justice Sachar committee report has provided the shocking data of the economic condition of thje minority in India.
The SIMI organization was banned since the BJP was in power.. When the police could not provide enough evidence of their supposedly anti national activity, the Judge of the Tribunal ordered to lift the ban wrongfully imposed on SIMI. As the allegation goes , if the Congress had been for the minority the Centre would not have recommended reimposition of the ban within 24 hours.
Once again if the Congress had been for the minority , Justice Shree Krishna Commission report should have been implemented seriously at least during Congress rule in Maharashtra. Shree Bal Thackaray of the Shiv Sena has openly urged the Hindu Youths to be ready to become human bombs to fight out the minority “threats. The so called pro minority Congress has hardly done anything in the matter. The so called secular Congress is wary of taking legal actions against communal forces for fear of losing votes of the majority Hindus.
Role of the BJP
The BJP is a right wing Hindu party and RSS Pracharak for over 25 years, CM Shree Narendra Modi is an avant garde for Gujarat.He has been telling
that , NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS, but ALL TERRORISTS ARE MUSLIMS, This is part of the systematic hate campaign unleashed by the BJP. This mischievous statement has caught the typical middle class psyche deep enough in Gujarat. Let us see how far this is true.
(1) If preparing and throwing a bomb makes one terrorist then what about the VHP/Bajrang Dal caught making bombs in Nanded in Maharashtra, in ------------------------------------. And again in Rajivnagar area of Kanpur in August 2008,
THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS !
(2) Inciting communal violence, conniving at police atrocities and taking charge of the police Control Room, and give illegal orders amounting to death immediately after the unfortunate killings of innocent Hindus at Godhara--------- all these are acts of Terror.
THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS
(3) If killing of the innocents is a terrorist act then what about the twelve Muslims killed in fake encounters. The details of these horrendous act have come out in the trial court in Ahmedabad. To protect those killers of fake encounters is equally amounts to terror.
THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS
(4) Those belonging to under world gangs, undertaking anti social activities, extort money and kill people who do not obey , compelling persons to withdraw innocent remarks should amount to acts of terror.
THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS
(5) To rape innocent women to take revenge against a community, to loot the shops and destroy properties of innocents--- if his is part of terror , then all these terrorists are NOT Muslims.( To publicly say that criminals have NO religion but privately propagate that they are all Muslims.)
(6) Burning a helpless person is the highest act of Terror .In 2002, as is evident,
Innocent women, whom one has never met nor ever heard their names, were burnt in broad day light in full view of the public. Thos who set them on fire and equally those who were onlookers are all terrorists.
THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS
(7) Creating hurdles in the due process of law and justice, threatening the witnesses, denial of right to engage a lawyer for legal defense, ridiculing, threatening and physically preventing a lawyer to enter the Court, if this is a part of the terrorist act then ALL THESE ARE NOT MUSLIMS.
(8) If preventing a particular community to enter their native villages, forcing them to withdraw legal cases, leave them at the mercy of the God, without providing basic amenitiesâ€"if this amounts to terror them ALL THESE ARE NOT MUSLIMS.
(9) Forcing the entire community to leave the village for allegedly unlawful acts of violence should also be considered act of terror. In cases of land disputes, and inter castes marriages, this has been the common refrain for the Dalits in rural areas. Then is this not an act of terror?. ALL OF THEM ARE NOT MUSLIMS.
(10)To break the jail , to kill an accused in judicial custody, to torture those who have not even been chargesheeted should amount to act of Terror.THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS
(11)To take law in hand and kill people carrying cows for slaughter and butcher the butchers is an act of terror. THEY ALL ARE NOT MUSLIMS.
(12)
Role of the Judiciary
A development of far reaching and frightening implication for the stature of the Indian Judiciary has taken place wherein the Bar Associations of several parts of India have effectively banned advocates from defending Muslim Youths branded as terrorists . Even before the trial they presumed to be guilty. In Gujarat the ban is informal.. There are instances wherein they are humiliated, ridiculed and criticized..
The police has been humiliating Muslim detainees on the ground of religion. There has been widespread communalization of the police force in the country. In typical case in Gujarat, the Police has imposed 42 cases and as per law ,for each one , the Judge can order 15days of police custody hence the Muslim accused will be spending whole one year in custody before being charge-sheeted. Judiciary and the police are not interested in due process of law but want to damage reputation for belonging to a particular community.
.
Posted by John at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2008
Cuba after Gustav and Ike
Granma has published a description with photographs of the aftermath of two hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, which have devastated parts of Cuba along with the neighbouring Haiti and other Caribbean islands. Now Ike has arrived in Texas seriously affecting oil production.
Already rebuilding is underway in Cuba: Gustav's powerful winds were followed by Ike's floodwaters, halting recovery efforts. According to Marbel Piloto Hernández, a member of the Party Bureau in Pinar del Rio, in the days following the first hurricane, more than 3,000 homes were repaired and 1,500 temporary facilities created. Electricity had been restored to 70% of the province. "Now we are assessing the damage, work is beginning again, but with more efforts than before," she said.
And it is true that activities have resumed with more impetus. That was confirmed by the tenacity of the 800 electrical line workers and 200 construction workers from other provinces who returned to work after the floods. The housing repair brigades created in neighborhoods are also evidence of that. Jorge Luis Izquierdo and Juan Fernández, two men with skin burned by the sun after repairing so many roofs, are part of one of those brigades. And they proudly demonstrate the new roofs that Ike was not able to rip away.
The occurrence of the two hurricanes on this scale is unprecedented in Cuba where two and a half million people were evacuated. This clearly had the effect of saving lives. It is heartening to see the priorities and achievements of this island approaching the 50th anniversary of the Revolution on 1st January, 2009.
Posted by John at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2008
"Cuba will come through"
The Cubans have reacted to a message from the U.S. offering to send an assessment team to see the damage caused by two hurricanes. The offer was politely declined saying that Cuba had its own experts capable of doing that. It would be helpful though if essential building materials and electrical equipment could be allowed through the blockade.
Fidel Castro writes about the situation in his customary matter-of-fact way about how existing infrastructure aided people through the devastation and how it is planned to rebuild in a way that resists storm damage. By the installation of underground cables for example.
We are wondering how the friends who welcomed us so warmly in Santa Clara in May are faring and send them our greetings and good wishes at this critical time.
Posted by John at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)
War spills into Pakistan
It would probably be easier to count the number of countries the U.S. hasn't bombed - with civilians often taking the brunt of the "shock and awe" (="terrorist"?) actions. Now Pakistan where it is said most of the casualties are again civilian.
Bush is seeking British support. It's looking likely after Brown is pausing for thought - no not his, the warmongering lot who advise governments I suppose.
Meanwhile Sarah Palin has been exposing herself. She will be prepared she says to commit U.S. troops against Russia to support Georgia and Ukraine, and supported Bush's incursion into Pakistan without the need to consult the Pakistan government.
Vladimir Putin has been saying why Russia reacted to being given "a bloody nose" and playing down the idea that we're entering a new cold war era. Russia is not trying to rebuild the Soviet empire he maintained. Can't say exactly that they're doing nowt though.
It is thought that Osama bin Laden is lurking in the Waziristan region, so is Bush making a last desperate attempt to nail him before he (Bush) leaves town? Whatever I'm booking my ticket for the "Stop the War" campaign in Manchester on 20th September.
Posted by John at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2008
Ike's progress
Barely had Hurricane Gustav passed over the tip of Cuba when Ike followed on crossing the island from east to west, finishing off Gustav's devastation in some areas. Now Texas in battening down hatches as Ike gains strength across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The earlier hurricane failed to claim any lives in Cuba, but Ike killed 4 according to some reports. Damage is estimated in millions of dollars to the island.
"As it left Cuba, Hurricane Ike delivered a punishing blow to towns such as Los Palacios, which already suffered a direct hit from a Category-4 Hurricane Gustav on Aug. 30.
In a poor neighborhood along the train tracks, the combined fury of Ike and Gustav left nearly two-thirds of the wooden homes without roofs or completely leveled.
'The first one left me something, but this one left me nothing,' said Olga Atiaga, a 53-year-old housewife. Gustav obliterated her roof and some walls. Then Ike blew away a mattress and smashed the kitchen sink.
'I don't even have anything to sleep on,' she said."
Posted by John at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2008
Palin and Queen Esther
The entry of Sarah Palin onto the scene is bringing a good bit of Biblical "truth" into play. "Truth" in the sense that a fundamentalist believer would like to see it, that is. So it is Queen Esther who Palin models herself on, according to a pastor who knows her.
Don't know about Esther's use of expenses, but according to the Washington Post Sarah Palin charged the state for 319 nights at home. Whether this is a matter of "digging the dirt" when there are other important issues to talk about is a matter of opinion. I would think that it's quite an important consideration given that as is so often mentioned Sarah could be literally "a heart beat" away from the presidency of the United States of America. The continued domination of the U.S. - and the world - of a group of neo-con fundamentalists isn't good news for any of us. The judgment to bring a virtually unknown player is an act which needs serious consideration. However it is clear that Sarah Palin was brought in to woo women's votes for Republicans following the failure of Hillary Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. With all her failings we know Clinton to be an experienced politician even if there are uncomfortable links with a past presidency.
So the possibility of an unknown entity becoming the first woman to hold this high office has rather translated the idea that it could be Clinton to a rather different level.
Posted by John at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
September 9, 2008
Liam wows the Cabinet
Liam Byrne, the most influential person in the West Midlands according to the Birmingham Post's reckoning, had the opportunity to present the region to the Cabinet on its trip to Brum yesterday. Here's his presentation.
....yes, well. Anyone still awake?
This was a wonderful opportunity for him. He wondered if Westminster was listening to us in the region. I often wonder if Liam Byrne is listening himself.
In his presentation on transport he talks about the "first ever" consensus. I am struggling to imagine what he is referring to. When he talks about achievements he points to New Street Station and then only how it has been delayed. In recent weeks mention has been made of high speed rail links going well beyond Gateway. Is this what he was talking about. Of local schemes to increase local rail services the good news is the Moseley/Kings Heath line. An idea for a service from Frankley appears to have bitten the dust, while both present and former chairs of the WMPTA have written letters asking Liam Byrne to look at the Walsall to Wolverhampton service. Rapid transport in and around the region? If we're going to develop the economy and overcome the gridlock with all the wasted time and money that entails we need to see clearly where we're going!
It's doubtful whether anyone had the inclination to follow the dreary-looking formal presentation anyway. Many were too busy saying that Gordon was the wonderful great leader that Labour needs and that they hadn't been trying to stand against him, Miliband to the fore among them.
Posted by John at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
When nationalisation is not nationalisation
Nationalisation is not nationalisation when I say so. So says George W. Bush, so says Gordon Brown. In both U.S. and U.K. failure of the housing markets has led to the unthinkable when governments that have ideologically rejected public ownership have had to step in. "It's only temporary" says Brown after failing to find a suitable private buyer. Tycoon Richard Branson tried hard, very hard travelling the globe as far as Beijing to try to get something for nothing. Thankfully he failed to impress.
Here's what the Socialist Labour Party had to say about Northern Rock:
"(The) conditions of capitalism's increasing economic instability (are) brought into sharp focus by the nationalisation of Northern Rock. However this is not nationalisation in any true meaning of the word, but an attempt to prevent the financial meltdown of the British economy.
The reason that the major banks will no longer lend to each other is because they are well aware that the collateral offered, the assets, are worthless. Yet the Labour government has agreed to lend vast sums to Northern Rock regardless of this, and thereby raise the danger of national bankruptcy.
This approach of bailing out the millionaire executives operating in the financial world is in stark contrast to the government's attitude to the thousands of working class families who were the victims of the Farepak collapse and is yet one more confirmation that this government only represents the rich and powerful in society.
The 'credit crisis' will be ongoing and is only exacerbated by recent government actions."
Posted by John at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2008
Brown between a rock and a hard place
I'm glad someone has at last said something about what is happening in New Labour, and particularly "smug" and "arrogant" Miliband prancing around. A Union leader has made the point that we might as well go for Cameron when his and Miliband's policies are not dissimilar. I have to say that when both went to Georgia it was not possible to split the duo. Nasty Russians, welcome to NATO etc. Bit naive though. Do they remember what the cold war was like?
Evidently some of the expletives had to be deleted, but nevertheless it was felt strongly that the sentiments should stand. The message is that a return to Blairism isn't what is wanted, and that is directed at Charles Clarke too.
Brown is between a rock and a hard place since blame is focussed on him from both directions. The Blairites say he torpedoed important Blair reforms, the other side think that he himself has adopted Blair's policies after he promised to move away from that.
Posted by John at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
Bil'in, a story of all of us
The story below is of a village which has been arrested. It is circled by a wall to protect an illegal settlement of the ultra-orthodox Zionists who believe that they, and they only, have the right to settle on that space. Even Israeli law says this is wrong but the rule of law doesn't matter. The Israeli army upholds this illegality and when villagers and their international supporters protest weekly they are routinely met with gas, stun grenades and water cannon. In recent weeks this was added to with the army descending to the lowest by shooting shit at the people. This is not to mention the live ammunition that seriously wounded a young man recently.
If the international community believe in keeping the law then no one should turn a blind eye to what is happening, and being allowed to happen here or anywhere else. Ignoring it undermines equality and justice for all of us as the writer of the following story says.
Bil'in, a story of all of us
The story of Bil'in should serve as a wake-up call even for those who are not worried about Palestinian land-rights. This is an adulteration of the rule of law and proper administration, more writing on the wall which should warn us against the State of the "Combina."
Published 19.07.08, 9:02
The story of the Palestinian village Bil'in is presented in narrow perspective in the media and public opinion as the struggle of village residents and hundreds of Israeli and international activists, to keep their lands in the near side of the separation wall and out of reach of the development plans of Upper Modi'in, the largest ultra-orthodox city on the West Bank.
But the story of Bil'in is composed of many chapters that should have been presented earlier and might have aroused a broader Israeli public sooner to protest against one of the nadirs of the bureaucracy of evil. The struggle is characterized by a series of stages that has continued several years in this little "God's acre" and includes the use of bureaucratic procedures to consistently damage the rule of law and the foundations of Israeli society.
The roots of the story lie in the declaration of 780 dunams of Bil'in property as state property in 1991. This declaration was not supported by the usual claims of land lying fallow or abandoned, but rather by the request of the "Fund for Land Redemption" to the administration of the civil department of the state's advocate of that time, Pliah Albek, to register the land as state property, under the pretension that the state had acquired the land but preferred not to register the acquisition with the land registry bureau. Albek agreed to conceal the acquisition and to declare the lands property of the state without even affirming the act of acquisition - as required by law - and only afterwards transferring ownership of the land to the fund. The "East Mattitiahu" neighborhood was established on these lands.
In 2004 the second chapter of the story was written. The heads of the city of Modi'in decided - together with the construction companies, Hefzibah and Green Park - that 1500 living units were not enough for the new neighborhood and requested to double that number to 3000. The high planning committee of the civil administration rushed to confirm the first plan in the process of confirming the new plan, but in order to make it difficult for the residents of Bil'in to present their objections, as is normally allowed, the committee made sure that the platforms for making this change known to the public were "HaTzofeh" and "HaModia" - two (religious, Hebrew) newspapers "broadly read" and well-known to the Palestinians.
But even before confirmation of this plan, the local council of Modi'in Elit hurried to produce illegal building permits for the construction companies. Letters from the legal advisor and the municipal comptroller of the Modi'in Council warning against this illegal action did not deter the building of 43 high-rise apartment houses - 22 based on the illegal confirmation and 21 with no confirmation at all.
"The rationale for these confirmations" wrote the head of the high planning council of the civil administration, which is responsible for all planning and building on the West Bank, "was to establish facts on the ground and prevent the Heftzibah company from leaving the site."
In February 2007 the high council finally confirmed the illegal construction and turned East Matitiahu into the largest retroactively "laundered" outpost in the history of unlicensed outposts.
The third chapter deals with the route of the separation wall. It begins in 2004 with a letter presented by the legal advisor of the civil administration that states that "the route was planned according to security and topographical considerations," and its end is in 2006 in the verdict of the Supreme Court that rules that "the route of the wall was planned in a place that has no security advantages. It passes through inferior territory that endangers the forces patrolling along the route. Re the security perspective that was presented to us in many other cases...the present route arouses many questions.
"The Court determines clearly that the planners of the route sacrificed security on the altar of their ambitions to broaden the settlement and - to this end - used all the procedures in their authority. There is no explanation for this route except the wish to place East Matitiahu to the west if the wall. Other than that it is doubtful that there is any security rationale for setting the route of the wall in the place where it now passes."
The last chapter to date, began when the security establishment advertised - of late - the new route meant to substitute for the present one according to the verdict of the Supreme Court. But "to the amazement" of those involved, the security establishment again indulges in the same "Supreme-Court-skirting exercises" which it failed to accomplish in other cases, meanwhile wasting millions of dollars of the taxpayers' money.
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that " the agricultural areas in Wadi Dolev and the areas designated for the construction of Stage B of the East Matitiahu neighborhood will remain to the east of the wall", the Defense Department presented a route that leaves these areas to the west of the wall. Without the necessary determination of the Supreme Court, the new legal procedures may continue until the next chapter is written about the moral and legal bankruptcy that finally allowed the establishment of Stage B.
The story of Bil'in should never be "the short history of Zionism and the rule of law" in the past decades. It is easy for the Israeli public to see in the weekly demonstrations, all there is to see in the story of Bil'in. But even those who don't really care about Palestinian land-rights and their ability to live off these lands, should open their eyes and join the struggle against this adulteration of the rule of law and proper administration, often carried out by the institutions themselves on the platform of bureaucratic procedures.
The story of Bil'in is more writing on the wall that should warn us of the "Combina" State that has arisen on the West Bank and its implications for Israeli society.
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=1
Shaul Arieli, member of the Council for Peace and Security
Thank you for you continued support,
Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
Head of Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bilin
Email- ffj.bilin@yahoo.com
Mobile- (00972) (0) 547847942
Office- (00972) (2) 2489129
Fax- (00972) (2) 2489129
Posted by John at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
September 6, 2008
Come back Blair? How boring can you get?
This is a report from today's Independent (6/9/2008). Evidently the only way New Labour could get extra support is to get Blair back. Since he's not a M.P he can't. The Almighty works in mysterious ways.
Put Miliband in and apart from starting World Ward III you'd get no improvement on what you've already got. Ditto Straw. With Johnson, Harman or Balls it would be worse. What I'm not clear about is what New Labour think they're trying to achieve. Charles Clarke has renewed his blustering muttering darkly about the need for a "change of direction". What I don't see is any intention for the New Labour architects to allow anyone in. Any moves towards a socialist agenda is met with cries of "no return to the past" - well not any further than the Blair years anyway. Since it these that's caused the crisis in the first place all you're doing is to keep digging the hole ever deeper.
More pertinently New Labour has backed the same horses as the rest. So if you're going to back Tories why not have the real thing. Strangely enough they're trying to put a more human face on capitalism. The news is that it won't work because the inner logic puts the market to the fore. We are in the jungle at the mercy of the fiercest beasts. So calling for Monsanto to create more GM crops is first and foremost to prop up the system which has been most responsible for the crisis.
Calls for a "windfall tax" on the energy come from all quarters, even more so now they have been found out to be delivering higher dividends rather than putting the ill-gotten gains into improving fuel efficiency. The government has been put into a quandary since it too has benefited from arrangements for promoting green energy. Strangely, but unsurprisingly, the goodies have not been ear-marked for any specific purpose. Presumably the billions spoken of can go to prolong the existing wars and maybe promote new ones.
So where are we? The U.S. has a choice between right and far right - clear now the Republicans have chosen this awful woman from Alaska they keep describing as a new Margaret Thatcher. In the U.K. we have a choice between various shades of blue with Thatcherite market ideologies everywhere. There is no significant choice, no socialist alternative. If Labour ever was that the New Labour project hijacked the party to make sure it never will be. Whatever the outcome of the of the battle around Brown alternatives within this narrow scenario are infinitely worse.
Posted by John at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2008
Angola is booming
A report on Angola prior to elections shows a booming economy. Oil is a major factor, and Angola has mineral wealth too. China is a major player and gets most of its oil from this source.
So what has happened to the poverty that Africans have faced under colonial rule? It sound as if that is not defeated yet and that a "trickle-down" policy is at play. Such an idea is usually a myth promoted by those in control of resources, so how much insiders will benefit (a few or many), and how much will go outside? The jury is out whether modern China is a capitalist or socialist economy, with many suspecting it has moved in the former direction. Certainly China's presence in African countries has shown more of the characteristics of a new colonialism leaving many suffering the blight of activities such as mining.
THis si just one snap shot, a report of today. Let's see a bit more evidence.
Posted by John at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2008
In the wake of Gustav
I read with interest the effects of the hurricane Gustavo on Cuba. While all eyes were on New Orleans, which eventually missed the full force in the end, clearly a part of Cuba met with utter devastation, yet no one died as a result.
My source is once more Fidel Castro who writes in graphic terms about the effects of the storm, and then about the determined efforts to rebuild. Reading the "reflections" is a bit more than just learning about how scarce resources are used because we are taken back to bits of history usually glossed over. Do we remember apartheid South Africa having 7 nuclear bombs courtesy of U.S. - and contemplating their use when Cuban troops were in Angola?
So education is underway again in most schools. Many have lost their homes and so Cubans are being asked to work in solidarity with those who need to repair and rebuild.
However there are no illusions. Rebuilding will run into billions of dollars, but the priority remains to feed those affected. The greatest challenge is on the Isle of Youth where aid has to be sent in by air. After hurricane Katrina Cuba offered aid to the U.S, as is now well known. President Medvedev of Russia has ordered the immediate dispatch of food and building materials as part of a relief package. Will Europe or U.S. follow suit?
Posted by John at 9:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2008
Exporting tried and tested criminals
Attending an international conference in Havana in May aroused my interest in the "U.S. backyard". The continuing saga of social upheaval arising from the oppression of indigenous groups who form the majority is apparent across South and Central America, while the U.S. continues to exercise a malign influence to prevent any such thing.
Honduras is a case in point where the U.S, administration tried to export a well tried and tested terrorist and assassin. I found the article an illuminating read, fascinating in the way that the U.S.'s man has been involved in so many places and touched key incidents in the history of the region.
While the U.S. and its buddies cry out for the need to fight "terrorism" globally there are no limits to the ways in which selected "terrorists" are used as weapons against other countries. So while waging "official" wars there are many unofficial hostile actions elsewhere.
While Cuba is part of "the axis of evil" according to the Christian Bush, and this is accepted by U.S. allies, the main thrust of Cuba is to promote the well being of people, not only in Cuba but globally. The export of doctors and teachers is legendary. However Cuban-born exiles, many of whom reside in the U.S. regularly work with the C.I.A. whatever their criminal tendencies.
Posted by John at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)
