Pensions offer – Not to be trusted
The Tory-led government has come forward today with newly revised
proposals on public sector pensions in the wake of the build-up to the
mass strike on November 30th.
Greece: revolutionary anger turns parades into protests!
October 28 is a National holiday in Greece marking ΟΧΙ (No) Day – the refusal of Greece
in 1940 to accept the Italian ultimatum advanced by Mussolini, to allow
the Italian fascist troops to enter the country. Not only did Greek
forces stop the Italian invasion, but actually forced Mussolini’s troops
back into Albania. Every year it is celebrated as a day of “national
pride”. Not so this year! The masses took over the celebrations and used
them to express their anger at the Greek ruling class. Here we publish a
report from Athens written on the day of the “celebrations”
USA: #Occupy Oakland answers police violence with call for general strike
On October 25, people on the streets
were confronted by hundreds of riot police launching anti-riot grenades.
Plumes of tear gas rose as protesters fled from the rubber bullets of
the police. The scene we have described was not in the streets of Tunis,
Cairo or Homs, but occurred in the streets of Oakland, California in
the United States. On that Tuesday, the police forcefully evicted the
occupation taking place in Oscar Grant plaza, renamed so after the
police killing of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Eve 2009 in the city of
Oakland.
God Only Knows!
The protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the heart of
the City of London has had one unexpected side effect. It has revealed the
usually hidden fissures inside the
Church of England.
Vince Cable challenged by Marxists
Socialist Appeal member Adam Booth spoke against Vince
Cable, the Secretary of State for Business in the Coalition government, in the
Cambridge Union on Thursday 27th October, in a debate that
highlighted the two starkly contrasting choices facing society as a result of
the crisis of capitalism: austerity or socialism.
The end of the world as we know it…
As the big day approaches, the hysteria builds up to a crescendo. The
21st December 2012 is seen as being the next date of the ‘end of the
world’, according to the ancient Mayan calendar. Yes, this time the
world is really supposed to end, we are told, and apologies for all the
previous false alarms.
Crisis of the euro is a crisis of capitalism – the only way out is revolution
Last week Angela Merkel was warning
that peace in Europe could be endangered if an agreement was not
reached at the EU summit on how to manage the crisis that has engulfed
the euro and the whole of the EU economy. Speaking to the German
parliament she said, “No one should think that a further half century of
peace and prosperity is assured. It isn’t. And that’s why I say if the
euro fails, Europe will fail, and that mustn’t happen." Some of the more
serious strategists of capital have even raised the prospect that the
euro could break up. The 27 EU leaders on Wednesday night, however,
finally produced a three part deal.
USA: “We Are the 99%”
USA: The mainstream media has made much ado
about the fact that #OccupyWallStreet does not have a unified, cohesive
message. In trying to belittle it, they smugly point out that the
occupy movement is an amorphous and heterogeneous mix of people. Every
shade of political opinion and ideology is present: Makhno anarchists
and Ron Paul libertarians; Trotskyist socialists and New Age
neo-hippies; Anonymous and Zeitgeist; atheists and hard core believers;
the homeless and those who have quit their jobs to become full time
protesters against unemployment.
Ashes and Diamonds
The Ashes & Diamonds exhibition will be on show at Wortley Hall, see www.wortleyhall.org.uk from November
7th – 12th.
Greece: The first death, but millions are in an all-out struggle
On Thursday in Athens during the mass
workers’ protests we saw the state collaborating with hooligans and
provocateurs against the labour movement. What is now required is a
political general strike! Here we publish a statement by the Greek
Marxists of Marxistiki Foni.
After the death of Gaddafi: Revolution and counterrevolution in Libya
The death of Gaddafi and the final collapse of his regime closes one chapter. However, this merely marks one turning point in the situation. Now that the old regime is finally gone, a struggle will open up over the future of Libya. In this struggle we will see the forces of both revolution and counter-revolution trying to get the upper hand. Here we publish an analysis of the situation by Alan Woods.
Capitalism’s Lost Generation
A new International Labour Organisation reports says that as much as 50%
of youth are now unemployed in many countries. Capitalist crisis has
meant soaring unemployment especially amongst the young. The report
warns of difficult years ahead where young people may resort to violence
to vent their anger at governments worldwide.