Greece, like all the other capitalist
countries afflicted by the recession, is running a big deficit on its
government budget. Tax revenues have
collapsed and more benefits are having to be paid out to the unemployed.
Deficits for the European Union countries as a whole tripled from 2.3% to 6.9%
from 2008 to 2009 because of the slump.
Greek capitalism is in a deep crisis.
It is the weak link in the chain and it is beginning to break. The
country risks defaulting on its debt repayments, posing a serious
threat to the stability of the euro. Severe austerity measures are
being imposed and these are provoking a working class backlash.
In just over two years time London will be staging the 2012 Olympic
Games. However, before then we have the Winter Olympics, taking place
this year in Canada. So how does the Canadian working class view this
‘great event?’
The Capitalist crisis has plunged the
state of California into its worst budget crisis in history. Billions
of dollars have been already slashed from the budget and billions more
will be cut this year in order to“fix” the shortfall of $20.7 billion.
Unable to find any other solution on the basis of Capitalism, workers
and students will bear the brunt of these cuts. The students have
already fought back on several occasions with strikes and occupations.
Recently we have seen many important events
happening in Venezuela, such as the devaluation of the bolívar and the
nationalisations in the banking sector, which needs to be analysed
carefully. The movement of occupied factories made important steps
forward last year, but still faces sabotage by counter-revolutionary
managers and workers are still struggling for nationalisation under
workers’ control. In order to defend the conquests already made, the
revolution must put the nationalisation of the commanding heights of
the economy on the agenda. Only this can destroy capitalism and provide
the necessary prerequisites for a socialist planned economy.
The nation of Haiti was hit with a
devastating earthquake. The governments of Cuba and Venezuela responded
within hours with medical brigades, firefighters, fuel and supplies,
and there has been massive sympathy, generosity and volunteerism from
workers around the world. What a difference compared to the response
from the United States. The U.S. government has pledged assistance
in the way of one hundred million dollars – less than is spent on the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in just two days.
There is a manmade element to the
catastrophe now confronting the Haitians. The country doesn’t just happen to be
poor; it has been made poor and kept poor. Haiti is the poorest country
in the Western hemisphere, with the worst infrastructure and a people
most vulnerable to disaster and disease, because of the machinations of
imperialism. Although the earthquake could not be avoided, the scale of
death and destruction clearly could have been.
Just about a month ago in
Coventry we were treated to a public meeting on the Road to Peace in
Afghanistan with local MP Bob Ainsworth, MoD, versus Bruce Kent of CND. For Bob
the issue was simple. We are there to help the Afghan people, to stop the
country becoming a failed state, to protect British interests, to fight
terrorism and to stop Pakistan collapsing as withdrawal of UK forces would mean
precisely that. Members of the audience asked a number of questions, all of
which failed to get an adequate answer.
Exploitation and robbery – colonial style – is alive and well and now, more than ever
mercenary soldiers are doing the dirty work. Unaccountable and secretive,contracted armies are the preferred method powerful western states use to destabilize governments and secure control of natural resources. With state complicity, soldiers for hire are uninhibited by fear of prosecution and use what ever means necessary to undermine national liberation movements and impose imperialist chains and the rule of Western big business.
At a public meeting organized by
various trade union, political organizations, and solidarity campaigns
(including Hands Off Venezuela), more than 3,000 people in Copenhagen
heard President Hugo Chávez correctly point out that a socialist
revolution is the only solution to the problems of humanity.
The Canadian occupation of Afghanistan
is on its last legs. Richard Colvin’s testimony, admitting that
Canadian soldiers were complicit in the torture of prisoners, is the
finishing touch. We reproduce an article published by the Marxist site Fightback which looks at the Afghan war from a Canadian perspective.
With the news this week of the100th death this year of a British soldier in
Afghanistan, this imperialist adventure will once again dominate the
news. In a article published in the current issue of Socialist Appeal
published at the end of November, Rob Sewell looks at the latest
situation and its background.