Honduras: A New Era Emerges with a Broad-Based Front

National Front for Popular Resistance
June 28, 2011

Tegucigalpa, Jun 27 (Prensa Latina). Former President Manuel Zelaya said the decision to create a Broad Front for Popular Resistance in Honduras to participate in the 2013 elections was the beginning of a new era. "The new force emerging today assumes a change in the old traditional structures that will take a step to freedom and the right of the people to fight for a different country," Zelaya stated on Sunday.

About 1,500 delegates attended a special assembly of the National Front for Popular Resistance on Sunday, and unanimously voted for the creation of a new political, "democratic, revolutionary and inclusive" alliance that would include broad sectors.

The former president, who recently returned to the country almost two years after a coup overthrew his government, called on teachers, workers, farmers, and small business people who opposed the coup to join this front.

For centuries, the national bourgeoisie has maintained Honduras as the second or third poorest country in Latin America, and should be immediately replaced in holding political power, Zelaya said.

The assembly delegates also decided to ask Congress to hold a referendum to convene a Constituent Assembly and begin deep-going changes in the country.

Athens burns over crucial austerity vote — in pictures

By Jérôme E. Roos 

RoarMag.org

June 29, 2011

 

Incredible images from the streets of Athens as the city descends into chaos during a 48-hour strike and mass mobilizations against austerity vote.

View them HERE.

Work Till You Drop: Who Benefits from the End of Retirement?

By Teresa Ghilarducci
MRzine
June 27, 2011

During the last century, the establishment of Social Security and the tax-favored employer pension plans that followed transformed and improved the lives of American workers. Combined with economic growth, these institutions meant that both the rich and the poor lived longer and every worker became entitled to pensions at the end of their working lives. At the same time, public spending for children, mainly through education spending, also skyrocketed, as the percentage of Americans with a high school degree or more increased from under 50 percent of the population in 1950 to over 86 percent in 2011.

Yet there is a growing attack on pensions and retirement security. Employers continue to financialize pensions by substituting traditional pensions with 401(k)-type retirement accounts. Politicians and pundits argue that people should work longer and benefits should be cut by raising the normal retirement ages.

Global Warming and the Prairie Ground Squirrel

The Velvet Glove Comes Off Harper Government’s Labour Relations Agenda

By Jim Stanford 
Progressive Economics Forum
June 22nd, 2011

The Iron Heel by Jack London

Even though labour relations is largely a provincial responsibility in Canada, we were worried about what would happen in this field under a Harper majority. And it didn’t take long to find out.

In the disputes at both Air Canada and Canada Post, the government waded into the fray in a pre-emptive and utterly one-sided manner. With both the timing of its intervention, and the details of its proposed legislation, the government in both cases was clearly acting to assist the respective employers to take away long-standing features of the existing contracts, and facilitate the downward ratcheting of compensation.

At Air Canada, the CAW (which represents 3800 customer service and reservations agents) and the company had been bargaining toward a new contract for several months. But by the time the two parties reached the deadline of midnight June 13, they were at loggerheads. The main sticking point was the company’s demand for dramatic changes in pensions: including major cuts in pension benefits for existing workers, and the complete abolition of the defined benefit pension system for future hires.

Layton uses caucus discipline in House vote on NATO-led Libyan bombing

By TIM NAUMETZ
The Hill Times online
June 27, 2011

NDP Leader Jack Layton had no shortage of caucus volunteers for round-the-clock shifts for the NDP filibuster against back-to-work legislation over the weekend, but it was a different story as he and his caucus grappled with what turned out to be their unanimous House of Commons vote recently supporting an extension of Canadian involvement in the NATO-led bombing in Libya.

Several NDP MPs, without disclosing any details of what went on inside caucus that led to overwhelming support for a government motion to extend the mission, made it clear in interviews that it was a hard pill to swallow for many of them. A subsequent bombing that resulted in the death of Libyan citizens would only have been salt on the wound.

There is little doubt dyed-in-the-wool peace supporters and anti-war activists in the NDP at large must also have given their heads a shake.

Linda McQuaig in Regina and Saskatoon

Saskatchewan Office 

CCPA

June 27, 2011

Award-winning journalist and best-selling author Linda McQuaig will speak in both Regina and Saskatoon on Wednesday October 19th and Thursday October 20th.

Linda will discuss her new book, The Trouble with Billionaires,  which critically examines how extremes of wealth undermine both our quality of life and our democracy.

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Please join the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives for what is sure to be an evening of thought-provoking discussion.

Wednesday, October 19th 7:30 pm Education Auditorium, University of Regina

Thursday, October 20th 7:00 pm Third Avenue United Church, Saskatoon

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The Trouble with Billionaires: Why too much money at the top is bad for everyone

The glittering lives of billionaires may seem like a harmless source of entertainment. But such concentrated economic power reverberates throughout society, threatening the quality of life and the very functioning of democracy. It's no accident that the United States claims the most billionaires – but suffers among the highest rates of infant mortality and crime, the shortest life expectancy, as well as the lowest rates of social mobility and electoral political participation in the developed world.

Our society tends to regard large fortunes as evidence of great talent or accomplishment. Yet the vast new wealth isn't due to an increase in talent or effort at the top, but rather to changing social attitudes legitimizing greed and government policy changes that favour the new elite. Authoritative and eye-opening, The Trouble with Billionaires will spark debate about the kind of society we want.

Notes Towards a Socialism for the Times

New Socialist Webzine
Sunday, 26 June 2011 13:48

Alan Sears's "Notes Towards a Socialism for the Times" is a very good article to get people interested in socialism, or to reinvigorate the passion of those already knowledgeable on the topic. It strives to explain what socialism from below is, how it fell by the wayside and why we need it back.

The article looks at how neoliberalism has come to dominate the world ideologically, despite being wildly unpopular among the general population. After 30 years of restructuring, the idea that neoliberal capitalism is the only viable way to organize production has become deeply ingrained among people in many parts of the world. Alan says "The compass of socialism shows the way to another possible world" - a world where democracy is a central aspect of life, not just a pretty word used in speeches and then forgotten. He writes about the necessity of a new socialism that is grounded in current struggles for reforms, and how through these struggles it can point toward "new forms of democratic participation that challenge the limits and, ultimately, the existence of existing institutions."

The article also talks about how the new Left will have to be different from those that have come before it. One major change to the way it organizes and communicates will be technological. Mobile communication and social networking have already shown themselves to be important tools for grassroots movements. The "Arab Spring" is a perfect example of people using technology to help spread their struggles and ideas despite the best efforts of those in power to isolate and demoralize them. 

The recent economic crisis has left us with the best chance in recent history to create a movement for "a socialism for the times." The seemingly endless general strikes and riots over austerity measures in Greece, the struggle over collective bargaining in Wisconsin, and the huge protests over unemployment in Spain are hopefully just the beginning. Alan's focus on the participation of all people, and on constant debate and reflection to create a dynamic and egalitarian socialist movement give me great hope. I strongly suggest you take the time to read through this article, which was originally published in Issue 63 of the magazine New Socialist in 2008.

ROAR on BBC World: Why the media lies about Greece

By Jérôme E. Roos

RoarMag.org

June 24, 2011

In a short BBC interview today, I argued that the media’s witch hunt against Greece perpetuates a false impression that the Greeks themselves are to blame.

With special thanks to Naveena Kottoor, I was able to appear on BBC World Have Your Say today, for a brief segment on the international media’s coverage of the Greek debt crisis.

Asked whether I agreed that the international media are engaged in a ‘witch hunt’ against the Greek people, I pointed out that all talk about the Greeks being profligate, lazy and spoilt is simply not true (video below, my contribution from 34m50s onwards — somehow the audio got messed up):

Unfortunately, however, I didn’t get the time to back up these assertions with hard facts — so I would like this to use the opportunity to do so here.

The Vietnam War as American Science Fiction and Fantasy

H. Bruce Franklin
Science Fiction Studies
#52 = Volume 17, Part 3 = November 1990
(Winner, Pioneer Award, 1991)

America's war in Indochina cannot be dissociated from American SF, which shaped and was reshaped by the nation's encounter with Vietnam. Out of American pulp, comic book, and movie SF of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s poured two streams of images that profoundly influenced how the war was conceived and conducted: fantasies of techno-wonders and of superheroes.

Of course these streams intermingle; after all, in order to fight for "truth, justice, and the American way,'' the American S-F superhero requires fantastic powers, which may be internalized (Superman) or externalized in high-tech paraphernalia (Batman). Indeed, the war cannot be fully comprehended unless it is seen in part as a form of American SF and fantasy.1 For a simple paradigm of the American self-images that helped engineer that war, just imagine Buck Rogers—as he uses his manly skills and 25th-century technology to lead the good fight against the Mongol hordes—sporting a Green Beret.

This essay focusses on a less speculative and far more overt interplay between SF and the war. For American SF very explicitly defined the war, which unalterably redefined American SF.

The Attack on Workers: Back(sliding) (in)to the Future

Erika Shaker
CCPA
June 22nd, 2011

Rogue Page Brigette DePape supports CUPW

The public response to recent labour disputes has been a disturbing sideshow to the return of Parliament. What’s remarkable is the level of nastiness that gets tossed around, littered with references to “union stooges” and the ubiquitous “socialist dinosaurs.”

Perhaps the most obvious line of attack is based on a backdrop of selfishness—“I don’t have benefits/vacation/job security, so why should they?”

Leo Panitch on Canada's Turn to the Right

Slim Evans: Red Labour Organizer

People's Voice
June 2011

This year, to mark the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of Canada's foundation in 1921, People's Voice is printing a series of articles on the party's history and prominent members.

Arthur "Slim" Evans, c. 1911.

Arthur H. "Slim" Evans is best known as the main organizer and leader of the On To Ottawa Trek of 1935. For his decades of organizing efforts, Slim Evans was repeatedly charged and jailed, but was widely hailed as an outstanding champion of workers' rights.

Born on April 24, 1890 in Toronto, Slim Evans left school at 13 to help support his family. He sold newspapers, drove a team of horses and learned the carpentry trade. Like many others, Evans came west in 1911, working at various jobs on the prairies, before heading to Minneapolis and then Kansas City. There he joined the Industrial Workers of the World, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment for participating in a free speech fight, having read aloud the Declaration of Independence at a rally. "All I did was read it. I was too shy and too nervous at that time to make up any speech of my own," he said later.

Could Election Reform Make a Difference?

Harold Lavender New Socialist Webzine June 22, 2011
In the May Federal election, Stephen Harper won a majority government without winning a majority of the vote. Only 39.6 percent of the population voted Conservative while 60 percent voted against. Much discussion has focused on the election results and what to do about the Harper majority. But relatively little of this has focused on the electoral system. The current first-past-the-post electoral system rewards the winning candidate in each riding, while votes cast for losing candidates are not taken into account. When the parliamentary results are added up, the winning party is often rewarded with a disproportionately high number of total seats. Losing parties, especially third and smaller parties without a strong geographic centred constituency, are generally highly underrepresented in relation to their overall share of the vote.

$605trillion of derivatives speculation in 2010

It’s time the finance markets paid their way in global economy, says international union body.

ITUC
June 22, 2011

Pressure is growing on global economic decision makers to make the financial markets pay their way in the global economy, as unemployment grows following the Global Financial Crisis and workers across the world reject cutbacks as the next stage of bailing out an increasing broken financial system.

Today, as unions and NGOs hold actions around the world in support of a Financial Transactions Tax, the ITUC called on decision makers in government to conclude on an agreement to implement the tax as soon as possible.