Cairo: "We want the downfall of the System!"

 

“We want the downfall of the System!”

That was the message from radicals on the streets of Cairo this week as the Morsi regime tottered towards today's collapse.

From Istanbul to Rio de Janeiro, from Santiago to Manama, the battle against neoliberalism is one and the same.

Nobody expects it to be easily won – there will always be yet another phoney saviour lined up in the political wings to ensure it’s “business as usual” in the corridors of power.

But the numbers and the anger on the streets all over the world in the last few weeks will have had the elite shaking in their boots in fear of what is to come. People power on this scale is something they can neither control nor ignore, as Morsi found out to his cost.

In an online statement this week, some “Comrades from Cairo” outlined how the neoliberal agenda is the common factor among the regimes currently facing popular uprisings.

They explained: “In Egypt, the Brotherhood only adds a religious veneer to the process, while the logic of a localized neo-liberalism crushes the people.

“In Turkey a strategy of aggressive private-sector growth, likewise translates into authoritarian rule, the same logic of police brutality as the primary weapon to oppress opposition and any attempts to envision alternatives.

“In Brazil a government rooted in a revolutionary legitimacy has proven that its past is only a mask it wears while it partners with the same capitalist order in exploiting people and nature alike.

“These recent struggles share in the fight of much older constant battles of the Kurds and the indigenous peoples of Latin America. For decades, the Turkish and Brazilian governments have tried but failed to wipe out these movements’ struggle for life.

“Their resistance to state repression was the precursor to the new wave of protests that have spread across Turkey and Brazil. We see an urgency in recognizing the depth in each other’s struggles and seek out forms of rebellion to spread into new spaces, neighborhoods and communities.

“Our struggles share a potential to oppose the global regime of nation states. In crisis as in prosperity, the state — in Egypt under the rule of Mubarak, the Military Junta or the Muslim Brotherhood — continues to dispossess and disenfranchise in order to preserve and expand the wealth and privilege of those in power.

“None of us are fighting in isolation. We face common enemies from Bahrain, Brazil and Bosnia, Chile, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Tunisia, Sudan, the Western Sahara and Egypt. And the list goes on.

“Everywhere they call us thugs, vandals, looters and terrorists. We are fighting more than economic exploitation, naked police violence or an illegitimate legal system. It is not rights or reformed citizenship that we fight for.

“We oppose the nation-state as a centralized tool of repression, that enables a local elite to suck the life out of us and global powers to retain their dominion over our everyday lives.

“The two work in unison with bullets and broadcasts and everything in between. We are not advocating to unify or equate our various battles, but it is the same structure of authority and power that we have to fight, dismantle, and bring down. Together, our struggle is stronger.

“We want the downfall of the System.”

Brazil and Turkey rise up!

The global uprising against neoliberalism continues to erupt in unexpected places, with Turkey and now Brazil displaying mass resistance.

Says a report from anarchist news service ainfos: "Just like Turkey, Brazil has recently experienced relative success in economic terms. But just as in Turkey, the spoils of this economic growth are divided extremely unequally.

"Just like in Turkey, a relatively small provocation has sparked a much more widespread chain reaction. Unlike in Turkey, that provocation is a direct attack on living standards. But the anger exploding as a result of it appears to run just as deep. ---- Brazil has seen strong economic growth in the past decade, although this is slowing. In 2010, the economy grew 7.5 percent; for 2011, the official IMF estimate is 2.7 percent.

"This temporary slowdown is supposed to be followed by stronger growth in 2013, although, with IMF statistics, you can never tell. However, the parallel with Turkey -- also a rapidly developing economy gradually moving into slowdown -- is striking. Economies like Turkey and Brazil are becoming quite an important force in the world economy.

"What happens there matters to the rest of the world. Better watch out -- and better be prepared to extend the hand of solidarity when it is needed.

"Right now, what is happening in Brazil and Turkey is revolt. In Turkey it was the defence of Gezi park that provided the spark. In Brazil, it is transport fares that drive people to the streets in anger.

"On 2 June, authorities in the metropolis of Sao Paulo raised the price of a single fare from $1.40 USD to $1.50. This hike, moreover, is being made in a context of 15.5 percent inflation.

"And for thousands of Brazilians, it proved to be the proverbial last straw. From June 10 onwards, the city was rocked by four consecutive days of demonstrations and riots. On June 13, 5.000 people took to the streets and clashed violently with police."

G8 to front plutofascist war on North Africa

ENDLESS war and plutofascist imperialism will be the hallmark of the UK's presidency of the G8, says prime minister David Cameron.

Ten years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, neoliberal powers are launching a new phase of their phoney "War on Terror", now on the south side of the Mediterranean.

The Daily Telegraph reports that speaking at Chequers, Mr Cameron claimed there was a growing "terrorist threat" in North Africa and talked up the need for a "prolonged struggle" to counter it.

He said: “It will require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months, and it requires a response that is patient, that is painstaking, that is tough but also intelligent, but above all has an absolutely iron resolve; and that is what we will deliver over these coming years.

“It will also require countries to work together, and I will use our chairmanship of the G8 this year to make sure this issue is right at the top of the agenda where it belongs.”

The Western powers are using the usual bogeyman of "al Qaeda" as the excuse for a military assault on the territory of Azawad, which declared its independence from Mali last year.

But, beyond the shrill warmongering of the corporate media, informed voices are exposing the other agendas that, inevitably, lie behind the military involvement.

Stéphane Lhomme, director of  l'Observatoire du nucléaire, points out that the real reason for the French intervention is to secure the supply of uranium to the country's powerful nuclear industry - the mineral is sourced from mines in the north of Niger, a desert area separated from Mali only by a hypothetical line on the map.

And in a letter published in the Evening Standard on January 17, Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed responded to Nabila Ramdani's endorsement of France's Mali intervention, supposedly "aimed at ridding Mali of particularly sinister insurgents," saying  it overlooks key factors which have now made themselves manifest in the hostage seizures in Algeria.

"Firstly, 'al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb' (AQIM) was, according to experts like Professor Jeremy Keenan from SOAS - the most cited academic in the world on North Africa - virtually manufactured in the region by Algerian intelligence services with clandestine US support.

"This short-sighted policy originated with the Algerian military junta's attempts to fabricate a justification for exterminating members of the peaceful Islamic Salvation Front after it won democratic elections decades ago. The policy was reinforced by NATO's intervention in Libya, shoring up Islamist militias with AQIM affiliations across the region.

"Secondly, Ramdani naively ignores NATO's strategic interests in North Africa, described in 2007 by State Department adviser J. Peter Pham as "protecting access to hydrocarbons and other strategic resources... a task which includes ensuring against the vulnerability of those natural riches and ensuring that no other interested third parties, such as China, India, Japan, or Russia, obtain monopolies or preferential treatment.”

"Mali is believed to have significant oil and gas potential.

"A confidential US embassy cable (8 May 2006) obtained by Wikileaks observes that a "significant impediment" to "extracting and transporting oil" in Mali is "regional political instability and terrorist activities."

"With reports of extensive civilian casualties due to French airstrikes, it is far from clear that they will be  beneficial for Mali, even if Ramdani concedes they may be troublesome for France. Such military action will only lend legitimacy to the most virulent AQIM components of the insurgency.

"A better approach would be to cut off AQIM at source - by reigning in Algerian military intelligence. But perhaps that's not the point."

Cameron's declaration of the G8's key role in the neoliberals' war on North African war will intensify protests against the June summit currently being planned in the UK by Stop G8.

 

Europe is finally rising up!

REVOLUTION is in the air across Europe, as millions take to the streets and reject a future of slavery under global neoliberalism.

The transnational  #14N day of strikes and actions saw huge numbers vent their anger against the capitalist system and its "austerity" agenda of privatisation and tyranny.

The panicked establishment - increasingly revealed as the same entity under different 'national' guises - has reacted with ever-more brutal attacks by its hired cop thugs.

The scenes in Portugal, as riot cops viciously cleared protesters from in front of the parliament in Lisbon, were particularly enlightening in this respect.



In Spain, hundreds were injured and rubber bullets fired at protesters - a sure sign that the authorities fear losing control.

This cowardly cop assault on a young girl in Tarragona has sparked widespread public outrage.





There were also attacks on sit-down protesters in Madrid.




This aerial shot shows the scale of the protest in Madrid.

And this one in Barcelona.

In Italy, there were also dramatic clashes between rebels and cops, such as this one in Milano.

Milano 14 novembre: scontri in Corso Magenta verso Palazzo delle Stelline. from MilanoInMovimento on Vimeo.



When millions of citizens reject capitalism in this manner and the only response from governments is to have them physically attacked, the only way forward is revolution. The great uprising has begun!

Jackboot comes down hard on Greece

THE JACKBOOT of plutofascism is coming down hard on the people of Greece, first European victims of the new post-democratic capitalist order.

Ahead of the visit by German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday October 9, authorities took the unprecedented step of banning "all gatherings and protests in the wider centre of Athens plus the city’s airport and the main thoroughfares to it", reports From The Greek Streets.

The physical presence of Merkel in Greece is so unnecessary and provocative, that the event seems stage-managed as part of an attempt to finally break the opposition to the neoliberal rape of the country.

It is no coincidence that at the same time as the fascist measures were being announced,  the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers was warning Greece to speed up the economic measures being imposed on it by the global money system.

It is as if the elite want to send a message to the rest of Europe, and beyond - no matter how angry you get, no matter how hard you try to rise up against us, we have the physical means to keep you in your place.

Unfortunately for them, they have forgotten that resistance to tyranny springs from the deepest wells of the life force itself and can never be extinguished

¡Viva la Revolucion!

Resistance grows to US-led neoliberalism

GLOBAL resistance to the US-led neoliberal empire has intensified over the last few days.

Although the protests in the Islamic world have been sparked by controversy over an anti-Muslim film, the roots are clearly much deeper.

And the momentum caused by the unprecedented wave of fury at the USA and allies like Israel, the UK and Germany, is unlikely to fade fast.

On September 11, an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, left the US ambassador dead, while an attack on the American embassy in Cairo saw the Stars and Stripes torn down and an Islamist banner hoisted in its place.

On September 13 protesters broke into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, and the next day protesters stormed the US embassy complex in Tunis.  There were seven deaths at protests worldwide, following Muslim Friday Prayers.

Monday's protests included 3,000 protesters in the Philippines burning US and Israeli flags in the southern city of Marawi, and hundreds of protesters facing off with police in Jakarta, Indonesia, throwing stones and petrol bombs. There have been other protests in Lebanon, Kashmir and Pakistan.

Angry demonstrators in the Afghan capital, Kabul, fired guns, torched police cars and shouted anti-US slogans. And 15 Taliban fighters who fought their way on to Helmand's main airbase destroyed six jets worth millions of pounds in an assault that was the start of a bloody weekend for NATO forces – in 48 hours six US and UK troops were killed by Aghan "allies".

And meanwhile the Occupy Wall Street protests are back with a vengeance, with dozens of arrests in New York on Monday, #S17.

 

Massacres are heading our way

THE MASSACRE of striking miners in South Africa is a sickening foretaste of what is in store for us all as neoliberalism collapses under the weight of its own impossibilities.

Black lives are considered by the global elite to be of less importance than white ones, so the media impact of the mass murder has not been as great as if it had occurred in, say, France, or Britain.

But make no mistake - this sort of thing will also happen in Europe and North America, as the demise of capitalism accelerates.

The logical connections are there to be made. The company which owns the mine at Marikana, Lonmin, is itself a British company, for instance.

And this has, after all, always been the truth behind the facade of western 'democracy' - the authorities reserve the right to kill you if you threaten their hold on power.

Over the last 15 years or so plutocracy has set about turning itself into plutofascism to combat the inevitable global meltdown and uprising - and, to justify that, it has redefined its enemy. Dissent now equals terrorism.

One recent small example of this shift was experienced by two UK anarchists returning from a conference in Switzerland.

Reports Libcom: "On returning from the St Imier gathering, two anarchists, one a member of the UK Anarchist Federation, were detained for nearly two hours at Heathrow by SO15 (counter-terrorist) intelligence who initially refused to identify themselves to the detainees.

"During the detention, the anarchists were told that their normal rights did not apply, and had their names, addresses, email addresses, DNA, photographs and fingerprints taken. The detained anarchists were also forced to sign forms – which may or may not be legal – waiving their rights to silence and a solicitor. Police also conducted a thorough search of personal possessions, photocopied literature and passports and took information from phones and cameras.

"During the detention, the police constantly accused the anarchists of lying about involvement in criminal activity and alleged that they would be conducting follow-up police action against one of the detained anarchists.

"In addition to this, SO15 officers asked a number of inflammatory, irrelevant and offensive questions, including ‘what would you do if someone raped your mother?’ evidently in an attempt to cause emotional upset and illicit angry or violent responses. One member (28) who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals from the police, said “We were treated like criminals.

"I told them I went to the congress as I am an amateur journalist and I write articles about activism. They saw my note book, camera and Dictaphone but they said I was lying.” One officer said ‘You said you are an anarchist, I’ve seen anarchists on the news, they are violent, throw molotov cocktails and disrupt people’s lives not write articles”."

Fortunately, though, all the repression merely confirms to many more people that the only way ahead is the destruction of capitalism itself, and this instinctive resistance continues to bubble up all the time - for instance in Amiens in northern France earlier this week (see photo below).

'When shit is fucked, fuck shit up'

ANGER is spreading over the Quebec authorities' fascistic new laws, as anti-neoliberal rebels call for global solidarity.

Reports The Edmonton Journal: "The unpredictable nightly protests that helped spur a government crackdown have largely been a Montreal-only affair — until now.

"Since Premier Jean Charest passed a law last week limiting protests in the province, defiant demonstrations have popped up in cities not known as hotbeds of activism.

"Small groups from Granby, south of Montreal, to Jonquiere, north of Quebec City, have joined Montrealers in taking to the streets with pots and pans to protest Bill 178.

"Their message is clear: This conflict is not just about tuition anymore."

And a call-out for worldwide solidarity with the struggle has been posted on Contra Info and elsewhere on the internet.

It says: "We want you to feel what we’re feeling. We know you feel something, but we want you to feel it like we feel it.

"We know that every time one of us goes to jail, every time a comrade in the streets loses their eye to the shrapnel of a concussion grenade or their ear to a rubber bullet to the head, that there are so many others who feel the heat of vengeance swell inside them.

"Knowing the global situation, knowing that people are approaching the breaking point not just here but everywhere, it needs to be insisted upon that what is happening in Québec is not exceptional.

"What has happened here can happen elsewhere and it needs to happen elsewhere. Everything we’re doing has been inspired by the revolts and uprisings that have taken hold in other places. If it can’t inspire social disruptions of its own, then it will die out quick.

"So this is a call out for solidarity as much as it’s our heartfelt hope that one day you’ll feel this around you as well. This needs to spread past Montréal, past Québec. Bring it to your cities and communities in whatever way you can, using whatever methods and means are at your disposal.

"Our hearts and heads are tired, but we’re still smiling.
We want to see the strike spread.
We want to see this social upheaval spread.

When shit is fucked, fuck shit up."

Quebec protesters resist plutofascism

MORE than 500 protesters have been arrested in Quebec, Canada, after they took to the streets to defy a neoliberal clamp-down.

The progression from phoney 'democracy' to real plutofascism could hardly be more clearly exposed than here.

The now-familiar laws are passed to increase student tuition fees as education and all other aspects of our society are privatised for the profit of the elite.

Faced with a massive and determined revolt by a new generation, what is the response of the authorities?

To back down and go along with the democratic consensus? No - to ramp up repression and pass draconian new laws to try and crush dissent.

Happily, the Quebec rebels are fighting the plutofascists every inch of the way, sending shockwaves across the world.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports, from Australia:  "What began as a protest against university fee increases has expanded to a wider movement to oppose Bill 78, which was rushed through by legislators in Quebec in response to the demonstrations.

"The bill imposes severe restrictions on protests, making it illegal for protesters to gather without having given police eight hours' notice and securing a permit.

"On Wednesday night, police in Montreal used 'kettling' techniques - officers surrounding groups of protesters and not allowing them in or out of the resulting circle - before conducting a mass arrest."

Adds the BBC: "Bill 78, passed last Friday, requires marches to follow pre-approved routes, but protesters say it infringes their democratic rights, and have pledged to legally contest it."

Below is the artwork submitted by protesters to police when they were asked to provide a map of their route.

Greece - heading for a revolution?

ALL eyes are now on Greece, as the neoliberal world order comes into direct and obvious conflict with democracy.

Protests against plutofascist 'austerity' continue all over the world, including in Spain, Italy, the USA and the UK.

But in Greece the conflict has moved on to another phase. The anti-capitalist rebels have successfully made the point that the global bankers are destroying their communities and effectively ignoring the will of the people.

While the years of  full-on protest and riots did not succeed directly in sparking a revolution, they did expose to the general public the stark reality of the situation.

It is for this reason that the majority of the electorate backed anti-austerity parties in the recent general election.

With a re-run now lined up, the neoliberal elite fear a victory for Syriza and the left which would represent a serious challenge to their hegemony.

What will they do now? How will they stop the anticipated election result from becoming reality? Already there are dire warnings of a descent into chaos if the Greek population rejects the 'safety' of neoliberal slavery.

What further scaremongering and smears will be wheeled out? Can we expect a false flag 'terror' attack to try and change the course of the vote?

And if the left does win the elections, will the money men stand by and watch while these upstarts take over power and put their worldwide capitalist empire at risk of collapse?

Or will this be the time for them to once and for all drop the pretence of  this phoney democracy with which they have been keeping us all in line for so long?

Looking a step further ahead, what would happen next if they denied the Greek people their choice and tried to impose a regime of their own liking?

Remember, the Spanish Revolution did not begin in 1936 as an uprising against the state, but was a defensive reaction to an extreme-right coup against a left-wing government.

With half of the Greek police reckoned to have voted Nazi in the last election, the scenarios are not so different.

May 2012 - a good month for rising up

MAY 2012 looks set to be another big month for the global uprising against neoliberalism.

May 1 itself is, of course, a traditional day of protest, with demonstrations and strikes expected all across the world.

More specifically, Occupy Wall Street have called for May 1 blockades of New York bridges, tunnels and ferries.

Said a statement: "We are announcing these blockades now as a fair warning to the rest of the working people of New York and New Jersey who are considering joining the strikes and mobilizations of the day: the city will be shut down, so enjoy the day without the 99%!"

In the UK the Bristol First of May Group says: "This is a national call-out for a week of anti-capitalist action, events and celebration throughout the UK in the first week of May 2012 to show resistance to capitalism and remember all those workers who lost their lives for a better life for us all.

"Beneath the road, the banks, the shopping malls and prisons lies the Beach,  Behind the politicians, the bureaucrats, the cops AND the robbers lies Freedom, Outside wage and debt slavery, false democracy, capitalism and state control lies our Future."

Spanish indignados are calling for people across the world to take to the streets on May 12 and May 15.

And this call has also been echoed in the UK with this statement: "Occupy London is set to strike back this May as people around the world take to the streets to mark one year since the indignados reclaimed their squares in Spain and Greece, and six months since the Occupy movement went global.

"The next wave is about to begin. Put May Day, 12 May and 15 May in your diary."

The rebellious season got off to an early start in Brighton, UK, where anti-fascists took to the streets on April 22 to oppose an extreme right march in the city and successfully delayed it and diverted its route, building barricades to block streets.

Anger mounts in global uprising

LATEST updates from the global uprising against neoliberalism and its shock doctrine of so-called 'austerity' measures.



Athens, Greece. Angry protests erupted after a 77 year old man committed suicide outside Parliament in Syntagma Square.

From the Greek Streets reports that the suicide note left by Dimitris Christoulas said: "The Tsolakoglou* [Quisling] occupation government literally nullified my ability to survive on a decent pension, for which I had already paid (without government aid) for 35 years.

"I am of an age that prevents me from offering a decent individual response (without of course ruling out the possibility of being the second person to take arms, should one person decide to do so), I find no solution other than a dignified end, before resorting to going through garbage in order to cover my nutritional needs.

"One day, I believe, the youth with no future will take up arms and hang the national traitors at Syntagma Square, just like the Italians did with Mussolini in 1945 (at Milan’s Piazzale Loreto)"

Montreal, Canda: Police arrested about 60 students opposed to planned university tuition hikes as they roved through downtown Montreal on Wednesday morning, at one point setting off a “pyrotechnic device,” reports the National Post.

California, USA: About 100 students protesting a plan to offer high-priced courses at Santa Monica College this summer tried to storm into a meeting of the college's Board of Trustees on Tuesday evening.

Police attacked protesters with pepper srapy for chanting, "Let us in, let us in" and "No cuts, no fees, education should be free," reports the LA Times.

Revolt kicking off in Chile

 

CHILE'S youth rebellion against neoliberalism has kicked off again, after a summer holiday truce.

Thousands of students and school children took to the streets of Santiago to protest against the privatisation of education.

The authorities said their dissent was 'unauthorised' and used tear gas and water cannon to attack the youngsters.

More demonstrations are planned across the country in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, revolt continues in the Chilean region of Aysen, where the social movement has blockaded streets.

Reports Prensa Latina: "Social leaders, parliamentarians and inhabitants of the region of Aysen denounced on Thursday an excessive police repression in last few hours against people in this area of Patagonia.

"The Police 'is attacking innocent people with tear gas inside their houses, people that have nothing to do with the protests and barricades', noted Senator of the National Renewal Party Antonio Horvath.




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General strike called in Spain as anger grows

SPANISH people are gearing up for a massive fight against neoliberal dictatorship.

Huge protests were held across the country at the weekend and a national strike has been called for Thursday March 29.

Meanwhile Bilbao was last week the latest city in the Spanish state where anger against 'austerity' and the theft of people's rights has erupted onto the streets.

Anti-capitalist protesters backing the strike call started fires in the streets of the Basque city and smashed the windows of a bank.

The Spanish people are next in line to be crushed by the gold-plated jackboots of the global plutofascist elite.

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'Laughing' US troops murder children

THE MURDEROUS reality of neoliberal imperialism was further exposed to the world on Sunday, with news of a massacre of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.

Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk, reports Reuters.

"One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies, " said the agency.


"Witnesses told Reuters they saw a group of US soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at around 2am, enter homes and open fire."



The US embassy in Kabul was reported as saying one American soldier had been detained over the shooting. It added that anti-US reprisals were possible following the killings, which come just weeks after US soldiers burned copies of the Koran at a NATO base, triggering widespread anti-Western protests.

Reuters later modified parts of its story to reflect the official US line that only one 'rogue' soldier was involved, while retaining the witnesses' accounts.

But AP reported on Monday morning: "Afghans are expressing growing skepticism that a shooting rampage that killed 16 civilians was carried out by a single US soldier.

"Abdul Rahum Ayubi, who is a lawmaker from Kandahar province where the tragedy occurred, said Monday it seemed impossible for one soldier to cover the ground between the houses that were attacked — over a mile (2 kilometers) — and also burn the dead bodies.

"Bismullah Afghanmal, a parliament member, said the reports he received from villagers indicate the shooting before dawn Sunday came from several directions."

As the USA's allies, Israel, continue to murder Palestinians in Gaza, the hypocrisy of the neoliberal/plutofascist claim to the global moral high ground has never looked so utterly exposed. 

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This is a war against the people

"THIS is a war against the people, entire the entire community" warns a powerful message from a doctor in the front line of the resistance to neoliberal dictatorship.

It adds that the current 'austerity' measures are part of carefully designed plan is to reduce the bulk of the population to the level of slaves to the corrupt elite.

Leta Zotaki is director of the radiological unit of the Hospital of Kilkis in Greece, which has been occupied by its workers since February 20.

The open letter to the people of Greece and the world declares: "This occupation does not merely concern us, the doctors and the workers at the Hospital of Kilkis. Nor does it only take place in response to the greek National Health System, which is indeed collapsing.

"We are undertaking this struggle because what is under threat today is human rights. And this threat is not even made against one nation, or a bunch of countries, or social groups: it is a threat made against the lower and middle classes in Europe, America, Asia, Africa; across the entire world.

"Greece’s today is the tomorrow of Portugal, Spain, Italy and the rest of the countries around the world.

"This is a war against the people, entire the entire community. Those who claim that the public debt of Greece is a debt of the Greek people are lying. It is not a debt owned by the people. It was amassed by the governments, in cooperation with the banks, with the aim of the enslavement of the people.

"The loans toward Greece are not used to pay wages, pensions or public healthcare. The exact opposite is happening: wages, pensions and healthcare cuts are used to pay the bankers.

"They are lying. In opposition to what they are declaring, they do not wish to see a society free of debt. They are creating debt themselves (with the aid of corrupt governments and politicians) for their own benefit.

"They gave a banker to Greece for prime minister, to ensure that the 'job' will be executed correctly. Our prime minister Loukas Papadimos has not even been elected. He was appointed by the ECB and the bankers, with the aid of European and Greek corrupt politicians. This is their own interpretation of the word ‘democracy’.

"Debt is caused by bankers, who create money out of thin air and receive interest, merely because the governments gave them the right to do so. And they continue to say that those who are called to pay the debt are you, and me, and our children and grandchildren; with personal and national wealth, with our lives.

"We owe them nothing. To the contrary, they owe to the people a large part of their wealth, which they amassed thanks to political corruption.

"If we do not open our eyes to this truth, we shall soon all turn into slaves, and we will be working for 200 euros or less per month. Those of us, that is, who would be able to find a job.

"Without healthcare, with no pensions, homeless and hungry, just like it’s already happening with my fellow inhabitants in Greece. Thousands of these live in the streets and are going hungry.

"We do not have any intention to paint any gloomy picture; this is the truth. The current situation has not been caused by a financial or monetary accident or error.

"It is the beginning of the ugly stage of a long procedure following a carefully designed plan, a procedure that started decades ago.

"We must fight together against this neoliberal plan. And this is what we are doing here, in Kilkis, this is what people are doing in many, many cities around the world."

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Workfare protests spread across UK

 
MORE protests are being organised across the UK against the workfare scheme that forces people to work for nothing and subsidises wealthy corporations.

The news comes after a high-profile protest in London on Saturday when the Westminster branch of Tesco was forced to close.
 
Says Boycott Workfare, which has called the day of action for Saturday March 3: "So many high street stores are involved in taking on forced unpaid labour that there is plenty of choice – Tesco's, Asda, Holland & Barrett, Primark, HMV, and Topshop to name but a few. Get a group together, make a plan, and head to the streets.

"Workfare means that those who need welfare are forced into unpaid work for multi-million pound companies. Instead of a living wage, they receive only JSA – a tiny £53 a week for the under-25s – far below minimum wage.

"Workfare means those in paid positions may see their jobs replaced by this unpaid labour. Why would a company pay for people to do these jobs when they can get free labour from the Job Centre?

"We can put a stop to this forced unpaid labour – Waterstones, Sainsburys and TK Maxx have all recently announced that they would no longer take unpaid placements – the other companies just need a bit more encouragement to stop this exploitation.

"We demand an end to this exploitation and call for welfare rights and living wages for all! If you continue to exploit us we WILL shut you down!

"Let us know what you’re planning. The campaign is UK-wide!"

Details of March 3 actions:

• Birmingham – 11.30am outside Poundland on Union Street. Facebook event.
• Brighton - Brighton has already established an anti-workfare group which in January targeted Poundland. Join them at Tescos on James St from 11.30am-1pm. More info
• Bristol – 12 noon at College Green. More info.
• Cardiff - 2pm Outside Poundland on Queen Street. See Facebook event.
• Leeds - See Facebook event. And join the Tesco demo on Monday 20th Feb.
• Liverpool – Take action with UK Uncut, 1pm until 4pm. Meet Next to Nowhere Social Centre, Bold Street, Liverpool. More info
• London – Meet outside BHS on Oxford Street, 11:30am. More info and download a leaflet.
• Sheffield – Meet Devonshire Green, Sheffield, 1pm. We will meet at 1pm and decide on a target. See Facebook event.
• Tunbridge Wells – Meet at the Millennium clock in Tunbridge Wells at 12 noon.

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Revolt over UK slave labour scheme

OUTRAGE is growing in the UK over a government-sponsored slave labour  scheme.

Not only does the workfare project mean people working for nothing more than their benefits and other workers losing out on overtime and potential paid employment, but it also acts as a giant tax-payer hand-out to profit-making corporations.

As details of the scheme have become known, particularly regards the Tesco supermarket chain, there has been widespread anger and now a national day of action is being called for Saturday March 3.   

Says the Boycott Workfare site: "In solidarity with Liverpool Uncut’s action against workfare on Saturday 3rd March, Boycott Workfare has called a national day of action against workfare.

"We’re planning a Boycott Workfare action in Central London on this day and encourage people all over the UK to take action on their high streets.

"So many high street stores are involved in taking on forced unpaid labour that there is plenty of choice – Tescos, Asda, Holland & Barrett, Primark, HMV, TK Maxx and Topshop to name but a few. Get a group together, make a plan, and head to the streets.

"Workfare means that those on benefits are forced into unpaid work for multi-million pound companies. Instead of the living wage – they receive £2.25 an hour in benefits for 30 hours of work.

"Workfare means those in paid positions may see their jobs replaced by this unpaid labour. Why would a company pay for people to do these jobs when they can get free labour from the Job Centre?

"We can put a stop to this forced unpaid labour – Waterstones and Sainsburys recently announced that they would no longer take unpaid placements – the other companies just need a bit more encouragement to stop this exploitation.

"We demand an end to this exploitation and call for welfare rights and living wages for all!
If you continue to exploit us we WILL shut you down!"

John Harris wrote on The Guardian's website on February 16: "The crucial point is that unpaid work – bad enough when it applied to supposed 'interns', but grim beyond belief when used on the unemployed – is now being built into what some people call The New Normal.

"Given the thousands involved, it clearly represents a boon to the kind of multinational giants whose profit margins must be creeping upwards thanks to the plentiful supply of people – and please, all you free-marketeers, read this bit slowly – effectively paid a pittance to work for them by the taxpayer."

Protest details so far for March 3 are:
 
Liverpool. 1pm until 4pm. Meet Next to Nowhere Social Centre, Bold Street, Liverpool. More info. 

London. Meet ouside BHS on Oxford Street, 11:30am. More info.

Leeds. City centre. 12-3. More info

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We are all Greek - a solidarity call-out

 
A CALL-OUT has been made for an international day of solidarity with the Greek resistance to neoliberalism - on Saturday February 18.

This is the post on takethesquare.net:

When one people is attacked, all people are attacked…

The 10th of February, the non elected Greece Government adopted a new hideous and destructive austerity plan, passed by the parliament (MPs voted 199-101 in favour) on the 12th of February.

The new austerity measures impose a 22% reduction in the minimum wage, which will remain frozen for the next three years; collective bargaining is simply cut; 15000 public sector workers are laid off and 150000 jobs will be destroyed due to the non-renewal of the contract…

The people of Greece is bravely rising up against social terror policies. With the media’s deafening silence, demonstrations, as well as general strikes, become more and more frequent despite the violent repression.

The people of Greece need the international solidarity and they call for our support.

Let’s reply to their call. We are all Greek!

Their mobilization is clashing with the wall of an European and international dictatorship, the dictatorship of the financial markets and the troika: EU, ECB and IMF, who have imposed austerity measures and a non-elected government on the Greek.

The EU governments are involved in the dictatorship and they implement measures which are in the same line in the rest of the countries. Greece is being used as a laboratory before generalizing these measures. The situation is going to get even worse due to the new European Treaty project, which will impose the « golden rule » in our national constitutions.

We reject to sacrifice the people to the money, as do the Greeks.

Let’s regain the reins of our lives.

Switch off your computer, join the mobilization!

There will be demonstrations everywhere in solidarity with the mobilization of the people of Greece, Saturday the 18th of February.

There is also a page on Facebook.

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Greek resistance - video footage

THIS video footage of last night's events in Athens has been posted online by RT.

The latest 'austerity' measures, including a 20% cut in the minimum wage,  were imposed on the population by a parliament acting only in the interests of the global banking system.

After Greece, the rest of us are lined up for the same slavery.

The night of February 12 in Greece sets the tone for the next phase of our resistance to the neoliberal fascists.

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