July 2011
Vol 11, No. 7
THE GRADUAL DEMISE OF CAPITALISM By Gaither Stewart
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t’s an accumulative kind of thing, the demise of capitalism worldwide: at first the waning and the dwindling, now the rapid corkscrew-like downwards spiraling, of greedy, vicious, cannibalistic capitalism busily devouring itself. Today, one can only conclude the imminence of its just demise. Just as one once said in Italy during the agony of the death of the Italian Communist Party, just as one once spoke of the loss of the propulsive force of the French Revolution, current events show that also capitalism, the capitalist system itself, has lost its selfproclaimed propulsive force. Today, for a growing number of capitalists it is a case of si salvi chi puo , every man for himself. No one can logically claim that capitalism as an economic-socialpolitical idea propels forward world society.
In the face of the current disaster of the capitalist system, one can determine that capitalism’s ideology, its promises for societal well-being, were false from the start. One can no longer
defend capitalism in good faith. Marx was right, over a century and a half ago: capitalism has hung itself in its excess, in its greed for more and more and more. Underlying what I prefer to call the Mediterranean Spring rather than the
European Spring are a host of symptoms of a highly infectious pandemic of rejection of the capitalist system. The movement of the movements infecting Spanish youth camping on the plazas of their nation today is transversal. Its common denominator is anti-system, which, though they might not yet realize it, I believe translates into anti-capitalism. Rejection of what is and what has been in Europe . The fever has spread across all of southern Europe , from Portugal to Greece . The SpanishPortuguese mood is almost identical in Greece , where working people, especially youth, refuse to pay for the greed of capitalism. Also some similarities are visible in the overturn of systems in Tunisia and Egypt . Now today also in Italy , the grass roots— youth and workers. the unemployed and the underpaid underemployed—
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ARTICLES .GIVE BASHAR AL-ASSAD A CHANCE .....P 4 .TORTURING BAHRAINI DOCTORS .......... P 5 .O PEN L ETTER TO P RESIDENT O BAMA : STATE VIOLENCE AND KILLING IS NOT THE ANSWER .............................................. P 6 .I H AVE Z ERO R ESPECT FOR THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: GILAD ATZMON.... P 7
.W EALTH OF W OLRD ’ S R ICHEST R OSE NEARLY 10 PERCENT IN 2010 ................. P 8 .THE LAW OF MOTHER E ARTH: BEHIND BOLIVIA’S HISTORIC BILL ......................P 9 .ROYAL WEDDING MASKS TRAGIC STATE OF THE BRITISH FAMILY ............................P 10
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demand the same rights claimed by protesters in Spain and Portugal and Greece . It has become contagious. A fever. The Mediterranean world is burning: the demand is economic democracy, political justice and peace. In Spain , Real democracia ya ! Real democracy now. The time of indifference seems over and past. Society has awakened. Spain ‘s indignados , modern Don Quixotes, have occupied sixty plazas across the Spain . The Indignant Ones movement in Portugal is the same. The movement is hailed and imitated by Greeks and Italians. In France , they occupied for a brief time the Bastille. Capitalism should tremble. For when indifference ends, social activism takes over. Revolution is in fact already underway. It is clear that capitalism cannot change its very nature. Reform has become an obscene word since it today means change so that nothing changes. Reform has come to mean shifting gears so that the strain of economic crisis shifts ever more onto the backs of the socially weak and undefended. Who then are the weak and undefended? As always in social history of the over one hundred years of rampant, unbridled, excessive capitalism, they are the working class. As an irony of history that class today is bigger than it has ever been. It now includes also a great part of the former middle class. Simultaneously however, the ruling capitalist class has shrunken in numbers to that infamous one per cent who hold and use the social wealth to crush and humiliate the weakened classes In Italy , the symptoms of the sociopolitical revolution underway have suddenly, overnight, exploded onto the scene. Everything has been commented on in Italy : the lowest salaries, the highest prices, the lowest
pensions, the hardest workers, the greatest insecurity, the highest real unemployment, the highest number of precarious workers, the highest emigration from Italy of qualified university graduates in search of better lives elsewhere. Wherever you look in southern Europe you hear the same cries of indignation. While financial collapse threatens Mediterranean Europe, the cries of the indignant ones are rising in intensity. What at first seemed like just another protest movement similar to 1968 has changed gears and entered a slowmotion period of still non-violent but constant, unrelenting dissidence which is also becoming an accelerated sociopolitical catastrophe. In Spain and Portugal , in Italy and Greece , while the political elite struggles with economic recovery from the disaster it created, everyday life is worsening: economically, politically, and socially. Today’s non-violent protest seems on the verge of violence. Debt defaults, impossible state bond sales, hopeless bailouts and failed debt restructuring threaten. In this eschatological atmosphere, suddenly appeared the indignados. As if from nowhere, university-educated, networked youth, especially in Italy and Spain, many still living with their parents, are all acutely aware that their post-bubble nations have little or nothing to offer them as unemployment soars, precarious parttime employment becomes the norm and health benefits are reduced. Until now their demands have been restrained: they have aimed at making the political elite accountable, called for new electoral laws geared to end the fake two-party system in Spain and the stale political systems in Italy and Greece . Electoral reform is a modest demand for what in south Europe is widely labeled a lost generation.
On the other hand, in Eurolandia, as in the USA , politicians and bankers are joined at the hip in their response to the economic crisis. Therefore, one is surprised by protester statements such as: “We are not against the system, but we want a change in the system. We want change— not in the future; we want a change in the present. We demand a change, and we want it now.” But not even that voice of the people is heard. In this atmosphere of socio-economic hopelessness, reform seems enough in the immediate future. Still, I believe the still unconscious demand reaches much more deeply into society and that the ante is rising with each passing day. We know that as a rule people don’t rebel easily. People do everything possible to avoid real social convulsion and upheaval, even compromising with a Fascist police state. On the other side of the fence, today’s government is aware that a spirit of mutiny is brewing. That is why it has armed itself with a set of illegal and anti-constitutional laws to crush it. But the evident reality is that at this point the alternative to ousting today’s corrupt system is a permanent police state, which if it becomes any more fixed than it is now just might last a thousand years. Acceptance of the legitimacy of Power, indifference to Power’s deviations and passivity in the face of Power’s threats against external enemies at least seem to have peaked. It commonly accepted that Power gone mad has to be put aside. The eventual end of acceptance and passivity could result in a kind of explosion the world has never seen. Clash between people and corrupt systems appears logically inevitable. At the same time, and on another front,
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continued from page 2 more and more people are losing faith in nonviolence, even though capitalism itself is extremely violent. If you’re not nice and polite, some people consider that violence. But most violence is in business as usual and capitalism grinding on, killing workers, forests and oceans. We’re surrounded by normalized violence and don’t recognize it for what it is. Confronting this normalized violence in a direct way is not violent; it is necessary.
Yet, many people still argue that you have to work within the system, that is, within the capitalist system. But it is a truism that you can’t have it all. You can’t have your air conditioning and not use up limited energy. You don’t have to be an economist to understand that endless economic growth is unsustainable. Climate change is a reality, so drastic change in the field will come about whether we like it or not. The romantic word Revolution is terrifying to most people. There is just reason to mistrust it. Since the heroic times of the American and French revolutions and the Great Russian Revolution the word has degenerated. The student revolution of the 1960s, though leaving behind many lasting effects, petered out in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The socalled Orange Revolution in Ukraine comes to mind as an example of a political class abusing the word Revolution. If we discard the idea of armed revolution, at the same time let’s don’t confuse revolution with mere reform on the one hand or with armed insurrection on the other. Insurrection is a local, usually spontaneous and oneissue matter. Reform is simply adjustment made by the rulers in order to maintain power as happened time and time again in Tsarist Russia. As a rule, reforms are too little and too late,
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and besides are offset by negative developments in other sectors. Resistence against oppression causes a rupture between rulers and the ruled. That is the beginning of revolution. The thing about revolution is that it is gradual and elusive. You don’t even realize it is revolution when in fact you are already in it. Resistence and rebellion against unjust power remains a leitmotiv in the history of mankind. With that tradition in mind the present rulers of Europe must wonder what form the next explosion will take and when it will arrive. For when the gap between rulers and people becomes unbridgeable and the scared people re-learn the sense of social solidarity and widespread Resistance sets in, the revolutionary step is inevitable. In an adult and mature people the passage from one step to the next in the dialectical chain appears historically ineluctable. Once underway, such a process doesn’t just stop. The masses of the oppressed of America and Europe have thus far appeared surprisingly nonchalant about their lost freedoms. Most snicker at suggestions of rebellion. Of any kind of rebellion. Many still see America and Europe as the cradle of democracy and freedom. But what if, for example, in the United States of America—shaky super power today, in decline and tottering on the brink of disaster— what if the next step by the people was mutiny against the long, gradual counter-revolution in America, as of yet little charted by historians? What if real revolution broke out in Greece and then spread westwards? Is it science fiction, the image of people taking to the streets? Is the idea of revolution really far-fetched? Globalization has accelerated the crises of traditional, national political systems, reorganizing and transforming the nature of power, relocating it to
L E A D A R T I C L E international political bodies. The institutions of the European Union— the European Commission, the European Council, The European Central Bank—are not democratic representatives requested by popular majorities. Instead they represent the bureaucratic and technocratic structures instituted to permit capitalism to continue to expand its hegemony on a continental and global scale. Within the revolutionary process underway in the world, Europe is attempting to cut its own vital space pointed toward monopolizing planetary resources. The size of this space will be determined by the European Union’s capacity to develop a new regime of accumulation, integrating territories, capital and consumers/workers. In fact, the real revolution of the unification of world markets is not the vaunted liberal revolution, but instead a financial revolution, affecting all the peoples around the Mediterranean Sea Protesters worldwide do not yet realize that the factor that has accelerated the transformation of markets and the degradation of the situation of workers in recent years has been the savage deregulation of the mechanisms governing financial transactions. This deregulation paved the way for the change from an economy based on productivity of industrial systems to a drugged economy based on incomes for the top 1% of the population derived from monetary and financial transactions. 20 June, 2011
Gaither Stewart is a Senior Contributing Editor at Cyrano’s Journal and a seasoned professional journalist and essayist.
Source: Countercurrents.org
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GIVE BASHAR AL-ASSAD
By Chandra Muzaffar
President Bashar al-Assad should be given the chance to implement the reforms that he has promised. In his address at Damascus University on June 20 2011, he drew the attention of the world to the ‘National Dialogue’ he had initiated which will focus on the comprehensive reform of state and social institutions. The Dialogue, with representation from all sectors of society, aims to change existing laws on elections, political parties, local administration, and the media in order to create a society that embodies the freedom and dignity of the people. It seeks to amend and perhaps even replace the present Constitution of Syria. A democratically elected People’s Assembly may be inaugurated in August 2011. The Dialogue also envisages enhancing the fight against corruption through an Anti-Corruption Commission. While concerned mainly about political reforms, Bashar’s speech failed to recognise that fundamental economic changes would be necessary to reduce widening disparities between the rich and poor and to curb huge increases in the cost of essential goods and services. It is of course true that the massive influx of 1.5 million Iraqi refugees since 2003 added to the 0.5 million Palestinian refugees from an earlier period have also severely strained the Syrian economy. Nonetheless, Bashar’s commitment to reforms through a National Dialogue gives hope. One, he has openly acknowledged the legitimacy and sincerity of the demands of authentic protesters for meaningful change, and identified with their demands. Two, unlike some other Arab rulers, he has laid out a whole process
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through which reforms would be introduced, complete with time frames. In fact, Bashar began this process even before the National Dialogue through small and big meetings with thousands of people from all over Syria. Three, he has already set into motion some important changes. The emergency laws have been rescinded and the state security court abolished. More than 6,000 Kurds who hitherto had no citizenship rights have been accepted into the Syrian fold. Four, the President has shown that he is prepared to reconcile even with the men and women who were part of the armed insurrection against the State by extending an amnesty to all those who turn themselves in with their weapons.This also creates the right climate for reform within a cohesive social order. Five, it is only too apparent that in spite of months of peaceful and violent protest against him, Bashar remains immensely popular with the vast majority of his people. After his June 20 address, millions and millions of people poured into the streets in a mammoth show of support and solidarity with Bashar. With such support, he would be in a stronger position to carry forward his reform mission. And this is precisely what Bashar will have to do. He should be bold and brave enough to overcome the opposition to his reforms. Some observers have argued that he has been somewhat hesitant to bring about far-reaching changes because he does not want to antagonise the old guard and deeply entrenched vested interests. Indeed, he should have the courage to call for a presidential election, to invite his opponents to stand against him in
a free and fair contest. It will cut the ground from under the feet of all those who are out to subvert him. Bashar has incurred the wrath of a number of actors within and without the region mainly because of his principled position on Israel which continues to occupy Syria’s Golan Heights. Syria also shelters Hamas leaders and has been steadfast in its commitment towards the Palestinian cause. Bashar and Syria have maintained close ties with the Hizbollah in Lebanon and with Iran. For Israel, the US government and some Arab rulers, this is not acceptable — which is why they are allegedly funding and arming some of the Syrian protesters. The Western dominated global media ignore foreign meddling in Syria. They refuse to admit that Bashar is faced with an armed insurrection which has witnessed killing, arson and sabotage. Like any other head of government he has no choice but to use force to quell the insurrection. At the same time, none of the major television channels highlighted the massive show of support for Bashar after his June 20 address. Instead, some of the media have been fabricating news like the lie about a non-existent Syrian internet blogger by the name of “Amina Arraf” being arrested and kidnapped. Even some video clips shown by Aljazeera and CNN do not match their news content, as pointed out by the Italian newspaper, La Rinascita. The media, it is obvious, are determined to ensure that those who resist US-Zionist helmed hegemony are defeated. 22 June, 2011 Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Professor of Global Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
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TORTURING BAHRAINI DOCTORS By Stephen Lendman
On June 6, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) reported the mistreatment of doctors and nurses, explaining their arrests, detentions, torture and upcoming military trials for doing their job. Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) President Stephen Soldz spoke publicly saying: “We cannot be silent. Many of our members are health providers. The government of Bahrain arrested nearly 50 doctors and other health providers, many of whom have been tortured. Their ‘crime’ is refusing to let injured protesters die and informing the world press about the abuses they witnessed.” Scheduled to start on June 6, trials for 47 doctors and other medical providers will begin next week, maliciously charged with: 1. refraining from providing aid; 2. embezzling public funds; 3. physical assault; 4. assault leading to death; 5. possessing unlicensed weapons and ammunition; 6.not performing their employment duties, and thus endangering lives and health; 7. forcefully occupying a public building; 8. promoting regime change illegally; 9. inciting hatred against the regime; 10. promoting sectarian hate; 11. spreading false news and rumors harming the public interest; and 12. participating in unlicensed protests and rallies. In fact, doctors and nurses are being tried for doing their job. They committed no crimes but are treated like enemies of the state. Justifying its repression, regime authorities said a military court will try 23 doctors and 24 nurses. “They abused their profession and prevented some people from entering
the Salmaniya Hospital (the nation’s largest public facility).” In fact, despite extreme repression, they performed heroically, treating sick and wounded patients. Yet Salmaniya Hospital was falsely called a hotbed of sectarian tension. BCHR said “it is quite clear that it was the presence of military and police inside the hospital which sparked this tension, with security forces interfering
with the doctors’ work,” instigating violence by their actions. In fact, regime authorities fear medical providers for reflecting the non-sectarian nature of the protests, opposite of what security forces claim. “Their Hippocratic Oath means they have to treat patients regardless of politics or religion. They are a symbol of the unity of the majority against the oppression of the (fascist) government and its cronies, and therefore they are dangerous.” As long as King Hamad keeps Bahrainis divided and has Western and Gulf Council States backing, he can retain power. It’s why he reacted violently against the slogan “No Sunni, No Shia, just Bahraini.” BCHR believes doctors and nurses were especially targeted because they’re key witnesses to criminal acts. They’ve seen dead, wounded and tortured victims and can provide damning evidence if asked. If silenced, however, by intimidation, torture and/ or show trials, key witnesses will be lost. “We must not let the government get away with these crimes.” Many other medical providers are
afraid to speak publicly about what they’ve seen or know, fearing retaliation. However, some gave the international media anonymous statements. On May 29, AFP headlined, “Bahraini female doctors recount detention ‘horror,’ “ saying: Released from prison, Shiite women doctors explained “abuse and torture by police after being accused of backing pro-democracy protests in the Sunni-led monarchy.” They explained they were tortured and abused to sign confessions, one doctor saying her interrogator said: “I advise you that we will get you to say whatever we want, either by you saying it willingly, or we will beat you like a donkey and torture you until you say it.” Explaining she treated wounded patients, she was struck in the face, an interrogator saying: “It seems you don’t want to cooperate,” accusing her of “stealing blood units to splash on the wounded” to exaggerate injuries for television and other crimes against state authorities. Blindfolded and handcuffed, she was severely beaten, electro-shocked, thrown to the floor, beaten again with electric cables, especially the soles of her feet. “Even policewomen were shocked when they saw my state as I came out of the interrogation room,” she said. The next day, she was again abused, sexually harassed and threatened with rape, an interrogator saying “I will hang you from your breasts and rape you.” She finally signed a confession to end the ordeal. Afterward, she spent 20 more days in prison before released, agreeing not to give interviews or participate in protests. Other doctors described similar ordeals. Those freed can’t travel, remain suspended from work unpaid, continued next page
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and 47 doctors and nurses face trials. AFP asked Bahraini authorities to comment, but got no response. By politicizing medical care and abusing doctors and nurses, injured protesters are afraid to get treatment, fearing arrests, torture, trials and convictions. As a result, determining precise numbers hurt is compromised, suggesting many more than publicly
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known. Nonetheless, for nearly four months, Bahrain’s “had the highest per capita arrests and second highest per capita deaths of any Arab country (after Libya)....” America ignored it, Obama urging only dialogue and resolution, quietly going along with criminal viciousness. As a result, it’s up to people of conscience, independent journalists,
A R T I C L E S and international public opinion to explain what can’t be ignored, demanding accountability for crimes this great and all political prisoners released and exonerated. 8 June, 2011 Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com Source: Countercurrents.org
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: VIOLENCE AND KILLING IS NOT THE ANSWER By Mairead Maguire
Dear Mr Mr.. President, As you know, on 1st May, 2011, the NATO forces tried unsuccessfully to assassinate the Libyan Head of State, Moammer Gadaffi. This attempt to assassinate the Libyan Head of State under US Army law, was a war crime and punishable as an International crime in its own right. During the attack by NATO forces, one of President Gadaffi’s sons, and three of Gadaffi’s grandchildren were killed by NATO forces. The following day, 2nd, May 2011, the extra-judicial killing and assassination of Osama Bin Laden, and killings of a woman and two men who were with him, by the US Special Seals, continued the State Terrorism of the US Government. After the assassination you, Mr. President, addressed the media and attempted to make acceptable the idea that such violence is just and acceptable. Do you and your Government and Allies who support you, really believe that the vast majority of men and women around the world have lost all sense of what is right and what is wrong? Do you really believe that we have all abandoned all sense of decency and ethical values exchanging them in support of your endorsed illegal, killing of unarmed civilians? Do you really believe we will all remain silent whilst under your warrior leadership the US Government and its allies dismantle basic human
rights and international laws, so long fought for by brave, courageous men andwomen(including Americans) replacing these with extrajudicial killings, torture and assassinations?
Three months into the French, English, Italian led NATO/US campaign (never sanctioned by US Law) and shamefully agreed by U.N. (who identified the purpose of the operation to be for the protection of citizens!) people of conscience are horrified to hear that, yet again, on l9th June, NATO has carried out more air attacks on Libya, killing 15 unarmed civilians, including women and children. After 9/11 the whole world shared the grief of the American people, and many hoped that those who carried out such horrendous acts would be brought to justice through the Courts. We were moved by many of the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 when they started ‘Families for a peaceful tomorrow’ and called for justice not revenge. However, violence and
revenge was the chosen path of the US Government and its Allies, who for ten years embarked on a path of violence and war. In this time over 6,000 USA soldiers have needlessly died and countless thousands injured physically and mentally. Wars in Iraq (over l million Iraqis killed) and Afghanistan (over 50,000 Afghans killed) were carried out by the USA in their pursuit of vengeance. The US Led so-called ‘war on terrorism’ in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan has ‘terrorised’ unarmed civilians by carrying out aerial bombardments, night raids, death squads, extra-judicial killings and drone attacks killing many unarmed civilians, including women and children, and tragically they continue to this day. In a world struggling to birth a new consciousness, it is not incredulous that the best the US Government, NATO and its allies can offer as a model to world citizens, is the outdated example of violence, militarism, and war, destroying humans and their environment.? I believe real change and leadership is coming from the people’s movements and what is happening around the world amongst the masses of extraordinary men and women rising up, mostly peacefully and non-violently, in country after country for human dignity, continued next page
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equality, freedom and democracy and against violence, oppression, injustice and war, is the real force for change. We all take great hope and inspiration from the ‘Arab Spring’ and join in solidarity with our courageous Arab brothers and sisters in working for change. A new dawn, a new age of civilization is coming. It will be an age of solidarity, of each person dedicated to ‘protective love’ of each other and our World. It will be an age of nonviolent evolution which shows we can solve our problems as the human family by peaceful means not by violence, nuclear weapons and war. The peoples of the world are sending a clear message to you Mr. President,
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to NATO, and all our Governments, and armed opposition groups, that there will be no military solutions to these ethnic/political/economic problems, but only through ending occupations (USA -Iraq/Afghanistan, Israel/ Palestine) declaring ceasefires (Libya, etc.,) and entering into dialogue and negotiations with all parties to the conflicts, can we begin to solve these problems, the roots of which are inequality and injustice.
nonviolent movements for social and political change taking place around the world. Will you, Mr. President, take this great opportunity in human history and help lead ,the world to a new beginning, so we can in the words of the late President John F. Kennedy ‘begin again the quest for peace?’ Yours in Peace, Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate) 20 June, 201 1 2011
Mr. President, you came into Office promising Change and gave the world hope. You lit the passion in the hearts of many men and women longing for change, for dialogue and negotiation, to move beyond destructive militarism, nuclear weapons and war. That passion remains in the heart of humanity as can be seen in the mass
Mairead Corrigan Maguire co-founded with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, the Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. She is also a member of JUST’s International Advisort Panel. Source: peacepeople.com
I HAVE ZERO RESPECT FOR THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA : GILAD ATZMON By Silvia Cattori Jazz saxophonist Gilad Atzmon has a blog where he denounces the policy of his country of origin, Israel. He is not afraid to bluntly tell what he regards to be the truth. He is impervious to the concept of self-censorship. He tells here how little respect he has for the Western press. Silvia Cattori: Your political analyses, translated into dozen languages [1], reach a wide readership on the web. For whom exactly do you write? Gilad Atzmon: I write mainly to myself. I try to understand the world around me. A few years ago, I understood that a lot of people out there are interested in the thoughts I indulge myself with, so I started to let other people have access into my boiling destructive mind. Silvia Cattori: At a time when the press has reached its lowest point ever, are you among those who still continue to read newspapers?
Gilad Atzmon: No, for many years I do not buy newspapers, because I am interested in Middle East, and the mainstream media has very little to offer on that front. Probably the only expert within the British or even English-speaking media press is Robert Fisk. If I want to know what happens in the Middle East I go to “Counterpunch”, “Information Clearing House”, “Veterans Today”, “Rense.com”, “Uprooted Palestinian”, “PalestineTelegraph”, “Palestine Chronicle”, “Dissident Voice”, “Uruknet”, and other great sites. Our websites and blogs are far more informative than the mainstream media. We are the experts. We are becoming the main source of information. I see how many people are coming to visit my site. If there is a crisis in Gaza for instance, they want to see what Gordon Duff, Ramzy Baroud, Alan Hart, Israel Shamir, Alex Cockburn, Ali Abunimah have to say about it. I have zero respect for the mainstream media. And if the mainstream media wishes
to survive, it had better move on quickly, otherwise it is finished. Silvia Cattori: Doesn’t the disinformation regarding Israel relate to the fact that honest journalists are themselves subject to Israeli propaganda ? Gilad Atzmon: As for Great Britain, it is far from being a secret that the biggest supporters of Blair’s criminal war against Iraq were journalists David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen, both who also write for the notorious Zionist Jewish Chronicle. I guess that these people are now exposed. As I mention often enough “The Tide Has Changed”. Silvia Cattori: We see the same mechanisms of censorship and information control at work in the new alternative media. Anyone whose views are likely to jostle the agenda of the
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online donors is censored. Don’t you think that’s sad? Gilad Atzmon: I guess that it is normal. You have to remember that every discourse is, in practice, a set of boundaries. This may explain why the artist is far more effective than the Marxist agitator or even the academic. While the Marxist or the academic are there to maintain the boundaries, the artist is there to present an alternative reality. My choice is obviously clear, I am an artist. Silvia Cattori: In your opinion, is the Israeli press freer than our own press?
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and more critical about the Israeli State than the Guardian, the New York Times or even the Socialist Worker. By the way, even the UK Zionist Jewish Chronicle (JC) is more open than the Guardian. I was in the JC where I read a report of David Miliband relentless attempts to amends the British universal Jurisdiction laws. Silvia Cattori: Despite the harshness of your criticism against Israel, the Israeli daily Haaretz [2] or the Arte channel have not censored you. Is it the accomplished jazz musician or the Israeli opponent that appeals the interest of the medias? Is it the sign that something has changed?
A R T I C L E S However, the title of my new album is “The Tide Has Changed” [3]. Something is changing and it is big, very very big actually. I can see that more people happen to admit that my writings are becoming influential. In Great Britain I can say that I am pretty famous within certain circles. When I tour around the world I give very many interviews and talks. I also have a few enemies who try to silence me and struggle to cancel my talks and concerts. As it happens, they have failed all along. I am still kicking and I do not have any plan to stop. 03 June, 2011
Silvia Cattori is well known in Asia and in
Gilad Atzmon: Interestingly enough, the Israeli press is not free but it is still more open than the Western media. In spite of the censorship, it is open to discussions about Jewish questions
Gilad Atzmon: Both I guess. I am interesting for them in different ways. I offer them an opportunity to say what they think exactly where they lack the courage to say it themselves.
the Middle East for her outspoken views and defence of the Muslim and Arab world. She is a freelance journalist and a Swiss citizen of Italian mother tongue. Source: silviacattori.net
WEALTH OF WORLD’S RICHEST ROSE NEARLY 10 PERCENT IN 2010 By Chris Marsden Austerity measures, wage cuts and rising unemployment have characterised the years since the crash of 2008 for working people. For the rich and super-rich, however, they have been the occasion for clawing back every penny of the initial losses made and adding a great deal more. Today, the world’s wealthy are richer than before the crash and the number of individuals belonging to this highly exclusive club has grown. The annual world wealth report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini identifies nearly 11 million “high net worth individuals” (HNWIs), defined as having more than $1 million in free cash, not including property and pensions. Their collective wealth reached $42.7 trillion in 2010, a 9.7 percent rise. This means that the wealth of this social layer has already
surpassed the previous peak of $40.7 trillion reached in 2007. The number of individuals worldwide who fall into this category grew 8.3 percent in 2010. This is described as a return to a “more sustainable pace,” following the 17 percent growth in the number of HNWIs to 10 million recorded in last year’s report. To make clear the scale of individual wealth accumulation these figures represent, one needs to factor in the results for what are termed “ultra-high net worth individuals,” defined as having at least $30 million in free cash. The numbers in this group rose by 10 percent, to just 103,000. But their assets rose by 11.5 percent, giving then control of $15 trillion. That means that the top one percent of the world’s rich controls fully 36 percent of their collective assets.
The largest number of HNWIs continue to reside in the United States, followed by Japan and Germany. These countries together account for 53 percent of the world’s rich. The US has 3.1 million HNWIs, Japan 1.7 million and Germany 920,000. The wealth of the richest 3.4 million people in North America, overwhelmingly in the US, rose by 9 percent to $11.6 trillion. The US is continued next page
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home to 28.6 percent of the world’s richest people. Europe’s HNWIs fared less well generally. Nevertheless, the UK still sits at fourth in the league table, with France coming in fifth. Europe’s 3.1 million HNWIs have $10.2 trillion in free cash. The far better performance of the HNWIs in the Asia-Pacific region has caused consternation among ruling elites in Europe and North America. The number of HNWIs in the AsiaPacific region rose by almost 10 percent to 3.3 million in 2010. This was the largest regional growth rate, and the number of HNWIs in the AsiaPacific region surpassed the European total as well as that of the US. It was only 100,000 lower than the total for the whole of North America. This elite layer in Asia now controls a total of $10.8 trillion in free cash. Leading this growth in opulence are China and India. The number of mainland Chinese HNWI millionaires grew by fully 12 percent to 534,500 people, to which must be added the extraordinary growth of the wealthy elite in Hong Kong. The number of HNWIs there grew by 33.3 percent to 101,300, compared with 76,000 in 2009. India, for its part, saw a 20.8 percent rise to 153,000 in the number of HNWIs, the highest rate of growth of
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any country. India for the first time placed in the top 12 in terms of the number of HNWI millionaires. The Hindustan Times commented tellingly, “India may still have a long way to go in eliminating poverty, but high economic growth is throwing up millionaires by the thousands… The country, ranked 138th on the basis of per capita income by the IMF and 119th in the UN’s human development rankings based on indicators such as life expectancy and education, added in 2010 as many as 26,300 HNWIs…” In the Middle East, the absolute numbers are smaller, but this only serves to underscore the scale of personal accumulation by that region’s rich. Just 400,000 people in the region control $1.7 trillion in free cash. The number of HNWIs in Kuwait and Bahrain rose by a quarter, putting these countries sixth and seventh in the table of 71 countries. Tamer Rashad, head of Middle East operations at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, noted in Arabian Business that one aspect of the vast accumulation of wealth by the superrich was “the significantly high ratio of savings to gross domestic product.” This ratio has reached 54 percent in Bahrain and 40 percent in Saudi Arabia, compared to the more usual single-digit rates in developed countries such as the US.
A R T I C L E S at in these figures is what ultimately gave rise to the mass movements that ended in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and the mass protests throughout the region. But the figures assembled by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, presented as a celebration of the good fortune of this financial elite, signal that a far broader worldwide eruption of the class struggle is being prepared. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1.25 per day, and moderate poverty as living on less than $2 a day. In 2001, some 1.1 billion people lived on less than $1 a day and 2.7 billion on less than $2 a day. Almost half of the world’s people—3 billion souls—live on less than $2.50 a day. One billion children— fully 50 percent of the world’s children—live in poverty. Six million children die of hunger every year, 17,000 every day. The irrational and unconscionable squandering of wealth on a handful of parasites on the one hand, and the crushing burden of poverty, hunger and misery on billions of people on the other constitutes an unanswerable indictment of the capitalist system. 25 June, 2011 Chris Marsden is one of the writers for WSWS.org
The extreme social polarisation hinted
Source: WSWS.org
THE LAW OF MOTHER EARTH : BEHIND BOLIVIA’S HISTORIC BILL By Nick Buxton
A new law expected to pass in Bolivia mandates a fundamental ecological reorientation of the nation’s economy and society Indigenous and campesino (small-scale farmer) movements in the Andean nation of Bolivia are on the verge of pushing through one of the most
radical environmental bills in global history. The “Mother Earth” law under debate in Bolivia’s legislature will almost certainly be approved, as it has already been agreed to by the majority governing party, Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS). The law draws deeply on indigenous
concepts that view nature as a sacred home, the Pachamama (Mother Earth) on which we intimately depend. As the law states, “Mother Earth is a living dynamic system made up of the undivided community of all living beings, who are all interconnected, interdependent and complementary, continued next page
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sharing a common destiny.” The law would give nature legal rights, specifically the rights to life and regeneration, biodiversity, water, clean air, balance, and restoration. Bolivia’s law mandates a fundamental ecological reorientation of Bolivia’s economy and society, requiring all existing and future laws to adapt to the Mother Earth law and accept the ecological limits set by nature. It calls for public policy to be guided by Sumaj Kawsay (an indigenous concept meaning “living well,” or living in harmony with nature and people), rather than the current focus on producing more goods and stimulating consumption. In practical terms, the law requires the government to transition from nonrenewable to renewable energy; to develop new economic indicators that will assess the ecological impact of all economic activity; to carry out ecological audits of all private and state companies; to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to develop policies of food and renewable energy sovereignty; to research and invest resources in energy efficiency, ecological practices, and organic agriculture; and to require all companies and individuals to be accountable for environmental contamination with a duty to restore damaged environments. The law will be backed up by a new Ministry of Mother Earth, an interMinistry Advisory Council, and an Ombudsman. Undarico Pinto, leader of the 3.5 million-strong campesino movement CSUTCB, which helped draft the law, believes this legislation represents a turning point in Bolivian law: “Existing laws are not strong enough. This will make industry more transparent. It will allow people to regulate industry at national, regional, and local levels.” However, there is also strong
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awareness among Bolivia’s social movements — in particular for the Pacto de Unidad (Unity Pact), a coalition of the country’s five largest social movements and a key force behind the law—that the existence of a new law will not be enough to prompt real change in environmental practices. A major obstacle is the fact that Bolivia is structurally dependent on extractive industries. Since the discovery of silver by the Spanish in the 16th Century, Bolivia’s history has been tied to ruthless exploitation of its people and its environment in order to transfer wealth to the richest countries; poet and historian Eduardo Galeano’s famous book Open Veins draws largely on the brutal story of how Bolivia’s exploitation fuelled the industrial expansion of Europe. In 2010, 70 percent of Bolivia’s exports were still in the form of minerals, gas, and oil. This structural dependence will be very difficult to unravel. Moreover, there is a great deal of opposition from powerful sectors, particularly mining and agro-industrial enterprises, to any ecological laws that would threaten profits. The main organization of soya producers, which claimed that the law “will make the productive sector inviable,” is one of many powerful groups who have already come out against the law. Within the government, there are many ministries and officials that would also like the law to remain nothing more than a visionary but ultimately meaningless statement. Raul Prada, one of the advisors to Pacto de Unidad, explained that the Mother Earth law was developed by Bolivia’s largest social movements in response to their perceived exclusion from policy-making by the MAS government, led by indigenous President Evo Morales. They have generally supported MAS since its resounding election victory in 2005, but were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of progress. Rather than
A R T I C L E S merely expressing their concern, these movements — comprised mainly of indigenous and farming communities — are pro-actively developing a series of new laws. Their first priority was the passage of the Mother Earth Law, based on a commitment made at the historic global Peoples Conference on Climate Change held in Bolivia in April 2010. To some surprise, the diverse movements soon developed a consensual agreement that was supported by MAS legislators. Raul Prada notes that, even with significant pressure from social movements, transitioning to an economy based on the concept Vivir Bien will not be easy. “It is going to be difficult to transit from an extractive economy. We clearly can’t close mines straight away, but we can develop a model where this economy has less and less weight. It will need policies developed in participation with movements, particularly in areas such as food sovereignty. It will need redirection of investment and policies towards different ecological models of development. It will need the cooperation of the international community to develop regional economies that complement each other.” Ultimately, though, this is a challenge far bigger than Bolivia, says Prada: “Our ecological and social crisis is not just a problem for Bolivia or Ecuador; it is a problem for all of us. We need to pull together peoples, researchers, and communities to develop real concrete alternatives so that the dominant systems of exploitation don’t just continue by default. This is not an easy task, but I believe with international solidarity, we can and must succeed.” 24 April, 2011 Nick Buxton wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization. He spent four years in Bolivia learning from movements fighting for social and environmental justice. Source: YES! Magazine
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ROYAL WEDDING MASKS TRAGIC STATE
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By Sanen Marshall 1. Nine out of ten couples now live together before – or instead of – tying the knot [getting married]. Before the Second World War, it was fewer than one in 30.’ 2. Some 46 per cent of children are born to unmarried mothers’ 3. Births outside marriage are at their highest level in two centuries and nearly half of children can expect their parents to separate by the time they turn 16.’ 4. Some 48 percent of children are likely to see their family break up before they are 16. Ten years ago, it was 40 percent.’ 5. A child growing up in a one-parent family is 75 per cent more likely to fail at school, 70 per cent more likely to become a drug addict, 50 per cent more likely to have an alcohol problem and 35 per cent more likely to be unemployed as an adult 6. A child growing up in a fractured, chaotic or fatherless family is far less likely to develop the pro-social skills essential for success later in life’ - The Daily Mail(5/05/2011) Elderly residents in care homes are left hungry, bored and at risk of abuse from unscrupulous staff, a damning probe has revealed…Conditions at one were so bad that admissions have been suspended by the Care Quality Commission.’ -The Daily Express(19/04/11) The Department of Health is making a High Court challenge today to stop figures being published on the number of late abortions on “less than perfect” foetuses with physical abnormalities, including cleft palate and club foot… Abortion on “social” grounds is only legal in the first 24 weeks or pregnancy. But “Ground E” of the 1967 Abortion Act makes it legal to abort a foetus right up to birth if there is a substantial risk of “serious” physical or mental abnormality. -The Daily Telegraph(18/04/11)
So reports the British press. This has led some commentators to publically conclude that Britain is today the worst place for family! So when you watch the screening of the royal wedding, remember that this is the true state of the family in the UK. Prince William will need no reminding after the break-up of his father’s marriage to Princess Diana and his father’s second marriage to Lady Camellia Parker Bowles. Nor will he be ignorant of the conspiracy theories that claim the British secret service murdered his mother, Diana, to prevent the birth of what would have been his Muslim half-brother/sister, the son/ daughter of Dodi Al-Fayed. Certainly, the way the British secret services have been behaving during the War on Terror, no one would put anything past them, including the assasination of an out-of-favour princess. Kate Middleton had better watch her step! This is a country - at the behest of radical feminism - where a girl is allowed to get completely drunk with her date but then credibly claim ‘rape’ if she cannot remember having consented to sex after waking up in the same bed with him the next day. Sex without responsibility or rather just plain sex as something to pass the time now, as has been the case for the youth of the Hull-Grimsby area. They face chronic unemployment conditions. Once upon a time, the UK welfare state used to lavishly fund unwed, unemployed mothers. But no longer! Municipalities all over financially broke Britain are now kicking out these ‘halffamilies’ from their cheaply rented council houses. As a testimony to desperation of some local authorities, it was announced on UK radio not too long ago, that the Hull City council used a ship that they had bought with public funds to send local kids out on the North Sea for a few
months of schooling where they were at times put under the strict guidance of military officers. The objective appears to be to keep the kids away from anti-social behaviour like drug abuse for a few months – not to mention teenage pregnancies – and to teach them discipline. When family in liberal society screws up, send the kids out to sea and call in the Royal Army. This is a country with sophisticated laws like that of criminalising ‘marital rape’ in a culture where trust has completely broken between male and female and their relations resemble almost ethnic conflict. This kind of guardedness and pre-emptive threats of criminal proceedings stemming from the inability to prove consent in the conjugal bedroom should be enough to ensure that marriage is doomed even before it starts. Barely camouflaged promotion of promiscuity by big business in the sex industry; pornography on late night TV; right to have sex without taking responsibility, which entails right to abortion; right to contract same sex ‘marriage’ without wanting to abide by the consequences, which not only entails the right for gay couples to adopt children but the enforcement of gay adoption legislation on established orphanages that hold dear the nowunfashionable view of parenthood as stemming from a conjugal, heterosexual pair. Long live radical feminism! Three cheers for liberalism! Forward sexual revolution! So, come on you openminded, Western-oriented Malaysians, let’s turn a blind eye to all this and plunge headlong into the Social Apocalypse. After all, aping Western society is the fashionable thing to do. Down with the family! 11 May, 2011
Sanen Marshall is an academic and a member of JUST
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TERBITAN BERKALA
The International Movement for a Just World is a nonprofit international citizens’ organisation which seeks to create public awareness about injustices within the existing global system. It also attempts to develop a deeper understanding of the struggle for social justice and human dignity at the global level, guided by universal spiritual and moral values. In furtherance of these objectives, JUST has undertaken a number of activities including conducting research, publishing books and monographs, organising conferences and seminars, networking with groups and individuals and participating in public campaigns. JUST has friends and supporters in more than 130 countries and cooperates actively with other organisations which are committed to similar objectives in different parts of the world.
INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR A JUST WORLD (JUST)
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