nous les 99%

Published on Zcommentary (first on teleSUR English), by Marina Sitrin, July 6, 2014.

It doesn’t often occur to me to identify as a Jew, and when it does it is usually because of outside circumstances. These past few days have provided those circumstances. Here, in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, today’s refugees are yesterday’s Jews.

I currently live in Berlin, in one of the most radical neighborhoods in Germany, and perhaps this part of Europe. There are dozens of buildings that used to be squats that are still collectively run. There is active defense against gentrification and regular occupations of buildings, parks and squares. People fight to maintain public space in a myriad of ways, from protests that take over and keep streets open, to hundreds barbequing in parks when it is declared forbidden.   Continuer la lecture de « Today’s ‘Righteous’ Defenders of Refugees in Germany »

Published on The Project – a socialist journal, by Don Miligan, July 3, 2014.

… I make no apology for deploying this well-known quotation from the Communist Manifesto because I think that it does no harm to remind ourselves that the working class is the creation of capital, not of its own consciousness, nor of its myriad forms of cultural expression, nor of its transient sociological forms. Whether the working class can be the gravedigger of the relations and forces, which perpetually bring it into existence remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that defensive attempts to fix or freeze the working class at some specific point, or in a given historical moment, are doomed to failure.   Continuer la lecture de « Working Class? … what working class? »

The “Battle for Europe” is Raging: How America Undermines Franco-Russian Relations – US Blackmailed France using the Banque Nationale de Paris as Hostage – Published on Global Research.ca, by Umberto Pascali, July 2, 2014:

On July 1st, during a meeting with all Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives, President Vladimir Putin revealed the details of a blatant blackmail against France. The US Administration used its unilateral (and de facto illegal) sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Sudan to punish France and in particular the Banque Nationale de Paris – Paribas. The Bank was blackmailed in to paying $8.97 billion for not submitting to the malicious diktat of the power-drunk but weakening hegemon, even though the sanctions are not a decision agreed to by France.   Continuer la lecture de « US-Europe-Russia: Gas, Banks, NSA … »

Published on Real-World Economics Review Blog, by merijnknibbe, July 4, 2014.

The ECB published a report on the results of the Macro Prudential Research Network. It’s the scientific answer of the ECB to the crisis: what has to change in our view of the economy? … //

… It’s a step away from rational expectations and general equilibrium: good. It tries to model the financial sector using insights of people like Minsky and Kindleberger: good. It does not just pay attention to the flow economy but also to the stock economy (debts, assets like houses): good. It tries to model a financial sector: good. Despite the fact that the monthly monetary statistics of the ECB are totally endogenous by nature and based upon the idea that credit and money are two sides of the same coin (of course they are, as they try to measure the real world), endogenous money still seems to be a bridge too far: bad (but I, or the person who wrote the abstract, might have missed something). Continuer la lecture de « Just published: the scientific answer of the ECB to the crisis »

The DWP isn’t just off the rails but careering down the embankment – Published on Left Foot Forward, by Mark Serwotka (general secretary of the PCS union), July 1, 2014.

… The problem is, the auditors note, three years in to the programme it is still underperforming, failing the very people it was set up to help and rewarding some very profitable private companies for these failures. It is worth repeating, it has been three years almost to the day since it was launched – surely it should be working by now.   Continuer la lecture de « This is why the profit motive has no place in our public services »