nous les 99%

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 912, by Michal Rozworski, December 18, 2013.

The Puzzle Defined: Most developed economies continue to experience fall-out from the financial crisis of 2007-08. The Eurozone has been most ravaged, but the U.S. and UK have not fared much better. After the initial rebound from the most severe crisis, growth in many economies has been decelerating to the point that some are once again contracting in real terms. At the same time, unemployment remains high – hitting record levels among youth in Europe for example – real incomes are flat for the vast majority, inequality is on the rise and austerity programs targeted at social services are eating further into living standards.  Continuer la lecture de « Canada's Profitability and Stagnation Puzzle »

09 h MEZ – on Russia Today RT, translated in english.

Published on ZNet (first on Folha De S. Paulo), by Edward Snowden, December 17, 2013.

Six months ago, I stepped out from the shadows of the United States Government’s National Security Agency to stand in front of a journalist’s camera.

I shared with the world evidence proving some governments are building a world-wide surveillance system to secretly track how we live, who we talk to, and what we say.   Continuer la lecture de « An Open Letter to the People of Brazil »

Published on Le Monde diplomatique, english edition, by Maxim Robin, December 2013.

The number of people in US prisons fell in 2012 by around 30,000, the third consecutive fall in as many years: budget difficulties mean that states can no longer afford incarceration for every offence, and at local level Republicans and Democrats are, unusually, unanimous on the need to decongest prisons. In California — which accounted for half of the fall in 2012 — and Texas, there is a drive to reduce sentences and find alternative punishments.   Continuer la lecture de « Inside America: Louisiana’s profitable prisons »

Financial democracy requires bypassing large unaccountable institutions and reconnecting people to the reality of their money — by producing it ourselves – Published on ROARMAG.org, by Brett Scott, December 11, 2013.

In 2012, in celebration of Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, I suggested that we securitize the Queen, using her as collateral for UK government borrowing. I thought she would support this modest proposal because royalty have long been financial innovators. Indeed, what were the old medieval armies but a blunt financial instrument? Monarchs invested resources into them in order to extract dividends from conquered peoples who did not want to be bludgeoned to death … // Continuer la lecture de « Are we witnessing an open source finance revolution? »

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Mohamed Abdel-Baky, Dec 10, 2013.

During a rally held in Minya governorate, Nour Youssef, a member of the Social Democratic Party, urged his village to vote “yes” on the draft constitution.

The crowds shouted, “viva Egypt, bread, freedom and social justice”, repeating the 25 January 25 Revolution slogan.   Continuer la lecture de « Egypt: With it or not »

A push to make America’s banks safer creates new uncertainties – Published on The Economist, Dec 14, 2013.

The 37 words inserted into the 848-page Dodd-Frank law overhauling the regulation of America’s financial institutions seemed innocent enough. Lawmakers wanted regulators to come up with strictures that would prevent banks from gambling with deposits insured by the federal government. The resulting rule, named after a prominent proponent, Paul Volcker, a former head of the Federal Reserve, prohibits banks from “proprietary trading”, meaning transactions conducted purely for their own gain, rather than to serve clients. On December 10th five different regulatory agencies approved the Volcker rule; it will come into force, awkwardly enough, on April 1st.  Continuer la lecture de « The Volcker rule: More questions than answers »

Watch this video: The Secret History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in South Africa, 50.27 min, on Democracy Now, December 11, 2013.

As the world focuses on Tuesday’s historic handshake between President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, we look back at the pivotal role Cuba played in ending apartheid and why Castro was one of only five world leaders invited to speak at Nelson Mandela’s memorial. In the words of Mandela, the Cubans ‘destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor … [and] inspired the fighting masses of South Africa.’  Continuer la lecture de « The Secret History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in South Africa »

Watch this video: Registering Class, 17.28 min, published on Socialist Project.ca, Nov 24, 2013:

The 50th volume of the Socialist Register is dedicated to the theme of ‘registering class’ in light of the spread and deepening of capitalist social relations around the globe. Today’s economic crisis has been deployed to extend the class struggle from above while many resistances have been explicitly cast in terms of class struggles from below. This volume addresses how capitalist classes are reorganizing as well as the structure and composition of working classes in the 21st century …; Continuer la lecture de « Launching the Socialist Register 2014 »

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Sven Böll, Martin Hesse, Christoph Pauly and Anne Seith, Dec 10, 2013 (Photo Gallery).

Authorities around the world are taking action against large banks for questionable practices including collusion and rate manipulation, but the power of these financial institutions continues to grow. Germany’s Deutsche Bank in particular finds itself under fire.   Continuer la lecture de « Cartel Power: Megabanks Gain Ground Despite Fines, Part 1 »

International Anti War Conference Stop the War Coalition, uploaded to YouTube by Fourman Films, December 2013 – Speakers:

• Lindsey German, 6.48 min; … and many more … see all 24 videos in autoplay;

or see individually some 10 of the 24:  Continuer la lecture de « The Syrian War in Context »

Published on Russia Today RT, Dec 6, 2013.

The World Trade Organization has formally approved a historic package of agreements after over a decade of negotiations. Trade talks among 159 world economies came to an end after Cuba dropped its objections to the draft agreement.

« For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered, » WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said. « This time the entire membership came together. We have put the ‘world’ back in World Trade Organization. »   Continuer la lecture de « World Trade Organization WTO salvages historic $1 trillion trade deal »

The government is insisting on enforcing the controversial protest law despite wide opposition – Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Ahmed Morsy, Dec 4, 2013.

Over the past 10 days, the recently endorsed protest law has been met with strong opposition from various political parties, public figures, political and legal activists and human-rights organisations.

Protests have been staged on a daily basis in clear defiance of the law and in order to object to the arrests of anti-law activists and politicians. The 6 April activist movement has called for a week of protests starting on 30 November. The Friday Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations were staged with acts of violence recorded and with dozens arrested.   Continuer la lecture de « Egypt: Protesting the protest law »