Excellent talk analysis.
Speaker(s): Paul Mason
Chair: Dr Nigel Dodd
Recorded on 30 January 2012 in Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building.
Our world is changing dramatically. Social upheaval has followed worldwide economic crisis and the gulf between the haves and the have-nots is widening. In 2011, this profound disconnect found expression in events that we were told had been consigned to history: revolt and revolution.
In his new book Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere which he will discuss in this lecture Paul Mason sets out to explore the causes and consequences of this current wave of struggle, illuminating the links between the economic and social crisis. He explores and analyses what lies behind the new revolutions -- a volatile combination of the near collapse of free-market capitalism, new technologies and changes in popular culture, and a profound shift in our understanding of what freedom means. Looking at how new social media have impacted on how we behave and organize, Mason interviews activists on the ground and the people behind these new forms of collective action, providing an insight into the agile networks of Twitter- and Facebook-savvy young protesters supporting the viral spread ofinternational activism.
The economics editor of the BBC's flagship program Newsnight, Paul Mason is also one of the most influential journalists on twitter. He first reported live for the BBC on 9/11, and covered the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 from outside its New York HQ. His television and online reports have tracked the social and economic impact of the global meltdown from the mean streets of Gary, Indiana to the elite salons of Davos.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions
Kicking down the world's door
Tom Engelhardt writes for Asia Times:
Along with those skies filled with increasing numbers of drones goes a rise in US special operations forces. They, too, are almost by definition boundary-busting outfits. Once upon a time, an American president had his own "private army" - the CIA. Now, in a sense, he has his own private military.
Formerly modest-sized units of elite special operations forces have grown into a force of 60,000, a secret military cocooned in the military, which is slated for further expansion. According to Nick Turse, in 2011 special operations units were in 120 nations, almost two-thirds of the countries on Earth.
By their nature, special operations forces work in the shadows: as hunter-killer teams, night raiders, and border-crossers. They function in close conjunction with drones and, as the regular army slowly withdraws from its giant garrisons in places like Europe, they are preparing to operate in a new world of stripped-down bases called "lily pads" - think frogs jumping across a pond to their prey.
No longer will the Pentagon be building American towns with all the amenities of home, but forward-deployed, minimalist outposts near likely global hotspots, like Camp Lemonnier in the North African nation of Djibouti.
Increasingly, American war itself will enter those shadows, where crossings of every sort of border, domestic as well as foreign, are likely to take place with little accountability to anyone, except the president and the national security complex.
In those shadows, our secret forces are already melding into one another. A striking sign of this was the appointment as CIA director of a general who, in Iraq and Afghanistan, had relied heavily on special forces hunter-killer teams and night raiders, as well as drones, to do the job.
Undoubtedly the most highly praised general of our American moment, General David Petraeus, has himself slipped into the shadows where he is presiding over covert civilian forces working ever more regularly in tandem with special operations teams and sharing drone assignments with the military.
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Egypt Establishes Revolution Template For Rest Of World: Christopher Greene
While many Americans are learning to accept the truth that fraud and corruption clearly exists in our Country, the Egyptian revolution has provided a framework for future protest and also opened the eyes to many that a peaceful revolution is in fact possible with the advent of technology. This is a stark reminder of how things have changed and is unlike anything we have ever seen in recent history. Never before has it been this easy to interact with other like-minded individuals in a public forum with such effectiveness, grace and speed. This is exactly what ‘Governments’ are afraid of and is why we are having such a violent pushback from Washington and Wall Street with their fruitless attempt to regulate the Internet.
Charles Dickens: 'Can I have some more?' still resonates
On the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens's birthday, readers can still relate to many of the themes in his work, including the hunger that Oliver Twist sought to sate.
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Embera Wounaan Indians (Darien) Declare Themselves In A State Of "Civil Disobedience"
Four organizations of indigenous Embera Wounaan have declared themselves to be in a state of "civil disobedience" as of this Tuesday, 7 February 2012, and they announced to the Government that they will join the struggle of the Ngäbe Bugle people. Through a statement signed by the Chief General of the Embera Wounaan region, Betanio Chiquidama; the General Chief of Embera y Wounaan Land Collective; as well as six other senior leaders of the Embera and Wounaan peoples, they said the government of President Ricardo Martinelli is responsible of what they describe as the physical attack, and the systematic violations of the indigenous peoples of Panama, and they request the creation of "a commission at the highest level," mediated by the churches and government. They also called for the "the removal and prosecution of security minister [Jose Raul Mulino] and the National Police Director [Gustavo Perez], for the death of our brother" Jeronimo Rodriguez Tugrí.
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COLLAPSE CONFIRMATION NEWS: Global Economic RESET
This video covers the details about the current global reset taking place. We are currently living through historic times, the plan for dropping the dollar as the world reserve currency, coupled with the coming war with Iran is unfolding into a major global conflict. A conflict that will revolve around Global WAR, Global Economic Collapse, and Global Revolution. Prepare.
Orthodox Rabbi Denounced as Heretic Over Latest Book
Shmuley Boteach is no stranger to the limelight. The Orthodox Jewish Rabbi has made it onto the best-seller list with two books, Kosher Sex and Dating Secrets of the 10 commandments. However, as comfortable as Boteach is in the public eye, he may not have been prepared for the controversy he’s drummed up with his latest release, Kosher Jesus.
The book is a meditation on Jesus’ life as a Jew, and portrays him as a hero who stood up to the Roman occupation of Palestine. In accordance with the Jewish faith, the book rejects the notion of his resurrection and divinity, and even asserts that the New Testament intentionally demonized Jews for the crucifixion of Christ. However, it is Jewish, rather than Christian critics, who have taken Boteach’s new book to task.
Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf of Chicago proclaimed the book apikorsus, a Hebrew word which roughly translates to heresy, and said that he had “utter contempt” for the book, even though he had only read the title.More...
The human economy in a revolutionary moment: political aspects of the economic crisis
From The Memory Bank:
Edited transcription of an improvised talk for a seminar, “Social movements and the solidarity economy”, organized by Jean-Louis Laville and Geoffrey Pleyers, EHESS, Paris, 2 February 2012.
I was asked to report on the project I am involved in which has the same name as The Human Economy book; but, given this course’s focus on social movements, I decided that I should try to insert the perspective on economy I have developed into contemporary political processes and events. I have been writing, editing and researching about alternative approaches to the economy for a long time and blogging about politics more recently, but never the two together. In the last year, as a result of the North African revolutions and then the Occupy movement, I have come to see that the economic and political arguments have to be brought much closer together. Taking our lead from this moment in world history, we need to ask how the work that Jean-Louis and I have long been engaged in – on human economy, économie solidaire, social economy – needs to be modified in order to lend support to what has become a serious political movement at the global level.
I entered our collaboration after Jean-Louis, with Antonio David Cattani, published an expanded version of the Dictionnaire de l’autre économie in 2006. I published an enthusiastic review essay about it. I was staggered by the range of analysis concerning economic and political development that it contained. I have been living in Paris for 15 years and I feel lucky to have been here during what I see as a Renaissance of French economic sociology. The book edited by Philippe Steiner and François Vatin, Traité de sociologie économique, is a testament to the constellation of brilliant economic sociologists that France has produced in the last decade or more. It was equally clear that this work was largely unknown in the English-speaking world and, increasingly under Chirac and Sarkozy, lacked a receptive audience in France as well. So, since my friends in this field were being frozen out of French politics to some extent, we had the idea of selling the project to the English-speakers or at least to those who speak English as a second language. Geoffrey has already introduced the result, The Human Economy: A Citizen’s Guide (2010).
All the predecessor volumes were called, in various languages, Dictionary of the Other Economy. We dropped that particular formulation for reasons that will become the main theme of my talk today. The difference between what are conventionally known as the extreme left and the centre left lies in the concept of change that each of them has. The extreme left conceives of the future as the negation of what it calls “capitalism” in a unitary way and imagines a radical rupture with that system in ways that are not always specified, but are thought to be revolutionary. The centre left, whether it relies on state intervention or the mobilization of voluntary associations of various kinds, tends to emphasize more gradual and continuous developments building on what people are doing already. We felt that labelling our intellectual work as “the other economy” lent itself too readily to radical utopias. Jean-Louis and I based our conversation on what Marcel Mauss and Karl Polanyi understood by economic change, since we were looking for a more positive construction than a simple negation; and this is where the idea of a human economy came from.
Belgian Shepherd dogs to counter Maoists
Coimbatore, February 6 (ANI): Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force, K Vijay Kumar, has informed that the paramilitary force would induct hardy Belgian Shepherd dogs to aid its troops in counter insurgency operations against the Maoists. He said this while addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a college graduation ceremony in Coimbatore. On the issue of controlling illegal manufacture and smuggling of explosives, Kumar said that a blanket ban was impractical.
European labour markets: a picture of class warfare by Deepankar Basu
The global economic and financial crisis that started with the bursting of the massive housing bubble in the U.S. economy in 2007 shows no signs of “correcting” itself. While there has been some positive news in both in terms of GDP growth in the US economy in the last quarter of 2011, and the labour market in January 2012, the recovery in the US is far from complete. At present there are close to 12.8 million workers looking for but unable to find jobs; and that number would be close to 25 million if we include those who are currently working part-time and wish to move to a full-time job. Comparing the recessions in the US economy in terms of job loss since 1974 shows the depth of the current one and easily drives home the point that anything like a recovery of the labour market is still far out into the future, if at all.
If, on the other hand, we look at the other side of the Atlantic, the scene is much more grim. GDP growth has been weak in most countries in Europe, but what is even more striking is that the unemployment rate in several countries have reached (or is about to reach) Depression era levels. The massive slack in the European labour markets clearly detract from any story of a recovery in the global economy.
More...Police top brass finally charged for brutal eviction of Plaza Catalunya
The security ex deputy mayoress of Barcelona, Assumpta Escarp, the managing director of the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonian Police), Manel Prat, the responsible for the public order supervision of the Catalonian police, Antoni Antolín, and the riot poice chief, David Bordas, have been charged by the magistrate as a result of the most controversial street cleaning operation in the recent past, which ended by beating even the journalists identified properly. Before taking this step, it has been confirmed that the injuries medical reports presented by the reporting party are consistent with the police charges which shameful images were seen all over the world.
#F29 Shut Down the Corporations
Occupy Portland calls for a national day of non-violent direct action to reclaim our voices and challenge our society's obsession with profit and greed by shutting down the corporations. We are rejecting a society that does not allow us control of our future. We will reclaim our ability to shape our world in a democratic, cooperative, just and sustainable direction. Already 30+ cities are planning actions. Get involved and find out more at www.shutdownthecorporations.org.
The Portland Action Lab is a direct action spokes council organizing as part of Occupy Portland. More info at www.portlandactionlab.org.
29F - European Trade Union Day of Action
In the face of a worsening economic and social situation and the ever-tougher austerity measures being imposed by Europe’s leaders as the only solution, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called for a European day of action on 29 February, the eve of the European Council. Trade unions will mobilise across Europe to have jobs and social justice placed at the heart of political priorities.
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Brazil: Striking police, soldiers clash
Soldiers clashed with supporters of striking police in Brazil's third-largest city on Monday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the feet of people trying to join officers occupying the Bahia state legislature building.
The murder rate in Salvador, Bahia has more than doubled since the strike began a week ago - but violence has quickly diminished since troops were sent in over the weekend.
About one-third of the state's 30 000 police are on strike, authorities say. The US Embassy in Brazil on Monday issued an alert warning citizens against travelling to Bahia.
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See also:
19 die in clashes between Brazilian govt. forces and striking police
Raw Video: Brazilian Soldiers, Police Clash
Iraq war criminals get away with murder
raq War Crimes: Haditha: Another Small Massacre - No One Guilty.
"We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world." (President Barack Obama, State of the Union address, 24th January 2012.)
On the 24th of January, the day President Obama delivered his last State of the Union speech to Congress before the election, citing the: "selflessness and teamwork of America's Armed Forces, (their) focus on the "mission at hand," the "selfless" Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, leader of the massacre at Haditha, in Iraq, became the seventh soldier to walk free - from the mass murder of twenty-four unarmed men, women and children, in three homes and a taxi.
It was another chilling, ruthless, cold blooded, up to five hour rampage, revenge for the death a colleague, in a roadside bomb - which had nothing to do with the rural families that paid the price.
The youngest to die was a one year old, the oldest was seventy-six years old, wheelchair-bound amputee, Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali. He died with nine rounds in the chest and abdomen.
image from http://www.spitting-image.net
