Musical Innerlube: A Perfect Circle - 'Fiddle and the Drum'

A Perfect Circle - Fiddle and the Drum The first real Ice Cream Production.
A vid against the War with Fiddle and the Drum from the album Emotive.

William Bowles: Reform or revolution?

In 1945, following the defeat of Fascism, the Labour Party was swept into power with a mandate to bring about radical change to British society. There followed the nationalization of transport, energy, communications, the establishment of the National Health System, an overhaul of education (actually done by the preceding Tory government), massive investment in public housing.

We were promised Socialism, what we got however was a 'reformed' capitalism, Keynesianism, and for domestic consumption only, elsewise it was 'business as usual', except that the state was broke and in debt up to its eyeballs to the US (a debt only recently paid off).

The reality however was that those changes were demanded by the organized working class through its trade unions and constituency (local) Labour Parties and of course supported by our minuscule left. In other words, it was propelled by grassroots activism and importantly, they were demands that could not be ignored. British capitalism was not only broke it was backward in a big way. Had they not reformed capitalism, in all likelyhood there would have been a real revolution (not that the US would have allowed it anymore than it did in France and Italy). It really was the case of the Labour government heading off revolution at the pass, but then this has been the Labour Party's role since its founding.

The post-war Labour government effectively bought off the working class without altering one iota of its imperialist mission: the defence of Empire, even if now it was no more than a poodle for US imperialism and literally on the frontline of the Cold War.

This view of the role of the Labour Party doesn't sit well with many on the left, especially those who cut their teeth during that post-war period, wedded as they were (and many still are) to the idea of reforming a Labour government slowly, ever so slowly, leading us, we were led to believe to a real socialist society. Just how wrong they were is surely obvious now even to the most myopic.

The contrast with 'New' Labour's response to the latest and worst crisis of capital could not be more illuminating and the reasons obvious to those who look. The labour movement is a shadow of its former self, the constituency Labour Parties pretty well emasculated and a left even more marginalized and fragmented than it has ever been. This is the real legacy of 'reformism'.

Thus without pressure from below, New Labour is free to act in the interests of the class it really represents, the capitalist class. What's left of the organized working class whilst it may have the occasional spat with New Labour, especially the critical (to the state) public employees unions, as long as the interests of their members are protected, we can expect nothing of substance from the trade unions to challenge the power of the state and capital.

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Musical Innerlube: The Clash - 'Lost in the supermarket'

Ukraine 'Inferiority complexes of Baloha, Yushchenko led them to each other'

Baloha's career developed in his home region of Transcarpathia before he moved to Kyiv. Our sources in Transcarpathia have explained how his home town of Mukachevo is considered to be a “village of hicks,” a rough place by its nature and a backwater with an uncultured mentality. The town's rival and administrative center of the oblast - Uzhgorod - is a very different city, led by different kinds of politicians. Both cities are similar in size. Yet competition between them has always been intense. This historic rivalry has been intensified by personal rivalries between Uzhgorod's Mayor Serhiy Ratushniak and Mukachevo's Baloha. This rivalry is made worse by Baloha's inferiority complex towards Transcarpathia's more cultured and intellectual city. Unlike Mukachevo, Uzhgorod has a long history as a regional center, with a sometimes vibrant art, cultural, and intellectual life.

Mukachevo's rough-hewn nature integrated with a very non-Ukrainian character to the city. After World War II, there was an influx of Russian and other Soviet nationalities to the new military bases, adding to the city's rough edge. Theatre and cultural life in Uzhgorod is in Ukrainian, while in Mukachevo Russian is the predominant cultural lingua franca. Uzhgorod is the center of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Transcarpathia while Mukachevo is the centre of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate. Uzhgorod always adapted to the ruling dominant culture, while Mukachevo was a center of rebellion with a rougher working class culture that contributed historically to the popularity of extreme left groups.

Mukachevo continues to have a high proportion of Hungarians, Russians and remnants of local ethnic Germans (Shvabs). The city includes major centers of Hungarian culture of great importance to Hungarian national identity and historical memory. Among these is the Mukachevo Castle, the largest castle in Eastern Europe. The castle was recently leased to a business owned by the Baloha family, together with close friends and business acquaintances. Like many Transcarpathians, Baloha's ethnic roots are mixed, with a surname that is typically Hungarian. It is therefore ironic that the presidential secretariat has launched a campaign claiming that Yulia Tymoshenko is not “pure Ukrainian.” Of course, ethnic origins should not have any place in a democratic society built on civic citizenship.

Mukachevo is also the center of Transcarpathia's Rusyn movement and especially of its minority pro-Russian extremist wing. In March 2007, the Transcarpathian Oblast Council voted to recognize Rusyns as a distinct east Slavic nationality, a move that the council could never have taken without the support of Yushchenko's “crisis manager.”

It is indeed ironic that a president denounced by Moscow and perceived by eastern Ukrainians as a “nationalist” has a chief of staff who is a supporter of separate Rusyn identity. Baloha is not seen by the Rusyn movement, however, as someone who genuinely supports them. In the very likely event that Yushchenko loses the December 2009 presidential elections returning to Transcarpathia and seeking a base of support in the Rusyn movement could be one of Baloha's future options. After Yushchenko leaves office, Baloha will find it difficult to find a place in Ukrainian politics. Ukraine's next parliamentary elections are in 2012, but it is unlikely that any political force will include him on their list.

Earlier this year, the World Congress of Rusyns based in Slovakia and headed by Professor Paul Robert Magocsi of the University of Toronto, condemned the activities of Dmitriy Sydor and the organization he leads, the Soim (Parliament) of Subcarpathian Rusyns. Sydor is a priest in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church within the framework of the Moscow Patriarchate. The church is the largest religious body in present-day Transcarpathia, which traditionally had been a stronghold of the Greek-Catholic Church, as in the three oblasts of Galicia.

The State Security Service of Ukraine, known by its Ukrainian SBU acronym, has investigated the aggressively pro-Russian wing of the Rusyn movement in Transcarpathia. The pro-Yushchenko Ukrayina Moloda (Nov. 10, 2008) published details of the funding given to Sydor from Ruski Mir, a Russian government-funded non-governmental organization in Moscow. “Political technologist” Vyacheslav Nikonov headed the Politika Fund in Moscow with which Sydor has been cooperating since 2005. In 2007, President Vladimir Putin appointed Nikonov head of the newly-established Ruski Mir organization which Ukrayina Moloda described as, “a sub-structure of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.”

Transcarpathia's Rusyns, particularly the pro-Russian extremist wing, exhibit a strong sense of hatred towards Galician Ukrainians. This animosity is based on the assumption that Galicians are arrogant, a trait they allegedly inherited from Polish rule, and that they exhibit a strong sense of hatred towards everything Russian.

Mukachevo's urban ethnic mix has produced a somewhat crude Homo Sovieticus mentality, whose representatives speak a Ukrainian-Russian patois (surzhyk) without any modicum of empathy for the local Ukrainian culture found in the surrounding villages of Transcarpathia. Those who arrived in Mukachevo from the surrounding countryside, such as Baloha, were looked down upon by the chauvinistic urban Homo Sovieticus culture.

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These nights are for Alexis; a closer look into the December uprising in Greece

WHAT THE MASS MEDIA LIKES TO IGNORE: THE TRUE CAUSES OF THIS UPRISING

The police murder of the 15-year old boy cannot be seen as an isolated incident, although this is what the authorities want you to believe. Alexis is one of many victims of police violence, which holds the Greek society hostage. Since 1985 approximately 25 people have been killed by police bullets, although the number is likely to be much higher since it doesn't include the number of people who died as a result of police violence in prison. Many Greeks, not only the minorities, have experienced some form of police violence or oppression in their lives. Perhaps the reason behind the high(er) level of violence used by the Greek police can be traced back to the post-Junta historical context when the Junta's power was transferred to parliament, a democratic system was established and consequently the police took over from the army in oppressing the Greek people in 1974. There are examples of the police cooperating with right-wing extremists. Every now and then some cop is exposed for being a member of a right-wing extremist group or organization, like the killer of Alexis, who is a member of the fascist Golden Dawn group.

Aside from the police problem Greek society harbours social, economic and political problems that played their part in fueling the uprising. For many people it is difficult to survive financially.
[...]There is an establishment that accumulates wealth for itself while the people have to improvise in order to survive. Businesses are shaken down by corrupt tax officials , EU money disappears before it reaches the projects it is meant for(1). For many it is obvious that those in power and in money do whatever they want and that the government collects a lot of money that goes straight into their pockets. A taxi driver says:''Power corrupts and when you are on the outside looking in you make sure that when you finally get in, you get your share too.''  http://ahistoryofgreece.com/finalwords.htm

For the youth, “no future” is a reality, especially when you're a child of an immigrant. In Dromos, the freshly opened up social centre for immigrants and refugees in Thessaloniki, I get to talk with Gazmend. Gazmend is an Albanian immigrant, he fled Albania when an armed uprising broke out after the collapse of its economy is 1997. We talk about his experiences as an immigrant in Greece and the law for immigrants that was passed in 1998: ''The law connects a working permit to a recidential status. If you don't have 300 workstamps (=working days) in 2 years, even if you miss one and have been here for 15 years, you will get deported. Mostly you buy these stamps because there is another law which ''allows'' immigrants to buy 20% of these stamps. In this way the government earns extra money from the immigrants. Also, if you're under 18 and over 60 you are not allowed to stay because you are not working. You are allowed to stay with your parents but as soon as you turn 18- even if you are born here- you have to return to your country of origin. You have no rights. When the law was passed in 1998, many illegal immigrants applied for a legal status and there were very long ques and a big chaos. Many remained in Greece without papers.''

I also talk to Li. Li teaches art history and is part of the Clandestina info-network for immigrants and refugees. The network is based around a website (in Greek, Turkish, Albanian, Russina/Ukrainian, English and soon German) that informs people about the aspects of the European genocide of immigrants and refugees, the situation of immigrants in Fortress Europe and especially Greece, and also the struggles of immigrants, refugees and the solidarity movement. Li: “The attack on Konstanina Kuneva(2) reveals the true nature of Greek society: The ''new conditions of work'' mean that workers are hired to companies and managed as slaves by a new slave trading system. Especially in sectors of the less privileged workers like the cleaning and construction sectors. This Third World labour market also has its Third World tactics of scaring, warning and punishing the disobedient ones…''

Tefik tells me more about the position of refugees in Greece. He is one of the people who took the initiative to open up Dromos. He is a refugee from Turkey. ''Thousands of Irakis and Afghanis tried to get asylum in the past few years but most of them were deported. When the papers do get examined 99% is rejected. Greece has one of the lowest acceptance rates of asylum seekers in the EU. Greece usually ignores most (EU) legislation for the rights of refugees. Police and border police torture more easily and most people turn a blind eye to torture… Detention centres have abominable conditions here, even though the legislation covers all kinds of so called rights of hygiene, social rights, etc…'' About Dromos and his work for refugees, he says: ''We don't just run the social centre, we run a broader network. The difference between us and other groups who work for refugees (NGO's, charity groups) is that we also provide places for refugees to sleep and we're active politically; we're not just interested in demanding more rights for refugees, we are demanding everything, the full quality of life. Our activities are humanitarian and political. The immigration problems were created by the EU and imperialist countries. They invaded our countries and therefore we can't recognize their legal framework. So when someone crosses the border I cannot think 'this person is here legal or illegal', I don't care.''

Li: ''Any society is sick if it cannot accept others, if it controls, oppresses and uses people for its own purposes. [...] We cannot claim better lives for ourselves if we don't fight on the side of refugees, immigrants and other marginalized people for their rights. Ever since their arrival in great numbers in the early 90's immigrants have been doing all the dirty jobs and have provided the country with cheap labor, which created a boost of the economy and increased the country's wealth. Without their sweat and blood the Olympic Games in 2004 could not have been realized. The Greeks are very oblivious of this. In order to inflict positive, social change we must not only attack the State and its institutions but question the hostile attitude towards the marginalized people in our society and understand that there is a new rift in society – “natives against immigrants”. [...] So in this context, the ''December uprising'', the riots and the rebellious moments in the streets, must be taken as a powerful moment in itself, but should also be measured against real social change…In other words, as the German comrades say: “Aufstand ist unser Argument”, the uprising is an argument in itself. A very clear political message went out from the uprising as people knew exactly what they were targeting: banks and police stations, big business, that is to say, the […] symbols of Capital and the State. Therefore the incidents don't need further analysis.

So, the 'minorities' who take up a large part of Greek society have every reason to be angry. Fueled by a mix of rage, despair and sadness people went out in the streetsto demand the change they are longing for, with the uprising as their powerful argument. [...]

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