Mikis Theodorakis : An Open Letter on the Truth about Greece

There is an international conspiracy whose target is the complete destruction of my country. They began in 1975 aiming at Modern Greek civilization, continued with the distortion of our modern history and our national identity and they are now trying to eliminate us biologically as well through unemployment, hunger and impoverishment. If Greek people don’t rise as one in order to prevent them, the danger of Greece becoming extinct is evident. I place it within the next ten years. There will be nothing left of us but the memory of our civilization and our battles for freedom.
Until 2009, there was no serious economic problem. The major wounds of our economy were the enormous expenses related to the purchase of war material and the corruption of a part of the political and economic-journalistic sector.
For both of these wounds, foreigners are jointly responsible. Germans, for instance, as well as French, English and Americans, earned billions of Euros from annual sales of war material, to the detriment of our national wealth. That continuous hemorrhage brought us to our knees and did not permit us to move forward, while at the same time it made foreign nations prosperous. The same was true of the problem of corruption. The German company Siemens, for instance, maintained a special department for buying off Greek stakeholders in order to place its products in the Greek market. Hence, the Greek people have been victims of that predatory duo of Greeks and Germans, growing richer at their expense.
It is obvious that these two big wounds could have been avoided if the leaders of the two pro-American parties in power hadn’t been eroded by corrupt elements who resorted to excessive loans in order to cover the leakage of wealth (the product of the Greek people’s labor) into the hands of foreign countries, resulting in the public debt reaching 300 billion Euros, i.e. 130% of GDI (Gross Domestic Income).
Due to that confidence trick, the foreigners I mentioned before made a double profit: firstly from the sales of the weapons and their products. Secondly, from the interest on the money they lent to the governments and not to the people. As we have seen, the people were the primary victims in both cases. A single example should convince you: the interests on the one billion dollar loan that Andreas Papandreou received in 1986 from a big European country reached 54 billion Euros and was eventually paid back in … 2010!
Mr Juncker declared a year ago that he had realized the Greeks’ financial hemorrhage caused by the excessive (and compulsory) expenses in buying war materials exclusively from Germany and France. And he concluded that our sellers were leading us on a path to destruction. However, he confesses that he didn’t take any action in order not to hurt the interests of friendly countries!

In 2008 came the big financial crisis in Europe. It was therefore only logical that the Greek economy should be affected. However, our living standards, high enough for Greece to be ranked among the 30 richest countries in the world, remained unaffected. There was an increase, though, in public debt. But public debt doesn’t necessarily lead to financial crisis. There are big countries, like the U.S. and Germany, with debts amounting to trillions of Euros. The key is in economic growth and production. In that case, one can borrow from large Banks with an interest rate of up to 5%, until the crisis ends.

That was exactly our position in 2009, when the government shift took place in November and G. Papandreou took over as prime minister. In order for the current opinion of the Greek to become clearer I cite two figures: in the elections of 2009 PASOK gained 44% of the votes. Today the polls give PASOK 6% of the public support.
Mr. Papandreou could have dealt with the financial crisis (which as I have said reflected the European one) by borrowing from foreign Banks under the usual interest rate of under 5%. If he had done that, there wouldn’t have been the slightest problem for our country. In fact, the opposite would have occurred; because we were on an economic growth path, our standard of living would certainly have risen.
However, Mr. Papandreou had already begun his conspiracy against the Greek people since the summer of 2009, when he secretly met with Strauss-Kahn, with the objective of driving Greece under the domination of the IMF. The information concerning this meeting was released by the former President of the IMF himself.
For the situation to reach that end, the country’s real financial status had to be distorted, so that foreign Banks would become nervous and raise the loan interest rates to prohibitive figures. That odious project began with the phony raising of the Public Deficit from 9,2% to 15%. For that felonious deed, the District Attorney, Mr. Peponis indicted Messrs Papandreou and Papakonstantinou (Minister of Finance) 20 days ago. What followed was the systematic campaign by Mr. Papandreou and the Ministry of Finance throughout Europe that lasted 5 months, during which they tried to persuade the foreigners that Greece was a Titanic about to sink, that Greeks were corrupt, lazy and therefore incapable of dealing with the country’s needs. After each of their declarations the interest rates increased, so that it became impossible for us to borrow any more, giving IMF and the European Bank the appearance of being our slavation, when in reality it was the beginning of our death.
In May 2010 a single Minister signed the notorious Memorandum, our complete subservience to our lenders. Greek law stipulates, in such situations, that the adoption of such an important agreement must be decided by three fifths of the Parliament. Therefore, in essence, the Memorandum and the Troika that essentially govern us today, operate illegally not only under Greek but also under European law.
By now since then, if the steps leading us to our death are twenty, we are already more than half way there. Imagine that with this Memorandum we concede to foreigners our National Independence and our National Property. That is, our harbours, airports, road networks, electricity, water supply, subterranean and underwater wealth, etc., etc. Add to that our historical monuments, like the Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia, Epidaurus and such sites, since we have waived all our legal defenses.
Production has come to a standstill, the unemployment rate has reached 18%, 80.000 shops have closed down, along with thousands of small businesses and hundreds of industries. In total, 432.000 enterprises have shut down. Tens of thousands of young scientists are abandoning the country, which is every day sinking into medieval darkness. Thousands formerly wealthy citizens are scavenging on rubbish heaps and sleeping on the pavement.
In the meantime, we are supposed to be surviving thanks to the magnanimity of our lenders, the Europe of the Banks and the IMF. In reality, every package deal which charges Greece with tens of billions of Euros is repaid in full, while we are burdened with new unbearable interest rates. And since it is necessary to maintain the State, the Hospitals and the Schools, the Troika is burdening the middle and lower economic strata of society with excessive taxes, leading directly to starvation. A famine took place at the beginning of the German occupation in 1941, with 300.000 people dead in a period of 6 months. Since then, the ghost of hunger is now returning to our defamed and unfortunate country.
If one considers that the German occupation cost us one million people dead and the total destruction of our country, how is it possible for us Greeks to accept Ms Merkel’s threats and the Germans’ intention to impose on us a new Gauleiter… This time wearing a tie…
And to prove just how rich a country is Greece and how hard working and conscious the Greek people (conscious of their Debt to Freedom and love of their country), I cite as an example the time of the German occupation from 1941 until October of 1944.
When the SS and hunger killed one million citizens and the Wehrmacht was systematically destroying the country, and stealing all its agricultural production and the gold from the Banks, Greeks saved the people from hunger by creating the National Solidarity Movement and a partisan army of 100.000, which tied down 20 German divisions in our country.
At the same time not only did Greeks manage to survive thanks to their hard work, but there was also a large growth in Modern Greek art -especially in literature and music- under the terrible conditions of the occupation.
Greece chose the path of self-sacrifice for the sake of freedom and simultaneously of survival.
That is when we were unnecessarily punished, and we responded with Solidarity and Resistance and we survived. Now we are doing exactly the same thing, with the certainty that the Greek people will be the ultimate victors. This is the message I am sending to Ms Merkel and Mr Schouble, declaring that I remain always a friend to the German People and a fan of their great contribution to Science, Philosophy, Art, and especially Music! And the ultimate evidence of that is probably that I have entrusted the whole of my musical work to two German Publishers, Schott and Breitkopf, who are among the greatest publishers of music in the world and my co-operation with them is extremely friendly.
They are threatening to throw us out of Europe. If Europe doesn’t want Greece to be a part of it, Greece, for her part, is 10 times more unwilling to be a part of this Merkel- Sarkozy Europe.
Today, Sunday February 12, 2012, I am about to take part in the demonstrations, along with Manolis Glezos, the hero who, in the past, took the swastika down from the Acropolis, signaling the beginning of resistance against Hitler, not only in Greece but throughout Europe. Today, our streets and our squares will be flooded with hundreds of thousands of citizens who will demonstrate their rage against the government and against theTroika.
I heard, yesterday, the banker-prime minister proclaiming to the Greek people that “we have reached point zero”. But who has led us to this ZERO point within two years? Those same people, who instead of having been imprisoned, blackmail the members of the parliament to sign the New Memorandum, which is even worse than the first one and which will be implemented by the same people following the same methodology which brought us to this point ZERO. Why? Because this is what the IMF and the Euro-Group dictates, blackmailing us that if we disobey, we will go bankrupt?This is a play of the theater of the absurd. All these parties who in fact hate us (foreigners and Greeks) and are the only ones responsible for the dramatic situation to which they have led our country, threaten and blackmail, aiming at continuing their devastating work, i.e. to lead us even beyond point ZERO, to our final elimination.
We have survived very difficult situations throughout the centuries and it is certain that if they lead us to the brink of death by force, Greeks will not only survive but they will be reborn.
At this point in time, I have devoted all my efforts to an attempt to dynamically unify the Greek people. I am trying to convince them that IMF and Troika is not a one-way street, that there is an alternative solution. And that solution is to radically change the course of our nation and turn towards Russia for economic co-operation and the setting up of joint ventures in order to exploit our natural wealth under beneficial terms that will safeguard our national interests.
As for Europe, I suggest we stop buying war material from Germany and France. And that we do everything in our power so that Germany pays back the war reparations they owe us and which currently amount to approximately -including the appropriate interest- 500 billion Euros.
The only force capable of effecting all these revolutionary changes is the Greek people, unified under a huge Front of Resistance and Solidarity in order to remove the Troika (the IMF and the European banks) from our country. At the same time all their illegal actions (loans, debts, interest, taxes, privatization of national wealth) should be considered as if they never took place. Naturally, their Greek partners, already condemned in our conscience as traitors, will have to be punished.
I am totally dedicated, body and soul, to this cause (the unification of the People in one Front) and I believe that I will be proved right in the end. I have fought, gun in hand, against Hitler’s occupation. I have experienced the Gestapo’s dungeons. I have been sentenced to death by Germans and have miraculously survived. In 1967 I founded PAF (The Patriotic Anti-dictatorial Front), the first resistance organization against the military junta. I fought underground, was caught and imprisoned in the junta’s “slaughterhouse”. Once again I survived.
I am today 87 years old and it is very possible that I will not live to see the salvation of my beloved country. But I will die with a clear conscience, because I will continue doing my Duty towards the ideals of Freedom and Justice until the end.
Athens, 12.2.2012

Occupy Wall Street - A snapshot of the Occupation Movement

          OCCUPY WALL STREET - THE 99%


Muhammad A. Al Mahdi: "In the subconscious current of the events, there are occasional signs of growing social awareness. As protests are held in all parts of the Western world, these currents are bound to gain ground and become solid."

The following update presents a snapshot of the current trends in the occupation movement and the different perspectives of participants and observers.

1) Occupation Live:

A local activist states that "serious lack of real political analysis by the folks who've stepped up to lead this thing and have consolidated their power since, has created an almost surreal environment of incredibly mainstream premises and very active silencing of radical voices and dissent. This has led to massive alienation and marginalization of not just radical voices but also of people of color. Right now these marginalized individuals have begun to organize in an attempt to decide where to from here. Each occupation is different. To say they are all this or that is not correct. There is also a tendency that those who are putting the public face of these occupations are not always the true representatives of that occupation nor it's true ideological representatives. There are serious class and gender power issues here around the utilization of media promoting these occupations. At least the occupation here is not revolutionary at all. They've occupied a park in front of city hall! And the cops have not cracked down under orders not to, so it's created a real false sense of security and harmony which has led to a real conservative and politically moderate tendency to become the dominant discourse. Last night they even left the park to let the city clean it because it had gotten dirty! The cops said move and let the cleaners clean this place or we'll arrest you...so they moved."

• 2) The Facts behind “Occupy Wall Street”    -       Article by Adrian Boutureira
  
  The 99 %- Economic Apartheid Truths Behind a Catchy Slogan
  
  US household wealth median net worth (net worth is assets minus debt) even after the bubble bust in 2009, was: $113,000 for whites, $6,300 for Hispanics and $5,600 for Blacks. In 2002, it was $134,000 for whites, $18,300 for Hispanics, and $12,100 for blacks.
  
  Moreover, about a third of black (35%) and Hispanic (31%) households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares had been 29% for blacks, 23% for Hispanics and 11% for whites.
  
  When we mobilize to occupy this, that, or the other across the nation these economic apartheid realities will not be absent in the power dynamics of those involved in the organizing...
  
  What one might aspire to have a particular occupation demand or accomplish as a young African American, and what tools and actions one might be prepared to utilize to attain these objectives as such, might not at all be what a young white person might be prepared to support in response to the protection of his or her own class interests...
  
  Leadership, therefore, must be closely monitored, not just for diverse racial composition, but for proven critical political analysis when executing said leadership under still entrenched and dominant paradigms of economic and racial oppression in our society.
  
  Middle and upper middle class whites' calls to reform a system which is now too negatively affecting them, could easily be seen as another way to call for protecting and safeguarding some of the same historical system processes, structures and institutions which have oppressed working class and people of color for centuries. While calls for radical change challenging the nature of the historical injustices of the system as a whole, most often led by people of color and the poor, sound to affluent whites as a dangerous threat to their blatant but now a little shaken historical race and class privilege and supremacy...Thus their need to silence these voices. These radical, disruptive, divisive voices stepping up to the General Assembly microphone and proposing all sorts of radical aberrations...Silence them at any cost. It is not what WE, the REAL 99% want...These "movement hijacking" voices must be undermined and demonized, lest affluent whites loose control of the dominance of the occupation's discourse...
  
  Understanding and internalizing revolutionary solidarity through commitments to first and foremost deconstructing not just class and race, but also all other systems of oppression in this occupation is the only sure pathway towards the formation of true alliances against all of the injustices of capitalism, historical and present, not just against those being experienced now by the white middle class after their college and retirement funds were gutted by the very policies and institutions they benefited from and supported for decades.
  
  What is Wall Street? Columbus was Not Wall Street? The genocide of Indigenous People and the raping of this land is not Wall Street? The disproportionate toxic burden of communities of color in the East Side is not Wall Street? Brutal gentrification is not Wall Street? Is this what some whites in the occupation want to believe when they said the Indigenous Day March was a hijacking of "THEIR" movement? I ask you why do they want or need to believe this so badly?
  
  Is this, and all other entrenched disconnects from the true race and class faces of capitalism's historical brutality so important for so many Austin whites in this occupation to adhere to truly out of a fear of divisions? Or is is maybe out of a fear that by establishing these true historical links, a completely different approach would be required for how we all look at the leadership composition of this so-called movement for change, and at how its present political premises and strategies are in reality being guided and informed by a desire to defend the bruised privilege of affluent whites and not by a desire for real revolutionary change?
  
  REAL radical movements demand critical and revolutionary thought and analysis, not the call for the perpetration of our privilege and supremacy enshrouded in catchy, but false slogans.
  
  Never again without us!

3) W. van Wijk, an international observer, warns against a split of the movement on ethnic lines:

"A revolutionary change demands a revolutionary party under proletarian leadership. It seems to me that the 99% movement is very broad and should stay that way and discussions should be promoted as the way forward, but splitting the movement on a racial basis seems not progressive to me. Black and white workers, together, should fight exploitation and the divide-and-rule policy of their capitalist rulers. They should unite in the struggle against the extra suppression of people of colour and women.

I wish you much wisdom."

4) Observers from Detroit state that their initial impression of the Occupation movement was that of "an elite thing, concerned with safeguarding upper class privileges, nothing to do with working class interests or people of color" and involving, among other none too progressive organisation, forces such as the Tea party. They emphasise that it is "not people of color, who are splitting the current movement."


5) Wall Street after a Month of Protests    -    Article by L.I.

For nearly a month, the Occupy Wall Street movement has been active and protesters are still camping out in cities and parks around the USA. The movement has become widely spread across the United States as it promotes marches in and through cities. 
After being ignored initially, the Occupy Wall Street movement has finally attracted the American media. However, Americans are feeling betrayed as their voice is marginalized and government is not responding to their calls, but is resorting, instead, to manipulating the social, political and ethnic diversity of the various groups that constitute the movement, which is lacking unifying factors, as well as agreement on basic issues. The traditional privileges, both socially and economically, of Americans of European descent are playing a key role in these tactics of infiltration and division. The threat of a split along ethnic lines is seen, by many observers, with great concern, as the current movement, they state, was “very broad and should stay that way, while discussions should be promoted as the way forward, but splitting the movement on a racial basis seems not progressive ... Black and white, European and non-European workers, together, should fight exploitation and the policy of divide-and-rule. They should be united in the struggle against the extra suppression of people of colour and women. These problems should be approached with perseverance, patience and wisdom.”

Whole families with children have joined the movement to demonstrate their conviction that the results will determine these children's future and thus, the future of generations. According to a poll conducted by Time Magazine, 54% of Americans approve of the protesters. 
After occupying Zuccoti Park for the last four weeks, protesters were asked to leave so the park could be cleaned up. However, they refused to do so, fearing that this would signify the end of the protest, as many of them pointed out that it would be fatal to trust the authorities in such situations. Although the movement has not produced any concrete results so far, it is indeed having a significant impact on American culture and public life. 
Americans are demanding social and economic justice in their country, as all indicators are pointing to the worse and unemployment keeps growing. They are still waiting for reforms, which may be hard to realize within the neo-liberal framework. Until then, Americans will continue to see the American dream being turned into a nightmare by the economic system. 

 

Will Palestine be the 194th UN state?

(Article by Ibtissem N. Brahimi)

MAHMOUD ABBAS has officially submitted Palestine's bid for full UN membership

On Friday, September 23, the Palestinian President,  Mahmoud Abbas, has presented the country's official bid for full membership of the United Nations  as an internationally recognized State of Palestine to the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Sixty-four years after the partition of Palestine, the bid, which seeks to finally enforce what has been granted by the same body back then, has been submitted to the assembly of the very nations under whose patronage the partition took place.

Israel immediately responded, expressing 'regret' at the Palestinian move. “We regret this approach,” said Gidi  Schmerling, the spokesman of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We believe that the only path to peace is through negotiations, not through unilateral acts,” he added.

Mahmoud Abbass, on his part, stated on Thursday during a meeting with a delegation of Americans of Palestinian origin: “The U.S. administration has done everything in its power to defeat this project. But we will go ahead despite the obstacles and political pressure because we want our rights; we are the only people in the world still under occupation.”

Both Israel and the United States are opposed to this initiative, claiming that a Palestinian state could only be the result of a peace agreement under Israeli auspices. US President Barack Obama lost no time to come to their aid by declaring that the USA will exercise its veto right in the Security Council  if necessary.

Palestinians are in a hopeful and a hopeless mood at the same time. They are hopeful because now the Palestinian cause is well known and recognized the world over, with a lot of countries giving their support to this cause, and hopeless because for them it’s obvious that USA will use its veto to prevent the Palestinian people from realizing their legitimate endeavor. They do so in full awareness that full UN membership of Palestine is a key condition for any progress in the peace negotiations and full Palestinian statehood is the only possible way for the Mid-East peace process to go anywhere. Their veto is therewith tantamount to a perpetuation of the Mid East conflict, which lies neither in the interest of Palestinians nor Israelis, nor, in the long run, in the interests of the United States themselves.

The result of this motion is expected on Wednesday.

Ibtissem N. Brahimi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9zS3paWgQAc&gl=GB 

Palestinian Statehood and full UN Membership Update

ABBAS SAYS  "ALL HELL BROKE LOSE" OVER PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD BID




Full UN membership of Palestine is a key condition for any progress in the negotiations and full Palestinian statehood is the only possible way for the Mid East peace process to get anywhere. Whoever boycotts Palestine on its way to statehood and full UN membership consciously, and in perfect awareness of the consequences of this step, perpetuates the Mid East conflict.


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Abbas+says+hell+broken+Palestine/5424640/story.html

Petition to vote in favour of Palestinian Statehood and Norway Analysis

Palestine Nation

Created 1 month, 3 weeks ago by @eel_deal

Description

Those signing here are asking President Obama to vote in favor of a Palestine Nation this September, and stop the US policy of using its UN veto power to keep Israel from having to act in accordance with just UN resolutions. US taxpayer money supporting illegal Israeli settlements is not only wrong, but perpetuates terrorism. It's time to stop postponing justice for Palestine.

Permalink http://twitition.com/qncgj
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ANALYSIS: NORWAY 

Western Apoligism, Racism and the Playing Down of Right Wing Political Terrorism

 

Wake up Europe!

 

 

Anders Behring Breivik, the author of the massacre and bomb attacks in Norway, is a political terrorist. Not just a "crazy person", not just an "Al-Qaeda like terroristic extremist", but a home-grown European political terrorist.

 

The heinous act committed was politically motivated and driven, not by madness or respect for the strategies of Al Qaeda, but by Europe-born extreme right wing beliefs. Beliefs grounded on a neo-fascist political philosophy which is nationalist and racist, and not unique to this one terrorist but part of a significant and growing movement across a collapsing continent. A continent again playing a very dangerous game of see no evil, hear no evil. A continent, which seems to systemically and historically prefer to ignore the true entrenchment in their societies of right wing fascist extremism until it’s too late.

 

A monstrous crime has been committed, and I repeat, a far right political crime. Committed by a racist, neo-fascist, ultranationalist, Christian fundamentalist. But we will never read that in  a news headline. No matter how many doctors are killed, or women clinics burned down, refugee centers bombed, or idealist youth gunned down at a summer camp, there will never be a Christian extremist violent attack on society framed as equally systemic, intentional and reflective of the sentiments of a mass movement as are other acts of terrorism from non-western or leftist ideology sources. We will have to be satisfied with Insane Person, or worse, A Random Killer’s Act of Islamic-like Terrorism! Yes, a random killer, which, as we come to find out on paragraph two, is also a member of a Christian fundamentalist, ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist movement. Not that any of that makes any difference, mind you. He is just a crazy, white, blond, blue eyed fluke, that’s all we really need to know. So shed your tears and move on, there is nothing further to make of this, except maybe figure out how to limit the flow of brown people immigration so our white natives wont get this restless…

 

This speaks volumes to the inherent racism with which the western media and dominant political establishment chooses to treat how terror is used by different actors as a political weapon for threatening a given society’s security and stability; People of Arab or middle eastern decent or with Islamic beliefs, and also those with far left convictions, are the ones that commit systemic and mass movement driven acts of terrorism. White, Christian, ultra-capitalist, right wing actors, even when targeting the state and not just minority groups, are doing insane “terroristic”, “horrific” things, i.e., being crazy white people and not practicing systemic terrorism as a political tool in response to the true sentiments of countless others just like them!

 

Therefore, the recent attack in Norway is not just a heinous act of political terrorism, but also, as anyone with their eyes open and who has spent any decent amount of time in Europe over the last couple of decades knows, this is not an “out of the blue” incident without a social reference or link to a wide movement supporting racist and xenophobic positions and political ideologies. Racially motivated crimes driven by fascist political principles, are not new to Europe. The scale of this particular barbarity is indeed unprecedented in northern Europe, but right wing violence, including deadly violence against immigrants (mainly those immigrant who are non white and of non-European origins), has increasingly become common place in all European social landscapes, including Norway’s.

 

 

I had conversations about this with truly dear friends on my last visit to Norway. Even as I myself one night became a target of obvious racist violence, my white Norwegian friends, all of honest progressive labour and socialist party stock, refused to accept that what had just occurred to me was part of a growing social trend in the country towards racially motivated violence. Instead, I was told how sorry everyone was than an intoxicated, violent person had attacked me for no reason…I suppose that the fact that this guy has swastikas tattooed on his arms and chose to target me as the only dark-skinned, non Norwegian person in a group of about 100 other people, spoke little to my friends as to the possible racial motives for this attack.

 

Interestingly enough, when I shared the same experience with other folks of color living in Norway, the story resonated as very familiar to them. I heard of similar attacks committed against them, ranging from insults from strangers driving by, racial profiling by authorities, to actual brutal acts of random assault and battery. I also heard about the perplexing denial by their white sisters and brothers about the race driven and socially consistent nature of such attacks.

 

There is no denying average white native Norwegians, regardless of their personal political orientation or personal non-racist stances, have one set of lived and perceived realities as members of the dominant group in what, even today, is still a largely racially homogeneous society by European standards. While those of other races or religious beliefs, including those with Norwegian citizenship, have a completely different set of everyday realities and experiences.

 

Stated this way, the experiential differences expressed above seem almost harmless. Yet, when the dominant culture refuses to take a real honest look at what these differences actually entail in terms of societal power dynamics, then they clearly become a very dangerous racist elephant in the room...The dominant group can afford to play this hide and seek game, rarely can the minority group being affected afford such luxuries of privilege…

 

 The refugee/immigration policies of the Norwegian state are not the issue here. A real analysis of the racial aspect of how Norwegian immigration policy is administered would require a whole different piece. It is indeed true that there are plenty of good government funded programs aimed at facilitating the integration into greater society of newly arrived refugees from all countries.  Yet according to most public opinion polls and reflected in recent election results, too much money and too many programs for most Norwegians. Racist resentment among the dominant group has an unchecked origin here. While the policies are good, little work has gone into truly deconstructing the racism that is fueling resentment against these initiatives and policies and the people benefitting from them.

 

At the individual level, significant numbers of interracial social relationships could indicate a disposition by a large number of individuals from the white dominant culture towards antiracist positions. Yet, these choices are mostly personal and always within the context of their own cultural dominant environment, i.e, from a position of power of the member of the dominant group in the choice and in the relationship. Individuals, as a whole, even when expressing their discontent with particular immigrant friendly policies, also do not see themselves as harboring any racist feelings. This does not mean that the various manifestations of racism have been fully understood and thus are being actively deconstructed by these individuals. Racism then, simply becomes a question of how one chooses to present itself to the rest of society on the race issue and not so much how much one has managed to comprehend and respond to the issue of racial supremacy in society. Therefore, part of their everyday reality remains untouched by a dialogue on the deeper racist constructs in society that involve complex and often very subtle racial power dynamics that can prove devastating to the psyche of the member of the minority, but inconsequential to that of the member of the dominant group,

 

Individual declarations of lack of racism in a mostly homogeneous culture, merely means that member of the dominant group is not him/herself being affected by racism, and thus he declaration suffices to let the issue of racism become inconsequential…That is, until something like this happens, but even now,  the fact that the killer targeted whites –as traitors to their race-, lends itself for many to have already begun to play down the true racist and nationalistic motivation of this attack and begin to treat it as a tragedy perpetrated by one mentally ill Norwegian on all healthy Norwegians.  It remains to be seen if the Norwegian people will rise to the occasion and come to understand this horrible tragedy as a manifestation (while indeed extreme still a real manifestation), of deep rooted latent racist sentiments in their society that have for too long been ignored.

 

The failure of all Europeans to look at this incident for what it really is, an act of violence committed by a member of a well established and growing neo-fascist movement,  and to understand that fear of  violence is a daily reality for many people of color living in their countries, would only fuel the escalation of such violent racism. It is also not something which states alone can fix through just laws and legislation, even if it was trying to. Generous governmental policies alone cannot change how racism plays itself out in their streets, in popular culture, in how society is affected when the dominant group chooses to manifest their privilege and turn a blind eye to what lies in front of them and pretend that nothing at all is happening.

 

Real comprehensive antiracism and multicultural education and self-education at all levels of society is urgently needed. Norway and other European countries have, in recent decades, grown more and more diverse, yet generally speaking, most of what we see in terms of educational policies focus on the immigrants or refugees themselves. To be fair, In Norway for instance, there are also some education programs for children about the cultures of the main immigrant communities present in their communities, but this is not comprehensive antiracism education. This does not deconstruct racism as a relationship of power or privilege of which everyone is part including those in the dominant group who feel they are not racist. This type of feel-good, we are all the same type of approach, does not necessarily result in the dominant culture individual looking at how they, as a member of the dominant culture, practices and benefits from cultural and racial privilege every day;  how this privilege shields them and protects them from countless social and economic affronts, humiliations and discrimination; how it impacts the social and power relationships of their communities as a whole, and in particular, the lives and social psychology of its minorities.

 

I recognize that I am not an academic authority in European racism or racial relations. Yet it is my experience, personal and political, that there has been very little momentum for the development of a social or institutional movement around deep deconstruction of racism in European culture. Quite the opposite, it would seem like, even now, after this horrible experience, most people don’t feel this is a really necessary exercise for their societies to have to go through. The popular notion is that immigrants are still being treated well and benefiting from the generosity and kindness of their governments and communities and that generally speaking “real”” racism remains an underground and random far right phenomenon, not a problem in their communities. Therefore, a problem needing to be dealt by law enforcement and not by in- depth collective introspection and a real understanding of the constant manifestation of racism in one’s own everyday life, at one’s dinner table…

 

 Until the inherent danger in this type of entrenched denial becomes clear to liberal Europeans and they begin to move beyond paternalism and towards real comprehensive society-wide racism education and deconstruction, Europeans will continue to experience both, the rise of racist sentiment in their societies- already way beyond just the far right element-, and the multiplicity of barbarities that often accompany it. Particularly in periods of economic instability and social transformation such as the ones we are presently living, when the confusion and fears of the general population and the complacency of its supposedly progressive sectors, can both become easy targets and dangerous weapons at the hands of unrepentant fascist demagogues and racist political opportunists.   

A. Boutureira Sansberro

Poisoned

By: Adrian Boutureira Sansberro

Poisoned  War video games twisted,  fantasy killing sickness turned deadly reality, a body full of steroids, a mind filled with poison.  Ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist, fundamentalist Christian convictions being played down...nothing to do with that. Anisolated, disconnected incident, a fluke, not here, not us, just one sick madman. Maybe. Not sure. No. I don’t believe it.  Extreme, calculated madness, a politically delirious product all too common, all too possible. Not just one and only now, but too many and for too long. I've seen those eyes and know those words....  Not new, this murderous supremacist madness. From fears imagined or fabricated, to all too real mass murder. Never accidental, always politically intentional. Always deeply intellectualized. Painful, and sadly, not surprising...A guided missile destroys a whole Afghan village from a thousand miles away; A Palestinian child is run over by a tank, and then, one day, it's the guy next door that is lining up teenagers to shoot them with a semi-automatic gun.  The words of the madman, frightening historic echo we can't afford to ridicule…" Aryan utopia lost to refugees and immigrant mongrel races and their multiculturalist Marxist state enablers at the service of Islamic imperialism. We must defend the father land, its heritage, its traditions, its culture… How much more can we and other Europeans afford to lose and surrender before all is lost?  The spirit of the crusades must rise again…A real blow must be dealt to all the enemies of Christian White Europe, foreign and native alike. We shall show no mercy…”   Almost ridiculously dismissible, if it wasn’t so frightening real, if it wasn’t so much more than just the twisted thoughts of one singular deranged man.  If it was a book of fiction instead of a true manifestation of the violent hate and ignorance of thousands; a frightening true reflection of something that for too long has been there brewing, festering across a whole continent…not even all that well disguised, it lives next door, sometimes in our own homes, yet denied and all too dangerously ignored by millions…   Fascism.  

 Adrian Boutureira, July 23, 2011  

Gutting Greece's Public Sector and Assets- A country up for sale...

 I.


via Adrian Boutureira

 AB News St Helena, July 1st, 2011   Following is an overview of the structural adjustments affecting the public sector demanded from the EU and the IMF in order for the Greek government to receive the bailout funding.   These cuts are part of a set of broader measures, including tax increases across the board, which aim to cut around 25,500 million euros and generate around 50,000 million in quick cash from privatizing state owned assets and resources:   The state will cut 125,000 public service jobs. That's around 25% of the total public employees work force.   Public employee salaries, which were recently cut by 12 % already, will see further cuts. (the total % yet undecided)   There will be several cuts in social services amounting to 4000 million euro through 2015, and additional 500 million in subsidies to state organisms, and another 855 million through the closing (they call it "merging") of public schools, hospitals, technical institutes, police stations, and other public institutions.   2,100 million more cut from prescription medicine assistance.   This year alone, 850 million in public investment projects have been frozen.   As the NATO country with the highest % of GNP invested in military expenditure, 4 %, military expenses will be reduced by 1,200 million euro through 2015, which is really insignificant, but where the military drew the line in their deal with this plan...After all, they are the caretakers of the capitalist's interests, so they can get messed with too much...   PRIVATIZATION Galore. Greece will be privately owned!    Perhaps worse of all, and I think what it was the IMF was after, the Greek government will sell to the highest bidder almost all the state's  profitable enterprises: The Lottery, several key ports, water plants of the two major cities, it's major bank, oil refineries, the electrical company, the airports, the highways,  mine exploitation rights, and public lands and other real state...mmmm, not much left of the national patrimony. Sounds like all national assets will be put in the auctioning block by 2015.    

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II.

via Gaza Youth Breaks Out (GYBO)

The actions of the governments of Greece and England against the freedom flotilla and Sheikh Raed Salah show the level of collaboration among all countries [ruled by governments with a neo-liberal agenda] against Palestine and the pro Palestine activists. 

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III.

via Muhammad A. Al Mahdi

The struggle continues in Greece. Greece, Middle-Eastern in economy and culture, finds herself in the merciless claws of European expansionism and is torn to pieces by it. The country's absorption into the European Union is the result of the ruling elite's betrayal of the national interests and stands in vivid contradiction to all realities on the ground. The price these elites are happily willing to pay for their economic advance is nothing less than the destruction of Greece, who is victimised to cover up the antagonistic contradictions intrinsic to the EU system, and degraded to the poorhouse of Europe in order to camouflage the bluff of the common European currency, which is based on funds that, for the greater part, simply do not exist. The single European currency is founded on speculation, as is the entire neo-liberal economy. This is why it cannot but collapse. 

To the eltites, this collapse will be the profit of the century. To the people, who are meant to pay for it, it is the end of their existence.

In the motherland of democracy, an entire population has been coerced into a straightjacket they reject and popular protests are suppressed with the utmost brutality. But we know that the freedom-loving people of Greece shall not bow to the whip of tyranny, and we know that their great and ancient culture is resilient to the assaults of this barbarism stripped of all values and ruling by destruction alone.

Brothers and sister in the land that is the doorstep to the East, sons and daughters of Hellenic civilisation, know that your call for liberation is echoed by the Middle East's insurgents. The breaking of your chain is the breaking of our chain too. Know that your struggle is the struggle of all revolutionary classes the world over, for our cause is one and the same. Humanity shall not be enslaved and the East shall not be conquered. Down with the EU! Down with its merciless yoke! For a united Middle East! For global unity in the global struggle for justice!

Note on the release of Manal Ash-Sharif, arrested for driving in Saudi Arabia + Hannah Allam on the "Arab Spring"

Manal Ash-Sharif, arrested for transgressing the Saudi law banning women from driving, has been released in response to mounted public pressure on June 6, al hamdu li'llah. But it is a drop of water on a hot stone. There has been a consolidation of the Bahraini regime, as the Arab revolution has failed to shake the forces of reaction due to a lack of structure and organisation. May this generation understand that an ideological foundation is crucial to the success of any revolutionary movement; a foundation which neither Twitter nor Facebook can sufficiently compensate for. The forces of reaction are gaining in consistence, as far as strategy is concerned. They have overcome the first moment of surprise and are increasingly apt at dealing with the situation. What we need is no random actions and no avoidable blood shed but a consistent strategy of resistance with a long term-focus. Revolution until victory!


We would like to reproduce the following article by Hannah Allam providing a critical analysis of the recent developments. The article raises crucial questions that merit our consideration:

'Arab Spring' push for democracy stalls as regimes dig in

 

BY HANNAH ALLAM

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

CAIRO, Egypt -- As the Arab Spring melts into a bloody summer, the popular rebellions that erupted across the Middle East are still forcing modest concessions from autocratic regimes, but they aren't likely to result in broad democratization anytime soon, activists and political analysts say.

Arab rulers of countries in revolt are digging in for long, lopsided fights, betting that they can wear down the protesters and survive the turmoil. The outlook for the next phase of the uprising looks grim: a protracted civil war with Western involvement in Libya, a ruthless state killing spree in Syria, a resurgence of violence and militia authority in Iraq, and a dangerous presidential limbo in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia silenced murmurs of unrest early on, allowing it to focus on the decisive crackdown against protesters in neighboring Bahrain. Other kingdoms, such as Jordan and Morocco, appear stable despite bursts of anti-government activity.

Tunisia and Egypt, where protesters toppled their governments quickly and fueled the wider revolts, aren't exactly success stories, either. Both North African nations are struggling with security vacuums and political disarray just months before scheduled elections.

Political observers who once spoke excitedly about the wave of peaceful protests transforming the region are now invited on panels to debate a gloomier topic: Is the Arab Spring over?

"The phrase 'Arab Spring' is supposed to suggest a certain kind of movement, change, democratization, people enjoying greater freedoms, but none of that's happening anymore," said Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution's Doha Center in Qatar. "I don't think we should delude ourselves that the Arab revolts are going well because they're not. The opposition is being destroyed across the Middle East."

After the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt fell in quick succession, many observers predicted that other Arab leaders would learn from the deposed leaders' mistakes and respond to protest movements by opening dialogue with opposition groups and introducing real preemptive reforms. As the months ground on, however, the opposite happened.

Nervous autocrats closed ranks with their militaries and set about crushing the popular revolts, garnering only muted U.S. and international criticism even when they used lethal force.

Bahrain's ruling Khalifa family called in Saudi-led Gulf troops to help put down a revolt in the tiny, Shiite-majority island kingdom. The Sunni royal family's vicious sectarian backlash - widely censured by human rights activists - already has inflamed nearby Iran, as well as Shiites in Iraq and Lebanon.

The peaceful protests in Libya and Yemen quickly became armed conflicts, eclipsing the demand for democratic reforms. The same scenario could unfold in Syria, where President Bashar Assad's forces on Friday laid siege to a rebellious town near the Turkish border.

On Friday, Syrian forces shelled the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour and fired on protesters in other cities, killing more than 30 people, according to news reports.

Syrian state media and protesters acknowledged an attack on a police station and other government buildings in another northern town, Maaret al Numan; the government said "gunmen" staged the assault, according to news reports. Huge crowds of protesters also overwhelmed security forces in Egypt and other countries that experienced large-scale rebellions, but typically using only light makeshift weapons - not live ammunition.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/11/2262268/arab-spring-push-for-democracy.html#ixzz1P3S3kJrG