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Hundreds of thousands protest throughout Brazil - World Socialist Web Site

Monday’s mass protests broadened and deepened a wave of smaller protests that were initially launched in response to transit fare hikes implemented by various city governments across the country, most notably in São Paulo.

These first demonstrations were staged in reaction to seemingly small price increases for use of public transportation, averaging between 5 and 10 cents (in US dollars) per ticket.

Much as in the events surrounding the protests in Turkey’s Taksim square, the brutal repression unleashed against these initial demonstrators by Brazil’s military police helped trigger nationwide anger. As a result the greatest number took to the streets since at least the 1992 demonstrations demanding the impeachment of then-President Fernando Collor de Mello and possibly since the 1984 mass movement demanding direct elections at the end of the military dictatorship.

The protests on Monday expressed far more general grievances, decrying rampant government corruption, lack of adequate basic services, widespread poverty and the squandering of billions in state funds on the construction of lavish stadiums for the Confederations Cup and World Cup soccer tournaments instead of investing in education and healthcare. At the heart of these grievances lies the immense gulf between the wealthy ruling class and the working population in this country of 200 million, which is one of the most socially polarized in the world.

Slogans in Monday’s protests expressed the profound divide which exists between the Brazilian working class and the political representatives of its corrupt ruling elite. One sign read, “You do not represent me.” Another much publicized slogan said: “We don’t need the world cup. We need money for hospitals and education.”

Brazil’s Military Police brutally cracked down on the first protests in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, firing rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators. Hundreds were arrested in last week’s demonstrations and at least 100 injured.

There were also violent police attacks on journalists in São Paulo. At least 15 journalists were injured by rubber bullets, police batons, tear gas and pepper spray over the weekend. They charged that they had been deliberately targeted by the Military Police. One journalist was reportedly hit by a police car, and another was blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet.

After it became clear that the police violence was helping fuel the growth of the protest movement, the police in both cities attempted a more hands-off approach to Monday’s mass demonstrations. Demonstrators took up the chant, “What a coincidence, no police, no violence.”

In Belo Horizonte, however, police Monday formed a blockade on a road leading to the Mineirão soccer stadium, where a match was in progress between Tahiti and Nigeria. Despite a pledge in advance not to use violence, the police used teargas and rubber bullets when protesters crossed the blockade. Before the police crackdown, the demonstration had gone on for five hours with no violence on the part of protesters.

The Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) government which has run the country for the past ten years, first under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and now with Dilma Rousseff, who took office as president in January 2011, has sought to cover over Brazil’s sharp social tensions with minimal social assistance for the country’s poorest and the promise that the rise of Brazilian capitalism on the world stage would bring general prosperity to the population.

This myth has been dramatically undermined over the past year by economic stagnation combined with rampant inflation. With the country’s economic growth falling to 0.6 percent in the first quarter, industrial production has fallen, triggering layoffs. The official inflation rate has hit 6.5 percent, with many charging that the real increase in prices is double that. Interest rates are rising, and spending freezes are being put into

via www.wsws.org

ULTRA-magnetic FCs: The Soccer Fans at the Heart of Turkey’s Uprising | The Nation

There are differences between the ultra revolts in Egypt and Turkey. Unlike in Egypt, the Turkish soccer fan clubs have historically been a magnet for people wanting a more liberalized, secular rule of law. Perhaps because they share this connective tissue, there is another critical difference: unlike in Egypt, the Turkish ultra clubs have all united in very rapid order. This isn’t Tahrir, where for days rival ultra clubs would organize on opposite sides of the square, until their hatred was worn down by the necessity of standing together against the police. In Turkey, from the start, the ultra clubs hailing from the city’s most pugnaciously oppositional clubs—Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce—marched arm-in-arm under the slogan “Istanbul United.”

For the people occupying in Taksim, their entry was not only welcome, it was desperately needed. Bagis Erten, a reporter for Eurosport Turkey, was quoted by Middle Eastern soccer blogger James M. Dorsey as saying, “It was a critical moment. Supporters of all the big teams united for the first time against police violence. They were more experienced than the protesters, they fight them regularly. Their entry raised the protesters’ morale and they played a leading role.”

This development must be giving Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan night sweats. The ultras normally interact only when they’re trading chants, curses or blows. Instead, they arrived looking more like mass-street-combat organizations than anything that could be described antiseptically as “fans.” They set up barricades, threw back tear gas canisters and protected the core of protesters from violence. As one 18-year-old ultra said, “We are normally enemies, but this has really brought us together. It’s never happened before.”

The fan group known as Çarşi has reportedly led this uniting of the ultras. Çarşi is also the ultra group most associated with the political left. Just so there is no doubt about where they stand, the "a" in Çarşi is the anarchism is the anarchism symbol and their slogan is “Çarşi is against everything!” Tensions were already extremely high between Çarşi and the security police when a post-match march, after their team Beşiktaş J.K. was victorious, strayed too close to Erdogan party headquarters, resulting in more gassing and violence than the typical ultra/police skirmish.

To be clear, ultras across the globe reflect at best a very mixed consciousness. Although some are explicitly left-wing, others explicitly fascist and most proudly apolitical, they all carry features of hyper-masculine fight-clubs. That can be heard in Taksim in the chants they raise at the state police, like, “You can use you tear gas bombs, you can use your tear gas bombs/ Have courage if you are a real man/ Take off your helmet and drop your batons/ Then we’ll see who the real man is.”

via www.thenation.com

The Free Republic of Taksim | Turkish Revolution

Istanbul, June 9. 0707 hrs.

Dear people,

All night we strolled along the streets of Gezi, and never for a moment did my amazement subside. I am so happy to be here. This thing is much bigger than I imagined. It’s pure love.

Here you have gays and lesbians next to anticapitalist muslems. You have trotzkyists and kemalists and anarchists all eating at the same table. You have nationalists, ecologists, students, workers, feminists, etc. They dance together in circles, having the time of their lives. And of course you have the football supporters, let’s not forget them. The three big teams from Istanbul are all here, Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. They were sworn enemies not so long ago, and now they sing and chant as brothers, united against prime minister Erdogan and the police.

This is actually a police car.

The Besiktas supporters in particular are an important part of the uprising’s muscle. During the clashes, they captured two police panzers. First they used them to push the burned buses into place, then they sold them on eBay.

All ages are here at Gezi Park, and all ages are occupying around the clock. There are hundreds and hundreds of tents, every green space has been taken. There are thousands of people awake at any given hour, talking, laughing and drinking. The prime minister has said that everyone who drinks is an alcoholic. So once in a while at night, a group of people bursts into cheers as they lift their glasses. “This one is to you, Tayyip!”

At the moment, Taksim Square is what anarchists call a ‘Temporary Autonomous Zone’. In other words, it’s a bubble in time and space wherein freedom has been achieved. It won’t last forever, but it will give rise to other bubbles. And so on. Until it boils. Until the whole damn system has evaporated.

This bubble was created by people who are fed up with being brutally repressed for any type of dissent. For years and years, tear gas has been the government’s approved remedy against protest. But people have grown resistant. They rose up, they stood their ground, and now they are the only legitimate authority in the square. To give you an example of this, look at the banners. Many of the left wing parties present at Gezi Park are officially outlawed. The memory of their revolutionary leaders is banned by the state. You can go to jail for commemorating the day of their death. Now, their images are displayed, four stories high, from the buildings surrounding Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square. This was not even imaginable, two weeks ago.

via spanishrevolution11.wordpress.com

Unemployment, lack of education lead to higher US mortality rate - World Socialist Web Site

The report, Explaining the Widening Education Gap in Mortality Among U.S. White Women, found that the odds of dying at a given age are drastically higher for uneducated white women than they are for educated white women.

In the period between 2002 and 2006, uneducated women had a 66 percent higher chance of death. This figure is a sharp increase from the period from 1997 to 2001 when the rate was 37 percent.

In 2006, the official unemployment rate for women stood at 4.4 percent. Seven years later and five years after the financial crash, the official unemployment rate now stands at 6.7 percent. Real unemployment and underemployment are significantly higher. The study from the Journal of Health and Social Behavior analyzed data only up to 2006, meaning that the divergence in mortality rates between rich and poor is almost certainly higher than the study reports.

This divergence is even more severe for white women who do not have a high school diploma. Another recent report in the journal Health Affairs estimates that members of this group suffered a five year loss in life expectancy between 1990 and 2008.

The National Center for Health Statistics surveyed 47,000 women between the ages of 45 to 84. More than a dozen factors were taken into consideration, many of which are linked to social-psychological conditions, health behaviors, and economic circumstances such as poverty, alcohol consumption, and homeownership.

According to the study, joblessness has a significantly higher impact on mortality rates than other factors, even when controlling for obesity, alcohol consumption, poverty, and income. In fact, joblessness is as much an indicator of the difference in mortality rates as smoking cigarettes.

“What is it about employment that has this huge impact on mortality, beyond the material resources it brings?” asked Jennifer Karas Montez, the study’s lead author.

According to the report, stable employment creates higher self-esteem, and more importantly, access to a social network. Employed people are also significantly less likely to experience unnecessary family stress.

Divorce is directly tied to unemployment. A recent study by economists Kerwin Charles and Melvin Stephens in the Journal of Labor Economics showed that the probability of a divorce when the husband has lost his job increases to 18 percent. When the wife loses her job, that rate is 13 percent.

In addition, those who are jobless are at a higher risk of accidents, suicide, and cardiovascular diseases.

via www.wsws.org

Ultras: The Surprise Kids Of Turkey’s Uprising - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

From apolitical fanaticism to pivot of revolt

Other common aspects could be mentioned, but the most striking one is that football fans — the ultras — were at the forefront as a pivotal force. We witnessed the same in Egypt in 2011. The arrival of Al Ahli and Zamalek to the scene swayed the course of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak. When Mubarak’s camel-riding axmen stormed Tahrir Square on Feb. 2, 2011, it was the Ultras Ahlawy who shielded the protesters. Experienced in confronting the police, they galvanized the revolt. The more nationalist and statist Al-Masry club sided with Mubarak, while Al Ahli displayed an oppositional profile. Ultras White Knight, the Zamalek ultras, also took to Tahrir against “the last pharaoh,” alongside Ultras Ahlawy. That Zamalek was the club of the elites and the army could not stop the eruption of the “socialist” core lying deep down in the ultras.

Astounding outburst

The surprise outburst of Turkey’s football fanatics during the Gezi Park revolt caught everybody off-guard. The fans of archrivals Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas came under the spotlight not only for shielding inexperienced protesters but also for the alliances they formed against the police violence. The fans of one club clashed with the police for the fans of another. According to Radikal journalist Hakki Ozdal, solidarity between football clubs in street unrest is not unprecedented. “The solidarity between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray fans goes back to May Day demonstrations in 2007 and 2008, when they jointly confronted police near Taksim Square. They now find it strange that this is regarded as something new. Clashing with police after almost every match, those groups have mastered defense tactics. They have become skilled against the police’s pepper-gas grenades and riot control vehicles, the TOMAs. That’s how they emerged at the forefront of the latest clashes,” Ozdal told Al-Monitor.

Socialist spirit resurfaces from the depths

But who are the ultras? What was it that drew fanatics, perceived as apolitical, right into the eye of a political brawl? According to Ozdal, the prevailing profile among the ultras is represented by “political adolescents, that is, people hailing from leftist-socialist tradition who have lost touch with their political organizations but have not ceased to be political.”

The Besiktas neighborhood, a scene of violent resistance against police, is the main breeding ground of the Carsi Group, the ultras of the Besiktas club. Even though Carsi brings together fans from all social segments, it could be described as a coalition of former members of social-democrat, leftist and communist groups whose ideological backgrounds have faded as they lost their organizational links.

The Carsi label has come to be used across Turkey, but the dominant body in Besiktas’ spectator stands is left-leaning. That’s why they have been influential in various civic events, including demonstrations against the planned nuclear power plants. In the Carsi Group, you might equallyy come across former members of the defunct [far-left] Dev-Sol and Kemalists supporting the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Carsi is one of the reasons why the Gezi resistance concentrated in Besiktas. The other is that the neighborhood is a CHP stronghold. The common trait of Carsi members is that they are all “worried seculars” opposed to the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Besiktas is a meeting point, a sort of a third path, for vibrant and restless youngsters looking for an alternative other than Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. The fact that Besiktas is a club of more modest means compared to Galatasaray and Fenerbahce appeals to left-leaning youth.

via www.al-monitor.com

Volkan Celebi: a new commune at the horizon of communism

A Short Observation For Taksim Civil Resistance:

What I see here is a majority of a-political youth movement, highly educated and secular. The activists from feminist, ecologist, animal right activists, old-school Marxist and revolutionary leftist, secular modernist are the minority but the real power of organizational event.

I see here how a new commune within this technology-based world is possible. I see how mainstream media is collapsing before twitter.

I see how the nature makes people come together, I see how a plurality of multitudes exhibit themselves in many creative and free moments. 

I see how super-conductor and super-transparent plural-espacements are possible within a common future. 

I see how people become themselves and everybody in full solidarity. I see how the reality of capitalist world dissolves into a communal good and institutionalisation of human: human-institutionalisation. 

I see how a new horizon of communist society rises. I see how the world becomes this-worldly, not other worldly, and I see the pure beauty of immanence and joy of life. I see how a material goodness is possible. 

I see, life of the self here becomes much more than its delay and failure; human self is not delaying to itself now and human beings are not shadows anymore following their selfish and non-communal interests/selves in their daily ordinary lives. We are in life, with life, with ourselves. We are past, present and future in a multi-heteronomic happy society.

What I see finally is how freedom is actualized only on the horizon of being together, being-in-common. The end of selfish, egoistic freedom, and solitude of life in non-virtual flows...

Our bodies are heavier, vigilant, sensitive, attentive, our spirits are free, passionate and proximal more than ever. I see how our bodies together become the real alternative of the current reality.

Our steps are more responsible, we feel the whole power this resistance puts on our shoulders.  

Our sleeps are shorter, our lifes are longer. And our sense-s are deeper than ever.

We united in/with/ our differences, our differences became our real power. "Difference" has now become a new form of equality.

I now see and ask a simple question: "What is this human, who is this human?" This human is not of the world of neo-liberal capitalism. 

It is now our duty to give its place to this coming human... 

Everwhere is Taksim, Everywhere is Resistance.

Volkan Çelebi

Occupy Gezi: The Limits of Turkey’s Neoliberal Success

The people who initiated the protests (and are now in control of Taksim) are well aware of these dangers, as some of them are activists with years of experience. The public declarations they issue squarely focus on urban transformation, police brutality, and authoritarianism, though these declarations get lost in the muddle of huge protests throughout the country. These experienced activists are coming up against two stumbling blocks:

First, there, are the structural issues and successful hegemonic political moves that have so far divided protests against urban transformation. It is still very difficult, due to reasons which I hope to analyze elsewhere, to construct one consistent block against urban transformation with an alternative vision of development, urbanization, and nature. Class, culture, locality, and much else cut off the people who are suffering from urban transformation from each other. Unlike the governing party and its technicians, who have a bird’s-eye view of how the suffering is connected, they know very little of each other. It is not easy to both sustain and popularize Occupy Gezi if it remains integrating urban questions.

Second, and perhaps as big of an issue, is Turkey’s peace process with the Kurds. The government and its liberal allies spread the propaganda that the current demonstrations are against the peace process. Actually, it is not hard to believe that some of the disjointed Turkish masses pointed out above were partially motivated with an opposition against peace with the Kurds (as well as many other things, including alcohol regulations). However, the groups who are still in control of Taksim have defended peace for decades, when the Turkish state (including the new regime) was fighting its bloody battles against the Kurds. In this context, dishonesty would be a light word for the liberal ideologues of the new regime who accuse the protests of warmongering. Yet, even though there are many Kurdish activists in Taksim today (along with hundreds of others mobilized elsewhere in support of the protests), most Kurds have not joined the protests, out of fear that they will eventually derail the peace process. Nobody can blame them, as Kurds have been paying a high price for a long time. One of Occupy Gezi’s most difficult tasks will be finding a way to draw the Kurds in without alienating a crushing majority of the non-leftists who have given the movement a part of its life force. This is a multi-class and cross-ideological movement against authoritarianism and marketization. The movement has no reason to exclude some upper-middle class and elite factions (who unevenly benefit and suffer from marketization and authoritarianism), but these latter might willingly opt out if the Kurds weigh in (which is a small likelihood to begin with).

Occupy Gezi sits in a privileged position when confronting these issues. On the one hand, unlike Occupy Wall Street and other similar movements throughout the West, many of the activists do not reject traditional forms of political organization and calculation (even though such sentiments are widespread among some of the younger leading protesters in Taksim). Such abstentionism from formal politics cost dearly to Western movements of the last couple of years. Unlike Arab protesters, on the other hand, Turkish and Kurdish activists have been living and breathing under a semi-democracy, so have a lot of everyday political experience under their belts. In short, “the leaderless revolution” has not arrived in Turkey. The disadvantage of Occupy Gezi, though, is that it is facing a much more hegemonic neoliberal regime when compared to the Western and Arab regimes. Turkish conservatives have been much more successful in building a popular base and a militant (but pragmatic) liberal-conservative intelligentsia (when compared to their fanatical and shallow counterparts in the West, not even to speak of their inexperienced counterparts in

via www.jadaliyya.com

Walmart files restraining order against protesting labor groups — MSNBC

This week, labor activists from around the country are converging on Bentonville, Ark. in an attempt to disrupt Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting and draw attention to the plight of striking Walmart employees.

But if those protesters decide to enter any Walmarts in Arkansas, they’d better be planning on buying something; thanks to a ruling by the state’s Benton County Circuit Court, members of the labor group OUR Walmart and the labor union UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) are forbidden from doing anything on Walmart property other than shopping.

Striking Walmart employees will still be allowed to picket under the terms of the restraining order [PDF] approved by Judge John Scott on Monday. But OUR Walmart, UFCW, and “all other persons or entities who act in concert with them” are prohibited from joining the workers. While the order doesn’t get more specific than that, such a broad classification could include national coalition partners such as American Rights At Work (ARAW), local grassroots organizations, laid-off Walmart employees, and employees of Walmart contractors.

“It’s very disconcerting that they’re tacking this tack,” said ARAW research director Erin Johansson. “We’ve covered a lot of companies who have tried to silence their employees when standing up, and I’ve never seen them go after community leaders this way.”

Johansson is the author of an ARAW report, issued last month, which claims that Walmart has attempted to “curb freedom of speech and assembly” through the systematic use of trespass lawsuits against protesters. Groups like UFCW, OUR Walmart and state-level affiliates of the Jobs with Justice coalition have been the target of such lawsuits, while former employees have received written trespassing warnings and been handcuffed.

via tv.msnbc.com

Global capitalist crisis drives China’s pro-market reform - World Socialist Web Site

A major US demand is to dismantle China’s 120 largest “state monopolies”—a goal laid out in a report, China 2030, which Li worked on together with the World Bank last year. With state firms in strategic sectors such as energy, telecommunications and railways holding trillions of dollars of assets, their privatisation would be a major bonanza for top CCP bureaucrats—as well as for their business partners in Wall Street investment banks.

Many current and former CCP leaders’ children, active as private equity or investment banking executives in speculating on state-owned assets and resources, could take over huge assets in the new privatisations.

Xi and Li, who are implementing this policy, are fitting representatives of the parasitic “red aristocracy” which emerged inside the CCP since the restoration of capitalism under Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. Xi represents one of the most hated social types in China: a “princeling,” a child of the previous generation of top bureaucrats who have amassed power and wealth since capitalist restoration.

A pupil of leading free-market economist Li Yining, Li Keqiang helped articulate the official doctrine in the 1990s that justified the last wave of privatisation that destroyed tens of millions of jobs.

China’s business elite, closely intertwined with CCP officialdom, is trying to break free of the remaining state structures inside which they accumulated their wealth. Free-market policies would not only permit intensified exploitation of workers and higher profit rates, but also give a firmer juridical foundation for the private wealth they have built up in China.

By adopting such a policy, the CCP is setting itself on a collision course with the working class. Pressures for higher output, wage cuts and high unemployment already lead to frequent clashes between strikers and police. So-called “mass incidents” doubled from 90,000 in 2006 to 180,000 in 2010, according to the latest figures.

Writing in the Western press, the CCP makes clear the dangers it foresees. Deng Yuwen, a former deputy head of the CCP Central Party School wrote in the Financial Times that if the government made any major policy mistake, “no one can guarantee that a revolution will not break out. Besides, even if a nationwide upheaval can be avoided, fierce social turbulence might still arise locally. If the ruling party fails to cope with these outbursts, they could snowball into a revolution.”

Intimations of coming revolutionary struggles of the working class testify to the historic bankruptcy of the CCP’s Stalinist perspective of “building socialism in a single country” after the 1949 revolution. In the final analysis, the CCP bureaucracy re-established capitalism, amid the social conflicts and working-class struggles of the 1970s, because—as the great Marxist Leon Trotsky had pointed out—it was impossible to find the resources within any individual country to build a socialist society.

via www.wsws.org

translatingtaksim | Information from Turkey. In English. Referenced Sources. By volunteers. No political party, ideology or NGO. For Freedom of Speech. For Peace

The Portrait of Protesters: Young, Libertarian and Furious at the Prime Minister

An online survey participated by 3000 protesters reveals that the actual motive behind protests is the Prime Minister’s authoritarian attitudes.

The online survey prepared by Esra Ercan Bilgiç and Zehra Kafkaslı, academicians at Istanbul Bilgi University, reveals the profile of protesters and their demands. According to the preliminary results of the survey answered by 3000 protesters in 20 hours, protesters are not members or supporters of any political party as it was claimed by the Prime Minister Mr. Erdoğan.

39.6% of the participants are aged between 19 and 25 and 24% of them are between  26 and 30.  75.8% of the participants were actively involved in the street protests. 53.7% of them  said they had never attended any mass protests before. While 70% of the protesters do not sympathize with any political parties, only 15.3% of them sympathize with a political party.

The participants were also asked which motives were effective in their taking part in the protests. They were asked to choose among the options ‘I definitely agree’, ‘I agree’, ‘I am uncertain’ and ‘I do not agree’. The ones who definitely agree that the Prime Minister’s authoritarianism were effective were in the first place with 92.4%. 91.3% of them definitely agree that disproportionate force by the police was effective. 91.1% said that violation of democratic rights led them to participate in the protests. While the silence of the media affected 84.2%, the ones who said that the cutting down of trees motivated them were 56.2%.

The majority of participants described themselves as ‘libertarian’ and they were followed by the ones who called themselves as ‘secular’.

The survey also reveals the demands of the protestors. While the 96.1% of them want respect for freedom, only 37% of them want a new political party to be established.

According to the survey, a very low rate of the participants desire a military coup. 79.5% of the participants are against a military coup.

In Turkish:

http://www.habervesaire.com/news/direniscilerin-portresi-gencim-ozgurlukcuyum-basbakana-kizginim-2570.html

via translatingtaksim.wordpress.com

8-9 June - Call for International Solidarity with #OccupyGezi - What is happening in İstanbul?

Calling on people of all cities of the world! Come out this weekend and reclaim your public spaces to show solidarity with #OccupyGezi and the many waves of protests in Turkey!

What began as a small occupation to protect Istanbul’s Gezi Park erupted within a matter of days into massive protests that spread like wildfire across Turkey. A key trigger was the disproportionate use of force by the police. Just as Gezi Park crystallized the struggle over an ever-shrinking public space hijacked by neoliberal authoritarianism, the pepper gas that security forces doused on Istanbul literalized the desparate need for breathing space. Hundreds of thousands of people streamed into the streets in support of the Gezi Park occupation despite a total media blackout, defying police brutality. Now we have reclaimed not only Gezi Park but also Taksim Square, the very heart of Turkey’s public sphere, where mass expressions of discontent have repeatedly been banned throughout the republic’s history. As Taksim and Gezi swell every night with thousands of people who come to celebrate their solidarity, victory and power, our resistance in other parts of Istanbul and other cities across Turkey continues. Of one thing we are certain: Nothing will ever be the same again.

Show your support and solidarity this weekend, 8-9 June 2013. Reclaim Tahrir, Syntagma, Zuccotti, your local streets, squares and parks! Trust us, they belong to you.

via www.whatishappeninginistanbul.com

In the Dead Zone of Capitalism: Lessons on the Violence of Inequality from Chicago

In the United States, "the 400 richest people . . . have as much wealth as 154 million Americans combined, that’s 50 percent of the entire country [while] the top economic 1 percent of the US population now has a record 40 percent of all wealth, and have more wealth than 90 percent of the population combined." [8] It gets worse. Half of the jobs in America "now pay $34,000 or less a year . . . 42% of single-mother families with children under 18 are poor [and] 20.5 million people have incomes that amount to less than $9,500 a year. That’s half the poverty line, which is currently pegged at $19,090 for a family of three." [9] Moreover, the myth of upward mobility has been replaced by the reality of downward mobility, given that wages for most Americans are stagnant; youth now face a future of low-wage jobs, if not long-term unemployment, and economic and educational opportunities are tied almost exclusively to income and wealth. What the cheerleaders for neoliberalism refuse to acknowledge is that the choices people make are tied to constraints, and "nearly all of the constraints are intimately tied to the material circumstances in which we find ourselves." [10]

via truth-out.org

Behind the Rise in House Prices, Wall Street Buyers - NYTimes.com

“The growth is being propelled by institutional money,” said Suzanne Mistretta, an analyst at Fitch Ratings. “The question is how much the change in prices really reflects market demand, rather than one-off market shifts that may not be around in a couple years.”

Wall Street played a central role in the last housing boom by supplying easy — and, in retrospect, risky — mortgage financing. Now, investment companies like the Blackstone Group have swooped in, buying thousands of houses in the same areas where the financial crisis hit hardest.

Blackstone, which helped define a period of Wall Street hyperwealth, has bought some 26,000 homes in nine states. Colony Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, is spending $250 million each month and already owns 10,000 properties. With little fanfare, these and other financial companies have become significant landlords on Main Street. Most of the firms are renting out the homes, with the possibility of unloading them at a profit when prices rise far enough.

While these investors have not touched many healthy real estate markets, they are among the biggest buyers in struggling areas of the country where housing prices have been increasing the fastest. Those gains, in turn, have been at the leading edge of rising home prices nationwide.

Some see the emergence of Wall Street buyers as a market-driven answer to the nation’s housing ills. Investment companies are buying up rundown homes at a time when ordinary people can’t or won’t.

Nationwide, 68 percent of the damaged homes sold in April went to investors, and only 19 percent to first-time home buyers, according to Campbell HousingPulse. That is helping to shore up prices and create confidence in the broader markets.

“When people write the story of this housing recovery, these investors will be seen to have helped put the floor under the housing market,” said David Bragg, an analyst at Green Street Advisors. “In some of the key markets, that contributed to the recovery.”

The story, though, often looks more complicated on the ground. Joe Cusumano, a real estate agent in Riverside County, Calif., said that in recent months 90 percent of his business had been for companies like Invitation Homes, a Blackstone subsidiary. Home values in Riverside County have risen by 15 percent in the last year, according to CoreLogic.

But Mr. Cusumano said he wondered if faraway investors would properly maintain the homes they buy. He said that Invitation Homes had been willing to put money into the properties, but he was not so sure about the other players. He also worries what will happen when these investors start selling, as they inevitably will.

“The thing that scares me is the values going up so quickly,” said Mr. Cusumano. “That’s what happened before and that’s what’s scaring me. Is this going to happen again?”

The idea of investors’ buying homes and renting them out is nothing new. But in the past, landlords were almost always local. Now big investors are using agents like Mr. Cusumano to stake a claim to entire neighborhoods.

via dealbook.nytimes.com

People have killed their fear of authority - and the protests are growing

Then, there is the fear. This kind of thing is hard to report in a prominent newspaper. That is perhaps why the international media have not reported that the fear of government and the Prime Minister has been growing even among non-political people. You can easily hear your grocery shop man saying "I think my phone is tapped". The mainstream media has not covered it, but we have read reports on social media about people being arrested for making jokes about the government. That is perhaps why for the past two days every wall in Taksim Square is full of curses against the Prime Minister. The public is enjoying the death of the "cruel father figure" with the most sexist curses I have ever seen in my life. And I have seen some. But there is a more important component to the protests.

Killing the fear

As a writer and a journalist I followed the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings. As I wrote at the time, Arab people killed their fear and I saw how it transformed them from silent crowds to peoples who believe in themselves. This is what has been happening in the last six days in Turkey. Teenage girls standing in front of TOMAs, kids throwing tear gas capsules back to the police, rich lawyers throwing stones at the cops, football fans rescuing rival fans from police, the ultra-nationalists struggling arm in arm with Kurdish activists. . . these were all scenes I witnessed. Those who wanted to kill each other last week became - no exaggeration - comrades on the streets. People not only overcame their fear of authority but they also killed the fear of the "other". One more important point: the generation that has taken to the streets was born after the 1980 military coup that fiercely depoliticised the public. The general who led the 1980 coup once said: "We will create a generation without ideology". So this generation was - until last week.

via www.newstatesman.com

Paul Le Blanc: Leninism for now | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

The reality we face now and the way that Leninist ideas apply to that reality deserve much more consideration than I have time to offer here. But I want to conclude with a few thoughts that hopefully will be helpful.

First of all, the turn capitalism has taken over the past few decades has knocked the stuffing out of our class, has ridden roughshod over its organisations and communities and has driven down its quality of life. More than this, there has been a proletarianisation process engulfing and embracing many occupations and social layers once considered “middle class”, while at the same time technology and globalisation have eroded the industries that were once at the heart of working-class employment, replacing them with jobs that pay less and are less secure. And all of this has contributed to a slow-moving, contradictory, but intensifying radicalisation process, and out of this process have been emerging new struggles, new forms of struggle and a still-evolving crystallisation of a new, diverse vanguard layer of the working class.

The possibilities now exist for the coming together of the kind of revolutionary party that Lenin spoke of. This means that no such party yet exists, and that no unified nucleus or core group of such a party exists – and none can yet exist until there is the crystallisation of a radical working-class subculture capable of sustaining a class-conscious vanguard layer of a size substantial enough, in turn, to sustain the kind of genuine revolutionary party described by Lenin. My prediction and firm belief is that the core group, the nucleus, of such a party will be composed of activists who are currently in a number of different revolutionary groups, plus activists who are in no revolutionary group at all, plus some people who at this moment are neither revolutionaries nor activists – but who will become so in future struggles.

The responsibility of any revolutionary group worth its salt will be to help create the preconditions necessary for the emergence of such a party. One aspect of this will involve communicating to more and more people a socialist understanding of what is happening in our society and our world, and doing this in words and ways that will make sense to them. This means – also – our developing a clearer comprehension of that reality. Related to this is the need to help define and initiate struggles, or join in already-existing struggles, to win improvements in the here-and-now for more and more sectors of the working class and the oppressed.

This brings me to the final quote, from authors of an imperfect but important book entitled Beyond Capitalism?, which blends experience (for example) from the Occupy movement with Marxist insights. In that book, Luke Cooper and Simon Hardy say this: “The creation of new forms of political organization which draw upon the spirit of the social movements, rekindle grassroots trade union organization, and embolden participation of wider sections of society in social mobilizations is an orientation on which the success of the left ultimately depends.” They elaborate on “the need to regroup the left in new political formations that provide a space for strategic thinking, that allow different strategies to co-exist in a certain tension, while also creating the conditions for unity and action.” They explain that this should not be seen “as an excuse to avoid reflective, strategic discussion but as a starting-point through which we can move towards a greater degree of genuine unity”.

I think it is important for our different groups of the socialist left not to rush into hothouse efforts to forge some premature organisational unity. Instead we should focus on working together in real, practical struggles, with an eye towards possible unity, but with a focus on the actual struggles. Those struggles are the necessary, transformative precondition for possible unity. The only fruitful unity will come on the basis of joint action in such real, practical struggles. If such unity is achieved, the result might be a democratic, durable, well-run organisation of several thousand, with full-time organisers and new technologies being utilised to enable more and more people to become activist cadres working together to build local struggles, as well as advancing left-wing educational and cultural work, throughout the country. Such an organisation could do a lot to lay the groundwork and create the possibility for the kind of revolutionary party we need.

via links.org.au

U.S. Manufacturing Gauge Falls to June 2009 Level - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — A measure of United States manufacturing fell in May to its lowest level since June 2009 as slumping overseas economies and a pullback in business spending reduced new orders and production.

The New York Times

The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday that its index of manufacturing activity fell to 49 last month, from 50.7 in April. That is the lowest level in nearly four years and the first time the index has dipped below 50 since November. A reading under 50 indicates contraction.

A gauge of new orders fell to 48.8, its lowest level in nearly a year. Production and employment also declined.

Manufacturing has struggled this year as weak economies abroad have slowed exports from the United States. Businesses have also reduced their pace of investment in areas like equipment and computer software.

At the same time, consumers are holding back on spending more for factory-made goods, possibly a reflection of higher Social Security taxes that have reduced paychecks this year.

A separate report Monday said a measure of Chinese manufacturing dropped last month to 49.2, from 50.4 in April. As with the institute’s index, a reading below 50 indicates contraction. The figure added to signs that a resurgence of China’s economy, the world’s second-largest after the United States, might be losing momentum.

Europe remains mired in recession and is buying fewer American goods. In the first three months of the year, American exports to Europe fell 8 percent compared with the same period a year ago.

After a steep fall in March, companies in April stepped up their orders for United States machinery, electronic products and other equipment that reflect their investment plans. Overall orders for so-called durable goods jumped 3.3 percent in April from March.

Much of the April gain reflected more orders for commercial aircraft. But excluding the volatile transportation sector, which includes aircraft and autos, orders rose 1.3 percent in April, a big turnaround after a decline in March.

via www.nytimes.com

Rich Countries Are Creating More Jobs By Creating Worse Jobs - Tim Fernholz - The Atlantic

The UN's International Labor Organization released its annual "World of Work" (PDF) report today, and boy are the results depressing.

The employment rate won't return to pre-crisis levels in emerging markets until 2015, while advanced economies will have to wait until 2017 for their work woes to end. But even then, the number of unemployed people is still set to grow 4% to 208 million in 2015. How can the employment rate and unemployment levels rise simultaneously? Because the unemployed are dropping out of the work force: In more than half of the countries surveyed, labor force participation declined largely due to discouraged workers giving up the job hunt.

Perhaps worse: job quality is worsening around the globe, even where the unemployment rate is falling.

via www.theatlantic.com

World faces lost decade of joblessness, ILO warns | Business | guardian.co.uk

The world's advanced economies will suffer a lost decade of jobs growth with more people unemployed for longer and more dropping out of the labour market altogether, a key report has warned.

The International Labour Organisation says the risk of social unrest is rising as inequality worsens and unemployment continues to climb, and it will be "a major global challenge for the years to come".

It predicts that employment rates in advanced economies will not return to pre-crisis levels until after 2017, more than 10 years on from the start of the global financial meltdown. It forecasts that emerging and developing economies will recover sooner, returning to pre-crisis employment by 2015.

The annual World of Work report warns that at a global level, the number of unemployed people will continue to increase unless policies change. Global unemployment is expected to approach 208 million in 2015, compared with slightly over 200 million now.

It also stresses that key labour market weaknesses that preceded the crisis have "remained acute or worsened". For example, over the past five years, long-term unemployment has increased in almost two-thirds of advanced and developing countries where data is available.

"In advanced economies, unemployment spells have lengthened and more workers are becoming discouraged and dropping out of the labour market altogether. This not only has adverse consequences on individuals and their families, but also can weaken previously stable societies, as opportunities to advance in a good job and improve one's standard of living become the exception rather than the rule," the ILO says.

A combination of jobs destroyed as economic growth faltered and a growing working-age population mean that more than 30m jobs are needed to return employment to the pre-crisis level of 56.6%, the organisation says.

Report author Raymond Torres says countries need to come up with well-designed employment and social policies to consolidate the gains where a labour market recovery is under way and to kickstart job creation in severely crisis-hit countries.

But he sees serious long-term challenges in most countries, noting that a recovery in corporate profitability and stock markets in most countries does not appear to be resulting in strong jobs growth. Instead, unspent cash in the accounts of large enterprises has reached $5tn in advanced economies, exceeding pre-crisis levels, while executive pay is also increasing.

via www.guardian.co.uk

BBC News - Turkish stock market falls 10.5% as demonstrations escalate

Turkey's main share index closed 10.47% down following investor concerns over the escalation of anti-government protests over the weekend.

The Borsa Istanbul 100 index tumbled as investors feared the demonstrations could hit the economy, and the Turkish lira fell to 16-month lows.

Demonstrators nationwide clashed with police after water canons and tear gas were used to control crowds.

The protests were originally sparked by plans to build on an Istanbul park.

As well as sharp falls in the stock market, there was also a big rise in the cost of insuring Turkey's debt against default.

via www.bbc.co.uk

ACLU alleges massive human rights violations at Mississippi private prison - World Socialist Web Site

The conditions at East Mississippi Correctional Facility, while shocking, are hardly isolated—the result of the brutalization of American society over the past quarter century. The relative decline of American capitalism over the entire preceding period has led to an explosion of violence from the ruling elite directed against the world working class, manifested abroad in unending criminal wars and at home in the erosion of democratic rights.

The US prison population has increased by 400 percent in just over 30 years. From a total prison population of 474,368 in 1980, the United States has now become the world’s leading jailer, with 2,266,800 inmates as of 2011. Entire sections of the population, in particular minorities and immigrants, are being persecuted, thrown in jail, and scapegoated as the cause of American society’s problems in order to divide the working class.

The growth of for-profit prisons is a particularly sinister manifestation of this trend. The private prison business, non-existent until the early 1980s, has increased its number of prisoners by around 1600 percent in the past twenty years, according to the ACLU.

In particular, about half of all immigrants held by the federal government are detained in for-profit prisons.

Driven by the anarchy of the market to keep costs as low as possible while maximizing income, for-profit prisons, which account for around $3 billion in annual revenue, seek to cram as many inmates into as shoddy conditions as is feasible. As the industry continues to expand, such social crimes as that witnessed at East Mississippi Correctional Facility will surely only increase in number and intensity.

via www.wsws.org