Plus item missed from “What’s On” below.
UN FAILURE IN SRI LANKA DURING THE WAR (2008/2009) – UN SG’S PANEL REPORT
We have decided to hold a seminar on the above report with a view to pressuring the SG to move straightaway into a full fledged inquiry into the causes and how it could now be compensated for and how such a Himalayan neglect could be totally avoided in the future.
We shall be grateful if you will please participate in the Seminar being organized for Saturday, 9 December 2012 commencing 5.30 PM at the Fickling Centre, Three Kings, Hillsborough Room. This is being organized under the name of PEOPLES FORUM, NZ to coincide with the UN Human Rights Day that falls on Monday, a working day. Let us all try to make our Int’l mechanisms work properly to save humanity and inherent human dignity of all mankind. A.Theva Rajan, QSM Convenor, On behalf of Peoples Forum, NZ. Email: rajatheva
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
FEATURES
This Is Not a Revolution by Hussein Agha and Robert Malley http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/nov/08/not-revolution/
Noam Chomsky: Europe’s Policies make Sense only on one Assumption: That the Goal is to unravel the Welfare State http://www.social-europe.eu/2012/12/europes-policies-make-sense-only-on-one-assumption-that-the-goal-is-to-unravel-the-welfare-state/
EXCLUSIVE: Julian Assange on WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, Cypherpunks, Surveillance State http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/29/exclusive_julian_assange_on_wikileaks_bradley
Keynote address by Michael A. Lebowitz: The Concept of “Fairness”: Possibilities, Limits, Possibilities. The talk draws on Lebowitz’s latest book, The Contradictions of “Real Socialism”. http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls152.php
Einstein’s Promised Land http://kindlemag.in/srorys_details.php?id=NTM1&&displayid=MQ
LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Patrick Bond: Doha climate talks another ‘conference of polluters’ http://links.org.au/node/3123
Fracking Our Food Supply http://www.thenation.com/article/171504/fracking-our-food-supply
Greenland and Antarctica ‘have lost four trillion tonnes of ice’ in 20 years http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/29/greenland-antarctica-4-trillion-tonnes-ice
Bolivia defends Mother Earth from the threat of carbon markets http://boliviarising.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/bolivia-defends-mother-earth-from.html
World Bank should take its own advice on climate change http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/52933
Rich nations renege on climate finance http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/11/26/rich-nations-renege-on-climate-finance/
Study: Wealthy Nations’ Fossil Fuel Subsidies 5 Times Greater Than Climate Aid to Countries in Need http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/4/study_wealthy_nations_fossil_fuel_subsidies
Free Transit and Beyond by Stefan Kipfer http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/738.php
CULTURAL DISSENT
Book Review: Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/book-reviews/16176-paramilitarism-and-the-assault-on-democracy-in-haiti
Book Review:
Flight Behavior: Climate change, poverty, and butterflies – Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel is a beautifully written and compelling account of working people responding to the local effects of a global crisis http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/12/03/flight-behavior/
ARGENTINA
Anti-Mining Activists Assaulted in Argentina http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/wnu-1154-anti-mining-activists.html
BOLIVIA
Bolivia Defends Mother Earth From The Threat Of Carbon Markets http://bsnorrell.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/bolivia-defends-mother-earth-from.html
CANADA
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois: On capitalism, Quebec politics and the student movement http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/11/gabriel-nadeau-dubois-capitalism-quebec-politics-and-student-moveme
B.C. Federation of Labour forum discusses opposition to temporary foreign worker program http://rabble.ca/news/2012/11/bc-federation-labour-forum-discusses-union-opposition-canada%E2%80%99s-temporary-foreign-worker
How concentrated corporate power is shaping income inequality in Canada – New study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The human cost of Kenney’s cuts http://socialistworkercanada.com/2012/12/02/the-human-cost-of-kenneys-cuts/
COLOMBIA
Colombian Peace Talks Begin in Havana: Inclusive Participation for Lasting Peace? http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/colombian-peace-talks-begin-in-havana-inclusive-participation-for-lasting-peace
EGYPT
Independent workers’ federation rejects president’s power grab http://links.org.au/node/3121
Morsi decrees spark protests for, against from right and left http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/52968
IRAQ
The new Iraqi labour law, a law for a new slavery http://amodernmanifesto.tumblr.com/post/37245993106/the-new-iraqi-labour-law-a-law-for-a-new-slavery
JAMAICA
Jamaica’s Unnatural Disaster http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/jamaicas-unnatural-disaster
MEXICO
Mexican Senate Passes Labor Reform Bill, Weakening Worker Rights http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/mexican-senate-passes-labor-reform-bill-weakening-worker-rights
PACIFIC
http://www.freewestpapua.org/index.php/news/2060-guyana-trip-by-west-papuan-could-spark-agitational-efforts Guyana trip by West Papuan could spark agitational efforts
PALESTINE
Self-defense or provocation: Israel’s history of breaking ceasefires http://imeu.net/news/article0022250.shtml
The case for UN recognition of Palestine http://electronicintifada.net/content/case-un-recognition-palestine/10079
Tomorrow (Wed. Dec.5) Supreme Court hearing Gush Shalom’s appeal against “Boycott Law” http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1354640289
Are Israel’s Jews, some of them, on their way to becoming Nazis? http://www.alanhart.net/are-israels-jews-some-of-them-on-their-way-to-becoming-nazis/
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa after Marikana massacre: Strike wave and new workers’ organisations challenge old compromises http://links.org.au/node/3120
SPAIN
Catalan elections: A stride forward for national and social justice http://links.org.au/node/3124
Spanish workers protest
SYRIA
Aleppo: How Syria Is Being Destroyed by Charles Glass http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/dec/20/aleppo-how-syria-being-destroyed/
UK
Campaign launched for a radical vision of Scottish independence http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/11/campaign-launched-for-radical-vision-of.html
Comment & analysis: Polly Toynbee on why tax avoiders should be named and shamed – Should tax-avoiding companies be named and shamed? IN a two-minute video, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee explains why companies paying little or no corporation tax should be named and shamed. “These big, international companies have been undermining peoples’ trust and faith in the (taxation) system.”
Miners’ strike: ‘All I want is for someone to say: I’m sorry.’ – The tumult of the 1984 dispute may be retreating in the memory, but for those arrested and charged, the events of that angry summer have been life-changing. Now a campaign seeks a review of what it claims is wide-scale malfeasance by the police http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/02/miners-strike-orgreave-special-report
Miners’ strike: how the bloodiest battle became the ‘biggest frame-up’ – Many miners suspect the South Yorkshire police operation at Orgreave in June 1984 was a trap, pre-planned for confrontation, co-ordinated for the courts. Now the IPCC is to probe claims of assault, perjury, perverting the course of justice and misconduct http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/22/miners-strike-orgreave-bloodiest-battle
The Leveson Inquiry uncovered systematic corruption at the highest levels of the press, police and politics – evidence to support radical change to our media and political systems says Des Freedman http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/analysis/16178-leveson-does-the-sentence-fit-the-crime
USA
Reports from the Economic Front by Martin Hart-Landsberg – The Tax Burden http://blogs.lclark.edu/hart-landsberg/2012/12/01/the-tax-burden/
Behind the strikes at Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, ports http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/05/news/economy/strikes-walmart-ports-mcdonalds/?source=cnn_bin
Hundreds of Fast-Food Workers Strike for Living Wage, Inspired by Wal-Mart Strike http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/30/hundreds_of_fast_food_workers_strike
The US Military Approves Bombing Children http://www.thenation.com/blog/171582/us-military-approves-bombing-children
US Nissan workers seek fair union election http://www.industriall-union.org/us-nissan-workers-seek-fair-union-election
GPJA 