STAT OF THE WEEK
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility." – Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
"All that is left of America is banality and self-delusion." – Noam Chomsky
"He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers." – Charles Péguy
To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle." – George Orwell
"I will not sleep until the whole world is awake." Anonymous
"No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Martin Luther King Jr.
FEATURES
Secret Ops Revealed: The U.S. Military Averages More Than a Mission a Day in Africa http://www.alternet.org/world/secret-ops-revealed-us-military-averages-more-mission-day-africa
Neoliberalism and the Decline of Democracy John Weeks http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/958.php
Video: No Glory – the real history of World War One – See more
WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS
How the right sold austerity as the only economic solution: More than 30 years of neoliberalism and six years of austerity have floored us, yet the left is incapable of mounting a serious challenge to this economic orthodoxy. Why? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/28/right-only-economic-solution-austerity
Global empire or imperialism? Review by Ashley Smith http://isreview.org/issue/92/global-empire-or-imperialism
Do They Owe Us a Living? 7 Reasons the Universal Basic Income is Worth Fighting For. http://wire.novaramedia.com/2014/02/do-they-owe-us-a-living-7-reasons-the-universal-basic-income-is-worth-fighting-for/
The big myth about income inequality that just won’t die http://theweek.com/article/index/258787/the-big-myth-about-income-inequality-that-just-wont-die
Why we’ve got it so wrong on inequality: The economic world is changing rapidly and we need to shift our focus from income to assets http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/why-weve-got-it-so-wrong-on-inequality-9220154.html
New York Times Debate: Was Marx Right? While Marx’s prediction of our political future was finally discredited with the fall of communism, is his view of our economic future being validated? http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/03/30/was-marx-right
Piketty’s Triumph- Three expert takes on Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty’s data-driven magnum opus on inequality. http://prospect.org/article/piketty%E2%80%99s-triumph
LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Academics warn human survival on the line http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=11229788
Loss Adjustment – When people say we should adapt to climate change, do they have any idea what that means? By George Monbiot http://www.monbiot.com/2014/03/31/loss-adjustment/
In World’s Best-Run Economy, House Prices Keep Falling — Because That’s What House Prices Are Supposed To Do http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2014/02/02/in-worlds-best-run-economy-home-prices-just-keep-falling-because-thats-what-home-prices-are-supposed-to-do/
What did that ‘NASA-funded collapse study’ really say? http://climateandcapitalism.com/2014/03/31/nasa-collapse-study/
Less Food, More War: CO2 Driving Certain Global Warming, Rising Insecurity http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/certain-warming-insecurity.html
James Robb: Human Beings And Animal Extinction http://convincingreasons.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/human-beings-and-animal-extinction/
U.N. Climate Panel Issues Dire Warning of Threat to Global Food Supply, Calls for Action & Adaption http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/2/un_climate_panel_issues_dire_warning
CULTURAL DISSENT
Arundhati Roy talks about writing, politics and her latest book: ‘Capitalism: A Ghost Story.’ http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/41-interview/17144-arundhati-roy-another-way-of-looking-at-the-world
Film: Fidel Castro by Zolani Mkiva https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V30xolpMN6M&feature=youtu.be
Books: FORCES OF DIVERGENCE – Is surging inequality endemic to capitalism? BY JOHN CASSIDY http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/03/31/140331crbo_books_cassidy
Why everyone is talking about Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century http://theweek.com/article/index/258666/why-everyone-is-talking-about-thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century
Five Awesome Union Songs That We Love http://www.labor411.org/411-blog/426-five-awesome-union-songs-that-we-love-final
High Culture and Hard Labour http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/opinion/high-culture-and-hard-labor.html
For the Sake of Revolution: Revolutionary writer Faiz Ahmed Faiz was specific in his merging of art with revolutionary ideals. http://redwedgemagazine.com/articles/art-revolutions-sake-faiz-ahmed-faiz
Woodstock 40 years ago: Country Joe McDonald’s and Jimi Hendrix’s antiwar classics http://links.org.au/node/1204
FILM: ‘The Act of Killing’ doesn’t end http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/03/28/the-act-killing-doesn-end/nDRMCL9ouz04HyON0X21LJ/story.html
21 Daring Women Proving Street Art Isn’t Just a Man’s Game http://www.policymic.com/articles/85809/21-daring-women-proving-street-art-isn-t-just-a-man-s-game
Errol Morris turns the lens on Donald Rumsfeld in his newest documentary, The Unknown Known. Review by Peter Stäuber http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/92-film-review/17136-the-unknown-known-failure-of-intelligence
AUSTRALIA
The typical new unionist: not a hard hat in sight, and most are women. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-typical-new-unionist-not-a-hard-hat-in-sight-and-most-are-women-20140317-34y5w.html#ixzz2xQKDTGcD
Historic move against strikers http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/22362116/historic-move-against-strikers/
John Pilger: Australia stealing Indigenous children once more https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56184
Creating poverty http://redflag.org.au/node/3792
CANADA
With Government and NGO "Aid" Like This, Who Needs Exploitation and Repression? Canadian Development Aid No Longer Tied – Just Shackled to Corporate Mining Interests by Jen Moore http://canadiandimension.com/magazine/issue/november-december-2013/
Montreal student protest against austerity ends in 6 arrests http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-student-protest-against-austerity-ends-in-6-arrests-1.2597166
Students flood downtown Montreal to protest austerity measures
CHILE
Students set to win free higher education https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56187
CHINA
Taiwan: Half a million on the streets against Ma http://chinaworker.info/en/2014/03/30/6591/
Workers at Samsung supplier in China win pay increase after strike http://www.clb.org.hk/en/content/workers-samsung-supplier-china-win-pay-increase-after-strike
Striking behaviour: Chinese workers discover a weapon against labour-market turmoil http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/geoffrey-crothall/striking-behaviour-chinese-workers-discover-weapon-against-labourmark
COLOMBIA
Roses and Rifles: Women from the FARC-EP, Colombia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_YQCQjO-mo
CUBA
Cuban Five Win People’s Choice Award http://freethefivenz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/cuban-five-win-peoples-choice-award.html
Cuba’s Urban Farming Revolution: How to Create Self-Sufficient Cities http://m.architectural-review.com/8660204.article
EGYPT
Where is Egypt’s Revolutionary Movement? – Interview with Abdullah al-Arian http://www.palestinechronicle.com/where-is-egypts-revolutionary-movement-interview-with-abdullah-al-arian/#.UzaQXfmSySp
Egypt news, late March, 2014 http://www.rogerannis.com/egypt-news/
Exclusive: Egyptian Activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah on Prison & Regime’s "War on a Whole Generation" http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/31/exclusive_egyptian_activist_alaa_abdel_fattah
FRANCE
‘Eat pork or go hungry’: France’s National Front leader tells school canteens to stop offering religious alternatives to Muslim children http://tinyurl.com/l3e4lxt
INDIA
Narendra Modi and the Indian election: Why the corporates love a fascist http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/narendra-modi-indian-election-corporates-love-fascist/
INDONESIA
Indonesia’s Militarized Democracy: Candidates bring proven records of violating human rights http://www.etan.org/news/2014/3candidates.htm
IRAQ
Iraq Nation Destroyed, Oil Riches Confiscated. Surviving Population Impoverished http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38114.htm
NETHERLANDS
Dutch town halls demand powers to decriminalise cannabis production http://tinyurl.com/lkdmdel
PACIFIC
From Bullet to Ballot? http://www.indianweekender.co.nz/Pages/ArticleDetails/51/4282/Comment/Fiji-From-Bullet-to-Ballot
Two Australian academics paid $500,000 for Bougainville mine work http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/png-two-australian-academics-paid-500000-bougainville-mine-work-8542
PALESTINE
Boycott of Israel Moving to Next Level?
EU parliament members call for boycott against Israel http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/eu-parliament-members-call-for-boycott-against-israel/
The danger of peace has receded. The danger of peace has receded.
Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide – Book Review http://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-apartheid-a-beginners-guide-book-review/#.Uz4gQvmSy3g
George Galloway asked ‘ARE YOU RACIST?’ at Oxford Union! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jgZHlV9UMI#t=56
Israel jails Druze conscientious objector for the sixth time http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-jails-druze-conscientious-objector-sixth-time
RUSSIA
How Vladimir Putin became evil – The US and UK condemn him for Crimea but supported him over the war in Chechnya. Why? Because now he refuses to play ball http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/28/why-putin-crimea-strategy-west-villain
RWANDA
The Rwandan genocide: from imperialism to barbarism http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/75-our-history/17141-the-rwandan-genocide-from-imperialism-to-barbarism
SLOVENIA
Founding congress of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism http://links.org.au/node/3778
SYRIA
The Red Line and the Rat Line – Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels http://www.lrb.co.uk/2014/04/06/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
UK
Mark Haddon helps launch online petition against prisoner’s book ban http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/24/mark-haddon-online-petition-prison-ban-books
Labour’s lost leader – Leo Panitch assesses the legacy of Tony Benn http://www.redpepper.org.uk/tony-benn-labours-lost-leader/
Ken Loach: Labour is part of the problem, not the solution http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/27/ken-loach-labour-failed-left-new-party?CMP=fb_gu
There’s no financial, ethical or clinical justification for NHS charges http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/04/financial-ethical-clinical-nhs-charges-health-industrial-complex-budget
Guardian letter: end UK silence on Egyptian human rights abuses http://www.theguardian.com/sport/formulaone
A fifth of UK big businesses pay no corporation tax http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/46aa42bc-b5d4-11e3-b40e-00144feabdc0.html
Not guilty: the Greenpeace activists who used climate change as a legal defence · Protesters cleared of damaging power station · Rare defence may boost other environment groups http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/sep/11/activists.kingsnorthclimatecamp
Student loan privatisation must be resisted http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/analysis/17135-the-student-loan-privatisation-must-be-resisted
Yes: the radical case for Scottish independence http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/17139-yes-the-radical-case-for-scottish-independence-
Labour must watch its left flank in months to come – new party Left Unity is on the move http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/labour-must-watch-its-left-flank-months-come-new-party-left-unity-move
Tony Blair ‘Knew All About CIA Secret Kidnap Programme’ http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38146.htm
UKRAINE
Ukraine parliament passes austerity bill required by IMF http://rt.com/news/ukraine-austerity-law-imf-753/
IMF lifeline brings Ukraine closer to the West http://tinyurl.com/omergun
Heading Toward a Greece-like Depression? Ukraine’s IMF Deal http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/28/ukraines-imf-deal/
Ukraine’s Inconvenient Neo-Nazis by Robert Parry https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/30-5
Fears of neo-fascist uprising in Ukraine as far-right group storms Kiev parliament and ex-president calls for independence vote http://tinyurl.com/lwfmg4e
USA
New York Schools: The Roar of the Charters by Diane Ravitch http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/mar/27/new-york-charters-against-deblasio/
Charter Schools: A Marketplace for Profits or Ideas? http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/28/charter-schools-a-marketplace-for-profits-or-ideas/
Naomi Wolf: Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown-occupy
United States Is Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading to Poor, UN Report Charges http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/un-human-rights-committee-united-states-cruel-inhuman-and-degrading-poor
Overwhelming Evidence that Half of America is In or Near Poverty – And it’s much worse for black families. http://www.alternet.org/economy/overwhelming-evidence-half-america-or-near-poverty?alternet-original-paul-buchheit
When You Give Homeless People a Place to Live, Taxpayers Save Millions http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/03/26/when-you-give-homeless-people-place-live-taxpayers-save-millions
We’re not Envious, we’re Disappointed: US Firms Stash $2 Trillion in Foreign Tax Havens, Costing us Billions http://www.juancole.com/20cs: GOP Presidential Hopefuls now Trek to Las Vegas seeking Adelson Blessing http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/politics-presidential-blessing.html
Why Taxpayers Will Bail Out the Rich When the Next Storm Hits http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/why-taxpayers-will-bail-out-rich-when-next-storm-hits-n25901
The Imaginary Epidemic of Envy in America http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/imaginary-epidemic-of-envy-in-america.html
USA – WORKERS REVOLT
Hollywood Producer Explains The ‘Inhumane,’ 17-Hour Work Day Schedules On Film And TV Sets http://www.businessinsider.com.au/gavin-polone-on-grueling-hollywood-production-jobs-set-schedule-2013-8
10 Reasons to Raise the Minimum Wage (with Charts) http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-raise-minimum-wage-charts
Nearly 90% of fast-food workers allege wage theft, survey finds http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-79781500/
What McDonald’s Asked These Managers To Do Isn’t Just Horrible. It’s Illegal. http://www.upworthy.com/what-mcdonalds-asked-these-managers-isnt-just-horrible-its-illegal?c=ufb1
Domino’s pizza outlets in New York agree payout for ‘wage theft’ http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/27/dominos-pizza-agrees-payout-wage-theft-settlement
USA – SPYING SCANDAL
Edward Snowden and ACLU at SXSW: Edward Snowden speaks about privacy and technology with the ACLU’s Ben Wizner and Christopher Soghoian at SXSW Interactive. http://tinyurl.com/lfnkbv3
Dragnet Nation: Do Google, Facebook Know More Private Info Than NSA and Soviet-Era Secret Police? http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/2/dragnet_nation_do_google_facebook_know
VENEZUELA
The Deceptive Use of the Phrase – “Peaceful Protests” in Venezuela http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/960.php
Racism and the counter-revolution http://links.org.au/node/3785
Nicolas Maduro: A vCall for Peace http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/opinion/venezuela-a-call-for-peace.html
GPJA 