Carnival of Socialism #41 - the sky is falling

The Wombats were daft enough to think we should say "yes" to the offer of hosting the Carnival of Socialism, and the organisers of the Carnival were then daft enough to let us do it.

In so doing, having tried to make heads or tails of humanity's parochial banter, we have reached a dialectical impasse, and are left with only one solution - share it with the world (or whichever small part of it sails these seas).

So, in no particular order:

As pressure mounts for more govenmental openness, Mick Hall at Organized Rage points the finger at UK informers in Norn Iron. Just how dirty was the “dirty war”?

Mick also gets a second hat-tip for picking up on the latest unravelling of the German SPD, while A Very Public Sociologist tracks the sisyphean task of negotiating much-needed left unity in Britain.

If there's one thing excercising the English imagination at the moment that isn't left unity or cricket, it's the Vestas occupation. Oh, and did I mention Vestas? What about Vestas?

At Socialist Unity blog, the SSP’s Ritchie Venton remarks on the growing wave of workplace occupations, including (would you believe?) Vestas.

And fair enough too. In fact, while we’ve all been farting around at the Carnival, the planet’s turning a very crisp brown as the climate turns it into Sunday Roast. Those Vestas workers probably now a thing or two about the wind turbines we'll need if we are to survive.

Not socialist, but worth the read, Green Blog dissects and destroys the arguments of Tim Flannery – “well-known environmental expert, a former Australian of the Year and also chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council” - over his misplaced support for the Australian government’s proposed “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme”.

One of Downunderland’s leading “lefty” blogs, Larvateus Prodeo – more social democratic than socialist – picks up on the more worrying news of the week: the science is in, and planet’s much more stuffed than you thought it was.

Still locally speaking (that is, in the magical land of Oz), at Crikey, Andrew Crook gives the ALP apparatchiks a solid serve. So does the Socialist Alliance's Peter Boyle.

Self-confessed Marxist horror-writer Benjamin Solah planned to cover the August 1 protest outside the ALP national conference calling for same sex marriage rights. His post didn't make it up in time for this post, but take a look at it anyway.

At Revitalising Labour (the labour movement, that is, not the Labor party) Chris Latham reminds us that construction workers in Australia have less rights than terror suspects.

Australian Tamil blog Fast Unto Action blogs the launch by Women for Justice of a new group, Ahimsai, to commemorate the suffering of Tamil women under occupation.

Ever wondered what alcoholic, morbid, wastrel Green Left Weekly staff and their friends get up to on their days off? Carlo Sands gives you the low-down on whatever it is that alcoholic socialists are worried about in the wee hours before opening time.

@ndy at Slackbastard takes a break from hunting Melbourne (and other) Nutzis and celebrating the glory of the Collingwood football team with a wonderfully atonal kick in Bob Geldof's teeth.

Australian labour law specialist and long-time unionist Chris White writes largely about Australia. He is, however, well versed in Chinese labour law, and keeps an eye on the protests of potentially the world’s most important labour movement.

While we’re talking China, a couple of weeks ago Splinty picked more of the left's scabs over the Uighur conflict.

You want controversy? We have controversy. Socialist Voice is hosting debate on how the left should respond to Iran.

Over at LINKS, there is coverage of the violent and vituperous debate over the movie "Stolen". "Stolen", which claims to portray slavery in the camps of Western Sahara, screened recently at the Sydney Film Festival. The film makers - not to mention the Moroccan government, were less than overjoyed when the Saharawi "slave" featured in the documentary came all the way to Sydney to deny the claim.

LINKS also fills us in on the violent protests and occupations in Ssangyong, South Korea.

Back to Ole Blighty then, and over at Lenin’s Tomb, Richard Seymour continues to excel in lefty blogging. This Carnival, however, I can think of nothing so useful as the adage “a picture tells a thousand words”. In this case, two videos expose the insanity, propaganda and bullshit of the Zionist occupation. Thrust; Riposte.

Louis Proyect takes MRZine to task over support for the regime in Iran. There's more Iran over at Revolutionary Road, with live blogging from the Tehran General Office of Justice.

With the way the Ashes are going, it’s no surprise that the English seem pretty happy, now they’ve learned how to cheat at cricket (the ball bounced, the ball bounced, the ball BOUNCED). So happy, in fact, that while here in the Antipodes we’re trying very hard to pretend that cricket really ISN’T one of the most important things in existence, the Daily (Maybe) and Stroppy record a new, better, use for the sport in the latest effort for peace, democracy and working class emancipation in Iran, all the way from London E17.

Talking of cricket, Reading the Maps argues the toss about touring Sri Lanka in light of the oppression of Tamils.

In other important sporting news, the greatest game (bar Hurling) this side of the Large Magellanic Cloud has lost one of its stars. Hak Mao pays tribute to a Geordie Gentleman.

Another Green World and Climate and Capitalism bemoan the restriction of democracy in South Africa, in particular, the Socialist Green Coalition’s exclusion from elections.

And at the roof of the world, Revolution in South Asia alerts us to UCPN chairman Prachanda’s latest statements regarding their strategy in Nepal, namely: “The Unified Nepal Communist Party-Maoist is preparing to lead a new peoples’ revolt”.

The Honduras coup has been going on for a while, so hopefully you've heard about it (some haven't you know, but that's the tabloids for yer). It’s getting bloodier now, and may be reaching tipping point. Honduras Coup 2009 is watching the fascistas very closely, giving you the best analysis of the issues behind the Golpe, and destroying arguments of “constitutionality”.

River’s Edge brings another view of Honduras, via sunny Lancashire.

Still in Latin America, the ever-sharp BoRev, now with added contributors and more fun, brings you dispatches from the Bolivarian revolution with a difference. What's the difference? Well, facts, facts, more facts, the occasional Blingy picture of Evo Morales, and the application of a white-hot razor to the political genitals of the right wing press and their pet politicians.

Inka Kola News continues to give us the latest exciting graphs, pie charts (mmmm, pie), statistics and low-down on all those uppity economies of Latin America. In this case, Otto examines the strange case of Evo's ever-improving international currency reserves. When will those crazy indians learn?

Ecuador Rising – your favourite English language news source on the tiny Andean country – keeps you up to date with the latest shenanigans: Correa deals with allegations he took cash from the FARC, the Central Bank loses its autonomy, the indigenous population fumes while their lands are mined, the economy slides into health and the occasional oil company gets nationalised while Chevron faces US$27 billion in damages for polluting the jungle.

Peru en movemiento tracks the bloody rebellion of Peru’s indigenous peoples of the Amazon, fighting no less than their own government and the big mining and oil companies whose activities are destroying the fragile ecosystems of the Amazonian rainforests.

The outstanding Bolivia Rising gives us a handy translation of an article by Raúl Prada Alcoreza on Bolivia’s “New Political Constitution of the State”.

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And that's yer bloomin' lot. Enjoy.