President Nasheed: "Our country will not exist."

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives addresses the UN on Climate Change:

Save Pyrmont's Union Square Dance SAT 26 SEPT 4pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RALLY TO SAVE UNION SQUARE 4pm THIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26^TH.

On Saturday, a coalition of concerned community groups and local small business owners from throughout the inner city will put on their dancing shoes in Union Square to protect a row of terraces. The local groups oppose the State government’s plans to destroy four historic terraces at numbers 9, 7, 5, & 3 Union Street. The CFMEU has placed a permanent green ban on the site. Pyrmont residents' emphatically argue:

• A FALSE FRONT IS JUST PRETEND HERITAGE FOR UNION SQUARE!
• NO RESPECT FOR THE UNION GREEN BAN
• NO RESPECT FOR OUR 19^TH CENTURY HERITAGE
• SAVE SMALL FAMILY OWNED BUSINESSES AND SAVES JOBS
• THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT RESPECT THE COMMUNITY’S WISHES
• METRO’S COMMUNITY CONSULTATION WAS JUST A SHAM
• NO PROPER DOCUMENTATION OR COSTING OF ALTERNATIVES
• WHY NOT USE THE CASINO -- THE TRANSPORT HUB OF PYRMONT?
• OR PUT THE ENTRANCE ON THE VACANT LOT ON 102 -136 HARRIS WITH FRONTAGE ONTO PYRMONT STREET?
• WILL THE PYRMONT VILLAGE BUSINESS SURVIVE?
• 5 YEARS OF TRAFFIC CHAOS – 24 TRUCK MOVEMENTS AN HOUR BOWLING THROUGH THE HEART OF PYRMONT 24/7. SLEEP DISTURBANCE LIMITS EXCEEDED BY UP TO 19 DECIBELS.

WE WILL NOT BE RAIL ROADED IN PYRMONT!

For more information on the campaign visit: http://www.saveunionsquare.com/

Media Enquiries call co-convenors Jean Stewart (9660-6702) or Lawrence Gibbons (0425-218-960)

Honduras: `There is a people’s insurrection'

Via Links...

Residents of Hato de Enmedio, Tegucigalpa, take control of their barrio. September 22, 2009.

By Federico Fuentes, Caracas

Green Left Weekly -- September 23, 2009 — Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya, overthrown in a military coup on June 28 and currently in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, has told Telesur TV that the coup regime is planning to take over the embassy. He says they plan to assassinate him.

Ricardo Arturo Salgado, an activist in the Honduran anti-coup resistance, told Green Left Weekly over the phone from Tegucigalpa that “the decision we have all taken is to fight with everything we have”. Aturo Salgado said there was an “intense reaction on the part of the resistance in many zones across Tegucigalpa, in what we call barrios and colonias [poor neighbourhoods]. I would say that there are some 15-20 highly populated barrios that frankly find themselves in a situation of total insurrection, fighting against the police, against the army and even against paramilitaries."

The mass resistance to the coup has continued for three months, with daily protests, strikes and road blockades. With Zelaya’s return the Honduras, a desperate coup regime has significantly increased repression. The people are increasingly in open rebellion.

“We have evidence that paramilitaries are participating in the street battles in some of the colonias. The police are trying to retake positions but the people’s insurrection is occurring in places that geographically are very far apart from one another'', Aturo Salgado told Green Left Weekly.

“In general, there is a situation of insurrection, with the advantage that the police helicopter that was being used [during daylight] to fire against the people cannot be used during the night.”

On the situation in Tegucigalpa, he said: “All the shops are closed and there is a shortage of food, of medicine. “At any moment we could see the looting of shops, because the people are entering into desperation mode. Moreover, it seems that, although there is not as much news regarding this, that in the interior of the country there are strong insurrectional mobilisations in very small zones. This has to do with the tactic of protesting close to home.

“The people are spontaneously taking the decision to resist and the line coming from the [National Reistance Front Against the Coup] was, for today, to resist close to one’s home. But tomorrow we are calling on everyone to march [in Tegucigalpa].''

Aturo Salgado confirmed to GLW that the national front has called a march for September 23 that will start at 8am outside the Pedagogical University Francisco Morazon.

He called on all alternative media outlets to join the campaign of informing the world about the truth of what is occurring in Honduras — and in denouncing the murderous plans of the coup regime.

* * *

Al Giordano from Narconews reports:

September 22, 8:03 pm: An interesting development today in the popular barrios and colonias of greater Tegucigalpa: The coup's military curfew -- now extended for a total of 36 hours until 6 am tomorrow morning -- is causing major hardship for the great mass of Honduran citizens who live day to day. Small shop owners, street sellers, mercado workers and so many others generally don't have savings. If they don't work on a given day, they and their families don't have food to eat that night. A great many don't have refrigerators and they shop the same day for the food they will eat. The curfew is causing shortages of food and other basic products of daily life, and preventing many from being able to afford what little they need. And while the general view in the popular (read: poor) barrios have been anti-coup, the curfew has brought forward a rage and a higher level of organisation overnight.

Add to that the fact that the National Police have spent last night and today busting into those neighbourhoods to enforce the curfew -- because many citizens aren't paying it any mind as it interferes with their daily subsistence level survival -- and has overreacted with great violence, shooting tear-gas canisters into homes, invading people's houses, and such. This has caused a generalised phenomenon throughout the metropolitan area: People have come en masse out of their homes, chased the police out of many of those neighbourhoods, and erected barricades to keep them out. They are now organising to maintain those barricades. The coup regime thus, overnight, has lost any semblance of control of considerable tracts of urban Honduras. Tegucigalpa is beginning to look a lot like the city of Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006.

September 22, 8:46 pm: After a bizarre press conference held in English and translated into Spanish, in which a staffer, Carlos Lopez Contreras, represented coup "president" Micheletti (without Micheletti being present -- his handlers have hidden him away for good reason), and in "cadena nacional" (broadcast on all stations by law), the regime has extended the curfew now for 50 hours, until 6 pm September 23.

September 22, 8:54 pm: From Quotha.net, more detailed info on the neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood uprising underway in greater Tegucigalpa:

The de facto government, through its violence and denial of constitutional and human rights, has managed what Zelaya alone had not fully succeeded in doing: uniting the entire country in the struggle for freedom. Today, they resistance underwent an important shift: it went local. The following Tegucigalpa neighborhoods are defying the curfew and protesting against the coup d'etat:

1. Arturo Quesada
2. Barrio Morazán
3. Centroamérica Oeste
4. Cerro Grande
5. Ciudad Lempira
6. Colonia 21 de Febrero
7. Colonia 21 de Octubre
8. El Bosque
9. El Chile
10. Flor del Campo
11. Hato de Enmedio
12. Kennedy
13. La Fraternidad
14. Pantanal
15. Pedregal
16. Picachito
17. Reparto
18. Residencial Girasoles
19. Residencial Honduras
20. San José de la Vega
21. Sinaí
22. Víctor F. Ardón
23. Villa Olímpica
24. Villanueva

In some places people have repelled the police, while in others the terrain is in dispute. The police are using live ammunition. Barricades are everywhere. This list was current at 7pm (September 22) local time in Tegucigalpa.

The latest extension of the curfew just announced -- preventing Hondurans from working or shopping all day tomorrow, too -- will only exacerbate this situation.

* * *

Al Giordano from Narconews reports on September 23, 2009:

In recent days, the Honduran coup of "president" Roberto Micheletti has demonstrated, again, that it is incapable democratic governance. Peaceful Hondurans came to the Brazilian embassy to greet their only elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and they were violently driven away with water cannon, tear gas, billy clubs and rubber bullets. National Police then followed the dispersed crowd into the popular barrios to wound and maim them, and invaded homes that provided them refuge. That led to scenes like in the neighbourhood of Hato de Enmedio [see video above], and in more than 20 heavily populated slums in and around Tegucigalpa yesterday.

Clueless desk editors like those at the New York Times titled these conflicts "Riots in Honduras". But you don't need to be able to understand Spanish to see and hear, in the video above, that, distinct from rioters, the young people of the neighbourhood who came out and violated the military curfew to defend their neighbourhood from this police invasion know and have memorised complicated political slogans and rhymes which they chanted in unison. "Riots" are disorganised explosions. This neighbourhood, and others like it, however, have been forced by the realities of the coup to organise themselves to a greater extent than ever before.

In neighbourhoods like Hato de Enmedio, where a majority of Honduras' citizens live, you can also see in the video see that not even the main street in the barrio is paved. Many of the homes have dirt floors as well. And if a citizen is harmed by a robber or predator, you can call the police, but they won't come. People who live in neighbourhoods like this only see the police when they invade, like they did yesterday, to enforce an unenforceable curfew on people who, if they obeyed the curfew, would starve of hunger. A curfew is unsustainable on a people that live hand to mouth, day to day.

We can also see in that video the revelation that the tear-gas canisters shot by the National Police yesterday were stamped as property of the government of Perú, suggesting strongly that Peruvian President Alan García is a participant in smuggling arms to the Honduran coup regime.

Australia must act for democracy in Honduras!

Below is an open letter from the Socialist Alliance to Australia's foreign affairs minister, Stephen Smith, calling on the Australian government to act for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya, and the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

Please assist the Honduran people's struggle for justice by inserting your own contact details and signing it, then emailing or faxing it to the minister as soon as possible.

Download this letter as a PDF or Word document, or read on ...

Australia must act for democracy in Honduras

An open letter to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs

To: Stephen Smith
Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6022, Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7500 Fax: (02) 6273 4112
Email: Stephen.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au

Cc: Electorate office
953A Beaufort St
Inglewood WA 6932
Tel: (08) 9272 3411 Fax: (08) 9272 3477

September 24, 2009

Dear Minister Smith,

The people and nation of Honduras urgently need the support of democratic governments and peoples around the world.

The current military dictatorship in Honduras, which on June 28 overthrew the elected government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales in a coup d’etat, has unleashed a wave of repression against tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets demanding Zelaya’s immediate restoration as president.

Zelaya re-entered Honduras on foot on September 21 and was given asylum by the Brazilian government in its embassy in Tegucigalpa. However, on September 22, as thousands of people assembled outside the embassy to welcome Zelaya home, the coup regime headed by Roberto Micheletti cut electricity and water to the embassy and tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed and fired on the president’s supporters, seriously injuring some.

With Zelaya’s return, the incessant violations of human rights and fundamental liberties perpetrated by the dictatorship over the last 85 days have significantly increased. Hundreds more civilians have been arrested and images have emerged of large numbers of protesters being rounded up and detained in a sports stadium in Tegucigalpa. The military has now imposed a total curfew in the country – an attempt to prevent the Honduran people from expressing their wish for the restoration of democracy in their country.

Speaking to international media on September 21, Zelaya called on Honduras’ armed forces to “respect the human rights of the Honduran people … To the commander general of the armed forces ... I peacefully make a call for sanity, so that there is no violence on the streets. The people here are unarmed, shouting for joy.”

It is a fundamental human right of all peoples to determine their own government and political future and during the last three months the people of Honduras have made very clear what they want with peaceful protests, strikes and road blockades, on a daily basis. On September 15, three million people rallied in more than 20 cities and towns across Honduras demanding an end to the coup.

We join with the nine governments of Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, the Organisation of American States, the UN General Assembly and the Rio Group in their call for Zelaya to be immediately reinstated as the legitimate president of Honduras and for the democratically elected government to be able to resume its duties. We note also that the European Union and almost every government in the world have officially condemned the coup, and call on the Australian government to urgently:

• Demand that the coup leaders respect the integrity of the Brazilian embassy and immediately stop the repression against civilians;
• Actively support the reinstatement of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya, including supporting all calls for his reinstatement made at the 64th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly this week;
• Demand the immediate release of all political and social movement activists who have been detained by the military;
• Support President Zelaya’s and the Honduran people’s rejection of the terms of the “Arias agreement”, which would legitimise the coup leaders’ actions, and work for the reinstatement of Zelaya to the presidency without conditions of any kind, in accordance with the will of the people of Honduras.
• Not recognise the results of Honduran elections in November if those elections are carried out while the coup government remains in power, the position of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
• Support the calls of the Honduran people for the coup leaders to be arrested and tried for their crimes.
• Pressure the United States administration to end its training of the Honduran military.

We applaud the millions of courageous Hondurans who have peacefully protested for three months to defend democracy, despite severe intimidation and assault by the military, and pledge our active solidarity with them until the coup is overturned and democratic rights are assured in Honduras.
Yours in support of the democratic rights of all peoples,

Bea Bleile, Margarita Windisch, Dick Nichols

National Conveners, Socialist Alliance

Melbourne - Solidarity Action with Honduras

Solidarity Action with Honduras

In the early hours of Sep 21 the legitimate President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya returned to the capital Tegucigalpa after nearly 3 months in political exile. He is within the grounds of the Brazilian Embassy whilst tens of thousands of supporters have gathered outside to welcome his return. The defacto regime of Roberto Micheletti has imposed a curfew and sent in the military to repress the population. It is estimated that thousands have been arrested and or injured in violent confrontations. Show your support for the people of Honduras and attend the protest.

We call on the Australian government to immediately condemn the defacto regime of Roberto Micheletti and help in the International campaign to reinstate Manuel Zelaya as the legitimate President of Honduras

We call on the Australian government to immediately condemn the defacto government of Roberto Micheletti and work closely with other countries to ensure the restoration of the legitimate President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya.

"The coup regime is defying the world...The international community wants a negotiated peaceful settlement but the answer has been violence and repression against the people." Manuel Zelaya

SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS

11-12 noon Sat Sep 26
Bourke Street Mall (cnr Elizabeth St)
For more information please contact Roberto 0425 182 994

Sponsored by: Centre for latin America Solidarity & Studies, Peace and Justice for Colombia, Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, FMLN (Melbourne), Chilean Communist Party (Melbourne), Guatemalan Human Rights Committee, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Socialist Alliance, Communist Party of Australia, Resistance

Sydney - emergency rally for Honduras

Emergency Rally For Honduras, 5pm Thurs Sept 24, Latin American Plaza, Chalmers
St, Sydney (next to Sydney Central Station). Please notify your networks & come along!

Media Statement: For Immediate Release. September 23, 2009. Sydney.

Emergency Rally to Protest Repression in Honduras,

5pm Thursday 24^th September

Latin American Plaza, Devonshire St

Oppose the Military Coup Regime

Support Return of Legitimate President Manuel Zelaya

At 5pm on Thursday 24^th September, a peaceful public rally has been called in Sydney to oppose the violent attacks against the Honduran people and support the return of the democratically elected president Manual Zelaya.

Australian-Venezuela Solidarity Network coordinator in Sydney, John Gauci explained, “The situation in Honduras is dire with the illegitimate coup regime imposing a curfew, cutting electricity, tear-gassing and firing on Zelaya supporters assembled outside the Brazilian embassy. Democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras yesterday, and sort refuge inside the Brazilian embassy. There are frightening reports of democracy protesters now being rounded into stadiums”.

“The Honduran resistance is calling for emergency protests to be held around the world in defense of human rights and democracy in Honduras,” said Gauci. “We in Australia have a responsibility to insist that democracy is peacefully restored to the people of Honduras. We call on the Rudd Government to condemn the coup and cut all political and economic ties with Honduras until democracy is restored. ”

The mass resistance to coup has continued for three months of daily protests, strikes and road blockades. With President Zelaya’s return to Honduras, a desperate coup regime has significantly increased repression. This repression and attacks have resulted in the death of an eight year child who suffocated because of the military’s use of tear gas on unarmed civilians. The Honduran people are increasingly in open rebellion.

Organised by the Latin American Social Forum, endorsed by the Australian-Venezuela Solidarity Network.

* Read the latest developments on Green Left Online www.greenleft.org.au

Star Wars - The Environmentalists Version

http://endciv.com
Derrick Jensen imagines Star Wars, as if it was written by environmentalists

Honduras repression: urgent solidarity needed!

Following the recent return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya to Honduras, the coup-leaders have apparently sent squadrons of loyal police and army to besiege the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya has been staying.

The coup forces have dispersed the pro-Zelaya crowd in front of the embassy by force (using firearms, teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, occupied adjacent buildings, snipers have been installed on the roofs of neighbouring building, and sonic weapons have been deployed in the streets.

Electricity, water and phones were been cut to the embassy, as well as surrounding building - the only anti-coup TV station, Channel 36, is now effectively off-air after its electricity was cut - and it appears that tear gas has been fired into the Brazilian embassy. The tear gas also killed an eight-year-old boy in a nearby building - dying of asphixiation from the gas.

The electricity cut was clearly meant to intimidate Zelaya or the Brazilians - or both - into submission. It failed, and electricity was restored some time later. Zelaya remains inside the embassy, with around 70 supporters.

The curfew has also been extended - effectively turning the whole country into a giant concentration camp, and at least one protester, Oscar Adán Palacios, was shot to death on by the army while peacefully protesting against the illegitimate government.

In a move eerily reminiscent of the fascist 1973 Pinochet coup in Chile, the National Police are holding unspecified numbers protesters in the Chochy Sosa baseball stadium and football stadiums in Tegucigalpa. Adrés Pavon, president of the Human Rights Defence Committee says "there are people being tortured, disappeared, and we are confirming the death of two people." Bertha Oliva, director of the Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) called the stadium a "concentration camp".

COFADEH itself was subject to a police attack yesterday (Tuesday) morning, with tear gas launched through the windows.

The National Front Against the Coup in Honduras (FNRG) has claimed that members of the Israeli Army are training a group of the National Police in protest disruption tactics.

According to NarcoNews, at least two popular barrios in and around Tegucigalpa have defied, en masse, the curfew order and chased National Police out of their communities: El Pedregal and Colonia Kennedy. They've erected barricades and declared the coup regime and its security forces non grata. [update: see comments for a longer list of barrios that have defied the curfew and are protesting the coup]

The website of the FNRG posted a declaration at 11am calling on “all of the resistance” to participate in “a peaceful march tomorrow, September 23 at 8am in front of the Pedagogical University Francisco Morazan”.

More regular updates from: NarcoNews, HondurasCoup2009, HondurasResists, Green Left Weekly, Emergency Committee Against The Coup In Honduras, Socialist Unity blog, BoRev,

There will be an emergency protest in solidarity with the Honduran people in Sydney on Thursday September 24 at 5pm, in the Latin American Plaza (outside Central Station).

"The Real News" on the repression after Zelaya's return:

Honduras: Zelaya returns — the people celebrate

Federico Fuentes, Caracas

21 September 2009

September 21 — “Telgucigalpa is one big party”, said Dirian Pereira, member of the international commission of the National Front Against the Coup in Honduras, speaking to Green Left Weekly over the phone from the Honduran capital..

President Manuel Zelaya, who was overthrown by a military coup on June 28, returned to Honduras and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Telgucigalpa. Thousands of people have gathered in the capital to welcome him back almost three months after the military kidnapped him at gunpoint in the early hours of the morning and flew him into exile in Costa Rica.

Mass resistance on the streets from the poor majority, demanding “their” president return, has continued unabated since.

From the Brazilian embassy, Zelaya called for the Honduran people to celebrate on the streets. The coup regime responded by announcing a curfew.

“The people are totally ignoring the curfew”, Pereira said.

“The curfew started at 4 in the afternoon, right about the time that most people are leaving work. All of this is a demonstration of the desperation of the coup regime that wants everyone to simply go home.

“But the people are coming out of work and are not going to their home.

“Many have gone to the Brazilian embassy to greet their president. It is a big party.”

Pereira said people were flooding in from all parts of the country to hold for a massive mobilisation on September 22.

“The buses that are arriving from San Pedro Sula, that are arriving from many other parts of the country, are being stopped on the outskirts of Tegulcigalpa.

“But the people are simply stepping off the bus and marching together into the centre.”

For the Honduran elite behind the coup, Zelaya’s crimes included increasing the minimum wage by 60% and blocking privatisations.

His biggest crime, however, was to open a democratic process to change the constitution. Similar process have occurred in recent years in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador — with the poor and indigenous peoples winning many important rights for the first time.

On June 28, a non-binding referendum had been organised that asked whether the Honduran people supported the calling of a constituent assembly to discuss, debate and vote on a new constitution.

Zelaya had also developed closer relations with countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, joining the anti-imperialist Bolivarian Alternative of Our Americas (ALBA) bloc.

After almost 90 days of mass resistance and daily protests on the streets, combined with a diplomatic offensive to restore democracy headed by Zelaya and the ALBA nations, “Mel”, as he is warmly referred to by the poor sectors of Honduran society, has finally returned to Honduras.

He is calling on the people to mobilise and ensure that legitimate government is restored.

Asked what could be expected to occur in the next few hours, Pereira told GLW: “This is still to be seen, because the de facto government says that nothing is happening, that Honduras is calm and that all of this is the result of the curfew.

“The curfew was enacted in order to intimidate the people so that they would not go and join those from the resistance front at the embassy. They did it to create fear in the population.

“They say that they will not negotiate … but Mel has come with the intention of negotiating.

“We don’t know what will happen ... but we are continuing to demand a constituent assembly.”

A delegation from the Organisation of American States is set to arrive in Honduras on September 22 Honduras. The OAS has been promoting Plan Arias, drawn up by mediators, which would see Zelaya restored to power, but with his hands tied and forced to accept power-sharing arrangements with those who overthrew him.

Pereira said the problem for the popular organisations and the National Resistance Front is that “the Plan Arias does not contemplate a constituent assembly. As far as we know, there is also a UN commission coming.

“We will see what happens, but regardless the organizations are here demanding a constituent assembly.”

[Green Left Weekly hopes to have ongoing coverage on the dramatic developments in the struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras in the coming days.]

Cuba Undertakes Reforms in Midst of Economic Crisis

Cuba Undertakes Reforms in Midst of Economic Crisis

By Roger Burbach

September 20, 2009

Carlos picks me up with his dated Soviet-made Lada at the Jose Marti International Airport on a hot sweltering day in Havana. It’s been eight months since I’ve seen him, last January to be precise, when I came to the island on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. “How’s it been?” I ask him as we begin the 20 minute drive to central Havana. With a scowl, he replies: “Not so good, nothing seems to get easier.” He goes on to say that foodstuffs are as difficult as ever to come by, necessitating long waits in line for rationed commodities.

I am not surprised, as I had been reading in the international press that Cuba has been compelled to curtail its food imports. Hit by the global economic crisis, spending by tourists dropped off while the price of nickel, Cuba’s main mineral export, fell by more than half. This meant that Cuba has no choice but to cut agricultural imports from its main supplier, the United States. Credit purchases are not an option, as the U.S. legislation in 2000, opening up agricultural sales to Cuba, requires immediate payment in hard currency.

To add to its woes, devastating hurricanes hit Cuba in 2008, decimating some of the country’s sugar plantations, as well as its production of vegetables and staple foods. The only bright light in the midst of this food crisis is the implementation of reforms in the agricultural sector under Raul Castro, who became acting president in July 2006. He officially assumed the presidency from his brother Fidel after a vote by the Cuban National Assembly in February 2008.

I am particularly interested in knowing how the distribution of 690,000 hectares of idle lands to 82,000 rural families, in process when I left Cuba in January, has affected the domestic supply of fresh produce. On my second day, I go to one of the open markets in Havana where I talk to Margarita, who is selling undersized tomatoes. She says they come from her father’s new farm. “We started cultivating tomatoes, as well as other vegetables,” she says. “We even hired workers, which is now allowed. But then, as the crops began to mature, we got very little water from the state-owned irrigation system.” Fearing the worst, I ask her if the state is discriminating against the new producers. “No” she says, “the wells and the irrigation system simply didn’t have any gas for the pumps.”

Later in the day, I meet with Armando Nova, an agricultural economist at the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy. I had also talked with him in January and he had then been optimistic about the coming year. I ask him what’s gone wrong and he says, “We’re caught between the effects of the global economic crisis and the difficulties of implementing the reforms.” He goes on to say that there has actually been an increase in fresh produce since the beginning of the year, but it is hardly noticeable in the markets because of the increased demand, a result of the drop in international imports.

As to the economic reforms, Nova says: “The top leadership around Raul is committed to a fundamental shake up of the economy, but change is slow because of bureaucratic obstacles.” The very process of distributing idle lands requires 13 steps of paper work submitted to different agencies. And while the government is committed to providing the new farmers with the inputs needed to start up production, many of them are not delivered because they are simply not available due to the economic crisis.

Nova’s view that reforms are inevitable is reinforced in a special report on the economy released by Inter Press Service (IPS), which is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Relations: “There is an ever broadening consensus about the necessity of a profound transformation of the Cuban economic model. … It is recognized that the future strategy should include non-state forms of property — not only in agriculture, but also in manufacturing and services.” The publication asserts, “Fifty years of socialism in Cuba have to be re-evaluated,” particularly the role of the state and the need to use market mechanisms.

To facilitate this transformation, the government is opening up a 45-day public discussion that includes union centers, schools, universities, community organizations and the base of the Cuban Communist party. According to materials sent out to orientate the discussions, the participants should “not only identify problems, but also suggest solutions…The analysis ought to be objective, sincere, valiant, creative, … carried out in absolute liberty with respect for discrepant opinions.”

According to Orlando Cruz of the Institute of Philosophy, whom I met at a conference in Havana on social movements, “socialism is to be re-founded in Cuba. We have to totally discard the Soviet model that so badly served us.” I ask whether Cuba will now move towards the Chinese model. Like others in Cuba in the party and the government I have asked the same question. He responds somewhat curtly: “We respect the Chinese model, but we have to follow our own process and history. China is a totally different country.” Cruz makes clear that there will be meaningful democratic participation in the new Cuba: “We will not allow the formation of a petit-bourgeoisie to control or distort the process. We want to construct an authentic democratic socialism. It will be deeper and more participatory than that of the social democracies of Europe.”

I first went to Cuba in 1969 and have visited the country every decade since then. There have been many challenging moments in the revolution’s history, and now we are witnessing another one, as the country embarks on an endeavor to free the economy from the shackles of its bureaucracy. The fate of this move depends on the ability of society at the grass roots to exert a greater role in the country’s economic and political institutions. If this effort succeeds, the Cuban revolution will be opening a new path for socialism in the 21st century.

*Roger Burbach is the author of “The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice,” and the Director of the Center for the Study of the Americas based in Berkeley, CA. He is working on a new book with Gregory Wilpert, “The Renaissance of Socialism in Latin America.”

New papers on climate and finance from The Corner House (& friends)

21 September 2008

NEW PUBLICATIONS ON CLIMATE AND FINANCE FROM THE CORNER HOUSE AND FRIENDS

The climate crisis and the financial crisis highlight the need to organise for social change -- and also open unprecedented opportunities for doing so. But to prevent a destructive return to business as usual, the roots of both crises need to be understood, together with the nature and limitations of elite responses to them. As a contribution to this discussion, 10 new documents have recently been added to The Corner House's extensive collection of free books and articles on climate change and finance at http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/subject/climate and http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/subject/economics.

-- please circulate --
-- apologies for cross-postings --

(1) Corner House Briefing Paper No. 40
When Markets are Poison: Learning about Climate Policy from the Financial Crisis
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/briefing/40poisonmarkets.pdf

Around the world, progressive groups have linked the unfolding financial crisis with concurrent crises of climate, food, energy, health care and militarism, and have called for integrated popular movements to assert greater democratic control over financial and economic institutions so that economic recession and global warming can be tackled together.

But governments and business elites also claim to be tackling global warming and economic reversal. Talk of 'Green New Deals' is constantly in the air; investments are being made in agrofuels, geoengineering, carbon sequestration and synthetic biology; and Wall Street is looking forward to seeing global carbon markets expand to a multi-trillion dollar scale following the Copenhagen climate conference in December and promised new US legislation.

This briefing paper critiques one of these elite responses by detailing the close parallels between the financial innovations behind the current financial crisis and the marketing innovations associated with carbon trading -- the dominant official approach to climate change.

Both the new financial markets and the new carbon markets involve the construction of similar abstract commodities. Both heighten systemic dangers, necessitating movements of societal self-protection. Both involve regressive redistribution and the erosion of crucial knowledge. Both are vulnerable to bubbles and crashes. Both erode notions of transparency and conflict of interest. And both call into question the easy assumption that all markets can be successfully regulated, no matter what type.

Drawing on the insights of grassroots communities on the receiving end of the new trade arrangements as well as financial and carbon market practitioners and theorists, the paper urges that failures of both markets need to be investigated and understood before a coherent and effective response can be formulated to the problems that both were supposed to have tackled.

A first section describes the enormous growth in financial derivatives markets since the 1970s -- a process involving the increased commodification of certainty and uncertainty, security and risk, safety and danger, determinacy and indeterminacy -- and the associated huge expansion of credit. It is highly misleading, the paper argues, to describe the new financial practices as 'casino capitalism': they were so hazardous that no casino could have followed them and stayed in business.

A second section analyses the concurrent invention of carbon markets, which involved the increased commodification of the earth's carbon-cycling capacity. Some of the same theorists and practitioners responsible for the new financial markets helped create the carbon markets and, unsurprisingly, carbon markets rely on the same sort of abstractions and faith in quantification that brought down the financial markets. In particular, carbon markets abstract fatally from the question of how industrialised countries can eliminate their dependence
on fossil fuels.

With all its acronyms, calculations, credits, monitoring and legal requirements, carbon trading rivals the trade in financial derivatives in its obscurity -- and in its dangers. As one carbon trader has said, 'I guess in many ways it's akin to sub-prime. You keep layering on crap until you say, 'We can't do this anymore'.' This briefing paper attempts to bring into the open the ways in which the complexity of both carbon and uncertainty markets have hidden their hazards, both from many market players and from the general public.

(2) Climate as Investment
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Climate%20as%20Investment.pdf

Proposals for Green New Deals aimed at tackling both global warming and global recession are streaming forth worldwide. Yet, as this article forthcoming in the journal /Development & Change/ argues, many such proposals are incoherent in that they overlook the need for an immediate start to a programme of phasing out both fossil fuels and purported fossil fuel substitutes such as nuclear power and industrial-scale agrofuels. They also tend to rely on Northern-biased conceptions of technology transfer and intellectual property that the climate crisis has helped make obsolete. To overcome these problems, future climate movements will have to focus increasingly on the democratization of research, planning and finance.

(3) Neoliberalism and the Calculable World: The Rise of Carbon Trading
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Neolib&Calc.pdf

Carbon permit prices flashing on electronic screens in Wall Street trading rooms reflect a complex political movement to reorganize and redistribute power and knowledge. The carbon markets associated with the Kyoto Protocol, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the US's Waxman-Markey Act constitute perhaps the last great class project of a waning neoliberal regime -- the ill-fated attempt to privatize the climate itself.

Carbon trading resembles other neoliberal movements of recent decades that have invented new possibilities of accumulation through the creation of fresh objects of calculation and intensified commodification. Such movements include the hugely expanded derivatives markets responsible for the financial crisis, global intellectual property rights regimes, and attempts to transform health, health care and even biological species into measurable, tradeable commodities. Generating both profits and crisis, the ambitious abstraction and commensuration that are vital to such schemes can never be completed. This draft chapter for a forthcoming book on the rise and fall of neoliberalism outlines the contradictions inherent in the attempt to form a viable climate commodity.

(4) Unregulatability in Financial and Carbon Markets
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Unregulatability.pdf

Can the financial derivatives markets be regulated? Can the carbon markets be regulated? The questions are parallel, according to this article from the June 2009 issue of Carbon & Climate Law Review. Both markets have involved new attempts at commodification: in the case of the financial markets, commodification of an unprecedented range of uncertainties, and in the case of the carbon markets, commodification of climate benefits or the earth's carbon-cycling capacity. Regulatory responses inspired by neoclassical economics, which assume that any problems can be handled by 'internalizing externalities' , are unlikely to succeed. A more pragmatic approach looks to decommodification in both markets. Both approaches, interestingly, have attracted supporters from wide ranges of the political spectrum.

(5) Regulation as Corruption in the Carbon Offset Markets: Cowboys and Choirboys United
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Athens%2010.pdf

The civics-class formula 'no matter what the market, it will always be possible to regulate it' is not a useful principle for constructive social action in the real world. In markets that cannot distinguish between fraud and non-fraud, that undermine the rule of law, and that are based on conflict of interest, attempts at regulation can be worse than useless. 'Governance' itself becomes part of corruption.

The carbon offset market is one such market; the market for certain complex credit derivatives is another. Both these markets, argues this draft chapter for a forthcoming book on carbon trading in Africa, should teach us the need for new, more nuanced and practical approaches to issues of corruption and regulation.

(6) Mausam: Issues 2-5 of the Indian Climate Change Magazine
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Mausam2-5.pdf

This is the long-awaited latest issue of a magazine aimed at returning the dialogue about climate change and its solutions to the 'public space.' Featured are pathbreaking articles uncovering the reality of UN-sanctioned 'carbon saving' projects in the metals, hydroelectric, wind power, chemicals, waste management and electricity generating sectors, as well as analyses of the political economy of the scientific controversies over the monsoon and over Asia's so-called 'brown cloud' of pollution.

(7) Uncertainty Markets and Carbon Markets: Variations on Polanyian Themes
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/NPE2high.pdf

New markets in uncertainty and in carbon are advertised as making both finance and climate action more cost-effective. Both fail to do so, argues this article forthcoming in the journal New Political Economy. Creating the commodity framework necessary to make sense of the notion of 'cost-effectiveness ' causes both markets to lose touch with what was supposedly being costed. One consequence is systemic crisis.

The new financial markets expanded credit and multiplied leverage by isolating, quantifying, slicing, dicing and circulating diverse types of uncertainty; an unchecked pursuit of liquidity led to a catastrophic drying up of liquidity. The carbon markets, meanwhile, by identifying global warming solutions with reductions in an abstract pool of tradable emission rights and commensurating them with 'offsets' manufactured by 'quants', ended up blocking prospective historical pathways toward less fossil fuel dependence and thus exacerbated the climate problem. Unsurprisingly, both markets have provoked strong, if diverse and confused, movements of societal self-defence. This pattern of action and reaction is similar to the one seen in movements to commodify land and labour.

(8) Imagining Climate Solutions
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/CanDimension.pdf

These days, being a climate activist can easily get you arrested -- or worse. But the bigger danger -- especially for activists in industrialised countries -- may be that of being seduced into expending your imagination on 'solutions' that turn out to be bogus.

(9) The Trouble with Carbon Trading: A Short Debate
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/MerrillLynchvsCH.pdf

In this brief exchange from ClimateChangeCorp' s website, The Corner House rebuts claims from a Wall Street carbon trader that: (a) the climate problem is a problem of quantity of emissions; (b) carbon trading lowers costs; (c) putting a price on carbon in Europe helps Southern countries reduce emissions; and (d) carbon markets can work in concert with other policies and measures.

(10) Hold the Applause: A Critical Look at Recent EU Climate Claims
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/HoldtheApplause.pdf

The European Union has recently congratulated itself for being 'on track' to meet its Kyoto Protocol emissions targets. But is it? And, more importantly, is the EU 'on track' in the effort to wean itself off fossil fuels -- which is the point of the Kyoto Protocol and other climate change mitigation efforts? The answer to both questions is no. Misleading accounting has produced an illusion of effective action; the reality, as a careful examination of the figures shows, is more complicated and disturbing.

Liverpool: “a city that dared to fight” Thurs 17 Sept

Perth Socialist Alliance meeting

6.30pm, Thurs 17 September
Perth Activist Centre, 15 / 5 Aberdeen St, East Perth

Report from a participant:
Steve Jenkins
Former member, Liverpool City Council

In the 1980s, the Liverpool City Council (in Britain) took an heroic stand against the Thatcher government’s austerity drive - and won! 25 years ago (July 1984), the council won an increase in funding for its urban regeneration plan because of the mass resistance tactics promoted by the revolutionary socialists in the then Militant Tendency who were an influential part of the council.

Steve Jenkins, as part of the “Broad Left” of the Labour party (which included the Militant Tendency), was a member of the council at the time.

Ph Alex 9218 9608, 0413 976 638 ** www.socialist-alliance.org/perth

Background:

25 years ago: Liverpool - a city that dared to fight
ON 9 July 1984 Liverpool City council, led by Militant (the Socialist Party's predecessor), won a sensational victory over the ruthless Tory government of Margaret Thatcher.

They secured extra funding for the council's urban regeneration programme. The principled stand by the 47 Liverpool Labour councillors, allied to a mass movement of the city's workers and wider working class, stands in stark contrast to today's sleazy and spineless Labour leaders.

"DANEGELD," THUNDERED the Times. Danegeld was the tribute in gold demanded from the English rulers in the thirteenth century by the invading Danes in exchange for not engaging in pillage and plunder.

"Two unlovely black eyes," declared the Daily Mail, when it condemned the Tory environment secretary Patrick Jenkin's retreat over additional funding for Liverpool City council in 1984. It wrote: "The Trotskyites and others of the hard left who run Liverpool have had the best of the fight with him in their threat to defy the law on that city's overspending."

"A cowardly deal" was the headline of the Daily Express which went on: "Patrick Jenkin seems to have bought himself some peace from the Militant-led Liverpool City council. This is a shoddy and cowardly deal... Mr Jenkin has shown that defiance pays."

These headlines were just some of the reactions to the Militant-led Liverpool City council's success in securing £30 million from the Thatcher government on 9 July 1984.

In contrast to the outrage expressed by the media were the scenes of exultation that greeted the councillors when they reported the outcome of the negotiations with Jenkin to a 600-strong meeting of the Liverpool District Labour Party.

Programme

Liverpool was the only council to secure extra funding from a Thatcher government wedded to the principles of monetarism espoused by the likes of economists Milton Friedman and Frederick Hayek, whose monetarist model was also embraced by Chile's bloodthirsty dictator Augusto Pinochet with murderous consequences for the Chilean working class.

This victory enabled the council to carry out its electoral programme, included the building of 5,000 houses, opening six new sports centres, creating 2,000 jobs and refusing to carry out £10 million worth of cuts which had been the legacy of the Liberal/Tory alliance which had ruled Liverpool for the previous 20 years, with a short interregnum of Labour rule.

This anniversary is particularly significant as it occurs at a time of national and global capitalist upheaval, and the mind-boggling revelations about the behaviour of MPs who have aped the actions of the greedy bankers by using every phoney device to stuff their pockets with gold.

The next thing to come under the spotlight should be the lucrative consultancies and directorships of MPs and ex-ministers who have become millionaires overnight having presided over the privatisation of publicly-owned companies.

Also, temporarily hidden from the public gaze, the private porkers in the financial sector continue to stack up personal wealth. A couple of examples show that, in spite of the near-criminal activity of the bankers, Peter Mandelson's philosophy of 'being relaxed about people being filthy rich' is alive and well and, in spite of Brown's bluster about 'responsible banking,' continues to shape the outlook of New Labour.

In 2008, in the midst of the economic crisis, bankers earned on average £255,000 more than their counterparts in other branches of private industry. Incredibly Northern Rock's non-executive directors' salaries rose by 33% after it was nationalised.

Recently, City sources revealed that RBS, bailed out by the taxpayer, and milch cow for Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin, made a deal with its head of global banking John Hourican which grants him a package which, given the rise in the RBS share price, doubles his stake on paper to £11 million in two months. And only last week the government approved a £10 million remuneration package to Goodwin's successor, Stephen Hester.

Against these figures, the frame-up against the 47 Liverpool Labour councillors by the District Auditor, who charged them with losing the Liverpool rate payers £106,000, is truly grotesque.

Terry Fields and Dave Nellist were two MPs who gave unconditional support to the Liverpool City council and who were expelled from Labour as a result of the witch-hunt unleashed by the then Labour Party leader (now Lord) Neil Kinnock.

His Lordship has been uncharacteristically silent about the 'grotesque chaos'* overwhelming a Parliamentary Labour Party that, as a consequence of his action in unleashing a pogrom to cleanse Labour of socialists, no longer remotely reflects the interests of the working class (* the scurrilous term used by Neil Kinnock in his infamous 1985 Labour Party conference speech to attack the Liverpool 47).

In contrast to the behaviour of the current crop of charlatans, Terry, Dave and later Pat Wall in Bradford, accepted only the average wage of the workers they represented who were working in industry.

It is a tribute to their dedication to socialism that their names are mentioned more and more over the airwaves and in the local press during public discussion on the current parliamentary revelations. For example, I was contacted by Radio Merseyside to explain the role of Terry Fields as a firefighters' rep and MP in the context of the present parliamentary bacchanalia.

The passage of time has not diminished the achievements of the 47, nor undermined the importance of the struggle. In spite of the distortions of establishment spokespersons, aided and abetted by the lies of right wing parliamentarians and trade union leaders, the record of the 47 remains stubbornly intact.

The 47 inherited a catastrophic financial situation when they took control in 1983. The outgoing Liberal-Tory alliance had deliberately underspent throughout the 1970s as a cynical ploy to maintain electoral support. In one year they actually cut the rates (a forerunner of today's council tax).

This was achieved by increasing rents, terminating the house-building programme and shedding thousands of jobs, in addition to cuts in other sectors. Thus Liberal council leader Trevor Jones was able to claim he presided over the lowest rate increases in Liverpool's history. He was knighted by a drooling Thatcher for services rendered.

Thatcherism

These events had as their background the Thatcher government's dislike of local government or, more precisely, Thatcher's hatred of local democracy which often then resulted in the election of Labour councils.

Part of the Tories' programme when they were elected in 1979 included decentralising state power and devolving decision-making to localities. In fact, the opposite took place. Using the device of the block grant system which penalised local authorities who exceeded the government's prescribed spending limits, the government succeeded in slashing local authority expenditure.

The percentage of local expenditure financed by central government fell drastically from 61% in 1979-80 to 48% in 1985-86. That 13% shortfall had to be funded by local councils if services were to be maintained.

However, such was the Tories' ruthless determination to drive down local expenditure, they introduced a policy of rate-capping with savage penalties for those councils who exceeded the limitations imposed by central government. For every £1 breach of expenditure, £2 would be lost in rate support grant.

Initially, all Labour-controlled local authorities had agreed to support a campaign against the policy of rate-capping. Amongst the leaders of this campaign, it is incredible to recall, were David Blunkett and Ken Livingstone, with Neil Kinnock as their parliamentary cheerleader.

However, the consequences for Liverpool were more severe than all other authorities. In 1984-85 the total target of expenditure set by the government for all English authorities was 6% lower than their expenditure in 1980-81, but Liverpool's target, as a consequence of the rating policy of the Liberal/Tory alliance, was 11% lower than its spending in 1980-81.

Liverpool's officials estimated that between 1978-79 and 1983-84, the city had lost between £26 million and £34 million in government grants as a result of the government lowering Liverpool's spending target. This was the £30 million (on average) that the council explained the government had stolen.
Thus, the years of rate-slashing policies by the Liberal-Tory alliance in Liverpool meant that the financial position of the city was in even greater dire straits than all other local authorities.

The government's policies meant that, in order to balance the books, a local authority would either have to increase the rates, sometimes massively to compensate for Tory cuts, or savagely cut back on jobs and services.

The Liverpool District Labour Party's policy was to reject both of these options and instead to carry out its electoral promises. In the elections of 1983 a key component of the Liverpool party's electoral programme was 'No rate or rent increases to compensate for Tory cuts.'

That campaign explained to the Liverpool electorate the consequences of Liberal/Tory rule. The campaign also explained the pernicious slashing policies of the Tory government and gave a commitment that a radical socialist programme would be implemented. This included house building, job creation, rent reductions and improvement of services, linked to a campaign to retrieve funding from central government. The result was the magnificent electoral victory in 1983 with Labour gaining 12 seats, giving Labour 51 seats against the Liberal/Tory total of 48.

The massive financial crisis already described, which Liverpool Labour inherited, was seen as a reason for the implementation of the electoral programme rather than, as is usually the case with all the pro-capitalist politicians, a reason to retreat.

If Liverpool's expenditure had increased at the same rate as other authorities and even within government guidelines through that period, then the city's target set by the government for 1984-85 would have been much higher. In addition to the problems caused by the Liberals' financial jiggery-pokery through the 1970s and early 1980s, in 1983 the incoming Labour council inherited a budget which included £8 million to £10 million of unallocated cuts.

Against this background it was a diabolical lie for the right wing to allege that the crisis in Liverpool was of the 47's own making. Jack Straw, for instance, who in 1984 advocated a rate rise of 60%, has to this day never retracted the lies spewed out by him and his colleagues.

His excuse over the scandal about his parliamentary claim for full council tax when he had already been allowed a 50% discount was that "accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit." This admission serves to underline his ignorance about the real depth of Liverpool's financial crisis that even Patrick Jenkin was compelled to recognise.

Mass struggle

But the victory was not achieved merely by slick negotiation between the councillors and Patrick Jenkin. Jenkin's promise to 'do his very best' to ameliorate some of Liverpool's problems wasn't solely due to his compassion having seen, in his words, 'housing conditions the likes of which I've never seen.'

It was also prompted by the mass support enjoyed by the council evidenced by the 1,000-strong demonstration which followed him around the housing estates which he viewed on his visit to Liverpool.

He was also conscious of the magnificent electoral support as well as the physical support shown by the great demonstrations that marched through the city in support of the council's policies, particularly the demonstration on budget day the previous March when a one-day strike took place, supported by 30,000 local authority workers. 50,000 people marched through the city that day in support of the council's proposed 'deficit budget'. That support was the reason Thatcher had despatched Jenkin to the city to get a real flavour of the situation on the ground.

Celebration

The council meeting following the funding victory was greeted with scenes of jubilation more akin to welcoming a returning football team having won the FA cup. The lobby of the council saw local authority workers, striking miners, young people, unemployed and parents with their young children, all listening to the victory speeches. Labour speakers were greeted with cheers, while over the benches of the Liberals and Tories hung a mood of demoralisation.

The support for the council was based on concrete changes to better people's lives. For instance, before the local press joined the Rupert Murdoch/Robert Maxwell media axis in its demonisation of the councillors, the Daily Post carried a headline 'House-proud city has got it right.' It reported the comments of a housing expert, Alice Coleman, who had carried out extensive research into housing conditions nationally and internationally.

'Liverpool,' she declared at a meeting to assess the council's housing policy, 'has got it right.' She completely concurred with the main thrust of the Urban Regeneration Strategy and the council's conviction that the majority of people preferred to live in traditional houses.

Moreover, the spin-off effect of the city's housing programme on employment had been publicly recognised by building companies who are not usually friends of Labour. In the three years from April 1983 to May 1985 it was estimated that 6,489 jobs had been generated in the private sector as a result of the house-building programme.

Twenty-five years late, the chattering classes agonise over the disengagement of people in general from politics and their disillusionment with the mainstream parties. Chat shows on various agencies of the media usually draw the conclusion that the party leaders, particularly Gordon Brown, lack charisma, or they don't have the ability to crack a good gag.

The logic of this argument is that New Labour should persuade Ken Dodd to lead the party and they would romp home at the next election with a massive majority based on a 99% turnout!

The Liverpool 47 attracted the highest Labour vote in history, and higher than in any election since world war two even though the population of the city had declined from 700,000 in 1945 to 460,000 in 1983. While turnout for local elections in recent years has ranged from 11% to 20%, the turnout in 1983 and 1984 was 45% to 55%. A clear message that if policies which correspond to the needs and aspirations of the working class are implemented, then the support will be forthcoming.

It was this level of support that gave the ruling class and its allies at the tops of the Labour movement an enormous problem.

The council leaders warned the workers that the Tories would bide their time and wait for the opportunity to take their revenge, particularly with the vengeful Margaret Thatcher determined to crush any opposition. They explained the urgency of stepping up the national campaign to persuade other major councils to take the Liverpool road and to compel Thatcher to retreat.

Tragically, this strategy did not succeed. One by one, the other councils involved in the anti-rate capping campaign capitulated under Tory pressure, aided and abetted by the national Labour leadership, particularly by the treachery of Labour leader Neil Kinnock. Ken Livingstone in London and David Blunkett in Sheffield, sounded the retreat which turned into a rout, eventually leaving Liverpool in isolation. This retreat was accompanied by a hysterical media campaign designed to isolate Liverpool, with deputy Labour leader Roy Hattersley accusing the Liverpool councillors of 'literal corruption'.

In spite of their unparalleled record of achievement, the power of the state eventually prevailed. Thatcher's district auditor, supported by the House of Lords, removed the 47 councillors from office, cheered on by the Labour leaders. Kinnock and his lieutenant, witchfinder-general Peter Kilfolye, finished the job on behalf of the capitalist state by expelling the majority of the 47 from the Labour Party.

Since then many gallons of ink, acres of newsprint, and speeches by right wing charlatans have attempted to denigrate the 47's period of office. But the record has been written in concrete buildings and stands as a monument to the socialist achievements of the Liverpool City council of 1983-87. Achievements symbolised by the incredible victory over Patrick Jenkin 25 years ago.

This article is by Tony Mulhearn, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales)

Scotland & England agree to repatriate Aboriginal dead!

NOTE TO EDITORS: It is offensive to Aboriginal cultural and religious beliefs that any images of skulls or other body parts be shown. According to Aboriginal beliefs an image of a dead Aboriginal, whether skeletal or otherwise, can capture the spirit of the dead and cause trauma to the spirit and the Aboriginal people generally. Please do not use images of the dead to accompany media stories.

PRESS RELEASE: SCOTLAND and ENGLAND AGREE TO REPATRIATE ABORIGINAL DEAD

Aborigines are ecstatic to be finally bringing home a skull and jawbone of Aboriginals taken more than 150 years ago.

“We are so happy to be finally collecting the remains,” one of the delegates Sara Maynard said today. “Caroline Spotswood and I leave Hobart on flight QF1012 at 4.50pm Saturday 12^th. We arrive in Scotland on Tuesday to collect one of our dead. On Wednesday we will collect the other from the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

“The National Museums Scotland does not have any information about how our dead finished up in Scotland. That usually means the remains were grave-robbed. In such cases the grave robber rarely provided detailed documentation about where the remains were dug up from, or were found on sand blown burial sites. We do know that some of our people were murdered just so the prized skulls of what settlers hypocritically called savages could be donated to scientists.

The jawbone coming back from the Royal College of Surgeons was taken in the 1830s from sick and dying Aborigines by George Augustus Robinson, self styled “Protector of Aborigines”. These bones, usually of close relatives, were wrapped with sinew and were worn as amulets to ward off pain and sickness. Five others were returned by the Royal College in 2002; this one was only recently located.

There was a massive trade in Tasmanian Aboriginal remains in the mid 1880’s. Many of the dead were donated to “old mother England” (and Scotland) by settlers wanting to ingratiate themselves back home.

While this is a victory of over 20 years effort, other institutions in Britain are playing games to hold onto their collections of Aboriginal dead. The laws in Britain now allow institutions to hand over Aboriginal dead, but they are not compelled to. Many refuse to cooperate directly with Aborigines, hiding behind long and complicated processes that delay repatriations and exhaust the limited resources of Aboriginal groups. The Wellcome Trust told us this week that we could not collect our dead from them because we have not even begun their process - although both we and the Australian Government were first in touch with them back in 2007!

Oxford and Cambridge are the hard heads who refuse to talk to us. Unless the Australian Prime Minister gets involved we will never get the remains back that those institutions hold. Oxford has the skulls of five people, and hair from five other people. Cambridge will not yet even confirm what they do have; it could be four skulls and two jawbones.

Prime Minister Rudd must ask the British Prime Minister to change the law so that all Aboriginal dead are returned to Australia. While his predecessor Mr Howard had been active in getting laws changed in Britain to help with repatriation, Mr Rudd has not been at all interested.

Sara Maynard

Mobile: 0437 259 357

Email: saramaynard2002@yahoo.com.au (Please use this email address from the 11^th-21^st of September 2009)

11 September 2009

Sinn Fein councillor quits and joins Socialist Party

Via the Socialist Party (Ireland)'s website, this exciting news:


Cllr Domhnall O Cobhthaigh resigns from Sinn Fein to join the Socialist Party

Sinn Fein councillor Domhnall O Cobhthaigh today announced his resignation from the party at a press conference in order to join the Socialist Party to “build a cross-community opposition to the right-wing economic policies of the Assembly Executive”. Fermanagh Cllr Domhnall O Cobhthaigh who has served on Fermanagh District Council for the past two years claimed he could no longer remain in Sinn Fein as it was now part of an Assembly Executive which is “implementing cuts, job losses and privatising public services”. Joe Higgins, Socialist Party MEP for Dublin welcomed Mr O Cobhthaigh’s decision to join the Socialist Party today in Belfast “The Socialist Party seeks to build a movement of working and unemployed people in Northern Ireland in Protestant and Catholic communities against the attacks on jobs, wages and services which are being pursued by big business and the parties in the Assembly. We warmly welcome Domhnall as a valuable member of the Socialist Party and look forward to building a genuine socialist alternative in Fermanagh for working people and youth.” Jim Barbour of the Fire Brigades’ Union welcoming Mr O Coghthaigh’s decision claimed “There is an urgent need to develop a cross-community anti-sectarian political alternative for workers who are facing massive job losses and attacks on wages, terms and conditions. It is nothing short of a disgrace that while the banks are bailed out to the tune of billions, ordinary working people are paying the price for their crisis. Domhnall’s decision today is a welcome development in building a socialist voice for workers. We are also working closely alongside our colleagues in Britain campaigning for a new mass party to represent working class people who have been long abandoned by New Labour.” Mr O Cobhthaigh also stated that he has resigned his council seat. “Despite my happy experience in working with the communities of Erne West and Enniskillen in demanding improvements, I feel it would be indefensible to retain a council seat to which I have not been elected (I was co-opted to the seat in 2007). Therefore, I have decided to resign from my seat on Fermanagh District Council. Why I have resigned from Sinn Fein to join the Socialist Party Councillor Domhnall Ó Cobhthaigh resigns from Sinn Féin and Fermanagh District Council 3rd September 2009 “I have decided to resign from Sinn Fein after a period of careful reflection. Over the past twelve years I have worked tirelessly to develop Sinn Féin as an engine of change. Leaving is a very difficult decision given the many friends I am leaving behind in the party. “I consider that the current economic crisis has brought to antagonism the contradiction between the nationalist and socialist agendas within Sinn Féin. I have struggled for many years to promote the agenda of community empowerment and opposition to neo-liberal economics but realise that I cannot now usefully continue that within Sinn Féin. As a result I have decided to resign my party membership. “Despite my happy experience in working with the communities of Erne West and Enniskillen in demanding improvements, I feel it would be indefensible to retain a council seat to which I have not been elected (I was co-opted to the seat in 2007). Therefore, I have decided to resign from my seat on Fermanagh District Council. “Over the past year, I have come to understand that the Assembly system itself only reinforces the sectarian divisions within our society. All five mainstream parties are doing little more than overseeing the long-term administration of senior civil servants and their right-wing agenda. While I still have the greatest of respect for many of my former colleagues within Sinn Féin, I cannot see how they will change this significantly in the context of the current framework of governance. “I welcome the fact that we now live largely free from violence. I believe that working class people played a key role in what became known as the peace process through their opposition to sectarian violence. Today however deep sectarian divisions remain and low level sectarian violence continues. The main Assembly parties have a shared right-wing economic agenda. Their policies of cuts and privatisation only cement sectarian division. “I also want to use this opportunity to unambiguously reaffirm my opposition to all groups who would wish to take us backwards to conflict or who would further increase divisions between sections of the working-class. Looking forward for change “I wish to play my part in building a cross-community working-class platform to oppose the cutbacks which are being forced on working people to pay for the bailouts for the super-rich and which leave Fermanagh communities suffering from second-class provision right across the board. “Over the past two years I have learnt that there are very many people who share my commitment to fundamental change. I know that the effects of the current downturn are impacting on all but I am aware of their particular impact on young people who are leaving education only to struggle to find employment. The mainstream parties do not deliver and cannot deliver for working class and young people. As a result, there is a growing gap between all the mainstream parties and the majority of people, particularly the working class. “I am convinced that change can only come about if working, unemployed and young people themselves organise to challenge the status quo. We have seen the power of effective local campaigns in fighting against health cutbacks and against the imposition of water charges. The sad truth is if we are waiting for change to come at the hands of any of the mainstream parties, then we will wait a long time indeed. Working people must organise themselves against cuts and to defend jobs. “Having looked around I am convinced that the Socialist Party offers a platform from which to build such campaigns and is determined to achieve fundamental change in the way society is organised. I am now committed to working alongside party members in building the party in Fermanagh to struggle alongside workers and our communities at every possibility.” “As a first step in building this, I will be organising an open night in Enniskillen Library to discuss the reasons for my leaving Sinn Féin and the way forward for resisting the Assembly’s agenda of austerity.”

Community victory at Catherine Hill Bay

Via Socialist Alliance's NSW site:

Duroyan Fertl

Local activists scored a resounding victory against over-development on August 31, when the NSW Land and Environment Court overturned consent for a proposal to build 600 houses in the small coastal village of Catherine Hill Bay, near Newcastle, and another 187 houses at nearby Gwandalan.


While Justice Lloyd didn’t mention the $143,500 donation made by the developer Rosecorp to the ALP before the last state election, in his ruling he described the consent process as "biased", and a "land bribe in exchange for rezoning and associated development".

Last September, then planning minister Frank Sartor signed a binding deed with the developer that "committed" him to look favourably on the development, before the proposal had even been submitted for approval under the controversial Part 3A of the Planning Act.

The decision is likely to set a precedent preventing approvals that involve land swaps, where developers receive government development approvals in exchange for handing over private land for conservation purposes.

The case – run by Kirsty Ruddock for the NSW Environmental Defender's Office – could also have implications for a similar project at Branxton in the Hunter Valley, which locals are taking to the Land and Environment Court in October.

The battle against the development is not over, however. Planning Minister Kristina Keneally has promised that Rosecorp could still resubmit their plan for assessment by the Independent Planning Assessment Commission.

Duroyan Fertl is a Socialist Alliance activist in Sydney.

Find out more about the campaign here.