International Luxemburgist Network - Red Luxemburguista Internacional - Réseau Luxemburgiste International - Rede Luxemburguista Internacional - Internasjonalt Luxemburgist Nettverk

October 15- Time for the US to Join the Global Popular Assembly Movement

Admin — 2011-10-15T10:41:33Z

Independence from the Democratic and Republican Parties!
No to All Austerity!

Jobs for all—A Massive Public Works Program!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=535313990#!/event.php?eid=160311214057518

On October 15, people around the world will be gathering in the squares of cities large and small to say NO to austerity. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217223788318602. As a new step down in the global depression grips the economy; as the rich suck more trillions into their maws; as wages, pensions, education and health are slashed; as jobs continue to disappear, a movement of Popular Assemblies has arisen in Europe, inspired by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. This movement, organizing millions, has consistently declared its total independence from the major political parties of all countries. It has been run democratically by Popular Assemblies of all those who participate in the demonstrations and occupations of squares. It is a movement that demands Real Democracy NOW.

It is time for this movement to come to the United States. The chains that bind popular movements to the Democratic Party must be broken. We, too, need a movement totally independent of the Democrats and Republicans, parties wholly and completely run by and for the rich. We need a movement run not by self-appointed leaders but by Popular Assemblies –assemblies of all participants who decide by majority vote what our demands are and what the next steps are. We need Popular Assemblies in every city, in every neighborhood, in every workplace, coordinated by regional and eventually national assemblies. We need a movement that will bring about REAL Democracy Now, not the sham competition between the twin parties of the corporations.

To initiate such a nationwide movement here, we call on all workers, students, unemployed, immigrant and native-born, to organize continuing, daily, demonstrations in the central squares of every city in the US beginning October 15 . The demonstrations are to be run democratically and the specific demands are to be adopted by Popular Assemblies of all those participating. These demonstrations are to be explicitly totally independent of the Democratic and Republican parties.

We propose that a common demand of the demonstrations be the demand of Jobs for All: A Massive Public Works and Public Service Program with direct government employment, paid for by taxing the rich and the corporations and by stopping all of American's wars. Such jobs are to be available to all who live here, regardless of immigration status, past incarcerations, country of birth or any other distinction. This demand addresses the key crisis confronting the world, the mass destruction of employment and fights against the effort to pit native-born and immigrant against each other. But this demand is to serve only to aid in the mobilization of the initial demonstrations—the final demands are, as in Greece, Spain and elsewhere, to be the democratic decisions of the Popular Assemblies.

Already a continuing daily demonstration behind a similar demand has started in Newark NJ http://njpop.org/wordpress/?p=708 and by October 15 no doubt there will other such daily demonstrations and occupations. Let October 15 be the day that this movement spreads throughout the United States!

For a Movement of Popular Assemblies!

For Real Democracy Now!

Jobs for ALL!

Announced times and places for October 15 : New York, NY : Times Square 12:00 PM

More on the global action day (Oct. 15th) : http://www.15october.net

Athenians Teach a New Lesson in (Workers) Democracy

Admin — 2011-06-18T18:50:20Z

By Eric Lerner

The Greek working class has won a victory in the past three days not just for themselves but for all the world's workers. In the latest step forward in the mass strike wave that began last December in Tunisia, 50-100,000 workers—young and old, employed, students, and unemployed—turned back on Wednesday, June 15, a police attempt to end the occupation of Syntagma Square, leading the Greek government to collapse into parliamentary paralysis. This has, for now, defeated the latest austerity plan of mass layoffs and privatizations. While not yet a final victory, this was the first time in the current period (outside of tiny Iceland) that mass protests in a parliamentary democracy have turned back austerity attacks.

Equally important, on Thursday the Popular Assembly that has been meeting every night in the Square adopted a sweeping set of economic demands that form the core of an alternative to austerity: cancellation of the debt, nationalization of all banks, no privatization, taxation of the rich and capital, popular democratic control over the economy and production. Here, now democratically adopted in open mass meeting, is a clear call that not only can rally Greeks, but can mobilize masses in every part of the world.

Cairo to Madrid to Athens

The occupation of Syntagma (Constitution) Square in front of the Hellenic parliament building began May 25, inspired in part by the occupations of squares in Spain begun ten days earlier, which in turn were inspired by the occupation of Tahrir Square and the other occupations of the Egyptian Revolution. Greeks were enraged by the austerity measures imposed last year that had already sent unemployment soaring to 16%, and now the government, pressured by the European Union and the IMF, was proposing a second huge round of austerity, with layoffs of more than 100,000 state workers and the sale of major state-owned companies. As in Spain, the occupiers turned their rage against all the parliamentary parties, who all sought to steal for the banks every penny they wanted.

Initially, the protests were loosely organized. Nationalist and outright fascists tried to exploit them, forming a loud, Greek-flag-waving contingent near Parliament, on the upper end of the square. But rapidly broad masses of leftist youth, some from Marxist groups, but most not, organized the Popular Assembly in the lower part of the square, individually confronted rightists who were harassing immigrants and isolated the nationalists increasingly into one corner. Occupations and popular assemblies rapidly sprang up in nearly all the other Greek cities.

On Sunday, June 5, gigantic demonstrations, called by the popular assemblies, reinforced the occupations, with the crowd in Athens estimated as high as 500,000—a tenth of the population. Attacks by the police with tear gas and truncheons left one demonstrator critically injured.

June 15—the Battle of Syntagma Square

With the occupation continuing and growing and with the government about to introduce the new austerity plan to Parliament, the major trade union confederations, under tremendous pressure from their base, called for a one-day General Strike on June 15 and marches that would converge on the occupations. There had been 10 previous general strikes but now this one was not just a one-day blow off of steam, but instead fed directly into the open-ended occupations. It is the open-ended nature of the occupations, together with their democratic organization that makes them dangerous to the government and to the ruling class.

The Popular Assembly had called for a blockade of the Parliamentary building to prevent the parliamentary representatives from getting in. Predictably, the police thwarted such well-publicized plans by getting the politicians in early and counter-blockading a single passageway.

Nonetheless, the event was a spectacular success for the workers, as the square filled with 50-100,000 protestors and uncounted more lined up on all the avenues and side streets around the square. By 3:00 PM, the square was a festive scene of peacefully milling demonstrators.

But the police had laid their own plans. Suddenly, there were the loud bangs of noise grenades and tear gas started to pour into the center of the occupation at the bottom of the square. What were the police, who numbered not more than five or six hundred, trying to do against a crowd hundreds of times larger? As my Greek comrade George cogently explained later, the police obviously figured that such a huge crowd would consist mainly of those new to demonstrations and that a whiff of tear gas would be all that was needed to send them home. The police were afraid to try again with their truncheons for fear that this time someone would die and the cycle of mass funerals and mass protests would too plainly mirror the revolutionary cycle of the Arab countries. So just tear gas would do—and leave no embarrassing corpses behind.

The police badly misjudged the crowd — they could have seen that from the start. Because although the protestors ranged in age form 17 to eighties, there were no children—no baby strollers, practically no one who was not fully grown. The kids had been left behind because the protestors were prepared for trouble—not to make trouble but prepared for trouble from the police. And they were determined to stay.

So when the tear gas swept over the square, the crowd retreated slowly—walking, not running. When the gas dispersed, the demonstrators surged forward again, until the next round of tear gas brought a new retreat. And the retreats were not far—people moved onto the side streest or into cafes with closed doors and waited for the gas to blow away. We pulled out surgical masks, or napkins or—some of the veteran protestors—full gas masks and poured water or soda pop over each other's faces.

Gradually, thousands of demonstrators realized that the wind was steadily blowing the gas up the square. They moved through the side streets to the area upwind and below the square, where tear gas would blow away from the demonstrators, not towards them. (By the way, no “petrol bombs” were thrown, contrary to press reports. Garbage fires were set in the middle of streets—a silly but harmless prank.) By 4:30 small groups of police found themselves sandwiched between enormously larger groups of protestors on all the streets and avenues. Drummers beat a furious and (to the cops) threatening tattoo on the streets, while in the square itself a lyre-player led the occupiers in a Cretan dance. Although the protestors were mostly young, men and women clearly up in their ‘80's stood firmly in the belief that they had every right to demonstrate against the thieves in parliament and the banks.

Around 5:00 the police began to give up, blocking off streets but leaving sidewalks leading to the square open, and they stopped firing tear gas. The square was in the hands of the occupiers and the police were outside. The Battle of Syntagma Square had ended in complete victory of the workers. By nightfall, tremendous crowds poured into the square, making it almost impossible to move about. Three thousand participated patiently in the Popular Assembly while the rest celebrated.

The Rulers Panic

As the protestors reorganized and started collectively cleaning the tear gas off the pavement of the square with bucket brigades, the government of Prime Minister Papandreou dissolved in panic. Faced with the loss of control of the central square to a determined, growing and open-ended movement, the ruling class politicians acted the way trade union officers all too often do—indecisively switching from one thing to another, unable to mobilize their resources or to take decisive action.

First Papandreou offered to resign to pave the way for a “grand coalition” of his own “Socialist” Party and the opposition parties. But the opposition parties actually wanted no part of governing just now, thank you anyway, with the impossible task of imposing austerity on the mass strike movement being the first thing on the agenda. So the task of governing became a hot potato thrown back and forth among the politicians until Papandreou withdrew his offer to resign and, in a clearly decisive move, slightly reshuffled his cabinet.

With no one wanting to govern Greece, the EU, IMF and the banks that stood behind them suddenly started to view Greek default on the debt as inevitable, something that was baldly stated by no less a capitalist icon than former US Fed chairman Alan Greenspan. But Greek default would trigger chain reaction bankruptcies among the banks, so all of a sudden the EU decided that it could give Greece the next bailout with only ”promises” of austerity in return rather than the actual austerity the EU had previously been demanding. Faced with working class determination, the banks took a big step back from the new austerity plan, without formally abandoning it yet.

The Workers Decide

Just as defeat disoriented the rulers, victory made the workers decisive. At the Popular Assembly on Thursday, the Assembly's Economic Commission put forward their answer to the key question—what, other than the defeat of the new austerity plan, did the protestors want, what was their alternative? The answer, adopted overwhelmingly by the Assembly as a whole, was clear. “We do not owe, we do not sell, and we do not pay! Cancellation of the Debt, this debt is not ours!” Not negotiation but cancellation of the whole debt is the alternative of the protestors. The rest of the program is equally clear and unequivocal—No Privatizations—none! Nationalization of all banks. “A radical redistribution of income, and changes in taxation in the benefit of the workers. Let those that have, pay. The big owners, the bankers, Capital and the Church.” Finally, popular control over the economy and production.

This program is a significant advance over the program widely circulated in Spain by the Democratic Real –Ya! group (which was itself a big step forward). First, it is the democratically-adopted program of the central occupation in Greece, not the product of an anonymous group of protestors, as in Spain. That is of key importance. Second, it is much more determined and consistent—the Spanish program demanded nationalization only of failed banks, not a state monopoly as in the Athens demands, and was silent on the debt and on privatizations. The steps demanded by the Athens Popular Assembly are the first steps that, not only in Greece, but practically everywhere, can stop the downwards spiral of working class economic life.

The program, to be sure, is not yet complete. It needs to include the positive steps the government must take with the money liberated from the banks and other capitalists. The demands raised in Spain for a massive expansion of health, education and public transport, should be added to the program. In addition, such expansion of services is only possible with a giant program of public works as well, with direct government jobs to rebuild housing, schools, hospitals and mass transit. With these additions, the Popular Assembly can make clear to all the unemployed that the program will mean Jobs for All, immigrant and native-born, cutting at the root of anti-immigrant hostility.

The Popular Assembly at Syntagma has been able to go beyond democratic discussion to democratic decisions. Again, the construction of real workers democracy is still under way. While thousands take part in the assembly, there are five million living in Athens and millions more in the rest of Greece. To democratically include all these millions requires a system of delegation, in which delegates from neighborhoods and workplaces attend city-wide assemblies and delegates from these attend a nationwide assembly. As workers' experience since the Paris Commune has shown, there is a huge difference between a workers' delegate, elected for a specific meeting, often bearing a mandate on a specific topic, responsible back to an organized assembly on the one hand and on the other hand a representative entrusted with power for years, as in a parliamentary democracy. Already, neighborhood assemblies are beginning in Athens and in time no doubt workplace assemblies and a National Assembly of Popular Assemblies will follow.

Right now, the Popular Assembly of Athens, with its direct democracy, is an echo of the Assembly of Ancient Athens—without the latter's limits of excluding slaves, immigrants and women! Set up in opposition to the false capitalist democracy of Parliament across the square the Popular Assembly marks a new step on the route to Workers Democracy. As workers learn of the Greek example others will follow them in Portugal, Spain, France, the United States and the world.

For Social Revolution in Libya : Neither Gaddafi Nor Imperialism !

Admin — 2011-06-05T13:27:39Z

The coalition army of five countries led by the French, British and American governments that is now bombing Libya is not the generous protector of Libyans against the atrocities of Gaddafi that it pretends to be. These “humanitarians” and the multinationals that they truly represent, have aided and abetted the Gaddafi regime's repressions for years and today are supporting the brutal repressions taking place in allied countries such as Qatar (who joined the coalition on March 20th) and Bahrain where the Saudi army was sent in to attack peaceful demonstrators.

Their real objective is to seize control of the revolutionary process in Libya. They aim not only at controlling the country and its oil resources but also at steering the process in favor of world capitalism and blocking the establishment of a real democracy that would go “too far” in its quest for social justice. This is a potential turning point in the revolutionary process in the Arab region, where revolts have already succeeded by themselves in overthrowing corrupt dictatorships. The intervention in Libya opens the way to selective armed interventions which leaves unharmed allied despots. We firmly denounce it.

In order for the revolutions sweeping the Middle East to succeed, workers have to organize themselves democratically and lead their movement themselves. A strong mass strike movement involving the whole country, including Tripoli, cannot be stopped by either Gaddafi's tanks nor the coalition's aviation. This can only happen through the constitution of independent and authentic revolutionary councils.

There is a huge risk for the Revolution in the presence in the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) of people who not long ago were officials of the regime (for example, NTC chairman Abdul Jalil, ex-minister of Justice of Gaddafi). Such members are more closely aligned to imperialism than to the Libyan masses and would rather have a corrupt government set up in order to welcome multinationals than an authentic workers-led democracy.

Major forces in the Opposition stand against both Gaddafi and the NTC. This is the case of the Libyan Youth Movement (present on Twitter : http://twitter.com/ShababLibya and Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/LibyanYouthMovement) who denounce the strong link of the leadership of the NTC with the despot. It is precisely through such an independence and a strong democracy that Libyans can build a future for themselves and keep inspiring workers all over, as in Portugal where hundreds of thousands of young people marched against austerity on March 12th and where the Libyan rebel flag floated along with others that refuse submission to elites of any kind.

ILN, March 27th 2011

News from Winsconsin and elsewhere in the US

Admin — 2011-03-19T19:20:44Z

There are new developments in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the US.

First, immigrant workers have started to rally in support of the public workers and against the Walker budget, which includes the banning of in-state tuition for immigrant students, as well as the widely-publicized outlawing of public worker unions and massive cuts in public worker pay. There was a rally organized by the Immigrant Workers Union this morning in Madison.

Second, a major group of unions, union's officials and activists have come out in Wisconsin against all concessions and rallied this evening behind the demands for NO cuts or concessions. Previously, some public worker union leaders in Wisconsin had said the unions would agree to the drastic 8-10% cuts in take-home pay proposed in the Walker bill if the attacks on collective bargaining rights were removed. Now, a coalition initiated by the National Nurses United is fighting nationally against all further concessions. In Wisconsin, nurses' unions, joined by the Presidents of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, and the South Central Federation of Labor, among other officials, called the rally tonight refusing all cuts.

The last rally in Madison drew 100,000—the largest demonstration there in decades.

This is the sort of escalation of the struggle, both in demands and in support, that workers need to win. Tomorrow evening, at the NJ Worker and Immigrant Rights Coalition meeting in Newark we will be discussing how we can help join the immigrant workers and public workers battles here in NJ and spread the fights to resist all cuts and concessions. Rather than cuts, we need a massive expansion of the public sector—a massive public works program!

Here in NJ a support rally drew about 5,000 people. In Ohio, where another bill outlawing public unions is being considered there have been mass protests.

The United States may be on the verge of the first general strikes in over 60 years and the first state-wide general strike ever. The state government in Wisconsin has outlawed public unions at all levels, eliminating all forms of collective bargaining for public workers who number 300,000 in the state. The South Central Labor Federation had previously voted to endorse a general strike if the governor signed the bill, which he is expected to do tomorrow (Friday, March 11), if he has not already done so. The law gives the Governor the power to declare a state of emergency and fire all striking public workers, so it practically dares the workers to strike. Already there are reports that local unions have urged their workers to go to Madison and not report for work tomorrow, including a widely publicized call by a fire-fighter's union president. The Capitol is encircled by fire trucks, their sirens blaring. An emergency meeting of union leaders was called to discuss a general strike. The Teachers Union, however, is urging members to show up for work.

While the Republican-controlled legislature rushed the bill through, the Capitol building in Madison was besieged by tens of thousands of protestors, who forced them way past state troopers to once again occupy the Capitol. Dozens physically blocked the Assembly chamber, but were forcibly removed by state police. I do not know for sure whether protestors are still occupying the Capitol, but that now is secondary to the question of the general strike.

High school students in Madison are organizing a Nationwide Student Walkout for 2 PM tomorrow, one hour before the normal end of the school day.

In the United States general strikes and political strikes of all kinds are illegal, but of course enforcement depends on who wins. The situation if potentially explosive, because the unions, whose membership is now mostly in the public sector, are facing extinction if they fail to fight. A similar bill is about to pass in Ohio and another is being considered in Indiana. In both Wisconsin and Indiana, the bills were delayed for three weeks by Democratic legislators fleeing the state to deny a quorum, but in Wisconsin the Republicans decided to bend the rules to pass the bill anyway. During this time, massive protests have been growing in Madison, including a recent march with more than 100,000 participants.

If a general strike breaks out in Wisconsin, it is quite possible it will spread to other states. The AFL-CIO had called, prior to the Wisconsin bill becoming law, for a national workplace day of action for April 4, the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King during a labor struggle.

The union leadership is clearly split with many calling for a general strike and others calling for restraint and battling the laws with referendums (which can overturn them by popular vote) or recall elections of legislators. The rank and file may of course simply walk out, leaving the officials to catch up.

In NJ we are hoping to try to help organize the immigrant workers into the movement. As Luxemburg emphasized the success of a mass strike movement depends on the mobilization of the unorganized majority, and the immigrant workers are the most volatile part of the majority. On May 1, 2006 two million immigrants struck to defend their rights, the largest single strike in US history. If there are emergency support meetings we hope to introduce the idea of offensive demands, including the demand for a massive public works program, which is being raised widely, and for legalization for all.

The small ILN group here in NJ held a class/discussion on the mass strike process Feb.27 in Newark. We hope to post a video of part of this discussion in English and Spanish online soon.

Workers of Europe! Fight for Our Way Out of the Crisis! Jobs for All: A Massive Public Works Program, Legalization for All, Socialization of Finance—Wipe out the Debts

Admin — 2011-02-22T00:58:17Z

Across Europe, and around the world, workers have begun to fight the layoffs, and the cuts in wages and living standards with mass protests and one-day general strikes. These are essential steps. But so long as the protest demands are limited to stopping the cuts, stopping the layoffs, they will fail to do more than slow the rate of decline. To stop and reverse the layoffs we have to formulate demands that say what we are FOR, not just what we are against, what our solution is to the crisis.

The capitalists' plans have done nothing except funnel trillions from workers' pockets to the capitalists, slashing consumption and driving the world economy into a deeper depression. The only way to create jobs and to end the unemployment crisis is to reverse this flow of wealth from capital to labor, to have governments directly hire millions of workers for a massive public works program to fulfill unmet social –to provide low-cost housing for all, free quality health care, and free higher education ,to improve mass transit, clean up the environment and to research and develop new cheap, clean sources of energy—financing this program by taxes on capitalist and corporate wealth. We mean here a truly massive program, employing tens of millions of workers across Europe to do the work that needs to be done.

Therefore the demand for a massive public works program, with direct government employment, at prevailing wages has to become a central demand of workers today. This is the way-the only way-to provide Jobs for All. Already in the United States some major organizations, including the California Federation of Labor, have begun to make this same demand.

But to build a united movement of all workers for Jobs for All, we must at the same time demand Legalization for ALL. In every country millions of immigrant workers who are among the most affected by the unemployment crisis can't get government jobs because they have no papers. Their undocumented status allows employers to exploit them, pushing down wages and working conditions for ALL workers. To end this and to get jobs for ALL, we need legalization for all so that everyone in a country has the right to work there. This means immediate legalization without exception for the undocumented. We will not allow ourselves to be pitted against each other. To get power, we need unity of ALL workers.

The capitalists and their governments and parties say there is no money—that the money must go to pay the debts—to the capitalists banks and financial institutions. But the private financial system is bankrupt—it is kept afloat only through huge government bailouts. Private finance today operates only as a giant black hole soaking up money. Workers must demand the Socialization of Finance—state ownership of ALL finance, and running the state institutions democratically. This would wipe out the debts and free that money for social needs.

How We Can Win The way to win these demands is the way public works programs and other major concessions were won in the US, France and elsewhere in the 1930's, in the last Great Depression—by a radical, ever-growing mass movement that threatens the power of the capitalists. A democratically organized, Europe-wide mass strike movement will strike fear into the hearts of those who really rule, fear for the existence of their rule of the few. Concessions from them and victories for us will follow from that fear.

The first step is to begin to unify workers and their organizations behind these demands. We call for the formation everywhere of Jobs For ALL Committees to organize around these demands and for workers to gain the endorsements of these demands by unions, immigrant and community organizations. An initial goal can be the integration of these demands into the planned September 29th General Strike.

Come to a meeting to discuss how we can organize around these demands, one of several taking place in European cities.

Mass Strike N° 3

Admin — 2011-02-21T23:59:57Z

The third issue of Mass Strike is now available, with the following articles :

Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt – Lessons on how to win

World Hunger and the Silent Tsunami

Appeal of the International Luxemburgist Network to the proletariat on May Day 2010

Tunisia and the Jasmine Revolution

Timeline of the Tunisian Revolution

Workers of Europe! Fight for Our Way Out of the Crisis! Jobs for All: A Massive Public Works Program, Legalization for All, Socialization of Finance—Wipe out the Debts

Jobs for All, Legalization for All, a Massive Public Works Program

A Brief Wildcatstrike Takes the Spanish Skies by Storm

Bulletin in PDF

Tunisia and the Jasmine Revolution

Admin — 2011-02-21T23:46:59Z

by Inti

Tunisia was considered by many as the most stable place in the Arab world and the less likely to get hit by unrest. Over the past decade, the economy grew at a speed of 5% on average. It is considered the second most competitive country in Africa and it has the second largest revenue per inhabitant in the North of the continent. Its main industries include an important industrial sector and mines provide source of natural wealth. But as social movements don't follow any path imposed by the outside, but rather are the fruits of deep underlying causes, they manage to awaken a submitted population without the need of any leader. It is in Tunisia that a mass strike movement has emerged (although actual strikes are limited) and spread to the Arab region.

Unfortunately, Tunisian wealth is not organized democratically in order to meet social needs but rather for the profit of foreign multinationals and the local elite. Privatisations and the effective start of a free trade agreement with the EU (mainly France, Italy and Spain) on January 1st 2008 reinforced the status of an exporting country, highly integrated in the world capitalist economy (since the crisis of 2008 the GDP growth rate has slowed down as demand from Europe decreased), where workers' low pay opened the way for further exploitation as compared to the one prevailing in Europe.

It is the poorest that pay most of the flaws of this economic model and in particular the youth. The latter was encouraged to study but its unemployment rate was 31 % in 2005 (it is surely worse after the outbreak of the global crisis) while the overall rate goes up to 14% and precariousness and poverty became the general life conditions of young people and their families.

The case of Mohamed Bouazizi is symbolic of this situation. This 26 years old graduate but unemployed had no other choice than become a street vendor of fruits and vegetables in Sidi Bouzid, in the rural heart of Tunisia. His goods were seized by the authorities because he didn't have a license nor did he bribe them to make them change their minds. This was the only source of revenue for his entire family. He therefore went to the prefecture to get his belongings back but all he got was a refusal accompanied by insults and physical violence. As a desperate act of outrage, he set himself on fire in front of the official building. This took place on December 17th 2010 and was to become the beginning of a strong rebellion that led to the ousting of the dictator Ben Ali.

The majority of the population recognized itself in the experience of Mohamed Bouazizi and understood his anger at the flaws of the social system summarized in this event : poverty, corruption and authoritarianism from the State. On the very same day, dozens of shop owners and students gathered in front of the prefecture in solidarity and demanded to meet the local governor. This initial demonstration was, just like almost the entire revolution so far, spontaneous and independent from any existing party or union.

The movement reached in a few days other cities near Sidi Bouzid but was already attacked by authorities since its outset. According to the information we have gathered, the first demonstrator killed was the 18 years old Mohamed Ammari in Menzel Bouzaiane. This did not undermine the protesters' determination and what were peaceful demonstrations turned into open confrontations in which official buildings and headquarters of the RCD (Constitutional Democratic Rally, the ruling party) were attacked.

The State repression was not the only cause of deaths we got to deplore. Like Mohamed Bouazizi, several people of all ages took their lives, in different regions of the country but also in Algeria, Egypt and other countries where oppression and poverty are the rules, development the exception. The first life lost was the one of Houcine Neji, a 24 years old unemployed who electrocuted himself in order to denounce the social injustices. At the age where hopes should fill our minds, Capitalism pushes people over the edge so as to keep “freedom” for the ruling minority.

By Christmas, the rebellion reached the capital Tunis. In spite of this, the first official reaction of Ben Ali was to undervalue the strength of the movement. During his first speech since the beginning of the revolution, on December 28th, he claimed that it was due to a minority of extremists and that it was not representative of the situation in the whole of Tunisia. He decided to intensify the State violence against protestors.

Like with his other speeches that would take place in the days after, this only helped the development of the actions. As a second attempt to calm down the population, symbolic decisions were taken so as to personalize the problems and hide their social roots in simultaneity to an intensification of repression : the governor of Sidi Bouzid got fired on December 30th ; on January 12th the same occurred with the Interior minister and a commission charged with fighting corruption was promised. At the same time, Ben Ali had asked a top commander of the army to open fire during demonstrations. His refusal led to his removal but also to a higher popularity of the army, even though it had brought support to the brutal police.

This same recipe, State violence mixed with personalization of problems, will be followed by the government after the ousting of Ben Ali so as to channel the movement into a basic support of different members of the ruling class.

But one of these measures did represent a major victory : jailed protesters were freed on the 12th of January. Few days before, while calling rioters “terrorists”, Ben Ali promised that 300 000 jobs would be generated in 2011 and 2012. During his last speech, the day before his fall, he promised lower prices on food, allowing less limited Internet access and political freedom.

This was not enough to fool the revolt. On January 14th, Ben Ali left power, with the help of the army who had secured the airport, after stealing 1,5 ton of gold from Tunisia.

From the very beginning, what united the movement as it spread to the entire country were economic demands against unemployment and high cost of living, mainly basic food products in the midst of a peak in their prices in the world markets . These demands were the same ones put forward by other spontaneous movements in Algeria and then Jordan, Yemen and Egypt and that are currently shaking the foundations of these authoritarian regimes.

These demands were not only defended by the youth but also by the entire working class, that is those that have no other mean of subsistence than their work whether they are employed or not. The faces of the demonstrations were diverse and quickly evolved to represent the entire population. Women, men, young and older protested and stood up to the police in spite of the harsh repression, present since the start, and that claimed an estimated of 100 lives.

As the mobilization progressed, and surely also as a response to police violence, these demands turned into political ones. Opposition to the dictatorship, call for more freedom, for a genuine democracy, etc. came to complete the list of requests from the working population. As the government felt that it started loosing the battle, it accepted many of the initial demands but it was too late, the revolt was now asking for Ben Ali to step down. And so he did.

Since his fall, many positive reforms were announced so as to paralyze the movement, but in essence these are just temporary if the issues are not dealt with at their very roots and if the rebellion delegates their duty to develop its revolution. As the protesters kept their struggle on, police repression returned, showing up the true face of the new “democratic” governments that have taken the place of the previous one.

As our editorial puts it, the greatest challenge today is for the movement in Tunisia, just like in Egypt and elsewhere, not to loose control of its own movement. The movement was spontaneous not because it was disorganized but because only the masses could have made these changes possible. A popular spontaneity is not a religious dogma nor an opposition to organizing. It is rather a requirement for the start of a movement and an opportunity for organizing democratically, from below, without giving the chance for self-declared leaders to corrupt its aims.

Tunisians workers, after seeing what are the real objectives of the new power, have an opportunity to attack the core of their troubles : capitalism. For this, they can only rely on themselves and create their own self-managed movement, open and democratic, putting forward their own demands. Local councils could elect delegates to regional or national councils so as to coordinate the movement across the country.

In this sense, it is very encouraging to see that in the cradle of the revolution, Sidi Bouzid, a local council was created in order to protect the revolution and run the affairs of the area (http://www.mediapart.fr/en/club/blog/mohamed-amami/240111/declaration-constitutive-du-conseil-de-siliana-traduit-par-mohamed-am). We don't have enough information on this, but it seems that, even though it doesn't (at least not yet) oppose capitalism (nor does it support it), it constitutes a great alternative to the present ruling power and a space for the democratic development of the struggle.

This movement is not just an inspiration for Arab workers, nor are the problems it confronts only limited to the region. Capitalism creates poverty and limits freedom all over the world. Just as solidarity must be developed on an international level, we can draw a lot of lessons from this movement so as to apply them to our local situations.

Timeline of the Tunisian Revolution

Admin — 2011-02-21T23:41:12Z

17th of December : Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 years old street vendor in Sidi Bouzid (centre of the country), had his goods (fruits and vegetables) seized by the police because he did not have the required license nor did he bribe the police controlling him. He got insulted, hit and even spat on by one of the officers.

Even though he had a diploma, he was jobless and this activity was the only revenue for him and his brothers, sisters and widowed mother.

After trying to get his belongings back at the siege of the local prefecture, he set himself on fire as a protest.

On the very same day, tens of shop owners and young people gathered in front of the prefecture demanding to meet the governor.

18th of December : the movement gathered strength in Sidi Bouzid : a spontaneous demonstration, violently repressed by the police, turned into an open confrontation until late in the night.

19th of December : the confrontations continued in the city : the local headquarter of the RCD (Constitutional Democratic Rally, Ben Ali's party) got attacked. The police, present both in uniform and as civilians, began patrolling the city...

20th of December : the movement reached the city of Meknassis (center), near Sidi Bouzid.

22nd of December : in Sidi Bouzid, Houcine Neji, a 24 years old unemployed, climbed an electric pole and shouted ''no more misery, no more unemployment''. In spite of the fact that the crowd asked him to get back down, he ended his life by jumping off. He was the first victim.

The protest reached on this day Menzel Bouzaiane (center). The delegation headquarter was set on fire and the national guard base besieged.

24th of December : in Menzel Bouzaiane, a 18 years old protester got shot by the police. In spite of his youth, he was the first victim killed by the State. His name was Mohamed Ammari.

Other demonstrators were hurt, including Chawki Belhoussine El Hadri, a 44 years old man, who will die because of his wounds on December 30th.

25th - 26th of December : the movement reached for the first time the capital Tunis (North) where unemployed graduates protested. 26th of December : hundreds of people demonstrated in Souk Jedid (center) and set fire to the prefecture. In Regueb (center), 2 000 protesters took the streets and confronted the police.

27th of December : following the call of several unions, hundreds of protesters (students, unionists and human rights activists) met in front of the UGTT (Tunisian Labor General Union, who had backed the Government and the bosses in the past) headquarters in Tunis. They gathered to show their solidarity with the movement, claiming the right for a job and demanding a just development for all the regions.

Lawyers, a very active profession in the Revolution, protested in Sidi Bouzid.

28th of December : Ben Ali goes to visit Mohamed Bouazizi who had been transferred to a hospital near Tunis. The press was there to take a picture of the encounter but it failed to mention that the dictator and the other officials didn't bother using any mask (the doctors and nurses around them are almost all wearing such protection) and there increased the risk of introducing germs in the room.

The hypocrisy continued when Ben Ali meets Mohamed Bouazizi's family in a luxurious house.

During his first speech since the start of the movement, he claimed that protesters were just a handful of agitators betraying the ''homeland''. He threatened them with heavy repression.

29th of December : a demonstration took place in Tunis.

30th of December : Chawki Belhoussine El Hadri, wounded on December 24th in Menzel Bouazaïane, died.

In an attempt to calm down the rebellion, the governor of Sidi Bouzid was fired. The government claims that the agitation was limited to a local level and was not a mirror of the situation in the entire country.

31st of December : lawyers showed their solidarity in Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, Gafsa, Jendouba and Grombalia.

3rd of January : in Thala (centre-west), demonstrators clashed with the police. Near Sidi Bouzid, 250 protestors, mostly high school students, took part in a peaceful march to express their solidarity with the movement against unemployment and the high cost of living. The protest turned violent after the police provoked it by firing tear gas, one of the bombs reaching a Mosque. Furious, the protestors burned tires and the office of the RCD.

In Sidi Bouzid, high school students took the streets without any problem.

4th of January : death of Mohamed Bouazizi, in the evening.

5th of January : around 5 000 people participate in the burial of the young man, now a martyr, and expressed their anger.

In Sidi Bouzid, a mother and her children climbed a electric pole and threatened to end their lives if the Government refused to help them find a job and decent housing.

The repression intensified. The State blocked websites, the police patrolled as civilians in the streets, schools were closed down...

The French newspaper Le Monde reports various repressed protests throughout the country (http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2011/01/05/tunisie-nous-vivons-un-mouvement-sans-precedent_1461433_3212.html) : a peaceful demonstration became violent after police provocation in Thala, Kasserine and Hammamet. Nevertheless, the movement was still limited to the main cities.

The main demands were ''Jobs for all'', ''Down with the bribes and favouritism'', ''Tunisia free'', ''Ben Ali get lost'' (''Ben Ali dégage'' in French, slogan took up also in that language during the protest in Cairo on January 25th). According to reports sent from Tunisia to Le Monde, no one would have dared say these things a month ago.

Several violent arrests took place in the night in Thala.

The upheaval extended itself to the neighbouring Algeria.

6th of January : most secondary and high schools were on strike in Sidi Bouzid.

In Chebba, Mohamed Slimane, 52 years old, killed himself. Father of unemployed graduates, he was sick and had asked for help to sustain his family and take care of his health in vain.

This desperate act was accompanied by two other ones : a young man set himself on fire in Metlaoui and another person threatened to electrocute himself so as to denounce unemployment and corruption.

The 22 years old rapper Hammada Ben Amor (known on the Internet as ''El General'', on which we can see a clip of his song ''President, your people is dead'') was arrested in Sfax (the second largest city) as well as 3 cyber-activists : El Aziz Amami, Slim Amamou and Hamadi Kaloutha.

Demonstrations were held in solidarity in Canada, Algeria, Europe, as in Paris where 250 people gathered.

7th of January : demonstrators were wounded after the police opened fire in Saida and Regueb.

8th of January : a second street vendor and a 50 years old father Moncef Ben K set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid.

The UGTT manifested its solidarity with the movement during a demonstration in Tunis. About 100 people remained silent for a minute in memory of the victims fallen since the start of the revolt.

The Algerian government decided to decrease the import taxes on oil and sugar so as to limit the prices paid by consumers. The prices of sugar, oil and flour had doubled in the past months.

9th of January : the Tunisian governments admitted that 8 protesters got killed (5 in Thala and 3 in Kasserine), a first acknowledgment since the start of the rebellion. By the end of the day, the number of victims rose to 14. Le Monde announced 23 assassinations in Kasserine, Regueb and Thala (http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2011/01/09/tunisie-nous-marchons-vers-l-inconnu_1463104_3212.html).

10th of January : in Regueb and Kasserine, demonstrations for the memories of the fallen protestors ended up in a street battle with the police, the latter got support from the army. The cities of Thala, Meknassi an Seliana faced the same situation.

In an attempt to quiet down protestors, Ben Ali promised during a second speech since the beginning of Revolution that 300 000 jobs would be created in the next two years. All of the schools and universities got closed down as decided by the dictator. For him, those that have stood up to the police were ''terrorists''.

Nevertheless, the mobilization increased after the speech. It now reached the tourist areas and Tunis, where the police besieged the university Al Manar after hundreds of students shelter themselves inside.

One more suicide is to deplore. Another unemployed graduate, Alla Hidouri, hurt by bullet in a leg during the protest of December 24th in Menzel Bouazaine, ended his life.

11th of January : the former colonial power, the French State, had remained silent over the situation that its friend Ben Ali was confronting. The foreign affairs minister, Michelle Alliot-Marie proposed Tunisia the ''know-how'' of France of keeping order during riots, in the Parliament while saying at the same time that France had no lessons to give to other countries (should one remind her that the French elites did not hesitate a second in criticizing Gbagbo from Ivory Coast over the past weeks ?).

The wave of riots reached the suburb of Tunis during the night.

12th of January : 2 people got killed and 4 were hurt in Douz. Among them, there is the franco-tunisian Hatem Bettaba. Then again, no ''lessons'' was given by the French government.

In order to stop the riots in the area around Tunis, a curfew was declared.

In a desperate attempt to stop the progression of the movement, the government freed the jailed demonstrators. However, Hamma Hammami, a 59 years old high ranked member of the Workers Communist Party of Tunisia, got imprisoned.

The Interior minister was fired and the government announced that investigation will be undertaken against corruption.

13th of January : the situation led to looting of Casino and Carrefour (French multinationals working in relation with the Tunisian ruling elites) supermarkets in Gafsa, Gabès...

In the third – and last ! - speech, Ben Ali promised to not be a candidate for his re-election after 2014 and to grant freedom and civil rights to Tunisians, including a larger access to Internet, and to lower the prices of basic commodities.

In spite of the promises, two workers are killed in Kairouan. The estimated number of victims of repression is now 66.

A top-ranked commander of the army refuses to follow Ben Ali's orders to shoot protesters. Ben Ali fires him. He will become, together with the army, very popular because many lives were saved even though the army had tried to keep order during the Revolution.

14th of January : in reaction to Ben Ali's speech, some Tunisians show their happiness. At the same time, thousands demonstrated and asked him to leave power.

Protests and riots continue their progression. Police violence has not stopped.

During the afternoon, Ben Ali announces the dissolution of the government and anticipated legislative elections in six months. A curfew is established during the night.

The army gets its position in front of the Interior Ministry and takes over the airport of Tunis. Shortly after, official cars abandon the presidential palace and arrive at one of the terminals. Ben Ali left Tunisia for Saudi Arabia.

According to certain sources. The dictator had planned to create havoc in the country, hoping that the people would beg his return. His militias did cause armed confrontation but the army, backed with self-organized neighborhood committees patrol the streets searching the armed groups.

A new government will be put in place, with many old heads of the RCD. The population will continue its movement so as to stop the Revolution from being betrayed from above. By the end of January, general strikes will be called out by the UGTT.

The example of Tunisia has been followed in many other Arab countries, challenging dictators serving world capitalism and oppressing their population.

World Hunger and the Silent Tsunami

Admin — 2011-02-21T22:52:29Z

by Inti

In 2008, speculation in the world markets led to a peak rise in the prices of food commodities, as measured by the FAO Food Price Index (cf. Figure 1), and hunger riots in several countries in Africa (including Egypt), Indonesia and Haiti. Demonstrations were harshly repressed with ''security'' forces, including the UN in the latter, opening fire on protesters The falling prices of financial stocks encouraged investors to make money with these foodstuffs, essential to human lives, and gave way to a “silent Tsunami”, as a representative of the World Food Program (UN) labeled it.

By the end of 2010, this record was slightly surpassed with the cereal price index going up by 39 % in 2010. Over the same period, the Oil and Fats Price index went up by 55 % and the Sugar Price Index by 19 %. These figures increased even further in January 2011, the FAO indicator soaring by 3,4 % and reaching a new record, both in real and nominal terms, after seven consecutive months of inflation.

The official explanation is the unusual drought in Russia which gave way to a decrease in export, but no major event affected Sugar production last year yet its price climbed up anyways. So we can easily see that speculation is back and it is fueled by disasters as an excuse to increase stocks and therefore prices. The trade of profits for hunger across the world is therefore in large part due to the deregulation that took place during the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, backed up by the banks, not merely natural phenomena.

Figure 1 - Food Price Index from 2005 to 2011 Source : FAO, February 3rd 2011, http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/

This is a terrible news in a world in which 925 million people don't get enough to eat (that is almost 1 out of 6 people) [1] and 1 out of 4 children – around 146 million – are underweight in developing countries [2], even though it is possible to feed the entire human kind. In a world ruled by the markets, those that can't pay are forgotten by the invisible hand (or shouldn't it rather be called the “blind” hand?).

Today the G8/G20 is officially working on solutions to prevent famine but of course nothing can be expected from leaders whose only response to the events of 2008 were bullets. These very same rulers have imposed a neoliberal (that is freedom for economic powers to do whatever they want without any restrain) globalization whose one of the main foundations is lowering the trade barriers (import taxes, mainly) in the Third World while keeping protectionism in the developed world. This allowed the further domination of multinationals, putting them in competition with the local production in the developing countries (whose economies were mostly agricultural) and destroying it with low prices (a phenomenon known as “dumping”). Now that the food commodities reach sky high prices, underdeveloped countries can't turn to their national production for a solution because the farmers, who make up three-quarters of the world's hungry , impoverished with “free trade”, have long gone to the cities looking for wage-slaved employment in factories or service sectors, often in vain.

Today almost all African countries import more cereals than they export, according to the FAO [3]. The situation is so alarming that this organization discourages restrictions on export from these countries, imposed in order to keep the stocks within their boundaries, as this tends to increase the prices in the world market as the offer decreases. So no solution is offered within the present system : nor protectionism and its import taxes that increase prices nor liberalism and its dumping that increases poverty.

The solution will come from us, workers, all over the world. It is only through a democratically organized production that social needs will be met, not through a capitalist system. The workers, once they take both political and economical power directly in their hands, are the only ones willing to invest in agriculture in the developing world in order to prevent such disasters.

In this sense, the rebellions throughout the Arab world is a lesson to all of us. Beside their demand for “Jobs for all”, protesters are demanding lower prices and have succeeded, like in the French Caribbean in 2009, through their mobilization to impose changes. Taxes on food imports have decreased (a temporary solution) and subsidies have been granted in order to prevent a major social revolution. Other temporary solutions should include the ban of speculation and the social control over financial firms. But the real ultimate solution that we must all, in the South and in the North (where small farmers are also victims of multinationals as they are forced to sell at very low prices while the latter resell the commodities with an important profit to consumers), aim to is to confront the problem at its very root : capitalism.

[1] FAO, FAO news release, http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/al390e/al390e00.pdf 14th of September 2010

[2] UNICEF, The State of the World's Children, http://www.unicef.org/sowc/, 2007

[3] AFP, Flambée des prix : la FAO déconseille de moins exporter, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gpCL0ovRzfgh_nBFyZ2SlXoLB_tQ?docId=CNG.2f863e300b480e8d21a7f30c92984acd.31

Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt – Lessons on how to win

Admin — 2011-02-05T11:22:58Z

The revolution in the Arabic region that began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt—and will no doubt spread further—is the first major victory in reversing the assault on the world working class that intensified with the crash of '08. Not only did mass revolt succeed in getting rid of the dictators Ben Ali and Mubarak (although not yet the rest of those governments), but the fear generated among the ruling class of all the Arab countries has caused roll-backs of austerity measures in Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and elsewhere, with taxes on food falling, subsidies reinstated, new jobs program announced.

Mass protest works—but only when, as in Tunisia and Egypt, it strikes fear in the hearts of powerful, fear that they will lose their power. The Tunisian revolution has been able to do that because this movement united the whole working class behind demands that are in the interests of all. It arose initially over protests about unemployment, and some of the first slogans were “Work for all” and “Down with the high costs of living”. As Rosa Luxemburg pointed out in her description of mass strikes over a century ago, political demands, such as the demand to get rid of Ben Ali, arise out of economic demands in a mass strike movement, and in turn political victories lay the basis for broader economic demands.

The Arabian movement also frightens the rulers because it is independent of the existing parties and institutions. It is not led by parties or unions whose leaders can then channel or betray the movement. Instead the movement has seized control of existing organizations at the base, turning union locals into mobilization points, against the will of the top union officials and repeatedly forcing those officials to take more and more radical stands to catch up with a movement that they do not lead.

Third, this movement generates concessions because it poses offensive demands, demands to improve the situation, not just to resist previous cuts. The demand of “work for all” is particularly effective and stands in sharp contrast to the far more cautious defensive demands of “no cuts” that have been raised with far fewer results in Europe and the US. These demands make the rulers worry—what will they be demanding next?

The impact of the revolution will unquestionably spread not only through the Arabic-speaking region, where protests have broken out in Algeria, Jordan and Yemen, but also to France, where 600,000 Tunisians have gone to live, and which shares a language that most Tunisians speak. Many Tunisians also speak Italian, so links exist to Italy as well.

Of course ultimate victory in Tunisia, Egypt and the whole region is far from assured. For the revolution to advance, it must be able to create independent, nationwide and even region-wide democratic organizations that can press for its central demands and make them more concrete. Already, popular committees have sprung up in neighborhoods, often taking charge of security. But with the return of exiled opposition parties, such committees will have to be able to elect delegates to city-wide and national workers' assemblies that maintain their independence from the existing parties. The threat to the revolution is that the upcoming elections will channel the movement into support for those existing parties that do not question the system as a whole. The challenge is to create a democratic organization that can participate independently in elections as well, running candidates behind its own demands.

The issues that the Tunisian and Egyptian workers face are not in the least unique to them—they are faced by workers around the world. Nor is their response particular to those countries. The demand of Work for all—jobs for all; the concrete demand for a public works program with direct government employment is one that addresses the needs of workers everywhere. The revolution in the Arab world, still young and at its earliest stages, shows that this demand can become a relying cry globally for a united movement that can win great victories.

International Luxemburgist Network - Red Luxemburguista Internacional - Réseau Luxemburgiste International - Rede Luxemburguista Internacional - Internasjonalt Luxemburgist Nettverk

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For Social Revolution in Libya : Neither Gaddafi Nor Imperialism !

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Mass Strike N° 3

Tunisia and the Jasmine Revolution

Timeline of the Tunisian Revolution

World Hunger and the Silent Tsunami

Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt – Lessons on how to win

Independence from the Democratic and Republican Parties!
No to All Austerity!

Jobs for all—A Massive Public Works Program!