Banksy's paintings on the Israeli apartheid wall

Last night in the US the latest episode of ‘The Simpsons’ was on telly, featuring an intro storyboarded by the famous graffiti artist Banksy.

Personally I have mixed feelings about Banksy. If you’ve never heard of him he’s an artist who conceals his true identity to allow him to continue painting on walls illegally around the world, which is cool. However, I think it’s a bit unfortunate how he’s become a cause célèbre for the international group of pseudo-radical hipster dickheads. He’s done very well out of his celebrity, making plenty of money from selling pieces and coffee table books. But he’s still capable of moments of pure subversive genius, a bit like the work he did on the Isreali apartheid wall a couple of years ago. And giving him control of the couch gag was inspired.

The result is an incredibly dark picture of working conditions in the Asian sweatshops that produce US mass culture. The Simpsons has joked about the conditions for the workers who produce the animation for the show before, but this gave us a vision of a bleak Dickensian hell where children sat producing individual stills for the show.

As yet I haven’t been able to find much of the inevitable right wing backlash rearing its head (I’ll update the article if any nutters say anything funny), but we’re sure to be soon hearing the inevitable claims that this is a ridiculous depiction of real working conditions for Korean animators, and that actually we’re helping them by giving them jobs etc. etc.

The fact is, this is an extreme, satirical examination of the fact that The Simpsons is outsourced to South Korea. But nevertheless, most of the most popular US animated shows (including Futurama, King of the Hill and Family Guy) are made there for a reason: you can get away with paying people a lot less than they would in the US. Korean animators are doing a very skilled job for low wages. Before The Simpsons (which is often perceived as a left leaning show) was produced there, it was made by the animation firm Klasky Csupo, run by the Hungarian Gabor Csupo who once told the LA Times:

“I’m never going to sign with a union. If they vote for it, I’m just not going to hire them.I’ll lay them off and take the work to Hungary. I’ll take it to Japan.”

Ironically, it’s when the sequence moves to the most brutally surreal level of satire that it actually gets more accurate. After the animators we see workers producing Simpsons merchandise, shreadding kittens to make stuffing for Bart dolls, sealing boxes with the tongue lolling from the severed head of a dolphin, and punching holes in DVDs with the horn of a starved, miserable chained unicorn.

Chinese Honda workers on strike earlier this year

The power of this is that it’s obviously exaggerating for comic effect. But the reason we’re laughing nervously as we watch it is that most of us now somewhere in our where we’ve shoved the uncomfortable knowledge to our subconscious about how much of the stuff that surrounds us every day is produced. Mass consumer culture for the overdeveloped world today rests on the super exploitation of workers in places like Korea and China. Workers are locked in factories that become also their homes/prisons, are paid slave wages, and hundreds of thousands die every year as a result of work related health problems.

The bit of hope at the end of all this comedy grimness is that there is light at the end of the sweatshop tunnel in the shape of the growing union militancy in China. Bypassing traditional unions which are often in the pockets of bosses, workers have been organising independently, producing high profile strikes at companies like Foxconn, which makes iPods and iPads for Apple, as well as at Honda manufacturing plants. There’s a staggering level of protest in China: in 2004 alone, there were, according to the conservative estimate of the government, 74,000 “mass incidents, or protests and riots.” All the more reason that the model of mass consumption capitalism, which is destructive both of the global ecosphere and of human beings, can’t last much longer: the people it relies on aren’t going to take it much longer.

The Cranick family home burns down

As if you needed it, more news that will make you glad you don’t live in the land of the crazy, the USA.

In Obion county, rural Tennessee, you have to pay an annual $75 fee to be allowed to use local firefighting services. A family which had not paid the fee were horrified to see local firefighters watch their house burn down without doing anything.

Gene Cranick says he forgot to pay the fee. When his home caught fire last week, and he couldn’t contain it himself with a garden hose, he did the obviously sane thing to do, and called the emergency services. He got the insane response that because he hadn’t paid his fee they weren’t going to come.

The fire department did eventually show up when the Cranick’s neighbours, who had paid their fee, phoned worried about the fire spreading and destroying even more property. So the fire engines got to the scene, and protected the neighbours’ home. and then stood and watch the Cranick’s home burn down, with pets inside.

What’s even worse? Gene Cranick offered on the phone to pay the fee, and then desperately offered to cover any costs at all involved in saving his home. But the twisted conservative, free market ideology guiding the “pay to spray” policy means that this just wasn’t good enough. A lesson was intended to be drawn from this horrific incident: in a system where you have to pay for public services, if you can’t or won’t pay, then you won’t get them.

Surely you would think even US right wing nutcases can’t defend this madness? Surely this blatant violation of what being a firefighter is all about has been roundly condemned. Well, guess what? There’s never a new low to which the American right can’t sink.

In the right wing mag the National Review, a variety of the completely bonkers no-government anarcho-capitalist mentalists who shouldn’t have any influence over their own breakfast, nevermind a superpower, have been jumping at the chance to rub their hands with glee.

These crazies are positively delighted at the death of pets and a house burning down, because, just as it was intended, it sends a message to the world at large: a decent life and public safety are for those that can afford to stump up for it, screw the rest of you. Kevin Williamson (no relation to the former SSP member and Scottish blogger!) writes:

“The world is full of jerks, freeloaders, and ingrates — and the problems they create for themselves are their own. These free-riders have no more right to South Fulton’s firefighting services than people in Muleshoe, Texas, have to those of NYPD detectives.”

His pal Jonah Goldberg adds:

“Here’s the more important part of the story, letting the house burn — while, I admit sad [yes, you really come across like you give a shit] — will probably save more houses over the long haul. I know that if I opted out of the program before, I would be more likely to opt-in now. No solace to the homeowner . . . As Edmund Burke said, example is the school of mankind and he will learn from no other.”

These people have the same moral compass as Hannibal Lecter. but what should really scare us is that we have a government in the UK that’s ideologically committed to the same ideas as these bastards. The Conservatives here want the state to be like it is there, and their cuts are a calculated political move to try and turn Britain into the kind of non-public service hellhole much of the US has become. Fighting back against the Tories isn’t just about saving jobs and services, it’s about making sure we continue to live in a civilised society.

“It is some of the best well made propaganda I have ever seen…We are looking into this gentleman and this incredible propaganda against me.” -- Glenn Beck

Check out the very funny cartoon above. The maker, Jonathan McIntosh, says:

“This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed using dozens of classic Walt Disney cartoons from the 1930s to 1960s. Donald’s life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck.”

Glenn Beck is one of the most successful conmen and lunatics in the US, who we of course have mentioned once or twice before. He’s not afraid to use his shows on radio and TV, plus best selling books and live appearances, to dole out all kinds of hate filled propaganda and lies against anyone he doesn’t like -- mainstream Democrat politicians (who he deludedly calls socialists, when they’re anything but), non white people, his wife etc.

But when someone turns the tables and makes some propaganda against him (which, by the way, is funny, and is nowhere near is bile filled as his rants), he’s not happy. Maybe he’s not happy that they were able to make him look bad just by sampling directly what he’s said on his own show. Anyway, here’s Glenn’s comments on it, and how he’s going to try and fuck with the genius behind the cartoon:

From the looks of his site, Jonathan McIntosh has done loads of good stuff, it’s worth a look at http://www.rebelliouspixels.com

Billionaire vandal and all round dick Donald Trump has controversially been awarded an honorary degree by Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

Trump wants to kick people out of their homes (with a little help from his minions in the local council) in the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire, destroying the important local dunes ecosystem in the process. This is all in order to build a multi million pound playground for fellow rich bastards -- a golf course, luxury hotel and various other things completely useless, unlike the home for people and wildlife it is currently.

Not surprisingly this has pissed a lot of people off. So the news that an Aberdeen based uni has decided to honour him has folk up in arms.

RGU have said the degree is for his exceptional wrecking people’s lives for his own amusement skills “business acumen” and “the future his company is planning for the North East of Scotland” -- a future of ordinary people kicked and a beautiful place reduced to an ecological deadzone for those with more money than sense to hit balls around with sticks.

The Trump Mafia Organisation has been subjecting local people to some pretty serious intimidation. And now he’s not only getting away with his unbelievably behaviour, he’s being given an award for it!

One man who was particularly unhappy was the former principal of RGU, Dr David Kennedy, who was a key figure at the uni from 1987-97. He’s handed back his own honorary degree in protest. He said (not mincing his words):

“It’s an insult to decent people everywhere. Mr Trump is simply not a suitable person to be given an honorary

Former RGU Principal Dr David Kennedy hands back his own degree in disgust

degree and he should not be held up as an example of how to conduct business. Mr Trump’s behaviour in north-east Scotland has been deplorable from the first, particularly in how he has treated his neighbours.

“The university needs to realise how strongly people feel about this issue. I can think of no better way to express my anger at the decision to honour Mr Trump than to return my own honorary doctorate to the university.

“I would not want to hold the award after Mr Trump has received his.”

This Saturday the Tripping Up Trump campaign is organising the March of Menie to protest about the decision, and Trump’s outrageous actions. It’s a great chance to come down and show your support for the people that live there. The march is meeting at the Balmedie visitor centre at 12, and marching to The Bunker, a plot of land bought up Tripping Up Trump. (See their ace wee film below).

In the words of the campaign:

The Fremen warriors are very upset about the threat to the Dunes

“Bring, friends, family, flags and noise for what is going to be an excellent fun way to show Trump that we will stand up to him. At The Bunker there will games, bagpipes and we’ll take a giant photo.

After the March we’re holding an exhibition to showcase the unique and picturesque dunes at the The Whitehorse from 2-5pm. Refreshments and snacks will be available.”

If you’re in Glasgow and fancy a wee day out, Tripping Up Trump have really generously put on a bus up to Aberdeenshire. It’s all paid for, so although they could do with donations towards the cost, if you’re really skint you can still have a nice trip to a lovely place on Saturday, and show your solidarity while you’re at it. Loads of SSY members are going, so it should be a good laugh. The bus is leaving from Glasgow at about 8am (early I know, but Aberdeenshire is a long way away, and it’ll be totally worth it.) Why not come along? Places are limited, so if you’d like a place leave your contact details in the comments and we’ll be in touch!

RGU former principal voices his displeasure

Last Saturday the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country played host to a major demonstration in favour of civil and political rights for the Basque people.

Thousands of trade unionists, activists and Basque nationalist politicians took part in the march, which was called after Spanish courts banned pro-independence marches last month, claiming they would have demonstrated “support” and “justified” the Basque armed group ETA (which in any case has declared a ceasefire). The second march which was banned was aimed at protesting this blatant violation of the right to assemble and organise for Basque people.

The march took on new significance this week though with another wave of arrests of Basque activists for purely political reasons. The marchers carried banners proclaiming “Yes to human, civil and political rights,” and “No to the ban on demonstrations.” You can see footage of the march here.

Here in Scotland we’re planning some action to demonstrate how angry we are about the state repression of the Spanish “democracy” against peaceful activists of the Basque pro-independence left. We’ll be taking part in a Basque Solidarity Campaign action at the Spain vs. Scotland Euro qualifier game next Tuesday (12th). We’ll be meeting at 6pm at Mount Florida train station to leaflet fans going into the game, and let them know some of the facts about what’s been going on in the Spanish state. Will be bringing banners and flags as well, so come down to give us a hand.

The 10:10 campaign, which urges people to make changes to their lifestyle in order to cut their carbon emissions by 10%, has got themselves into a bit of trouble.

They commissioned a short film to promote their campaign, but yesterday were forced to pull it almost as soon as they’d released it after they realised it had the potentially to massively backfire and piss off a whole lot of people. To their credit, they’ve apologised fully and accepted they’d made a mistake. But this piece is about why it would get made in the first place, and the kind of thinking that underlines it. Check it out below:

Apparently the idea behind this was to be funny and edgy, and to be fair anywhere I’ve seen it being discussed the reaction has been really mixed. Personally I thought it was horrible, and potentially disastrous towards the climate movement. The message according to the filmakers was to “challenge apathy”:

“We ‘killed’ five people to make No Pressure – a mere blip compared to the 300,000 real people who now die each year from climate change,” said one of the creators, filmmaker Franny Armstrong.

The reason I hate this film is because it’s more of what absolutely has not and will not prevent climate catastrophe: personally guilt tripping individuals, so that we all feel personally responsible and shamed about a massive global problem over which we feel we have little control. What I took away from the film is that if you don’t support the 10:10 campaign you are basically an insensitive bastard who deserves to be blown up. The title of the film is ‘No Pressure,’ which is where the joke lies, because in fact the whole point is that you feel massively under pressure to do something. What else are we to take away from Agent Scully’s menacing repeat of the “No pressure” tagline at the end? (And shouldn’t you be telling Mulder his crazy theory is wrong when it’s clearly right?)

Climate change is a massive global crisis. It’s a crisis that’s resulted from an unsustainable socio-economic model which sacrifices the long term survival of civilisation in favour of the short term enrichment of a tiny minority of the human race, i.e. capitalism. As individuals there’s very little we can do about this. Yes, by all means change your lightbulb (my flat is illuminated by them, because they save you money!) and do your recycling. There’s nothing wrong with doing these things, and you are doing something that’s socially responsible. But the fact is that it simply isn’t going to cut it in the face of climate emergency. As isolated individuals we have little power. The power to do something about climate change comes from collective action as part of a mass movement. And this film will not motivate people to create or take part in such a movement.

The Alberta Tar Sands from space: changing your lightbulb is totally the way to go though

Guilt is a crap motivator. A lot of the environmental movement seems to approach the crisis we face as a species as if it was the result of personal sin and what was needed was a good Calvinist cleansing. Some people will respond to the kind of pressure applied to them by this film, but the vast majority will turn off, look away and react negatively. They have, correctly, concluded that they can’t prevent climate change through individual action.

One one level, I don’t want to just be knocking people who apparently donated their time and skills to try and do something about climate change. But unfortunately, this was a typical, middle class, individualist approach to a social problem. The writer of the film is the god awful Richard Curtis, also responsible for such unwatchable toss as ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Notting Hill.’ He also is one of the co-founders of Comic Relief, a “national institution” that has always done my head in. Similarly to this campaign, the message of his previous charity efforts has been to parade misery and suffering before you, in an effort to get you to give up some of your income, or feel really shitty about yourself if you don’t/can’t afford it. As one astute commenter on the Guardian put it:

“The upper middle class patronising the working class. Now with edge.“

Or as another suggested:

“It’s like a parody of something people mocking enviros would do.”

Which basically sums up the heart of my problem with it: it will turn people off, and yet again see those of us who want to prevent the worst of climate disaster as preachy, irrelevant wanks. It is in fact a gift to the worst enemies of humanity today, the climate change deniers and their backers in the fossil fuel industry. Armstrong said (as part of the rapid backtracking operation):

“Richard Curtis wrote what I thought was a funny and satirical tongue-in-cheek little film in the over-the-top style of Monty Python or South Park.”

In fact it did remind me of South Park, like the episodes where they mock Earth Day or more pertinently the one about ‘Smug’:

The main charity backer of the ad was ActionAid, who are most well known for their ‘Sponsor a Child’ ads which guilt tripping you into feeling you individually can overcome the results of global poverty, inequality and imperialism by setting up a direct debit. They’re a good example of how a well meaning NGO can actually end up doing more harm than good, particularly when you look at some of the cover they’ve given for US imperialism in Haiti.

The fact is, the strategy of mainstream NGOs, which consists of loading up individuals with guilt and insider lobbying of governments, has failed. If governments and big business were going to sort out the climate emergency, they would have done it already -- the facts have been plain for decades, and the world’s leaders have been flying around to talk to each other about it for 20 odd years with no concrete results. Liberal, middle class hand wringing isn’t enough any more, and in fact NGOs are in some ways acting as a block towards us seeing the real extent of the crisis, and how far we need to transform our society to avert it.

We need, as quickly as possible, to put together a mass movement of the majority of the world’s poor and working people to transform our society and stop the dominant social system from taking us all to the brink of apocalypse. We’re not going to be able to build mass support by telling people it’s their fault, and if they’re not taking tokenistic individual action then we’ll blow them up.

Yesterday police in Ecuador tried to seize control of the capital Quito as part of a failed attempt to overthrow the left wing President Rafael Correa.

Most of the mainstream media has reported the rebellion as being a protest at “austerity measures”, but there’s lots of evidence that something more sinister is going on. On Wednesday the government passed a law which restricted bonuses automatically given to cops on promotion. However, the government has actually doubled the real wages of the police over the last four years, meaning that they wouldn’t be losing money -- it was part of an effort to reduce bureaucracy. Many, including President Correa and his ministers, have been suggesting the protest was in fact a cover for an attempt to seize power by the right wing opposition, headed by former President Lucio Gutierrez, who was himself overthrown by a popular uprising of people angry at his neoliberal policies in 2005. Further evidence that this was a coup attempt is found in the co-ordinated planning of the plotters, with members of the airforce seizing control of the capital’s airport while cops attacked the parliament building.

After the coup plotters had shut down the airport and several important highways, President Correa went down to the main police barracks to attempt a dialogue with them. As he explained himself later:

“This morning, we were, as is our custom, going to have a dialogue to explain to them what we wanted to do, for no one has supported the police or improved their salaries as much as our government, but seeing the reaction I felt betrayed by them.  There I realized who was behind it: some of them called me ‘a liar” and said that Lucio [Gutiérrez] had given them more support.”

Then, in a display of rampant badassery, he shouted at them “If you want to kill the President here I am. I will not take one step back, come and kill me if you have the guts.”

The cops responded by pelting him with tear gas and stones, forcing him to take refuge in a hospital where they put him under siege. However, by this point crowds of ordinary people were out on the streets to defend the government, and were trying to fight off the attackers. From a balcony, he tore off his tie and shouted “”If they want me, here I am. I leave here as president of a worthy country or they take me out as a corpse.” (See 1:50 into the video below. Somehow, you just can’t see David Cameron or Gordon Brown acting this awesome, can you?)

However, the rebellion was already starting to unravel, as the high command of the military made absolutely clear they remained loyal to the government. After sunset, troops started to move in on the besieged hospital, and, firing on the rebel police with automatic rifles and stun grenades, burst through their lines and rescued the President, taking him to the Presidential palace.

From there he addressed crowds of supporters, declaring:

“I give so much thanks to those heroes who accompanied me through this hard journey. Despite the danger, being surrounded, ministers and politicians came, to die if necessary. With that bravery, with that loyalty, nothing can defeat us.”

He said he hoped the events of the day would serve “as an example to those who want to bring a change and stop the citizens’ revolution without going through the polls”. He added that he “would not forgive nor forget what had happened”, and that there would have to be a “deep cleansing of the national police.”

The coup attempt was universally denounced by Latin American leaders, and, as Fidel Castro predicted earlier in the day, was so unsuccessful that even the Obama administration was forced to condemn it. However, that shouldn’t blind us to the possible role of the US in supporting the Ecuadorian right. Last year the US government initially came out against the right wing coup against democratically elected Honduran President Manual Zelaya, only to endorse the coup regime at the earliest opportunity when it tried to stage fake elections to give itself legitimacy. Research later found that US agencies such as the Millenium Challenge Corporation had been pouring money into Honduras in the months running up to the coup, and after it had been violating the ban on funding the coup regime. It’ll be interesting to see what real investigative reporters are able to dig up about Ecuador in coming weeks.

Rafael Correa was elected in 2007. In power, he followed the path mapped out by Venezuela and followed by radical governments in other Latin American countries such as Bolivia in convening a constituent assembly to write a new constitution and refound the country. He was relected under the new constitution last year. The Ecuadorian constitution is one of the most progressive in the world, since it had strong input from Ecuador’s social movements such as the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). This means its particularly strong on ecological issues: nature is recognised as having rights as part of the constitution, as is the human right to water and the demand for food sovereignty. The constitution also recognises the indigenous concept of “sumak kawsay” or “living well.” The government has also embarked on significant programmes of wealth redistribution.

The Justice League of Latin America: Correa with Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales

However, there are real contradictions, along lines that are familiar to anyone who’s read about the struggles of social movements and indigenous people in Bolivia. There is a tension for the government between recognising the rights of indigenous people and the environment, and the need for Ecuador to develop economically in order to be able to stand independent of control by the US and the developed world. Many activists who were initially supportive of the government feel that they have got the balance wrong, favouring mining and oil extraction over people and the biosphere. This is reflected in the fact that yesterday CONAIE declared they were neither with the coup plotters or the government. As Al Giordano of Narco News puts it:

“The situation thus also shines a light on the growing rift in the hemisphere between the statist left and the indigenous left and related autonomy and labor movements. The CONAIE is basically saying to Correa, ‘you want our support, then enact the agenda you were elected on.’

. . .The CONAIE’s grievances happen to be very legitimate. Of course, they do not justify a coup d’etat, but the CONAIE is not participating in or supporting the coup d’etat. It is saying to Correa; we’ll have your back, when you have ours.”

That said however, there’s no doubt that the defeat of yesterday’s coup should be celebrated. The motives of the rampaging cops wasn’t protection of the biosphere or indigenous rights, but rather a return to the naked neoliberalism, racism and slavish obedience of US imperialism that characterised Ecuadorian governments in the past. Their victory would have been a victory for Latin American capitalists and oligarchs; for the fascist terrorists of the Cuban exile movement and their new pals the Venezuelan exiles; for organised crime and narcoterrorists like the Colombian far right; and for US imperialism and the CIA. While Rafael Correa may not be perfect, his government has changed things radically in Ecuador for the better, and that’s why thousands of people came out on the streets yesterday to successfully defend him.

Ecuadorian cops thought they were the shit, but they reckoned without being outclassed by THE PRESIDENT

Union map of where there were strikes and protests yesterday

You might not have noticed yesterday, what with the UK news much more concerned about what high paid cushy job David Miliband will be getting next, but across Europe millions of people were on strike and in the streets to protest the austerity policies of the EU governments.

Just like the ConDem government here, governments all across the European Union are making massive attacks on the working class, such cutting spending on vital services, taking away workers’ rights, throwing people out of work and generally making Europe a much more shite place to live.

Around 100,000 people took part in a Europe-wide demo in Brussels demanding an end to austerity policies. Delegations from 30 different countries are thought to have taken part. There’s some footage of it below:

There’s some great photos from the Brussels demo here, but a particular favourite of mine is these two who dressed up to take the piss out of right wing French President Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni:

Mr and Mrs Sarkozy

Meanwhile, in Spain there was a general strike, with 10 million people refusing to go to work in protest at the supposedly “Socialist” (the Spanish Socialist Party are more like New Labour) government, particularly plans to make it easier to sack workers and reduce the amount of compensation they’re entitled to. Protesters in Madrid went into any workplaces that were still open to hand out pamphlets and call on workers to join them, as well as blocking one of the main shopping streets the Gran Via. Throughout the different countries and regions that make up the Spanish state there were demonstrations taking place, and cops were used to break up picket lines, as you can see in this photo from Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

Here’s some footage as well of the protests in Huelva, Andalusia:

In Barcelona, riot cops attacked and beat protesters, who fought back by torching one of their cars:

Update from a comrade in Barcelona: “Protesters completely occupied the headquarters of a major bank, and set up 2 huge speakers from the balcony which they used to give a running commentary of events onto the street, and somehow jammed the frequency of a local radio station so that it broadcast their speeches instead, clever stuff.

Nearby, a police car was set on fire.  Riot police responded shortly afterwards by charging into the crowd and lashing out indiscriminately with batons, which I suppose was ‘revenge’ for the burnt car.”

In Ireland protesters gathered in Dublin to mark the return of the Dáil (Irish parliament) into session. The Irish government is hugely unpopular for its austerity plans, and has spent €25 billion on bailing out banks. This morning came the news that the government is saying it will have to spend €35 billion just on bailing out the Anglo Irish bank. In the photo below you can see what people think about that:

The flyer for the protests in Dublin can be seen here. As part of the action, a cement mixer with “Toxic Bank” painted on the side was driven into the gates of the Irish parliament.

In Greece, although the “mainstream” unions hadn’t called for a strike, public transport workers, doctors and dockers came out anyway. This follows on from the ongoing lorry drivers’ strike, which has seen supermarkets start to run short of supplies.

In Portugal 50,000 people marched in Lisbon and another 20,000 in Porto.

Here in Scotland the Scottish Trade Union Congress‘ “There is a Better Way” campaign did have a number of events to mark the Europe wide day of action. But what more can we do to try and catch up with our European friends? A good starting point would be getting yourself along to the street rally against the cuts organised in Glasgow this Saturday from trade union groups across the country. It probably won’t be on the scale of some of the protests seen above, but right now all across Europe it’s about kickstarting a movement that will show the governments and capitalists we aren’t going to accept paying the bill for their fuck ups. The rally meets at 12 at Buchanan Street subway.

One aim of the rally against the cuts is to try and build momentum for the all Scotland demonstration called by the STUC for October 23rd in Edinburgh (Facebook event here). It’s really important that both the Scottish and British government see there’s a real mood in Scotland to fight back against the cuts, especially from young people who already are suffering completely disproportionately from unemployment and the effects of the capitalist crisis.

President Chavez casting his vote

Sunday saw a key test of the strength of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, with elections to the National Assembly.

The opposition to the revolution, which is composed of the middle and bosses classes who are angry about losing their monopoly over Venezuela’s wealth and political power, and who are funded by US imperialism, had a big push for the elections. For the first time since President Chavez was elected in 1998, they seemed to have got their act together a bit. For years, they have been bitterly squabbling amongst themselves, as they tried to come to terms with the fact that the poor majority of Venezuelans had no interest in their right wing politics any more. In the last Assembly elections in 2005, they knew they didn’t have a chance in hell of getting anywhere, and so pretended there was a chance of fraud and refused to participate.

As a result, for the last five years the National Assembly has been almost entirely dominated by supporters of the revolution. Having over two thirds of the parliament allowed the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and their allies to pass laws quickly, appoint officials to national positions, and generally not really have to care what the US puppets in the opposition thought.

But this time around, knowing that international observers and anyone with any common sense knows that Venezuela is ultra-democratic, and allegations of vote rigging would just look stupid, they got together to finally put together a united slate for the elections, the Democratic Unity Roundtable or MUD.

Given that last time they didn’t stand at all, winning anything would have been an advance for them. Internationally the media built up MUD, claiming they were set to win big. But realistically, everyone knew the revolution still has the support of the majority. The big question was, would PSUV be able to win a two thirds majority (110 seats)?

In the end the tally left the socialists just short of what they needed to retain a ’supermajority.’ But they still have an overwhelming majority of the seats, with PSUV having won 95 seats so far (three have still to declare), giving it 58% of the seats. MUD won 62 seats, or 39%, while the Fatherland For All party (which is pro-revolution but not part of PSUV) won 2. Under Venezuela’s revolutionary constitution 3 seats are reserved for representatives of indigenous peoples, and those that took them are part of neither side.

The make up of the newly elected assembly

This means that the government will still be able to pass normal laws and are still in control of the assembly, but it leaves more scope for the opposition to slow things down, force the government to negotiate with them, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Laws that relate to issues in the revolutionary constitution have to be passed by two thirds majority, so that will now be more difficult. And the assembly also appoints positions such as the Supreme Court and the Electoral Council, which the opposition will now have some say in.

Socialists in Venezuela were still celebrating the victory, even if it wasn’t as strong as they would have liked. As President Chavez put it himself on Twitter: “The election was a solid victory, sufficient to continue deepening democratic and Bolivarian socialism. We must continue strengthening the revolution!”

He added at a press conference: “Nothing extraordinary happened. Something extraordinary would have been if we won 130 deputies, extraordinary would have been if we lost the majority.”

When you compare the support the government to other countries, especially the US or UK, it enjoys an unbelievably high level of popularity, considering how long they have been in power, and how difficult the economic circumstances are. Nevertheless, the election didn’t give the socialists as good as a result as they have often enjoyed in other electoral tests. There’s several reasons for that. The video below goes into a lot of them, but I’ll try and outline them briefly as well:

- The economic situtation for Venezuela has been difficult, as it has for every country. The economy shrank last year, as did most other countries in Latin America. However, this problem has been vastly overstated by the anti-government media, both in Venezuela and abroad.

- There’s been a big problem with electricity shortages over the last few months. Venezuela depends on hydroelectric dams for most of its electricity (which is a good thing, there’s almost no fossil fuel input), and there’s been a severe drought (at least in part due to climate change) that has affected their ability to generate energy. On top of that, during the years that electricity was privatised before the revolution, the private companies put very little investment in, meaning that the grid is outdated and over taxed. The solution that workers are fighting for to this problem is expanding socialism and workers’ control in the electricity industry.

- A major corruption scandal was discovered this year, involving bosses at the state owned food company PDVAL. State food companies sell food at prices much lower than in the normal supermarket, to allow the poor to have access to healthy, nutritious food. But it turned out that some bosses had been hoarding food in order to make more money for themselves. Although there’s an ongoing vigorous investigation, it obviously reflects badly on the government.

- General dissatisfaction that change isn’t happening fast enough, and that social problems such as rampant crime remain major issues. The revolutionaries are divided between the radical, pro-socialist and direct democracy advocates, and those who are more “pragmatic” and “moderate”. For example, although the government has been trying to promote ‘communal councils’, which are organisations of direct democratic self rule at a local level, many local politicians and mayors see them as a threat to their authority, and are trying to block their work. The opposition has not done anything particularly new in the last couple of years, but some of the failings of the revolutionary government have left some people disenchanted, and less willing to turn up and vote socialist.

Venzuelan voters show the ink on their fingers, which signifies they've voted

The solution to all of the problems facing Venezuela is, of course, deepening the revolution and expanding the construction of socialism. This article has a lot of concrete suggestions of ways to go about that. But what’s been farcical has been watching MUD and their international pals try and claim that the socialist election victory was in fact a rejection of the revolution.

“Here it is very clear, Venezuela said no to Cuban-style communism, Venezuela said yes to the path of democratic construction and now we have the legitimacy of vote of the citizenry, we are the representatives of the people,” said María Corina Machado, who was elected deputy of Miranda state.

MUD tried to claim they had won the majority of the popular vote, something that was actually total bollocks based on counting the Fatherland For All deputies as members of the opposition, but which was faithfully reported in the international media.

In fact, comparing the opposition’s performance this time around to the last election isn’t really comparing like for like, because last time they didn’t stand. If you compare their results this time to the last election they actually participated in (2000), they actually lost 20 seats! New revolutionary deputy Roy Chaderton called their claims a “media farce”.

“They can celebrate whatever they want, but it is striking that they are celebrating when they have obtained 20 fewer seats than the last time when they had deputies in the National Assembly,” he said. “The reality is that, compared to the elections for the 2000-2005 session, they have 20 fewer deputies elected, and the government has won enough support to elect 3 more deputies than what it had in that period.”

“In the case of the National Assembly, it’s good that the opposition are now part of it, that’s where they should be, but they withdrew in 2005, hours before the beginning of the electoral process, to try to delegitimize it, and, besides, hoping that the [US] Marines would do their dirty work to replace President Chávez,” he emphasized.

Chaderton explained that “between 2005 and 2010, as they didn’t participate and withdrew for the negative motives that I explained, they can now claim that their representation has increased 6,600%, but all that is part of the media farce, corrupt deals, fake news to mislead the national and international public opinion, with the complicity, of course, of the international Far Right.”

Taking a look at the British media, it seems that they are either very confused about what’s going on, or in fact just tools of this right wing propaganda campaign against Venezuela. The latter is surely the case for Rupert Murdoch owned Sky News, who seemed all mixed up about the results, talking about “massive gains” for the opposition. Although their article has been fixed now, a picture caption down the page originally claimed that PSUV hadn’t won a majority!

Even worse is the coverage of the supposedly left wing Guardian newspaper. I’m a great fan of their site, and it’s my main non-socialist place I go to check on the news, but consistently the information they give readers on Venezuela is utter pish and propaganda. This week they saw fit, just after the government won a election internationally verified as completely democratic, to run a poll in which the majority of their daft readers voted that Chavez is a dictator!

Full of nonsense: opposition demonstrators

What this proves is that the supposedly impartial western media, including the BBC and the Guardian, are hopelessly compromised when it comes to reporting Venezuela. Venezuela is the country on Earth today that has put socialism back on the agenda of the human race, and offered a beacon of hope to people struggling all over the world. Faced with that kind of threat, the international ruling class are going to make sure all of their media outlets are pumping out the maximum anti-socialist propaganda they can. If you want to get the real low down on what’s going on in Venezuela, the best source is the excellent Venezuela Analysis site. And of course, when important stuff is happening, you can also count on this blog to give you full coverage!

Bonus: Check out former Cuban President Fidel Castro’s message ahead of the elections: “I would not fail to vote as a sacred duty: whatever time it is, before the rain, when it’s raining, or after the rain, as long as there is a polling station open. If I were Venezuelan, even under thunder and lightning, I would fight to the limit to make September 26 a great victory.”

There’s a full state by state breakdown of the results here.

Bring the prisoners home!

Those of you who were at Camp Secret Squirrel this year, or were around in the week or so afterwards, will remember the comrades we had visiting from Askapena, the internationalist organisation of the Basque pro-independence left.

Yesterday the repressive police apparatus of the Spanish state was brought to bear on Askapena, with seven members arrested from across the Basque Country.

According to media reports, among those arrested is Walter Wendelin (who I met briefly when I was over there), who does a lot of solidarity work with Latin America. Many of the reports in the Spanish media make clear that the police operation is trying to target the relationships of the Basque pro-independence left with Latin America, and they’ve spoken of “finding information relating to the link between ETA and the FARC.”

Also arrested was Ruben Sanchez, like Walter in Gasteiz; Gabi Basanez in Getxo; in Barakaldo Unai Vazquez; Itxaso Lekuona in Renteria; David Soto in Iruña; and in Arruazu Ganboa Aritz.

Santa is not a terrorist: Walter Wendelin, who was arrested yesterday

Reports have also spoken about how the police are seizing documents that will help them understand what parts of the world Askapena are working with. Although it seems their operation is primarily focused against Latin America, we wonder if they’re finding anything interesting about Scotland and SSY – we’d just like any cops reading this (Spanish or Brit) to know that we’re proud to consider ourselves comrades of the Basque pro-independence left!

This new bout of repression is of course ridiculous and unjustified. Askapena is a peaceful group that organises international brigades to meet other peoples in struggle, and maintains good relations with friends of the Basque Country around the world. Trying to paint it as a terrorist group is pathetic. Even if we accept the argument of the Spanish state that Askapena is just part of the apparatus of ETA, the Basque armed group recently announced a ceasefire, and its willingness to permanently end armed operations as part of a genuine peace process for the Basque Country.

The response of the Spanish state has shown that they don’t want peace, fearing that it could endanger their ability to keep the Basque Country under military occupation and hold back the fight for independence and socialism. Already this month they arrested another nine activists, and the latest operation takes the number of those arrested this year to 74.

This is a key time for the struggle of the Basque Country, with the pro-independence left initiating a new, peaceful strategy of building unity for mass action by all those who want peace and independence. The new strategy clearly scares a Spanish state which knows the majority of Basque citizens want independence, and they are determined to try and crush their desire for self-determination. The question for us in Scotland is what we can we do to show solidarity? I am going to see what we can organise today, keep checking back on this article for any details and news updates, we’ll be updating the piece as more info comes in.

Update: The Basque trade union federation LAB have launched an international petition for trade unionists and solidarity activists around the world to sign. Presumably we’d all be fine with SSY adding our name to the list of organisations, it’d be good if we could get loads of named people as well, so if you’re up for it add your name in the comments and I’ll email them back at the end of the day.

Here’s their message:

Dear comrades:

Last night again 7 militants of the Basque left wing independentist movement have been arrested. They are members of the organization internationalist Askapena that takes charge of the solidarity among the Countries .

You can see more information in Spanish here:

http://www.gara.net/azkenak/09/223295/es/La-Policia-espanola-detiene-siete-miembros-Askapena

From LAB Basque trade union we denounce this repressive new attack from Spanish government and we make a call to go to the demonstration that next October 2nd has been called in Bilbao (Basque Country).

We also request the support from different trade unions, organizations and friends with the topics of the manifestation of October 2. You can send your solidarity to our e-mail: nazioartea@labsindikatua.org.

More than 42 organizations of Basque country we summon this manifestation with the following petitions:

“NO MORE BANNINGS HUMAN, CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE

We demand

1.- The halting of  all the states of exception  or violence. The cancellation of all the actions that cause violation, limitation or denial of rights, in order to reach a new scenario in which everyone’s rights will be respected in the whole Basque Country

2.-The guarantee to exercise civil and political rights, human rights, both individual and collective, and specially:

-Right to life and to liberty

-Basque prisoners to the Basque Country. Release of those who have already served their full prison terms or are ill

-Immediate cancellation of the incommunication regime and torture

-Freedom of speech: all the people, all the projects, all the options

-Immediate legalisation of outlawed political parties and organisations, and the resulting de-activation of legal proceedings, trials and sentences derived from those illegalisations”

Thank you in advance for your solidarity,

International Relationships Secretary of LAB Basque trade union