Greece's workers revolt

Original article, Greece's workers revolt, subtitled Antonis Davenellos, a member of International Workers Left, reports from Athens on the brewing protests as the government imposes harsh austerity measures (translated by George Yorgos), via Socialist Worker (US):

WITH AN enormous general strike and massive rallies May 5--including a mobilization of more than 200,000 workers in the capital of Athens alone--the working class of Greece gave its answer to austerity measures imposed by the social democratic government of PASOK, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU).

Workers in Greece realize that they are going to have to pay for the shenanigans of the bankster frauds, bosses and politicians. They realize that the EU and IMF are using them as scapegoats for a failed economic system, and that they're the turnips which those organizations are squeezing to get the last drop of economic blood out of. This reaction should come as no surprise.

The strike paralyzed everything: public and private sector enterprises, small shops, the media. Even taxi drivers were on strike. The following day, several union federations remained on strike, and tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded the Greek parliament building as representatives voted to approve the measures, which will slash wages and benefits, raise taxes and dramatically lower the working-class standard of living. And the resistance continues: Another general strike has been set for May 10.

The austerity measures are the usual round of cuts demanded by the neo-liberal globalist monetary regime running the world's financial system. The bankster frauds, bosses and politicians prosper while the workers are thrown under the bus. When the economic lords betray you, you struggle against the economic lords: It's as simple as that.

The May 5 strike rally and the march that followed were representative of the mobilization from below. The unions were present not only through the large federations, but union locals in workplaces, which took part under their own banners. This activism set the tone for the day.

The markets are rattled. They should be. A united working class could bring their casino to a close. A united working class could bring down their economic hegemony. It's about time.

I'll let you read the rest of the article. It's going to be a long, hot economic summer in Greece and around the world. The article posits the unification of workers around the EU. The bankster frauds, bosses and politicians will do everything within their grasp to keep the current economic system (which has benefited them so much) in place, and their allies in the lapdog media will do everything possible to keep such a unification from happening. A unified working class can help to bring about a more just economic system, and the bankster frauds, bosses and politicians just can't have that.

Inside the Goldman Sachs scam

Original article, Inside the Goldman Sachs scam and subtitled Petrino DiLeo explains how Goldman Sachs set up its clients for a fall--in order to help a hedge fund manager who raked in $1 billion off their misfortune, via Socialist Worker (US):

IN NOVEMBER 2009, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein told a reporter (presumably with a straight face) that his firm was doing "God's work." He added: "We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose."

It's enough to make one go atheist, isn't it? Perhaps the big banks do have a social purpose: To underline the greed which permeates our Capitalist economic system. They're doing that really well.

But in the past few weeks, the world has gotten a clearer view of the work carried out by Goldman Sachs, a company aptly described by journalist Matt Taibbi as a "giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity."

And to think that Obama hired Goldman Sachs people to help run the economy. The 'Change We Can Believe In' was letting the foxes officially take over the chicken coop. Perhaps this is all part of Obama's master plan to bring down Capitalism! Somehow, I doubt it.

That work has nothing to do with God, social purpose or creating wealth for anybody other than Goldman and a few of its choicest clients.

If Capitalism is God's chosen economic system, then it is doing God's work. Otherwise, they're bankster frauds. Which is more likely?

I'll let you read the rest of the article. DiLeo does a good job mapping out how Goldman Sachs helped to set up a system designed to defraud investors. The fraud was brazen, and it's scope was huge. There should be jail time (lots of jail time) for the people who set this up. If there isn't, we'll know just how messed up our current economic system is, and how it's set up to defraud everyone except the very few.

DeLio leaves us with one final frightening point:

As Nomi Prins, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs, put it, "[B]anking businesses that are tied to the real economy are dying, but raw gambling disguised as finance is doing fine. Wall Street is making money by rolling the dice---again. All this risky activity seems to be going unnoticed in Washington."

Paramilitary murder in Oaxaca

Original article, Paramilitary murder in Oaxaca and subtitled Afsaneh Moradian reports from Mexico on a paramilitary assault against a humanitarian caravan delivering water and other necessities to an autonomous town, via Socialist Worker (US):

A GROUP of 15 paramilitaries attacked a caravan of solidarity activists delivering humanitarian supplies to the besieged town of San Juan Copala on April 27. Two of the activists were killed, and another was injured in the assault.

Oaxaca has been the center of resistance to the neo-liberal regime in Mexico for several years.

The activists who were murdered are Beatriz Alberta Cariño Trujillo of the group CACTUS, an organization for indigenous rights, and Tyri Antero Jaakkola, an international observer from Finland.

Don't expect much better here in the US. In Chicago, there have been calls for the National Guard to be deployed in parts of the city. The Arizona anti-immigrant law fits within this boundary. Slowly, but surely, the militarization of the police continues here in the US.

The caravan arrived at a blockade made of rocks just outside the town where 15 armed paramilitary men confronted it. Trujillo and Jaakkola were killed immediately in the hail of bullets, and the rest of the convoy hid in the hills. Initially, it was feared that five others were disappeared by the paramilitaries, but they have since been found alive and well.

I'll let you read the rest of the article. As Mexico deteriorates under the neo-liberal yoke, you can see what's in store for the US if we are not vigilant in the protection of our rights. If we are not, be sure that we'll see the military in our streets, serving not to protect us, but to serve the plutocrats.

India: West Bengal government forms industrial security force

Original article, India: West Bengal government forms industrial security force By R. Shreeharan, via World Socialist Web Site:

Responding to a call by the national government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI M)-led government in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal is forming a special State Industrial Security Force (SISF) to protect business operations against striking workers and protesters.

This is quite interesting. A Communist party led government forming a security force to protect business operations. Capitalist business operations. Something would seem to be amiss here.

The decision underscores the anti-working class character of this Stalinist party and highlights its unity with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) central government in protecting the interests of the big industrialists and transnational corporations.

Ah, Stalinists. Not particularly friends of the Working Class. Not in the Soviet Union, and not today in India. Surprise, surprise.

Several other states, including Maharashtra, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh, have also moved to establish their own SISFs amid growing class struggles throughout the country. In asking the state governments to build their own forces, the national home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram complained that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) could not cope with its growing workload.

I'll let you read the rest of the article. As you will see, class tensions run high in India, much the same as around the world. And the answer of the Indian bosses and government is not to see that the working class manages to eek out a better living, it is to support the companies in seeing that they don't. India's economic miracle is based, to a large extent, on a large work force which is paid badly. Such is the devil you marry once you have joined in the neo-liberal scheme of globalization. Don't expect India to move away from that model without a titanic struggle by the working class.