PolEco: Sanlakas, 3 other party-lists allowed to run in 2013 polls; 4 axed

Sanlakas, 3 other party-lists allowed to run in 2013 polls; 4 axed

PolEco: SC Urged to Reverse Ruling on Angat Dam - An article from the Freedom from Debt Coalition website

SC urged to reverse ruling on Angat Dam
Wednesday, 07 November 2012 00:00

Various cause-oriented groups, led by the Freedom from Debt Coalition, urged the Supreme Court to reverse its 09 October 2012 ruling on the sale of 246-megawatt Angat hydroelectric power plant (HEPP) by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water).

In a 10-page Motion for Partial Reconsideration, FDC, together with the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS) Inc., Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party and Alliance of Progressive Labor said the sale of the facility violates the Philippine Constitution, particularly Article XII, Section 2.

Article XII, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that “the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.” Petitioners fear that, if traversed to its logical conclusion, the decision effectively allows wholly foreign-owned corporations to engage in the exploration, development and utilization of State-owned water and other natural resources notwithstanding the clear nationality restrictions prescribed in the Constitution. “Thus, no ‘charter change’ would be necessary to allow foreigners and foreign-owned corporations to explore, develop, utilize – and even exploit – the State’s natural resources, including water. All they have to do is follow the decision this Honorable Court in the case at bar,” the petition says.

The petitioners likewise say that the SC’s reliance on the amended build-operate-transfer (BOT) Law is misplaced. “While it is true that under the Amended BOT Law, wholly-owned foreign corporations are allowed to undertake construction, rehabilitation and development of hydropower plants, the glaring fact ignored by the decision that the instant case had nothing to do with the Amended BOT Law,” the petition says. The privatization of Angat HEPP was made pursuant to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and not under the Amended BOT Law, the groups stressed.

The petitioners also say that the High Court “erred in its finding that the process of power generation does not amount to utilization of natural resources.” Petitioners claim that “power generation cannot operate without water. Hence, in the power generation process, water – a natural resource specifically mentioned in Sec. 2, Art. 12 – is indispensable. The operation of the AHEPP cannot be separated from the Dam Complex from which it draws its source of power.” “Very clearly, to maximize the use of the water from Angat Dam, the complex – the Reservoir, Dam, and HEPP - must be operated as an indivisible whole,” the petition says.

The petitioners likewise argue that the SC should have declared null and void the bidding process and the issuance of notice of award (NOA) to K-Water by PSALM, in consideration of the petitioners’ right to information. According to the petitioners, the High Court, instead of invalidating the bidding process and the eventual issuance of NOA to K-Water merely directed PSALM to allow petitioners access to the requested documents and records pertaining to K-Water. In its October 9 decision penned by Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr, the Supreme Court, although allowing the sale, still partially granted the petitioners' request and ruled that the National Power Corporation should keep its controlling power over the dam’s hydropower generation, subject to the rules and regulations of the National Water Resources Board. All 14 magistrates concurred with Villarama, except for Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., who wrote a dissenting opinion. Velasco argued that the agreements “violate the Constitution,” stressing that “the use of natural resources in the operation of a power by foreign corporation is contrary to the words and spirit of the Constitution.”

“The O&M (Operation and Maintenance) is more straightforward, in that it expressly authorizes the operator, K-Water, to administer and manage non-power components, which it defines as ‘the Angat Dam, no-power equipment, facilities and installations, and appurtenance devices and structures which are particularly described in Annex 1’. While it is true, as PSALM argues, that Angat Dam itself is not being sold, the operation and management of the same is being handed to a wholly foreign corporation. This cannot be countenanced under the express limitations in Constitution and the Water Code.”

Respondents to the case are the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water), First Gen Northern Energy Corporation, San Miguel Corporation (SMC), SN Aboitiz Power-Pangasinan, Inc., Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation, and DMCI Power Corporation.

Under Republic Act 9136 or EPIRA, PSALM is mandated to privatize all the assets of the National Power Corporation, including the Angat HEPP. On April 28, K-Water, a utility wholly-owned and controlled by the Republic of South Korea, submitted the highest bid, amounting to $440.8 million, among six qualified bidders. Angat Dam is the single-most important water source of Metro Manila as it provides 97 percent of the water needs of at least 12 million residents of the country’s capital and irrigates some 31,000 hectares of farms across 20 towns and municipalities in Bulacan and Pampanga.

 

PolEco: Solving the Environmental Crises - We Can Do It! ... from the Films for Action website

PolEco: Europe prepares for biggest coordinated shutdown in generation - An article from the "Anti Capitalist Initiative" website

Hurrah to the workers of the European Union. This is a big step and the first of our times. It's an anti-cuts movement for their democratic struggles for dignified living standards, pensions, unemployment benefits, and services, not just against their governments, but against the whole capitalist system. They said the austerity policy is perpetrated by the global financial community headed by the Troika of the IMF-World Bank, the EU, and the European Central Bank, which operates globally. So the logical backslash is to fight it globally also, by uniting workers of all of Europe, and eventually workers of the world !!!

Europe prepares for biggest coordinated shutdown in generation

Toby Abse | October 26, 2012 | 0 Comments

Workers in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta, are set to walk out in a European-wide general strike. Toby Abse reports.

The co-ordinated general strikes in a number of European countries on Wednesday 14 November  may on one level only be a symbolic protest against the vicious austerity policies attacking  working class living standards, pensions, unemployment benefits, health services , education and other parts of the public sector all over the European Union. After all, a one day strike will not bring the system or indeed any national government crashing down – but on another level such a transnational strike is a tremendous and exciting step forward for the anti-cuts movement in Europe.

It is clearly about time that the workers’ movement started to co-ordinate its actions across national boundaries in exactly the same way as the capitalists and the politicians that represent their interests.

The notion that a European austerity offensive – that in the case of Greece, Spain and Portugal is directly linked to the demands of the Troika ( European Union/European Central Bank/ International Monetary Fund) - can be successfully fought on a purely national basis is obviously absurd.  It requires a European wide mobilisation of the working class on resolutely internationalist lines.

Even the most combative workers’ movement on the entire continent, that of Greece, which has staged general strikes on 20 days in the last few years (generally for 24 hours, occasionally for 48) has not succeeded in halting the bosses’ attacks, precisely because the  Greek capitalist class is tied to its international counterparts, who are absolutely determined that no working class, even in one of the smaller and  less populous European countries, can reverse the austerity offensive, precisely because of the example it would provide to others in similar situations.

It should be equally obvious that secessionist movements in Scotland or Catalonia will offer no way out of  austerity ; the enemy of Scottish workers is not the English and the enemy of Catalan workers is not the Castilians.

Indeed smaller national states might well offer more scope to multinational companies seeking to promote a race to the bottom, as should be obvious to anybody who has taken a close look at the SNP’s economic policies. Indeed, in the days when they openly used Ireland as a model, they made it obvious that they would offer international capital a more favourable tax regime than even the tax-lite British state.

So far trade unions in five countries are committed to participation in the European general strike on 14 November – Spain, Portugal, Greece , Cyprus and Malta. Whilst the ETUC called for a ‘ day of action and solidarity for a Social Compact for Europe’ at the meeting of its Executive Committee on 17 October, it would be wrong to see the original initiative coming from this very bureaucratic body.

It seems to have started with the biggest Portuguese union confederation, the CGPT, calling a general strike for 14 November against  the ‘exploitation and impoverishment’ of the Portuguese population in the wake of partially successful Portuguese protests that forced the Portuguese government to retreat on some aspects of its austerity policies. This then led both the two main Spanish trade union confederations Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and the UGT in  to decide to call a general strike for the same day. The CCOO said ‘Unemployment, cuts, the impoverishment of the majority and the deterioration of public services justify a general strike’.

This co-ordinated Iberian general strike seems to have been the spark behind the decision of GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) to announce their intention to come out again on 14 November on the day of the latest Greek general strike on Thursday 18 October, even if the Greek announcement came a day after the ETUC meeting.

Whilst the ETUC statement makes some reasonable points and acknowledges the Europe-wide nature of the anti-working class offensive, it romanticises the virtues of ‘the European social model’ and sows some dangerous illusions  by ‘supporting the objective of sound accounts’ or stating that  ‘fiscal consolidation has had a sharper effect than originally estimated by institutions, including the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund’, thus implying like Miliband and Balls that cuts are too deep and too fast, but not something to be totally rejected.

Moreover, it promotes the idea of ‘strikes, demonstrations, rallies and other actions’, a mix and match menu that would give excuses to trade union bureaucrats eager to avoid too serious a degree of mobilisation rather than calling for general strikes in every country in the EU. Nonetheless, from an agitational viewpoint, the ETUC day of action statement does provide a lever for putting demands on Brendan Barber and his ilk at the British TUC.

It is no longer appropriate to simply demand of the TUC that it name the day for a general strike. We should redouble our efforts to argue that if the TUC is seriously committed to investigating the practicalities of a general strike, it should go ahead and organise it on the 14 November when general strikes are taking place all over Europe against austerity policies that are remarkably similar to those of the Cameron- Clegg coalition in the UK.

After all, Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite asked the crowd in Hyde Park on Saturday 20 October if they wanted a general strike, and got a thunderous response from thousands of people shouting “yes”. He then asked for a show of hands on which the idea was overwhelmingly carried.

We must emphasise that if he is serious about all this, he should push for 14 November.

We should also put pressure on Bob Crow and the RMT to back a 14 November call; indeed, we must hope that the union’s militancy and its willingness, on occasions, to co-operate with European transport unions.

If even the most militant national trade union leaders do not heed this call, we must nonetheless, do everything we can to ensure that the 14 November mobilisation in the UK is not  reduced to a few badly publicised poorly attended lunch time rallies or some invitation only rally in the evening in Congress House. If anybody has a live industrial action ballot, they should suggest the strike be held on 14 November for example.

Let’s do all we can to bring the spirit of the European general strike to Britain’s shores.

PolEco: An article from the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) website during one of the mobilizations against The proposed Sin Tax Law

PLM Joins "No to Sin Tax, No to Another Regressive Tax Rally" at Senate

Written by Partido Lakas ng Masa

Tuesday, 16 October 2012 11:32

Please click the image above to view all photos. Not Another Regressive Tax Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) opposes the proposed sin tax reform bill not for its health provisions, but for being another form of regressive tax imposed against consumers, similar to the VAT or Value-Added Tax.  When the government imposed the expanded VAT in 2006, the argument was that it was needed to offset the country’s national budget deficit.  Since then, the 12% VAT continues especially on basic products, such as gas, electricity and water which magnify the problem of high prices shouldered by the poor. Early this year, when gasoline prices soared to astronomic level, transport and consumer groups demanded a cut on the 12% VAT, but the government refused by saying that the collected taxes are needed for various “social programs.” Today, the government excuse is that the sin tax would generate around P60 billion yearly which could be used to fund the government’s “universal health program.” The problem with this is that there is no such thing as universal health program under the present administration.  What we have is the PhilHealth insurance system which is funded by members’ contributions and which offered limited health coverage, sans medicines, for patients. The universal health care system as practiced in welfare state societies in Europe, Cuba, Venezuela, and Malaysia provide almost free health care, hospitalization and medicines for all citizens in these countries. This explains the term “universal” in health care. The Aquino government is also implementing a Public-Private Partnership scheme which will privatize several public hospitals in the country, including the Philippine General Hospital and the National Orthopedic Hospital. Hence, there is reason to suspect that the government’s intent on imposing high consumption tax on cigarettes and alcohol is not based on any comprehensive health program for the poor. The computation on the expected tax revenues alone proves that the additional tax is aimed not at cutting consumption, but at keeping it to a high level to ensure revenue target. While we agree that the consumption of sin products should be curtailed, we do not believe that this could be done by inflicting more burden on the consumer. It can best be done by raising corporate taxes and undertaking massive information campaign against the evils of smoking and excessive drinking. On this score, the government should investigate the failure of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to settle the tax evasion cases amounting to P1.2 trillion filed against tobacco and beer taipan Lucio Tan. A portion of this amount would be enough to fund the targeted 5 million new enrollees at PhilHealth without any one of them paying a single centavo. Lastly, if the government is really intent on merely penalizing the users of cigarettes and alcohol, we still can offer another compromise that is beneficial to all: go ahead with the sin tax, but scrap the VAT first. Sonny Melencio Chairperson, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) partidolakasngmasa@gmail.com

Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 October 2012 09:50

PolEco: A column from Granma International, Cuba's National Daily Newspaper, on Islam and Freedom of Expression

I N T E R N A T I O N A L	Havana.  October 4, 2012
Islam and freedom of expression Frei Betto THE Innocence of Muslims is the title of a U.S. film directed by one Sam Bacile, which defames the prophet Mohammad and offends all those who subscribe to this faith. Who is Sam Bacile? No one knows. The film’s director, perhaps fearing reprisals, has hidden in anonymity. It is suspected that Bacile and the producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian who lives California, are one in the same. Scenes in the film range from crude to pornographic. In one of these an old woman asserts, "I am 120 years old. I have never known a criminal murderer like Mohammad. He kills men, captures women and children, robs caravans and sells children as slaves after he abuses them." Do you know any Christian who would appreciate hearing something similar said about Jesus Christ? Or a Jew, regarding Moses or David? As soon as the film became known via Internet, a wave of protests broke out in Muslim countries. The U.S. ambassador in Libya was killed. Some Western countries’ diplomatic missions were attacked and burnt in Egypt, Tunisia, Indonesia, Iran, Yemen and Bangladesh. Sam Bacile’s film is, of course, a serious offense to all who believe in Mohammad as a bearer of divine revelations. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, described the film as "disgusting and reprehensible," but added that the U.S. must respect freedom of expression. Let us imagine that a film of Monica Lewinsky having oral sex with Bill Clinton was posted on the Internet. How would Hillary react to that? Freedom of expression? Why doesn’t the British royal family follow Hillary Clinton’s logic and drop its legal charges against the French magazine Closer, which published pictures of princess Kate Middleton topless on a private beach? Shouldn’t freedom of expression be respected?  All freedom has its limits: respect for the dignity and rights of others. Absolutely no one is free to damage reputations, avoid taxes, offend anyone’s mother. Certain negative actions may be legal, like producing pornography, but they are indecent and unjust. How would natives of Rio de Janeiro react if suddenly the Christ of Corcovado’s face were covered with a devil mask? " Freedom of expression? Since the twin towers fell in 2001, a deep prejudice against Muslims has been fomented in the United States. This climate has fostered the production of cinematographic works like Sam Bacile’s. Instead of sending soldiers to protect U.S. diplomatic missions abroad, the U.S. should solemnly beg Muslims their forgiveness and withdraw the film from circulation. Freedom of expression must necessarily be contextualized. You can go to the beach in a thong bikini or Bermuda shorts, but not to work or to church. Today, I can criticize the Greek Olympic gods for their sadomasochistic promiscuity, but that would have been unthinkable in Athens, four centuries before Christ. The Brazilian Constitution is perfectly clear when it comes to freedom of expression in Article 5, Section IV, "Free expression of thought is protected; anonymity is prohibited." (Excerpts from Adital)

PolEco: Student activism, reborn in Montreal Canada

This is a challenge to students. Pls read on...

Student activism, reborn

PolEco: Occupy Chicago, Mental Health Movement Stage Sit-In At Mayor's House, Demand Health Care Not Warfare! | OccupyWallSt.org

Occupiers sit in the road in front of Mayor Emmanuel's house
 
Occupy Chicago, Mental Health Movement Stage Sit-In At Mayor's House, Demand Health Care Not Warfare! | OccupyWallSt.org

PolEco: May 1st Protests Around the World Pt.2

PolEco: How did Quebec Students Mobilize Hundreds of Thousands for Strike?

Students in Canada against tuition fee increase and Neo-Liberal policies!

PolEco: Speech by Hugo Chavez at the World Socialist Forum of 2006 (taken from the Socialist Alliance website)

Socialism or death! We will prevail!

Speech by Hugo Chavez [This an abridged version of the speech delivered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to thousands of people attending World Social Forum meeting held in Caracas in January 2006. The full version of this talk can be found at <www.venezuelasolidarity.org>.]

I want to greet all the social organisations at this forum; organisations that fight for a different world, which is not only possible, but is necessary. A world that we are obligated to build right now! Not tomorrow... And welcome to Caracas. Caracas has been the scene in recent centuries of often resounding and horrifying events that have helped to mark the peoples’ struggles for liberation. Here Simon Bolivar [who led the struggle to liberate South America from Spanish colonialism in the early 19th century] was born. And here Francisco de Miranda was born. Miranda was an unparalleled individual. Miranda went to battle, sword in hand, in the three great revolutions of his time. First he fought in the US War of Independence. A few years later he appeared on horseback, sword in hand, commander of the northern army of the French Revolution, crying out: “Liberty, equality, fraternity! And exactly 200 years ago, nearly 60 years old, Miranda came crossing the seas, with three boats, a tricolour flag, and a project: the liberation of Latin America and the Caribbean, and their integration into a singular grand southern republic... Here we are once again, a new offensive has been unleashed by the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, against global imperialism. Think of how the liberation processes in recent centuries have been attempted. They were launched in a staggered manner, at different times and in different places, isolated from one another.

Anti-imperialist struggles

Two-hundred years ago in these lands, a popular offensive was launched. Bolivar was a great visionary, because even as early as 1826, Bolivar sensed the threat of North America against us, and tried to convince his companeros to form a Southern union, a great political body in South America and in the Caribbean. 200 years ago, the grandparents of our grandparents defeated the Spanish empire that had been here for 300 years, but Bolivar warned in that prophetic phrase that says it all: “The United States of America appears to be destined by providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty... At the beginning of the 19th century, strong liberating currents were unleashed in Latin America and the Caribbean. But those movements had no connection to any movement in Africa, much less in Asia. The movements failed, and today we are living the consequences of that failure. Then a century passed. There were struggles in Latin America during the 20th century. Revolutionary struggles right from the start [such as those led by Mexican revolutionaries] Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. And then the revolutionary movements of the 60s swept the continent, from North America to the Southern Cone. Symbolic heroes of those times were Ernesto Che Guevara, who today still lives on with us, and Fidel Castro. And Schafik Handal. I am going to ask you all to stand and lift your voices for a minute of shouts and vivas for Schafik Handal. [Handal was a veteran revolutionary from El Salvador and a leader of the mass-based Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN). Handal led the armed struggle in the 1970s and 80s against the US-backed dictatorship, and remained a leader of the FMLN right up until his death just days before this speech.] Viva Schafik Handal! [Audience cries viva! followed by cheering and an ovation.] Viva Schafik! Brother! You are with us in this battle! Schafik was always in solidarity [with the Venezuelan revolution]. During the coup he came here and told me: Chavez, if you lack a soldier I am here, give me a rifle if you are lacking ... And later I saw him in La Paz [Bolivia, celebrating the victory in the presidential elections in December 2005 of indigenous leader Evo Morales from the Movement Towards Socialism]. He was happy, like all of us. I had to stay there the next day to sign with Evo a group of cooperation agreements to help Bolivia. One of the conventions we signed related to the fuel Bolivia imports. This is one of the realities of our colonial economies: Bolivia, which has so much energy, has to import fuel, just like Ecuador. Ecuador exports crude petroleum and imports fuel. See, colonialism! So, I insist that what has been reinitiated in Latin America is the same process that Bolivar left pending. Independence... We are going to supply all the fuel that [Bolivia] needs. They are not going to pay us with currency, because they don't have any. Bolivia has been robbed for centuries. So they are going to pay the equivalent, in soy. In chicken, beef, and all they produce there. Another convention we signed was the plan that we will carry out with Cuba. And we have offered between Cuba and Venezuela 10,000 grants for Bolivian youth to study in universities and technical schools... In the 60s, independence movements were unleashed with force. Revolutionary movements in Africa and Asia had a very strong impact. [But a number of these movements were] scattered and the people fell back into despair. Many movements lowered their flags. Others remained with a flag raised high, like the Cuban people. We must keep in mind how they isolate Cuba, and how all the governments of this continent turned their backs on Cuba, fearing the empire. Now the 21st century has arrived ... This century we must unite the movements of all the world into one struggle. Then we will change the course of history.

A defeat for the empire

Just think, here in Latin America, in November [2005], Mr. Danger [Chavez's term for US President George Bush], in person, went to Mar del Plata [Argentina, where the Summit of the Americas was held and the US attempted to force its proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on the continent that would have opened Latin America up to even greater exploitation by US corporations]. [He was] pressuring, blackmailing, and using all the dirty war tactics typical of this empire ... This empire that we face is the most perverse, murderous, genocidal, and immoral that this planet has known in 100 centuries... This is a cynical empire! The Roman Empire admitted to being an empire, but Mr. Danger talks of democracy. The Roman Empire didn't talk about human rights. Ah, but no! This one, talks of human rights, and now we have just been informed that they want to include Venezuela on their annual list of countries that support terrorism. Mister Danger talks about human rights while imprisoning our five Cuban compatriot heroes [jailed in the US for gathering information on anti-Castro terrorist groups operating in Miami]. Mister Danger talks of human rights while in Guantanamo people are tortured, and people disappear in secret CIA jails across the world. Look at how the cynical government says that it fights against terrorism while protecting two of the worst terrorists in the history of the world, Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch [responsible for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban plane that killed 76 civilians]. Mr. Danger went to Mar del Plata with everything sewn up, or so he thought, but it all fell apart despite all the pressure they exerted. Whoever wants to know where the Free Trade Area of the Americas is, go and find it in Mar del Plata. Thats where its buried! [Audience gives an ovation.] Take a shovel... Look how much we have advanced. I remember that at the [2001 Summit of the Americas summit] in Quebec, Venezuela was alone against the FTAA, because Cuba was excluded. Very democratically they excluded Cuba. The day will come when the governments of Latin America have reached such a level of unity that we will not accept such an imposition by the empire. In Mar del Plata we presented a united front and they could not, despite seven hours of debate, of face-to-face battle, they could not bring to their knees five presidents: [Argentinean President Nestor] Kirchner, [Brazilian President Luis Inacio 'Lula' da Silva], [Uruguayan President] Tabare [Vazquez], [Paraguayan President] Nicanor Duarte and this servant: We aligned ourselves and said no to the attempt to impose the document's the imperialist and colonialist proposal of the US government. Instead, we are firmly moving forward toward a new level of integration in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas [ALBA, Venezuela's proposal for pro-people Latin American economic integration that already consists of agreements that develop significant cooperation between Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia] is already a reality. [The empire] wants our oil and our gas. They've had it for 100 years, now we have recovered it and this oil is for the development of our people and of the poorest countries of the continent. Venezuela will never again be a colony of the United States of America... There are reasons that we are optimistic. Things are happening that five years ago could not have happened, including a movement on the rise within the US that every day gains strength. Remember Cindy [Sheenan, US anti-war activist who was in the audience], who began alone in a tent there in Texas. In front of the ranch of Mister Danger she pitched her tent, a tent of hope, of morality. I think that finally distinct movements are rising in the U.S. We have to remember the tragedy of [Hurricane] Katrina and the indignation that emerged upon seeing millions of citizens abandoned by their government, left to their own luck especially the poor, the Black, the Latinos. Viva the people of the US! [Audience cries 'viva'] We count on you, companeros. This must be clear, the people can save this world, but essential to saving the world are the people of the US, united with the people of the Caribbean, the people of Latin America, the people of Asia, Africa and Europe.

"˜We are on the offensive"

We must come to the conclusion "we, who fight for a different and better world, we who have lifted the flags of revolution; we are on the offensive. Those who defend injustice and inequality, they are in retreat. [Audience gives an ovation.] It is our turn to design a formula of unity, of offence, of victory. It will be a long road but there are sufficient elements with which to devise the union of our people's of all the tendencies of indigenous peoples, workers, campesinos, intellectuals, professionals, women, students, all the ecological movements, all those who fight for real human rights, those who fight for justice, equality and dignity. All of us must unite; join together in a victorious offensive against the empire. Here in Venezuela we are carrying forth a unique experience that has modestly contributed to the cause of transforming the world: the Bolivarian revolution. This afternoon we held a graduation ceremony for a group of compatriots. Just think, through the pilot project of Mission Robinson II [an education program aimed at providing literacy and schooling to the poor who were previously excluded] we handed out primary education diplomas to a group of Venezuelans who just two years ago couldn't read or write. Thanks to the aid of the Cuban Revolution, to their experience, to their people, to their methods, these people learned to read and write and afterward began primary education, which they completed in two years, and now they are beginning secondary school... I tell this story to share just one of the innumerable experiences resulting from the Bolivarian revolution's advancements in education, in health, in the fight against misery, against poverty, in the transformation of the economic model of the 20th Century. [We are promoting] a new political model: revolutionary democracy... where the people are the essence and the fundamental actor in the political battle, instead of an elite that represents the people. Representative democracy always ends up being democracy of the elites. The only democracy that we believe in is the people's democracy...

Imperialist aggression

For this, we have had to resist the aggression of the empire. Imperialism, and the oligarchy linked to the empire, starts out by offering its hand. That's what happened to me [when first elected]. The first year of my mandate [was full of] splendid dinners, the empire courting me. Later, when they realised [that I did not intend] to add myself to the long list of traitors then the offensive against us began, culminating in the coup of April 11, 2002. You all know through documents that have been made public that the coup was part of the strategy of the US. [First ensure control over] Venezuelan oil, then go for Iraq's oil, which turned out to be the next year. The empire is very powerful, but it is not invincible... in this century we will bury the US empire. Remember that the empire, with all its power, clashed against reality here [with the coup defeated by a popular uprising]. It is not that they are failing in Iraq, it is that they have already failed in Iraq. And despite that, blindly, not recognising defeat, they continue sacrificing thousands of US youth, and in addition continue massacring thousands of innocent Iraqi boys, girls, women and men. From here, from this anti-imperialist forum, we demand that the US government cease aggression against the people of Iraq. Withdraw the troops... How different is the face of a US soldier pulling a child out of floodwaters to save her life. That is what the US troops should be dedicated to! To attacking the poverty and misery growing in that country. Every day there are more poor people in the US's 40 million poor, increasing every day. Just think how much they could achieve. Imagine, a government in the US that would declare world peace! Imagine a US government that would recall all its troops and submarines and atomic weapons dispersed around the planet. Imagine it! Imagine the [US$400 billion] they invest every year in military spending used instead for education, health care, producing medicines, producing food... If Cuba and Venezuela, with all our limitations, were able in a year-and-a-half to teach 1.5 million people in Venezuela to read and write and declare our country an "illiteracy-free territory," just imagine what we could do if the governments of the most powerful countries on earth joined together in a universal campaign, with all the scientific advances and technologies they have, to fight against the terrible phenomenon of poverty, illness and hunger. The World Social Forum is extremely important in the worldwide offensive, and it would be a tragedy to allow the World Social Forum to become a simple festival, to become a yearly folkloric encounter... [Applause.] We would just be wasting time. I continue encouraging the leaders of all the movements represented here to agree to a united plan of action, to impel these battles in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa.

˜Socialism or death!"

Karl Marx coined the phrase: Socialism or death... Fidel Castro said it and continues to say it, Che Guevara said it. For more than a century this phrase has travelled the world. They have tried to stamp it out, to bury the socialist project. But we would have to reply those you have killed, enjoy good health. But when Marx coined that phrase he had the luxury of thinking about future centuries. When Fidel began to talk about socialism or death, in the 60s, surely he too was talking about the coming century. I believe that our margin for action has narrowed, that we havent much time. I believe that we are in the defining century, where it will be decided whether the human species will survive. I repeat comrades: I think that time is short. Capitalism is destroying the planet. The poles are melting, the seas are heating up, the continents are sinking, forests and jungles are being destroyed, rivers and lakes are drying up  it's now or never. From this forum we must push very hard for the formation of a grand worldwide anti-imperialist movement, that will engage the entire world and that has the capacity to connect, grow, and fight. From here we have once again raised the banner of socialism... I believe that socialism must have a strong indigenous component. We are not talking about copying models, I believe that copying models was one of the great errors of the socialist attempts of the 20th century... Thank you in the name of the Bolivarian people of Venezuela for the invitation [to speak]. Socialism or death! Homeland... [Audience cries "or death!"] We will prevail! [Audience cries "We will prevail!"] A Bolivarian and revolutionary hug to my sisters and brothers of Venezuela and the world.

PolEco: Pictures from the Green Democratic Socialists of Arkansas

Pictures from the Green Democratic Socialists of Arkansas - taken from the "United Left All Over The World" FB page ...

PolEco: Looking Back: Highlights of the Occupy Wall Street Movement (from the OWS website)

2011: A Year in Revolt

Posted 1 day ago on Jan. 3, 2012, 7:52 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

2011 will be remembered as a year of revolution, the beginning of the end for an unsustainable global system based on poverty, oppression, and violence. In dozens of countries across the Arab world, people rose up against broken economies and oppressive regimes, toppling dictators and inspiring the world to action. Popular rejection of austerity measures and attacks on worker's rights brought millions to the streets in Greece, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK, Chile, Wisconsin and elsewhere.
By midsummer, murmurs of "occupying Wall Street” were stirring online, and on July 14th, we registered the domain occupywallst.org and began organizing. The first New York City General Assembly was held August 2nd and the Occupation of Liberty Square began on September 17th.
Fueled by anger at the growing disparities between rich and poor, frustrated by government policies that benefit a tiny elite at the expense of the majority, and tired of the establishment’s failure to address fundamental economic inequalities, OWS offered a new solution. We built a People’s Kitchen to feed thousands, opened a People’s Library, created safer spaces, and provided free shelter, bedding, medical care, and other necessities to anyone who needed them. While cynics demanded we elect leaders and make demands on politicians, we were busy creating alternatives to those very institutions. A revolution has been set in motion, and we cannot be stopped.
As the mainstream media ignored us, we learned from other leaderless resistance movements in places like Tunisia, Egypt, and Iran to use social media and live video streaming to spread our message. We are part of a global movement that has radically democratized how information is created and shared, rendering centralized, corporate-funded mainstream media increasingly irrelevant. The rapid exchange of information allowed us to make collective decisions quickly, discuss information and ideas across the globe, mobilize effective direct actions, and document police brutality. Now more than ever, when we chant “The Whole World Is Watching!” it is not an idle threat.
Today, tens of thousands of everyday people are putting ideals like solidarity, mutual aid, anti-oppression, autonomy, and direct democracy into practice. Individuals are joining together in city-wide General Assemblies and autonomous affinity groups. Through consensual, non-hierarchical and participatory self-governance, we are literally laying the framework for a new world by building it here and now -- and it works.
The rest is history. In honor of a new year, here is a run-down of what we accomplished since then. It would be impossible to list every action or mention every place an Occupation has occurred. But let us start a new year by celebrating a few highlights of our victories -- along with a sneak preview of what's to come!

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