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«Current Concerns», n°1, January 11, 2019

France — Revolt of the common people

319. France — Revolt of the common people

Zurich (Switzerland) | 29 January 2019
Yellow Vests: Future scenario, by Myret Zaki / Urgent search for an industrial policy! by Jacques Myard / “The Italians would like to decide for themselves how to live”. Direct democracy of Switzerland is a landmark for the new Italy / The United States refuse to fight for the transnational financiers, by Thierry Meyssan / The purchase decision. How Macron became president … or why to prefer a reading lamp / Time to get out of Syria, by Eric Margolis / US President wants to pull out troops …but Germany, France and Great Britain insist on continuing the war effort, by Karl Müller / Right to self-determination, sovereignty, Lisbon treaty, by Alfred de Zayas / Framework agreement Switzerland-EU. Union Citizens’ Directive and ban on state aid as next heavy load, by Marianne Wüthrich / State economic development would be jeopardised, Interview with Simon Hirsbrunner / Traditionally and generous Switzerland’s immigration policy – determined by the people. Historical background, by Werner (...)

Emmanuel Macron in response to the social crisis. His televised speech

by Emmanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron in response to the social crisis. His televised speech

Paris (France) | 10 December 2018
My people, the men and women of France! Here we are together with our country and future in mind. The events over the last few weeks in France and overseas have profoundly troubled the Nation. They have mixed legitimate demands and an outpouring of violence that simply cannot be accepted. Can I tell you right now that this violence will not be pardoned in any way.
All of us have been spectators to the game that the opportunists are playing. They are trying to exploit and distort sincere (...)

Édouard Philippe’s Speech in Response to the Riots

by Édouard Philippe

Édouard Philippe's Speech in Response to the Riots

4 December 2018
For more than three weeks, tens of thousands of French have expressed their anger, on roundabouts, tolls, near commercial areas or on the streets of a number of cities in France.
This anger comes from far. It has been brewing for a long time; it has often remained silent, held back by modesty and pride. Today it is expressed forcefully by a movement. You’d have to deaf and blind not to hear or see this anger. Like the President of the Republic, like all parliamentarians, I understand this (...)

1 December 2018: Insurrection Day in the centre of Paris, Marseille and Avignon

1 December 2018: Insurrection Day in the centre of Paris, Marseille and Avignon

3 December 2018
The French Movement, the “Yellow Gilets” has been tirelessly demonstrating throughout France without a break since 17 November 2018. On 1 December, it organized its second national demonstration in Paris.
This resulted in riots and arson. These started on the Champs-Élysées, and broke out in several other districts, right in the heart of Paris. During the afternoon, disorder spread to the South of France, erupting in the cities of Marseille and Avignon. This resulted in more than a hundred (...)

The Movement of the Yellow Gilets spreads in France, Belgium and Bulgaria

The Movement of the Yellow Gilets spreads in France, Belgium and Bulgaria

26 November 2018
On Saturday 17 November 2018, the “Yellow Gilets” movement sprung to life in metropolitan France and has leapt across waters to the overseas departments and crossed land borders to Belgium and Bulgaria.
The French Minister for Home Affairs thinks that number of demonstrators would have peaked on 18 November at 17.00 at 287 710 people. There is no other available statistic, so we cannot check out this figure. Furthermore, from the time the demonstrators organize guard duty, it takes (...)

Al-Abadi declares a state of emergency in Iraq

Al-Abadi declares a state of emergency in Iraq

20 July 2018
Demonstrations are taking place in Southern Iraq denouncing the lack of essential services that the government should guarantee.
At the weekend, Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi declared a state of emergency anticipating that the social movement would catch fire in the capital.
The protests started out crying out for electricity. Now, it is 45 to 48o C in the Southern Iraq. You simply cannot work at this temperature without air conditioning.
Demonstrations are gaining momentum to (...)

Hugo Chávez, Sabaneta’s boy… Dreaming of being armed

by Jorge Wejebe Cobo

Hugo Chávez, Sabaneta's boy… Dreaming of being armed

Havana (Cuba) | 5 August 2017
It was on 28 July 1954, in Sabaneta de Barinas, Venezuela that one of the most important revolutionary leaders in Latin America’s history was born: Hugo Chávez Frías.
His mother, Elena Frías, brought him into the world, yet only remained with him until he was delivered. Story has it that, as a child growing up, he enjoyed listening to the stories related by his grandmother about the heroes that liberated his country and those who confronted the injustices inflicted by dictatorial governments (...)

Qatar abolishes slavery

Qatar abolishes slavery

15 December 2016
The Emirate of Qatar has announced that on 12 December 2016, its sovereign, the Emir Tamim ben Hamad Al Thani, had abrogated the Kafala.
The Kafala assigned every foreign worker to an owner who confiscated his identity papers. The latter had complete power to determine who would employ him and under what conditions, as well as the authority to determine if he leave the country or not.
From now on, contractual law will apply. However, we still do not know how 2.1 million immigrants (...)

Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle

by James Petras

Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle

3 June 2014
The escalating protests in Brazil are symptomatic of the wealth disparities between the ruling class and the masses. More than just food baskets, Brazilian people demand social justice and are up in arms over their government’s lavishly wasteful spending on the 2014 football World Cup.

Conversation with Ernesto Villegas, minister of information for Venezuela

“The Bolivarian Revolution will follow the course and the direction that President Chávez marked out”

by Salim Lamrani

“The Bolivarian Revolution will follow the course and the direction that President Chávez marked out”

Caracas (Venezuela) | 9 April 2013
On the eve of the new presidential election scheduled in Venezuela on account of the recent death of President Hugo Chávez, who had just obtained a new presidential mandate, the French intellectual Salim Lamrani talks to Minister Ernesto Villegas. The current Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information analyses Hugo Chavez’s legacy and explains why he is confident that Nicolás Maduro will be victorious in the election and that the Bolivarian Revolution will keep going forward.

The "Maple Spring"

Quebec students spearhead pan-Canadian uprising against austerity

by Joshua Blakeney

Quebec students spearhead pan-Canadian uprising against austerity

Lethbridge (Canada) | 7 June 2012
Catapulting the Canadian province of Quebec into the spotlight, the four-month old student protests have become a symbol of the most powerful challenge to neoliberalism on the North American continent. Recognizing that the students’ demands for an accessible and democratic public education constitute an implicit challenge to their entire social and economic strategy, the reaction of the Quebec government and Canadian elite has been implacable. Joshua Blakeney pinpoints the significance of the student struggle, sketching a picture tinged with hues of Pinochet’s Chile.

Massive anti-NATO protests in Chicago

Massive anti-NATO protests in Chicago

21 May 2012
Thousands of people rallied in Chicago against NATO on the opening day of its Summit meeting.
The massive anti-NATO demonstrations aim to boycott the event. Thousands of peaceful protesters, including peace activists and war veterans, have marched through the second largest city in the U.S. carrying banners against NATO and demanding the dissolution of the Alliance.
Several demonstrations were staged throughout the entire week leading up to the largest protest action of the year for the (...)

Market massacres

by Marco Revelli

Market massacres

13 May 2012
The sociobiologist and philosopher Henri Laborit once enunciated the hypothesis that human beings confronting oppression had only three choices: submission, struggle or flight. Within the frame of his sociobiological analysis, suicide constituted the most extreme form of flight. In the face of the programmed crisis being unleashed across Europe, may the victims of injustice never forget that the best antidote for the suffering engendered by any system is to combat it.

Bahrain: the silenced revolt

Bahrain: the silenced revolt

Havana (Cuba) | 7 April 2012
While the Western media resort to every trick in the book to get people to believe in the narrative that an alleged popular uprising in Syria has been quelled in blood, mum’s the word with regard to the brutal suppression of the democratic movement in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Morocco. In this piece, Cuban journalist Dalia Gonzalez Delgado discusses the reasons behind the complacency shown by the "friends" of democracy and freedom towards the Kingdom of Bahrain.

An open letter to international public opinion

The truth about Greece

by Míkis Theodorákis

The truth about Greece

Athens (Greece) | 25 February 2012
Composer and resistance icon Mikis Theodorakis lambastes the joint strategy devised by Greek politicians and financial institutions with the objective of pillaging the country. He explains how Greece was gradually put under IMF tutelage by Dominique Strauss-Khan and former Prime Minister Papandreou. While the Western media point the finger at Syria, Russia and China, a financial government has taken over the reins of power in Greece and in Europe.

Rally in Rome hijacked by provocateurs

Rally in Rome hijacked by provocateurs

16 October 2011
A large, peaceful demonstration in Rome against government bailouts of banks has been discredited by a group of underage rioters who attacked the police, journalist Maurizio Torealta told RT.
The journalist reported that alongside the large march there were several hundreds rioters who intentionally defamed the peaceful gathering by unemployed protesters.
An estimated 100,000 protesters gathered in Rome, as they did in Madrid. The demonstrators consisted mostly of what Torealta called (...)

Webster Tarpley: "Occupy Wall Street" is on its way to being co-opted

Webster Tarpley: "Occupy Wall Street" is on its way to being co-opted

11 October 2011
Media spokesmen for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations claimed that their operation is totally transparent, with everything subject to democratic discussion in a general assembly of all comers. But eyewitness reports from experienced observers on the ground in lower Manhattan indicate a much different reality behind these bland assurances. Forces appeared to be at work behind the scenes to manipulate the protest movement into a posture of supporting the presidential candidacy of Wall (...)

US supercop to advise Cameron on crackdown

US supercop to advise Cameron on crackdown

18 August 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s new crime advisor says the UK police may want to adopt US methods to tackle the recent unrest but adds that they must deal with the underlying causes.
US "supercop" Bill Bratton, who is to begin advising Cameron in September about his experiences in dealing with gang crime and street violence, said that some of the crime-fighting methods used in the United States might also work in Britain.
After withering criticism of his leadership during the unrest (...)

Ireland: "No country for young men"

Ireland: "No country for young men"

28 November 2010
"What hurts me the most is why is the taxpayer paying for the IMF. Why are we bailing out the banks. These are the people who took the risk, let them take the hurt, let them feel the hurt."
Among those on the main march there was deep anger that most of the €80bn-plus from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund will be used to shore up Ireland’s ailing banks.
Speakers at the march estimated that the crowd was between 100,000 and 150,000.
The rally was the first major (...)

"No democracy under occupation"

Afghanistan: Malalai Joya is an angry woman

by Dominique Bari

Afghanistan: Malalai Joya is an angry woman

9 April 2010
The young Afghan deputy and women’s rights champion was thrown out of parliament for having exposed foreign interference in her country and the worsening violations against women fomented by the continued occupation.

World Social Forum, ten years on

World Social Forum, ten years on

Barcelona (Spain) | 9 February 2010
Since the World Social Forum was launched in June 2000, at the Alternative Social Summit in Geneva, coinciding with the United Nations Assembly on Social Development, ten years have passed. In this decade, the world has changed and the context in which the World Social Forum (WSF) emerged is different from that of today. Esther Vivas reviews its achievements, the stumbling blocks and the challenges that lie ahead ... "to wage real battles and inflict real damage"?.

Open Letter: Support Iceland Against the Financial Blackmail of the British and Dutch Governments and the IMF

by Birgitta Jónsdóttir

Open Letter: Support Iceland Against the Financial Blackmail of the British and Dutch Governments and the IMF

Reykjavík (Iceland) | 7 January 2010
A group within the Icelandic Parliament, called The Movement, has emerged from the mass struggle of Icelanders against the financial blackmail brought to bear against their country by the governments in London and The Hague, with the backing of the IMF, in the wake of the insolvency of three large Icelandic banks linked to the Lehman Brothers-AIG world financial panic of September-October 2008.

France Telecom suffers 25th suicide

France Telecom suffers 25th suicide

18 October 2009
"Life has no price"
France Telecom said an employee at its research and development centre in the Brittany town of Lannion killed himself at his home today – the 25th suicide at the company in 18 months.
The death comes two days after a France Telecom employee in Marseille was saved at the last minute from taking his life. Unions blame the suicides on stress linked to restructuring. Many of the employees have left notes blaming management decisions or stress at work.
Didier Lombard, the (...)

Why Is a Leading Feminist Organization Lending Its Name to Support Escalation in Afghanistan?

by Mariam Rawi

Why Is a Leading Feminist Organization Lending Its Name to Support Escalation in Afghanistan?

18 August 2009
Waging war does not lead to the liberation of women anywhere — even if you call soldiers "peacekeeping forces." With more than 20,000 extra US soldiers - and counting - being deployed to Afghanistan, two members of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) argue that eight years of foreign occupation has made life worse for ordinary Afghans, especially women. Feminists around the world must refuse to allow the cause of feminism to be manipulated to provide political cover for yet another war of aggression.

Fake Jewish tolerance vs. vile Israeli aggression (Video)

by Gilad Atzmon

Fake Jewish tolerance vs. vile Israeli aggression (Video)

9 August 2009
How many times have we heard about Islam, Muslims and Arabs being slammed for being reactionary on Gay Rights? How many times have we seen political lobbies mobilizing to address Gay Rights issues against Muslim and Arab states and institutions? Interestingly enough, as Gilad Atzmon reports, it is actually in the Jewish state where Gays are murdered on the street.

International Conference Against Racism

Behind the U.S. gov’t boycott

by Monica Moorehead , Sara Flounders

Behind the U.S. gov't boycott

19 April 2009
The decision by the Obama administration to boycott the Durban Review Conference Against Racism has raised a torrent of petitions, protests and criticism. An actual boycott of the upcoming April 20-24 meeting would be the first time that the United States has refused to participate in a United Nations conference. This has come as a shock to many who expected a fundamentally different attitude toward an international conference on racism from the Obama administration.

G20 policeman’s manslaughter probe (video)

G20 policeman's manslaughter probe (video)

18 April 2009
Ian Tomlinson died at the G20 protests from an "abdominal haemorrhage", a second post-mortem concludes.
The newspaper vendor, who was filmed by Channel 4 News coming into contact with police at the G20 protests on 1 April, was first thought to have died from a heart attack.
But the second post-mortem examination contradicted these findings, Tomlinson’s family solicitor said today, creating further questions over the role of the police in his death.
The policeman filmed appearing to strike (...)

Socialism and American public opinion

Socialism and American public opinion

18 April 2009
By David Walsh
A national telephone survey conducted in early April by Rasmussen Reports, the US polling company, discovered that only 53 percent of Americans believe capitalism to be superior to socialism. Twenty percent favor socialism and 27 percent are undecided.
Adults under 30, according to Rasmussen, were “essentially evenly divided: 37 percent prefer capitalism, 33 percent socialism, and 30 percent are undecided.”
These results lift the veil on a reality the US establishment (...)

April 3 Demo to March on Wall Street and AIG (video)

April 3 Demo to March on Wall Street and AIG (video)

1 April 2009
Traders work at the New York Mercantile Exchange
Thousands to March on Wall Street & AIG on APRIL 3 as part of the Bail Out People, Not Banks Protest
Main focus of March:
The need for a real jobs program
A moratorium on foreclosures and evictions
The April 3 March on Wall Street will begin with an opening rally at 1:00 PM at Wall Street and Broadway, followed by a march to AIG at 70 Pine St.
The Bail Out the People Movement Statement on AIG and the Latest Bank Bailout Plan (...)

Schwarzenegger To Provide Government Camps For Homeless

Schwarzenegger To Provide Government Camps For Homeless

29 March 2009
Shut down and takeover of “tent cities” stokes fears of internment pretext
by Paul Joseph Watson
Plans to shut down tent cities in California and relocate homeless people to government-run facilities have stoked fears that the move could be a pretext for a wider internment of Americans in the event of a total economic collapse.
“California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said a make-shift tent city for the homeless that sprang up in the capital city of Sacramento will be shut down and its (...)

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Preparing for Civil Unrest in America
Legislation to Establish Internment Camps on US Military Bases

Open Letter: Support Iceland Against the Financial Blackmail of the British and Dutch Governments and the IMF

1 December 2018: Insurrection Day in the centre of Paris, Marseille and Avignon

The Movement of the Yellow Gilets spreads in France, Belgium and Bulgaria

The truth about Greece
An open letter to international public opinion

Different Continents, Similar Problems

Behind the U.S. gov’t boycott
International Conference Against Racism

Asians and Europeans Challenged the U.S.
Culture & Politics

Schwarzenegger To Provide Government Camps For Homeless

Asian-Pacific States Snub George W. Bush
The 12th APEC Summit

Fake Jewish tolerance vs. vile Israeli aggression (Video)

Rebellion in the Summit of the Americas
Bush - Chavez Face Off

Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle

World Social Forum, ten years on

France Telecom suffers 25th suicide