Add a Comment

Comment by Lorenzo Canizares on February 25, 2011 at 16:32

Completely in agreement with what is expressed in article provided by Peter. Also there are serious talks already being initiated for a General Strike in the Belly of the Monster.

Comment by peter waterman on February 25, 2011 at 15:17

Egypt’s debt must fall with Mubarak’s regime

18 February by Nick Dearden

The debts of Egypt and Tunisia must be cancelled if the people on the streets of Cairo and Tunis are to take control of their economy and hold Western countries to account

In the best tradition of dictators, Hosni Mubarak pillaged Egypt’s economy, and leaves office with as much as $70 billion in his family’s bank account while he bequeaths $30 billion in debt to the Egyptian people. Zine el Abidine Ben Ali leaves $15 billion to the people of Tunisia, taking a more modest $3 billion for himself. As more regimes come tumbling down, so these injustices will multiply.

The true creditors of Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere are not the Western states who used loans to prop up their tough guys across the Arab world – they are the people of these countries who suffered under this rule. The West must now repay those debts by opening up their lending to public scrutiny, returning the assets of Mubarak and his cronies that have been banked in Europe and the US, and cancelling unjust debts across the Arab world. The Egyptian people must not continue to pay the bill for Western complicity through large debt repayments.

It is too easy for American and British leaders to issue warm words to the people of these police states who have endured corruption, torture and violations of human rights for decades. In fact Tony Blair has been the most honest appraiser of the situation. While most Western leaders dropped Mubarak so fast that you wonder how his desperately unpopular regime clung onto power for so long, Britain’s former Prime Minister called his one time ally "immensely courageous and a force for good ".

For the US and Europe, Mubarak was indeed an excellent client. Egypt repays its loans, many of which were undoubtedly run up in the interests of the regime rather than the people, at a rate of around $3 billion a year. This money has diverted what could otherwise have been used to improve the lives of ordinary Egyptians. Since 1981, Egypt has paid the equivalent of $80 billion dollars in debt and interest repayments, helping redistribute money from Egypt’s poor to the global rich.

Some of the country’s debt is undoubtedly military in nature. Egypt receives more US military support than any country in the world apart from Israel – well over $1 billion a year since Mubarak came to power in 1981. The British Government has allowed UK companies to supply Egypt with as much as £23 million ($37 million) of military equipment in 2008, £16 millio.... No doubt this came in useful when Egypt became a major centre for the US “war on terror” program of kidnapping, secret flights and illegal detention and torture.

Egypt currently owes nearly £100 million ($160 million) to the UK. Although the Government refus

Comment by Lorenzo Canizares on February 25, 2011 at 4:23

"Collective bargaining: The government has the right to set salaries unilaterally and even to cut them, as it has done repeatedly, for instance with the national airline. So in practice there is no real collective bargaining at either national or sectoral level. In the event of a dispute, the union centre approaches the management to find solutions and conclude an individual agreement for the company." Thanks Tim. This is from Tim's link to the Libyan trade unions. This might become the model to follow in Wisconsin for Gov. Walker. Libya follows straightforward the guidelines of trade unionism in the "Communist" nations. BTW, I agree with Ira that we need to start thinking with a different prism. Fascism might be around the corner.

Comment by Tim Dymond on February 25, 2011 at 1:02

Here is a link to a 2009 ITUC survey on trade union rights in Libya. The main organisation is a tool of the Gaddafi state. While it made some fitfull attempts to be more independent they don't seem to have amounted to much.

http://survey09.ituc-csi.org/survey.php?IDContinent=1&IDCountry...

 

Maybe there should be a 'Solidarity with the people of the Masheq and Magreb' group here.

Comment by Ira M Wechsler on February 25, 2011 at 0:40

I hope that somebody is organizing not only support demonstrations, but also caravans of those can take the time to travel to Madison for this showdown. It is time for all trade unionists to lead an international strike against these unprecedented attacks on our class. It is time for serious organizing work and preparations to make this a reality. it is obvious that ruling class has accelerated it agenda, which is a sign of the growing weakness of the US  imperialists and a sure sign that expanded imperialist wars are just around the corner. Workers have no nation; we have nothing to lose but our chains.

Comment by Ira M Wechsler on February 25, 2011 at 0:25

 

I remember explaining to some of my comrades here that fascism has been slowly but inexorably been showing its face. The legal groundwork was set in place after 9/11 with the so-called Patriot Act legislation that gives the power to jail citizens indeterminably without charges. The wording is so vague that any labor activist fits into its definition of a potential "terrorist". It is becoming obvious to the billions on this planet that the US ruling class and their state apparatus are the biggest terrorists on the globe. i was criticized severely for stating any organization that has as its goal  working class revolution had better keep the vast majority of its members non-public so as to be able to continue to operate under conditions of fascism. Well if fascism may be just round the corner my thoughts have been vindicated. This not pleasurable to me at all. I am NOT gloating. This is deadly serious .  www.plp.org

Comment by Lorenzo Canizares on February 24, 2011 at 18:23

What do we know about the Lybian Trade Unions?

Comment by AMSTERDAM COK on February 24, 2011 at 14:36

Now that we all witness the Libyan unrest against one more of many dictators in the Arabic world, and the massacres on the ground. Although, the negative attitude of the Libyan trade unions. Here I call to give our support to our friends the workers and people of Libya to stand strong and fight hard for their freedom and social justice.        

Comment by Lorenzo Canizares on February 24, 2011 at 5:20

If we lose Wisconsin, fascism is around the corner. I hope our labor leaders wisen up to the fact that this is not a pre-season game, but the Superbowl.

Comment by Gordon Glick on February 23, 2011 at 23:10

It's been a long time since American workers fought pitched battles with the State and the Corporate owners and their private police. I can only hope that bloodshed does not ensue, but the tough talk of the forces of reaction is getting increasingly violent. Time to close ranks.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• …
• 20
• Next ›
• Page