Libya : People's power + vast oil reserves = ???

Interestingly enough, popular committees are running the eastern
cities of Libya and are attempting to coordinate their actions. That's
one of the many good things to come out of Gadaffi's downfall : people's
assemblies have become tools ready to be used by genuine ... people.
But to what extent will the new tribal chiefs, military officers, former ministers, jurists, imams and "intellectuals" that have recently come to prominence be ultimately accountable before and controlled by the popular assemblies in their respective localities ? And what about
Socialism in such an oil-rich country ?

For the time being, each city's local council is ensuring the arrival of food
and supplies, setting up communications, getting local electricty plants
to function normally and providing for their local defense needs by having army
units and anti-Gaddafi fighters organize themselves into a coherent
local defense militia.
Moreover, Socialism appears to be an accepted idea, as all citizens
are aware that they get their wealth from oil, and that the proceeds of
such wealth should come back to the people.
So despite all the flux of civil war, the citizens of Libya have got two
ideas clearly in mind : a) local government answerable to the people and
b) ownership of the billions of dollars of proceeds from oil.
They feel Gaddafi failed them on both a) and b). But, alas, once a new
pro-Western government comes into place, they will once again be
deprived from a) and b). But maybe that's why there is so much chaos in
Libya, as the people do have a pretty good idea of a) and b) and will
not be relinquishing their weapons soon.
Libya could become an interesting experiment in people's power. If, of course,
a new government and corrupt officials intent on stealing the oil wealth for themselves
(and foreign interests) don't step in and take charge. Let's see how the class
struggle unfolds in Libya.

Nationalistic game

The message has been scrambled. Can you help the
Nationalist/Anti-Imperialist head of state put the pieces back into
their proper sequence so that he can get the message out to the people ?

"to be convened over the coming months"
"yes, mistakes have been made,"
"the next meeting of the State Council and the proposed legislative
changes"
"we accept our part of responsibility for the mistakes"
"within the framework of the constitution"
"they will be severely punished, to the full extent of the law"
"orders were not carried out as they should have"
"and we acknowledge the seriousness of the mistakes"
"Foreign states are working behind the scenes to divide us"
"will strive to correct these mistakes"
"some high-ranking officials are guilty of corruption"
"More freedom will be granted and the legitimate demans of the masses
will be addressed"
"I would like all citizens to be patient"
"the people must not fall for these ploys mastermined by foreign
imperialist media"
"we must trust in the strength of our people, united, and to the
valiance of our armed forces, to weather this storm"
"and to return to their work duties knowing that they are helping build
a new, greater country"

Workers of the World : Follow the Egyptian example !

Disgusted by Obama's speech on Egypt ? "We have always had a strong
relationship with Egypt" and "We will work with their [the Egyptian
people's] government for a future of freedom, justice and democracy".

Posted on Marxmail by Manuel Barrera :

Obama's and Secretary Clinton's statements are codewords for calling on Mubarak (or whomever is set up to replace Mubarak) to conduct a crackdown on the insurgent masses, especially any sectors that challenge the U.S./Egypt collaboration that maintains the Israel regime. There is a method to these seemingly innocuous statements--position oneself for supporting any military or oligarchical factions to suppress in the name of "curbing violence" the rising revolutionary tide soon to spread even further.


Solidarity actions, no matter how small are important work, right now, to register that there are supporters of the Egyptian people (and Tunisian, Yemeni, Jordanian, and other peoples of the Middle East). In the U.S., there are actions so far called for tomorrow in San Francisco ( NOON gathering at Market & Montgomery), Chicago (2 pm, Egyptian Consulate), and online petition efforts (http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_egypt/?rc=fb). There must be others (U.K., Ireland, France?) and I wonder how Cuba and the Latin American states are responding?


Here is a chance to register our support to a revolutionary upsurge that speaks to our own problems of economic crisis and of the attacks on democratic rights [in "post-industrialized"
nations"].

These are times made for us !

Boycott Foxconn

Foxconn, the Chinese company that produces the iphone, the ipod and the ipad
has been described as "a forced labour camp" by a 2010 report.

Foxconn makes electronic components for :
Apple
Hewlett-Packard
Dell
Nintendo
Nokia
Sony Ericsson

The company's largest operation is "Foxconn City", a cramped, walled
compound in Shenzhen, which contains 400 000 workers in 15 plants,
complete with its own over-crowded dormitories, fire brigade, bank,
grocery store (where workers must buy their groceries), hospital and
library. The Chinese police is not allowed to enter "Foxconn City" which
has its own "security agency".
Very, very serious allegations of human rights abuses keep emerging from
Foxconn city (see 2010 report). Foxconn city has its own internal
television network which broadcasts only within the complex.
The surrounding technical colleges have a partnership with Foxconn,
where they furnish thousands of students to work on the assembly lines
for long hours and no pay, and the schools get a subsidy from Foxconn.

In October, 2010, a report by 20 Chinese universities described Foxconn
factories as labour camps and detailed widespread worker abuse and
illegal overtime. Workers who fell asleep due to exhaustion were beaten,
forced to write out lines a thousand times. Before getting up from
his/her post a worker has to ask permission from the supervisor. No
worker is allowed to mover more than 50 meters from his work post. No
talking, chatting or laughter is allowed at any time. Going to the
toilet is timed and is added to the worker's work time. Some workers
have to work up to 17 hours a day for months at a time, with no overtime
pay.

The report was a huge reaction to a spate of worker suicides where
fourteen died in 2010. These 14 workers committed suicide by jumping
from high buildings.

In response to the suicides, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention
netting at some facilities. It also hired an American firm to make
"psychological profiles" of employees, in order to weed out those "who
are incapable of dealing with stressful working conditions."

Leave comments if you have any suggestions as to the best way to
boycott Foxconn. Again, the biggest problem seems to be the fact that they
manufacture most of the components that go into the iphone and ipod.
The workers of the world are cut off from each other in the process of production,
and only come into contact indirectly through the exchange of commodities
in the market. Working class solidarity must stripe the veil that covers the
production of most of the commodities we use in our everyday lives.

La khowf ba’ad al-yowm !

I certainly hope that workers' councils will evolve in Tunisia, but I don't know if they will/can come out of neighborhood watches.
The mass movement of unemployed workers must continue to push - through both daily rallies and through conscious efforts at self-organization.

Wild cat strikes have long been a favourite of Tunisian workers, who would occupy the buildings of the main UGTT buildings to force the union to take up their grievances.
In the last two decades, many wild cat strikes prompted prolonged confrontation with riot police and the mukhabarat, who always managed to cordon off and contain the unrest (kids throwing stones, workers on indefinite strike, women camping in front of ministries) to certain
sectors.
To escape from the terrible repression that inevitably followed such uprisings, many Tunisians workers were then forced to flee abroad and to try to make their way to "fortress Europe".
Those who were deported back to Tunisia were tortured by the regime.
Those who managed to remain in Europe joined the many Tunisian Socialist organizations in exile.
So there is a very strong tradition of workers' solidarity and a culture of voicing grievances in Tunisia. That's why the Ben Ali regime was so determined to stamp out any dissidence and that's why it was an extremely repressive police state. The Mukhabarat, the sinister Tunisian
secret police, was/is very skilled at containing dissidence and instilling fear. No wonder the slogan on the streets yesterday was :"No More Fear !" La khowf ba’ad al-yowm !
The tourism industry is/was a constant concern for Tunisian leaders. It is thought that 80% of Tunisian taxi drivers were/are Mukhabarat informers and a similar percentage of Hotel owners. The Mukhabarat also maintains/maintained an impressive network of informants throughout
Tunisia and extensively monitored all cell phone and internet-based communications.

The regime and the private interests that are closely intertwined with its very existence will now try to appease the crowds with promises of FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS, and by coopting a few moderate left-wing opposition figures from the many political leaders in exile.
France supported Ben Ali to the bitter end, and will now put its weight behind an "interim" government, providing Tunisian troops with weaponry and funding. France previously announced it was ready to send military advisors and special units to "help any new Tunisian government cope".
The old CDR regime will probably have to change its name, despite the presence of a few hard-core "loyalists", but the same nexus of corrupt politicians and financial interests intends to continue dominating the country, with French help.
France's role in Tunisian history has always been pivotal and will unfortunately remain so (the entire Tunisian elite was and is still being educated in Paris). I really hope Tunisian workers (either employed or unemployed) continue to push hard and manage to overthrow
the whole establishment.
So far the homes of corrupt businessmen have been set alight, those notoriously connected to the Ben Ali family. The Army now seems to have stopped such outbursts.

Mid-term elections in the US

Who will win the next elections is synonymous with who will betray the working class's hopes and aspirations ?

The answer is : those who seek power above and over the working class.

To encourage the working class to vote for them is to participate in reinforcing the apathy of the working class by telling workers that they count for nothing and that their role is simply to "vote right" (no pun intended).

Working class consciousness is always battered and ridiculed, as the question arises for whom to vote ?
For him ! For her ! For them ! Vote against conservatism !
The social relationships that characterize the commodity mode of production breed passivity and resignation.
The day workers renounce representative democracy will be the day they take charge of running their own lives.
Control over one's life and working conditions is much more than casting a vote in favour of one group of people intent on harvesting surplus value.
It can only be achieved through One Big Union, and I may add, a union based on self-management and which eschews "representative democracy".

In Belgium, Unions block Fuel Depots in solidarity with French strikers !

Great news ! On Tuesday 26 October, Belgium trade unions started blocking fuel depots in Belgium in a show of solidarity with French strikers.
Exasperated by the fact that Belgium fuel depots have been used extensively over
the weekend to re-supply French service stations on the other side of the border, the FGBT (Federation Generale Belge du Travail) is preventing tank trucks from entering the depots of Feluy and Tertre in central Belgium.
"Sarkozy is threatening the right of French workers to strike by forcing strikers
 to work against their will. He is also trying to break workers' solidarity by sending tank trucks to fill up with petrol in Belgium." a Belgium trade unionist told Le Monde (see the article here)

Monday, October 25th : blockades in my hometown

Here are a few pictures taken yesterday(october 25th) in my hometown. Strikers (auto workers, truckers, teachers, students, railway workers) blocking the entrance to the industrial park and the fuel depot.

The current Class Struggle in France

What happened on Friday at Grandpuits is unprecedented in the recent history of industrial relations in France.
Refinery workers rounded up by the paramilitary police and FORCED to return to work under a so-called "sate of national emergency" law is not only unconstitutional, it is also an indication that the class struggle has reached new heights in Europe.
The news from Granpuits has shoked and angered union members throughout France.
And the rifts between unions on what to do next have not prevented them from calling for more strikes, even after the bill on pensions becomes law on Wednesday, October 27th.
Even the reformist unions, like the CFDT and UNSA, acknowledge that they are under strong pressure from the rank and file to pursue the strikes.
Outraged by what happened at Grandpuits, the workers from 9 other French refineries have extended the strike by at least another week, fuel depots are being re-blocked as soon as the riot police leave them and there is every indication that this mass movement is set to last. The objective of disrupting the economy to put pressure on bosses is the unifying strategy of strikers all over the country. They understand that in the class war, production is the key to disrupting the normal profits of the Capitalists. They openly seek to prevent the accumulation cycle of Capital from taking place in the sphere of production and realization by the most efficient means possible.

The strikes are taking their toll in terms of wages lost (in the railway and energy sectors for example), particularly as real purchasing power has been declining steadily over the last twenty years. Therefore, and quite naturally, workers are turning to direct action and "sabotage" tactics that can profoundly disrupt the economy while organizing "rolling strikes" in which they participate some days and not others.
Again, the movement as it now stands can last for some time, and the bosses are very worried. They are complaining that production is stopped at many factories due to shortages of raw materials and fuel. Le Monde's characterization of the protests as "a long-lasting, peaceful social guerrilla" is not far from the truth.
Workers are determined to stand up to the government's bullying, and are returning to all the old favorites of solidarity strikes, strike funds, direct action, sabotage, revolving strikes, etc. And workers from all sectors are acting together, are systematically manning picket lines together, are supporting each other... The union leaderships have no choice, for the time being, than go with the flow. But there is little doubt among many strikers that they will try and reach a settlement with the government at the earliest opportunity.

The government itself is also taking up a hardline position in the class war. The authoritarian leanings of the present government are becoming clearer by the day. After drastically increasing police powers,  deporting gypsies, imposing severe restrictions on the right to strike (the so-called "minimal service" laws), they are now using "state of emergency" decrees to force strikers back to work. And even though a judge declared the requisition of strikers unconstitutional on Friday, the government simply went on with the requisitions, knowing that the strikers will have to wait until Monday to get an injunction from a judge suspending the government decree. This has very serious implications.

The pension reform revolt (which everybody knows is about the redistribution of wealth and not only the retirement age) is an important moment in France and Europe.