A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog. We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader 2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Deptartment of Psychiatry is so corrupt that when David Stephen says "The Government can do anything... Wed Aug 14, 2024 11:41 | dop
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left Human Rights in Ireland >>
News Round-Up Sun Sep 01, 2024 01:04 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Domestic Abuse Charity Allows ?Men Who Identify as Women? to Apply for £47,000-a-Year ?Women-Only? R... Sat Aug 31, 2024 15:00 | Will Jones A domestic abuse charity has been criticised for encouraging "men who identify as women" to apply for a senior £47,000-a-year "women-only" post.
The post Domestic Abuse Charity Allows “Men Who Identify as Women” to Apply for £47,000-a-Year “Women-Only” Role appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Ed Miliband and Chris Stark Have Just Admitted They Have No Clue What They?re Doing Sat Aug 31, 2024 13:00 | David Turver Ed Miliband and Chris Stark have asked National Grid for fresh advice on how to achieve Net Zero electricity by 2030. In other words, they've just admitted they have no clue what they're doing, says David Turver.
The post Ed Miliband and Chris Stark Have Just Admitted They Have No Clue What They’re Doing appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Authoritarian Government Always Suppresses Free Speech ? But the Worst Part is the Public Joins In Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:00 | Sallust Authoritarian government always suppresses free speech, but the worst part is that the public joins in, says Sallust, as he sees lessons in the 1939 writings of Nora Waln, who saw the iron fist coming down before her eyes.
The post Authoritarian Government Always Suppresses Free Speech ? But the Worst Part is the Public Joins In appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
German Supermarket Chain Takes Brave Stand Against the Colour Blue, in Latest Effort to Stamp out Fa... Sat Aug 31, 2024 09:00 | Eugyppius As AfD leads the polls in the east, a German supermarket chain has taken a brave stand against the colour blue in the latest beyond-parody effort to stamp out fascism and preserve democracy, writes Eugyppius.
The post German Supermarket Chain Takes Brave Stand Against the Colour Blue, in Latest Effort to Stamp out Fascism and Preserve Our Democracy appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
|
Debate: What Strategy for the movements? March 19th?
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
opinion/analysis
Tuesday March 15, 2005 10:41 by rory hearne - iawm
![Report this post to the editors Report this post to the editors](../graphics/report.gif)
Strategy for the movements –March 19th- uniting the struggles against war and neo-liberalism
At the European Social Forum in Florence in November 2002 a debate emerged within the alter-globalisation movement over whether building opposition to Bush’s global war was a diversion from opposing corporate globalisation. The debate - in terms of developing a strategy for the movement - is centred on identifying the key issue or challenge that the movement should focus on. This is an essential task if the movements are to win and not just oppose or resist. In this piece I highlight how US imperialism is the global police that enforce neo-liberal globalisation. Therefore, any weakening of the US Empire’s ability to enforce neo-liberalism strengthens those resisting privatisation and corporate greed. For example the current weakness of the US empire being over extended in Iraq is giving a space for resistance against neo-liberalism to spread across Latin America, without fear of the US police intervening to the same extent as in the 1980s and 1990s.This demonstrates the inseparable links between neo-liberalism and imperialism. The consequence of this is that the defeat of US imperialism and anything that can hasten that coming about, such as the mobilisations against the Iraq war and the demonstrations on March 19th (and beyond), should remain a central strand to the movement against neo-liberalism.
The development of the Movement
The movement of movements, referred to as the ‘alter-globalisation’, anti-capitalist, global justice etc was inspired by, amongst other movements and events the Zapatista uprising in Mexico in 1994 and the protests which shut down the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle in November 1999. We have protested at G8 summits like Genoa (where we saw the true nature of democracy that is enforced through the batons and bullets of the state protectors; the police and the army) and Evian and at IMF meetings such as Washington and Prague.
After September 11th the Financial Times declared our movement dead. They stated that those who continued to oppose globalisation and US corporations were equivalent to terrorists. Some in the movement got cold feet and pulled back. Some, such as Bernard Cassan from ATTAC France argued that building opposition to the war was a diversion from building opposition to corporate globalisation. However many organisations and individuals recognised the importance of opposing George Bush’s new ‘war on terror’. Anti-war activists and organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party, Refundazione Communista in Italy and others argued that the neo-cons would use the attacks on 9/11 to put in place the ‘Project for a New American Century’. Events have shown that analysis to be correct.
The purpose of that project is to re-shape the Middle East and global geo-political power in order to maintain US corporate and political hegemony in the context of the decline in US economic power. The extent to which the neo-cons are determined to carry out their project through permanent global war has been demonstrated in Afghanistan, Iraq and now it seems they have their sights fixed on Syria and Iran.
But on February 15th 2003 a new force of opposition to US imperialism and the neo-cons project emerged. It was the millions of people across the world who went out and marched against Bush’s war. The global anti-war movement was born.
The emergence of resistance inside Iraq and at home in the US.
The neo-cons project is in deep trouble despite the propaganda from Bush and the compliant western media. The reality is the US is loosing the military war in Iraq and the propaganda war inside the US. Walden Bello, Director of Focus on Global South said recently:
“The reality is that the old game of domination and occupation continues, and the US is not winning. The triumphalism that accompanied George W. Bush's tour of "Old Europe," with his brand new Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, at his side, was a public relations effort to counter the reality of the spread of a wide and deep resistance in Iraq”.
(See www.focusweb.org)
Last week the US lost its 1,500th soldier in Iraq.
Though still small, there are increasing numbers of US soldiers publicly questioning the war and some even refusing to return to fight (see www.ivaw.net). The sense of doom following the (re)election of Bush has been replaced in recent months with a re-energised anti-war movement that is increasing pressure at home for withdrawal of the troops (this will be evident on March 19th).
The biggest problem Bush, his side kick Blair and neo-cons face is that they have already lost the battle for legitimacy in the hearts and minds of the majority of people inside Iraq and across the world. No WMDs were found in Iraq and the torture and abuses in Abu Gharib and the massacre at Falluja showed how hollow talk of liberation was.
Now they are desperately using the unfair Iraqi elections and recent elections in Palestine, Saudia Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon to prove that all along they were really engaged in a war for democracy. Now they claim they are winning! But I thought it was about finding those behind the 9/11 attacks. Weren’t they looking for someone called Bin Ladin at some stage?
Now their mission is bringing ‘democracy’. But it’s only for those regimes whose policies aren’t in line with those of the US, its only democracy of the free-market capitalist kind and it doesn’t apply to dictatorships which are US allies.
But Bush faces the problem of real democracy from below. Inside Lebanon the half a million mobilised by Hezbollah are a problem for Bush. The Iraqi resistance and resistance inside the US are a more profound problem. Bush’s brave face is hiding a deep worry over such resistance and movements. This worry extends throughout the US ruling elite.
Bush’s tour not a victory tour
Bush toured Europe not as a victor but as a dog with his tail between his legs. He was forced into it because he is trying to win back the hearts and minds that were lost due to the horrific occupation of Iraq.
The underlying motivation for the neo-cons’ Project for a New American Century is the greatest challenge that faces the US ruling elite. The fact is that US capitalism is historically weak, reflected in the spiralling trade and budget deficits and the weakening dollar. It faces increasing competition from the emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India and from new trading blocks such as the EU. It is increasingly reliant (just as Argentina was before the crash in 2001) on international capital flows to fund the deficit and support the dollar. The extreme dependency on imported oil means rising oil prices signal further economic problems. The process of globalisation has made the US much weaker and more dependent on the world than it has ever been since WW2.
The US ruling establishment feels like a rabid dog in a corner. Caught but lashing out ever more fiercely to avoid accepting the fact that it is trapped. And so the plans to attack Iran and Syria are laid. As Chavez said “When imperialism feels weak it resorts to brute force- the attacks on Venezuela are a sign of weakness.
Corporate globalisation leading to imperialism
This intensified corporate competition has inevitably led to intensified military competition. The US government went to war in Iraq and is in the process of engaging in permanent global war in order to compensate for its weakening economic power and to ensure its corporations remain at the top of the neo-liberal world order. This is what the war in Iraq is about. US imperialism is the military face of corporate globalisation. They are the two sides of the same coin.
The US army, navy and military might are the global police who enforce this corporate neo-liberalism. As Thomas Friedman wrote ‘you cannot have McDonalds spreading out across the world without McDonald Douglas the arms manufacturer to back up its expansion’. Countries are forced to pay back debts to the IMF despite the need for health and education funding because if they default they face US intervention or sanctions. Across the world we are told we cannot fight privatisation or demand higher wages (whether in Intel in Leixlip or in the maquiladoras on the US-Mexican border) because we will frighten away US investment or we will become a ‘rogue state’ and face intervention from the global police. In this way US military might (US imperialism) is the power that enforces this corporate globalisation.
But they face a new resistance
The post WW2 US project of spreading neo-liberalism across the globe has been successful in pulling every country of the globe into the global capitalist system. But as a political project it has failed in the eyes of the world’s population. The revolts across Latin America, the opposition to privatisation and bin tax protests here in Ireland demonstrate this. Compare the numerous revolts in the last five years in Latin America with the previous twenty years. Chavez, in another statement said “Nowadays almost nobody defends neo-liberalism.”
Yes, those in power and the social democrats (or social neo-liberals) are still driving the neo-liberal agenda forward. But now a new wave of resistance has emerged that is confronting neo-liberalism.
The important aspect about the movements of resistance in Latin America is that unlike during the 1970s and 1980s the movements have not been crushed by dictatorships or US-sponsored coups (although they were attempted in Venezuela). The flames of resistance are spreading across Latin America, and unlike past situations, the US, because it is tied down in Iraq and suffering from over extension (with troops immediately intervening in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Haiti) cannot intervene directly.
The resistance in Latin America (and the confidence of movements against neo-liberalism and corporate globalisation) is increasing because the US, the promoter of corporate globalisation is loosing militarily, and has lost the battle for hearts and minds in Iraq. This is why victory for the popular Iraqi resistance is so important. This is why the complete defeat of US imperialism is so important. In order for the movements against neo-liberalism internationally to gain confidence and win battles, the US military must be loosing. And right now it is.
Conclusion
Our movements are deepening and in Latin America in particular are winning. Neo-liberalism and US imperialism are far, far from defeated. But, despite the bravado from Bush we have them very worried and they have not yet intervened militarily in Venezuela, Syria or Iran.
When US imperialism is considerably weakened (and hopefully defeated) it opens up a much wider space for the oppressed and exploited to gain confidence in their on-going struggle for liberation. This is why the key fault line (or challenge) in global politics is to weaken and defeat US imperialism.
Every fight against privatisation and against the collusion of our leaders with the neo-cons’ permanent global war is a blow against the imperial project. Therefore, our job is to ensure that Bush’s frantic attempts to recover the legitimacy for the occupation of Iraq end in failure. It is millions of people on the streets saying no to war and no to US occupation that remove this legitimacy, just like the Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Feb 15th global anti-movement have done.
This makes the size of the mobilisations on March 19th and at the G8 Summit in Scotland in July very important. The larger the demos the more we remove the legitimacy and consequently the ability to continue the occupation and launch more wars. Ultimately, we must, therefore put as a priority the ending of our government’s support for the US imperial project through the use of Shannon Airport.
Rory Hearne contact hearner@yahoo.co.uk
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Rory is right get the yanks outta Shannon.
This will be achieved by bigger and more frequent marches in Dublin. We can march to the Dail on a Saturday or to the GPO or even the US embassy maybe even the British and listen to great speeches. The government will tremble in fear like when we marched with over 100,000 before and then they will tell Bush to fuck off and close Shannon to the yanks.
Whatever we do however we must give no encoragement to those taking direct action at Shannon, sure we can waffle on about workers etc. and put the onus on them to lose their jobs. But under no circumstanecs must we encourage mass direct action as this might alienate a few people from our marches.
Meanwhile we must denounce popular participation in elections in Iraq as a sham and call for victory to the resistance (Islamic fundamentalists, Baathists or whatever we don't care cause we won't be carbombed outside a mosque in Dublin)
Victory to the resistance, victory to the SWP
is the above a troll or serious? swp in queens university who i work with don't say the above openly but they do say "we cannot tell the iraqis how to conduct their resistance".
is the above really a naive swp member or a troll? just wanted to try and get clarification
"But under no circumstances must we encourage mass direct action as this might alienate a few people from our marches."
me really wonders at the meanderings of the minds of the some of the mucky pup-posters here.....are you serious in suggesting that the benefits of mass direct action/ civil disobedience as a display of contempt at the continued use of shannon (or anywhere else for that matter) as part of the US led 'war on terror' or whatever war is declared next, could possibly be outweighed by having a few more peeps at a march.
to suggest this is true is to suggest that the present system of 'democracy', which for us as individuals start and ends at the polling booth once every 4-5 years, truly, and actually, embodies the notion of meaningful participatory democracy
i guess it come down to your personal opinion to how meaningful change in society is likely to occur. Personally i see no problems with trying to get as many people as possible out on the streets as a symbolic way of expressing discontent and solidarity...there is very little to criticise about protest in a general sense. it is a great way to get involved in activism, to get a palpable sense of kinship and meaning, and hey it can be shit loads of fun too...
perhaps there is an analogy with guilt here... mmmm????
its pretty hard not to feel guilty about your own relative situation in this city/country/planet when you start to see what is going on around you. i personally found that the feeling of guilt , combined with intuitve notions of fairness, forced me to look further. but alas guilt alone is not a sustainable foundation for action. and its kinda pointless not to mention exhausting and unrewarding to be primarily motivated by guilt......
so whats the connection between the type of protest avocated by the poster above and guilt..
for me they are both primers....crucial primers at that. Being a 'spectator' on a protest and sensations of guilt are essential aspects in showing the potential for meaningful change,
with lots of people feeling the same way....but that is not the end...
its pretty hard to suppress that sense of self empowerment, self education, self autonomy, that revolution of the soul, which suggests that perhaps our biggest obstacle to change is not the state, is not the military, not the supposed apathy of those around us, but to a very real degree is our lack of collective confidence. That confidence only comes through meaningful participation, where we learn the skills of working together, of overcoming our multiple insecurities and by trusting in the desires of our brothers and sisters who stand beside us.
There always seems to be this 'Strawman" of direct action pulled out with increasing fervour by some... lets get this straight....when anyone participates in anything of their own free will it is by definition 'direct action' . it may be ineffective, boring or perhaps it is a crystallising moment in realising the collective powers, freedom and respondsiblities that we have as people(all these being subjective opinions that we can differ or agree upon but that is an analysis AFTER the manifestion).. it is direct action nonetheless.
deciding not to pay your bintax, skiving as much as possible in a job that sucks the life out of you, or organising with your equally pissed off collegues to strike, stealing to feed yourself and others, sending heavy objects to freepost addresses of nasty corporations, attempting to stop deportations, confronting racism, doing Food not Bombs, making clothes for your friends, smuggling your carryout in to pubs/clubs, and drinking it in their smoking areas,squatting spaces inside and out, confronting unexplained athourity with wilful absurdity and unapoligetic confidence, hampering expolitation without fear can all be called 'direct action'
For some however, the term and maybe even the concept is dirty, filled with dread......This i don't really understand, and that which i do i feel distain
for example the condemnation of some direct actions at shannon airport by sections of the 'left' could only happen in the context of the small number of people involved in the actions..what do i mean?
if the attempts to break into shannon and decommission some planes had been by 100 people or 1000 people or say even the 100,000 that marched in dublinsome time ago, then there would be very litle condemnation from the 'left' at all.... ok no doubt i will get responses talking about 100,000 being a more democratic number or representation, but this argument is lambasted by the fact that the REASONS and DESIRED OUTCOMES for the hypothetical action are the same. (ie.the discontiuation of shannon as a integral part of US/UK led neoliberalism). If the motivation and desired outcomes are the same then why would it be nessecary for some involved in antiwar activity, to actually condem these actions...this is a question that can only be addressed by those who publicly comdemed.
i do find this a somewhat surreal scenario as it mirrors to a degree the absurd happenings in the court 25 of the fourcourts this week when, during his explaination of personal bias which collasped the trial of the Catholic Worker 5, the judge insisted that the 5 had " ...sat down on the job" (i shit you not!!!) and went on to say that the ground for justifiable cause in his opinion could not apply because the 5 didn't damage the plane enough "to put it beyond economic repair"???
There is, in my view, a shared example of doublethink and doublespeak in the case of the judge, and in those organising antiwar activities whilst condemning other activists involved in the same thing. My personal conviction is the contamination of realpolitik, but also lack of dialogue and mistrust between those who organise non-heirachially and maximise individual particpation as a process and means....and those who organise with a top down power structure to maximise turnout on a particular day or event.
I know which method i find most empowering, most sustainable and most in tune with the intuitive notions of equality,freedom, solidarity and creativity, not to mention sharing skills respondsiblity and laughter along the way....
I write not to annoy or provoke anger or personal egos, but to challenge all those who actively express a desire to participate in shaping the world around them, to look at how it is best achieved, both in our own lives and the lives of all others whom share this planet, and in the methods, processes and structures best suited to achieving those goals
"When the forms of an old culture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure"– Rudolf Bahro
What the judge was saying was: You can only intervene if you're going to be successful. That's bullshit of course, and there's lots of case history which says so. You break into a house on fire to save the people inside, only to discover that they're already dead, or they're actually out at the cinema that night -- you go to jail for breaking and entering? Bullshit. You only need to be faithful. Something the judge might like to think about.
Re condemnation: I don't recall anyone on the left condemning anyone for doing NVDA at Shannon. Sure, so people said they thought it unwise, untimely, or whatever. Try to understand where they're coming from, where they were as activists when they made their comments, and don't paint it as if they "condemned" (or back-stabbed) anyone.
"don't confuse your issues".
Iraq is Iraq.
Lebanon is Lebanon.
the Americas are the Americas.
the social assembly lines are...
ethics are...
Corporations are...
take each line and concentrate, don't be drawn into fire from the enemy who tries to make you assemble a wider picture in the jigsaw. You can do that in discussion, assembly, in party, et cetera- but keep to your established and consistent lines in public.
Remember you all contributed in your millions to the simultanous dropping of pebbles in the consciousness of an emergent global movement which is about to see the mud settle.
steady as you go
we can not lose.
@ * + .:. € $ %
The U.S. is poorer, less safe, and less respected because of the Iraq War.
If the peace movement had continued to advocate for an end to the war during the presidential election year, rather than remaining silent where would be today? We would have built on the successes of our beginnings rather than having to start anew. We'd be nearer the end of the war-occupation, not farther from it. President Bush would be on the defensive, not on the offensive. Iraqis would be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, when they would get their country and economy back, rather than the darkness of continued occupation.
How does the anti-war movement recover from this lost momentum? There is much work to do to respond to this question; but it can be done because the people can have the power to make it happen.