Author: Internationalist Perspective

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HOPE AND PAIN: REVOLT IN IRAN

It has been four month since the latest uprising in Iran began. The movement has waned for now, although there are still demonstrations and riots in the provinces of (Iranian) Kurdistan and Baluchestan. There still are some strikes going on as well, by petrochemical workers in Bandar Mahshahr in the south and others, but they are not directly linked to the earlier protests. Most are against the increasing practice of delaying the payment of wages for several months, which is an effective way to increase exploitation. It leaves the workers in dire straits and when they’re so lucky to get their back wages, inflation had bitten off a great chunk of it.

In the reports of pro-revolutionaries in Iran [dndf.org] , two reasons are given for the decline of the uprising: the ferocious repression and the extreme cold. The repression was indeed ruthless but in the beginning of the movement this seemed to make the masses only angrier, more determinant. It was toned down for a while, the government made some conciliatory promises, but when the movement had crested and lost strength, it became more ferocious and more effective.

That the cold played a role seems likely. Iran had not experienced such freezing weather in more than a decade.  

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PROFIT KILLS (Again)

The following is reposted from the blog “Notes from Underground”. Since it appeared, the death toll of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 33.000 and it is still mounting. The suffering is immense and the aid is slow in coming, in contrast to the bombs and artillery fire that have been raining down on this region for years now. Many if not most survivors have received no help whatsoever and can rely only on their mutual solidarity, building makeshift shelters in freezing temperatures. Many children are dying from hypothermia, the New York Times reported yesterday. In Syria, many die because Russian bombs have destroyed the hospitals in the territory that was controlled by the armies opposed to the Assad government. Up to 70 percent of Syria’s health care workers have fled the country, according to a report by BioMed Central. Meanwhile, hospitals in the government controlled territory lack medicine and equipment because of Western sanctions.

Girl in collapsed building in Syria, protecting her little brother

I’ve watched with horror and a growing anger the death toll in the aftermath of the 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria just a few days ago. The count stands at over 12,000 with numbers expected to rise.  

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¿NACIONALISMO EUROPEO? ¡NO, GRACIAS!

Mientras que muchos en la izquierda del espectro político, incluidos pseudo-radicales como Slavoj Zizek, están animando al campo de la OTAN en la masacre interimperialista en Ucrania, otros ven a los Estados Unidos como el principal instigador de la guerra y afirman que la violencia podría evitarse, que Europa y Rusia podrían resolverla si Europa dejara de comportarse tan servilmente con los Estados Unidos, si pudiera recuperar su soberanía. Patrick Lawrence es un representante de esta última corriente. Su reciente ensayo, “La autodestrucción de Europa”, recibió bastante atención.

El desencadenante de esa pieza fueron las fugas a fines de septiembre en los principales gasoductos de Rusia a Alemania, Nord Stream 1 y 2, que casi seguramente fueron causadas por un ataque que, según los expertos, solo podría haber sido llevado a cabo por un actor estatal.

Mar Báltico, 28 de septiembre

Lawrence acusa con razón a los medios de comunicación de prestar poca atención al ataque, pero él mismo le dedica sólo unos pocos párrafos. Párrafos bastante descuidados, además. Faltan fuentes (por ejemplo, sobre el ministro alemán anónimo que supuestamente dijo que su gobierno sabe quiénes son los perpetradores pero no puede revelarlo) y la afirmación de que el transporte de gas ruso a Europa se ha detenido es falsa.  

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EUROPEAN NATIONALISM ? NO THANKS !

While many on the left of the political spectrum, including pseudo-radicals like Slavoj Zizek, are cheerleading the Nato-camp in the interimperialist slaughter in Ukraine, others see the US as the chief instigator of the war and claim that the violence could be avoided, that Europe and Russia could work it out if Europe would stop behaving so slavishly to the US, if it could regain its sovereignity. Patrick Lawrence is a representant of the latter current. His recent essay, “The Self-Destruction of Europe”, got quite some attention.

The trigger for that piece was the leaks in late September in Russia’s main gas pipelines to Germany, Nord Stream 1 and 2, which were almost certainly caused by an attack which, experts agree, could only have been carried out by a state actor.

Baltic sea, September 28

Lawrence rightly accuses the media of paying little attention to the attack but he himself devotes only a few paragraphs to it. Rather sloppy paragraphs, moreover. Sources are missing (e.g., about the unnamed German minister who allegedly said that his government knows who the perpetrators are but can’t disclose it) and the claim that the transport of Russian gas to Europe has stopped is false.  

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UN DEBATE SOBRE LA GUERRA EN UCRANIA

El 10 de septiembre, Internationalist Perspective coorganizó un debate público en Woodbine, un centro comunitario en la ciudad de Nueva York, sobre la guerra en Ucrania, titulado “Guerra y crisis capitalista”.

Desde entonces, la guerra en Ucrania se ha intensificado y muchas más personas de Ucrania y Rusia han muerto por algo peor que nada. Las fuerzas ucranianas, armadas hasta los dientes por Estados Unidos y sus aliados de la OTAN, han retomado parte del territorio, Rusia anexó provincias en el este de Ucrania, los misiles de ambas partes sembraron la destrucción en ambos lados, Putin ordenó la movilización masiva, provocando montones de protestas, resistencia y un éxodo de muchos miles rechazando el papel de carne de cañón. Todo esto y más ha sucedido, pero la pregunta fundamental debatida en Woodbine sigue siendo la misma: ¿es este un conflicto local en el que la nación invadida merece apoyo universal? ¿O es un conflicto interimperialista, resultante de la crisis global del capitalismo, en el que la clase trabajadora no tiene nada que ganar y todo que perder?

De estas evaluaciones se desprenden perspectivas opuestas. En este debate, moderado por Ross Wolfe, tres de los cuatro oradores argumentaron que se trata de una guerra entre capitalistas competidores en la que la clase trabajadora es la víctima y que, por lo tanto, esta última solo puede defender sus intereses negándose a luchar entre sí y luchando contra la clase dominante en ambos países.  

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A DEBATE ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE

On September 10, Internationalist Perspective co-organized a public debate in Woodbine, a community hub in New York city, on the war in Ukraine, entitled “War and capitalist crisis”.

Since then, the war in Ukraine has escalated and many more ordinary people from Ukraine and Russia have died for worse than nothing. The Ukrainian forces, armed to the teeth by the US and its Nato-allies, have retaken some territory, Russia annexed provinces in eastern Ukraine, missiles of both sides sowed destruction on both sides, Putin ordered mass mobilization, provoking scores of protests, resistance and an exodus of many thousands refusing the role of canon fodder. All this and more has happened, but the fundamental question debated at Woodbine has remained the same: is this a local conflict in which the invaded nation deserves universal support? Or is it an interimperialist conflict, resulting from the global crisis of capitalism, in which the working class has nothing to gain and everything to loose?

Opposing perspectives follow from these assessments. In this debate, moderated by Ross Wolfe , three of the four speakers argued that this is a war between competing capitalists in which the working class is the victim and that the latter therefore can only defend its interests by refusing to fight each other and fight instead the ruling class in both countries.  

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Una tormenta perfecta

Carta del Reino Unido

Enormes franjas de la clase obrera británica están en huelga o harán huelga en los próximos días y semanas. Los recolectores de basura escoceses en todo el país están en huelga. La terminal de contenedores del puerto de Felixstowe, que maneja la mitad del tráfico de contenedores del Reino Unido, ha sido esencialmente cerrada debido a que los trabajadores están en huelga. Ha habido huelgas regulares de contratistas de ingeniería, especialmente en refinerías en todo el Reino Unido, trabajadores postales, conductores de autobuses, conductores de trenes y otros trabajadores ferroviarios, trabajadores del subte de Londres, incluso enfermeras y otros trabajadores del NHS, y los trabajadores de telecomunicaciones están en huelga o están a punto de hacerlo. Incluso los abogados penalistas están en huelga indefinida. Y también ha habido huelgas en Amazon. No ha habido nada como esto en el Reino Unido durante décadas. No se necesita mucho análisis para ver por qué está sucediendo esto.

El Reino Unido es el séptimo país más rico del mundo y, sin embargo, decenas de millones de personas se enfrentan a la pobreza. Las demandas de aumentos salariales son casi universales. De hecho el gran capitalista, el Estado, está arrancando los salarios de la clase trabajadora a un ritmo casi sin precedentes.  

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Une tempête parfaite

Lettre de Grande Bretagne

De vastes pans de la classe ouvrière britannique sont soit en grève, soit seront en grève dans les prochains jours et semaines. Les éboueurs écossais de tout le pays sont en grève. Le port de Felixstowe, le terminal à conteneurs – qui traite la moitié du trafic de conteneurs du Royaume-Uni – a été essentiellement fermé à cause des travailleurs en grève. Il y a eu des débrayages réguliers des entrepreneurs en ingénierie, en particulier dans les raffineries du Royaume-Uni. Les postiers, les chauffeurs de bus, les conducteurs de train et autres travailleurs du rail, les travailleurs du métro de Londres, même les infirmières et autres travailleurs du NHS (National Health Service), et les travailleurs des télécoms sont tous en grève ou sur le point d’entrer en grève. Même les avocats spécialisés en droit pénal sont en grève illimitée. Et il y a aussi eu des grèves chez Amazon. Il n’y a pas eu un mouvement de telle ampleur dans le Royaume-Uni depuis des décennies. Il ne faut pas être grand clerc pour comprendre pourquoi cela se produit.

Le Royaume-Uni est la septième puissance parmi les plus riches du monde et pourtant des dizaines de millions de personnes sont confrontées à la pénurie.  

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A Perfect Storm

Letter from the UK

Huge swathes of the British working class are either on strike or will strike in the coming days and weeks. Scottish refuse collectors all over the country are striking. The Port of Felixstowe container terminal – handling half of the UK’s container traffic – has been essentially shut because of striking workers. There have been regular walkouts of engineering contractors, especially at refineries across the UK Postal workers, bus drivers, train drivers and other railway workers, London Underground workers, even nurses and other NHS workers, and telecoms workers are all striking or are about to. Even the criminal barristers are on indefinite strike. And there have been strikes at Amazon too. There has been nothing like this in the UK for decades. It doesn’t take much analysis to see why this is happening.

The UK is the seventh richest country in the world and yet tens of millions of people are facing penury. The demands for wage increases are near-universal. The simple fact is that the major capitalist – the state – is gouging out the wages of the working class at an almost unprecedented rate. Yet, the government economic policy – unlike that in the decade following the 2008 recession – is not officially austerity.  

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