Bradley Manning has served three years in prison for informing the US public about war crimes the US government is committing in our name. We owe him a debt of gratitude for having the courage it took to do this. The White House and the few thousand unelected people that make the decisions that affect all our lives, including those outside our borders, are moving to impose further restrictions on our civil rights including making investigative journalism a crime. Their treatment of Manning is directed at the rest of us: "keep your mouths shut" is the message. Don't wait until your back is against the wall before you fight back.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Monday, 3 June 2013
The explosion of protest over the last week in Turkey began when people tried to stop the pulling down of trees in Gezi Park as part of a government plan to replace the park with yet another shopping centre that would include yet another mosque, the demolition of the secular Ataturk cultural centre and its replacement with an Ottoman-era military barracks. This was no accident of history really, because the loss of green spaces to development has been increasingly objected to by wide layers of Turks – working class and middle class.
According to the OECD, 33% of Turks feel they lack access to green spaces, much more than the 12% average of OECD European countries and the highest level of dissatisfaction in the region. But Turkish capitalism has been on the move and, as far as the ruling AK party and domestic and foreign capital is concerned, nothing must stand in its way (including trees). Turkey wants to move up the ladder of the rich club of the OECD and is still vying to join the EU by the end of decade. At the same time, the government is autocratically trying to impose an Islamic style state superstructure onto this capitalist expansion, with strict rules on alcohol, religious observance, dress and the subjugation of women, Iran-style.
Up to now, the AK party has been riding high, winning election after election, enabling it to cut the former Ataturk secular military down to size and disperse the secular opposition of corrupt middle-class parties. The AK was backed in this by the huge urban poor of the cities where it had carefully built a base over a decade or more. But, of course, on obtaining unchallenged power, it has now become the tool of big business and foreign capital (despite the occasional rift over policy). The government increasingly sees itself as a regional power able and willing to intervene in the various clashes of the region: Iran. Palestine and more recently, Syria.
On the surface, it would appear that Turkish capital is moving on and up without much problem. And it is true that economic growth has accelerated in recent years while foreign investment has flooded in to exploit a labour force coming into the urban areas from the impoverished countryside – a classic emerging capitalist development. But this apparent economic success is still founded on the shaky young legs of a weak capitalism and is also weighed down by corruption, religious backwardness and scant regard for human rights and laws. Inequality of income, as measured by the gini coefficient, according to the IMF, is around 40, making it higher than the US, the most unequal of the advanced capitalist economies and the highest in emerging Europe, apart from Russia.
It’s no surprise that Turkey is ranked 154th in Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Not only is the country “currently the world’s biggest prison for journalists”, media bosses fire journalists because of pressure from the government. And prosperity is a relative thing and of course, not for all. More than 48% of the working-age population aged 15 to 64 has a paid job, a figure much lower than the OECD employment average of 66% and the lowest rate in the OECD. People in Turkey work 1 877 hours a year, more than the OECD average of 1 776 hours. In Turkey, however, 46% of employees work very long hours, by far the highest rate in the OECD where the average is 9%.
Around 67% of people say they are satisfied with their current housing situation, much less than the OECD average of 87% and the lowest level amongst OECD countries. On Turkey, the average home contains 0.9 rooms per person, less than the OECD average of 1.6 rooms per person and one of the lowest rates across the OECD. In terms of basic facilities, 87.3% of people in Turkey live in dwellings with private access to an indoor flushing toilet, less than the OECD average of 97.8% and the lowest rate across OECD countries.
The best-performing school systems manage to provide high-quality education to all students. In Turkey, the average difference in results, between the 20% with the highest socio-economic background and the 20% with the lowest socio-economic background is 106 points, higher than the OECD average of 99 points. This suggests the school system in Turkey mainly provides higher quality education for the better off.
Total health spending accounts for 6.1% of GDP in Turkey, more than three points below the average of 9.5% across OECD countries. At $913 in 2008, Turkey’s level of health spending per person is the lowest in the OECD, where the average is of $3268. In Turkey, only 61% of people say they are satisfied with water quality. This figure is the lowest in the OECD, where the average satisfaction level is 84%, and suggests Turkey still faces difficulties in providing good quality water to its inhabitants.
The Great Recession hit Turkish capitalism just as hard as elsewhere. The answer of the government (against IMF advice) was to let loose a huge credit boom to fuel domestic demand. This pushed the inflation rate to double digits and widened the current account deficit to 10% of GDP (the second largest in the world in dollar terms) in 2011, exposing Turkey to the risks of capital flow reversal at a time of continued global uncertainty. External financing needs are around 25% of GDP so that Turkish banks rely on short-term foreign borrowing. Turkey has jumped from an agricultural to services economy within two decades and the recession weakened the manufacturing base. Conglomerates like Eczacibasi and Zorlu have built huge shopping malls in the past few years rather than investing in their core businesses.
In the last two years, the economy slowed, driven by weakening domestic demand. Turkey remains prone to boom-bust cycles driven by foreign capital flows. The health of global imperialism is still the overriding factor in Turkey’s own growth. The national saving rate has fallen dramatically over the last 15 years, from 25% of GDP in the late 1990s to less than 15% now. This decline has been larger than in any G-20 country over this period and stands in stark contrast to the experience in peer emerging economies. So Turkey is forced into making its labour force competitive to attract more FDI flows into the tradable sector. At around 2.0% of GDP, FDI inflows are still below the G–20 EM average , with most flows tilted toward unproductive sectors such as banking and real estate.
Between 2003 and 2011, real GDP growth averaged 5.3% a year, but the unemployment rate remained in double-digits, thus creating a reserve army of labour to exploit. The deficit on trade and income with other countries was over 5% of GDP on average. But these were the good years for Turkish capitalism. Economic growth is expected to slow to less than 4% a year for the rest of this decade, at best, while the external deficit will widen to 7.5% of GDP. The boom of the last decade was partly based on real estate, credit and services and construction and less and less on manufacturing, exports and investment.
That’s because the profitability of Turkish capital has declined as the expansion of the labour force began to slow. The decline was visible during the 1990s. It was no accident that the AKP won landslide victory with the backing of big business in the 2002 elections just one year after its foundation. Under the AKP, profitability made a dramatic recovery (albeit based partly on unproductive investment). The Great Recession brought a new reversal and this time the recovery in profitability has faltered. Although profitability recovered to the previous peak by early 2010, since then it has taken a tumble and is still below the peak before the Great Recession.
The green shoots in the woods of Turkish capitalism are not so healthy that the government can continue to pull up the trees.
Reprinted from The Daily Beast
Pentagon Papers Lawyer James Goodale: It’s Time for Eric Holder to Resign
The attorney general’s conduct in trying to pass off the James Rosen subpoena as falling under the Espionage Act proves that he is abusing his office. Pentagon papers lawyer James Goodale has seen this before—in Richard Nixon.
Attorney General Eric Holder should resign for his role in the James Rosen case. He signed off on a search warrant to Rosen, a Fox News reporter. This warrant treated Rosen as a common criminal. It sets a terrible precedent. Holder should resign to erase this precedent.
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department adviser, had leaked to Rosen information about North Korea’s nuclear plans. The Justice Department sought the source of this leak by obtaining a search warrant for Rosen’s emails and other records. Fox News believes the search warrant even sought records from Rosen’s parents, who live in Staten Island, New York.
The basis for obtaining the warrant was that Rosen had conspired with Kim to violate the Espionage Act. That act does not apply to Rosen. It does however, in the government’s view, apply to Kim. It should be clear to anyone that Holder has run an end run around the Espionage Act by his actions. While Rosen is not subject to the Espionage Act, Kim is. But Rosen might as well be subject to the act if he can be held responsible for Kim’s actions.
The reason the Espionage Act does not apply to Rosen is that it does not apply to those who publish (or broadcast) information leaked to them. In the Pentagon papers case, the government asserted initially the Espionage Act did apply to The New York Times, the paper that published parts of the Vietnam archives leaked to it by Daniel Ellsberg.
The basis for obtaining the warrant was that Rosen had conspired with Kim to violate the Espionage Act. That act does not apply to Rosen. It does however, in the government’s view, apply to Kim. It should be clear to anyone that Holder has run an end run around the Espionage Act by his actions. While Rosen is not subject to the Espionage Act, Kim is. But Rosen might as well be subject to the act if he can be held responsible for Kim’s actions.
The reason the Espionage Act does not apply to Rosen is that it does not apply to those who publish (or broadcast) information leaked to them. In the Pentagon papers case, the government asserted initially the Espionage Act did apply to The New York Times, the paper that published parts of the Vietnam archives leaked to it by Daniel Ellsberg.
If a reporter steps over the line drawn by the Justice Department, he or she may become a criminal. In short, the government has criminalized the news-gathering process.
When, however, the Times proved to the district court Judge Murray Gurfein that the word “publish” had intentionally been left out of the act, Gurfein concluded that the act was inapplicable. Thereafter, the government dropped its use of the Espionage Act, and it never appeared in its case again—even at the Supreme Court.
In its affidavit for a search warrant, the government asserted that Rosen had cajoled Kim into violating the act by trying to get Kim’s story out of him. Any reporter will quickly recognize that Rosen’s efforts are customary news-gathering practices used by all reporters. News does not come over the transom; reporters have to work hard to get it.
The government has now put itself in the position of setting standards for what reporters can and cannot do when they talk to those who have access to classified information. If a reporter steps over the line drawn by the Justice Department, he or she may become a criminal. In short, the government has criminalized the news-gathering process.
Holder’s actions should come as no surprise to those who have been following him closely. Rosen is not the only journalist Holder thinks is a criminal. He is also pursuing Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Pfc. Bradley Manning leaked classified information to Assange.
While little noticed, a grand jury was empanelled to indict Assange in 2010, initially seeking charges under the Espionage Act. Holder however, later announced “there were problems” with using the Espionage Act for this purpose. Presumably Holder’s problem was that the Espionage Act did not apply to the publication by Assange of Manning’s leaked information on Assange’s website.
In its affidavit for a search warrant, the government asserted that Rosen had cajoled Kim into violating the act by trying to get Kim’s story out of him. Any reporter will quickly recognize that Rosen’s efforts are customary news-gathering practices used by all reporters. News does not come over the transom; reporters have to work hard to get it.
The government has now put itself in the position of setting standards for what reporters can and cannot do when they talk to those who have access to classified information. If a reporter steps over the line drawn by the Justice Department, he or she may become a criminal. In short, the government has criminalized the news-gathering process.
Holder’s actions should come as no surprise to those who have been following him closely. Rosen is not the only journalist Holder thinks is a criminal. He is also pursuing Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Pfc. Bradley Manning leaked classified information to Assange.
While little noticed, a grand jury was empanelled to indict Assange in 2010, initially seeking charges under the Espionage Act. Holder however, later announced “there were problems” with using the Espionage Act for this purpose. Presumably Holder’s problem was that the Espionage Act did not apply to the publication by Assange of Manning’s leaked information on Assange’s website.
Thereafter, Justice Department officials let it be known that the grand jury was proceeding on a theory that Assange conspired with Manning to leak to Assange. Assange had also made the leaked information available to Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El País, and The Guardian. Later The Guardian shared this information with The New York Times, and all of them published parts of the leaked information, as did Assange on his website.
In December 2010, when the Committee to Protect Journalists learned that Holder had switched to a conspiracy theory, it wrote a letter to President Obama not to prosecute Assange, because such prosecution would criminalize news gathering. The committee pointed out to Obama that Assange was a journalist protected under the First Amendment and should not be treated as a co-conspirator. But little did the Committee to Protect Journalists know that Holder had used the conspiracy theory seven months before in May 2010, when he approved the use of the search warrant for Rosen’s records.
As far as anyone can tell, this grand jury is still alive. Assange’s lawyers believe it has already secretly indicted him. They think that as soon as Assange leaves the Ecuadoran Embassy where he is holed up, he will be faced with the indictment in the U.S. for conspiring with Manning.
Asking courts to treat journalists as criminals under the Espionage Act has only been asserted once before Holder started using it. President Richard M. Nixon used it against New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, who obtained the Vietnam archives from Daniel Ellsberg. Following the Pentagon papers case, Nixon convened a grand jury to indict Sheehan for conspiring to cause the leak of the Pentagon papers. Nixon failed in this effort, and the grand jury disbanded after 17 months.
In December 2010, when the Committee to Protect Journalists learned that Holder had switched to a conspiracy theory, it wrote a letter to President Obama not to prosecute Assange, because such prosecution would criminalize news gathering. The committee pointed out to Obama that Assange was a journalist protected under the First Amendment and should not be treated as a co-conspirator. But little did the Committee to Protect Journalists know that Holder had used the conspiracy theory seven months before in May 2010, when he approved the use of the search warrant for Rosen’s records.
As far as anyone can tell, this grand jury is still alive. Assange’s lawyers believe it has already secretly indicted him. They think that as soon as Assange leaves the Ecuadoran Embassy where he is holed up, he will be faced with the indictment in the U.S. for conspiring with Manning.
Asking courts to treat journalists as criminals under the Espionage Act has only been asserted once before Holder started using it. President Richard M. Nixon used it against New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, who obtained the Vietnam archives from Daniel Ellsberg. Following the Pentagon papers case, Nixon convened a grand jury to indict Sheehan for conspiring to cause the leak of the Pentagon papers. Nixon failed in this effort, and the grand jury disbanded after 17 months.
The difference between Nixon and Holder is that Nixon failed in his effort to treat Sheehan as a co-conspirator. Nixon therefore could not create the precedent that reporters could be treated as criminals. Holder has. He should resign.
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Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Some thoughts about Turkey
I see that Turkish Premier, Tayyip Erdogan has publicly denounced those demonstrating against the increasingly authoritarian nature of his regime as being "Arm in arm with terrorism".
The protests have not abated and the state has responded with tear gas and water cannon. The Erdogan regime is seen as slowly increasing religious influence in government and there is a strong secular presence in Turkey. The Turkish economy has been doing well under Erdogan and his allies in the west have considered his regime as a model for the Islamic world but the recent riots have shown how fickle and unrepresentative stock market indicators are of real social moods.
The term "terrorist" has become very fashionable to describe any opposition to the status quo or mass movements of any kind against capital. A strike, from the bosses point of view is mass terrorism. All the laws put in place since 911 will be applied not only to "official" terrorists by US government definition, and I mean that to mean acts of indiscriminate violence directed at civilians like bombs in buses or theaters, schools and the like. These laws will be used against any social movement aimed at changing or reforming society. The only protests that are acceptable to Washington are those that are not affective.
The FBI's definition of terrorism is intentionally vague. According to the Code of Federal Regulations terrorism includes, “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85).
Domestic terrorism is defined as: "the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or Puerto Rico without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives"
A strike clearly falls under that definition I seem to recall in the aftermath of 911 there were some strikes in Minnesota during which the T word made an appearance and it was also rumored the ILWU had been warned that its actions shutting down the west coast ports amounted to terrorism.
We should keep Erdogan's words in mind as we will be hearing similar accusations being used against workers more and more here in the US as we are forced to take the battle against the capitalist offensive to the streets, workplaces and universities. The state security forces have been beefed up considerably in the aftermath of the Occupy Movement, including the use of drones.
We should watch carefully the events in Turkey as this government is an important ally of US imperialism in its continued efforts to plunder the regions resources. Only Israel is more important than Turkey, and certainly more reliable. The Turkish public sector Unions are planning a one day strike June 4th to oppose the governments response to protests which is an important development.
The situation in Syria also comes to mind. The support that the US gives to the Syrian opposition does not go unnoticed among Turks and is most likely not appreciated by everyone. These developments in this "stable" ally of the west has shaken things up and is a powerful reminder of the volatile situation that exists in the entire region.
Video from Reuters
The private profit motivated US health industrial complex, or more accurately, sickness industrial complex, exists to make as much profit out of every sick person as possible. This takes a number of forms. If the patient has insurance they are kept alive as long as possible irregardless of the suffering to themselves and their families. When I came to this country first it took me a while to see why people who were on death's door and inevitably going to die very soon, and should have been allowed to do so with dignity, were hooked up to machines of all sorts and kept breathing even though they were as I say on death's door. Then I realized that it was because there are no profits in the sickness industrial complex from a dead patient. The funeral industry gets their cut after death but that is a story for another day. The US profit addicted sickness industrial complex is a crime against humanity, specifically the US population. It exists to make profit.
The health industry is being attacked in every country in the world. A major drive to increase privatization and make it motivated by profit is under way. That is make it more like the US model. But even with this taking place look at the US system and compare it to some other countries.
In the US we are always hearing about that terrible Canadian health system. It is lies from beginning to end. lies, that is propaganda, by the US profit driven US sickness industrial complex.
Look at comparative costs. For an angiogram, the average cost of this in the US is $914. In Canada it is $35. The average cost of a colonoscopy in the US is $1,185. In Switzerland it is $655. The average cost of a hip replacement in the US is $40,364. In Spain $7,731. The average cost of an MRI scan in the US is $1,121. In the Netherlands $319.
Take the profit out of health care. For public ownership under workers and patients and health care workers control of a non profit health care system free at the point of use. With the profit taken out of health care, with an end to the trillions spent on wars and occupations abroad, with the ending of the rich and corporations getting away with paying practically no taxes tax this is easily affordable.
Sean
The health industry is being attacked in every country in the world. A major drive to increase privatization and make it motivated by profit is under way. That is make it more like the US model. But even with this taking place look at the US system and compare it to some other countries.
In the US we are always hearing about that terrible Canadian health system. It is lies from beginning to end. lies, that is propaganda, by the US profit driven US sickness industrial complex.
Look at comparative costs. For an angiogram, the average cost of this in the US is $914. In Canada it is $35. The average cost of a colonoscopy in the US is $1,185. In Switzerland it is $655. The average cost of a hip replacement in the US is $40,364. In Spain $7,731. The average cost of an MRI scan in the US is $1,121. In the Netherlands $319.
Take the profit out of health care. For public ownership under workers and patients and health care workers control of a non profit health care system free at the point of use. With the profit taken out of health care, with an end to the trillions spent on wars and occupations abroad, with the ending of the rich and corporations getting away with paying practically no taxes tax this is easily affordable.
Sean
Sunday, 2 June 2013
 |
| Pablo Neruda |
*****************
SANTIAGO, Chile -- Forty years after the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, a judge has issued an order for police to make a portrait of and find the man who prosecutors allege may have poisoned him.Neruda's death was attributed at the time to prostate cancer but the case's plaintiff lawyer, Eduardo Contreras, says there is new evidence showing he was likely murdered by agents of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Contreras said Dr. Sergio Draper, who originally testified that he was with Neruda at the time of his death on Sept. 23, 1973, is now saying there was another doctor named "Price" with the poet. But Price did not appear in any of the hospital's records as a treating doctor and Draper said he never saw him again after the day he left him with Neruda. Moreover Price's description of a blond, blue eyed, tall man, matches Michael Townley, the CIA double agent who worked with Chilean secret police under Pinochet.
Townley was taken into the U.S. witness protection program after acknowledging having killed prominent Pinochet critics in Washington and Buenos Aires.
For Contreras, whoever the man was, "the important fact is that this was the person who ordered the injection" that allegedly killed Neruda.
Neruda's former assistant Manuel Araya also said he believed the poet was poisoned by Pinochet's agents.
The Nobel Prize winner's body was exhumed on April 8, and is being analyzed by Chilean and international forensic specialists.
The Nobel Prize winner's body was exhumed on April 8, and is being analyzed by Chilean and international forensic specialists.
Saturday, 1 June 2013
The organizers of this blog unconditionally oppose the killing of the soldier in Woolwich London. It and the nature it took has increased support for the racists and right wing in Britain and in turn weakened the working class. This killing throws the movement back and our blog unconditionally opposes it.
However we would like to point out the hypocrisy and censorship of the mass media of the capitalists which is whipping up these right wing and racist and anti Islam feelings. To do so we would like to put this killing in context.
Last month, that is May, over 1,000 Iraqis were killed in Iraq. This is a direct result and the responsibility of the US and its allies invading Iraq. Then there are the continuing drone attacks which kill innocent civilians in any country US imperialism wishes to attack.
Then there is the force feeding in Guantanamo Bay. Over 60 of the prisoners who are on hunger strike have been cleared to be released but the US government will not release them. Instead they are force feeding them. This means they are strapped to a chair, a hose is forced up their nose and a mixture of nutrients pumped into them. Imagine the pain and panic this causes. A drug with severe side affects is given to prevent nausea but if the prisoners do vomit up the nutrients then they are strapped down again and the process repeated.
This is torture.
Where in the capitalist mass media is the outrage about these events. Where for that matter is the outrage in large sections of the population at these events. Yes we must condemn the Woolwich killing, but we also must condemn the torture and killings of imperialism which out number many times over the Woolwich killings. hypocrisy
Sean
However we would like to point out the hypocrisy and censorship of the mass media of the capitalists which is whipping up these right wing and racist and anti Islam feelings. To do so we would like to put this killing in context.
Last month, that is May, over 1,000 Iraqis were killed in Iraq. This is a direct result and the responsibility of the US and its allies invading Iraq. Then there are the continuing drone attacks which kill innocent civilians in any country US imperialism wishes to attack.
Then there is the force feeding in Guantanamo Bay. Over 60 of the prisoners who are on hunger strike have been cleared to be released but the US government will not release them. Instead they are force feeding them. This means they are strapped to a chair, a hose is forced up their nose and a mixture of nutrients pumped into them. Imagine the pain and panic this causes. A drug with severe side affects is given to prevent nausea but if the prisoners do vomit up the nutrients then they are strapped down again and the process repeated.
This is torture.
Where in the capitalist mass media is the outrage about these events. Where for that matter is the outrage in large sections of the population at these events. Yes we must condemn the Woolwich killing, but we also must condemn the torture and killings of imperialism which out number many times over the Woolwich killings. hypocrisy
Sean
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