Video Fwd: mohammed bouazizi / lee kyung hae-brothers in justice

* Video fwd from Steve Zeltzer on Feb. 28, 2011

Click the title to see the video
mohammed bouazizi / lee kyung hae dare to struggle dare to win

Text Fwd: Is 1848 Repeating Itself in the Arab World?

* Image source: same as the link

Global Research
Revolution: Is 1848 Repeating Itself in the Arab World?
PART I: The Dynamics of Global Capitalism
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
February 5, 2011

Is history repeating itself? Have the events of 1848 in Europe repeated themselves in the Arab World? Will 2011 see the same outcomes as 1848? Only the Arab people can decide. Their fate is in their hands, but they should learn from the mistakes of 1848 and seriously address the role of the capitalist class.

PART I

The European Spring of 1848 and the Arab Spring of 2011

In 1848, revolutionary fervour broke across continental Europe. The waves of revolution were set in motion in France. It did not take long before the rest of Europe was hit with a tsunami of popular uprisings and revolts. Like a domino effect, country after country would be hit by revolt. Denmark, the German States, the Italian States, Belgium, Wallachia, and the Habsburg's Austrian Empire would all be shaken by popular revolt. The bases of the European revolts were the same as those in the modern-day Arab World.

Economic disparity, abuse of workers rights, and a lack of political equality were all causes for the wave of revolutions in 1848 Europe. Industrialization and economic and technological leaps were causing major socio-economic changes in European societies before and up to 1848. While in a very different historical context, this has also been occurring in today's Arab World.

In 19th Century Europe, fundamental economic changes, characterized by the consolidation of wealth, caused massive unemployment as well as the outbreak of famines.

This has also occurred in recent years in the Arab World, largely as a result of the brunt of neo-liberal reforms and rising food prices. Anger over lack of employment, lack of opportunities, corrupt government practices, and rising bread and food prices have actually been igniting riots and protests in the Arab World, specifically those states around the Mediterranean Sea, for several years before 2011. These past riots and protests were preludes to the highly tense situations in Egypt, Tunisia, and the Arab World.


The French Revolution of 1848: Europe's Tunisia or Iran?

1848 France was ruled by the landed property class, big industry, and the banking class. It was the working class that brought about the rise of this triad (landed property, big industry, and the banking class) through the French Revolution of 1789. In turn, this triad or "big capital" would systematically disenfranchize the working class by eliminating universal suffrage.

A new residency criterion was imposed in France by King Louis-Philip I who served the interests of big capital and was appropriately called the "Bourgeoisie King." French citizens had to prove that they lived in a riding for three years. To prove residency, the French working class needed letters of authentication from their employers. Thus, the working class and an overwhelming majority of the French were disenfranchized from voting and held hostage by big capital. French workers would also migrate from one place and riding to another place and riding for employment, because of the changing economic conditions, which would also make qualification for voting impossible. Unemployment would grip France and there would be a massive surplus of labour that would be readily exploited by organized capital. These unbearable conditions would led to the French Revolution of 1848.

In the French Revolution of 1789, the working class allied itself with big capital (big industry, the banking class, and landed property), but this would change in 1848. While big capital was fighting amongst itself, the working class was becoming an ally of the petty bourgeoisie in demanding a share in governing France and directing the course of French society. The House of Orléans was overthrown and the monarchy brought to a final end with the establishment of the Second French Republic.

Yet, the working class did not secure their rights after 1848. They held briefly the seat of power. The new taxation system failed and the capitalist class retained its control, thereby neutralizing efforts for genuine socio-economic reform in France. This led up to the 1851 Paris coup that was to make Charles Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte the emperor of the Second French Empire. The other outcome, after the defeat of Emperor Bonaparte in the Franco-Prussian War, was the 1871 establishment of the short-lived French government known by historians as the "Paris Commune." [1] Under the Paris Commune and its mixed socialist and anarchist government, France became history's first socialist republic, more than seventy years before the establishment of the Soviet Union. Under the Prussian occupation of France, the Paris Commune was ultimately crushed by an agreement and strategic understanding reached between the Germans and French organized capital.

What lessons can be learned from 1848?

The French Revolution of 1848 illustrates how capital can manipulate the desires of the working class and mainstream society. It also illustrates that the capitalist class was predominately in control of the state, despite the changes in political leadership. Finally, the outcome of 1848 in France illustrates that policies are deliberately fluctuated by organized capital as a means to lull mainstream society. In this context, history could repeat itself in the Arab World.



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[Jeju Update] 7 Wonders of Nature, with naval base plan? No!/ Solidarity between Gangjeong villagers and workers in the Jeju Island

Click the images for larger view
이미지를 클릭하시면 확대됩니다.

* See also Jeju Hwankyung (*Environmental) Ilbo, Jan. 18, 2011
제주 환경 일보, 2011년 1월 18일
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Solidarity between Gangjeong villagers in relay one-man protest and workers in tent sit-in strengthens in front of the Island Hall.
릴레이 1인 시위 강정 노동자들과 천막 농성 노동자들 연대, 도청앞에서 튼튼해지다.

' No Jeju naval base!,' and 'No Woo Keun-Min Island government who stands by idly on oppression of labor unions!': A Gangjeong villager and chairman of the Jeju regional branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
A villager making solidarity with the workers during workers' daily rally

The below is a partial translation of the literature written by the Gnagjeong village people’s Council on Jan. 17, 2011. You can see the original Korean statement HERE:

The Jeju was the Island of April 3 [uprising], of tragedy and exile. During the period of Sambyeolcho Rebellion, it was used as the last battlefield against the [invading] Mongolian force; during the period of the WW II, it was used as the last shield for Japan to deter the United States; and during the Korean War, it was an ‘Island of War’ that was used as the military training facility.

However, the Jeju Island is currently ‘the Island of Peace.’ The Jeju Island that has installed summit conferences and international meetings many times, starting with its designation of the road that Gorbachev, the ex-President of Soviet, as the ‘Peace Road,’ has carried out a great deal its role as buffer zone, being located in the middle of Northeast Asia that has been on the way of military cost build up.

[Its identity] as ‘Peace Island’ is its epoche-making, geopolitical mission and historical task that the Jeju Island has been given.

The Jeju Island that stablizes the North East Asia and contributes for world peace will be a treasure among many treasures that the people in the world should share and maintain together, without its three titles of being designated in the field of nature science by the UNESCO, and without its possible honor called as one of seven wonders of nature.

However, if the Jeju Island is built with military base and armed, there will be only way for the Jeju Island to return back to Island of tragedy, By when, should we repete such wrong history.

Being recorded as one of seven wonders of nature in the world could be the biggest achievemnet for the Jeju Islands since the establishment of the Republic of Korea [in 1948]. Among the sceneries that the Jeju Island have presented as the representing of it, there is the Beom Island, a nature memorial 421. The Beom Island is a rocky Island formed of volcano and undeneath which, the soft coral habitats, nature memorial No. 442, inhibit in the water, from the Moon Island in the East to the Deapo-dong, in the west.

There is a planned naval base area in the Gangjeong coast, which is 2.5 Km distance northwestward from the Beom Island. It is antinomic and illogical to drive for an environmental capital and one of seven wonders while conniving the naval base construction business expected of large-size environmental destruction in the soft coral habitats.

See also

[Jeju Update] Criticism on drive for seven wonder with a naval base plan/ Island Council in fact rejects the villagers' demand (Jan. 17, 2011)
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Workers in the Jeju Island met their 57th day tent sit-in on Jan. 18.

제주 노동자들, 1월 18일 날짜로 농성 57일째 맞음

Workers in the daily morning rally. The big letters say: Let's save democratic labor unions with solidarity and struggle.


Gangjeong villagers' struggle and workers' struggle facing and encouraging each other.
As of Jan. 18, the workers of the Jeju regional branch, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions met their 57th tent sit-ins that started on Nov. 23, last year. The snowflakes fluttered on Jan. 18, as well, but the workers’ will to protect their rights to live has not faded and seems to be more and more forged. The Jeju workers are currently fighting demanding of; the Jeju Medical Center’s withdrawal from the unilateral cancellation of group negotiation and Hospital Association’s stop of intervention between owners and workers; The Island provincial dance association’s withdrawal from the unjust lay-off of its workers(dancers) and Island authorities’ strict punishment of some government officers who have manipulated conflicts between owners and workers; and prosecutors’ through investigation on illegal unjust behaviors by the Woosung Apartment that brought its residents unjust harm.

The workers and Gangjeong villagers are building stronger solidarity confronting together against irresponsible Island government and Island Council, demanding them responsible settlement on the naval base issue and labor issue each. The workers have rallies three times daily, shouting their slogans while scolding the Woo Keun-Min Island government.

On Jan. 18, while making solidarity remarks for the Gangjeong villagers who have been fighting against naval base for three years and eight months, a leader of the workers mentioned people’s struggle in Tunisia. Saying that despite different nationalities, all the grassroots people in the world can keenly understand one another’s pain and hope in their struggles for a better world, he expressed and appealed solidarity with the people in Tunisia. There is an important fact to be mentioned. It has been wrongly known as if it had been the workers who broke the glass door of the Island Hall on Dec. 23, 2010 when the workers, infuriated by irresponsible attitude of the Woo government, have made body struggle with the Island government officers who blocked workers’ entry into the Hall. Truth is that the glass door was broken when the officers were pushed back into the door during body struggle. Still the Island governor has said as if it was the fault of the workers, misleading the public in the Island. Despite all the ordeals, the workers in the Jeju Island have become the symbol of Jeju Island people’s resistance against governing power, along with their comrades, the Gangjeong villagers.
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Exihibition in the Island Hall 도청내 전시

Text Fwd: Tunisian Protests Move Hillary's Line on Democratic Reform

* Image source: same as the link

Protest outside Tunisian Embassy, January 14, 2011. (Photo: Collin David Anderson)

* Just Foreign Policy News, Jan. 17, 2011
Truth Out
Tunisian Protests Move Hillary's Line on Democratic Reform
Sunday 16 January 2011

Back in 1969, when Secretary of State Clinton was researching her senior thesis at Wellesley on Chicago community organizer Saul Alinsky, she likely come across this saying of Alinksy's, which you can find in his book"Rules for Radicals":

Revolution by the Have-Nots has a way of inducing a moral revelation among the Haves.

Thursday, Secretary Clinton delivered what the New York Times called a "scalding critique" to Arab leaders at a conference in Qatar."The region's foundations are sinking into the sand," Clinton said, calling for "political reforms that will create the space young people are demanding, to participate in public affairs and have a meaningful role in the decisions that shape their lives." Those who would "prey on desperation and poverty are already out there," Clinton warned, "appealing for allegiance and competing for influence."

As Secretary Clinton made her remarks, the Times noted, "unrest in Tunisia that threatened its government while serving to buttress her arguments" was among the events that "echoed loudly in the background."

Friday, Tunisian president Ben Ali reportedly fled the country, and the Tunisian prime minister says he is now in charge.

Popular protest can bring down the government in an Arab country. Who knew?

It's a whole new ball game, as they say in Chicago. You think Friday's events in Tunisia are going to affect conversations in Algeria and Egypt? Maybe even in Haiti? I think they will. So does AP:

The shakeup was certain to have repercussions in the Arab world and beyond - as a sign that even a leader as entrenched and powerful as Ben Ali could be brought down by massive public outrage.

Could Secretary of State Clinton's remarks in Qatar presage a shift in US policy? It's not impossible to imagine. After all, Clinton's senior thesis pointed to the idea that there's another path to reform besides revolution in the street. Leaders can anticipate. You don't have to wait until protesters are at the gate. You could take the long view.

Today, US policy in Haiti stands at a fork in the road.

READ MORE

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See also
Reuters
Tunisia puts focus on West-Arab security ties
William Maclean, Reuters, Sun, Jan 16 2011

NPR
Tunisia Forms New Government Amid Protests
NPR, January 17, 2011

Washington Post
Clinton urges reforms by new Tunisian govt
Associated Press, Monday, January 17, 2011; 7:15 AM
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Text Fwd: CPD: Solidarity with the People of Tunisia!

* Joanne Landy-Campaign for Peace & Democracy

We Support the Democratic Revolution in Tunisia
Statement by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy
January 16, 2011

We express our solidarity with the Tunisian people in their struggle against a repressive and corrupt regime.

Unemployed youth, students, trade unionists, lawyers, and the full range of opposition parties, in the cities and in the rural areas, have taken to the streets and – for the first time in the Arab world -- ousted a dictator.

Tunisia has always had just the façade of democracy. Its ruling party won every seat in the parliament in 1989, and every directly elected seat in the 1994, 1999, and 2004 elections. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali had been in office since 1987, when he deposed the previous autocrat, Habib Bourguiba. Ben Ali abolished the position of “president for life,” but then ran unopposed for president in 1989 and 1994, and got 99.44 percent of the vote in 1999, 94.5 percent in 2004, and, running against three opponents, 89.6 percent in 2009.

“There were significant limitations on citizens' right to change their government. Local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that security forces tortured and physically abused prisoners and detainees and arbitrarily arrested and detained individuals. Security forces acted with impunity, sanctioned by high-ranking officials. There were also reports of lengthy pretrial and incommunicado detention. Government imposition of severe restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, and association worsened in the lead-up to the October [2009] elections. The government remained intolerant of public criticism, and there were widespread reports that it used intimidation, criminal investigations, the judicial system, arbitrary arrests, residential restrictions, and travel controls to discourage criticism.”

Tunisia ranked number 154 out of 173 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders list of World Press Freedom rankings, down from 143 in the previous year. OpenNet Initiative found that the Tunisian government engaged in “pervasive” filtering of political and social internet sites, using U.S.-made software.

Corruption by the president and his inner circle was notorious. The U.S. Embassy reported, in a cable released by WikiLeaks, that “one Tunisian lamented that Tunisia was no longer a police state, it had become a state run by the mafia.” Commented the U.S. Ambassador in a secret cable: “Whether it's cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali's family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants.”

While political insiders have been living in luxury, life is hard for the vast majority of Tunisians. In 2005 46 percent of young college graduates did not have a job 18 months after graduation; nearly 50 percent of Masters graduates and graduates with advanced technician diplomas were unemployed. And in response to pressure from the IMF and the World Bank, government subsidies continue to be reduced or eliminated from food and gasoline, squeezing even those who have jobs.

Despite Tunisia’s record of repression, Washington has long had “very good relations” (in the words of the State Department’s Background notes) with the country. The two nations have “an active schedule of joint military exercises.” Tunisia is one of only five countries (the others being Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Colombia) that receive direct U.S. military aid. In fact, as recently as December 2010, when the uprising against Ben Ali was already building, Congress authorized $12 million in “security assistance” to the Ben Ali dictatorship.

On January 11 of this year, as demonstrations raged in the country and the regime responded with lethal repression, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that the United States “was not taking sides.” And the French foreign minister suggested that French police forces could help police in Tunisia "appease the situation through law enforcement techniques." Only after Ben Ali fled the country did the White House, on January 14, finally condemn the violence against peaceful demonstrators. Until then, support of the Tunisian government was justified on the grounds that it was a “partner against terrorism” and a “moderate” Arab voice that did not join the Arab consensus against Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

We call on Washington and Paris, the two major props of the regime, to keep their hands off Tunisia, allowing the Tunisian people to establish a society that provides full democratic rights and social justice. We demand that the Tunisian security forces end all acts of repression, and we oppose any sort of military takeover. There must be no interference with the right of Tunisians to create a new civilian government through free and fair elections involving all political parties. In addition, we call for an end to IMF/World Bank pressure on Tunisia to reduce food and gasoline subsidies. Such policies are typically characterized by the U.S. as “reforms,” but they only deepen the misery of the Tunisian people.

Whether the toppling of the dictator will lead to fundamental changes in Tunisia remains to be seen. But there is no doubt that U.S.-backed autocrats throughout the Middle East ought to be very worried. May this be an inspiration for people seeking real democracy everywhere, from Egypt to Jordan to Saudi Arabia … to the United States.

This statement will be posted on the Campaign for Peace and Democracy website this evening, January 16.

Campaign for Peace and Democracy
2790 Broadway, #12 New York, NY 10025