comment and analysis

The politics of affirmation... or the politics of negation?

There's been some good blogs on libcom lately, provoking a lot of debate. So I've decided to jump on the bandwagon to spew some random musings onto the internet, which clearly needs more opinions...

Political debate often tends to quickly polarise into simple binaries. This is perhaps even more so online. Mainstream politics has its liberals/conservatives and left/right; radical politics has its anarchist/Marxist and reform/revolution.

Inflation, rising prices and the 2% pay ceiling

Chart comparing the rising cost of essentials to the 2% government pay ceiling.

An analysis of the use of inflation to attack workers' conditions written in July 2007.

If the government were to announce that it was cutting the wages of all workers - public and private sector - there would presumably be uproar. And yet this is exactly what they have done by calling for ‘pay restraint’ and insisting all wage rises are capped at 2%. Make no mistake, a sub-inflation pay ‘rise’ is a pay cut. No amount of statistical trickery changes this simple fact.

War on the streets in Armenia

February and March in Armenia saw a disputed presidential election (19/2/2008) followed by eleven days of demonstrations in the capital Yerevan, broken up by tanks, police attacks and the imposition of a State of Emergency (1/3/2008).

Eight people, including a child, were killed by police and around 100 were injured including 33 police. An apparently unrelated border fire-fight on 4/3/08 in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, disputed with neighbouring state of Azerbaijan with whom Armenia is still technically at war, broke a ceasefire agreed in 1994, killing 12 Armenian conscripts.

State terror and dirty war: a year of state recuperation in Mexico

State violence and police terror, this picture from Cuidad de Oaxaca

An in-depth look at the contemporary situation in Mexico in the aftermath of recent state offensives against movements in Chiapas, Oaxaca and San Salvador Atenco.

Following a heady 18 months of diverse and popular struggles up down the country, the Mexican state is using familiar tactics to reassert itself as the country’s main authority.

UK: Prison officers in mass unlawful strike

Some 20,000 prison officers in England and Wales took illegal unofficial action on Wednesday 29 August against Gordon Brown’s public sector wage cuts and the disastrous overcrowding in prisons.

Workers struggle betrayed by State and union in Venezuela

Workers at a co-operative elsewhere in Venezuela

This article was written by a revolutionary who has been working with the occupied factory in Venezuela.

Workers Control at Venezuela’s Sanitarios Maracay under Attack
By Megan Hise

Poland’s health care workers’ strike: new challenges and old problems

As a mass health-care strike enters its sixth week, all that may be achieved is the speeding-up of the privatisation process.

The Doctor’s Strike and the Nurses’ Occupation

Democratic stresses in Nepal and its regional implications

A brief look at some aspects of the political situation in Nepal today and its wider regional context.

The rapidly expanding economies of some parts of Asia have not been accompanied by a uniformly greater integration into Western structures of political administration. South Asia is experiencing a crisis of its democratic institutions; leftists, islamicists and nationalists compete with ruling powers for conquest of the state and domination of workers and peasants.

Commentaries #1: War in Iran? Why we must oppose sanctions

The first in a new series of pamphlets from the Brighton-based Aufheben collective, intended to supplement the annual magazine by responding to developing events. Published and distributed in March 2006.

Attached as a print-friendly pdf file below.

The Long March into Parliament - Nepal Maoists take their seats

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on Monday (15th) entered Parliament, 10 years after leaving it to begin their guerilla war.

The goal of stripping power from the monarchy has been achieved - as much by last year's widespread pro-democracy street protests as by their guerilla activity (see previous coverage here). The King is no longer head of state, has no political power and has been relieved of much royal property and other assets.