[DEBATE] : What's new at Links: John Bellamy Foster; Greece; Canada & Quebec; Climate; Australia; Venezuela; West Bengal; Western Sahara: Nepal; Bolivia

[glparramatta]

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    John Bellamy Foster: The great financial crisis: causes and
    consequences <http://links.org.au/node/794>

A November 3, 2008, public lecture by *John Bellamy Foster*, editor of 
/Monthly Review / and co-author (with Fred Magdoff) of/ The Great 
Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences/, which will published in 
January 2009. See also ``Financial implosion and stagnation: Back to the 
real economy'' , by John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff.

    * Read more (watch the video)
      <http://links.org.au/node/794>


    Down with the government of murderers! Greek left on the murder of
    Alexis Grigoropoulos (+ video; updated Dec. 12)
    <http://links.org.au/node/790>

December 10, 2008 -- /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ 
is publishing a number of declarations, statements, calls and articles 
from Greek left organisations in response to the assassination by Greek 
police of Alexis Grigoropoulos.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/790>


    Canada: Political crisis exposes national, class divisions; left
    debates Liberal-NDP coalition <http://links.org.au/node/785>

By *Richard Fidler*
OTTAWA --- December 8, 2008 --- In a classic 19th century work, English 
journalist Walter Bagehot divided the constitution into two parts. The 
"efficient" part --- the executive (cabinet) and legislative --- were 
responsible for the business of government. The "dignified" part, the 
Queen, was to put a human face on the capitalist state. Bagehot noted, 
however, that the Queen also had "a hundred" powers called prerogatives, 
adding: "There is no authentic explicit information as to what the Queen 
can do...."

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/785>


    Climate Justice Now! Network: Radical new agenda urgently needed!
    <http://links.org.au/node/793>

Poznan, Poland, December 12, 2008 -- Members of the *Climate Justice 
Now! Network* -- representing more than 160 organisations fighting for 
climate justice -- issued today a joint statement calling for a radical 
change in direction to put climate justice and people's rights at the 
centre of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 
(UNFCCC) negotiations.
The statement asserts (see below) that: "Solutions to the climate crisis 
will not come from industrialised countries and big business. Effective 
and enduring solutions will come from those who have protected the 
environment -- Indigenous Peoples, women, peasant and family farmers, 
fisherfolk, forest dependent communities, youth and marginalised and 
affected communities in the global South and North."

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/793>


    Australia: National conference strengthens Socialist Alliance for
    challenges ahead <http://links.org.au/node/792>

December 13, 2008 -- Over the weekend of December 5-7, more than 150 
people attended the sixth Socialist Alliance national conference, held 
in the Geelong Trades Hall, Victoria. The conference opened against the 
backdrop of the Alliance's promising results in the November 29 
Victorian local government elections, in which its candidates scored up 
to 18.9%.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/792>


    New Palestine solidarity journal: Jafa -- A Bulletin in Solidarity
    with Palestinian Workers and Unions <http://links.org.au/node/791>

Labour for Palestine (Canada) is proud to launch:/ Jafa -- A Bulletin in 
Solidarity with Palestinian Workers and Unions/

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/791>


    Quebec: Breakthrough for Québec Solidaire <http://links.org.au/node/789>

By *Paul Kellogg*
December 9, 2008 -- Amir Khadir, one of the two spokespersons for Québec 
Solidaire (QS), has won a seat in the Quebec National Assembly. Among 
the many excellent aspects of the Québec Solidaire platform is a call 
for the Quebec government to pass a motion opposing "any Canadian 
imperialist intervention in Afghanistan." The QS success represents an 
important advance for the social justice and anti-war movements in both 
Quebec and English Canada.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/789>


    More right-wing attacks in Venezuela: Stop the killing of trade
    unionists! Bring hired killers to justice!
    <http://links.org.au/node/788>

A statement by the* Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network*December 10, 
2008 -- The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network condemns the murder 
of Venezuelan trade unionist Simon Caldera, who was shot in Aragua state 
on December 4. Caldera was a leader of the pro-revolution Bolivarian 
Construction and Industry Union.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/788>


    India: West Bengal Left Front government sides with big capital,
    attacks peasants <http://links.org.au/node/787>

By *Satya Sivaraman*
In recent times there has been no greater rupture within the Indian left 
movement than that precipitated by peasant struggles in Singur and 
Nandigram against forced acquisition of land for industrial purposes. 
The spectacle of West Bengal's Left Front regime, led by the Communist 
Party of India (Marxist) --(CPI (M) -- sending police and party cadre to 
gun down poor peasants fighting to protect their land not only earned it 
the wrath of ordinary Indian citizens everywhere but also left large 
sections among its own supporters deeply divided.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/787>


    Nepal: CPN (Maoist) national convention -- beginning the `great
    debate'; Split avoided <http://links.org.au/node/786>

By *Indra Mohan Sigdel ``Basanta''*

December 5, 2008 -- The Nepalese people's revolution is now at a crucial 
juncture, full of opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, the 
possibilities are so great that the party's success in developing a 
scientific ideological and political line consistent with the present 
objective conditions could lead the Nepalese people's revolution to a 
victorious accomplishment. And also, it could be a new opening of the 
world proletarian revolution in the beginning of the 21st century. While 
on the other hand, its failure to do so would lead to disastrous 
consequences, leading to an extensive demoralisation of the oppressed 
classes not only in Nepal but the world over. Therefore, in short, the 
November 17-26, 2008, national convention of our party, the Communist 
Party of Nepal (Maoist), had an international dimension.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/786>


    Bolivia's indigenous majority: Change the world by taking power
    <http://links.org.au/node/784>

By *Federico Fuentes*
November 29, 2008 -- Having captured the imagination of progressives 
across the globe with scenes of indigenous uprisings confronting 
right-wing governments and multinationals, Bolivia has become a key 
focus point of discussion within the left regarding strategies for 
change. However, starry-eyed notions and schemas rather than reality 
have often influenced the views of left commentators on the 
revolutionary process unfolding in South America's poorest nation.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/784>


    Western Saharan minister: `Only one solution -- our return to our
    sovereign homeland' <http://links.org.au/node/783>

November 29, 2008 -- In October, a three-member delegation of Australian 
trade unionists visited the Saharawi (Western Saharan) refugee camps in 
the Hamada desert, south-west Algeria. Western Sahara has been illegally 
occupied by Morocco since 1975./Green Left Weekly/Links/' /*Margarita 
Windisch*/ spoke with /*Sid'Ahmed Tayeb*/, the minister of public health 
for the exiled Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, when she visited the 
27 February refugee camp.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/783>


    A brief history of the Western Saharan people's struggle for freedom
    <http://links.org.au/node/782> 

By *Margarita Windisch*

Spain colonised Western Sahara and its mostly nomadic people in 1884 
claiming it as a protectorate of the Spanish Crown. Spanish rule over 
Western Sahara was codified in Berlin in 1885, where Africa was carved 
up among the European powers. The period of Spanish rule was marked by 
ongoing resistance, revolts and armed clashes with the indigenous 
population, with its liberation movements being brutally repressed by 
the Spanish authorities. A 1966 UN resolution called for Saharawi 
people's right to self-determination to be exercised via a referendum 
which never eventuated. The lack of political developments led to the 
formation of Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio 
de Oro (the Polisario Front) in 1973. Polisario was conceived as a 
nationalist front with the aim of achieving independence, and 
encompassed all Saharawi political trends.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/782>

* * *

/Links/ seeks to promote the international exchange of information, 
experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political 
strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for 
open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from 
different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the 
international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social 
policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in 
the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing 
socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

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