An appreciation of the work and legacy of Commandante Chavez by James Petras . Full text at link.

President Hugo Chavez was unique in multiple areas of political, social and economic life. He made significant contributions to the advancement of humanity. The depth, scope and popularity of his accomplishments mark President Chavez as the ‘Renaissance President of the 21st Century’.

Many writers have noted one or another of his historic contributions highlighting his anti-poverty legislation, his success in winning popular elections with resounding majorities and his promotion of universal free public education and health coverage for all Venezuelans.

In this essay we will highlight the unique world-historic contributions that President Chavez made in the spheres of political economy, ethics and international law and in redefining relations between political leaders and citizens. We shall start with his enduring contribution to the development of civic culture in Venezuela and beyond.

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The Chair of the Grass Roots Left Gerry Downing was summarily dismissed on Tuesday 12th by Metroline Travel at its Cricklewood garage a spurious charge of “inappropriate behaviour towards members of the public whilst driving a route 210”

The dismissal was clearly politically motivated during the election campaign of Jerry Hicks for General Secretary of Unite. It comes on the heel of the libel action taken by Unite against Gerry and the Weekly Worker by Unite’s Regional Industrial Officer Wayne King over an article defending sacked Sovereign buses Convenor Abdul Omer Mohsin on 12 January 2012. This action was initiated by Thompson’s solicitors on 5 December, the day after the snap General Secretary election was called by the Executive Council on 4 December.

His letter to Unite’s General Secretary and Executive Council on 30 December remains unanswered. Gerry has been a thorn in the side of Metroline for over two decades as he says in his submission to the hearing:
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The Legacy of Chavez, a talk by José Antonio Gutiérrez of LASC on Thursday 14th March, 19:30, at AP203 in Aras an Phiarsaigh, Trinity College Dublin. Organised by TCD Sinn Féin

Map: http://www.tcd.ie/Maps/map.php?q=Aras+an+Phiarsaigh ... read full story / add a comment

This past weekend, as the nation celebrated International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day, an Irish Maternity Hospital initiated an invasive procedure on a pregnant woman against her will. ‘Mother A’ was denied patient autonomy and the right to informed refusal when the drastic and unprecedented measure of an emergency High Court sitting was called in order to compel her to undergo a Caesarian section. The risk of uterine rupture was cited as one of the main reasons for the urgency in this case but this risk is widely reported as being 0.1% or 1/1000. This is what Dr. Michael Turner, Obstetrician at the Coombe Hospital has called: “exaggerated, professional scaremongering...and it must stop”. (VBAC Conference, 2012) ... read full story / add a comment

All the worry about Global Warming has tended to focus on carbon dioxide emissions but the real threat may be methane emissions.... In the past 5 years there have been major changes happening up in the Arctic. The annual summer melt of the sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean has greatly increased, exposing a much larger area to heating during the summer months which in turn has warmed the ocean enough that the frozen methane hydrates on and below the seabed are beginning to melt, causing methane gas to bubble to the surface. The trouble is methane is up to 100 times (over initial 20 year period of release) more effective than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and the estimated quantity of methane hydrates suggests the amount of carbon contained in them exceeds all the coal, oil and gas burned so far. And should the tundra melt in Siberia then the huge area of peatland will resume decomposing thereby emitting a very large quantity of carbon dioxide. This scenario would take us past extinction danger point which is reckoned for a rise of 6oCelsius or more would be close to certainty. ... read full story / add a comment

Another analysis of the dangers posed by an FSA armed with chemical weapons and a timely reminder of the monster that is the Saudi Regime. Full text at link.

While Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was questioning the former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, during his Secretary of Defense nomination hearing, she mentioned chemical weapons and Syria. I think that the good Senator should be aware that the so-called Free Syrian Army is a real threat with their chemical weapons too. They have been backed by disreputable American allies such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar that are Wahhabi states that repress women, have terrible civil liberties, and no democratic rights whatsoever for their people. They are antediluvian states that are ripe for Arab Springs, and having genuine democracy sprout up in them. Saudi Arabia has invaded neighboring Bahrain, and continually worked to repress a grassroots democratic movement/revolution there as well. [1] ... read full story / add a comment

The Commandante is dead but the Revolution continues. If there is an afterlife then Chavez is in Valhalla.

He wrote, he read, and mostly he spoke. Hugo Chávez, whose death has been announced, was devoted to the word. He spoke publicly an average of 40 hours per week. As president, he didn't hold regular cabinet meetings; he'd bring the many to a weekly meeting, broadcast live on radio and television. Aló, Presidente, the programme in which policies were outlined and discussed, had no time limits, no script and no teleprompter. One session included an open discussion of healthcare in the slums of Caracas, rap, a self-critical examination of Venezuelans being accustomed to the politics of oil money and expecting the president to be a magician, a friendly exchange with a delegation from Nicaragua and a less friendly one with a foreign journalist.

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In the recent elections in Italy the new movement M5S led by the former Italian comedian Beppo Grillo has gained 108 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies and 54 in the Senate. It is hard to get an accurate picture of who he is and what he wants from the mainstream media since they see him as a challenge to the system and will gladly misrepresent him. In this article it reports on the account given at The Automatic Earth blog where Nicole Foss met Beppo Grillo in Italy and gives her view on him, his movement and what they are trying to achieve.

"The internet is central to Grillo's ideas. Not only as a tool to reach out to people, but even more as a way to conduct direct democracy. Because that is what he seeks to create: a system where people can participate directly. Grillo wants to bring (back) democracy, the real thing, and he's long since understood that the internet is a brilliant tool with which to achieve that goal." ... read full story / add a comment

Despite the continued 'green shoots' talk, recovery seems increasingly far away.

It does not take a genius or even an economist to realise that we are in fact in the depths of a major depression, which is continuing to worsen. The mainstream media, especially the USA media 90% of which is owned by just 6 corporations, continues to talk up a recovery but this is pure hyperbole that an intelligent person should be able to see through.
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Weekly Worker issue 950 - February 21 2013

Left organisation: Not another sinister sect
The way the left organises is a nonsense, argues Nick Wrack. This is an edited version of his speech at the February 9 ‘Socialist Organisation and Democracy’ event in Manchester

The nature of this onslaught against ordinary working class people, in this country and beyond, is forcing families, individuals, groups of friends - whether it is in the pub, the kitchen or around the TV when the news is on - to consider what they can do about the avalanche of attacks that is eroding everything they had come to expect in their life. ... read full story / add a comment

On the 4th of January, 1969 Irish civil rights protesters from People's Democracy which included the Price sisters suffered a brutal attack from around 200 lyalists armed with iron bars, bottles and stones at Burntollet Bridge in a march from Belfast to Derry. It is an important day in history in that for many, in that it was the start of the troubles in Ireland with a number of young women savagely beaten which included the price sisters. Beaten into the river, it was a baptism of fire for the two young teenagers. ... read full story / add a comment

Black Bloc Batter & Burn Brotherhood. Islamists Offices in Flames. More hot news at link.

A new Egyptian opposition group has risen to the forefront, as the country marks the second anniversary of the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. The ‘Black Bloc’ is threatening Islamist authorities and sparking fears of a street war.

“This mysterious group appeared around the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution when they released a statement saying they would fight the Muslim brotherhood and strive for the goals of the revolution,” Cairo-based journalist Bel Trew told RT.

It’s around that time that the group developed a Facebook page, giving advice on street fighting. The Black Bloc has also taken responsibility for a number of acts of civil disobedience, such as stopping public transport and setting fire to some Muslim Brotherhood buildings.

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Unions, which organized the rallies, claimed more than 100,000 people attended, with 60,000 marching in Dublin. Demonstrators also protested in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford.

"It would be fatal for people to believe this issue is now resolved and we can all move on," David Begg a supposed Union leader said. "At the onset of the crisis Ireland had one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in Europe. The difference between then and now is due entirely to Ireland socializing bank debt at the behest of the ECB, to save the European banking system."

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The recent bonds-for-notes overnight legislation ... read full story / add a comment

Confusion reigns in Iran. The Iranian people have suffered from Imperialist sanctions but corruption and incompetence is rife amongst the ruling elite. The governor of Iran’s Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahman has been sacked for making improper withdrawals from client accounts. Yassamine Mather analyses the situation. Full text at link.

In Iran, presidential elections are looming, the economy is in freefall, the public hanging of small-time criminals is creating an atmosphere of terror, repression is worsening and workers are protesting throughout the country. There are unconfirmed reports of an explosion at the Fordo uranium enrichment plant and the infighting between factions of the regime is shown live on state-owned TV. Meanwhile, Israel has bombed a military facility in Syria, claiming it is used by Iranian Islamic guards, and civil war is breaking out in Iraq, Iran’s main Shia ally. Finally, the country’s aerospace agency has sent a monkey into space! All in all, as far as Iranians are concerned, it has been an eventful start to 2013. ... read full story / add a comment

2013 G8 summit will be held in Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh.

The summit will be held in June at the Lough Erne Hotel. ... read full story / add a comment

Read about the late Aaron Swartzs association with WikiLeaks. Full text at link.

In a series of tweets, WikiLeaks disclosed that deceased Internet activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz may have contributed to the organization and had even been in contact with Julian Assange. WikiLeaks said it was divulging this information “due to the investigation into the Secret Service involvement with #AaronSwartz.”

Swartz, who committed a suicide on Jan. 11, was arrested two years ago for breaking and entering into an MIT storage closet and accessing an Acer laptop that he programmed to download millions of scholarly articles from the JSTOR database. The Secret Service took charge of the Swartz investigation two days before his arrest and provided the prosecution with information that led to its harsh pursuit of the 26-year-old. ... read full story / add a comment

SWP crisis: Opposition emboldened as demand for recall grows
The leadership can no longer lead - but a positive outcome to the crisis requires more than the removal of the entire CC, argues Paul Demarty

The Socialist Workers Party has been waiting a long time for a revolutionary situation. On some occasions, as with the fatuous ‘All out, stay out’ slogan it advanced to striking public sector workers last winter, it has tried, with dismal results, to force one - or delude itself into thinking there is one. Now, it has got one. But there is only one catch - it is not Britain that has been plunged into such a crisis, but the SWP itself.

Read more...

Letters
Rebellion; Shocking; Victim; Quantity left; Conflict site?; Coining it; Crippled; ‘Anti-Germans’; Erfurt required?;

http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/945 ... read full story / add a comment

Where we are on the 40th anniversary of joining the EEC.

This is part one of a two part series and the second article can be found here ... read full story / add a comment

CPIR Statement: We Must Support the Syrian State ... read full story / add a comment