What's new at Links: Copenhagen, Bolivia, Fifth International,
Indonesia, Marta Harnecker, Diego Garcia, Quebec, Malaysia, Green New Deal?

* * *
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     Copenhagen: System change -- not climate change: the Klimaforum09
     Declaration <http://links.org.au/node/1399>

A people's declaration from Klimaforum09, Copenhagen, December 10, 2009
There are solutions to the climate crisis. What people and the planet
need is a just and sustainable transition of our societies to a form
that will ensure the rights of life and dignity of all peoples and
deliver a more fertile planet and more fulfilling lives to future
generations.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1399>


     `The main issue for us is Mother Earth' -- Bolivia's delegation to
     Copenhagen climate talks <http://links.org.au/node/1405>

ANGELICA NAVARRO, chief climate negotiator for Bolivia: On the process,
I have to say that we are quite surprised, because this is not what we
were expecting. One hundred and ninety-two countries are united here to
try to come to a deal. And there is this pallid process that basically
seems to be untransparent, undemocratic, nonparticipatory, top down,
that it seems to be imposing itself on what we are trying to achieve
with 192 countries. We think that we have to come back to the real
track, and that is a track with participation, inclusiveness and democracy.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1405>


     Bolivia: Why did Evo Morales win? <http://links.org.au/node/1404>

By Atilio A. Boron, translated by Richard Fidler

December 8, 2009 -- A week ago we were celebrating the triumph of Pepe
Mujica in Uruguay. Today we have renewed, and more profound reasons, to
celebrate the extraordinary electoral victory of Bolivia's President Evo
Morales [on December 6].

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1404>


     Indonesia: Anti-corruption protests follow bank bailout
     <http://links.org.au/node/1403>

December 9, 2009 -- The great photos above are of a mass demonstration
in Jakarta on International Anti-corruption Day December 9, 2009, just
one of many demonstrations against corruption have been sweeping
Indonesia protesting allegations that a US$600 million government
bailout was given to Century Bank on condition that some of the money be
used to fund President Yudhoyono's re-election campaign.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1403>


     Australian Socialist Alliance's address to the International
     Encounter of Left Parties, Caracas, November 2009
     <http://links.org.au/node/1401>

One of the delegates of Australia's Socialist Alliance, Federico
Fuentes, addresses the International Encounter of Left Parties held in
Caracas, November 19-21, 2009.

     * Watch here
       <http://links.org.au/node/1401>


     Marta Harnecker on the Fifth International and the left movement in
     Latin America <http://links.org.au/node/1400>

By Jesús Manzanárez

December 10, 2009 --  Marta Harnecker remains ardent, audacious,
reflective and perceptive. A collaborator of the Miranda International
Centre [in Caracas], she will today [December 3] attend a reception in
her honour in the Teresa Carreño Theatre for her outstanding career,
fundamentally in the study of the mechanisms to effective take power at
the community level and her contributions to Marxist theory.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1400>


     Unión de Militantes por el Socialismo: Resolución del Comité Central
     sobre la Vª Internacional/Resolution on the Fifth Int.
     <http://links.org.au/node/1398>

[English translation below.]

por Unión de Militantes por el Socialismo (Argentina)

Al Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela

Queridos compañeros y compañeras

Reciban un saludo revolucionario y nuestroamericano, con los mejores
deseos para la realización del 1er Congreso Extraordinario del Psuv y el
más caluroso respaldo a la propuesta del comandante Chávez de comenzar a
echar las bases de una Vª Internacional.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1398>


     New phase in the struggle for Diego Garcia
     <http://links.org.au/node/1397>

By Lalit (Mauritius)
December 3, 2009 -- The Diego Garcia struggle is moving into what we
call "phase 4". Each past phase has had its victories, victories within
which there were defeats. And each victory won has been won because the
three elements making up the struggle held together, were embraced as
one "whole".
Before looking at phase 4, let's look first at three intertwined past
crimes.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1397>


     Quebec left debates independence strategy
     <http://links.org.au/node/1396>

By Richard Fidler
December 3, 2009 -- Québec solidaire, the left-wing party founded almost
four years ago, held its fifth convention in the Montréal suburb of
Laval on November 20-22, 2009. About 300 elected delegates debated and
adopted resolutions on the Quebec national question, electoral reform,
immigration policy and secularism.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1396>


     Between Caracas and Delhi -- two important conferences of the
     international left <http://links.org.au/node/1395>

By Reuven Kaminer
December 7, 2009 -- It seems more than a coincidence that two important
conferences of the international left took place in November 2009. One,
the 11th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers' Parties,
was held in Delhi, India, on November 20-22 and issued the "Delhi
Declaration" (DD) and the other, a World Meeting of Left Parties, met in
Caracas, Venezuela, on November 19-21 and issued a document entitled the
"Caracas Commitment" (CC). There were approximately 50 organisations at
each conference.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1395>


     Socialist Party of Malaysia: 'Real power comes from the people'
     <http://links.org.au/node/1393>

By Paul Benedek, Kuala Lumpur
More than 200 activists, including a large proportion of youth and
women, packed Kuala Lumpur's Chinese Assembly Hall for the first day of
Socialism 2009, an annual conference organised by the Socialist Party of
Malaysia (PSM).

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1393>


     Debate: A Green New Deal -- dead end or pathway beyond capitalism?
     <http://links.org.au/node/1392>

December 8, 2009 -- A Green New Deal is on everybody's lips at the
moment. US President Barack Obama has endorsed a very general version of
it, the United Nations are keen, as are numerous Green parties around
the world. In the words of the Green New Deal Group, an influential
grouping of heterodox economists, Greens and debt-relief campaigners,
such a 'deal' promises to solve the 'triple crunch' of energy, climate
and economic crises.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1392>

* * *
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.

ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at
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What's new at Links: Copenhagen climate talks, support for 5th
International, Arabic, left unity, Afghanistan & Pakistan, Honduras

* * *
Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

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consider an article, please send it to links@...

*Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links.

* * *


     John Bellamy Foster: `We can't shop our way out of the ecological
     crisis' <http://links.org.au/node/1390>

John Bellamy Foster Interviewed by Max van Lingen
Max van Lingen: Consciousness about climate change has increased
enormously; however, it also seems as if there is a lack of criticism of
business and government actions. Instead it appears as if people are
thinking: it doesn't really matter why people act, as long as they act.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1390>


     A lesson from Seattle for Copenhagen: Vigorous activism can defeat
     the denialists <http://links.org.au/node/1381>

By Patrick Bond
December 1, 2009 -- Preparations for the December 7-18 Copenhagen
climate summit are going as expected, including a rare sighting of the
African elites' stiffened spines. That's a great development (maybe
decisive), more about that below. While activists help raise the
temperature on the streets outside the Bella Centre on December 12, 13
and 16, inside we will see global North elites defensively armed with
pathetic non-binding carbon emissions cuts (US President Barack Obama's
promise is a mere 4% below 1990 levels) and carbon trading, but without
offering the money to repay the North's ecological debt to the global South.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1381>


     Video: `The Story of Cap and Trade' (aka carbon trading), from the
     makers of `The Story of Stuff' <http://links.org.au/node/1380>

December 1, 2009 -- The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced,
fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at the
climate talks in Copenhagen. Cap and trade is also variously described
as ``carbon trading'' and ``emissions trading''. In Australia, the
federal Labor government is trying to push a variation of this through
the Senate called the ``Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme''.

     * Watch and read more <http://links.org.au/node/1380>


     The Flame, November-December 2009 -- Green Left Weekly's
     Arabic-language supplement <http://links.org.au/node/1389>

With the help of Socialist Alliance members in the growing Sudanese
community in Australia, Green Left Weekly -- Australia's leading
socialist newspaper -- is publishing a regular Arabic language supplement.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1389>


     Recent experiences in left regroupment and reconstruction
     <http://links.org.au/node/1388>

By Jim McIlroy
November 23, 2009 -- How do you build socialism in the First World
countries right now? Of course, we are part of a world movement for
socialism, including the Third World. We can learn a lot from recent and
current experiences in left regroupment and party building that are
happening around the world at present -- with all proportions guarded,
and realising that there is no direct transposition of one historical,
national experience onto another.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1388>


     Australian and New Zealand socialists support Chavez's call for a
     new international organisation of the left
     <http://links.org.au/node/1387>

December 3, 2009 -- On behalf of the Socialist Alliance of Australia, we
would like to send warm, socialist greetings to the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela (PSUV), thanking you once again for the invitation to
participate in the International Meeting of Left Parties held in
Caracas, November 19-21, 2009. The outcomes of this event are already
having an important impact on the world, particularly among left and
progressive forces, and we are grateful that we could be part of it and
contribute to its success in our own modest way.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1387>


     Obama delivers -- when it comes to war <http://links.org.au/node/1386>

By Billy Wharton
December 4, 2009 -- When US President Barack Obama announced his plan to
escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending 30,000 more troops to the
war-torn country, he delivered on two campaign promises. The first was a
campaign trail pledge to re-focus US military power on the border region
of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was mostly ignored by enthralled
voters. The second was made more quietly to his many campaign donors in
the defence industry.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1386>


     Labour Party Pakistan condemns Obama's Afghanistan policy
     <http://links.org.au/node/1385>

By Farooq Tariq
December 4, 2009 -- The Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) condemns US
President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy and demands that all NATO
forces immediately withdraw from Afghanistan and stop drone attacks on
Pakistan. The Labour Party Pakistan has decided to protest against this
new escalation of the war effort in the region. The first protest took
place on December 4 in front of US consulate in Lahore. There will be
more demonstrations in different parts of Pakistan.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1385>


     L'appel historique de Chavez pour une 5eme Internationale
     <http://links.org.au/node/1384>

par Federico Fuentes

2 décembre 2009 --  S'adressant aux délégués de la Rencontre
Internationale des Partis de Gauche qui s'est tenue à Caracas du 19 au
21 novembre (2009), le président vénézuélien Hugo Chavez a déclaré :
« il est temps de constituer la 5ème Internationale. » Face à la crise
capitaliste et la menace d'une guerre qui représente un danger pour
l'avenir de l'humanité, « les peuples réclament » une unité plus forte
des partis de gauche et révolutionnaires qui sont prêts à lutter pour le
socialisme, a-t-il dit.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1384>


     El llamado histórico de Hugo Chávez para conformar una V
     Internacional Socialista <http://links.org.au/node/1383>

por Federico Fuentes
2 de diciembre de 2009 -- Hablando a los delegados del Encuentro
International de Partidos de Izquierda realizado en Caracas, el
presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez señalo "que llegó la hora de que
convoquemos a la Quinta Internacional. Frente la crisis capitalista y la
amenaza de guerra que poner en peligro el futuro de la humanidad, la
unidad de partidos de izquierda y revolucionario dispuesto a luchar para
el socialismo "es un clamor del pueblo," dijo Chávez.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1383>


     Honduras: `The election was a farce, new regime will not be
     recognised' -- National Resistance Fron <http://links.org.au/node/1382>

By the National Resistance Front against the Coup d'etat

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1382>

* * *
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.

ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism


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What's new at Links: Fifth International?; Venezuela, Philippines, Marta
Harnecker, climate jobs, Foro Social Latinamericano, ecosocialism

* * *
Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed
(http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to
consider an article, please send it to links@...

*Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links.

* * *


     Venezuela: Hugo Chavez calls for international socialist unity
     <http://links.org.au/node/1378>

By Federico Fuentes, Caracas
November 27, 2009 -- Addressing delegates at the International Encounter
of Left Parties held in Caracas, November 19-21, Venezuela's President
Hugo Chavez said that with the capitalist crisis and threat of war
risking the future of humanity, "the people are clamoring" for greater
unity of those willing to fight for socialism. Chavez used his November
20 speech to the conference, which involved delegates from 55 left
groups from 31 countries, to call for a new international socialist
organisation to unite left groups and social movements: "The time has
come for us to organise the Fifth International."

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1378>


     500,000th visitor to Links International Journal of Socialist
     Renewal <http://links.org.au/node/1376>

At around 8pm on November 25, 2009, Links International Journal of
Socialist Renewal received its 500,000th visit since records began being
kept on April 4, 2008. Almost 676,000 articles were read by those
visitors in that period.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1376>


     `The Caracas Commitment' -- Declaration from World Meeting of Left
     Parties, November 19-21, Caracas, Venezuela
     <http://links.org.au/node/1375>

Declaration from World Meeting of Left Parties, November 19-21, Caracas,
Venezuela
November 21, 2009 -- Political parties and organizations from Latin
America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania commemorate
and celebrate the unity and solidarity that brought us together in
Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and from this libertarian
city we would like to express our revolutionary rebelliousness. We are
glad of and committed to the proud presence of the forces of change in a
special moment of history. Likewise, we are proud to reaffirm our
conviction to definitively sow, grow and win Socialism of the 21st century.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1375>


     Philippines: Justice for murdered journalists and human rights
     heroes! End trapo politics now! <http://links.org.au/node/1379>

By Sonny Melencio, Partido Lakas ng Masa
November 25, 2009 -- The Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) condemns in the
strongest possible terms the massacre in Maguindanao. We assert that
this is not only a problem confined to Mindanao, but that it's a symptom
of a festering and rotten political system. We predict that this
violence will be the feature of the coming elections, as the political
elite struggle with increasing desperation and ferocity for a share of
the ever-dwindling national wealth and power. [On November 23, 57 people
were massacred by the ruling Ampatuan clan that governs the province --
see news report below.]

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1379>


     Fourth International leader on Chavez's call for a new international
     <http://links.org.au/node/1377>

By François Sabado
November 26, 2009 -- During an international meeting of left parties
held in Caracas from 19-21 November, 2009, Venezuela's President Hugo
Chavez launched a call for a Fifth Socialist International, which,
according to him, should bring together left parties and social
movements. According to Chavez, who is also president of the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the Fifth International must be "an
instrument for the unification and the articulation of the struggle of
the peoples to save this planet". In a world political situation marked
by a total crisis of the capitalist system, this is a fact important
enough to be underlined.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1377>


     Pamphlet to download: Marta Harnecker's `Ideas for the Struggle'
     <http://links.org.au/node/1374>

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1374>


     Venezuela: Chavez urges PSUV to debate how to win socialism by 2019
     <http://links.org.au/node/1373>

By Kiraz Janicke, Caracas
November 23, 2009 - Venezuelanalysis.com - During an inaugural speech to
the 772 delegates at the First Extraordinary Congress of the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) on November 21, Venezuela's
President Hugo Chavez raised a series of proposals to open the debate
and discussion over consolidating the struggle for socialism both
internationally and in Venezuela.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1373>


     Venezuela: Chavez calls for new international organisation of left
     parties <http://links.org.au/node/1372>

By Kiraz Janicke, Caracas
November 23, 2009 - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez called for the
formation of a "Fifth International" of left parties and social
movements to confront the challenge posed by the global crisis of
capitalism. The president made the announcement during an international
conference of more than 50 left organisations from 31 countries held in
Caracas over November 19-21.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1372>


     Britain: One million climate jobs now! <http://links.org.au/node/1371>

By the Public and Commercial Services Union (Britain)
November 15, 2009 -- Earlier this year, Britain's Campaign against
Climate Change (CaCC) trade union group set up a commission to produce a
detailed plan for a million ``climate'' jobs.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1371>


     `Foro Social Latinamericano', Green Left Weekly's Spanish-language
     supplement launched <http://links.org.au/node/1370>

Australia's leading socialist newspaper Green Left Weekly is strongly
committed to supporting the growing "people's power" movement in Latin
America. We are proud of the fact that GLW is the only Australian
newspaper to have a permanent bureau in Latin America, based in Caracas,
Venezuela. Through our weekly articles on developments in the region,
GLW strives to counter the corporate media's many lies about Latin
America's revolutions, and to give a voice in English to the people's
movements for change.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1370>


     Socialists, the environment and ecosocialism: a view from South
     Africa <http://links.org.au/node/1369>

By Trevor Ngwane
November 19, 2009 -- There is an ecological crisis in the world and this
crisis can be traced to capitalism. There is deforestation due to the
trade in timber. There is climate change due to unsafe production
methods. The working class is the class that suffers the most from the
ecological crisis. Working-class people are in the majority and their
life conditions make them more vulnerable. Workers live in flimsy houses
and shacks that are easily washed or swept away by strong rains and
winds. When workers are sick or injured there is always not enough
medical help for them. Over the years not enough attention has been paid
to this problem by socialists.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1369>

* * *
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.

ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism


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BBC: Alex Salmond talks about his plans for Scotland's future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/8383318.stm
 
The cause of Scottish national independence is to be sold out by Alex Salmond on
St Andrew's day when he publicizes his white paper much-hyped as an
"independence referendum" white paper and plan.

It is a lie. It is a fraud. It does not offer Scottish national independence.

The referendum plan that Salmond and the Queen's civil servants have come up
with is for an independent Queen's state with the Scots to be denied our
national independence.

So long as we Scots are denied the right to elect our own head of state, a
president, of a Scottish republic, we will not be independent but enslaved by
the Queen's state.

What Salmond proposes is not a half-way house to Scottish national independence
either. A Queen's Scottish state would not be progress. We already have a
Queen's Scottish state and Salmond is the Queen's first minister already.

Salmond's referendum plan is a plan for the status quo which is the Saltire used
as an alternative Queen's butcher's apron for the Queen's ministers and officers
in Scotland.

Salmond's plan is not a plan for us Scots - it is a plan against us Scots, to
keep us down and under the brutal heel of the Queen's ministers and officers.

The danger is that there will also be republicans who foolishly welcome
Salmond's referendum plan as, so we are told, "a move forward, a half-way house
to a Scottish republic". Lies, lies and more lies.

To see Scottish republicans dance to Salmond's royalist tune is even more of a
betrayal.

Scottish republicans expect to be betrayed by royalists. But when republicans
betray the cause of an independent Scottish republic by agreeing with royalists'
plans it is an unexpected betrayal.

I will not betray the cause of an independent Scottish republic and I call every
co-called "Scottish republican" who supports Salmond's referendum plan announced
on Monday "TRAITOR!" because that is what they will be.

See these topics and polls in the Users and Guests forum of the For Freedom
Forums.

Sticky: [ Poll ] What do you think about Salmond's plan for a referendum?
http://scot.extroverthost.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279

Sticky: [ Poll ] If Alex Salmond shat on a plate and called it 'mince' ...
http://scot.extroverthost.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=283
 
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What's new at Links: Venezuela, Australia, China, UCal students,
Stalinism, Tamils, population, Mexico, Portugal, Canada, Quebec

* * *
Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed
(http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to
consider an article, please send it to links@...

*Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links.

* * *


     Venezuela: Socialists debate party's direction
     <http://links.org.au/node/1364>

By Kiraz Janicke, Caracas
November 16, 2009 – The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) held
nation-wide delegate elections on November 15 for its First
Extraordinary Congress which will be held over the next several weekends
in Caracas. Up for discussion at the congress are the party’s program,
principles, organisational structure and most likely the mechanism for
selecting candidates for the national parliamentary elections of 2010.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1364>


     Australia: Elected socialist's goal of `campaigning' local council
     gained wide support <http://links.org.au/node/1363>

Justine Kamprad is a co-convenor of the Fremantle branch of the
Socialist Alliance, in Western Australia (WA), and was the party's
campaign director for the October 17, 2009, Fremantle City Council
election, which saw socialist Sam Wainwright top the poll and get
elected with 33.44% of the vote. Wainwright is the first member of the
Socialist Alliance to be elected to public office in Australia, and one
of only two socialist party members currently in an elected local
council position in the country. Jim McIlroy spoke to Kamprad about the
successful campaign.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1363>


     China today: socialist or capitalist? <http://links.org.au/node/1355>

By Chris Slee
November 13, 2009 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
has published a number of articles on the Chinese Revolution
<http://links.org.au/taxonomy/term/404> and the subsequent restoration
of capitalism in China. This article aims to give more detail on the
current situation, including the Chinese government's efforts to
ameliorate some of the harmful effects of capitalism.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1355>


     Join the 2010 `May Day’ solidarity brigade to Venezuela! April 24 -
     May 2, 2010 <http://links.org.au/node/1368>

Registrations close February 1, 2010
The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network’s brigades to Venezuela are a
once-in-a-lifetime experience - the opportunity to see first-hand an
unfolding revolution that is not only radically transforming the lives
of Venezuelans, but is challenging the greed, exploitation and
destructiveness of global capitalism by showing that a better world is
possible.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1368>


     United States: Photo essay -- Students occupy Berkeley university
     building to protest fee hike <http://links.org.au/node/1367>

Story and photos by David Bacon
Berkeley, California -- November 20, 2009 -- Students occupied Wheeler
Hall on the University of California campus in Berkeley, protesting
against a decision by university regents to raise tuition fees by 32%,
bringing them to US$10,302 per year for undergraduates.
At the beginning of the occupation the students made several demands,
including the reinstatement of 38 laid-off custodial workers, and
amnesty for protesting students.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1367>


     Paul Le Blanc: Theories of Stalinism <http://links.org.au/node/1366>

     The Marxism of Leon Trotsky
     By Kunal Chattopadhyay
     Kolkata: Progress Publishers, 2006, 672 pages

     Western Marxism and the Soviet Union
     By Marcel van der Linden
     Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2009, 379 pages

Reviews by Paul Le Blanc

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1366>


     Cuba and ALBA let down Sri Lanka’s Tamils
     <http://links.org.au/node/1362>

By Ron Ridenour
November 14, 2009 -- I think that the governments of Cuba, Bolivia and
Nicaragua let down the entire Tamil population in Sri Lanka, as well as
“proletarian internationalism� and the “exploited�, by extending
unconditional support to Sri Lanka’s racist government.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1362>


     Population control’s dark past <http://links.org.au/node/1361>

Review by Simon Butler
November 16, 2009 -- A select group of billionaires met in semi-secrecy
in May 2009 to find answers to a “nightmarish� concern. Their worst
nightmare wasn’t the imminent danger of runaway climate change, the
burgeoning levels of hunger worldwide or the spread of weapons of mass
destruction. The nightmare was other people – lots of other people.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1361>


     A new united movement stops Mexico for a day
     <http://links.org.au/node/1360>

By Tamara Pearson

November 14, 2009 -- Mexico City -- In the many metro stations of this
giant city, amidst the ugly smell of Pizza Hut and the newspapers
vendors yelling out, “Grafico! 3 pesos!�, every day young people crowd
around the handwritten posters recruiting for the national police. At
12,000 pesos (US$1000) per month, and with increasing unemployment and
harder prospects, the offer is very tempting.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1360>


     Portugal: What's behind the success of the Left Bloc?
     <http://links.org.au/node/1359>

By Raphie de Santos
Portugal’s Left Bloc has achieved a major breakthrough in the last five
months. It polled nearly 11% and 10% respectively in the recent European
and parliamentary legislative elections in June and September 2009. For
a party that is firmly established outside of left social democracy this
is a major achievement. How did it happen?

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1359>


     Canada/Quebec: Québécois denounce Supreme Court attack on language
     rights <http://links.org.au/node/1358>

By Richard Fidler
November 9, 2009 -- The October 22 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada
overturning yet another section of Quebec’s Charter of the French
Language (CFL) has been met with angry protests by a broad range of
opinion in the French-speaking province.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1358>


     Four goals for a new left party <http://links.org.au/node/1357>

By Duncan Chapel

November 14, 2009 -- The people on this platform share a lot of ideas.

     * We want a working-class party to the left of the Labour Party,
       with a socialist program that confronts the dual crises of the
       ecology and the economy, which the ruling class is struggling to
       contain
     * We want a party in which anti-capitalists are hegemonic, but not
       monolithic. We have to be open to everyone who’s for the class
       struggle, not just those with Marxist ideas
     * We want a party of struggle, based on the ground, that’s
       developing a movement of resistance as well as an electoral campaign.

That’s a lot of agreement. It’s meaningful. It’s new. We like it. But
what’s the next step?

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1357>


     Canada: Vale Inco strike shows need for international action
     <http://links.org.au/node/1356>

By Marc Bonhomme, translated by Richard Fidler
A Québécois militant, member of Québec solidaire, discusses the global
implications of the strike by 3500 workers at Vale Inco, the world’s
largest nickel mine, in Sudbury, Ontario.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1356>

* * *
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.

ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism



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New group link -
Texas A&M University. Condi @ George Bush Presidential Library on the cold war
ending and the future free world VIDEO
Condoleezza Rice speaks on how difficult it looked to win the cold war at times
and what a pleasant surprise it was to be right there as the USA's
Soviet-specialist advisor to President Bush when she (oops ) we won the cold
war.  Also Condi speaks about struggle to define Islam, the two versions, one
democratic, the other an 11th Century view. The final victory for democracy and
freedom thoughout all the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7okAIBefY



Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice speaks at Bush School on significance
of Cold War's end
http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2009/11/10/News/Former.\
Secretary.Of.State.Condoleezza.Rice.Speaks.At.Bush.School.On.Significance-382721\
7.shtml

Photo Credit: Nicholas Badger

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice helped President George H.W. Bush and
Texas A&M University celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin
Wall with a speech Monday at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.

Rice used her words to reflect on the importance of the pivotal year of 1989 and
the world events culminating with the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989.

"It's a time for celebration because it did mark the end of communism in Europe,
and it did mark the freedom for so many people," Rice said. "It's a time for
commemoration, to commemorate the sacrifices of those who did not live to see
[the fall of the Wall]. And perhaps most of all, it's a time for reflection."

Rice's speech was part of a daylong celebration for the 20th anniversary of the
fall of the Berlin Wall and was presented by the Scowcroft Institute of
International Affairs.
"Our goal at Scowcroft is to bring the world to Aggieland and to bring Aggieland
to the world," said Jeffrey Engel, associate director of programming for the
Scowcroft Institute.

The daylong celebration allowed A&M a glimpse at the importance of the event and
its impact on the global stage.

"The Cold War ended. The Berlin Wall fell. The Iron Curtain was no more," Engel
said.

Bush was an integral part of the diplomacy involved in bringing an end to the
Soviet Union and bringing freedom to people of Europe. During this time in world
history, Bush worked alongside Soviet Union Head of State Mikhail Gorbachev and
Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl.
"The president of the United States was able to give strength to those two men
so they could do what they needed to do, and together, the three of them were
able to use their talents and use their abilities for the good of humankind,"
Rice said.

Bush, though, was quick to show his appreciation for the role of Rice in
international affairs and politics.

"She's strong; she's represented our nation with such class and distinction,"
Bush said. "Good government requires men and women of exceptional talent and
vision to make it work. In Condi, we have someone who understands the complex
and compelling challenges that face our world today like very few can."

Although Rice is a Soviet specialist, she did not anticipate playing a role in
the end of the Cold War that plagued international affairs for so much of the
20th century.

"I never dreamed I would be the Soviet specialist in the White House at the end
of the Cold War, because I never dreamed there was going to be an end to the
Cold War," Rice said. "If you really do talk to people honestly, no one really
thought there was going to be an end to the Cold War."

Although there were many times of trouble throughout the history of the Cold
War, Rice said the moments were working toward a central goal that, although not
evident at the time, became a success.

"Today's headlines and history's judgment are not the same," Rice said.

Of all the pieces of the puzzle that came together at the fall of the Berlin
Wall, one of the most central aspects was the ideal of freedom. It was this
ideal that citizens and leaders alike worked toward, Rice said.

"We believe in the proposition that every man, woman and child ought to live in
freedom. We believe that human beings reach their full potential when they can
enjoy the fruits of their labor," Rice said. "This view of human history, our
view of human history, triumphed. It triumphed because it continued to live in
the hearts and minds of people."

Although many current Aggie students were too young or not yet alive at the time
of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was an event that impacted the world as
America works to promote the ideals of freedom and democracy, Rice said.

"What today's commemoration really reminds us is that when the United States of
America really sets its mind to something, even if it takes 40 years, we'll find
a way to get it done, because we are, more than anything, more than anybody in
the world, an optimistic people," Rice said. "We're an optimistic people, not
because we see the world through rose-colored glasses, but because so many times
we have been a part of historical circumstances and what seemed impossible one
day, just seemed improbable the next."




Rice hails Berlin Wall's fall as one of history's surprises
By VIMAL PATEL
vimal.patel@...
http://www.theeagle.com/local/Rice-hails-Berlin-Wall-s-fall-as-one-of-history-s-\
surprises
 
 
 



Today's headlines and history's judgments rarely are the same, former Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice said to a standing room-only crowd on the Texas A&M
campus Monday evening.
 
That's what she told herself when things got tough in the White House, and, she
admitted to laughter, "because I didn't like today's headlines."
 
Rice spoke for less than an hour during a daylong commemoration of the 20-year
anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall and the unification of Germany.
 
No one believed that the Berlin Wall would come down without a shot fired, she
told the several hundred people gathered at the George Bush Presidential
Library.
 
If you had said otherwise when the Cold War raged, "they would have had you
committed," Rice said. "History plays a trick on us."
She added: "What seems impossible, after the fact sometimes seems inevitable."
 
Rice -- who served as the nation's chief diplomat from January 2005 to 2009
under former President George W. Bush -- is the first black woman to hold that
position.
 
As national security adviser from January 2001 to 2005 and head of the national
security council, Rice played a significant role in decisions about the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars.
 
Rice singled out three world leaders for praise in the aftermath of the wall's
fall on Nov. 9, 1989: Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl and the man sitting in front of her, President George H. W. Bush.
 
Gorbachev chose not to use the Soviet Union's might to try to "reverse history."
Kohl "knew how to seize the moment." And Bush understood that gaining rapport
was key.
 
"Gorbachev could trust George H. W. Bush not to humiliate him, not to take
advantage of him, and to ease [the Soviet Union's] decline," Rice said. "That's
the most extraordinary diplomatic feat of the century."
 
Rice is a senior public policy fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor
of political science at Stanford University.
 
She joined the Stanford faculty in 1981 as an assistant professor of political
science, and served as the school's provost, the top academic official, from
1993 to 1999.
 
Rice has authored or co-authored several books, including Germany Unified and
Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft and The Gorbachev Era.
 
She served as an adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1987 and, two years
later, was appointed director of Soviet and East European Affairs on the
National Security Council.
 
Her talk zeroed in on German unification, but during the question-and-answer
session, some audience members asked her about current world hotspots.
 
She advocated a "sunshine policy" toward North Korea, essentially opening up the
country to outside influence whenever possible. She said her administration had
discussed having the totalitarian country's women's soccer team visit the U.S.
 
"Something has to start to open that place up a bit so that when it collapses,
and it will, it won't be so violent," she said.
 
She said Islam is struggling with "two visions" -- one is the democratic kind in
Turkey; the other is the extremist version lacking in tolerance.
 
"If that other vision wins out, then we're going to struggle for decades and
decades and decades with terrorism," she said.
 
On Sunday, in St. Louis Park, Minn., about 125 protesters greeted her with signs
that read, "Torture isn't kosher" and "Would Jesus waterboard?" according to
local press accounts. Since she left office 10 months ago, critics have
unsuccessfully pressured her to acknowledge that the Bush-era practice of
waterboarding -- pouring water over a detainee's head to create the sensation of
drowning -- is torture.
 
In Aggieland, the 54-year-old was greeted with a standing ovation.
 
Rice spoke as part of the Lenore and Francis Humphrys International Speakers
Program, which brings world leaders and renowned international affairs scholars
to Texas A&M.
 



 
 

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at Beth El Synagogue in St.
Louis Park Sunday as a part of a National Speaker Series.
 
Condoleezza Rice spoke at a synagogue in St. Louis Park Sunday, addressing
issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorism and the spread of
democracy in the Middle East.
 
Rice’s visit is part of Beth El Synagogue’s national speaker series, which
has included the likes of Dan Rather, Colin Powell and former President Bill
Clinton, and acts as an important fundraiser for the community.
 
“The only reason that we are able to fight for our freedoms is because there
are those on the frontlines of freedom …� Rice said in her speech.
“Especially those men and women in uniform on the frontlines of freedom in
places like Bosnia and Baghdad …�
 
In her speech, Rice said Israel is an important ally for the United States in
the Middle East. She also focused on eliminating terrorism in the region and
spreading democracy.
 
“Every day, terrorists plotted and they planned,� Rice said. “We had to
recognize that they had to be right only once, and we had to be right 100
percent of the time and that was an unfair fight.�
 
During the question and answer segment that followed Rice’s speech, she
answered queries relating to the United States’ stance on the Iranian nuclear
weapons program, Chinese-U.S. relations and the importance of education, among
other topics.
 



Peter Dow comments -
 
President of the USA, President of the European Union, President of the World
maybe one day. Condi  should be invited to take her pick of the job
she wants to run for and do.

The way those protestors  were going on you'd think Condi was lecturing on
water-boarding. Not so.
Condi was the one who put a stop to water-boarding so have some respect please.
 

 
Rice for President Yahoo Group
 
"Condoleezza Rice for President in 2012. Join this group of supporters from
everywhere on the world wide web."
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/rice- for-president/
 




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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email newsletter was sent to you in graphical HTML format.
If you're seeing this version, your email program prefers plain text emails.
You can read the original version online:
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In ForLiberation 10, September-October 2009: ( http://www.forliberation.org/ )

Hassan Jafar Zaidi ( http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=209 ) dispels
myths of the ideological basis of creation of Pakistan and provides an
historical account of factors that led to partition of Indian
subcontinent.

Gopal Balakrishnan ( http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=253 ) asks
whether the present economic crisis will lead to a new phase of
capitalist accumulation, or a growthless"stationary state".

James Buchan ( http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=264 )traces historical
patterns of revolution and reaction behind the June Days in Iran.

Olivier Zajec ( http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=274 ) provides an
account of socio-economic and military developments of Indian power
underpinning it's ambitions in the South-Asian and region abroad.

Audio recordings from Noam Chomsky's  (
http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=288 )speech delivered in London at SOAS
last week on 29th Oct 2009. He spoke in detail about US Imperialism,
global power crisis and human rights in the 21st century.

Terry Eagleton ( http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=258 )on Fredric
Jameson: does his emphasis on form serve to stave off questions of
content?

Achin Vanaik ( http://forliberation.org/wp/?p=260 )on Bill Emmott,
Rivals. Contending Asian powers as arbiters of the 21st century,
through Western establishment eyes.

-------------------------

Geneva, Switzerland, editor@..., www.forliberation.org

_____________________________
Change email address / Leave mailing list:
http://ymlp123.com/u.php?YMLPID=gueymymgsguyug
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New group link -
 
 
New Group Link
 
Europe. Condoleezza Rice for European Union President. Condi in the ring.
(YouTube)
Condoleezza Rice for President of the European Union. Condoleezza Rice, the
former US Secretary of State under President Bush would have made a great
president of the USA and still may do, perhaps if she runs in 2012 but until
then we Europeans should give Condi a wee shot of being President of Europe. If
she is elected US president, she can decide if she wants to be president of both
the EU and the USA or just the USA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljVEefbqN44
 


 
 

--- On Sat, 31/10/09, Peter Dow <peterdow@...> wrote:


From: Peter Dow <peterdow@...>
Subject: [rice-for-president] Condoleezza Rice for President OF THE EUROPEAN
UNION!
To: "Rice for President" <rice-for-president@yahoogroups.com>,
Date: Saturday, 31 October, 2009, 4:46


 










 
BBC: German party cool on Blair for EU
http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/world/ europe/8329554. stm
 


Condoleezza Rice for President of the European Union.

Condoleezza Rice, the former US Secretary of State under President Bush would
have made a great president of the USA and still may do, perhaps if she runs in
2012 but until then we Europeans should give Condi a wee shot of being President
of Europe. If she is elected US president, she can decide if she wants to be
president of both the EU and the USA or just the USA.
 


Condi doesn't have a wooden heart (YouTube)
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=cFDfDEa0kJM
 

 
Condoleezza Rice with senior European Union leaders. German Foreign Affairs
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the capacity of the EU Presidency, EU
foreign policy supreme Javier Solana (R) and EU Commissioner for External
Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner
 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Condoleezza Rice about to kiss, well cheek
to cheek anyway.
 

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) escorts U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice after their meeting about the Russia-Georgia conflict at the
Fort de Bregancon residence in Bormes-les Mimosas on the French Riviera August
14, 2008.
 

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (R) and Foreign Secretary David Miliband (L)
meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice inside 10 Downing Street in
central London, on February 6, 2008.
 

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is greeted by former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, who co-chairs the 2008 WEF edition during the World
Economic Forum opening session 23 January 2008.
 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, meets with Italian Foreign Affairs
Minister Franco Frattini, Tuesday, July 29, 2008, at the State Department in
Washington.
 

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, left, shakes hands with
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, in the presence of Spain's
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, center, after a meeting at the Moncloa
Palace, in Madrid, Spain, Friday, June 1, 2007.
 

International Conference on Iraq - 22 June 2005 - Brussels. Condoleezza Rice and
Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign Affairs
 
 


 
Rice for President Yahoo Group
 
"Condoleezza Rice for President in 2012. Join this group of supporters from
everywhere on the world wide web."
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/rice- for-president/
 






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

What's new at Links: US-Colombia, Venezuela, Berlin Wall, queerphobia,
green jobs, Karen Silkwood, S. Africa, Honduras, Ireland, US health

* * *
Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed
(http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to
consider an article, please send it to links@...

*Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links.

* * *


     US-Colombia military deal: Threat of imperialist-backed war on
     Venezuela <http://links.org.au/node/1346>

By Kiraz Janicke
November 9, 2009 -- The possibility of an imperialist-backed war in the
Americas came a step closer on October 30, when Colombia and the United
States finalised a 10-year accord allowing the US to massively expand
its military presence in the Latin American country. The move comes as
the US. seeks to regain its hegemony over Latin America - which has
declined over the past decade in the context of a continent-wide
rebellion against neoliberalism spearheaded by the revolution in
Venezuela, led by President Hugo Chavez.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1346>


     `Freedoms won, freedoms lost' -- left views on the fall of the
     Berlin Wall <http://links.org.au/node/1354>

November 15, 2009 -- For the past few weeks the international capitalist
mass media has been awash with triumphalist hoopla about the so-called
``collapse of Communism'' as it celebrates the 20th anniversary of the
1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. Below Links International Journal of
Socialist Renewal posts a number of commenatries from the left that deal
with facts and fictions of those dramatic events, and how the people
most effected are faring today.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1354>


     Capitalism, sexism and queerphobia's social basis
     <http://links.org.au/node/1353>

By Jess Moore
There are social expectations on everyone, men and women, to act in
particular ways based on our sex. This is bad for everyone because it's
stifling, but it's worse for women and queers.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1353>


     Britain: The Lucas Aerospace workers' plan -- A real Green New Deal
     <http://links.org.au/node/1350>

By Hilary Wainwright and Andy Bowman
October 9, 2009 -- Thirty-five years ago, workers at the Lucas Aerospace
company formulated an ``alternative corporate plan'' to convert military
production to socially useful and environmentally desirable purposes. We
consider what lessons it holds for the greening of the world economy today.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1350>


     Convert the ailing car industry to socially necessary production!
     <http://links.org.au/node/1349>

With the economic recession and environmental crisis alternative plans
for socially useful, sustainable production have never been more
relevant argues Lars Henriksson.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1349>


     Karen Silkwood: an inspiration to fighters for environmental justice
     and workers' rights <http://links.org.au/node/1348>

By Sharyn Jenkins
Thirty-five years ago, on November 13, 1974, US anti-nuclear activist
and trade unionist Karen Silkwood was killed in a car crash many suspect
was deliberately caused. Karen Silkwood will be remembered as someone
who fought an uphill and often unpopular battle against the ruthless
nuclear industry. She is an inspiration to all who believe in
environmental justice and workers' rights.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1348>


     What is 'left' about 'the left' in South Africa?
     <http://links.org.au/node/1347>

By Dale T. McKinley
November 5, 2009 -- For several years now, but particularly since the
ascendancy of Jacob Zuma and his South African Communist Party (SACP)
and Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) allies within both
the African National Congress (ANC) and the state, ``the left'' in South
Africa has come to be almost completely associated with (and presented
as) the SACP, COSATU and, to a lesser extent, the ANC itself. Even
though this state of affairs ignores a wide range of organisations and
people that can stake a serious claim to being part of ``the left'', the
fact is that contemporary politics in South Africa are dominated, in one
way or another, by these three alliance partners. As such, it is a good
time to pose a critically important question: What is ``left'' about
``the left'' in South Africa?

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1347>


     Honduras: Why the resistance will boycott the November 29 election;
     Zelaya on accord <http://links.org.au/node/1345>

November 10, 2009 -- Ricardo Salgado, an Honduran analyst of the
``crisis'' in Honduras, explains to Australian community radio's Warwick
Fry the latest developments in Honduras and the postion of the
resistance movement. In spite of pressure on the coup regime to
recognise the legitimacy of Zelaya as president ten days ago, Zelaya is
still trapped inside the Brazilian embassy. The ``agreement'' (designed
more to save face for the US and the coup regime rather than the
restoration of a democratic solution) has failed. The coup regime has
failed to meet the one-week deadline to restore Zelaya to his post as
president in a reasonable amount of time to allow a ``clean'' election
process.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1345>


     Ireland: (slideshow) Political murals of West Belfast
     <http://links.org.au/node/1344>

By Lauren Carrol Harris
November 9, 2009 -- Belfast -- Though Northern Ireland has slipped from
the nightly news, "the troubles", including ongoing deep sectarian
divisions and low-level violence, are a daily reality for Irish
republicans. Just one reminder of the struggle for a united Ireland, and
example of the Irish people's creative resistance, is the multitude of
political murals that smother the walls of West Belfast, a republican
stronghold. Many commemorate the activists and civilians whose lives
were taken in the struggle. But the murals don't just discuss Irish
politics -- on these walls are messages of international solidarity for
other peoples' movements for change and self-determination. Here are
just a few.

View at http://links.org.au/node/1344


     United States: Where's the socialism? The good, the bad and the ugly
     of health-care reform <http://links.org.au/node/1343>

By Billy Wharton
November 9, 2009 -- Where is the socialism now? Frenetic right-wingers
spent a good part of the US summer shouting about the "government
takeover of health care" or the "stealth socialist health-care plan".
Now that the Affordable Healthcare for America Act has been passed by a
slim margin in the US House of Representatives, on November 8, there are
few traces of anything even resembling socialism. Instead, Americans
will find the good, the bad and the ugly of health-care reform all
contained within the 1990-page bill.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1343>


     Michael Lebowitz on Venezuela: `Socialism requires a new state from
     below' <http://links.org.au/node/1341>

Michael Lebowitz interviewed by José Sant Roz
<http://www.aporrea.org/tiburon/a89208.html>, translated by Kiraz Janicke

November 5, 2009 -- On the question of the Bolivarian revolution in
Venezuela, Michael Lebowitz is one of the thinkers who has penetrated
deepest into our process. He plunges his scrutinising gaze into its most
diverse and conflicting issues, in order to calmly and forcefully reveal
its truth with knifelike clarity. He talks like a peasant or a worker
who dips into the reality that they experience, that they suffer and feel.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1341>

* * *
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.

ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at
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What's new at Links: Honduras, John Bellamy Foster, refugees, Lenin,
Peru, Austria, land grab, ecosocialism, Nepal, carbon trading

* * *
Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism

Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed
(http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to
consider an article, please send it to links@...

*Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links.

* * *


     Honduras: Deal to restore Zelaya collapses under weight of US-coup
     regime's duplicity <http://links.org.au/node/1340>

By Stuart Munckton
November 8, 2009 -- The accord signed on October 30 to resolve the
crisis that has brought Honduras to a standstill since the June 28
military coup has collapsed. The coup leader Roberto Micheletti has
continued to refuse to accept the accord's insistence that elected
President Manuel Zelaya be reinstated.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1340>


     John Bellamy Foster: `The roots of the world ecological crisis'
     <http://links.org.au/node/1337>

October 29, 2009 -- "We have no other word but crisis to describe it,
really. It's very different than the economic crisis that we are now in,
in the sense that even a very, very severe economic crisis, such as the
one that has been present since late 2007 ... still is, in many ways, a
cyclical event... These crises are periodic -- it's part of the nature
of capitalism... But what we are talking about as the world ecological
crisis is another kind of crisis.''

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1337>


     Joint statement: Respect human rights -- free the refugees! Reject
     Australia's 'Indonesian solution'! Welcome the asylum seekers
     <http://links.org.au/node/1336>

Joint statement by the Australian Socialist Alliance; Socialist Party
(Australia); Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM); Network of the Oppressed
People (JERIT), Malaysia; CWI Malaysia; Confederation Congress of
Indonesian Union Alliance (KASBI); Working Peoples Association (PRP),
Indonesia; National Liberation Party of Unity (PAPERNAS), Indonesia;
Indonesian National Front for Labor Struggle (FNPBI); Socialist Worker
New Zealand, Socialist Alternative (Australia), Partido Lakas ng Masa,
Philippines, Transform Asia, Labour Party Pakistan, Resistance
(Australia) and Militan-Indonesia

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1336>


     Lenin's place in history <http://links.org.au/node/1338>

By Graham Milner
Lenin stands out as one of the unquestionably great personalities of
20th century history. Yet such has been the impact of this man on the
course of history in this century that his life and ideas have often
become the subject of either the most vicious distortion or the most
abject and craven cult-worship.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1338>


     Peru: Government launches attack on Indigenous peoples' organisation
     <http://links.org.au/node/1335>

Introduction and translation by Kiraz Janicke
November 4, 2009 --The government of Peru has launched a massive attack
on Indigenous peoples through a request to dissolve the Amazon
Interethnic Development Association of the Peruvian Rainforest
(AIDESEP), Peru's largest and most representative Indigenous organisation.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1335>


     Austria: Students occupy universities; mass demonstrations and broad
     solidarity throughout the country <http://links.org.au/node/1334>

By the international press working group, Occupied University of Vienna
November 3, 2009 -- Throughout the last few years, studying conditions
at Austrian universities have dramatically declined. The introduction of
tuition fees, a massive cutback of democratic structures and lack of
course availability are only some examples. Reasons can be found in the
huge decline in university funding on the one hand and the introduction
of the three-level "Bologna" system on the othe, resulting in the
implementation of admission reductions and limits. On October 22,
students' dissatisfaction turned into savage protest.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1334>


     Corporate investors lead rush for control of poor countries'
     farmland <http://links.org.au/node/1333>

With all the talk about "food security," and distorted media statements
like "South Korea leases half of Madagascar's land," it may not be
evident to a lot of people that the lead actors in today's global land
grab for overseas food production are not countries or governments but
corporations. So much attention has been focused on the involvement of
states, like Saudi Arabia, China or South Korea. But the reality is that
while governments are facilitating the deals, private companies are the
ones getting control of the land. And their interests are simply not the
same as those of governments.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1333>


     Fourth International debates `ecosocialism'
     <http://links.org.au/node/1332>

By Michael Löwy

October 10, 2009 -- Daniel Tanuro's report on climate change [Report on
climate change at the IC of the Fourth International] is one of the most
important documents produced by our movement in recent years. It is an
invaluable contribution to the political arming of revolutionary
Marxists and to making them capable of facing up to the challenges of
the 21st century.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1332>


     Nepal: Interview with the UCPN (Maoist)'s Baburam Bhattarai: `We
     have not abandoned the revolutionary path'
     <http://links.org.au/node/1331>

October 26, 2009 -- This interview first appeared on the web site of the
Britain-based World People's Resistance Movement (WPRN). It has been
posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with
permission. Baburam Bhattarai is a politburo member of the Unified
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and was finance minister in the former
Maoist government led by Prachanda.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1331>


     Climate change: The carbon trading debacle
     <http://links.org.au/node/1330>

By Carter Burke
October 28, 2009 -- The next major international summit on climate
change will be held in Copenhagen in early December, 2009. The position
of the United States in these talks remains ambiguous.

     * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1330>

* * *
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.

ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]