Eurozone governments and European authorities are using the economy to justify pushing through rightwing policy changes ... read full story / add a comment

I first knew Mozambique through close contact in Dar es Salaam with FRELIMO in the early and difficult years – the 1960s and the first-half of 1970s – of its armed liberation struggle. Then Mozambique was seeking both to unite itself and to find political and military purchase against an intransigent and arrogant Portuguese colonialism. And FRELIMO – under the leadership of, first, Eduardo Mondlane (to be assassinated by the Portuguese) and, after him, of Samora Machel – did indeed manage, by 1975, to lead the country to victory. Along the way, FRELIMO succeeded in liberating zones in Mozambique adjacent to its rear bases in Tanzania and Zambia where it built a new social infrastructure of agricultural coops, schools and health services. Equally important, it forged an impressive corps of politically conscious and disciplined leadership cadres (see Cabaço, 2001 and 2009). ... read full story / add a comment

TORONTO 26 Juin 2010 - L'intersection de King et Bay est la capitale financière du Canada. Dans le quadrilatère formés par ces rues infâmes, au milieu des gratte-ciel emblématiques, sont situés les sièges sociaux des banques, corporations, entreprises de relations publiques et cabinets d'avocats qui aident à diriger le capitalisme mondial. King et Bay, à Toronto, est le cœur du capitalisme colonial canadien, qui projette sa misère partout dans le monde, grâce à l'exploitation minière, la foresterie et d'autres entreprises d'extraction des ressources. ... read full story / add a comment

Contrario a la euforia del gobierno de Uribe Vélez, tras la aprobación del TLC con Canadá, que repiten como loros los medios de comunicación colombianos de propiedad de multinacionales extranjeras, ese Tratado es una mala noticia para el pueblo colombiano. ... read full story / add a comment

Corre un bel rischio chi volesse tentare un approccio critico, pubblico e non apologetico, dei Mondiali di Calcio, proprio mentre nel nostro paese siamo al culmine della frenesia collettiva per le aspettative di buoni risultati, nutrite da un buon sentimento nazionale e da una diffusa eccitazione. Ma è un rischio che bisogna proprio assumersi poichè, indipendentenente al contesto, è sempre necessario distinguere il mito dalla realtà. Nel caso del "più grande spettacolo del mondo", dando pure per scontati sia la bellezza che il divertimento insiti nel gioco del calcio, la fabbricazione del mito ha creato una situazione di ebbrezza, un sorta di forte e veloce euforia che oscura la realtà, a cui seguirà una rapida caduta depressiva nel ritorno alla realtà. [English] ... read full story / add a comment

Offering an unapologetic public critique of the FIFA Soccer World Cup at the height of the collective frenzy of positive expectation, feel-good nationalism and general public excitement that now exists in our country is a risky thing to do. But it is a risk that needs to be taken precisely because, no matter what the context, myths always need to be separated from realities. In the case of the ‘greatest show on earth’, leaving aside the very real beauty and enjoyment of the game of soccer, the myth-making has created a situation akin to inhaling tik – a short-lived high/euphoria that obscures all reality, followed by a rapid, depressing ‘come down’ back to that reality. ... read full story / add a comment

It's a shame the world's largest economies are reluctant to adopt the practical policies that can restore growth and employment ... read full story / add a comment

The populations now suffering under EU-imposed austerity must have a real and credible threat of leaving the euro. ... read full story / add a comment

Hace seis meses alguien dijo en Bogotá, delante de Stiglitz, para defender los TLC: “Hay que hacer la apertura agropecuaria para volver productivo al campo”. El Premio Nobel respondió: “Los tratados de libre comercio no se negocian, los imponen”. ... read full story / add a comment

Throughout Venezuela's record-breaking economic expansion, the government's opponents - which includes most of the international media as well as Washington - were "crying, waiting, hoping," as the rock and roll legend Buddy Holly once sang. The "oil bust" had to be just around the corner, they prayed and wrote. But for five and a half years from the first quarter of 2003, when the Chavez government first got control of the state-owned oil company, the real economy grew by 95 percent. Poverty was cut in half and extreme poverty by more than 70 percent, social spending per person more than tripled, and access to health care and higher education rose sharply. The voters rewarded Chavez with a re-election by his widest margin ever, 63% in 2006. ... read full story / add a comment

If not for the euro, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain could adopt expansionary policies to help their economies recover. ... read full story / add a comment

Entre algunas de las características más notorias del régimen uribista, se encuentra la de propalar mentiras en todos los terrenos para engrandecer las supuestas realizaciones del dueño del Ubérrimo. En el terreno económico, se nos aseguró, que estábamos viviendo en un paraíso de prosperidad que ni siquiera la crisis iba a dañar, porque la política económica de este régimen había sido tan benéfica que nos iba a blindar contra los peligros de la recesión mundial. A partir de tal falacia se postularon los “milagros económicos” a todos los niveles. Ya sabemos, con precisión, que tales milagros son en realidad pesadillas, como puede vislumbrarse al repasar de manera rápida unos cuantos aspectos de la economía colombiana, como los referidos al café, a la caída de las exportaciones a Venezuela y al deterioro del empleo y las condiciones de trabajo de los colombianos. ... read full story / add a comment

Los negociadores estuvieron todo el tiempo en línea directa con el presidente Uribe y si sacrificaron a 450.000 lecheros fue con su consentimiento.
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En la agenda oficial sobre comercio exterior del presidente de EE.UU., Barack Obama, divulgada por primera vez hoy, queda claro que no habrá TLC mientras Colombia no cambie sus leyes laborales y proteja a los sindicalistas. ... read full story / add a comment

Join the Radical Workers Bloc at the Brighton March for jobs Saturday 6/3 :: 12 noon :: the Level :: Brighton, UK

This demonstration, organised by Brighton and Hove Trades Union Council is billed as a “March for Jobs” – but we want more. Of course, we need to protect jobs. Every job lost to redundancy means more workload for those who remain. An injury to one really is an injury to all. But we also need to stop the cuts that take away vital services, hard-won by generations of struggle. ... read full story / add a comment

Esta semana se realiza la que el gobierno colombiano y los negociadores europeos han calificado como la última ronda de negociaciones de un Tratado de Libre Comercio. El gobierno de Uribe se ha esforzado por siete años en suscribir esta clase de tratados, habiéndolo conseguido solamente con Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras. Los TLC con Estados Unidos, Canadá y los países de Europa del Norte están pendientes de ratificación en esos países.

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Reiniciar el proceso de Negociación Multipartes con la Unión Europea ha despertado, con razón, conocidos temores. Aunque todavía no hay claridad sobre lo que pretende el Gobierno, vale la pena que la sociedad empiece a debatir los alcances de dicha negociación.
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UN PAESE DI “TARTASSATI” ED “EVASORI”:

Non esistendo sistemi fiscali “perfetti” (un po’ come le leggi elettorali), un sistema fiscale, generalmente, può essere:
- più “efficace” che giusto
- o più “giusto” che efficace.
Il dramma del nostro sistema fiscale, invece, è che esso non è:
a- né efficace (stante l’enorme “buco nero” dell’evasione fiscale che ha consentito crescere negli anni)
b- né giusto (stante la grave discriminazione dei lavoratori dipendenti e dei pensionati rispetto ai lavoratori autonomi: i primi tartassati con pesanti prelievi alla fonte, i secondi liberi di auto-denunciare a piacimento il proprio reddito!).

Segno evidente del marcato “disequilibrio” del nostro sistema fiscale è che:
a- mentre sulle spalle di lavoratori dipendenti e pensionati grava gran parte del “carico fiscale” pendente sugli Italiani (da soli, queste categorie garantiscono ben l’“82%” dell’intero gettito Irpef!)
b- i lavoratori autonomi sono in grado di difendersi dall’elevata pressione fiscale:
- “evadendo” le tasse (essendo il loro “reddito effettivo” difficilmente accertabile)
- “eludendo” le imposte (ad esempio, scaricando l’Iva anche su beni ad uso personale)
- e “dividendo le fonti di reddito” tra i componenti della famiglia (di modo che, pur a parità di reddito complessivo, il livello di reddito di ogni componente familiare si mantenga più basso di quello effettivo e rientri in scaglioni Irpef inferiori!).
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Swazis may face widespread hunger following an admission from the Swazi Government that it does not have the money to subsidise farming this year. In particular Swaziland staple food - maize - will be badly affected. Minister of Agriculture Clement Dlamini said there ‘was no money in place’ to subsidise the cost to farmers of seeds, fertiliser and other necessities.. He said without the subsidies it was impossible to ensure food security. ... read full story / add a comment

The Swazi Government has ordered 14 percent cuts in all department budgets in order to stop Swaziland going into bankruptcy. A total of E1.5 billion must be cut straight away, says Swaziland’s Finance Minister Majozi Sithole. ... read full story / add a comment