Austerity

Is The Public Debt Legitimate?

June 12, 2014 Razmig Keucheyan, www.theguardian.com Educate! Austerity, Debt, Inequality, Occupy

As history has shown, France is capable of the best and the worst, and often in short periods of time. On the day following Marine Le Pen's Front National victory in the European elections, however, France made a decisive contribution to the reinvention of a radical politics for the 21st century. On that day, the committee for a citizen's audit on the public debt issued a 30-page report on French public debt, its origins and evolution in the past decades. The report was written by a group of experts in public finances under the coordination of Michel Husson, one of France's finest critical economists. Its conclusion is straightforward: 60% of French public debt is illegitimate. Anyone who has read a newspaper in recent years knows how important debt is to contemporary politics. As David Graeber among others has shown, we live in debtocracies, not democracies. Debt, rather than popular will, is the governing principle of our societies, through the devastating austerity policies implemented in the name of debt reduction. Debt was also a triggering cause of the most innovative social movements in recent years, the Occupy movement. If it were shown that public debts were somehow illegitimate, that citizens had a right to demand a moratorium – and even the cancellation of part of these debts – the political implications would be huge. It is hard to think of an event that would transform social life as profoundly and rapidly as the emancipation of societies from the constraints of debt. And yet this is precisely what the French report aims to do.

UN: Austerity Crippling Planet, One-Quarter Of Europe In Poverty

June 8, 2014 Occupy.com, www.occupy.com Educate! Austerity, Europe, Poverty

The United Nation's labor agency has denounced "premature" austerity measures brought in by governments around the world during the financial crisis, saying they have hurt the world's most vulnerable people. Isabel Ortiz, director of social welfare of the International Labor Organization (ILO), said on Tuesday that in 2014 alone at least 122 governments cut public spending, including in 82 developing countries. In the European Union, where many states brought in severe budget cuts in response to the debt crisis, she estimated that as many as 123 million people – or a quarter of the bloc's population – were now classified as poor because of cuts in social protection. Now, more than 70 percent of the world's population was not adequately covered by social protection, the ILO said. But China, the world's second-largest economy, has almost succeeded in rolling out universal pension coverage and has increased the wages of its lowest-paid workers. In 'Time of Most Need' Cuts to "pensions, the health system and social security... the removal of subsidies, downsizing among social workers and health personnel" hit poor people at a time when they were most in need of support, she said.

European Days Of Action Against Austerity Begin May 15

May 15, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Austerity, Europe, Spain

The programs of austerity and privatizations imposed by the Troika decide on the lives of millions of people in Europe. Together with people in Europe and the whole world we resist the rehabilitation of capitalism on the backs of employees as well as unemployed, retirees, migrants and the youth. Together with them we say: “We don’t owe, we won’t pay!” While the European Union crisis regime builds more and more borders in order to divide, exploit and oppress us, new transnational movements are arising. We are social movement activists, altermondialists, migrants, precarious and industry workers, party members and unionists and many more, who want to connect our struggles and powers beyond nation-state lines. During the week before the elections for the European Parliament we call for the spirit of the multitude of these social movements to build real democracy from below. We call for an international week of decentralised actions from May 15-25, 2014. Be part of it!

Building Movements That Can Move Beyond Reform

May 4, 2014 Eviction Free Zone, www.libcom.org Strategize! Austerity, Revolution

In an effort to solve the false problem of the national debt, and in response to the first-world depression that was inflicted on the people by the banking class, austerity measures are being implemented in the U.S. from the blueprint established in the European Union. Austerity, cleanly put, is how a welfare state attempts to respond to the internal debt it has accumulated. To do this it begins to sever social spending, which affects both public sector jobs and the services it provides to those who have fallen through the growing cracks in capitalism. This inevitably both increases rates of unemployment by eliminating entire sectors of jobs as well as shoving those in need into dire situations where basic material needs are no longer guaranteed by society. If we intend to really fight back against this growing austerity, a “new normal” of precarious work and gripping debt, then we have to think of the social safety net not as a grouping of different services, but rather individual areas of social life. We must develop a strategy that is able to see each of these areas facing cuts as specific parts of society, yet when spoken of together make a whole.

Quebec Students Continue Fight against Austerity

May 3, 2014 Roshan Bliss, www.PopularResistance Resist! Austerity, Canada, Student Activism, Youth

ASSÉ - a union of student unions boasting a membership of over 80,000 students in Quebec - has earned a reputation as one of the most militant student groups in North America. Through a sophisticated structure of grassroots, direct democracy, it has created a sustained student movement on campuses across Quebec with a culture of what is known as "confrontational syndicalism" - a political orientation that acknowledges that political elites and university administrations alike have interests that are often opposed to average people or students and that building power to directly challenge those institutions is a requisite for maintaining and advancing their rights. . . It is what has led the students and youth of Quebec to take their fights off campus, beyond student issues, and into the streets to deliver a clearly articulated message in solidarity with other sectors of Quebecois society - "make the rich pay their fair share".

People’s Assembly Will Bring Down Austerity Government

May 2, 2014 People's Assembly Against Austerity, www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk Resist! Austerity, Popular Protest

Comedian and activist Russell Brand has announced he will speak out against spending cuts and austerity at a huge march being planned against the Coalition Government on 21 June. Brand, famous for his “don’t vote” spat with Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman, has now thrown his weight behind the People’s Assembly Against Austerity – Britain’s fastest growing movement against cuts - saying he will speak at its first national demonstration in London. And he has laid down a marker to Ministers and MPs, warning: “The People's Assembly will bring down any government that doesn't end austerity.” He will join tens of thousands of demonstrators who plan to start their march from outside the BBC headquarters in London in protest at the broadcaster’s lack of coverage of anti-austerity actions, nationally and regionally. The protest then heads for Parliament Square, where Brand will join other speakers calling for millions to join people’s assemblies across Britain, and attacking what he condemns as the “toxic swindle” of austerity.

Madrid People’s Creative Response to Imposed Austerity

April 26, 2014 Brandon Jourdan, www.vimeo.com Organize! Austerity, Protest, Spain

This short documentary explores ongoing resistance and self-organization in the midst of the economic and social crisis in Madrid, Spain. As social conditions continue to deteriorate across the country, people have been turning to the streets and to each other to find for solutions to the crisis. This film tells a story of the massive mobilization that saw millions of people converge on Madrid on March 22nd 2014, the story of the proliferation of social centers, community gardens, self-organized food banks, and the story of large-scale housing occupations by and for families that have been evicted. The film pieces together many of the creative ways that people have been coping with crisis and asks what the future may hold for Spain. Filmed and edited in March/April 2014, it is part of the Global Uprisings documentary series. View more at globaluprisings.org.

Mobilizing For The Common: Some Lessons From Italy

April 14, 2014 Jerome Roos, www.roarmag.org Strategize! Austerity, Guaranteed income, Housing, Video

Saturday’s protest in Rome was the latest in a series of actions around a common project. What can organizers elsewhere learn from Italy’s movements? "The Italian movements may provide us with at least one clue on where to start: by sitting down together and carefully spelling out a common project behind which disparate political groups, autonomous movements and isolated individuals can unite. What is needed is a single banner capable of sustaining a broad popular coalition behind a set of shared aims and principles." Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Rome this Saturday to denounce the austerity measures and economic reforms of Matteo Renzi’s new government and to restate their call for income, housing and dignity for all.

Why No Sustained Protests (Yet)?

April 14, 2014 Richard D. Wolff, www.truth-out.org Strategize! Austerity, Protest, Socialism

The post-1945 destruction of the New Deal coalition - unionists, socialists and communists - keeps influencing Americans' lives. Today, its effects help explain why popular actions have been so muted against US economic changes since the 1970s and especially against the bailouts and austerity since the crash of 2008. Those effects also suggest what could reignite sustained protests and demands for change. First to be destroyed after 1945 were the communists. Coordinated attacks came from business, conservatives, government and media. Most academics and liberals (including many who had supported the New Deal coalition) were complicit in that destruction. Once again we witnessed that old repressive tool: rebranding domestic social movements as mere agents of an evil foreign puppet-master. More important, demonizing the communists served to tar other social criticism that included the capitalist economic system with much the same brush.

Greeks Strike Against Austerity Before Merkel Visit

April 10, 2014 Renee Maltezou and Costas Pitas, www.reuters.com Resist! Austerity, European Union (EU), Greece, IMF

Thousands of striking Greeks marched to parliament on Wednesday to protest against job cuts and austerity measures imposed by the country's foreign creditors, including Germany, whose leader will visit Athens this week. Schools and pharmacies were shut, ships remained docked at ports, hospitals operated on emergency staff, and transport in Athens was disrupted due to the 24-hour strike called by private sector union GSEE and its public sector counterpart ADEDY. More than 20,000 workers, pensioners, students and the unemployed marched peacefully through the streets of the Greek capital chanting "EU, IMF take the bailout and get out of here!" Unions said their anti-austerity message was also aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is due to meet Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Athens on Friday. Germany has insisted on painful spending cuts and tax hikes in return for international loans.

Greek Journalists Strike To Protest Austerity

April 9, 2014 Europe Online, www.en.europeonline-magazine.eu Resist! Austerity, Greece, Strike

Athens (dpa) - Greek journalists walked off the job for 24 hours on Tuesday to protest austerity measures and income cuts, forcing a news blackout across the country. The strike, which began at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) affected all media, including radio and television news broadcasts, websites and daily newspapers. Journalists‘ unions have been protesting firings and pension and benefit cuts while hundreds of journalists in the private sector frequently go unpaid for months. Tuesday‘s strike comes one day ahead of a nationwide strike by workers in the state and private sector, which is expected to disrupt public services and transport, including rail and ferry service. Hospitals will be operating on skeleton staff as doctors and nurses join the 24-hour walkout and pharmacies will be closed for the day.

Tens Of Thousands Demand End To EU Austerity

April 5, 2014 Andrea Germanos www.commondreams.org Resist! Austerity, Europe, Protest

We need investment, not austerity. It's time for a new path forward. That was the message brought by tens of thousands of people from across Europe who converged in Brussels on Friday in a European Trade Union Confederation-organized protest against EU-supported austerity policies. "Our message is simple, and one which EU leaders do not want to hear – that their policies for dealing with the financial crisis are not enough, and have caused a mounting social and economic crisis," stated Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. "Our message is that austerity is not working. Demonstrators marched through the streets carrying placards reading, "We demand quality jobs and solidarity," "Another Europe is possible," "Down with austerity," and "Invest to get out of the crisis."

Thousands Of Quebec Students Protest Austerity Measures

April 4, 2014 Amanda Kelly, www.globalnews.ca Resist! Austerity, Quebec, Student Activism

Less than six minutes after it was scheduled to begin, the rally organized by one of Quebec’s more militant students’ federation, ASSE, was declared illegal by Montreal police. By 2 p.m., several thousand protesters had already gathered at the starting point for the march at Place Emilie Gamelin in downtown Montreal. The assembled crowd, wearing red squares and carrying placards, contained a mix of students, masked protesters and families. Riot police surrounded the square and declared the rally illegal because protest organizers did not provide a march route, as required by the controversial Montreal municipal bylaw P6. After an hour wait, the protesters set off, heading north up Berri Street and then west along Sherbrooke Avenue. After snaking its way through the downtown core, the march, which extended several city blocks, ended at Victoria Square, in front of Quebecor headquarters. The protest was declared over by student federation ASSE at approximately 4:20 p.m., although several hundred protesters continued the march.

Anti-austerity Protesters Occupy Revenue Office In Dublin

April 1, 2014 Patsy McGarry, www.irishtimes.com Resist! Austerity, Direct Action, Ireland

A group of six anti-austerity activists are occupying the Revenue Commissioners’ offices in Dublin’s Cathedral Street, off O’Connell Street. The occupation began at about 11.15am today when the five men and one woman began a sit-down protest in the Revenue offices as people dealt with their tax affairs - some making their Local Property Tax payments ahead of the deadline. Gardaí were called to the scene and the offices were closed to the public at about 12.10pm. A spokesman for the group, Ciarán Carr, told The Irish Times the six were “all independent and not members of a political party”. Their “anti-austerity sit-in” was “on behalf of those who can’t pay the property tax”, he said. “We won’t give up the fight no matter how small,” he said.

Vatican Banner Drop: “Stop For God’s Sake. You Are Killing Us. Give Us Back Our Lives.”

March 30, 2014 Staff, www.nbcnews.com Resist! Austerity, Finance and the Economy, Inequality

A man scaled the dome of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday, protesting Italy's tough austerity programs. When bar-owner Marcello Di Finzio, 49, got on to the famous rooftop, he unfurled a banner calling for Pope Francis to step in and help those hit hard by the financial crisis and push an end to the austerity program. The banner read, "Stop for God's sake, you are killing us. Give us back our lives." Italian media reported that shortly before his climb he also posted a message via social media. He wrote: "They have taken everything from me, but they won't take my dignity as well".

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