Politics

Spanish Local Elections: Upstart Podemos, Ciudadanos Parties Shine

May 25, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Educate! Elections, Left, Podemos, Politics, Social Change, Spain

Preliminary results from Spain’s regional elections show big gains for upstart leftist and center-right parties and the Conservatives losing their majority. While receiving the most total votes, the ruling PP party may now face coalition politics. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted in Sunday’s elections, the ruling People’s Party (PP) appears to have secured most of the votes in many of Spain’s 8,122 municipalities. However, it also lost the majority in most of them. Notably in the Madrid city council, PP managed to win 21 of the 57 seats, while 20 seats went to The Madrid Now (Ahora Madrid) coalition backed by a number of left-wing movements, such as Podemos. The Socialist Party (PSOE) won 9 seats in the capital’s assembly.

Popular Movement To Take Down Corrupt Guatemalan Politicians

May 23, 2015 Jeff Abbott, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Corruption, Guatemala, Politics

In spite of the thunder, lightning and torrential tropical rains that flooded the streets, nothing was going to stop nearly 65,000 Guatemalans from gathering to express their anger with a corrupt political class. The protests on May 16 were the continuation of a wave of popular indignation that has already forced two high-ranking government officials, including the vice president, to resign. It was a historic day, as protesters marched from different points across the city, converging on Central Park of Guatemala City for the “Citizen’s Party.” It was a festive atmosphere, with piñatas depicting the president and former vice president, live music, a DJ, and tens of thousands of people from across Guatemalan society. “Not Otto Pérez, nor Roxana, could have imagined this citizen’s party,” protesters sang, referring to the country’s president and vice president, respectively.

Broad Coalition Rallies To Defeat Obama On Trade Deal

May 21, 2015 Heidi Przybyla, www.bloomberg.com Resist! Capitalism, fast track, Free Trade, Politics, TPP

Once the Senate approves fast track trade negotiating authority for Obama, which could happen as early as this week, the battle will move to the House, where it expected to unleash a major lobbying battle. On the one side, a president who is more engaged in legislative trench warfare than he has been in a long time over legislation that would give him authority to establish the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “This is personal for him,” Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a member of the Democratic House leadership, told Bloomberg reporters and editors. On the other: a coalition of opponents that is far more diverse than the one that tried unsuccessfully to torpedo Clinton's North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, the first of several trade pacts struck since the 1990s that critics say have cost U.S. jobs and depressed wages.

US-Russia Round Three: Macedonia

May 20, 2015 Andrew Korybko, www.orientalreview.org Educate! History, Imperialism, Macedonia, Politics, Russia, usa

The US and Russia are currently involved in heated competition amidst the New Cold War, with their latest rivalry threatening to turn hot over Macedonia. They had already duked it out over Ukraine (and still are, to a large extent), and a deadly stalemate has now settled over Syria as the US covert war on the country drags through its fourth year. The latest flare-up between the two Great Powers is now gearing up to be for Macedonia, with the US following the template it’s learned in the previous two cases to throw the country into chaos during the forthcoming 17 May Color Revolution offensive. The terrorists intercepted last weekend in Kumanovo were supposed to have coordinated their attacks with the Color Revolutionaries during this Sunday’s destabilization, which would have symbolized the strategic merger between the Color Revolution and Unconventional War elements of the US’ regime change toolkit.

The One Percent Of The One Percent Over Time

May 20, 2015 Russ Choma, www.opensecrets.org Educate! Elections, Inequality, Politics, Republican

One lesson of the 2014 election cycle was that more money came from fewer people. And a look at the political One Percent of the One Percent of Americans — the top 31,000 or so donors, roughly equal to one percent of one percent of the U.S. population — over the last three elections bears that out: The money coming from this select demographic is increasing and it is leaning more conservative. What’s more, even within the top .01 percent, the donors at the very peak are contributing more and more of the money. The Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation teamed up to take a detailed look at the topmost tier of donors of disclosed political contributions at the federal level.

Hillary Ducks TPP Protesters In Beverly Hills

May 15, 2015 Lauren Steiner, www.laprogressive.com Resist! Free Trade, Politics, TPP

On Thursday, around 50 people attended a press conference and rally to tell Hillary Clinton to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 12 countries consisting of 40% of the world’s trade. The TPP fast track bill has been scheduled for a vote in the Senate this coming Tuesday. The protesters urged Clinton to come out against the TPP, the trade agreement she touted while she was Secretary of State, calling it “the gold standard in trade agreements.” However, after waiting an hour past the start time for Hillary to show up, the protesters realized that she had taken a five-mile detour to another entrance to the gated community where her fundraiser was held just to avoid being dogged by protesters.

Weapon Makers Create Pressure Group For 2016 Election

May 12, 2015 Lee Fang, www.firstlook.org Educate! Military Industrial Complex, Politics, Wars and Militarism

Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers has formed a new pressure group, now active in Iowa and New Hampshire, to serve as the “premiere national security and foreign policy organization during the 2016 debate” and to “help elect a president who supports American engagement and a strong foreign policy.” Roger’s group, Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security, is hosting candidate events and intends to host a candidate forum later this year. Rogers told local media that his new group, which plans to be operational in South Carolina soon, will be closely engaged with the candidates, not only through public events, but also throughprivate meetings with the APPS advisory board members. Just before kicking off her presidential campaign, GOP candidate Carly Fiorina appeared at an APPS forum in New Hampshire. In April, APPS-NH chairman Havenstein personally sponsored the First in the Nation kick-off event for the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Broke Cities & Broken Bodies – It’s Time To Make Connections

April 30, 2015 Matt Stannard, www.occupy.com Educate! Baltimore, Economic Justice, police brutality, Politics, Racial Justice

On the evening of Saturday, April 25, protests in downtown Baltimore against the death-in-custody of Freddie Gray turned violent; according to many accounts, white thugs instigated violence and the cops responded to the response. The scene was ugly and tragic. Forty miles away, comedians, elected officials and media celebrities wore tuxedos and drank wine as they listened to the President of the United States joke about partisan politics. The juxtaposition of police-induced riots in Baltimore with the opulence of the White House Correspondents' Dinner led Ted Scheinman to declare: “If you've worried that the political class is out of touch with its criminalized underclasses, Saturday evening offered a grim case study.”

O’Malley Was Warned His Policing Policy Would Produce Disasters

April 30, 2015 Zaid Jilani, www.alternet.org Resist! Baltimore, Elections, Maryland, police brutality, Politics, President

To make matters worse, O’Malley replaced Daniel with a former NYPD official and old CompStat hand, Edward T. Norris, who is white. In the mostly black city, hackles went up. CompStat’s model of “zero tolerance” policing had by that point already been associated with civil rights abuses and higher police brutality rates. (During the election, one of O’Malley’s opponents had circulated postcards with an image of the Rodney King beating and the words “Are you ready for zero tolerance?” On the back was a photo of O’Malley.) Meanwhile, Maple and Linder —“O’Malley’s New York consultants,” as they were invariably described by the media—and their $2,000-a-day consulting fee, were staying on.

The 15-Dollar Minimum Wage & The Broader Struggle Against Capital

April 25, 2015 Eoin Higgins, www.medium.com Strategize! Living Wage, Politics, Washington

Across the United States, the campaign for raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars is gaining momentum. From cities such as traditionally left wing Olympia, Washington, to more moderate Atlanta, Georgia, activists are pushing for better wages- and they’re starting to win the debate. But will a higher minimum wage really change that much for the average American? It’s unlikely unless the struggle is broadened beyond the scope of the minimum wage in the United States. To explore this further, let’s start with a hypothetical future scenario of the results of the domestic struggle. Once the groundswell of activism in favor of the 15-dollar minimum wage becomes too great to ignore, the concept will begin to be taken seriously by leading pundits. Leaders from Socialist Alternative, such as Seattle’sKshama Sawant, will be ignored in the mainstream media.

National Conference On Left Electoral Collaboration

April 24, 2015 Jonathan Nack, www.indybay.org Create! Elections, Left, Politics

“The upcoming conference in Chicago is an exciting opportunity for all of us who understand the importance of independent politics. There are various movements and efforts afoot nationwide. There are also left independent electoral models that work side by side with movements. That is in fact what we do in the RPA, but it's also important that our local efforts be interconnected with like-minded people across the nation. We hope this conference provides the groundwork for a larger interconnected movement for social and environmental change and strengthens us all in the battle against corporate control of our democracy.”

Piven On Syriza & Greece’s Prospects For Fighting Austerity

April 21, 2015 Alexandros Orphanides, www.inthesetimes.com Strategize! Elections, Greece, Politics, Social Change, Syriza

Anybody who is running for an election wants to win enough votes to take the seat for which she or he is campaigning. To do that, they tend to be conciliatory; they don’t want to make any enemies. They want to win just enough to get over the electoral barrier. They tend to be consensual, they tend to not want to make trouble. They want to keep everyone that voted for them last time and add the few more that they need to get over the hump. Movements are very different. They are dynamic. How they grow, how they succeed is very different. Protest movements in particular do two things. They identify issues that politicians want to ignore, because the politicians want to paste together a coalition that can win. Movement leaders, on the other hand, want to identify the issues that can mobilize people.

Oakland Protests Occupy City Hall

April 16, 2015 Bay City News, www.sfbay.ca Resist! police brutality, Politics, San Francisco

Protesters against police killings marched through Oakland Tuesday afternoon, taking over Oakland City Hall, entering a Laney College cafeteria, and briefly blocking an on-ramp to Interstate Highway 880. About 200 demonstrators gathered in Frank Ogawa Plaza starting at about 1 p.m. behind a banner adorned with the faces of black and Hispanic people killed by police over the last several years. Speakers linked the police shootings to the larger criminal justice system, which they said is racially biased, imprisoning black and Hispanic people at far higher rates than white people. After numerous speakers, including several organizers with the Revolutionary Communist Party, the protesters flooded into City Hall, posing at the top of the stairs, blowing whistles that deafeningly echoed through the building’s high ceilings.

European Bank President Glitter Bombed

April 16, 2015 Agencies, www.telegraph.co.uk Resist! Europe, European Central Bank, Politics

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, has been attacked by a protester during his regular press conference. A woman jumped on the table where Mr Draghi was sat at the start of his interest rate press conference on Wednesday, yelling: "End ECB dictatorship". A similar phrase was written on the woman's t-shirt. The woman - who is thought to be named Josephine Witt, a political activist - dropped a shower of confetti and papers over the ECB president, who was taken by surprise. The woman has been arrested, though no-one was hurt and Mr Draghi, who was escorted from the room for a brief period, was seen smiling after the incident occurred. Mr Draghi even extended the hour-long press conference by ten minutes. "What I suggest is that we make up for the time we lost, so we can stay 10 minutes more," he told reporters.

Lessons From The Summit Of The Americas

April 15, 2015 Mark Weisbrot and Sharmini Peries, www.therealnews.com Educate! Latin America, Politics, Venezuela

Now, whether the summit was a disaster, no. It was spun by the media as very nice. You know, you had this historic meeting between Raúl Castro and President Obama. And so that was good for them. But you did get some pretty negative statements from the President of Argentina, of Ecuador, and Bolivia, who were not impressed. Not because they didn't want this. Everybody wanted this. But the other thing is that everybody knows that this by itself, this beginning of a process of normalization of relations doesn't change the U.S. strategy or position or actions in South America or Latin America, unless they begin to be, to change that. And that was the issue for the Cubans, too. You know, the Cubans made very strong statements against the sanctions, and negotiations between the United States and Cuba were cut short the week of March, Monday March 16th.

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