A systemic crisis in Greece

A systemic crisis in Greece
The Inclusive Democracy Network

TAKIS FOTOPOULOS


The cold blooded murder of a 15 year old student ―part of a long sequence of murders and police brutalities that characterized the entire post-civil war period in Greece, including the post-junta period― acted as a catalyst for a social explosion and, at the same time, made abundantly clear the continuous worsening of the multidimensional crisis to which we have referred many times in the past[1].

Why a systemic crisis?

The crisis in Greece, as in every other country which has been integrated into the internationalised market economy, is, at the outset, an economic one, as a result of the opening up and deregulation of its markets that this integration implies. In the Greek case, this followed its entry into the EU.[2] The effects of the country’s integration into the internationalised market economy have been, as everywhere, a huge and continuously growing gap between, on the one hand, the elites and the privileged social strata which benefit from capitalist neoliberal globalisation and, on the other, the rest of the population which suffers the effects of unemployment, job insecurity, and poverty to which more than 20% of the population is presently condemned. Given that most young Greeks in the past used to be employed in the significant nationalised sector, the privatisation of large segments of it, combined with the effective destruction of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, as a result of the opening of markets, has led to massive unemployment among the young people, with Greece having one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the Eurozone. At the same time, the adopted model of “export-led” growth has led to a huge current account deficit in the Balance of Payments of about $53bn ―or 15% of GDP― which is easily the highest in the Eurozone. No wonder the present financial crisis is expected to hit Greece particularly hard, not only because of the effects of world recession on tourism, but also because its public debt is presently almost equal to its national output ―one of the legacies of the 2004 Athens Olympics, which, at a cost of a record £9.4 bn to stage,[3] was an economic disaster. Not surprisingly, the present government is currently borrowing at excessive rates in the world markets, while the bill, i.e. the huge expenses to “service” this debt, will be paid later by the lower social strata (which traditionally carry the lion's share of the tax burden in Greece), in the form of more taxes and less social spending.

However, the crisis does not only refer to the economic institutions, i.e. the capitalist market economy in its current phase of neoliberal globalization, but also, to what passes as “democracy” and “politics” today, i.e. representative “democracy” and “politics”, as carried out by the professional politicians of all parliamentary parties. This crisis is expressed by the popular disdain for the two main parties (and the corresponding family dynasties which have run Greece for the last half a century or so, i.e. the Karamanlis clan of the New Democracy party and the Papandreou clan of the PASOK party) which are distinguished for their corruption and fostering relations of citizens’ dependence on them. In fact, it is exactly this dependence, vastly enhanced by the corrupt bureaucratic state mechanism created by the same professional politicians, which ensures their re-election, given that the lower social strata cannot secure a job, or even a proper medical care for that matter, unless they have the necessary “connections” with the highly corrupt political class. No wonder, that probably the main characteristic of the recent social eruption in Greece is the confirmation of the fact that a large part of the population, particularly young people who have not yet been integrated into the political and economic system ―and the chances of doing do in the future are slim!― are uncontrollable by the political elites. And this refers not just to the professional politicians of the two governing parties, but also to those of the traditional Left which presently are engaged in a dog fight to restore some control on the electorate, with the Alliance of the Left party (SYRIZA) a reformist Left party integrated into the European Union and the party of the “European Left”, attempting to attract votes from the revolting youth by praising their militancy, while the Communist Party (KKE) attempts to attract votes from the older generation of its supporters (who are now mostly law-abiding citizens voting for PASOK) by attacking SYRIZA for supporting lawless elements within the youth movement!

Furthermore, the crisis is also a deeply social one, as the past eruptions of the student movement have shown with respect to the attempts by neoliberals and social-liberals to implement the EU instructions to privatize education[4]. Finally, it is an ecological crisis, as it was tragically shown in the summer of 2007, when the effect of the combination of climatic change and the criminal elite’s corruption was scores of poor peasants burned to death.[5]

Last, but not least, the crisis is not only institutional, referring to the main economic and political institutions of Greece, but also ―and mainly― a crisis of values, i.e. a crisis which questions the very values which support these institutions, or better, what we may call the dominant social paradigm, namely, the system of beliefs, ideas and the corresponding values which are dominant in a particular society at a particular moment of its history[6]. Thus, the youth movement which developed during the present crisis, implicitly or explicitly, questioned the individualistic values of competition and greed, as well as those of selfishness and consumerism ―in short, the values of heteronomy, which are either founded on the political, economic and, in general, social institutions, or on spiritual heteronomy resulting from religious irrationalism.
This is, therefore, a systemic crisis.

The spectre of insurrections today

Of course, this crisis is not just a Greek phenomenon. Instead, at this very moment, a spectre is haunting the world which has adopted the capitalist market economy system: the spectre of massive insurrections which the transnational and local elites fear are about to explode as a result of the accumulation of anger among the non-privileged social strata. This is the rage caused by the realisation of the magnitude of their deception all these years that hard work (and in some cases exhausting work, as for example, in “miracle” countries like China, India, etc.) and the accumulation of degrees would lead to a constant improvement of their standard of life, that is, their level of consumption. A deception, which becomes now clear when they discover that this agonizing effort, though leading to an expansion of the middle classes especially in the North, has led the vast majority of the world’s population to live in insecurity, if not in abject poverty. At the same time, they witness the constant deterioration of their quality of life and, sometimes their life itself being threatened for the sake of economic growth and “development”, which distributes the largest portion of social wealth to the elites, the privileged social classes and their descendants, while the leftovers are distributed to the rest to buy off their tolerance[7].

It is, therefore, clear that, as long as this multidimensional crisis deepens, the social eruptions in the North and South will multiply. So, it is not at all surprising that the elites in all these countries are reinforcing their terrorist weaponry which they call “anti-terror” legislation, and which, in effect, aims at controlling their own populations.[8] And, of course, nothing will change if the present system adopts a “human” face by introducing some reforms of itself, (as requested by the reformist Left), which will leave the fundamental political, economic and social structures reproducing the system intact.

A new May ‘68?

Today’s social explosions, either those in the suburbs of Paris a few years ago[9], or the present one in Greece, do not have the familiar characteristics of the past “politicised” insurrections, which culminated in May ‘68. This is what clearly differentiates the former from the latter and, particularly what the elites and the ideologiues of the system within the academia and the mass media call “blind violence”, namely, the popular counter-violence against property. This violence never turns against life ―in contrast to systemic violence that has no problem in readily sacrificing it, despite their hypocritical protestations of human life as the “ultimate good”. Instead, it turns only against either the symbols of economic and political power (banks, transnational corporations, Government and police departments, etc.) or against the symbols of consumerism. However, these aims are not determined collectively through a conscious democratic (or not) process ―as was the case in May ‘68 when the aims of protest were determined through the student assemblies or the various political organizations― but, on principle, individually and on the basis of a usually subconscious repulsion for the institutions and values of the system. Of course, as in any uprising, not all participants are driven by similar motives. For instance, survival considerations usually motivate impoverished immigrants or drug addicts, both of whom are the main victims of social oppression ―not to mention the cases of secret services’ agents and provocateurs who simply aim at discrediting the popular counter-violence.

However, the “blind” character of present popular counter-violence gives it a positive as well as a negative character. A positive character, which expresses the popular spontaneity that is based on ―at least― a subconscious perception of the systemic causes of the crisis and which turns the rage of the participants against the symbols of the system. And, a negative character, because this very spontaneity, when not driven by a universal political project (that is, an elementary analysis of the causes of the crisis, a rudimentary vision of the form the alternative society should take, and a strategy leading to it) inevitably leads to a dead end and to the brutal suppression of all these spontaneous uprisings, through the use of even more raw violence, while the “silent majority” remains sitting on their sofas, under the full control of professional politicians. The need, therefore, for the development of a mass movement on the basis of a new antisystemic project, which could lead to an alternative, worthy of its name, democracy, that is an inclusive democracy, is more imperative than ever.

Zaterdag 17.01.09: acties tegen aanval op Gaza

De Israëlische aanval op Gaza duurt nu al bijna drie weken. Er zijn al meer dan 1000 Palestijnen omgekomen, waaronder 335 kinderen en 100 vrouwen. Meer dan 5000 mensen zijn gewond, en liggen in ziekenhuizen waar nauwelijks electriciteit of medicijnen zijn. Hoewel zelfs de vluchtelingenorganisatie van de VN spreekt over oorlogsmisdaden en het Rode Kruis ongekend hard over Israël oordeelt, weigert de Nederlandse regering het Israëlische geweld uberhaupt 'buitensporig' te noemen. Balkenende spreekt zelfs van een 'legitieme reactie'.

De afgelopen weken hebben we over de hele wereld massale protesten gezien. We moeten de druk op Israël en haar bondgenoten blijven opvoeren. Aanstaande zaterdag zijn er in diverse steden acties en demonstraties. Doe mee en neem zoveel mogelijk mensen mee. Stop de aanval op Gaza! Vrijheid voor Palestina!

Zaterdag 17 Januari:

Amsterdam - protestactie
Aanvang: 13:00
Locatie: De Dam
Meer informatie: 06-41502091 (Karwan)

Enschede - stille tocht
Aanvang: 13:00
Verzamelen: oorlogsmonument in het Volkspark
Meer informatie: 06-18688702 (Dave)

Groningen - demonstratie
Aanvang: 13:00
Verzamelen: Grote Markt
Meer informatie: 06-19764062 (Joe)

Haarlem - protest bij nieuwjaarsreceptie CDA
Aanvang: 13:15
Verzamelen: Ingang van de Philharmonie, Lange Begijnstraat 11

Venlo - vredesdemonstratie
Aanvang: 15:00
Locatie: Stadhuisplein
Meer informatie: 06-25507318 (Erik)

Dagelijks:

Amsterdam - protestactie
Elke dag van 19:00 - 20:00
Locatie: voor het Amerikaanse Consulaat

Den Haag - Palestina Tent
Elke dag van 12:00 - 20:00
Locatie: Plein in Den Haag
Meer informatie: 06-23693786

Sign petition for Gaza !!!

Dear friends, As the awful Gaza death toll approaches 1000, our Ceasefire Now petition is being delivered worldwide through ads, phone calls, and meetings with world leaders. We urgently need to reach 1 million signatures this week, act now: Sign Ceasefire Petition, see our US ads! Gaza is dying -- the battle is moving into its cities, jam-packed with 1.5 million civilians lacking food, medicine or water. President Bush undermined Thursday's United Nations ceasefire resolution, and almost 1000 people are now dead. The borders remain closed -- journalists can't get in, and desperate civilians can't get out. But the global movement to end this war is building -- our petition is at 430,000 signatures and rising, it has been delivered to top leaders at the EU, UN and Arab League, our US members are flooding their representatives with phone calls, and Avaaz members worldwide have donated over $120,000 to an ad campaign in key newspapers. The pressure is working -- so we're ratcheting it up with hard-hitting US ads pressing Barack Obama personally for an immediate change of tack, face-to-face petition deliveries to European leaders this week to get them to act, and working with Palestinians and Israelis to plan bold actions on the ground. But every one of these actions becomes stronger as more of us join the campaign. We need to reach 1 million signatures this week -- sign the petition now and let's forward this email to all our friends and family: http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace Voices for a ceasefire are finally being heard in the Israeli cabinet and media, Hamas is signalling it could accept a deal including Turkish forces and EU monitors, but the sides are too far apart to end this themselves.[3] That's why action by world powers is critical to break the deadlock -- and global citizens' voices can make all the difference if we raise an unstoppable voice calling on incoming President Obama, the EU and Arab and Muslim states to guarantee a fair and lasting ceasefire. This week we are lobbying European and Muslim states for a more effective international initiative to end the violence, protect civilians on all sides and make normal life possible again in Gaza, while reaching out to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon who is in the Middle East working for a deal (we met him last year to deliver our food crisis campaign). Meanwhile we're challenging contacts on both sides to think creatively and accept a fair, internationally-overseen agreement. We've already run member-funded ads in the influential Washington Post and Roll Call, the US Congress newspaper -- on the day of his inauguration this coming Tuesday, we will press Barack Obama to abandon Bush's failed policies and act immediately to end this war, using his own words alongside hard facts to make the case in ads, US media debates and directly lobbying his team. It's amazing what we can do when hundreds of thousands of us come together arond the world -- and if we raise our efforts to another level this week, we could help to finally end the Gaza horror. Follow the link below to take the first step by signing the petition, then spread the word so others can do the same: http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace With hope and determination, Paul, Graziela, Alice, Ricken, Luis, Brett, Ben, Iain, Paula, Veronique, Milena and the whole Avaaz team P.S. For a report on some of Avaaz's other campaigns so far, see: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2 Sources: 1. "White House behind US volte-face on ceasefire call": http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/09/gaza-us-security-council-abstention "Israeli PM Ehud Olmert claims to be able to order Bush around": http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/israeli-pm-ehud-olmert-claims-to-be.html 2. Washington Post: Israelis Push to Edge of Gaza City: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011100616.html 3. Haaretz, "Olmert ignoring calls from Barak, Livni for immediate Gaza truce": http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055214.html Other Voice - Sderot and Gaza residents calling for a ceasefire: http://www.othervoice.org/welcome-eng.htm On Hamas acceptance of a Turkish force, first reported in the Arabic Al-Hayat newspaper, see: http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10771766.asp?scr=1 "Gaza bloodshed continues despite UN calls for ceasefire", 9 January 2009: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/09/gaza-fighting-un-ceasefire "Reigniting Violence: How Do Ceasefires End?" (6 January 2009) is a statistical analysis by an MIT professor, based on Israel's own data for rocket fire (which it shows stopped for four months) and on which side struck first. It provides useful factual background for how the Israel-Hamas truce effectively collapsed in November well before it expired (facts poorly reflected in some news reporting): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-violence-how-d_b_155611.html International Crisis Group's Ending the War in Gaza report (5 January 2009): http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5838&l=1 This Rasmussen Reports poll from the US is of interest: Only 31% of Democrats support offensive, most prefer a diplomatic solution: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/americans_closely_divided_over_israel_s_gaza_attacks "Gaza: outlines of an endgame", Ghassan Khatib (6 January 2009) http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/gaza-outlines-of-an-endgame Jerusalem Post: "Israel must get out of Gaza now", 8 January 2009: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167305710&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull Reuters: "Hamas seeks truce but says lifting siege a must" (5 January 2009) http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L5111105.htm The US Army War College has just released a substantial report supporting the view that Hamas can and must be brought into negotiations and is capable of sustaining a long-term truce, or even peace with Israel. Linked via: http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/node/10703 The inside story of the civil strife between Fatah and Hamas and the Bush administration's involvement in this debacle is best-told in The Gaza Bombshell, an investigative article published in the leading US magazine Vanity Fair in April 2008: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804 ----------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva. Call us at: +1 888 922 8229 or +55 21 2509 0368 Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages! You are getting this message because you signed "Stand with Tibet - Support the Dalai Lama" on 2008-03-20 using the email address jana.nerea@gmail.com. To ensure that Avaaz messages reach your inbox, please add avaaz@avaaz.org to your address book. To change your email address, language settings, or other personal information, https://secure.avaaz.org/act/index.php?r=profile&user=0ca3a9714592124d94fcb0a2336d19fa〈=en, or simply go here to unsubscribe. To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to info@avaaz.org. You can also call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US) or +55 21 2509 0368 (Brazil) If you have technical problems, please go to http://www.avaaz.org

Awakening7 about Palestina

Thats what was in invitation:
Today in our program the main subject would be solidarity with Palestina o.a. interviews speeches from demonstration in saturday. We will cotinue raports whats going on in Greece, talk about Guerilla Gardening(for this was not enough time in the end), good sites of squatting movement etc, Thats all with the political music of freedom in the bacground.
If you would like embed or download this program go to:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Awakening7%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio

STOP DE OORLOG TEGEN GAZA! Manifestatie op het Plein in Den Haag Dinsdag 13 januari

13.00 - 14.00 uur

Voor het eerst sinds het begin van de Israëlische aanval op Gaza komt de Tweede Kamer op dinsdag 13 januari plenair bijeen. Tijdens het wekelijkse vragenuurtje zal er ook over de crisis in Gaza gedebatteerd worden, met de mogelijkheid van het indienen van moties. Tot nu toe heeft de Nederlandse regering zich vierkant achter Israël gesteld en ze weigert de aanval op Gaza te veroordelen. Terwijl de VN inmiddels Israël van oorlogsmisdaden beschuldigt en tienduizenden mensen over de hele wereld de straat opgaan tegen deze bloedige oorlog, maakt de Nederlandse regering zich medeplichtig aan de dood van honderden Palestijnen.

Roep de Nederlandse regering op om zich tegen de aanval op Gaza uit te spreken! Kom dinsdag, tussen 13.00 en 14.00 uur, ook naar het protest voor de Tweede Kamer in Den Haag. Het is ook mogelijk om vanaf 14.00 uur het vragenuurtje in de Tweede Kamer bij te wonen (legitimatiebewijs niet vergeten!).

Op het Plein staat tevens de permanente tent van het platform 'Stop de Aanval op Gaza', waar actuele informatie over de oorlog en geplande acties te verkrijgen is.

Sluit je ook aan bij platform 'Stop de Aanval op Gaza' Meer informatie: www.palestina-komitee.nl

Presentatie Witboek Kraken 15 januari 16:00 - 19:00

Donderdag 15 januari van 16:00 - 19:00 is de presentatie van het Witboek Kraken in De Illusie in Den Haag, met prominente sprekers en debat.
Het boek bevat - naast beschouwingen van deskundigen en opiniemakers - een groot scala aan voorbeelden van de vele kraakpanden die Nederland momenteel rijk is.


Persbericht

Krakend Nederland presenteert: 132 bladzijden met meer dan 80 kraakpanden in 20 steden

Amsterdam, 8 januari 2009

De kraakbeweging presenteert donderdag 15 januari het Witboek Kraken. Het Witboek heeft als doel het publiek en de politiek te informeren over de actuele kraakpraktijk en de huidige generatie krakers. Dit was hard nodig, onder andere in antwoord op het wetsvoorstel van Ten Hoopen, Van der Burg en Slob om kraken te verbieden. Het boek bevat - naast beschouwingen van deskundigen en opiniemakers - een groot scala aan voorbeelden van de vele kraakpanden die Nederland momenteel rijk is. Deze voorbeelden tonen aan dat kraken nog steeds een belangrijke maatschappelijke functie heeft. Kraken draagt bij aan het behoud van sociale huisvesting, het bestrijden van speculatie, het stimuleren van nieuwe culturele initiatieven en het beschermen van monumentale panden.

Het Witboek Kraken wordt gepresenteerd op 15 januari 2009 tussen 16.00 en 19.00 in 'De Illusie', Schouwburgstraat 2 in Den Haag, met prominente sprekers en debat. De presentatie is vrij toegankelijk voor iedereen en alle aanwezigen kunnen een gratis exemplaar bemachtigen!
Sprekers zijn o.a. Tjeerd Herrema (Wethouder voor Volkshuisvesting in Amsterdam), Terts Brinkhoff (Directeur van de Parade) en Hans Pruijt (socioloog; auteur van "Squatting in Europe"). Bas van 't Wout (maker Zwartboek Kraken - VVD Amsterdam) heeft onlangs bij de presentatie van zijn Zwartboek laten weten graag met de krakers in debat te gaan. Uiteraard zijn ook de indieners van het wetsvoorstel om kraken te verbieden van harte uitgenodigd een exemplaar van het witboek in ontvangst te nemen en hun reactie te geven in het debat.
Er zijn twee discussiepanels georganiseerd rondom de onderwerpen: 'de kraakbeweging' en 'het kraakverbod'. De discussies worden geleid door Chris Keulemans (journalist en voormalig directeur van De Balie) en zullen worden geprikkeld door stellingen, beeld en geluidmateriaal uit de kraakwereld. Er zal ruimschoots ruimte zijn voor vragen en discussie met de zaal. De presentatie zal besloten worden met een muzikaal optreden van de Bucket Boyz en een borrel. Het volledige programma staat op  http://www.witboekkraken.nl.

Het Witboek Kraken is een initiatief van een aantal krakers, ex-krakers en sympathisanten. Zij willen hiermee tegenwicht bieden aan de negatieve berichtgeving over kraken in de media. "Het Witboek Kraken laat een ander geluid horen over kraken," aldus David van der Bree, redactielid van het Witboek. "Krakers zijn doorgaans juist betekenisvol voor hun directe omgeving. Het witboek schetst met 80 voorbeelden een beter beeld van de huidige kraakpraktijk."
De makers van het witboek vinden het de hoogste tijd om de stem te laten horen van de kraakgeneratie die nu actief is. Het laatste overzicht van de Nederlandse kraakbeweging, dat geschreven is door socioloog Eric Duivenvoorden, houdt op in 1999. Het Witboek geeft daarom vooral inzicht in de kraakacties die de afgelopen tien jaar hebben plaats gevonden. Het boek bevat beschrijvingen van recente kraakacties in verschillende Nederlandse gemeenten, waarvan er ongeveer 35 cases worden uitgebreid beschreven, in totaal komen 80 verhalen aan bod. Ook wordt context en weerwoord geboden bij incidenten rondom kraken die de afgelopen jaren negatief in de belangstelling hebben gestaan. Daarnaast zijn er wetenschappelijke artikelen en opiniestukken opgenomen die het fenomeen in een breder perspectief plaatsen en die de aanzet moeten zijn om het debat over kraken open te breken.

Het Witboek Kraken ligt vanaf half januari in de boekhandel bij u in de buurt! (15 euro, Uitgeverij de Papieren Tijger) Het boek is binnenkort ook te bestellen via de website  http://www.witboekkraken.nl.

----------------
noot voor journalisten:
U bent allen van harte uitgenodigd op de presentatie van het Witboek Kraken. Aldaar zal gelegenheid zijn voor vragen aan de redactie en andere aanwezige krakers, evenals aan de uitgenodigde sprekers.
 info@witboekkraken.nl |  http://www.witboekkraken.nl

Locatie:
Schouwburgstraat 2
Den Haag
 http://www.illusie.org/

E-Mail: info@witboekkraken.nl Website: http://www.witboekkraken.nl
 

The Gaza slaughter: Europe's hand is bloodied to

International anarchist communist statement

Demonstration in Jaffa. 27/12/2008. Pictures by ActiveStills

Joint international anarchist communist statement on the situation in Israel/Palestine, signed by the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy), Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa), Common Cause (Ontario, Canada), members of Anarchists Against the Wall (Israel) and Alternative Libertaire (France).

"Hundreds of dead and thousands of injured, sacrificed on the altar of Zionist expansionism and fundamentalism. In Europe, the foreign ministers of every EU country talk about an "exaggerated", though "legitimate", reaction on the part of Israel, reversing the true situation with an operation that would make the most cynical illusionist feel proud by making the aggressor, the State of Israel, appear to be the victim. "

[Italiano][Français] [Ελληνικά][Castellano] [Nederlands]

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The Gaza slaughter: Europe's hand is bloodied too

Hundreds of dead and thousands of injured, sacrificed on the altar of Zionist expansionism and fundamentalism. In Europe, the foreign ministers of every EU country talk about an "exaggerated", though "legitimate", reaction on the part of Israel, reversing the true situation with an operation that would make the most cynical illusionist feel proud by making the aggressor, the State of Israel, appear to be the victim.

They continue to pretend that they do not remember that Gaza - one of the most densely-populated regions with around one and a half million inhabitants, about half of whom are children - has been the object of a total embargo for years, an embargo which includes medicines and basic necessities and which is supported by the entire "civilized" western world, imposed by Israel and the West as a result of the Hamas election victory, thanks to the mixed electoral system of majority and proportional representation. Just as they pretend to forget that Hamas was once financed by Israel as a way of countering the PLO.

Despite a 6-month truce, the embargo was not even slightly relaxed and not one of the Western powers even timidly suggested relaxing it. The State of Israel has returned to its strategy of military control over Gaza and the West Bank. All Europe's useless, hypocritical proclamations of a desire for peace systematically forget to mention that for 60 years Israel has been blithely violating countless UN resolutions and continues to occupy the territory militarily, with Israeli colonies spreading throughout Palestinian land day by day, building walls that segregate entire villages and prevent millions of refugees from returning to their land, uprooting olive groves and killing livestock, day after day humiliating anyone who tries to cross the segregation walls in order to go to work, to hospital or to school.

And not only that: they hide the fact that the truce was broken by the Israeli State on 4th November 2008 when its army killed a 22-year-old Hamas militant.

But aside from the false, hypocritical proclamations of pacifism, what is the reason for this unconditional support for such an aggressive, warmongering State by practically every major Western power?

As far as the USA is concerned, there is no doubt. Apart from the important strategic and territorial alliance that Israel represents for American imperialism in the Middle East, it also has to deal with the powerful US pro-Israel lobby, which is strong enough to bring about a strong influence on US foreign policy. And what is happening today comes across as a clear warning to the president-elect, Obama.

Europe has partially regained its unity on foreign policy and is probably playing the card of active diplomacy in order to strengthen its role in the Mediterranean and to warn the USA that it cannot act alone in the Mare Nostrum[1] area. But one must not forget arms sales, an area where States are always ready to hide the truth under the blanket of "State secrets" and support the orders of those companies who produce arms and support systems. And these businesses are never biased. They are quite happy to sell arms to opposing parties, as long as they can pay for them. Italy, for example, is one of the biggest arms suppliers to Iran and Lebanon, but has also supplied the Israeli army for years with arms technology through companies like Oto-Melara, Beretta, Borletti and Selenia. And the other countries in Europe do likewise.

Palestine is cynically used as an experimentation ground for deadly new technologies which are increasingly specialising in "urban warfare" and in which every arms company is interested: from US and Israeli companies to English, French, German, Italian, and so on.

So, in this tortured land where men, women and children, crushed by the wargames of the powerful, seem to have no future, new arms are tested, from cluster bombs to impoverished uranium bullets, the effectiveness of UAVs (pilotless aircraft) - able to launch remote controlled missiles - is studied, Achzarit tanks able to withstand landmines are experimented, Namer armoured vehicles with Continental Motors (US) or MTU (German) engines are tested, as is the efficacy of avant-garde systems such as Italian added protection and remote-controlled turrets mounted on Puma armoured vehicles, and Alenia's futuristic robotic war systems such as Sky-X, the first system in the world able to refuel pilotless aircraft in flight.

All this on the shoulders of a people who have always been used in clashes between States and others, cynically used even in the political clashes between the internal factions of one State, as in the case of Israeli political machinations connected with the electoral struggle both within the governing coalition between the hawkish Kadima, responsible for some of the most extreme acts - like the evacuation of the Strip proposed by the MK Yisrael Hasson - on the one hand and the Labour doves, in favour of a more measured approach, on the other, and between Kadima and the Likud super-hawks, increasingly moving towards ultra hardline positions.

We certainly do not expect the Arab and/or Islamic States to do anything, divided as they are or intent on strengthening their prestige and their influence in the area, even if it comes at the cost of the Palestinian people. Like the case of Iran, that uses the Palestinian tragedy to publicise itself as the only bulwark against the hated American imperialism and set itself up as the emerging power in the region.

But beyond all the international political conjecturing, the situation of the Palestinian population today seems bleak, with few prospects for reaching a solution that can give them a chance for a life with even a minimum of dignity, both from the point of view of social security and from that of guaranteeing respect of the minimum rights of survival.

Today perhaps the only guarantee that the Palestinian people may, as quickly as possible, find even a little respite and peace is that the marauders of all shapes and sizes - physically or ideologically thronging at their borders, or engaging in political speculation inside - reach a new, precarious balance.

The only real prospect for emancipation that we can glimpse in the near future is a growth and spread of the sort of self-organisation that many Palestinian villages practise, encouraged by the solidarity between Palestinian popular committees and initiatives such as Anarchists Against the Wall, involving internationalists from all over the world and anti-Zionist Israelis, who fight the arrogance of the Israeli settler colonists and the army that supports them using prevalently peaceful resistance. And it is not by chance that in these villages another road has been chosen and not the militarism of Hamas.

As class-struggle anarchists and libertarians we will continue to denounce Zionist settler colonialismm as we denounce all forms of imperialism and fundamentalism that oppress the liberty and dignity of every people. We will go on denouncing the fact that huge swathes of the world's proletariat suffer under the oppression and misery that results from inter-imperialist clashes and the cynical political games of powerful local oligarchs who are in turn used, knowingly or unknowingly, as pawns in the international chessboard of imperialist disputes, marked with the blood of the proletariat.

We will continue to support the struggles and act of solidarity with the Palestinian people, supporting all those embryonic manifestations of self-determination that typify the struggles of whole villages in Palestine, convinced that only if they can free themselves of the malicious influences of all State or para-State oligarchies can the working men and women begin to hope for a more dignified life.

2 January 2009

Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa)
Common Cause (Ontario, Canada)
Members of Anarchists Against the Wall (Israel)
Alternative Libertaire (France)

Note:
1. Literally "our sea", used by the imperial Romans with reference to the Mediterranean. The suggestion is that the modern European powers want to control the Med as the Romans did 2,000 years ago.

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