alanjjohnstone
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An example of the obstructionist policy, i have just read that Ohio has now a law that demands “humane disposition of the product of human conception” — specifically, any “zygote, blastocyte, embryo, or fetus,” either by “burial or entombment” or cremation “in a crematory facility.” Healthcare providers who do not comply face potential first-degree misdemeanor charges that carry a $1,000 fine and up to six months in prison.
The Wall St Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen – $7m (£5.1m) for speaking engagements at government-regulated banks, consultancies and hedge funds over the past two years, 50 paid speaking events for financial firms that included $67,500 from Goldman Sachs, $54,000 from an event at Barclays and $292,500 from a single speech for hedge fund Citadel. $112,500 from a single speaking engagement with UBS, $225,000 from a speech for PwC and $270,000 from an event with the Standard Chartered.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/01/janet-yellen-speaking-fees-us-treasury-secretary
Who pays the piper, calls the tune, is a phrase that comes to mind.
“abortion is in an ethical issue on which the Party does not have a position other than that it should not be illegal”
I do not consider it as solely an ethical question, nor simply one of legality but of public health which holds definite political ramifications.
There may well be an aspect of an ethical question for some who hold particular religious views but for those who engage in political campaigns to oppose laws to relax access or involved in political action to impose strict restrictions, the ethics evoked are frequently spurious, and camouflage for a nationalist, right-wing populist agenda.
As for Robbo’s point, i have found it difficult to find any responsible organisation that promotes late-term terminations without qualification which would amount to a form of infanticide. Perhaps he can direct me to any group that does advocate such measures.
I know i am sermonising to an audience in no need of it, but the “right to live” campaigners view that their ethical concern ends with birth and the rights of capitalists sentencing poor hungry babies to death then takes precedence.
This month’s Socialist Standard carries an article on the women’s struggle in Poland for their re-productive rights
Gibraltar remain part of EU’s passport-less, free-travel Schengen Area
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-news-latest-boris-johnson-live-eu-b1780748.htmlI wish that simple return- a kid who thought commodities was no reason to go to war…I am utterly perplexed- history repeating… and again.. and again. Again.
I just want to offer a little bit of hope. Back in 2003 i didn’t need to argue with my co-workers that the invasion of Iraq was simply about oil. For the first time, people realised the economic cause of the war and were not fooled by all the propaganda about freedom and WMDs. The socialist message that wars begin for economic reasons was accepted by almost everybody.
And then later when Cameron wanted to send troops to Syria, even Parliament did not consent.
Now British involvement in any military campaigns have to remain covert or fought by proxies.
Depending what side you are on, some will call it deterrence, others provocation
With many individual reforms, there is a knock-on effect on other aspects of daily life. Hopefully, the success increases the confidence of those other struggles.
Argentina becomes the latest country to legalise abortion
By coincidence the Socialism Or Your Money Back blog had just posted this.
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-persecution-of-julian-assange.html
The head of the Runnymede Trust, a race equality thinktank, Halima Begum, has accused the government of pursuing a divisive “white nationalist” agenda, prioritising the white working class at the expense of ethnic minorities in an attempt to win votes.
“I think the government’s long-term plan is to work up white nationalism for the next elections,” said Begum. “What we should be saying is that working-class black and white communities have been left behind, because they’ve seen industries demolished in the north of this country. We haven’t seen the economies built back, we haven’t seen investment in our education system for years so that our black, white and Asian working-class children will thrive.
What I see instead is the Conservatives pushing through [a narrative of] a white working class that’s been left behind, which by the way is where Trump was at about six years ago.”“If you have white liberals pushing a white nationalist agenda, it’s very easy to challenge for other white liberals who don’t agree,” said Begum. “But if you can actually put in more black and minority leaders pushing hard on white nationalism, [it’s] much harder to challenge … It’s really important that we understand why these leaders are appointed. It is not to promote inclusiveness, it is actually to promote divisions.”
She said: “There’s nothing wrong with the values of the Conservative party, which is to create more wealth … What they don’t see is that when they talk about the level playing field, they think the level playing field is not level for white people. What they don’t see is that the playing field is not level for black people, it hasn’t been for years … What I’d like them to think about is a formula that brings black working-class people with them as well and then I think if they did win [the election] good on them, they’re actually taking the whole voter base with them.”
Begum said that while white working-class communities were disadvantaged, “they are not discriminated against because of the colour of their skin and that is what we mean by structural racism”.
Over a number of years, Colin Todhunter, has been writing on Indian farming. Mostly from an anti-GMO, anti-Monsanto perspective but that should not deter those interested in India’s rural problems as he includes many other important facts and data.
Also a useful read is the prominent Indian eco-activist, Vandana Shiva, especially on the suicide rates of poor Indian farmers and the causes.
Libcom have posted a list of resources on the farmers campaign here
http://libcom.org/blog/farmers-protests-india-resources-17122020
Slavery persisted legally in Mauritania until 1981, and keeping a slave was not declared a crime until 2007.
It is mostly based on colour, lighter-skinned Berber Moors being the slave-masters and the darker-skinned sub-Saharan Africans, the slaves. For centuries, Arabic-speaking Moors raided African villages, resulting in a rigid caste system that still exists to this day, with darker-skinned inhabitants beholden to their lighter-skinned “masters”.
In neighboring Mali slavery became a crime against humanity in the constitution only in 1960, but it remains deeply ingrained in the culture. For centuries, descent-based slavery – where slavery is passed down through the bloodline – has resulted in “black Tamasheq” (the Tuareg’s language) families in Mali’s north being used as slaves by nomadic Tuareg communities. Generations of children have been considered the property of the Tuaregs from birth making it difficult for anti-slavery groups to launch criminal prosecutions.
Basil Davidson, an accepted scholar of African history, in his book ‘The African Slave Trade’ explained, “The notion that Europe altogether imposed the slave trade on Africa is without any foundation in history…Those Africans who were involved in the trade were seldom the helpless victims of a commerce they did not understand: On the contrary, they responded to its challenge. They exploited its opportunities.”
Slave trading for export only ended in West Africa after slavery ended in the Spanish colonies of Brazil and Cuba in 1880. African rulers and traders there would have happily continued to sell humans for as long as there was demand for them.
In the Ghana region, the Asante accumulated their great wealth by abducting, capturing, and kidnapping Africans and selling them as slaves.
In 2000 officials from Benin publicised President Mathieu Kerekou’s apology for his country’s role in “selling fellow Africans by the millions to white slave traders…We cry for forgiveness and reconciliation,” said Luc Gnacadja, Benin’s minister of environment and housing.
Cyrille Oguin, Benin’s ambassador to the United States, acknowledged: “We share in the responsibility for this terrible human tragedy.”
The president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, who is himself the descendant of generations of slave-owning and slave-trading African kings, urged Europeans, Americans, and Africans to acknowledge publicly and teach openly about their shared responsibility for the Atlantic slave trade.
Our African-themed Socialist Banner blog has many posts on the continent’s slave past, the above is only an example of them.
