1. On the eve of the next federal budget: the plea for higher taxes just an amazing place
2. Europe hit hard by a wave of strikes and worker demonstrations: perhaps the birth of a social unit in the Old Continent
3. Chile faced with two earthquakes: one caused by plate tectonics, the other by the victory in the presidential election a right-wing billionaire
4. 20 years later: Lessons from the release of Nelson Mandela and end Apartheid
5. What Future for Haiti: hello pass for the return to land and agrarian reform
6. The denial of global warming: a fad that will disappear perhaps when the seas we drowned
FEDERAL BUDGET
As we approach the day of the federal budget, the tax issue back in front of politics, but the rich and the super-rich seem completely oblivious to the distress of their fellow citizens.
On 4 March, as the Conservative government we are bound to structural deficits in the medium term and even bigger in the long term ... therefore, to face the dark moments
Yet the source of this deficiency Budget is easy to find
Tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue per year in 10 years of tax cuts for individuals, additional tax cuts for businesses and finally, the regressive nature of our system income tax
In addition to tax havens and the lack of an inheritance tax in Canada
There was a growing problem in the past 25 years can be summarized as: the rich are no longer with us .
As Canada's social programs will erode, and municipal infrastructure;
The gap between rich and poor is widening to levels not seen since 1920
We are facing huge deficits for the foreseeable future
The rich and powerful have long abstained from taking their share of responsibility when crises arise
The rich and the super-rich seem now, totally unaware of the fate of their fellow citizens
They are the product of a complete victory for the class struggle, that of the upper class: the normal rules of citizenship does longer apply to them.
They can, without guilt, to hide their money in foreign banks, evading taxes, they simply allowed to keep all they earn
And even if they can get.
The class divisions in Canada have been growing this for at least 25 years to the point where we seem to have entered a new feudalism.
This is part of the crisis of democracy that we never talk
This abandonment of the national project is due largely to a quarter century of corporate globalization
Who has created a class Global super-rich who help each other only other
But rest assured, it is not a caste chosen by God or supermen.
It has nothing to do with talent or ability to better manage
This is purely a matter of class and will create a huge gap between the new nobility and the rest of the world.
The main role they see for government is to protect their property against any incursion by an activist state.
The rich have seen their wealth increase dramatically and their tax rate fall dramatically over the past 20 years.
They earn nearly double what they were 30 years ago.
Between 1992 and 2004, income taxable through the top 0.1 percent of families increased from $ 1,270,000 to $ 2,650,000
In 2008, the average income of the richest one percent of individuals had increased an additional $ 710,000, to reach 3.36 million U.S. dollars.
In terms of accumulated wealth is even more brutal.
The median net worth of the richest 10% of Canadian families increased by 35 percent between 1984 and 1999.
They acquired a new 65 percent from 1999 to 2005, while the wealth of the lowest 50 percent of Canadians did not see any gains at all since 1984.
Much of this staggering wealth is the result of a tax system that was less progressive since the 1970s.
At the time of construction of the State of Canada, we had a tax system that was among the most progressive in the world
In 1949, taxes on personal income, rates ranged from 15 to 84 percent and there were 17 levels between the two.
In 1994 it was 26.35 to 46.4 per cent and there were three levels.
In 2009, there were four slices of Parliament: 15 percent, 22 percent, 26 percent and only 29 percent on revenues exceeding $ 126 264.
Throughout the period 10 years of significant tax cuts is $ 200 billion in government revenues that were lost
During this period, those who criticized this approach was violently rejected and ridiculed
Canada has decisions today enormous as to make its future and its fiscal sustainability as a nation state.
And for the first time in 30 years, some in high places begin to ask for tax increases.
But Harper does not listen, even the voice of Bay Street have been saying that the best way to get rid of a large deficit through tax increases
What taxes from the super-rich would reduce the deficit and social unrest.
It is time for the rich and powerful are realizing they need more than tax cuts to make them competitive - that the erosion of Medicare, bridges falling, the scientific research that decline
All this might have something to do with their future prosperity?
turning point in Europe
The general strike in Greece last Wednesday, involving 2 million workers in the public and private brand Perhaps a turning point in the political situation throughout Europe.
It represents the most significant manifestation of a growing movement of resistance to attempts by European governments and private companies to pay workers for the economic crisis as well as several billion euros of bailout banks.
At the beginning of this new movement of the working class, two fundamental characteristics have emerged:
The movement takes on a border and an international
Indeed, austerity measures were imposed by the Governments in the official "left", less than the "center" and "right".
This week we saw a succession of strikes and demonstrations across Europe:
Monday, 4,500 pilot of Lufthansa German
In France, air traffic controllers and workers at six French oil refineries .
British Airways cabin crew have voted by over 80 per cent strike.
Tuesday, protest rallies were held in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia against the austerity measures of the English Socialist Party (PSOE) government of José Zapatero.
Unions of the Czech Republic announced that public transport would be arrested next week.
A day of general strike of public sector is scheduled for March 4 in Portugal
The French pilots were also announced plans to strike later this week.
The strikes and protests are only the initial response by the workers of Europe in the offensive against them.
larger mobilizations took place in countries where the most savage cuts were announced.
Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain have been targeted by banks and financial speculators and classified by the EU to drastically reduce their budget deficits.
This will create a precedent for similar cuts across Europe.
But the fact that social conflict spread to Germany, France and the United Kingdom indicates the potential development of a truly European movement
The same underlying trends that have led to the reemergence of the class struggle in Europe exist in North and South America, Asia and Africa.
They promise to be just the start the largest event of civil disturbances seen on the continent since the revolutionary fervor of 1968
The base of this vast social and political movement is rooted in the common problems faced by workers in a global economy dominated by international banks and huge enterprises.
These organizations and the financial oligarchy that they represent, are more demanding, asking for unprecedented cuts in social programs
wages and pensions to pay for trillions of dollars given by governments for European banks.
For now, objectively the international movement is developing in Europe is not referred to specific organizational or political, there's no common umbrella
Whatever the intentions of the union bureaucracy in the medium and long term, the anger at the cuts being dictated by banks and businesses will continue to grow.
There is no national solution to the crisis faced by workers in Greece, Spain, Portugal or anywhere else.
They are buried in a common struggle against organized capital globally
CHILE MONEY AND PROPAGANDA
September 11 ... 1973 is the date of the coup sponsored by the CIA and several private companies including ITT and Chase Manhattan.
Over 4000 people died in the orgy of terror that followed
Hundreds of thousands of people were tortured, raped or forced to leave in search of asylum.
When the dictatorship collapsed in 1989, Chile had one of the economies most pro-business, the worst social systems and some of the worst income inequality on earth.
Some 40% of its citizens were poor.
What followed was often described as a miracle - a double-digit growth, a tremendous forward thrust.
These changes were accompanied by the conspicuous absence of corruption in government circles.
For these some 20 years, Chile has been governed by technocrats gathered under the banner of the so-called "consultation"
A coalition of parties consisting primarily of Socialists and Christian Democrats (in Chile's center-left party). From
battered, traumatized and insecure, the Chilean nation joined the club of rich countries.
Its poverty rate has declined by more than half;
Its medical system, infrastructure and housing sectors are now on par with some of the most developed nations of the world.
Its human development index (HDI) is basically the same as the Czech Republic and above all other countries in Latin America. Simultaneously
and quietly, Chile became a major cultural center.
Santiago now has first-class museums and the opera, symphony and theater avant-garde.
Art is especially much more politicized (left) in Europe or the United States.
In addition to making peace with the police and the military, the Chilean government has managed to court to try dozens of senior men, responsible for "murder and gross human rights violations during the fascist dictatorship of Pinochet.
The Chilean courts has gone much further than in Spain where most of Franco's crimes went unpunished
Then, in December 2009 victory Pinera, a billionaire and center-right candidate, who received more votes than the other two candidates, with 52% of the votes
was the first time 52 years as Chileans voted for a right-wing politician.
The most important reason for the victory of Pinera was impressive and expensive media campaign.
Like almost everywhere else, the media in Chile are almost entirely controlled by the influence of commercial interests
Given the family's past affiliations and Pinera, it is clear that the change will not be trivial in its governance
It
bring Chile back into the realm of market fundamentalism and maybe even something worse.
The Wall Street responded with euphoria course and Chilean shares soared. The real
will of course lose the majority of Chile ... those who have the habit of solidarity and supportive nature of their state.
Many things will be in danger of medical care to housing projects for the poor, subsidies for arts and culture, even the future of transportation.
Pinera But the government will be monitored and scrutinized by intellectuals, union leaders, opposition members, artists and students, as well as those who still belong to the ranks of progressive media.
Chances are that the new government will not last until the end of his term
Somehow and in the long run, such an action and reaction may help redefine the Chilean left.
Although, over the past 20 years some reforms have been barely noticed by voters or their consequences have been taken for granted.
When earthquakes or other natural disasters hit the country, the Chilean air force is immediately activated and the same day those who have lost their homes have been accommodated, whatever the cost.
Then, the state pays full reconstruction. Even
abroad - almost no other country has shown such an immediate and full response to the tragedy in Haiti as in Chile.
Given its geographical nature, without compassion and goodness, this country can hardly survive the forces of nature.
This shows that millions of dollars in propaganda and public relations has won the right direction.
Hopefully common sense of the Chilean people will save the country again.
NELSON MANDELA: 20 years later
was 20 years ago, 11 February 1990 when Nelson Mandela won his release
Nelson Mandela was incarcerated in the end a small house, now a national heritage site
It was far from isolated dungeon Robben Island, where he spent nearly 27 years ... but his release was granted not only by the apartheid regime
It was earned.
Years earlier, the ANC has decided to start his campaign around him
Assurant he became a well-known, even a symbol.
lawyer by training, he himself had negotiated the terms of his release and, earlier, the release of his comrades who were to become key ministers and officials.
There were many secret meetings in the prison and outside.
He had refused all the conditions of release, including the demand that he abandon the use of violence.
For those who were not there at the time, he was most famous political prisoner in the world.
Beyond the borders of South Africa, others were responsible for creating the political conditions that apartheid was doomed.
A global anti-apartheid movement who was not only a protest, but that required sanctions. Largely unknown was
the role that cultural sanctions had played, the star of the world participated
In all the townships of South Africa have sought to make the country ungovernable.
confrontations with the police and mass arrests of activists had put 14 000 young people in prison.
This led to an international outcry and pressure from the United Nations sent eminent meet Mandela and push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis worsened.
Also outside the country, the guerrilla force of the ANC has intensified its offensive against the Pretoria government, the latter retaliated by bombing the neighboring states
A destabilization campaign was underway with South Africa who supported wars outside border, for example in Angola and Mozambique where death squads disguised rampaged against anti-apartheid activists. This
what South Africans do not count, was the role played by the Cuban army who defeated the South Africans in the Angolan town of Cuito Carnivale south and forced the regime to fall.
This victory was followed by the independence of Namibia, which became a precursor of what was to come to South Africa.
is why Fidel Castro has been acclaimed at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president in 1994.
All this pressure from below led to the changes from above.
release Mandela had inspired a wave of political struggles around the world ...
20 years later we have a duty not to forget the past.
AGRICULTURAL FUTURE FOR HAITI
What would it take to transform the economy of Haiti so that its role in the global economy that no longer provide the cheap labor market in sweatshops?
What would it take for that hunger is the norm, so that the country no longer needs to rely on imports and donations?
What solution for that Port-au-Prince is no longer the destination of poor peasants and slum ceases to contain 85% of city residents?
What would it take for the hundreds of thousands of homeless earthquake have access to a safe life, a stable income?
Well, according to the Haitian peasant organizations, in the heart of the solutions is a commitment from the government to support family farming
With policies that make it a reality.
Haiti is the only country in the hemisphere which is still predominantly rural.
Estimates of the percentage of citizens of Haiti are still farmers of 60.5% (UN, 2006) to 80% (the figure used by groups of farmers).
Nevertheless, food imports currently constitute 57% of what Haitians consume (World Bank 2008).
is not God or Nature which makes it like that, but rather political choices
In the 1980s, the United States and international financial institutions have put pressure on Haiti to that lower their tariffs on food imports
Leading to a flood of cheap food that Haitian farmers could not compete.
At the same time, USAID and others have put pressure on Haiti to guide its production to export, making farmers vulnerable to changes in costs of sugar and coffee on the world market.
The lack of basic services, also
88% of the rural population lives in poverty, 67% in extreme poverty (UNDP, 2004).
Things got worse for them since the hurricane season in 2008 when four storms
have battered Haiti in three weeks,
destroying more than 70% of agriculture and rural roads the most, bridges and other infrastructure necessary for production and marketing.
At least during the earthquake, only one agricultural area around Jacmel, was badly damaged.
There is a direct relationship between the state of agriculture and the heavy toll of the earthquake
The earthquake was so destructive because more than three million people were crammed into a city for a 200,000 to 250,000
Most lived in poor housing and overcrowded.
This is partly due to the disappearance of peasant agriculture in the past three decades
This has forced small farmers to move to the capital to enter the ranks of sweatshops and informal sectors.
It is also due in part to the fact that government services do not exist for people in the countryside.
ID cards, universities, specialized health care, and many others are available exclusively or almost exclusively, in what the Haitians call the Republic of Port-au-Prince
Forcing many to them to visit or live there to meet their needs.
The current period offers opportunities to secure employment for the majority that by investing massively in agriculture
With rural development, hunger diminishes, and resettlement to the employment of persons displaced from areas affected is facilitated by the earthquake
Reinforced, agriculture could help feed the nation, is experiencing a dire food crisis.
More than 2.4 million Haitians are food insecure.
Acute malnutrition among children under 5 years is 9% and chronic malnutrition in this age group is 24% (WFP, 2010).
Poverty is political in origin, largely due to the World Bank and IMF conditions on loans that have killed the poor and the policies of free trade that made it impossible for farmers to produce enough food to meet needs.
If we could give them lands and resources necessary to begin farming, they would not need to return to sweatshops in the city
Port-au-Prince, could become a livable city, not its overcrowded conditions inhumane
The challenges are numerous, as they also include an advanced destruction of the environment and the concentration of land in the hands of some
The government has a long history of failing to meet the farmers, rather the needs of class of large landowners and, more recently, the U.S.
Should that change
MYTHS OF DENIAL: Climate Change Impacts
Since November of last year, the public has been bombarded email this story stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia
Revealing this alleged "scandal" of poor scientific practice
In addition to the media frenzy that erupted over an ad agency's erroneous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that 80 percent of total area of glaciers Himalayas would most likely be gone by 2035.
Other Controversies climate, real storm in a teacup made their appearance in the media on an almost daily basis.
These absurdities are merely divert attention from a mountain of evidence that demonstrate beyond any shadow of a doubt that climate change accelerating and poses a mortal threat to civilization as we know it.
James Hansen, the leading climatologist at NASA, first warned Congress about the dangers of global warming in 1988
recently said that the media has done a great disservice to the public.
This mess needs to be clarified in the coming year, although the damage might linger a moment
because some people were too attentive to sensationalism but do not bother with detailed explanations of the truth ... The impression left
by this case is that there are some media that the truth is less important than selling newspapers or win the audience
Part of the problem may be, honestly, ignorance, since the quality science journalism has declined in recent decades.
And of course, some media are controlled by people who have other interests to defend ...
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