What's new at Links: `Seattle' in Copenhagen, S. Africa, Paraguay, Venezuela, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Victor Serge, Indonesia
* * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to li...@dsp.org.au *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links/. * * * Call for a 'Seattle' approach to Copenhagen climate talks, Africans demand reparations <http://links.org.au/node/1233> By *Patrick Bond* September 5, 2009 -- Durban -- Here's a fairly simple choice: the global North would pay the hard-hit global South to deal with the climate crisis, either through the complicated, corrupt, controversial ``Clean Development Mechanism' (CDM), whose projects have plenty of damaging sideeffects to communities, or instead pay through other mechanisms that must provide financing quickly, transparently and decisively to achieve genuine income compensation plus renewable energy to the masses. The Copenhagen climate summit in December is all about the former choice, because the power bloc in Europe and the US have put carbon trading at the core of their emissions reduction strategy, while the two largest emitters of carbon in the Third World, China and India, are the main beneficiaries of CDM financing. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1233> `Amanzi Ngawethu' (water is ours); Health and environmental victories for South African activist <http://links.org.au/node/1227> /On September 2 and 3, 2009, the Constitutional Court of South Africa will hear the final appeal in a case brought by five Soweto residents challenging Johannesburg's discriminatory prepaid water meter system. Their six-year legal battle would reaffirm the constitutional right to water for all South Africans. / /Low-income communities in Johannesburg's townships do not have sufficient water resources and do not receive the same water services as residents in wealthier, often white, suburbs. Yet, the Bill of Rights of South Africa guarantees everyone's right to have access to sufficient water./ * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1227> Paraguay: Change is still to come; The first year of Fernando Lugo's government <http://links.org.au/node/1226> / / By *Adolfo Giméne*, translated by *Federico Fuentes *for /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ August 14, 2009 -- Asunción -- The anniversary of the first year of Fernando Lugo's government coincided with a five-day national protest (August 10-15) organised by the United Popular Space (Espacio Unitario Popular, EUP), a coming together of many social organisations and left parties [1], with the support of figures from diverse political sectors, including the governor of the department of San Pedro, Jose Pakova Ledesma, from the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico, PLRA). [Lugo was elected president on April 20, 2008, but did not formally take office until August 15.] * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1226> Young Venezuelan revolutionary and environmentalist: `Tomorrow is too late' <http://links.org.au/node/1232> August 23, 2009 -- Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network <http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org> national co-convenor *Frederico Fuentes* spoke to *Heryck Rangel* (pictured), an environmental activist and leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela Youth (JPSUV), about the challenges that the global environment crisis poses for Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, and the planet. He also discussed the role of young people in Venezuela's revolution. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1232> Suffering and struggle in rural China <http://links.org.au/node/1231> */Will the Boat Sink the Water? The Life of Chinese Peasants./* By Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao. New York: Public Affairs 2006 Review by *John Riddell* Is China killing the goose whose golden eggs have financed its economic upsurge? Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao pose this question in their gripping portrayal of the suffering and struggles of Chinese peasants today. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1231> For people to people solidarity with Vietnam <http://links.org.au/node/1230> By *Peter Boyle* September 1, 2009 -- There has been a lot of media coverage in Australia around the August 31 return of the remains of the last two Australian armed forces personnel -- Canberra bomber pilots -- who were missing in action in the Vietnam War. But none of the articles put this in the context of the death and damage inflicted on the Vietnamese people by the United States and its ally Australia.Operating as part of the US Air Force's 35th Tactical Fighter Wing, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canberra bombers flew 6% of the wing's sorties but inflicted 16% of the damage. Overall, 11,963 sorties were flown by the Canberra bombers in Vietnam and 76,389 bombs were dropped. Two Canberra bombers were lost in the process. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1230> Thailand: Time for democracy movement to be clear about how to fight (Da Torpedo ????? Redshirt strategy ??????????????) <http://links.org.au/node/1229> By *Giles Ji Ungpakorn* September 3, 2009 -- On August 28, Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul (known by her nickname as "Da Torpedo") was sentenced to 18 years in prison for /lese majeste/ (insulting the royal family) after a secret trial in Bangkok. This is another example of how Thailand is rapidly coming to resemble authoritarian countries like North Korea. Other examples are the use of the /Internal Security Law/ to prevent peaceful demonstrations by the pro-democracy ``Redshirts'' and the way that the unelected prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, urged the military to kill demonstrators in April. What is also shocking is the way that there has been complete silence from so-called "human rights activists" and NGOs and academics in Thailand about what has been going on. This can only be described as shameful. Amnesty International's long-term policy of turning its back on Thai prisoners of conscience, jailed over lese majeste, is also appalling. It throws into question the role of that organisation. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1229> Victor Serge: `dishonest authoritarian', `anti-worker anarchist' or revolutionary Bolshevik? <http://links.org.au/node/1228> [The following exchanges were first published in the US socialist magazine /Against the Current/. Susan Weissman is the author of /Victor Serge: The Course is set on Hope/ and editor of /The Ideas of Victor Serge/ and /Victor Serge: Russia Twenty Years After/. She is a member of the editorial boards of /Against the Current/ and /Critique/. The first essay is adapted from a section of a paper she delivered at a July 2008 conference on Trotsky's legacy and first appeared in /Against the Current/, issue 136, September-October 2008. Following that is a response from Ernie Haberkern and reply by Susan Weissman. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1228> Indonesia: Parliament of the Streets demands free education and health care, housing for the poor <http://links.org.au/node/1225> Photos and text by *Ulfa Ilyas* On August 25, 2009, a demonstration was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, organised by the Parliament of the Streets Alliance at the inauguration of newly elected members of parliament. The protesters demanded free education for all citizens, free health programs, employment and housing programs for poor people. Henri Anggoro, a leader of the Poor People's Union (Serikat Rakyat Miskin Indonesia, SRMI), which organises in the sprawling shanty towns, said that experience has shown that parliament ignores the interests of the people. "They only represent the interests of a handful of people, rather than representing the people who elected them", he said. * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1225> * * * Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 Follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
