[Marxism] Messages to the Spanish people from Egypt
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqdKYluS2yU&feature=player_embedded#at=26 "All of the Egyptian people are behind you and anyone who wants to make a revolution, anyone who wants to achieve something. There is a saying: If the people want life, destiny should give it to them." -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Spain eyewitness: the people are demanding to be heard
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Spain eyewitness: The people demand to be heard Saturday, May 21, 2011 By Mattea Cussel, Madrid “There are many Joses here, I’m not sure if its my turn or another Jose,” says Jose, a middle-aged man standing on the outer rim of a *grupo de trabajo*(work group) called at midnight on an adjacent street to Sol, the plaza known as point zero, in the heart of Madrid. The plaza has been occupied, as have dozens around Spain, since the huge protests on May 15 that brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets to demand “real democracy now!” and an end to austerity measures. It is Jose's turn in a conversation among 30 people about the general organisation of five work groups focusing on politics, economy, education, culture and the environment, as well as communication with the press. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47631 -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] China's big uneasy
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == David, I agree with you here about the bigger problems. I was just struck by the 100 years & you explained yourself in that respect. On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 8:09 PM, DW wrote: think the > bigger problems are the ones the article talked about: displacement of > people, possible earthquakes, upsteam erosion, and so on. > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] China's big uneasy
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == No, Michael, 100 years. We're talking the structure. They talk in terms of 100 to 1,000 years...the basic concrete structure can last that long. Some have already apparently (close to a 100). The pen-stocks...the pipes that bring the water down to the power house, not so long, they need to be replaced and do the water turbine and generators. Silting is a major problem...supposedly there is some way for dam authorities to deal with this via mass releases of water. I think the bigger problems are the ones the article talked about: displacement of people, possible earthquakes, upsteam erosion, and so on. David Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The Rapture? Armageddon? The Mets beat the Yankees tonight - I'm ready! Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Who's Killing the Journalists of Honduras?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == ** Andrew O'Reilly, Latin American News Dispatch: "The case of Franklin Melendez highlights that these attacks on journalists are not isolated incidents and have carried over into 2011. Along with Melendez's confrontation, five journalists in March were attacked by police officers while covering protests in the country's on-going teachers strike These murders and attacks have shocked and dismayed the journalism community, as Honduras battles to be the focal point of violence in a region of the world normally dominated by bad news from Mexico." http://www.truthout.org/whos-killing-journalists-honduras/1305899033 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Anthony Brain replies to David P.A.'s sectarian line on Spanish Youth protests against unemployment!
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 20/05/2011 23:30, MARIAN BRAIN wrote: > David P.A. misunderstands the main dynamic of radicalization of middle class > layers breaking from the Popular Party in Spain and linking up with working > class youth in occupying Madrid and other major Spanish cities. David’s > reaction is one of the most sectarian attitudes I have seen for a long time > and > fatal for any revolutionary to implement. My reaction? Sectarian? Implement? What!? Having read what I wrote, at no point do I state a position about which party to support or to not support (like a sectarian would) nor do I even come up with a call to action, so implement what exactly? My confusion? The only thing I said, and it is as far as I know true, is that a certain connection exists between No Les Votes and the PP, and in particular Libertad Digital and similar rightwing media. Now if anyone wants to suggest Libertad Digital is radicalising and joining the left wing, I'd like some of that stash myself. It's known that in the Spanish electoral context the right wing (PP) is generally more capable to mobilise its electorate, which tends also to be more faithful to the party. While PSOE and other left formations are more prone to demobilisation of their electorates through abstention, or defection to other left wing (and sometimes even right wing) parties. A movement that promotes abstention on the 22nd is very, very clearly going to benefit PP, which electorate will not be the audience for such a message. Now, I'm not claiming the whole No Les Votes people are involved with the PP, or that abstention is their only message: as I said, there seems to be a certain amount of confusion on their demands, with some people asking for abstention, blank votes, null votes, and some people asking for a vote for a party different from PSOE/PP/CiU (the latter demand one which I can agree entirely with). At any rate, NLV seem secondary given the existence of Democracia Real Ya, which are actually implementing deliberation and decisions in assemblies. DRY very clearly see that democracy can't begin and end with the 22nd elections, and that deep hanges are required to make it actual, and remove the power of markets and the large organised parties' leadership. I think DRY are engaging in a very promising process, dividing up to discuss issues of relevance to the Spanish people, trying to come up with solutions, but simply, debating and engaging with politics in the streets. That said, I've no idea if DRY is going to last beyond the 22nd elections. > There maybe a tiny element of Conservative Bourgeois manoeuvring to undermine > Social Democracy by calling them voting for other parties. No Bourgeois layer > would support the beginning of what could be the beginning of a challenge to > Bourgeois rule which could potentially deepen with the unemployed already > setting up committees to distribute food; administer their own > communications; > and meeting every evening to decide how to run the occupation of public > spaces. It's pretty certain there is an amount of connection. Some of the people involved with NLV are advisors or ex-advisors to PP regional governments, etc. The whole of NLV isn't PP, but there is some amount of it. Additionally, papers like Libertad Digital, ABC, La Razón and the rest of the bourgeois press, can play another game here: to denounce, loudly and constantly, the DRY and NLV initiatives, and blame the PSOE for not using state force to break up the assemblies. If the PSOE does not, the right wing electorate gets mobilised on a platform of order. If the PSOE does, the left wing electorate gets demobilised as it sees social democracy directing attacks against peaceful people. > As Trotsky said in the early 1920s in the particular phrase of the epoch > revolutionaries have to be ready to move in rapid changes. What’s unfolding > now > is the greatest ferment in history. The middle class are moving to the left > in > a whole number of semi-Colonies and Imperialist countries. Tunisia and Egypt > has influenced the radicalization within the Imperialist countries. It has > shown the possibility of revolutionary change if millions of workers and > their > allies come onto the streets. Fine. So far I see very little evidence of middle class participation beyond that directed towards electoral ends. I very much hope I'm wrong about this. After the 22nd much of this will be clarified, as any overt or covert support from bourgeois or liberal forces will evaporate, and we will see what remains. > Trotskyists have to support and deepen a possible revolutionary process. At > the > same time we have to argue within the movement for them to win over millions > of > workers organized in Trade Unions and b
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Most of my relatives in Oklahoma buy into it.--Tom - Paul, I'm not sure how many people in the U.S. believe the Rapture is happening tomorrow, but the "Left Behind" series of books prophesying the Rapture and Armageddon sold tens of millions of copies, repeatedly making the NY Times best sellers list. It was even made into a couple of straight-to-video movies. The rapture seems to a bedrock notion of Christian fundamentalism. I imagine all the "born again" politicians subscribe to it. Glenn Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] book for review
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Socialism and Democracy is looking for someone to review the following book. If you are interested in reviewing this book, paste a sample review you have written into a message and send it to me at snedek...@verizon.net George Snedeker Book Review Editor Here is the publisher's blurb about the book: Maligned by modern media and often stereotyped, Italian >Americans possess a vibrant, if largely forgotten, radical >past. In Italian Immigrant Radical Culture, Marcella >Bencivenni delves into the history of the sovversivi, a > >transnational generation of social rebels, and offers a >fascinating portrait of their political struggle as well as >their milieu, beliefs, and artistic creativity in the United >States. > >As early as 1882, the sovversivi founded a socialist club in Brooklyn. Radical > >organizations then multiplied and spread across the country, >from large urban cities to smaller industrial mining areas. >By >1900, thirty official Italian sections of the Socialist >Party >along the East Coast and countless independent anarchist and >revolutionary circles sprang up throughout the nation. >Forming >their own alternative press, institutions, and working class > >organizations, these groups created a vigorous movement and >counterculture that constituted a significant part of the >American Left until World War II. > >Italian Immigrant Radical Culture compellingly documents the wide spectrum of >this oppositional culture and examines the many cultural > >and artistic forms it took, from newspapers to literature >and >poetry to theater and visual art. As the first cultural >history of Italian American activism, it provides a richer >understanding of the Italian immigrant experience while also >deepening historical perceptions of radical politics and > >culture. > >Marcella Bencivenni is Assistant Professor of History at >Hostos Community College (CUNY). She is co-editor of Radical >Perspectives on Immigration (2008) www.sdonline.org Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == this is only possible in a civic culture with an attention span shorter than that of a sneezing gnat. the political ramifications cannot be avoided. ml Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Anthony Brain replies to David P.A.'s sectarian line on Spanish Youth protests against unemployment!
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == David P.A. misunderstands the main dynamic of radicalization of middle class layers breaking from the Popular Party in Spain and linking up with working class youth in occupying Madrid and other major Spanish cities. David’s reaction is one of the most sectarian attitudes I have seen for a long time and fatal for any revolutionary to implement. There maybe a tiny element of Conservative Bourgeois manoeuvring to undermine Social Democracy by calling them voting for other parties. No Bourgeois layer would support the beginning of what could be the beginning of a challenge to Bourgeois rule which could potentially deepen with the unemployed already setting up committees to distribute food; administer their own communications; and meeting every evening to decide how to run the occupation of public spaces. As Trotsky said in the early 1920s in the particular phrase of the epoch revolutionaries have to be ready to move in rapid changes. What’s unfolding now is the greatest ferment in history. The middle class are moving to the left in a whole number of semi-Colonies and Imperialist countries. Tunisia and Egypt has influenced the radicalization within the Imperialist countries. It has shown the possibility of revolutionary change if millions of workers and their allies come onto the streets. There are whole layers of Spanish middle class youth breaking from the Conservative Bourgeois Popular Party and Social Democracy. They are following working class youth who are not organized by the labour movement who started protesting last Sunday. The street protests last Sunday changed mass psychology of both classes who felt powerless now feel several hours later they can effect major changes to their circumstances. This is a very important development. Trotskyists have to support and deepen a possible revolutionary process. At the same time we have to argue within the movement for them to win over millions of workers organized in Trade Unions and breaking them politically from Social Democracy and Stalinism. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == > Just to satisfy my curiosity, how many people in the USA (and elsewhere for > that matter) really believe in this 'rapture' business? Do any prominent > people in leading political or economic positions, believe in this nonsense? > I'll be at my computer on Sunday to read your replies. > > Paul F Paul, I'm not sure how many people in the U.S. believe the Rapture is happening tomorrow, but the "Left Behind" series of books prophesying the Rapture and Armageddon sold tens of millions of copies, repeatedly making the NY Times best sellers list. It was even made into a couple of straight-to-video movies. The rapture seems to a bedrock notion of Christian fundamentalism. I imagine all the "born again" politicians subscribe to it. Glenn Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Encounters with Louis R. Proyect
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == All about my cousin Louis, a retired Wall Street lawyer, rock-ribbed Republican, and observant Jew. http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/encounters-with-louis-r-proyect/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I wish. The rapture's been supposed to happen several times in my lifetime already, and I'm only 21. And that's not even counting various other ends-of-the-world prophecies. On 20 May 2011 20:46, Einde O'Callaghan wrote: > == > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > == > > > On 20.05.2011 21:20, Mark Lause wrote: > >> == >> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. >> == >> >> >> I agree with brad. >> >> We should have an all-night online rapture watch I'm particularly >> interested in how fast it happens >> >> Does this mean that we won't have to put up with these wankers anymore? > > Einde O'Callaghan > > > > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu > Set your options at: > http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/andrensath%40gmail.com > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 20.05.2011 21:20, Mark Lause wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I agree with brad. We should have an all-night online rapture watch I'm particularly interested in how fast it happens Does this mean that we won't have to put up with these wankers anymore? Einde O'Callaghan Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Scheduled Downtime
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I agree with brad. We should have an all-night online rapture watch I'm particularly interested in how fast it happens ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] China's big uneasy
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Thanks L, for posting this. It shows, in generalizations, what some of the problems are. The most obvious is the forced displacement of human beings from their ancestral homes. Like PTSD, it changes someones life forever. The 'costs' for this plant as stated, "$23 billion" is sort of "weezel" term. That sounds like a lot doesn't it? But any reporter who doesn't really explore what it is you are buying for that amount shows poor journalistic integrity. Or is just sloppy. That $23 billion dollars gets China 23 gigawatts of power, or, essentially the amount of capacity you have for 20 large nuclear or other thermal power plants. That is both a *lot* and, it's very, very cheap, even if you double the price as the reporter suggests the true costs are. This in of itself doesn't justify the construction of this dam, but it should at least be noted. Hydro is built because it is *cheap* to do so and...these dams last 100 years. The other issue with this is that this is not the only large dam project China is building or proposing. More of these super-sized hydro units are in the works including another that comes close in size to Three Gorges. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Unionism, Austerity, and the Left:, An interview with Sam Gindin
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Michael Yates wrote: > Why not focus on Sam Gindin I have great respect for Sam Gindin, his book with Panitch and Albo on the financial crisis is fantastic. I am sorry if I somehow gave the impression I was associating him with Platypus. I dislike Platypus because I don't like the way they appropriate Adorno, Benjamin, and Postone for the sake of their sect. I realize they are probably an irrelevant presence within the U.S. left, but it's a shame if people would start to regard them as representing the continuity of Critical Theory, rather than thinkers like Enzo Traverso or Michael Löwy (or Werner Bonefeld and John Holloway). Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Katha Pollitt: DSK: Deja vu
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Introductory comments: Dan's comments are interesting. Personally, I consider the campaigning around this in France as sexist, first, and chauvinist second. Dan slightly (not massively) contradicted himself by pointing out that the ruling rich -- and especially the top circles -- have enormous sexual rights to those whom they want. At the same time, he cannot quite get how Strauss-Kahn could "have his way" with an African chambermaid. Let us also note that DSK is not denying everything. His attorney seems ready to stipulate that the sexual act took place, suggesting that it was consensual concedes part of the reported victim's version of events. Just as, in the Polanski case, the admission to statutory rape confirmed part of the victim's story in that instance. In each of these proceedings, the concession on this point marked the beginning of proving guilt, and meant that the reported victim's story was DEFINITELY not a complete fabrication. A note on the presumption of innocence: This simply means that the prosecution has to PROVE that DSK is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that DSK does not have to PROVE anything. His lawyer's task is not to prove him innocent or expose the real criminals (Perry Mason-style), but to discredit the prosecution's case to the best of his ability. The presumption of innocence is not a presumption that the reported victim is lying, or that DSK would never do such a thing, or that the whole thing is a frame-up engineered by sinister police agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. All the conspiracy theorizing about this is based on no evidence at all -- aside from claims that it stands to reason that Sarkozy benefits, therefore he or his backers must have engineered the whole thing. As of now, claims that this was a setup are simply building castles in the air. Fred Feldman Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com) Source URL: http://www.thenation.com/article/160792/dsk-deja-vu DSK Déjà Vu Katha Pollitt | May 19, 2011 The French political class is aghast at the treatment being meted out in New York to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and likely Socialist Party candidate for the French presidency, who is charged with attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment of a housekeeper in his $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan. On the radio, his friend Robert Badinter, husband of Élisabeth, one of Frances most famous feminists, declared he had been destroyed before any trial. Martine Aubry, first secretary of the Socialist Party and also a possible presidential contender, declared herself stunned, shockednot by the allegations, but by photos of DSK in handcuffs. The heart can only contract before these humiliating and poignant images that theyre giving of him, wrote Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a senator and former minister. A horrible global lynching! And what if it were all a monstrous injustice? Indeed, like everyone charged with a crime, DSK is innocent until proven guilty, but cant the French political and journalistic elite focus for two minutes on the crime of which he is accused? Say what you like about handcuffs and perp walks, they really dont compare with a violent sex attack. Its a little scandalous that all these so-called socialists not only think this powerful man deserves special treatment before the law but also have not one word to say about the woman, a 32-year-old Guinean immigrant and single mother, except to imply that shes a lying slut. And maybe part of a political plot. Frantically spinning for DSK, as he did for his other dear friend Roman Polanski, philosopher turned pundit Bernard-Henri Lévy found it very suspicious that the woman entered his room alone: I do not knowbut, on the other hand, it would be nice to know, and without delayhow a chambermaid could have walked in alone, contrary to the habitual practice of most of New Yorks grand hotels of sending a cleaning brigade of two people [untrue], into the room of one of the most closely watched figures on the planet. No presumption of innocence for the chambermaid, apparently. When all else fails, theres the old standby, wheeled out whenever a famous or powerful man is accused of rape: why would he rape when women were lining up to have sex with him? A seducer yes, a rapist no, said DSK biographer Michel Taubmann. Like he would know. In the wake of DSKs arrest, other women are coming forward. The young writer Tristane Banonwho didnt press charges in 2002 when, she claims, DSK tried to rape heris pursuing charges now. (Her mother, Anne Mansouret, a Socialist candidate, now says shes sorry that she discouraged her daughter from going to the police.) Piroska Nagy, with whom DSK had an
[Marxism] Ron Paul and the problems of the US Left
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://meldungen-aus-dem-exil.noblogs.org/post/2011/05/19/189/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Spanish Protests
==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==
On 20/05/2011 8:50, Dan Russell wrote:
> Was just at a meeting with someone who was involved in radical left circles
> in Spain and she was very excited about what she was hearing from friends
> there. Anyone have a feel for where the revolutionary left is at in general
> and in relation to these protests? I don't have the energy to read Spanish
> at this hour.
I'm not too connected to the protests or, indeed, to much of the Spanish
radical left, because where I live it is of insignificant size (that
market share, if I'm allowed the metaphor, is taken up by the
nationalists). However, my feeling for it is that it has been quite a
spontaneous movement, and probably quite a surprise to its organisers.
There seem to be two streams to this, that are similar but not
identical: a movement calling itself democracia real ya (real democracy
now) and one calling itself no les votes (don't vote for them). This
latter movement seems to be somewhat connected to the liberal base of
the PP, the Spanish right wing, and seems to be calling for abstention
on the 22nd elections, against the PSOE government, or, depending who
you ask, for a vote to a different party than PSOE/PP/CiU. There seems
to be some evidence that Libertad Digital, one of the most reactionary
e-newspapers in Spain, has promoted this movement.
As to democracia real ya, it's hard to know what they are about. It
seems they are calling for more direct ("liquid") forms of democracy,
through assemblies, collective deliberation etc. One notion I've been
hearing about is that of a liquid democracy, which is to say, one in
which people can at any time proxy-vote through someone of their trust,
who can in turn proxy-vote for someone else, etc, and divide their
proxies into areas, such that every decision is taken through this
procedure (not just elections).
Tomorrow it is the day of reflection (a day when electoral activity is
forbidden). It seems that there are contradictory reports on what will
happen. The Constitutional Tribunal has stated that demonstrations or
meetings that do not have a particular electoral content are permisible,
whereas the electoral board (an administrative board in charge of
decisions on electoral issues) has forbidden meetings for tomorrow. At
the same time, it appears the assembly of democracia real ya, meeting in
the street, in situ, decided not to call demonstrations for tomorrow
either, so not very clear what the fuss is all about.
There are two important background events against which this is taking
place: 1) the attempt to illegalise Sortu and Bildu (successful and
unsuccessful respectively) which are Basque nationalist left formations,
on the grounds that they support or do not sufficiently condemn ETA's
violence, and 2) the so-called Ley Sinde (Sinde Act) which forbids
websites which offer copyrighted content for download. This law was
passed by an unholy alliance of PSOE, PP and CiU, if I remember
correctly (perhaps not PP, not certain). Penetration of Twitter and such
in Spanish youth seems to be high, and a lot of the annoyance that ended
up in such protests seems to be related to this.
I'll say more about it if I have time and things clarify in any way.
Regards,
--David.
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