DOCSLIB.ORG

JUSTICE for GRASSY NARROWS! Page 2

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
JUSTICE for GRASSY NARROWS! Page 2 "We are realists... we dream the impossible" - Che Fire This Time! FREE CHELSEA MANNING! HANDS OFF VENEZUELA! END THE WAR ON YEMEN NOW! Page 24 Page 25 Her Excellency Despite the U.S. Blockade, Josefina Vidal Cuba Advances Cuban Ambassador to Canada, Speaks in Vancouver May 4, 2019 at 6pm Info: vancubasolidarity.com LIVING IN A CLIMATE Page 18 Page 6 EMERGENCY JUSTICE FOR GRASSY NARROWS! Page 2 Page 8 Page 21 TARGETED AT THE BORDER Page 12 No to NATO! No to War! Volume 13 Issue 4 • April 2019 • In English / En Español • Free • $3 at Bookstores www.firethistime.net Grassy Narrows Injustice against Indigenous People in Canada By Tamara Hansen to the protesters, many themselves Over 5 decades of mercury poisoning suffering from mercury poisoning. in Grassy Narrows Protester: “Prime Minister Trudeau, The interaction was caught on video According to the activist & community people of Grassy Narrows are and Trudeau’s remarks, as well as website FreeGrassy.net, “In the 1970’s suffering from mercury poisoning. audience laughter, received a firestorm it was revealed that fish caught by the You committed to addressing this of condemnation. Trudeau was forced local fisheries contained dangerous crisis, when will you keep them?” to apologize the next morning, he levels of mercury. It was discovered admitted that his response was “smug” PM Trudeau [addressing the that the source of the mercury was and “lacked respect”. However, the protester as they are carried out by the Dryden paper mill upstream – mainstream media in Canada did security]: “Thank you for being here, then owned by Reed Paper.” This not use the opportunity to educate thank you for your donation tonight. made the fish, an essential food of the people across Canada on what is really I really appreciate it.” community, inedible for many years happening in Grassy Narrows, instead, and forced the closure of the thriving The above exchange took place at a they focused on the personality of commercial fishery, which devastated posh Liberal Party fundraiser hosted Trudeau and whether Indigenous the local economy. The website further by the Laurier Club on March 27, leaders would accept his apology. 2019. The Prime Minister of Canada, explains, “Overnight employment Justin Trudeau, was speaking to a The media has failed to properly rates in the community went from room of guests, which according to highlight why members of Grassy 90% to 10%. The community was Global News, “are considered high-end Narrows, Wabaseemoong, and left to deal with the loss of their Liberal donors who must contribute a Wabauskang First Nations travelled traditional economy, unemployment minimum of $1,500 in order to join the 1,700 kilometres to Toronto to protest and a mysterious new ailment that ranks.” Prime Minister Trudeau and why they was rampant among members of their paid thousands of dollars to make sure community – mercury poisoning.” Wealthy event attendees applauded a group of activists could disrupt this In September 2017, CBC News made and laughed at Trudeau’s cruel, event. mocking, and inhuman response a 20-minute radio documentary titled, 2 FIRE THIS TIME Volume 13 Issue 4 April 2019 “Children of the Poisoned River” about dizziness, seizures, and numbness - of the Grassy Narrows First Nation. In the youth of Grassy Narrows. Reporter the lack of sensitivity means people an interview with Cable Public Affairs Jody Porter explains, “Mercury drop things or cannot feel the touch of Channel (CPAC) following the release “bioaccumulates,” meaning it passes others. Some have hearing and vision of the report Dr. Mergler, along with from one generation to the next, loss, as well as psychological issues and Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle, from mother to child, through the learning disabilities associated with explain the direct link between fish placenta. Three generations after the mercury poisoning. The Minamata consumption during pregnancy and contamination were discovered, teens in Grassy Narrows have seen their elders die and their parents stumble under the burden.” Mercury is a neurotoxin. The CBC documentary further explains, “The disability board was established in 1986 as part of a court settlement with Ontario and Canada and the two paper companies involved in the contamination. Neither the companies, the governments nor the disability board has ever admitted that anyone at Grassy Narrows has been poisoned — only that some people experience symptoms of Minamata disease.” Minamata disease is also known as methylmercury poisoning. A November 2017 article by the Toronto Star Newspaper titled, “Ontario knew about Grassy Narrows mercury Grassy Narrows Protest, March 27, 2019 site for decades, but kept it secret” explains, Canada “Japanese scientist Dr. prenatal mercury exposure. Masazumi Harada spent They found that the more the majority of his career fish the mother ate, the examining the symptoms more significant challenges of [Minamata] disease. and problems the doctor Harada continued his saw in her children. work in Canada and U.S.A When the interviewer first tested community asks Chief Turtle why members of Grassy community members Narrows in 1975. He continue to eat the fish, found people with he explains, “First of all, mercury levels more our people are poor. The than three times the income level is one of the Health Canada limit lowest levels in Canada. in Grassy Narrows and There are very few jobs seven times the limit in in the community, so that nearby Whitedog. When is one of the reasons they Harada returned in 2004, have to eat fish because it’s all of the people who part of their diet to sustain themselves. had tested over the limit were dead.” disease has also been blamed directly In addition, it is something that has The article continues, “Harada’s 2011 for many untimely deaths in the been a part of their lives for centuries.” study found 74 percent of people community. diagnosed by his team as impacted or Dr. Mergler adds, “The fish For the past 5 decades, the people of possibly impacted by mercury were not consumption levels, at which we began Grassy Narrows have been dealing with receiving any form of compensation.” to see effects are under the Canadian the consequences of mercury poisoning. guidelines for Walleye [fish] from that In interviews with the Toronto Star In December 2018 a new report, “The region, so we are not talking about the Newspaper in May 2018, Grassy Legacy of Mercury Exposure in Grassy high levels of mercury exposure that we Narrows residents outline a long list of Narrows First Nation,” was jointly saw in the 70s. These are much lower issues they are facing: uncontrollable published by Dr. Donna Mergler, a levels and these levels are still having shaking, tingling legs and feet, Biologist at Université du Québec à effects.” Montreal, and Judy Da Silva, a member FIRE THIS TIME Volume 13 Issue 4 April 2019 3 Judy Da Silva co-author of the mercury opposite. It also did on the ground testing and poisoning report on CBC, March 27, 2019 is only in the reported on possible sites of ongoing last two years mercury leakage into the river. The that journalists provincial government responded to from the the media coverage promising $85 Toronto Star million towards clean up, and Ontario’s Newspaper provincial Environment Minister, Rod and the report Phillips promised to send dig plans issued by Dr. over a year ago to Chief Turtle, but Mergler have they have yet to materialize. backed up On November 27, 2017, then- community Indigenous Services Minister, Dr. claims and Jane Philpott, promised the federal forced the Over 5 decades of intergenerational government would build a specialized government to make new promises to mercury poisonings and yet minimal mercury poisoning treatment facility in the people to Grassy Narrows. supports have been set up for the Grassy Narrows. The “Mercury Home” community and those who are In 2017, for example, the Toronto is an important community demand so suffering. First, there is no hospital or Star uncovered provincial government that those suffering from the effects treatment centre in Grassy Narrows. reports from the 1990s revealing that of mercury poisoning can receive Second, the government has yet to treatment in their community, rather clean up all the mercury found in the than paying hundreds or thousands of area or even finalize a plan for digging dollars to travel back and forth to the it up and disposing of it. Third, there is closest hospitals in Kenora, Winnipeg a need for educational specialists and or Thunder Bay. special resources for children and youth affected by mercury poisoning. None The protest held at Trudeau’s Liberal of these needs are being addressed, Party fundraiser on March 27, 2019, although many government promises happened to fall almost exactly 500 have been made. days after Philpott’s promise of a Mercury home for Grassy Narrows. The government of Canada’s inaction The group gathered to protest the fact is killing the people of Grassy that after 500 days the money has yet Narrows to arrive and they have not yet broken In an article for the Toronto Star ground towards building the facility. Newspaper, Karen Wendling points Injustices against Indigenous people out the blatant double-standard in are systemic in colonial Canada Canada’s care and attention to non- Indigenous versus Indigenous health they knew there was still mercury in While we must challenge the governments and safety. She writes, “I first heard the soil and did not inform the people of Canada and Ontario to do more for about Grassy Narrows when I moved to of Grassy Narrows. The journalists Grassy Narrows First Nation, the injustices Canada in 1979. It astonished me then that nothing had been done in over a decade.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • PDF Print Version
    AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · F RANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Sankara’s revolutionary legacy discussed at NY forum — PAGE 6 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 83/NO. 20 MAY 20, 2019 Latest fighting Uber, Lyft drivers strike Demand US shows need for across US for pay, dignity hands off recognition of Venezuela Israel, Palestine THBY SGAE LINSKY and Cuba! A new tenuous cease-fire agreement BY TERRY EVANS between the Israeli government and “The Socialist Workers Party urg- Gaza-based Hamas and Palestinian es working people and youth to join in speaking out against Washing Islamic Jihad does nothing to elimi- - nate the unending cycle of violence by ton’s threats against Venezuela and groups in the Gaza Strip committed Cuba,” said John Studer, a member to the destruction of Israel and Israel’s of the SWP Political Committee and editor of the Militant, capitalist rulers. The repeated mili - at a special tary battles there are a deadly obstacle Militant Labor Forum here May 4. It to uniting working people, whatever was organized as a call to action to mobilize opposition to the U.S. rul their religion or nationality, to ad- - ers’ intervention. vance their interests against the capi- talist governments and ruling classes Studer urged forum participants to on both sides of the border. initiate and build protests demanding At the heart of the repeated fighting an immediate and unconditional halt to the U.S. government’s violations is the refusal of Hamas, the reaction- Militant/Edwin Fruit ary Islamist group that runs the Gaza Uber, Lyft strikers rally in Seattle May 8.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicolas Maduro Won the Presidential Election
    Newsletter of the Hands Off Venezuela campaign www.handsoffvenezuela.org May 2013 Defend Venezuela’s democracy Nicolas Maduro won the presidential election - respect the democratic will of the people n April 14, the Bo- the day after, with the presence livarian candidate of opposition technicians and no Nicolás Maduro complaint was registered won the presiden- • on election night 54% of poll- Otial elections with 7,586,251 ing booths, chosen randomly, votes (50.61%) against the op- were publicly audited with the position candidate Henrique presence of opposition and Bo- Capriles who received 7,361,512 livarian observers. The voting votes (49.12%), with a turnout of results recorded by the voting 79.69%. machines were checked against The opposition refused to rec- the paper receipts in the boxes. ognise the results of the election No complaints were registered. and has launched a campaign of • the elections were observed violence. On the night of April by over 170 international observ- 15 several CDI health clinics ers from many countries includ- were attacked across the coun- ing India, Brazil, Great Britain, try, as well as alternative and Argentina, South Korea, Spain state media outlet buildings and and France. Among the observ- journalists, offices of the United ers were two former presidents Socialist Party of Venezuela, etc. (of Guatemala and the Domini- As a result of this politically mo- can Republic), judges, lawyers tivated violence 9 people were and high-ranking officials of killed, all of them in the Bolivar- national electoral councils. All ian camp. of them stated that the elections The noisy campaign of the had been free and fair and the opposition was combined with system transparent, reliable, The working masses defend the Bolivarian revolution pic: Prensa Presidencial a national and international well-run and thoroughly au- media campaign, international dited.
    [Show full text]
  • Ray O' Light Newsletter
    RAY O’ LIGHT NEWSLETTER March-April 2019 No. 113 & May-June 2019 No. 114 DOUBLE ISSUE Publication of the Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist International March 1919 REFLECTIONS ON THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ON THE OCCASION OF THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDING (1919-2019) by RAY LIGHT “Departing from us, Comrade Lenin enjoined us to I. remain faithful to the principles of the Communist FROM THE FORMATION OF THE COMINTERN International. We vow to you, comrade Lenin, that we AND THE VICTORY OF THE OCTOBER shall not spare our lives to strengthen and extend the SOCIALIST REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA union of the working people of the whole world—the TO THE COMINTERN’S 7TH CONGRESS Communist International!” — Joseph Stalin, (Stalin, Works, Vol.6, p. 52) One hundred years ago the first world conference of communist parties and social-democratic organizations “... the pressure of the capitalist states on our state is was held in the still newly liberated land of Soviet enormous, ... the people handling our foreign policy do Russia, in the midst of a Civil War and the imperialist not always succeed in resisting this pressure, the danger intervention of a dozen foreign powers. It began with of complications often gives rise to the temptation to take Lenin’s opening speech on March 2, 1919. In the the path of least resistance, the path of nationalism ... course of the next four days a proposal was put forth the path of least resistance and of nationalism in foreign and implemented to transform the conference into a policy is the path of the isolation and decay of the first constitutive congress of the Communist International.
    [Show full text]
  • Us Hands Off Venezuela!
    AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Kurdish union leader: Workers faced years of tyranny, war — PAGE 6 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 83/no. 19 May 13, 2019 NY Workers US hands off Venezuela! Memorial Day: US hands off Cuba! No one needs Washington steps up its war threats, as coup attempt fails to die on the job BY BRIAN WIllIAMS AND JANET POST NEW YORK — “I’m going to fall!” 51-year-old Nelson Salinas yelled as he clung to a scaffold suspended seven sto- ries high against a building in midtown Manhattan April 8. He had been hit in the head by a falling stone pried loose from the top of the building while work was being done to restore it. Salinas was rescued but died in the hospital shortly afterwards. He had worked in construc- tion for 20 years. Salinas’ death and that of two other construction workers here that week, aren’t “accidents,” but the result of the bosses’ relentless drive for profits. Com- panies and contractors have increasing- Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini Hundreds of thousands of people march during May Day rally in Havana to protest U.S. threats. Banner says, “Unity, Commitment and Victory.” ly pushed unions out of more and more sites, pressuring workers to go harder BY SETH GALINSKY Party has issued a call to action, urging and called on army officials to over- and faster. This means rising deaths and In the aftermath of a failed U.S.- working people to organize and join in throw the government.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S. Hands Off Venezuela!
    "We are realists... we dream the impossible" - Che Fire This Time! CANADA MUST STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST INDIGENOUS CHILDREN Page 4 CHE GUEVARA'S LEGACY TODAY Page 24 Page 12 LA LUCHA CONTRA EL NEOLIBERALISMO EN CHILE "SONIC ATTACKS" IN CUBA: FACT OR FICTION?Page 10 U.S. HANDS OFF VENEZUELA! Page 8 STOP THE WAR ON YEMEN Page 18 & 22 Page 2 NO TMX PIPELINE! Page 6 Volume 13 Issue 12 • December 2019 • In English / En Español • Free • $3 at Bookstores www.firethistime.net On November 22, 2019, Stop the UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths told the Genocide in UN Security Council that “In the last two weeks, Yemen! the rate of that war has dramatically reduced: U.S. & Saudi there were reportedly Arabia almost 80% fewer airstrikes nation-wide Hands Off than in the two weeks prior.” While the bombing Yemen! and military intervention in Yemen might seem lower, the war on the people of Yemen is still very much in full force. According to the UN, 80% of the population in Yemen needs humanitarian assistance. The bombing destroyed schools, homes, hospitals, By Azza Rojbi water and sanitation systems, roads and against Yemen in March 2015. Throughout countless other vital parts of infrastructure these years the Saudi-led coalition justified its “The war destroyed our dreams and [our] in the country. Added to that, the U.S. and war by renaming its campaign; giving several Saudi-led coalition have been imposing a sea, future” this was how Yemeni mother Adeeyah pretexts for continuing it; and arrogantly described the war in her country in the recently land, and air blockade on Yemen, creating claiming to have the interest of the Yemeni extreme shortages of food, fuel, and medicine.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Worlds Collide Power, Plunder and Resistance in a Divided Planet
    Two Worlds Collide power, plunder and resistance in a divided planet by Alan McCombes CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: THE ROAD TO GLENEAGLES .................................... 5 War, inequality and hypocrisy in the 21st century CHAPTER ONE: THE HIGH PRIESTS OF CAPITALISM ....................... 12 The gang of eight and the global sweatshop economy CHAPTER TWO: FOOTLOOSE AND FREE .......................................... 20 The rise of globalisation and transnational power today CHAPTER THREE: THE TRIANGLE OF GREED ................................. 27 The three shadowy institutions who write the rules CHAPTER FOUR: CAN THE MONSTER BE TAMED? .......................... 33 Can capitalism be reformed, or must it be overthrown? CHAPTER FIVE: LOCAL ACTION AND GLOBAL VISION .................... 42 From Caracas to Chiapas, from Havana to Edinburgh CHAPTER SIX: CLEAR DAY DAWNING ............................................. 51 Breaking the Scottish link in the chain of global capitalism SOURCES ........................................................................................... 61 5 Introduction THE ROAD TO GLENEAGLES NOT SINCE ELVIS Presley’s gyrating hips scandalised respectable society in the 1950s has a pop star provoked such panic. In an edi- torial which only stopped short of proclaiming Apocalypse Now, Scotland on Sunday on 6 June 2005 warned of “beleagured Scottish cities”, a “mushrooming threat”, a “crisis on British soil”. Some people might momentarily have jumped to the conclusion that Osama bin Laden was about to release a deadly cloud of anthrax over Arthur’s Seat. In fact, the evil villain who is terrorising newspaper editors of a nervous disposition is no turbanned terrorist nor mustachioed dictator, but ex-Boomtown Rat and hero of Live Aid, Bob Geldof. His appeal for a million people to march in Edinburgh has been portayed in some quarters as as the war cry of a megalomaniac tyrant, out to ransack our capital city with a horde of savages in tow.
    [Show full text]
  • Socialist Alternative and the International Marxist Tendency
    The Internationalist Fight for the Communism of Lenin and Trotsky Left Reformists in Existential Crisis ISO Implodes Documents from Left Oppositionists in Socialist Alternative and the International Marxist Tendency Leon Trotsky as commander of the Soviet Red Army, by Yuri Annenkov An Internationalist Group Pamphlet June 2019 3 € US$3 Labor donated In this pamphlet... IntroductionIn .................................................... this issue... 3 Section 1: SAlt Splinters, Order Now! ISO Implodes ............................ 5-14 Featuring articles by Left Reformists In Existential Crisis ............... 5 leading Bolshevik The ISO and “Socialism from Below” ........... 11 theorists Alexandra Kollontai, V.I. Lenin, Section 2: From Socialist Leon Trotsky, Clara Alternative to Trotskyism ....... 15-42 Zetkin and resolu- tions of the Commu- CSEL, Where We Come From and Where We Are Going .............................. 15 nist Internaitonal. CSEL, Open Letter to Socialist Alternative Oppositionists, Past and Present........... 19 US$3 (includes postage) CSEL Fuses with the IG ............................... 25 Revolutionary Marxism Is Based Order from/make checks payable to: Mundial Publications, on the Political Independence Box 3321, Church Street Station, New York, New York of the Working Class ............................... 30 10008, U.S.A. Socialist Alternative Is No Place for Revolutionaries .................................. 32 Visit the League for the Fourth International/ Correspondence with the Internationalist Group on the Internet Freedom Socialist Party .....................35-41 http://www.internationalist.org SMG and MSG Fuse with RIY .................... 42 Now available on our site: Section 3: From the IMT to Declaration of the League for the Fourth International Trotskyism .............................. 44-59 Articles from The Internationalist Articles from Vanguarda Operária Marxist Politics Are Class Politics Articles from El Internacionalista and and Reply .................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Vol 1 Issue 2 Cole Final
    Educationalfutures Cole Vol. 1(2) December 2008 The working class and state apparatus in the UK and Venezuela The working class and the state apparatuses in the UK and Venezuela: implications for education Mike Cole Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln, UK Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract In the Introduction to this paper, following French Marxist Louis Althusser, I briefly examine the roles of the Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs), and the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) in forging consensus to capitalist norms and values. The paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, I discuss the role of what I have described as the Governmental/Political RSA/ISA in the UK in promoting neo-liberal global capitalism and imperialism and forestalling social revolutionary change. In the first part I also make a few observations on the special role of the UK Monarchy. Next I consider to what extent the Educational ISA is the dominant ISA. In the final section of Part 1, I address Althusser’s concept of the interpellation of subjects. In the second part of the paper, as a contrast to the political and economic ‘consensus’ which has been engineered in the UK, I look at current developments in Venezuela - at social democracy in action, and socialism in embryo. I also pose the question: is there a need to amend Althusser’s RSA/ISA thesis in the light of these developments. In the third part of the paper, I make some suggestions as to how three important strands in the UK National Curriculum might be used to break ‘the last taboo’, how they might facilitate the creation of spaces for discussions in schools of the alternative to global neo-liberal capitalism – world socialism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Civil War in Venezuela
    Over a period of two months spanning January to March in 2006, I backpacked through Venezuela in a reckless manner The Civil War in Venezuela on behalf of the Red & Anarchist Action Network (RAAN), in search of first-hand information regarding the country's Socialism to the Highest Bidder current political and social situation and in particular the Prepared by Nachie, "Bolivarian Revolution" proclaimed by incumbent president for the Red & Anarchist Action Network (RAAN). June 17th, 2006 Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías. My goal was to use the VI World Social Forum, held in the capital city of Caracas during the last week in January, as a launchpad to make the kinds of contacts necessary for this study to be a success. As an autonomous communist and affiliate of RAAN, my ultimate aim was to specifically seek out the contradictions that lay within the institutionalized Bolivarian movement and, there- fore, to hopefully discover the sectors of Venezuelan society that were developing anti-capitalist critiques of Chávez's state-driven process. www.RedAnarchist.org 1. BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 13. THE SIXTH WORLD SOCIAL FORUM Page 1 Page 34 2. A (VERY) SHORT HISTORY OF VENZUELA 14. PARQUE CAOBOS Page 2 Page 39 3. NO HAY CAMINO HACIA LA 15. THE ALTERNATIVE SOCIAL FORUM AUTOGESTIÓN, Page 40 ¡LA AUTOGESTIÓN ES EL CAMINO! Page 13 16. RED & ANARCHIST SKIN HEADS Page 43 4. NINGUNA REVOLUCIÓN SE FINANCIA POR MEDIO DE LAS TRANSNACIONALES 17. ALIX SANTANA Y LOS ARTESANOES DE Page 15 CARABOBO Page 48 5. EN VENEZUELA, LA ALCA SE LLAMA IIRSA Page 18 18.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defence of Marxism : Marxist Theories of Globali
    ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output In defence of Marxism : Marxist theories of globali- sation and social injustice and the evolution of post- socialist ideology within contemporary movements for global social justice https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40184/ Version: Full Version Citation: Wood, Jared (2016) In defence of Marxism : Marxist theo- ries of globalisation and social injustice and the evolution of post- socialist ideology within contemporary movements for global social justice. [Thesis] (Unpublished) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email In Defence of Marxism: Marxist theories of globalisation and social injustice and the evolution of post- socialist ideology within contemporary movements for global social justice. Page 1 of 290 In Defence of Marxism: Marxist theories of globalisation and social injustice and the evolution of post-socialist ideology within contemporary movements for global social justice. Jared Wood Birkbeck, University of London Doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in Human Geography In Defence of Marxism: Marxist theories of globalisation and social injustice and the evolution of post- socialist ideology within contemporary movements for global social justice. Page 2 of 290 Declaration I declare that all the work contained herein this thesis is the candidates own. Signed: Jared Wood. In Defence of Marxism: Marxist theories of globalisation and social injustice and the evolution of post- socialist ideology within contemporary movements for global social justice. Page 3 of 290 Abstract The protests against the World Trade Organisation in Seattle in 1999 have been described, along with the development of World and European Social Forums (WSF/ESF), as the beginning of a new Global Movement for Social Justice (GMSJ).
    [Show full text]
  • The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela 21 3.1
    Chávez’ North is the South An analysis of the internal and external policy of Bolivarian Venezuela in the Hugo Chávez era M.G.E. van der Velden Maastricht, March 2009 M.G.E. van der Velden Human Geography Master specialisation “Conflicts, Territories & Identities” Radboud University Nijmegen Supervisor: Dr. O. Kramsch Senior Lecturer Department of Human Geography Maastricht, the Netherlands, March 2009 Abstract In this Master thesis Venezuela’s internal and external policy under President Hugo Chávez has been analysed to determine to what extent it is are explained by respectively the Marxist theories of state, and critical geopolitics. The internal policy has been assessed by measuring the degree of state transformation with the help of eight indicators selected from Marxist theories of state, such as the work of Bob Jessop. The study of the external policy has been twofold, with practical geopolitics, focusing on the government’s own policy, and discourse analysis, examining President Chávez’ discourse, serving as the theoretical background. In the final chapter it has been argued that in Venezuela has is a very limited degree of state transformation or institutional and structural reforms, and that despite some promising and positive developments that set out Venezuela in the region, society and the state and its bureaucracies suffer from corruption, financial waste, inefficiency, extreme social and political polarisation, a certain degree of conflict of interests and a lack of institutionalisation of new laws and regulations. The degree of organising of the chavistas is still limited and suffers from several flaws, but elections have given the government a strong mandate for change.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! by Bruce Lesnick & Jeff Mackler
    U.S.U.S. HandsHands OO Venezuela!Venezuela! ByBy BruceBruce LesnickLesnick andand JeJe MacklerMackler A Socialist Action Booklet U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! By Bruce Lesnick & Jeff Mackler A Socialist Action Booklet U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! By Bruce Lesnick and Jeff Mackler Copyright Socialist Action Books All rights reserved Printed in May 2019 Manufactured in the United States Published by: Socialist Action P.O. Box 10328 Oakland, CA 94610 510-268-9429 [email protected] http//www.socialistaction.org for a complete list of books and pamphlets Subscribe to Socialist Action’s monthly newspaper @ $20 per year. Send check payable to Socialist Action newspaper at the address above Labor donated Table of Contents Introduction by Jeff Mackler............................................................. p.5 Hands Off Venezuela! Statement of the Political Committee of Socialist Action Socialist Action newspaper, January 25, 2019............p.13 Corporate Titans Target Venezuela Socialist Action newspaper, January 19, 2019 By Bruce Lesnick........................................................p.17 U.S. Gears Up For War on Venezuela Socialist Action newspaper, April 4, 2019 By Jeff Mackler and Bruce Lesnick............................p.29 U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! Socialist Action newspaper, April 4, 2019 By Bruce Lesnick........................................................p.43 U.S. Coup Makers Fail Socialist Action newspaper, May 22, 2019 By Jeff Mackler...........................................................p.49 Introduction It took some 34 days for the Donald Trump administration to decide on May 18, 2019 to forcefully evict from the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. four antiwar activist members of the Embassy Protection Coalition. The four were there with the formal and express consent of the Venezuelan government and its president, Nicolas Maduro.
    [Show full text]