Pains And Snaps In Greece

Greece is in pains. Snaps and seething anger are spontaneous there now. There, the suffering people's acts reflect only a part of the dire situation: “ Greece is on the brink of default, 16 months after it received the biggest bailout in western history” and “a populace exhausted by the [austerity] measures.” Rumor of a multi-trillion euro grand plan to save the eurozone being prepared by European officials circulates while incidents of despair, destitution and protest provide a partial scene of the society.

In Greece , the number of suicides has increased, surging up by 40% in a year. The help lines overflow with calls: 5,000 in the first eight months of 2011 compared with 2,500 for the entire last year. ( The Telegraph , Sept. 26, 2011 & guardian.co.uk , Sept. 24, 2011 )

Shop closures in the country's Attica region that includes Athens have reached 15% since the crisis began. Of the 3,421 stores sampled in a study in the region, 505 have been closed down, the study by the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce informs. Citing the study conducted in July 19-30 daily Kathimerini reports: in central Athens , 215 businesses out of 1,252 have been closed. Clothing stores got the most brunt. In areas, the closure rate was 25%. ( Greek Reporter , Aug. 11, 2011 )

“A new underclass has appeared: in the homeless and hungry who roam the streets; in the spiraling number of drug addicts; in the psychiatric patients ejected from institutions that can no longer offer them a place; in the thousands of shop owners forced to close and board up businesses; in those who forage through municipal rubbish bins at night; and in the pensioners who make do with rejects at fruit and vegetable markets.” The income of the average household has dropped by 50%. ( guardian.co.uk , op. cit.)

“At the doors of small charities, queues of single men – ranging from Iraqis to Somalis to Nepalese – form in the early morning to receive free food or medical treatment. Now, to their intense anger, some Greeks are being forced to join these queues: 39 per cent of the country's under 24s are unemployed.” ( The Telegraph , op.cit.)

Austerity measures are pushing the people to protest. A 48-hour strike by all transport workers is expected within days. Days back, the Athens metro, tram and suburban rail workers went on a 24-hour strike; buses and trolleys stopped operating for hours; air traffic controllers refused to work overtime. Greek police force's Special Guards unit hung a giant black banner: “Pay day, day of mourning.”

Students on September 25 interrupted the state television news. “There has been an occupation at the state television channel NET”, a government spokesman informed. The youths held up a banner: “Stop watching and get out onto the streets”. ( AFP , Sept. 25, 2011 ) Students are occupying more than 30 schools for weeks. The authority has asked the protesters to stop the occupations and reopen the schools. ( GR , Sept. 25, 2011 )

The situation at universities and technological institutes “continues to be chaotic” as a result of the new education law. Students belonging to the Communist Party blocked the entrance to the building of the University of Athens rectorate. The Technical University of Crete, the Panteion University and schools of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki are occupied by students. They hung banners and shouted slogans against the participation of enterprises in research programs of university, and the new law. They planned the same step in the Technological Institutes of Athens and Piraeus , and in other universities in Athens and other cities. Students are organizing general meetings in universities. September's exam in the University of Patras was postponed so that general assemblies of students could take place. ( GR , Aug. 30, 2011 )

Quoting the education minister the newspaper Ta Nea informed that for this school year, 600 teachers would be appointed while 6,000 would be retiring, and the number of substitute teachers would be decreased by 50% in comparison with last year. The minister “assured” that there would be no vacancies at schools. She warned that 2,000 schools would be merged and all the teachers would have full working hours. ( GR , Aug. 18, 2011 )

Thousands of cab drivers demonstrated outside the Greek Parliament in late-July. Cab drivers organized strike blocking ports and airports on the islands of Crete and Corfu to protest against government plans to deregulate the taxi sector, a key demand of creditors. The cab sub-sector is one of 135 areas of interference to meet the EU-IMF bailout terms.

The union representing about 800,000 civil servants planned to strike in case their wages are cut further. Their salaries have already been slashed by up to 30% since last year. They began working an extra 30 minutes each day, increasing work-week to 40 hours from 37.5. ( GR , Aug. 12, 2011 )

Crime and environment of lawlessness, a variety of challenge to status quo, is spreading. “Thefts and break-ins almost doubled between 2007 and 2009. Hostility to migrants […] has become widespread and unconcealed.” ( The Telegraph , op. cit.) Incidents of arson in different areas of the country over the last few months have been reported by the local press. The young in growing numbers are either leaving the country to find jobs or going back to the rural areas. It is being considered as “the biggest emigration wave since the 1960s.”

There is, “a lot of uncertainty, […] a lot of fear. For the first time in decades, people are really frightened. They're afraid of the future” said Yannis Caloghirou, an economics professor at the National Technical University of Athens. “Greeks feel like they are in a bad dream”, said Fotini Tsalikoglou, a prominent psychology professor. “A common thread that unites people is the experience of fear and desperation.” A collective sense of depression, analysts said, has also set in. This sense is more dangerous than the social tensions threatening to tear the country apart. ( guardian.co.uk , op. cit.)

“In Athens , panic is sketched not only on the faces of those who have become increasingly impoverished [… P]anic was heard in the voices of the ruling elite. ‘People, justifiably, think the crisis is what we're going through now: cuts in wages, pensions and incomes, fewer prospects for the young,' said the Greek finance minister […], looking visibly drained […‘T]he crisis will be […] the complete collapse of the economy, institutions, the social fabric and the country's productive base.' Greeks no longer believe what their politicians say…. The death of faith in the future is the biggest fear. ‘The worst part is perhaps psychological because there is no light at the end of the tunnel, no source of hope,' said Dr Thanos Dokos who directs Eliamep, a thinktank in Athens .” (ibid.)

Tale of a Family

Dmitris Andreou, a businessman, and his wife Mary, an English teacher, find their savings exhausted, and disposable income dropped by about 50% in two years. In some days, they only buy the basics and in others, they are not able to buy even those. They have to count “cents to decide between buying bread, milk or butter.” They don't buy clothes any more. “People don't go out. There is simply no money around out there”, Mary informs. They had to cancel cable TV subscription. The chances of a university education for their school-going two daughters are evaporating. “Right now though, they have more pressing problems. At the two girls' secondary school, the autumn term has started without textbooks. The pupils have been handed CDs instead.” ( The Telegraph , op. cit.)

Bigger Danger

The type of the situation carries “bigger danger to the future of Greece . People are switching off: from politics, from the mass media, from social life. ‘We would like to see the politicians executed,' says Maria, not smiling as she delivers the joke. ‘Most people are saying this: politicians deserve capital punishment […]' ‘We can't watch the television news any more,' says Dmitris…. ‘If you watch it, with the constant uncertainty, it can make your psychology very low. […] I don't trust the media any more.' ‘It feels like we're in a post-war situation,' says Mary. ‘There's no optimism; we don't know what happens next. We just try to survive.'” (ibid.)

Antonis Papayiannidis publishes Economic Monthly . Antonis warns: ‘In an almost detached way people have just watched the catastrophe happening to them. They were very displeased but they did not erupt. They became withdrawn and they are still withdrawn. But it could erupt very quickly, because the feeling of helplessness is very intense right now - in a way that makes the petrol bombs and barricades of June look pathetic.' (ibid.)

Education Reform

As another blow, changes have been initiated in higher education. Teachers and students have protested the state education reform law. Athens Polytechnic teachers called a 48-hour strike. The students are organizing general assemblies to assess the situation and to decide on their next move. The University  of Athens has dismissed the bill. Many universities have already asked the vigilance of the academic community.  The Polytechnic Schools of Athens and Crete postponed the September exams as the students' unions meetings will take place. The University of Crete decided to follow any legal procedures against the new law. ( GR , July 20, 2011 )

Nine hundred world famous academics from 43 countries including Noam Chomsky expressed their opposition to the policy followed by the government in higher education in Greece  and their solidarity to their Greek colleagues. They said: The reform having devastating consequences in higher education undermines the prospect of research and teaching within Greek universities and will be another blow to the afflicted Greek society and economy. They proposed adequate public funding of higher education. ( GR , Aug. 20, 2011 ) The left wing political parties' supporters consider that the law will destroy the universities, and undermine critical thought, the scientific knowledge and the ability of students to fight for their rights. ( GR , Aug. 27, 2011 )

The system, it seems, prefers a single option in the face of its crisis: press down the common people, encroach their spaces and hand over the loot to big capital. The crisis, it seems, appears as a boon to capital as it creates its “logic” for survival.

An Exhibition

And, there is an art exhibition from October 5 in Athens to raise public awareness of children's and adolescents' health: “Children and Youth, Voices and Whispers”. But the system is failing to listen to the murmur under the surface.

For capitalism, the present day Greece is almost unique. The system encountered debt problem in its periphery. But, here, the case is a developed capitalist country near to the center. Contradictions are active among the dominating “partners”, actually contenders, of the system having stakes in Greece . All the “partners” are trying to secure and expand respective interest. It's a partnership in competition. None of the “partners” have capacity to initiate actions independently. All the contenders need all of them. It's a unity of disunity. Within the Greek ruling elites, dissent will be heard, and fractures will appear. That will be a contradiction between interests, not a reflection of sense of dignity. But they will remain united on the fundamental question of common destiny: accumulate, even in distress condition.

Further austerity measures will “assist” anguish and frustrations overwhelm public life. Apathy, inertia and a desperate psychology will cohabit. The state, the maharaja s – the World Bank, the IMF, the bankers, the Brussels bureaucrats – and broadly, the system will come under scrutiny by the people, which is a very long, and initially, a silent process. Armed with the power to silence dissent, and to make lies heard as truth and establish illogic as logic they also carry the capacity to erode their own legitimacy. But in the process, adventurism and anarchism may find fertile ground strengthening forces of reaction in absence of a lead by a class conscious politics.

Europe And Economy: Looming Dark Clouds

Dark clouds loom over Europe and the US and the time to tackle the problem is short. None but the International Monetary Fund and the UK chancellor make the warning. As desperate capital continues to press people with intolerable burdens Europe, broadly, is now a continent of protests, demonstrations, strikes, and possible political upheavals.

As the UK chancellor George Osborne warned that the time was running out, only “six weeks”, to end the eurozone debt crisis, and the world’s share markets experienced another volatile week, Christine Lagarde, the IMF chief warned: “There are dark clouds over Europe and there is huge uncertainty in the US. And with that we could risk a collapse in global demand.” Lagarde advised countries to collectively “act now”. “We are linked by a common destiny.” She assumes that the “turbulent times” is the bond of unity. She was speaking at the IMF-World Bank annual meeting in Washington. She assures that “there is a path” to recovery, but the path has narrowed down “than it was three years ago”.

But capital is failing to unite. There are voices in Europe to force out of eurozone some countries including Greece. There are also talks of abandoning the zone. Signs of fracture in the bond of capitals’ “unity” should not astonish onlookers.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s “confidence is being eroded daily by the steady drip of difficult economic news”, although he “still thinks a double-dip recession for the world’s major economies is unlikely.” He was addressing policy makers at Washington. Zoellick warned: Europe, Japan and the US must immediately tackle their financial problems before it becomes a world crisis. “A crisis made in the developed world could become a crisis for developing countries.”

The IMF said days ago that the global financial system is more vulnerable now since the 2008 financial crisis. “Risks are elevated, and time is running out to tackle vulnerabilities that threaten the global financial system and the ongoing economic recovery,” the IMF said.

In the Slowing growth, rising risks report, the IMF mentioned the urgently need to halt the deepening crisis in the single currency area. The euro zone is expected to have a slower growth in 2011 and 2012 while the emerging markets are expected to attain a much more rapid growth this year: 6.4%. But there is dramatic increase of financial stability risks, the report said. It mentioned geopolitical tensions and vulnerabilities in emerging markets as among others factors that pose threats to global growth. Capitals, one should not forget, cannot operate without creating tensions in geopolitics and making economies vulnerable.

News from the center and near-enter of the globe was not encouraging: the US Federal Reserve’s warning that the US economy is facing significant risks slumped world shares, Moody downgraded eight Greek banks’ rating, rumors circled that Greece was contemplating defaulting on its debts, the G-20’s commitment “to take all necessary actions to preserve the stability of banking systems and financial markets” by November failed to impress investors. Markets declined to listen to leaders, loyal believers of market. The debt crisis in Europe is haunting the market leaders. World markets on September 22 made their deepest dip in more than a month. Fears of a double-dip recession have come back.

The European Commission apprehends “a virtual standstill” in economic growth in the eurozone in the second half of 2011. Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, warned in August that the sovereign debt crisis was spreading beyond the periphery of the eurozone.

The euro, since officially coming into existence in 1999, is in crisis. With an accumulated public debt reaching 100% of GDP on average in the OECD countries, uncontrollable fiscal deficits, and unemployment, all creations of ruling elites, a permanent bailout fund with about 500bn euros, the European Stability Mechanism, now stands guard against failures. But powerful crisis is declining to surrender. Rather, anguish is brewing up even within establishment. Greece with its debts of 300bn euros, 113% of GDP, the highest in modern history, is feeling that it has been, as the Greek finance minister complained, “blackmailed and humiliated” and made a “scapegoat” for the EU’s incompetence.

Debt rating downgrading of European countries now sounds old news. Italy is the latest one, from A+ to A by the Standard and Poor’s. There are accusations of “political considerations” in grading the rating as Italy has voiced. Now, it is not only the poor PIGS that are feeling the fang of capital. Strong economies including Germany are staring at the horizon of crisis.

Without the continued payments, Greece is set to run out of cash by mid-October. Its debt rating has been cut down seven times since 2009, from A to CC. In last May, Portugal became the third eurozone country to receive a huge EU/IMF bailout - 78bn euros. Its rating has been cut down four times since 2009. With 21% unemployment, the highest rate in the EU, Spain is feeling the grinding weight of freewheeling capital. As its growth has slowed Germany plans to cut the budget deficit by record 80bn euros by 2014. “Poor” Greek capital, considered a junk, is seems planning to pull down the mighty German economy. France plans to cut spending. Romance with Greek banks has created a threat to the French bankers busy to don Napoleon’s coat in Africa. The UK, a proud partner of the Empire, now owns the biggest cuts in state spending since World War II. Eurozone cannot bail out the trans-Mediterranean warrior, Italy, with the highest total debt in the eurozone and stagnant growth. With a collapsed banking system and rating cut down five times since 2009 the Irish Republic is standing as a threat to the British banks. Small Cyprus has not been spared by the powerful bankers.

Capitalism is trying to find out its survival path, eternal growth with finite resource base and a fragile world ecology. The monopoly finance capital is playing; playing with its speculation tools, time, and peoples’ hardship and misery. It declines to admit that its options are running out. It has competition within its camp. But they dream to bury the competitions with nice promises that they know are hollow. They also deny people’s limits of patience, an exercise with ignorance.

Allowing markets function with the least possible government intervention has proved wrong. Now market believers look for intervention. Now, section of mainstream admits that “fundamental principles of capitalism - that human beings are rational and markets behave rationally, and that markets will assign prices - are flawed…. That game is over ….capitalism has essentially hit a wall.” A social matrix of protest is being created.

Cuts in social security, monthly pensions, public sector wage, public investment, subsidies for local government, education spending, family tax benefits, and subsidies to parents, cap on wages and bonuses, increased health care fees, raised retirement age, freezed/slowed down recruitment, frozen salaries, and closing down of schools are the “gifts” financial elites are now presenting to, broadly, the Eurozone people. They have planned to sale out ports, airports, land and mining rights, telephone, water and electricity services, refineries, and many more public assets. It seems the finance elites are going to formally and privately own almost entire countries but the social responsibility. There is also a “golden rule” in the constitution of a country, Spain, to keep future budget deficits to a strict limit. In an European country, France, the highest earners will be required to pay an extra 1% income tax while working people in other countries will “contribute” more by sacrificing much higher portion of their income.

Vigorously unpopular austerity budgets now are degrading life of common people in countries in Europe. Thousands of Romanian police officers went on strike over their pay cut. Protests have spread across Europe. European cities are witnessing marches against new austerity measures. Trade unions are vowing bigger protests.

It will not be astonishing if dominating capitals plan to rely on the emerging economies. But these are not free of capital’s “virtues” – crisis, bubbles and bursts, unemployment, disparity, and anguish. At the same time, countries that rely on selling labor in European markets should take into account of the unfolding situation in the continent. 

The Wall Street Protest

Hundreds of protesters are occupying the Wall Street for the last few days while the global economy enters a dangerous new phase. The protesters are voicing against corporate greed. Police guarded the Bull, the symbol of Wall Street, said caption of a photograph accompanying a news report. Occupy Wall Street, an online group, called upon people to “flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.”

“The global economy has entered a dangerous new phase,” said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist. “Markets have clearly become more skeptical about the ability of many countries to stabilize their public debt. Fear of the unknown is high.” As a result, the IMF “has sharply downgraded its economic outlook for the United States and Europe through the end of next year. The IMF expects the US economy to grow just 1.5 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2012. That’s down from its June forecast of 2.5 percent in 2011 and 2.7 percent next year.” The IMF says, the US economy “faces longer-lasting problems that go beyond high gas prices and disruptions caused by the Japan crisis”. (AP, “IMF: World economy enters ‘dangerous new phase’”, Sept. 20, 2011)

In this uncertain moment of the world economy,
“over two thousand protesters converged on Wall Street [on September 17, 2011]. By the end of the second day, those occupying Liberty Park, formerly known as Zuccotti Park on Broadway and Liberty St., had settled in, partially helped by pizza, hot chocolate and blankets paid for and delivered by their supporters in New York City and across the US. The [protest] began after months of planning and encouragement by Adbusters [an internationally distributed ad-free bi-monthly magazine] …They were soon joined by the hacktivist organization Anonymous in calling for a general people’s assembly.” (Manny Jalonschi, “The Wall Street Occupation: A Sleep-In Protest in the Shadow of Power”, The Independent, Sept. 19, 2011)

“[T]he protesters identified their key goals as liberating America from the death-grip of finance and creating a sustainable, just future for every member of the country. Even with a heavy police presence … protesters remained unmoved in their demands for a fairer political system…. While the group’s original goal had been to occupy the sidewalk in front of the building, the area was cordoned off and surrounded by … police cars and … police officers.” Later, a general assembly of the protesters began “discussions into three general areas — problems, solutions and strategies.” The participants’ “discussion focused on the corruption and collusion between Wall Street and Washington,” and many of them noted that general apathy was a problem of education. As general solutions to the problems identified transparency and education was mentioned. “News flooded in throughout the weekend of sister-rallies across the United States, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The international presence was heavy at the rally itself. Not only had protesters driven in from across the country, but activists we spoke to also arrived from as far as Mexico and Tunisia.” (ibid.)

The next day “became a day of support for the occupation. Thousands of New Yorkers stopped in to either see or support the growing city of sleeping bags, signs and popular assemblies. The highlight of the day was when over $2,000 in pizza was ordered in less than an hour by supporters from around the world for the protesters …” (ibid.)

On September 19, “reports of police interference were growing, as officers began arresting people who were using chalk to write goals and slogans on the concrete they occupied. But even with a heavy police presence … protesters remained unmoved in their demands for a fairer political system. (ibid.)

Organizers on the ground say, “we’re digging in for a long-term occupation”.(Micah White, senior editor at Adbusters, and Kalle Lasn, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Adbusters, “The Call to Occupy Wall Street Resonates Around the World”, The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2011)

“#OCCUPYWALLSTREET was inspired by the people's assemblies of Spain and floated as a concept by a double-page poster in the 97th issue of Adbusters magazine, but it was spearheaded, orchestrated and accomplished by independent activists. … The idea caught on immediately on social networks and unaffiliated activists … built an open-source organising site. A few days later, a general assembly was held in New York City … These activists became the core organisers of the occupation. The mystique of Anonymous pushed the meme into the mainstream media. Their video communiqué endorsing the action garnered 100,000 views ... The indignados of Spain sent word that they would be holding a solidarity event in Madrid’s financial district, [and] activists in Milan, Valencia, London, Lisbon, Athens, San Francisco, Madison, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Israel and beyond vowed to do the same.” (ibid.)

“People everywhere”, White and Lasn wrote, “are waking up to the realisation that there is something fundamentally wrong with a system in which speculative financial transactions add up, each day, to $1.3tn (50 times more than the sum of all the commercial transactions). Meanwhile, according to a United Nations report, ‘in the 35 countries for which data exist, nearly 40% of jobseekers have been without work for more than one year’.” (ibid.)

Andrew Jones reported: “Video has emerged of some of the arrests, with police throwing some protestors to the ground before putting them in handcuffs and even dragging one individual across the street for 20 seconds. As reported to Democracy Now, Jason Amadi, one of the arrested protestors, said: “I was chalking on the sidewalk when I was surrounded by officers, they told me to put my hands behind my back and they handcuffed me and took me to the police station.” Police arrested six Occupy Wall Street protestors, on Sept. 19.

An ABC News report said: “The protest comes after comments New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made last week that some may argue seem to have forecast the event. ‘You have a lot of kids graduating college who can’t find jobs. That’s what happened in Cairo. That’s what happened in Madrid. You don’t want those kind of riots here,’ Bloomberg said.” (“Wall St. Protesters Say They’re Settled In”)

Citing the website of Adbusters, a Bloomberg report on September 17 said: the goal of the protest is to … end “the influence money has over our representatives in Washington”.

The report said: Rich Adamonis, a spokesman for the NYSE, Duncan King of Deutsche Bank, and Bank of New York’s Ron Gruendl declined to comment on the demonstration. (“Protesters Converge on Lower Manhattan, Plan ‘Occupation’, Sept. 17, 2011)

One of the organizers said: “The main focus is the toxic and corrupting effect of unlimited money on the political situation, which would be called a Corporate-ocracy, not Democracy.” “We need to get government back into the hands of the 99 percent, not the one percent. Right now, the law is currently written for the one percent, and we are seeing an incredible amount of wealth being extracted. The aim is getting back to more of a participatory Democracy.” The Occupy Wall Street encourages “the use of nonviolence”. (CBSNewYork, “Groups Plan To ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ But Their Goal Is Not Yet Set”, Sept. 6, 2011)

Preparatory events and arrangements for the protest were made weeks ago that included non violent civil disobedience training, preparing a list of potential hosts to provide protesters place to rest, the Food Committee, Tactical Committee Meeting, art and culture meetings, an event for NY Students Rising and an Open General Assembly. In association with a number of activists around the world a live “TV” channel called Global Revolution was set up. A hotline for arrests was established with help of the National Lawyers Guild. The organizers asked donations for food. They suggested contacting the New York Police expressing solidarity with the protesters and urging the police to exercise restraint, to tell the police that the world is watching, and thank the police for all their hard work. An Occupy Wall Street Orientation Guide was prepared and distributed. Arrangements for foods, shower, etc. for the protesters were made. People were requested to bring a little bit of food themselves, enough that can be shared with at least three people. The request added, “Not only will it help us hold out for longer, it will go a long way in helping you get to know each other a little better as well.” New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts provided fliers for the demonstration.

The protesters’ communiqués present a part of protest-activities.

The third communiqué from the 99 percent said on September 20: “Today, we occupied Wall Street from the heart of the Financial District.” The demonstrators began a march through the Wall Street area, rolling through the blocks around the New York Stock Exchange. Two more marches occurred during the day around the Wall Street district, each drawing more supporters to them.

It said: Hundreds occupying One Liberty Plaza, since September 17 afternoon, held a candlelight vigil to honor the fallen victims of Wall Street, and filled the plaza with song, dance, and spontaneous acts of liberation. “We are building the world that we want to see, based on human need and sustainability, not corporate greed.”

The second communiqué said: On September 18, about 400 of the demonstrators woke up in the Financial District amidst heavy police presence. They resumed their General Assembly and made their demands heard. At noon a large group marched chanting “this is what democracy looks like.” During the march many onlookers joined while many more expressed solidarity. By the time they returned to One Liberty Plaza over 100 sympathizers had joined them. As the day progressed their numbers continued to grow, and in the afternoon they were more than a thousand strong. Later, they were “threatened with arrest using a bullhorn; so they spoke together in one voice, louder than any amplifier.”

The first communiqué told: “We are occupying Wall Street.” A group marched on the head of Wall Street and formed a spontaneous blockade, prompting the police to threaten arrest. Speakers included the Reverend Billy Talen of the Church of Stop Shopping, and actress Rosanne Barr spoke on the steps of the American Indian Smithsonian Museum to the crowd. Protesters marched chanting “Wall Street is our street” and “power to the people, not to the banks.” They held a general assembly, based upon a “consensus-driven decision-making process.” All decisions, they claimed, were made “through a consensus process by the group, for the group.” They said: “[F]reedom has been largely taken from the people, and slowly made to trickle down, whenever we get angry. Money, it has been said, has taken over politics. In truth, we say, money has always been part of the capitalist political system. A system based on the existence of have and have nots, where inequality is inherent to the system, will inevitably lead to a situation where the haves find a way to rule, whether by the sword or by the dollar.”

The Wall Street protest reflects indignation of a section of common people, which has cropped up over a long time and in a broader socioeconomic reality. Richard D Wolff, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said in an article in The Guardian that Republicans have denounced President Obama’s “millionaire tax” proposal as “class war”. “[T]he reality is that the class war’s winners [emphasis in the original] have been corporations and the rich. Its losers – the rest of us…”, said Richard Wolff. “[A]s Buffett intimated and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg more explicitly warned last week, a renewal of class consciousness in the US. Then, Washington might learn what class war really is. (“The Truth about ‘Class War’ in America”, Sept. 20, 2011)

The protest has once again exposed the main stream media’s (MSM) biasness, which ultimately weakens MSM’s effectiveness. Filmmaker Michael Moore said the MSM ignores Wall Street protest. Moore appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show Sept. 19 to discuss the media’s coverage towards the protests from the left. He said: ‘People are down on Wall Street right now holding a sit in and a camp in down there, virtually no news about this protest. This goes on with liberals and the left all the time, and it gets ignored.’” (“Michael Moore: The media ignores Wall Street occupation”, Posted on 09.20.11 by Andrew Jones) The Wall Street protest reveals some political realities in one of the most advanced bourgeois democracies. 

An Empire Struggles Within And Wages Wars Abroad

The Empire is waging war in countries and struggling with poverty in home. Good news is not coming from any of the fronts. In home, median household income has declined, the poverty rate has increased, and farmers are having hard days. The percentage of the Americans living in poverty in 2010 mounted to the highest level since 1993.

The US Census Bureau’s annual report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010 released on September 13, 2011 reveals a part of the Empire’s struggle within and the system’s failure to help its poor citizens. The report provides the following figures:

(1) The number of the poor moved up to about 1 in 6 persons. In 2010, the overall poverty rate rose to 15.1% or 46.2 million, up from 14.3% in 2009. In 2009, there were 43.6 million Americans living in poverty. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased from 12.5% to 15.1%. The poverty line in 2010 was at $22,113 for a family of four. Measured by total numbers, the persons living in poverty is the largest on record since the census began monitoring poverty in 1959.

Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites, from 9.4% to 9.9%; for Blacks, from 25.8% to 27.4%; and for Hispanics, from 25.3% to 26.6%. For Asians, the rate (12.1%) was not statistically different from the 2009 rate.

In 2010, the family poverty rate was 11.7% and the number of families in poverty was 9.2 million. In 2009, it was 11.1% and 8.8 million. The poverty rate and the number in poverty increased for both married-couple families (in 2010, 6.2% and 3.6 million, and in 2009, 5.8% and 3.4 million) and female-householder-with-no-husband-present families (in 2010, 31.6% and 4.7 million, and in 2009, from 29.9% and 4.4 million). The females had to bear the burden. In spring 2011, 5.9 million (14.2%) young adults age 25-34 stayed with their parents. It was 4.7 million (11.8%) before the recession. This shows the hardship the young faced.

The poverty rate increased for children younger than 18. It was 22.0% in 2010. In the previous year, it was 20.7%. The numbers were 15.5 million and 16.4 million in 2009 and 2010 respectively. For people 18 to 64, it also increased: from 12.9% in 2009 to 13.7% in 2010. The numbers were 24.7 million in 2009 and 26.3 million in 2010.

(2) In 2010, the real median household income (RMHI) was $49,445, down 2.3% from 2009. It was 7% more in 1999: $53,252. Since 2007, RMHI has declined 6.4%. The RMHI declined for white and black households between 2009 and 2010.

Since 2007, the number of men working full time, year-round with earnings decreased by 6.6 million and the number of corresponding women declined by 2.8 million. In 2010, the earnings of women working full time, year-round were 77% of that for the same category of men.

Based on the Gini Index, the change in income inequality between 2009 and 2010 was not statistically significant. The Gini index was 0.469 in 2010. This means, the inequality scenario that was prevailing has not improved. “We’re risking a new underclass,” said Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “Young, less educated adults, mainly men, can’t support their children and form stable families because they are jobless.” Is it much different from a Third or Fourth World country?

(3) In 2010, the number of uninsured Americans was 49.9 million, the biggest in over two decades. In 2009, it was 49 million. It rose from 16.1% to 16.3%. The percentage of people with health insurance was not statistically different from 2009.

In 2010, 9.8% (7.3 million) of children under 18 were without health insurance. The uninsured rate for children in poverty (15.4%) was higher than the rate for all children (9.8%).

The US harbors one of the highest poverty rates among the developed countries. Among the 34 countries monitored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only Chile, Israel and Mexico have higher rates of poverty.

The data derived from a sample survey of approximately 100,000 household nationwide are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), 2011 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), the source of official poverty estimates. (U.S. Census Bureau | Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division: Poverty | Last Revised: Sept. 13, 2011 Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States: 2010 – Highlights; AP, “Census: US poverty rate swells to nearly 1 in 6”, Sept. 13, 2011; Reuters, “Number of poor hit record 46 million in 2010”, Sept. 13, 2011; The New York Times, “U.S. Poverty Rate, 1 in 6, at Highest Level in Years”, Sept. 13, 2011)

There are other data related to food stamps, etc. that also present a grim picture, and reflect the underdeveloped societies in the world system’s periphery.

Food Stamps

A New York datelined Reuters news report said:

Now, about 46 million Americans rely on food stamps. It is about 15% of the population, and an increase of 74% since 2007. “[F]or many Americans […] there is little current alternative if they are to put food on the table while paying rent and utility bills.” (“USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?”, Aug 22, 2011)

“About 40% of food stamp recipients are […] in households in which at least one member of the family earns wages. Many more could be eligible: the government estimates one in three who could be on the program are not. In some parts of the country, shoppers using food stamps have almost become the norm. In May 2011, a third of all people in Alabama were on food stamps [….] Washington D.C., Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee all had about a fifth of their population on food stamps that month. Over the past 20 years, the characteristics of the program's recipients have changed. In 1989, a higher percentage was on benefits than working, but as of 2009 a higher percentage had earned income. And 6% of the 72.9 million Americans paid by the hour received wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour in 2010. That’s up from 4.9% in 2009, and 3% in 2002, according to government data. Millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits have expired have to exist only on food stamps and other government aid, such as Medicaid healthcare support.”(ibid.)

The news report cites a family from Oregon that “juggles bills to ensure the electricity stays on. They are also selling some belongings […] to raise funds.” The husband, “an electronics assembly worker, lost his job two months ago when [the wife] was seven months pregnant with their second child. It was the third time [the husband] has been laid off since 2008.” The wife said “she was reluctant, initially, to go on food stamps. ‘I felt the way our national debt was going I didn’t want to be part of the problem,’ said [the wife]. ‘But I didn’t know what else to do and I got to a point where I swallowed my pride and decided to do what was best for my daughter.’” (ibid.)

Is it a story of compromising sense of dignity that dominates everyday lives in poor societies? What’s the type of economy that pushes humanity to this level? This is not a happy reality for an empire that has accumulated wealth from most parts of the world unimaginable in human history.

Farmers

Citing the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Census of Agriculture an AP news report said: “More than half of America’s farmers work a job off the farm to make ends meet […Farmers] open up their land to tourists, set up roadside stands and travel the farmers market circuit, […] they also moonlight as mechanics, pool cleaners and even authors. They make jam and paint landscapes, work at banks and own businesses in order for the farm to survive.” (“More farmers work away from fields to pay bills”, Dec 10,)

Many farmers, according to the report, work an outside job in the day and spend the evenings and weekends working in their farms. Although the trend of farmers taking on other jobs is not new but the percentage has increased: from 55% in 2002 to 65% in 2007. The frequency of working off the farm has also grown substantially over the last 75 years, according to a report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service. In 1929, one in 16 farmers worked 200 days or more off the farm. By 1947, it rose to one in six farmers. By 1997, it turned to one in three farmers. The 2007 survey reported that almost 900,000 farmers worked more than 200 days a year in other jobs. “Most farms in the United States are small operations, with 60 percent of all farms reporting less than $10,000 in sales of agricultural products. Of the 2.2 million farms nationwide, less than half show profit from their farms. The remaining 1.2 million depend on non-farm income to cover farm expenses.” (ibid.)

Children

The ERS reported in mid-November, 2010 that more than 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, live in hunger. The 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States illustrates the way hunger was affecting a significant number of Americans.

Defaulting Students

The Department of Education’s figures released on September 12, 2011 provide additional facts related to a section of the society, students:

The number of defaulters on federal student loans has jumped sharply. In 2010, the national two-year cohort default rate rose to 8.8%. In 2008, it was 7%. The trend indicates: rising tuition costs, low graduation rates and poor job opportunity. The increase was sharp among students borrowing to attend for-profit colleges.

Defaulting on student loan carries implication. It can wreck students credit and keep them from being able to return to school later with federal aid.

A calculation using the latest available figures has found that in 2008 average debt for graduating seniors with student loans was $20,200 at public universities, $27,650 at private non-profits and $33,050 at private for-profits. (AP, “Student loan default rates jump”, Sept. 13, 2011)

The reality that emerges from the data mentioned above tells nothing but a class war, and a failure to adopt measures capable of securing a system. At the same time, it projects a trend in farming and education, both influencing creativity. Even, with the level of poverty and hunger mentioned above, how far can be sustained, and how much productivity, a “magic mantra” to capital, can be achieved? It also questions the logic of waging wars, and promoting allies in far away lands. What benefit are the money spent behind allies bringing for the citizens of the Empire? What does the future hold in a reality where farmers and students suffer? Shall ratio between citizens’ benefit and war expenditure and aid to allies be calculated? Where does the wealth go that the social labor crates? Shall the reality, if prevails, put pressure on the foundation of legitimacy of the governing system? And, the Empire’s image abroad is not discussed now-a-days.

New ‘revolution’ theory carries message for all

AS THE world is witnessing adventures to reinvigorate the existing hegemony, a new theory for ‘revolution’ is being formulated: intervention to support the Libyan ‘revolution’ is justified and is in the United Kingdom’s national interest. David Cameron, the British prime minister, said this while speaking on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He said intervening was ‘the right thing to do.’ (BBC, Libya: UK forces should
be proud of role, says Cameron”, September 2)
Speaking after the Paris summit on Libya, Cameron said ‘the UK had played a significant military role in the NATO-led operation... We should be proud of what our forces did.’ (ibid)
Then, the world heard a proud pronouncement from leader of a proud nation as Cameron said: ‘I really want to challenge this idea that somehow the Americans see us a weak ally, they don’t—they see us as their strongest and most staunch ally.’ He said: ‘Americans were “very impressed” by what the UK and European forces had achieved.’ (ibid)
On the same news-event the Guardian made the following report:
Cameron ‘hailed Britain’s role in the intervention as “very significant”.’ He ‘insisted Britain would remain a “full-spectrum player” in the future and ‘signalled further interventions may lie ahead as he revealed that some members of the Arab League were “toughening their stance” over the situation in Syria.’ ‘[T]here were “lots of lessons to learn” from the conflict in Libya. ‘Despite trumpeting Britain’s role, Cameron said there was a danger of people in the west “taking too much credit for themselves” for what was really a Libyan triumph.’ (‘Libya intervention: British forces played key role, says Cameron’)
He ‘challenged House of Commons library figures that suggested Britain had performed just 10% of all strike sorties, saying the figure was twice that. ‘There were somewhere just less than 8,000 sorties,’ he insisted. ‘Britain performed 1,600 of those, so around a fifth of strike sorties.
That is punching at our weight
or even above our weight. We played a very important role, not just in the number of strike sorties but also in the fact that we were there right from the beginning.’ (ibid)
‘On the lack of intervention in Syria,’ according to the report, ‘he said Britain had “been in the vanguard in arguing for a tougher approach”.’ (ibid)
Now, the following observations can be made: (1) intervention is ‘justified’ irrespective of pronouncements in the UN charter; (2) national interests of world powers are integrally connected with ‘revolution’ in some other country; (3) any south or central or east Asian or Latin American country can expect a Libya intervention experience if there is any strategic resource in the country or the country is strategically important and intervention-able; (4) junior partners of the empire are not now suffering from inferiority complex, and they will take active role, signifying shifts in balance of power; (5) the empire has to be impressed, also having underlying meaning of a geopolitical reality; and (6) coming days may witness reinvigorated campaign from the world metropolis to reinforce its hegemony having significance in the periphery.
It can be expected that not only pro-people forces, but also ruling elites in resource-rich, strategically-positioned and intervention-able countries will take into consideration implication of these observations. The implication ranges from international arena to national periphery, from the lives of common people to the ruling elite’s or its faction’s ‘fate’.
It will not sound wise to imagine that the Libya expedition was planned after initiating expression of discontent in a Libyan town. Planning for actions like Libya expedition is not possible to formulate within days. Because, basically and primarily, it is not a planning for military movement, assault, supply, recovery, armaments, etc. Basically and primarily, it is a political planning that takes into account factors related to geopolitics, geo-economics and geo-strategy. This type of planning cannot be completed within a week or two and instantly after expression of a domestic discontent in a country. The planning turns complex as competing interests vie for respective shares. Not only political leadership, economic interests don’t plan, actually cannot plan, similar undertakings within weeks. So, ruling elites in some countries may sleep unaware while its fate will be determined on planning board long before the elites wake up.
It will be a daydream for the ruling elites of the type of countries mentioned above to assume that they will be spared by naked imperialism or energy imperialism if they cross swords with their masters. (Now, it seems, crisis imperialism will be an appropriate term as imperialism is moving through crises, as it is deepening its crises while it is trying to get rid of its crises, as crises it is creating are not only of peoples, but also of its world system, as it delves external issues more vigorously than issues in its home, as it is expanding the expanse of crises while it is moving/jumping from one theatre of adventure to another, and some more reasons.) Facts already in hand produce tragic-comical stories/characters: Noriega, Marcos, Suharto, Pinochet, and some more. None of them took the role as Gaddafi, and Gaddafi was not like these lackeys. They were pliable. But they were ‘relieved’ the day they appeared useless to their master.
Some other facts are there that help understand a ‘revolution’ with companies’ ‘fair and logical benefits’:
‘The race for Libya’s oil’, the Guardian says, ‘appears to have started: […] BP is already holding talks with members of the interim government, while France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé, said it was “fair and logical” for its companies to benefit.’ (‘Libya: Gaddafi says he will fight to the end – live coverage’)
‘The [UK] government’, the Guardian says, ‘has admitted that the international development minister, Alan Duncan, took part in meetings between officials operating a Whitehall cell to control the Libyan oil market and Vitol – a company for which Duncan has previously acted as a consultant.’ The ‘Libyan oil cell’ in the Foreign Office since May silently waged a crucial campaign against Gaddafi. It prevented Gaddafi importing and exporting oil while allowed oil to reach the rebels, and that oil came via Vitol. ‘Duncan, a former oil trader and multi-millionaire, has had a 30-year friendship with the managing director of Vitol, Ian Taylor, at one point operating as a consultant to the company and as a non-executive director to a subsidiary firm. Taylor has also been a Tory donor, declared on Duncan’s parliamentary register of interests. Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said the government’s disclosure of the existence of the oil cell was mired in mystery about Duncan’s role in it. “Given Alan Duncan’s reported links with Vitol this curious briefing from within government actually raises more questions than it answers,” he said. Civil servants in the Foreign Office are known to have expressed deep concerns about the existence of the cell, warning that it appeared to be encroaching too far on commercial purposes. One person with knowledge of the Whitehall machinations described their mood as “mutinous”.’ (‘Government admits Alan Duncan’s links to company in “Libyan oil cell”’, September 2)
Vitol, the world’s largest oil and refined products trader, handles about 5 million barrels a day and controls 200 super-tankers and other vessels. The company with annual turn over of more than $140bn is engaged in exploration from Russia to West Africa, and has a presence in every leading oil-producing country including Iraq and Syria. Vitol paid $17.5m in fines in 2007 for providing kickbacks to Saddam’s Iraq, and had to face court in 1996 over oil deals in Serbia as it made a $1m payment to a Serb and a secret oil deal to provide fuel to Milosevic’s Serbia. It came under investigation in 1993 for selling ‘contaminated’ oil to Pakistan causing the country £100m damage. (ibid)
‘Good wishes’ for ‘revolution’ and its connections are now coming to light: ‘revolution’ is ‘connected’ with national interests of the world powers and oil companies’ benefit, with ‘reputed’ oil traders and minister! Everything is ‘fair’ and ‘just’ in war, revolution and friendship! Ethics and moral standing of interventionist-‘revolution’ stand above all ethics and morality! These facts are helping people in countries learn lessons in a charged world. Probably, ruling elites in countries will also learn from the Libyan experience.
By tearing of all masks the ‘humanitarian’ interventionists have imposed their crude logic over Libya, and are re-conveying the old message to all: rulers, lackeys and independents, and people yearning for democracy. The message is: capital shall not spare anybody including friend and foe, and any place as it faces deep, prolonged crises. Its crises have made it more aggressive and crude, and have pressed it to shed of all pretensions. Its adventures will deepen and complicate its inner relationships instead of resolving its crises. Factors of the complication are within its entities and between its entities.