A Coup Over Land: The Resource War Behind Paraguay’s Crisis
In order to understand the crisis in post-coup Paraguay it’s necessary to grasp the political weight of the nation’s soil.
Month: July 2012
Spain: Thousands Protest New Austerity Measures
Thousands of people marched in Spain’s capital of Madrid on Wednesday after the government unveiled a new round of spending cuts and tax hikes to obtain a rescue of the country’s banks. Speaking to lawmakers, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the $80 billion austerity measures were demanded by the European Union as a condition for an emergency bailout of Spain’s banks.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy: “With the inevitable fiscal adjustment, we must take on the structural reforms our economy needs to recover its competitiveness and flexibility to generate growth and jobs. The package I present in this chamber is balanced, which combines spending cuts with the initiatives for earnings, following the recommendations of the European Council.”
Europe: Smashing the Spinning Plates
Source: In These Times
The outcome of the June 17 Greek election—a narrow victory for the conservative New Democracy over the leftist Syriza party, and the prompt formation of a “pro-European” coalition government—predictably unleashed a gigantic sigh of relief all over Europe. The catastrophe was averted, European unity had prevailed, etc. But, in fact, a great opportunity was missed, a unique chance for Europe to finally confront the depth of its economic and political deadlock. The sigh of relief effectively meant: We avoided the awakening. We can continue to dream.
The Montreal Student Strike: Stills of a Mobilized City
Montreal's student-led movement has transformed into a general social movement involving broad swathes of the citizenry against neoliberal austerity.
Growing Beyond Growth
When democracy is not determined by economic power, it is possible to imagine alternatives to “growth” and “austerity.”
Apologies to Mexico: The Drug Trade and GNP (Gross National Pain)
Dear Mexico,
I apologize. There are so many things I could apologize for, from the way the U.S. biotech corporation Monsanto has contaminated your corn to the way Arizona and Alabama are persecuting your citizens, but right now I’d like to apologize for the drug war, the 10,000 waking nightmares that make the news and the rest that don’t.
You’ve heard the stories about the five severed heads rolled onto the floor of a Michoacan nightclub in 2006, the 300 bodies dissolved in acid by a servant of one drug lord, the 49 mutilated bodies found in plastic bags by the side of the road in Monterrey in May, the nine bodies found hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo just last month, the Zeta Cartel’s videotaped beheadings just two weeks ago, the carnage that has taken tens of thousands of Mexican lives in the last decade and has terrorized a whole nation. I’ve read them and so many more. I am sorry 50,000 times over.