Political Turmoil and Economic Crisis

François Hollande, elected to the presidency of France on May 6, was the first candidate of the Socialist Party to win that post in 24 years. And the Greek electorate dealt a crushing blow to the conservative New Democracy Party as well as the social democratic PASOK. A party to its left, SYRIZA, which opposes the agreement to restructure Greece’s sovereign debt and the associated austerity measures, came in second to New Democracy in the election, and is now trying to put together a coalition government after New Democracy was unable to do so.

These developments may seem to be indicative of a shift to the left, but they are not. We need to be oppressively aware of the upsurge in popularity that the racist right-wing and even fascists are enjoying. Read More

FAQs about the Occupy Movement and Marxist-Humanism

FAQs

(and Far-Too-Infrequently

Asked Questions)

About the Occupy Movement

and MHI’s Relationship to It

.

On Zuccotti Park, Reclaiming Space, and Withdrawing from the System

1. Why do you say that the occupation of Zuccotti Park was unsuccessful?

The functioning of Wall Street was not disrupted. Occupy Wall Street never occupied Wall Street. Zuccotti Park was occupied––but only with Bloomberg’s consent, and it was cleared out the moment he withdrew that consent. And the occupation didn’t achieve what those who proposed it wanted: in the end, no autonomous space was reclaimed, so the effort to remake society by multiplying and weaving together autonomous spaces is back to Square One. Even worse, precious little progress was made during the occupation in articulating and working out what the movement is for, or how to solve the serious social and economic problems we now confront. Read More

Help Support May Day 2012 in Haiti!

BATAY OUVRIYE

Help Support May Day 2012 in Haiti!

[Note added May 15, 2012:  B. O. reports that the May Day strike was so important to the workers, and so feared by the bosses, that the SONAPI sweatshops closed their doors to keep the workers inside, and offered to pay them 500 gdes or US $12.00 for the day, as opposed to the usual US $3.00 a day.]

Batay Ouvriye, (Worker’s Struggle, www.batayouvriye.org), a labor movement in Haiti, is planning a series of activities to commemorate International Worker’s Day (May Day), 2012.

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