The Killing of Bin Laden: Understanding the American Reaction

By Stefan

A large majority of Americans – 87 percent, according to one poll – approve of the killing of Bin Laden. Many were visibly overcome by joy when they heard the news, and the subsequent warning by CIA director Leon Panetta that the operation would actually increase the terrorist threat to the US only slightly damped their spirits.

Within a few days of the operation, video games were on the market offering simulated experiences of killing Osama – or, in one case, his ghost! If you get killed by him first, never mind: you can just start over again.

Sam Sommers, a sociology professor at Tufts University, explained the jubilant reaction as follows: “September 11 shook our belief [that] the world [is] a just and fair place where you get what you deserve. Innocent people died senselessly. Seeing this closing scene, for many people, provides a just ending.” Hence the “sense of relief” expressed by the widow of one 9/11 victim. (Read on)

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Libya: brutality and hypocrisy

By SPGB

When the popular movements against long-standing despots in the Arab world spread from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya the Western powers thought that something they had long wanted – regime-change in Libya – was about to be handed them on a plate. But they didn’t have the same control over Gaddafi as they did over Moubarak and Ben Ali and so could not arrange for him to bow out. His own man, and true to form, Gaddafi chose to try to brutally repress the movement. With the support of mercenaries and some sections of the population armed with superior military power, it was looking as if he might succeed.

Faced with this prospect, the Western capitalist powers have decided to play the military card too and have launched a series of bombing and missile raids against the armed forces loyal to Gaddafi. Since, under the UN charter, wars not authorised by the UN are “illegal”, they have had to present their action as being to protect the civilian population against the very real exactions of the Gaddafi regime. (Read on)

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Japan Meltdown: Another Man-Made Disaster

By Stefan

No, of course earthquakes and tsunamis are natural phenomena. But it is known where – if not when – they are going to strike. So in principle society could take action to minimize the human impact.

It was known that the seabed off the northeastern coast of Honshu (the main island of the Japanese archipelago) is prone to earthquakes. It was known that a sufficiently powerful offshore earthquake would generate a tsunami. So why not leave the endangered coastal area uninhabited?

Crammed into the danger zone

This earthquake and most of its aftershocks were offshore. However, the next major earthquake may well occur, as long predicted, on land. It is a matter of when, not whether.

The area at greatest risk is the southern coastal strip of Honshu that stretches west from Tokyo – a city already devastated by earthquakes in 1891 and 1923. And yet the eastern half of this strip, up to Osaka, covering a mere 6% of Japan’s land area, is the country’s industrial powerhouse, with 45% of its population of 127.5 million. Tokyo and its outlying cities alone contain 30% of the country’s population. Would a rational society cram so many people and resources into the zone of maximum danger? (Read on)

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Tunisia – people power, but…

By SPGB

The light­ning rapid­ity and rel­a­tive ease with which Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was chased out of Tunisia in Jan­u­ary, is a clear tes­ti­mony not only of the power of the masses but also (though unknown to many) how vul­ner­a­ble and cow­ardly many a dic­ta­tor is. Hours before his igno­min­ious flight, Ben Ali appeared on tele­vi­sion vis­i­bly shaken and plead­ing with the peo­ple to give him time to address their prob­lems. Too late; the masses were already up in arms. It is said that the cap­i­tal­ist sys­tem digs its own grave. But it does not do so will­ingly. It is an inevitable fate that it must ful­fil; it devel­oped the inter­net to enhance its insa­tiable crave for prof­its but, iron­i­cally, it is the same inter­net that the masses will use as a col­lec­tive organ­iser to mobilise the exploited to bury the sys­tem. The present upheavals in the Arab coun­tries are one such example.

Else­where in the Arab lands, this defi­ant action of the Tunisians sent frosty shiv­ers down the spines of the other dic­ta­tors and, appre­hen­sive of a pos­si­ble domino effect, some of these rulers started mak­ing jit­tery reforms to avert a sim­i­lar (and deserved) fall. (Read on)

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Child Labor in the USA — again?

February 22, 2011

By FN Brill

Jane Cun­ning­ham a Mis­souri State Sen­a­tor has pro­posed a law the whole­sale repeal of child-labor laws in that state. The law would allow employ­ment of chil­dren under 14. She believes this will instill a “work ethic” in the young.

She says that her bill sim­ply loosens an overly broad pro­hi­bi­tion on child labor and would allow kids to work at movie the­aters, to babysit or to cut lawns, blam­ing the hys­te­ria on union “mis­in­for­ma­tion” and pol­i­tics.
(Read on)

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Who Pays the Price of the Recession?

By SPGB

House­holds face the most dra­matic squeeze in liv­ing stan­dards since the 1920s, Mervyn King, the Gov­er­nor of the Bank of Eng­land warned. Fam­i­lies will see their dis­pos­able income eaten up as they “pay the inevitable price” for the finan­cial cri­sis. With wages fail­ing to keep pace with ris­ing infla­tion, work­ers’ take– home pay will end the year worth the same as in 2005 — the most pro­longed fall in liv­ing stan­dards for more than 80 years.

House­holds face the most dra­matic squeeze in liv­ing stan­dards since the 1920s, Mervyn King, the Gov­er­nor of the Bank of Eng­land warned. Fam­i­lies will see their dis­pos­able income eaten up as they “pay the inevitable price” for the finan­cial cri­sis. With wages fail­ing to keep pace with ris­ing infla­tion, work­ers’ take– home pay will end the year worth the same as in 2005 — the most pro­longed fall in liv­ing stan­dards for more than 80 years.
(Read on)

 

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Poverty and Sex

By Suzy

Unwanted sex has become a way out of home­less­ness for many. One in seven men and 28% of women had spent a night or longer with an unwanted sex­ual part­ner to “accom­mo­date them­selves”. (Read on)

 

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

Afghanis Starving

By Suzy

$52 billion of American aid, and Afghans are still dying of starvation. $52bn (£33bn) in US aid since 2001 has made almost no impression on devastating poverty made worse by spreading violence and an economy dislocated by war. That enormous aid budget, two-thirds for security and one-third for economic, social and political development, has made little impact on 9 million living in absolute poverty, and another 5 million trying to survive on $43 (£27) a month. The remainder of the population often barely scrapes a living, having to choose between buying wood to keep warm and buying food. As winter approaches, half of Afghans face not getting enough to eat, according to the US Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

A racketeering élite are the main beneficiaries of international support. Afghanistan was identified as the third most corrupt country out of 178 in the world in a report released last week by Transparency International. (Read on)

Source: World Socialist Party (US)

World Press Freedom Day

December 9, 2010

By Suzy

Press release from the U.S. Department of State that “The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011…we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.”

Did anyone mention Wikileaks?

Source: World Socialist Party (US)