OPEN MEETING
MARTIN SMITH
(SWP National Organiser)
on
WHY YOU SHOULD BE A SOCIALIST
Thursday 2 October, 5pm
Function Room
Students Union
Cambridge Rd
-
Saturday 27 September 2008
Socialist Woorker Student Society
(SWP National Organiser)
on
Thursday 2 October, 5pm
Function Room
Students Union
Cambridge Rd
Friday 19 September 2008
CAPITALISM ISNT WORKING!
Fuel and food prices soaring,production stagnant,unemployment rising, the housing market in freefall, the credit crunch. Then banks and financial institutions going down one after another - Northern Rock, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers,AIG, Merrill Lynch,HBOS.Who next?
The policy u-turns are amazing - the Bush government, high priests of neo-liberalism, true believers in the free market, NATIONALISES Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The sums involved are staggering - in one weekend the US Federal Reserve produced $85bn to bail out AIG, that's $14 for every person on the planet, enough to feed all of the poor in the world for weeks or maybe months.
The trouble is we know that while the bankers walk away with golden hand shakes working people will be expected to pay the price.They will say now is the time for us all to tighten our belts, now is the time for sacrifice.
This is a huge challenge to everyone on the left. Everyone is talking about the issues. We have to be able to explain why capitalism breeds crises,(and why its not just a few spivs in the city). We have to restate the basic case for socialism i.e. for production based on human need not profit. Above all we need to defend the interests of working people and insist that we are not made to pay for their crisis.
To assist in this process Portsmouth SWP is holding an EMERGENCY PUBLIC MEETING.
CAPITALISM IN CRISIS : who will pay the price?
Speaker: Joseph Choonara
Wednesday 24 September 7.30pm
Southsea Community Centre, St.Paul's Square, Southsea
There will need to be many meetings, many protests, many strikes and many struggles of all kinds but this meeting will be good place to start understanding what is happening and preparing to resist. POMPEY RESISTANCE invites all its readers to attend.
The policy u-turns are amazing - the Bush government, high priests of neo-liberalism, true believers in the free market, NATIONALISES Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The sums involved are staggering - in one weekend the US Federal Reserve produced $85bn to bail out AIG, that's $14 for every person on the planet, enough to feed all of the poor in the world for weeks or maybe months.
The trouble is we know that while the bankers walk away with golden hand shakes working people will be expected to pay the price.They will say now is the time for us all to tighten our belts, now is the time for sacrifice.
This is a huge challenge to everyone on the left. Everyone is talking about the issues. We have to be able to explain why capitalism breeds crises,(and why its not just a few spivs in the city). We have to restate the basic case for socialism i.e. for production based on human need not profit. Above all we need to defend the interests of working people and insist that we are not made to pay for their crisis.
To assist in this process Portsmouth SWP is holding an EMERGENCY PUBLIC MEETING.
CAPITALISM IN CRISIS : who will pay the price?
Speaker: Joseph Choonara
Wednesday 24 September 7.30pm
Southsea Community Centre, St.Paul's Square, Southsea
There will need to be many meetings, many protests, many strikes and many struggles of all kinds but this meeting will be good place to start understanding what is happening and preparing to resist. POMPEY RESISTANCE invites all its readers to attend.
Wednesday 17 September 2008
State Capitalism – An Afterthought
Gareth Edwards, who presented the forum on "Were the Communist Countries Really Communist?", has written a short follow-up article.
During the talk I suggested that there were a number of reasons why State Capitalism was important as a theory: firstly as a way to orientate oneself during the Cold War; secondly to help explain the ease of transition between “communism” and “capitalism” in the Eastern Bloc. Current events have thrown up another example.
The recent war between Russia and Georgia has been spun in many ways. It has been suggested this is merely an example of Vladimir Putin’s megalomania. Alternatively others have alluded to a flaw in the Russian character, predisposing them to expansion and aggression.
It strikes me that the conflict between Russia and Georgia can only be explained in terms of competing imperialisms. On the one side is Russia, keen to take control once more of its “near abroad” and on the other hand we have the US, looking to encircle Russia and reduce its economic and strategic influence to zero.
For a liberal media convinced that the relationship between the USSR and the USA during the best part of the twentieth century was a battle of ideologies, the advent of a “new Cold War” seems inexplicable. Yet if your understanding, informed by the theory of state capitalism, leads you to see the two countries as always having been competing capitalisms (and by extension rival imperialisms) then you are better placed to analyse recent developments and one will certainly not be surprised to see tensions rise once more.
None of this is meant to suggest that State Capitalism the theory can explain everything that happens between Georgia and Russia. Nothing substitutes for the analysis of a given situation. To understand the situation today one must consider the question of the right to self determination, the wider context of the “War on Terror”, the aggressive, expansionist policies of NATO, the growth of Russian nationalism, the increasing geo-political importance in the control of resources (particularly oil), and many other questions besides.
But we are far better placed to search for the answers to these questions armed with the theory of State Capitalism.
During the talk I suggested that there were a number of reasons why State Capitalism was important as a theory: firstly as a way to orientate oneself during the Cold War; secondly to help explain the ease of transition between “communism” and “capitalism” in the Eastern Bloc. Current events have thrown up another example.
The recent war between Russia and Georgia has been spun in many ways. It has been suggested this is merely an example of Vladimir Putin’s megalomania. Alternatively others have alluded to a flaw in the Russian character, predisposing them to expansion and aggression.
It strikes me that the conflict between Russia and Georgia can only be explained in terms of competing imperialisms. On the one side is Russia, keen to take control once more of its “near abroad” and on the other hand we have the US, looking to encircle Russia and reduce its economic and strategic influence to zero.
For a liberal media convinced that the relationship between the USSR and the USA during the best part of the twentieth century was a battle of ideologies, the advent of a “new Cold War” seems inexplicable. Yet if your understanding, informed by the theory of state capitalism, leads you to see the two countries as always having been competing capitalisms (and by extension rival imperialisms) then you are better placed to analyse recent developments and one will certainly not be surprised to see tensions rise once more.
None of this is meant to suggest that State Capitalism the theory can explain everything that happens between Georgia and Russia. Nothing substitutes for the analysis of a given situation. To understand the situation today one must consider the question of the right to self determination, the wider context of the “War on Terror”, the aggressive, expansionist policies of NATO, the growth of Russian nationalism, the increasing geo-political importance in the control of resources (particularly oil), and many other questions besides.
But we are far better placed to search for the answers to these questions armed with the theory of State Capitalism.
GE
Friday 5 September 2008
Kajbar Dam Massacre
Local comrade, Maher Deyab,a refugee from Sudan, has submitted this video footage of a demonstration against the building of the Kajbar dam on the Nile near his home town.
Maher is a Nubian and says that Nubian land and culture has already been devasted by the Aswan Dam in Southern Egypt and this dam is set to do the same in Northern Sudan.
The demonstration was met with repression by the Sudanese government and four people were killed and dozens wounded.
Maher is a Nubian and says that Nubian land and culture has already been devasted by the Aswan Dam in Southern Egypt and this dam is set to do the same in Northern Sudan.
The demonstration was met with repression by the Sudanese government and four people were killed and dozens wounded.
Reform or Revolution?
Hew Williams presents arguments for why capitalism can't be reformed into something better, and why the only hope of socialism lies in overthrowing the system.
Recorded August 31st 2008, Citrus Cafe, Portsmouth, England. Running time 44 minutes.
Recorded August 31st 2008, Citrus Cafe, Portsmouth, England. Running time 44 minutes.
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