Monday, March 23, 2009

John Bellamy Foster on the economic and ecological crises: `The common denominator is capitalism'



John Bellamy Foster interviewed by Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/Green Left Weekly's Ruth Ratcliffe

A 20-minute interview recorded with a handheld cam in Oregon, USA, in February 2009. John Bellamy Foster is editor of Monthy Review and professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. He is co-author, with Fred Magdoff, of The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences (Monthly Review Press, January 2009) among numerous other works. Foster discusses the global economic crisis, its implications for the world and particularly the Australian economy. He also discusses the ecological crisis and the potential for revolutionary change.


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

David Harvey Interviewed by Laura Flanders

The End of Capitalism? - A Response to Tim Geithner
GRITtv
Wednesday March 11, 2009 8:00 pm

Kiefer Sutherland Presents Mouseland

Via Renegade Eye:



You know Kiefer Sutherland as the star of hit television show 24, or the son of actor Donald Sutherland. He is also grandson of the founder of the New Democratic Party Tommy Douglas. The NDP is Canada's labor party.

Kiefer presents with the help of his grandfather's words and Mouseland Players, a valuable political lesson.

More Australians in El Salvador - Ovidio Orellanos



The day before the elections a group of Australian volunteers met at one of the FMLN headquarters to prepare themselves for their role of international mobservers. Many of them were Salvadorans who had been forced to emigrate to Australia as political refugees, in the 1980s. They were keen to be present at a time when the ARENA `party, founded by the people responsible for their forced exile had to face an electoral defeat.

Ovidio Orellanos is a Guatemalan by birth. The death squads of El Salvador modelled themselves on a similar movement in Guatemala, called ¨The White Hand¨. Ovidio tells us what these elections mean to him.

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Australians in El Salvador - Juan Campos


Juan Campos is a Salvadoran who spent two years in prison and was tortured in the early 1980s. He was rescued by Australia´s special humanitarian program and has lived in Australia ever since. Juan was one of the 15 Australian´s who came to El Salvador to observe the critical Presidential elections. He explains to community radio what these elections mean to Salvadorans, and people like himself.
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Éire, British Occupation, and why it isn't over yet

Without lending support to the recent attacks in the 6 counties of Ireland that remain under British rule (and the attacks, despite clearly wedging Sinn Fein, are counterproductive, and wrong), the wombats have decided to provide a bit of background to the issue, for those that aren't as familiar.

This excellent 2006 film by socialist Ken Loach (embedding disabled, so links only) captures a good deal of the reasons why (apart from the obvious occupation of one's own country) the Irish struggle reached such heights over the last century. Obviously, things are very different in the last few decades (and we could here show, for example, the excellent movie "Bloody Sunday", but that's for a different time).

1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jphOMU73fs
2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zb0PUmM8QQ
3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlVT1iQjAF4
4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLcNUf-aZmE
5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw1o2lby8mc
6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ2qncWkEM0
7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vh5mIgxx4Q
8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsQmXDRKzHo
9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4KI84UWlKo
10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L8how7y4Io
11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stcn06aDbtE
12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R688xbNRKlo
13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw5eFEFTTTQ

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A musical response to events in northern Eire...

In response to the recent events in the 6 Occupied Counties of Ireland, the wombats would like to post these three excellent Christy Moore songs.

Ireland unfree may never be at peace, but violence doesn't guarantee freedom. Often, it creates the opposite, especially when indiscriminate and isolated from popular opinion.