Another World Now!

The public sector in the UK is under attack across the board. Tuition fees and marketisation in Higher Education, the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance in Further Education, moves towards privatising parts of the NHS, the transformation of schools into academies, cuts in disability benefits, the list could go on. Since 1 April this year, a second round of draconian cuts have been implemented damaging especially the weakest members of society (for an overview, see BBC News, 15 April 2013). And yet, resistance is fragmented and weak. A coherent, united movement against austerity has not emerged in the UK. On 18 May 2013, a People’s Assembly Against Austerity will be held in Nottingham. In this post, I will discuss the importance of local People’s Assemblies for the revival of resistance to austerity in the UK. In particular, I will highlight four reasons: (1) the collapse of resistance at the national level; (2) the importance of a broad space to bring together the diverse groups and people opposed to austerity; (3) the fact that the impact of cuts is felt at the local level; and (4) the need to unite various existing local movements of resistance. 

ECONOMICS AND THE COMMON(S): FROM SEED FORM TO CORE PARADIGM

Exploring New Ideas, Practices and Alliances  ; Berlin, Germany, May 22–24, 2013

Working Draft of Program, February 6, 2013

The conference was preceded by three workshops:

The Asia Commons Deep Dive ; see also: An Interpretive Summary of the Asian Deep Dive on Economics and the Commons, by David Bollier.The Latin America Commons Deep DiveThe Europe Commons Deep Dive ; see also: Reflections from the European Deep Dive on the Commo

By Walter Baier On 7-8 June the Alter Summit of the European peoples will be taking place at the Velodrome in Athens. An alliance of more than 150 organisations – including trade unions, social mov...

The capitalist system has exploited and abused nature, pushing the planet to its limits, so much so that the system has accelerated dangerous and fundamental changes in the climate.

Today, the severity and multiplicity of weather changes – characterized by droughts, desertification, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, forest fires and the melting of glaciers and sea ice – indicate that the planet is burning. These extreme changes have direct impacts on humans through the loss lives, livelihoods, crops and homes all of which have led to human displacement in the form of forced migration and climate refugees on a massive an unprecedented scale.

Humanity and nature are now standing at a precipice. We can stand idle and continue the march into an abysmal future too dire to imagine, or we can take action and reclaim a future that we have all hoped for.

We will not stand idle. We will not allow the capitalist system to burn us all. We will take action and address the root causes of climate change by changing the system. The time has come to stop talking and to take action.

We must nurture, support, strengthen and increase the scale of grassroots organizing in all places, but in particular in frontline battlegrounds where the stakes are the highest.

 

System Change means:

From the uprising in northern Africa to the assemblies in Spain, followed by the spreading of Occupy, new social movements have sprung up all over the world. Our structures, ways of organising and ...

With a new raft of housing benefit cuts hitting this month, including the infamous ‘bedroom tax’, tenants are getting angry – and organised. Izzy Koksal meets some of them

The next G8 summit will be on the 17th & 18th of June in the UK, in Northern Ireland. Given the remoteness of the location, the stopG8 network has called for a week of mobilisation in London from the 10th to the 14th of June.

A few of us who have been involved in Occupy in London and in the related international networks believe that this could be a great opportunity for us not only to converge for a mass action, but also to come together to share the many skills we have gained and lessons we have learnt in the past two years in our respective countries. Through this we hope to establish common grounds that can strengthen our movements in the future both locally and globally.

Tunisia, cradle of the revolts in the Arab world, hosts from today [26 March] and until Saturday the World Social Forum (WSF), the most important international meeting of social movements and organizations. And this is not by chance. The promoters of the WSF chose this country in reference to the ‘Arab Spring.’ The latter has not only given rise to new movements of opposition in North Africa and the Middle East, but has also ‘contaminated’ the south of Europe, in particular with the movement of the indignant in the Spanish State, as well as the Occupy movement in the United States.

from the opening March of the World Social Forum in Tunisia. (Photo: Jordan Flaherty) An estimated 50,000 people from 5,000 organizations in 127 countries spanning five continents participated in t...

In #globalrevolution on 31 March 2013 at 13:09 Global Square 2013 Tunis, photo via @CaseyJAldridge Dear people, In 1999 the counter-globalisation movement burst onto the streets at the WTO conferen...

UK Higher Education (HE) is being transformed. The introduction of tuition fees of up to £9000 per year induces changes across the whole system including the public purpose, administration and culture of universities. In this guest post, Hugo Radice assesses the transformation of HE as part of wider processes of neoliberal restructuring. 

After waves of protests in the past few years—from North Africa, the Middle East and New York to Frankfurt, Madrid, London, Athens, Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb and other parts of Europe—whose goal was to force the ruling structures to act in the interest of the general public, it is difficult to determine whether any actual breakthroughs were achieved, apart from the rise of a new political subject – active citizens committed to true democracy and social justice. At the heart of all these uprisings are expressions of a wish for a real democracy, which have been seemingly absorbed by the ruling elites with almost no consequences for the established power relations. A serious discussion about political and utopian potentials of democracy is more necessary than ever.

 

Towards a New Workers Movement - 

 

Across the world, workers are under attack by the 1%. Wages are at a historic low while unemployment remains stuck near a record high. Governments are attacking the poorest amongst us with brutal austerity plans. Unions are being destroyed, while autonomous workers’ movements meet with severe repression from Oakland, to Montreal, to Athens, and Cairo.

 

The power of the 1% is based on their control of the workplace. We need a new labor movement of the 99% to occupy the workplace and transform the economy, but the working class is divided – between union and non-union, immigrant and native-born, young and old, North and South, private sector and public sector; by national borders, race, language, creed, color, education, and industry.

The meeting will take place on April 18-20 in Maribor and Ljubljana

Start time: 12:00 on 18th in Maribor

19th in Ljubljana

End time: 14:00 on 20th in Ljubljana

 

Since its first meeting in Porto Alegre/Brazil in 2001, the World Social Forum has provided a key focus and meeting point for groups opposed to neo-liberal globalisation. Considering the current crisis of the global economy, success of the Forum process has become ever more urgent. In this guest post,John Hilary assesses the most recent World Social Forum, which took place in Tunis from 26 to 30 March 2013.