30 Oct 2011

Occupy 'shows that it is still possible to save our species from extinction.'

Hugo Blanco is the historic leader of the Peruvian indigenous.


He led a successful peasant revolution for land rights in 1961 when peasants were being killed by land owners.


Praised by Che,  Hugo then a leader of the Fourth International, was captured and placed on death row and only lived due to an international campaign of solidarity launched by figures like Sartre.


Now in the his late 70s he publishes 'Lucha Indigena', 'Indigenous Struggle' and is the foremost ecosocialist revolutionary on our planet.


The uprising in Peru of the Awajan and Wampis and other Amazon people, of the Aymara and Quechua have shown that indigenous and workers can organise to challenge the destruction of the Earth and to build a democratic alternative to capitalism.


Hugo Blanco argues that the revolution must be global and that the occupy movement shows that people in the North are joining the revolt against the 1% and for a democratic, ecological society for the 99%.


This is a rough translation of this editorial on the occupy movement!




Hugo Blanco: The Global Movement Against Neoliberalism Grows Ever Larger
 
The World-Wide Rebellion Against Neoliberalism Grows Ever Larger
 
The wave of rebellion against neoliberalism was started by Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian Street Vendor who in protest against sustained police harassment and pollooting emptied fuel on to himself and lit a match. The flames of that fire are now spreading around the capitalist world. First they bought about the insurrection of the Tunisian town that demolished the government. Egypt was next and their too the government was overthrown. The movement then extended to other Arab countries where the fight is on-going. NATO intervened in Libya to gain control of the incoming government and similar is expected in Syria.
 
The rebellion jumped to the door of the sun in Madrid with the name 15M (It began on the 15th of May) extending to Greece and many other cities and European countries and recently to New York taking the name of Occupy Wall Street. This latest development is appropriate as it is the world-wide financial centre and from here spread to many other US cities. Then on the 15th of October a tsunami of global protest against the capitalist system spread to 951 cities in 82 countries. The brilliant slogan of the North Americans is “We are the 99% against the 1%” (the 1% that governs the world to satisfy it’s own narrow egotistical endeavours).
 
Neoliberalism
 
Neoliberalism reduces leisure, replaces human labour with automation and increases the age of retirement; which on one hand harms the elderly and on the other the young because it diminishes job opportunities. In the rich countries of the so-called ‘first world’ prior to the crisis bought about by the financial companies and banks, the attitude of the governments was to reward them with money from the public purse. Now, before the new economic difficulties, instead of increasing the tax on the millionaires, they load the debt on the majority of the population, reducing the budget for health, education and other public services like support for disabled people, the elderly, and single parents. In order to create money numerous public workers lost their jobs and then their houses, or repayments simply became too high. In either case many of them still have to pay to settle the debt.
 
In the so called ‘developing’ countries, the situation of hunger and misery is getting worse. Peru has been ‘desindustrializado’  which means the wages stagnate but prices for other things rise i.e. the relative wage decreases. In addition the ‘tercerizacion’ or services in which workers are not contracted to the factory in which they work but to another company creates a disconnect so workers are less able to negotiate a pay change.
 
Another burden faced by the poor countrie , besides global warming is the effects of the extractivist economy that provides millions for the great multinational companies. Mother Earth is knocked down with great insensitivity by hydrocarbon extraction, open-cast mining, high-ways and fast roads, the agro-industry, dams etc. All this in the name of ‘development’ and ‘progress’. To this end there are many ‘dealings’ between politicians and multi-nationals. The peasantry and indigenous and non-indigenous natives suffer the despoliation of water and of the soil, sinking in to greater misery. That is the reason they gave their lives in protest in Bagua, Islay, Juliaca. 

In Arab countries, these evils have been added by dictators who ruled with impunity, without allowing any criticism, committing every imaginable outrage. It was against this that broke those countries.
The governance of the world and of countries is less and less by states,  which are becoming increasingly weak. Gradually governance of by corporations is gaining strength.
Wars are driven by the arms industry.
There is more and more privatization, not only in poorer but also in richer countries.
The privatization of education has led to the struggle of the Chilean and Colombian students. The combatants in the war,  are increasingly employed by private companies. The prisons are also in the hands of private companies. In Peru state control of rail, post, road tax belongs to the past.

 
Uprising
It is against all of this that the peoples uprising began with the "Arab spring" and spread to the "first world" with the Spanish indignants and " Occupy Wall Street."
The rebellion present in the rest of the world is the same as we find with the struggles in our country (Peru), especially in defense of water and life.
Although the rebellion is not yet sufficiently organized to demonstrate its effectiveness against the current system, much has been achieved.
One aspect worth mentioning is the revival of collectivist solidarity that characterizes the world's indigenous communities, such as the Aymara and Quechua ayllu (commons system) against individual egoism that is promoted by the capitalist system.
The organization of indignants in Spain and the United States occupy movement shows that in the areas occupied, there are not leaders but good organization, there is responsibility for food, rubbish collection, library, care of health, children care, signing for the deaf,  translation, etc..
Furthermore, as shown in another article in this edition, solidarity grows in Greece: The striking doctors provide free care, electrical system employees reconnect those who have been disconnected for nonpayment.
We read: "The popular neighborhood assemblies rather than designing on paper  "an alternative" are making everyday organized solidarity for those who are on strike, for those who are suffering most from the economic crisis, for neighbors, for the most weak. "
In Madrid the community expelled the police who sought to capture an illegal immigrant, to cries of "No human being is illegal".
Also in Spain home evictions of those who were no longer able to pay their mortgages were prevented by the movement.  In Granada there is a movement called "Stop Evictions Granada."
In a sign that read: "You interest me much." It is seen that selfishness is artificially introduced and that human nature is united.

 

Critique
 
Some people criticize the lack of leadership. We see it as a merit, not as a deficiency, which has reached a profoundly democratic organization in which all rule, in which the concept has passed of the hierarchical class society, that one is born to rule and others to obey .
Another criticism is the lack of a finished program. We understand that as no one knew who develop elite, and that has to be made by consensus, necessarily slow progress, but the main thing is said, the fight is 99% which is crushed by 1% of world population As said Vandana Shiva, Indian activist, and was repeated by intellectuals who signed a document supporting the movement in Madrid: "The G8 should be replaced by full humanity, G7, by the billions".
The rest of the program is moving slowly but solidly, as shown above.


Conclusion

 
Marx said that as the working class faced directly against the bourgeoisie, was the call to be the vanguard of society's struggle against capitalism. We believe that it was completely right.
He also taught us that to see reality was better than reading a hundred books.
Following this recommendation, we open our eyes and see the world live and fierce attack from capitalism to all mankind, let us repeat what was said above: For the growing global warming leading to the extermination of humanity by the strong attack on nature in many other ways: open pit mining, hydroelectric plants, food processing, oil extraction, construction of roads, atomic energy, holes in the ozone layer, industrial water pollution, etc..
On the other hand: Cut the budget for health, education and other social benefits paid from the money given by the company, to become a private business whose only interest is profit and not addressing the needs of the consumer, higher prices, poisoning the entire population with GMO and chemical produced by the food industry, housing evictions, power outage, etc..
Thus, all humanity is being directly attacked by capital in multiple ways, correspondingly respond in their own ways.
We are taking the first steps in that direction, through our collective struggles in defense of water and life, the "Arab spring" of indignation, "occupy Wall Street," etc..
These movements show that it is still possible to save our species from extinction.





No comments:

Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles

Derek Wall ’s article entitled  Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles , argues that Ma...