[Marxism] What's new at Links: Nepal, May Day, Bolivia, capitalism and flu, economic crisis, Malaysia, Vietnam, Europe, Arabic, Thailand

[glparramatta]

What's new at Links: Nepal, May Day, Bolivia, capitalism and flu, 
economic crisis, Malaysia, Vietnam, Europe, Arabic, Thailand

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    May Day, 2009: `Advance the socialist alternative!', `Together we
    shall restore humanity' <http://links.org.au/node/1026>

May 1, 2009 -- Below are a number of messages to mark International 
Workers' Day -- May Day -- from revolutionary organisations around the 
world.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1026>


    Bolivia: Rich countries must pay their `ecological debt'
    <http://links.org.au/node/1022>

Submission by *Republic of Bolivia *to the Ad Hoc Working Group on 
Long-term Cooperative Action under the [UN Framework Convention on 
Climate Change] (AWG-LCA)

April 25, 2009 -- We call on developed countries to commit to deep 
emission reductions in order to advance the objective of avoiding 
dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and its 
consequences, to reflect their historical responsibility for the causes 
of climate change, and to respect the principles of equity and common 
but differentiated responsibilities in accordance with the UN Framework 
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1022>


    Mike Davis: Capitalism and the flu <http://links.org.au/node/1016>

April 27, 2009 -- /Socialist Worker/ (USA) -- *Mike Davis*, whose 2006 
book /The Monster at Our Door/ warned of the threat of a global bird flu 
pandemic, explains how globalised agribusiness set the stage for a 
frightening outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1016>


    Former elite resists the `New Nepal' <http://links.org.au/node/1029>

STOP PRESS -- *Ben Peterson* from Kathmandu reports on May 3, 2009, at 3pm:

This morning the Maoists in government made the decision to remove 
General Katawal from his position of chief of army staff after his 
repeated political insubordination. This follows 10 days of trying to 
reach consensus with the other political parties, up until a final 
cross-party meeting this morning. Failing to achieve consenus, the 
goverment ordered Katawal's retirement.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1029>


    The political economy of crisis management in the heart of world
    capitalism <http://links.org.au/node/1027>

By *Arindam Sen*
May 2009 -- Do we see a faint glimmer of light at the -- still distant 
-- end of the tunnel?... Meanwhile, a great debate of sorts is raging 
over contradictory strategy options for crisis management, in the 
process revealing the class conflicts in US society -- both between the 
bourgeoisie and the working class, and among various sections of the 
bourgeoisie.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1027>


    Malaysian socialists' clenched-fist logo approved
    <http://links.org.au/node/1024>

April 29, 2009 -- The Socialist Party of Malaysia (Parti Sosialis 
Malaysia, PSM), having recently won a decade-long battle for recognition 
from Malaysia's Registrar of Societies, today announced another victory: 
that its logo has been approved by the Election Commission (EC).

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1024>


    April 30: Vietnam celebrates Liberation Day
    <http://links.org.au/node/1023>

*By Peter Boyle*

April 30, 2009 -- Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific -- 
There are two unforgettable images of Vietnam's Liberation Day on April 
30, 1975. The first is the image of liberation fighters entering the 
Independence Palace (now Reunification Palace) in Saigon (now Ho Chi 
Minh City). The second is the hasty evacuation by helicopter from the 
roof of the US embassy. Thirty-four years later Vietnam will celebrate 
not just the end of a 16-year war of aggression by the US, Australia and 
other imperialist and pro-imperialist states but also the end of the 
two-decade-long economic blockade that was subsequently imposed by the 
US on this poor and war-ravaged nation.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1023>


    Scottish Socialist Party: 'Little Britain' politics and the left
    <http://links.org.au/node/1021>

By *Alan McCombes *

April 24, 2009 -- Voters who want an isolationist Britain will be 
spoiled for choice in the European elections on June 4th. On the far 
right, the BNP and UKIP both demand an independent Britain. Left of 
centre parties that want British withdrawal include Arthur Scargill's 
Socialist Labour Parry and the NO2EU Yes To Democracy coalition. While 
these four parties promote British independence, the Free Scotland Party 
campaigns for an independent Scotland outside the European Union.
What should be the attitude of Scottish socialists towards Europe? 
Should the left back British separatism? And does the NO2EU Yes To 
Democracy campaign represent a progressive step forward?

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1021>


    Swine flu and a sick social system: Why the poor die and the rich
    sniffle <http://links.org.au/node/1020>

/ /

April 27, 2009 -- /A World to Win News Service/ -- It is impossible to 
predict the spread, severity and consequences of the swine flu epidemic 
that broke out in Mexico. But influenza epidemics have occurred 
regularly --- with three pandemics (global epidemics) in the 20th 
century -- and scientists and public health authorities have known for a 
long time that new pandemics are inevitable. Some possible parameters 
and paths of development can be scientifically understood, in both the 
biological and social spheres.
There are two separate and mainly independent factors at work. One is 
the nature and evolution of the disease itself, which is not caused by 
human activity. Although social factors -- for instance industrial pig 
farming -- may have played a contributing role in the appearance of this 
particular disease, human beings didn't invent viruses or human and 
animal vulnerability to them.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1020>


    The Flame, April-May 2009 -- Green Left Weekly's Arabic-language
    supplement <http://links.org.au/node/1019>

With the help of Socialist Alliance members in the growing Sudanese 
community in Australia, /Green Left Weekly/ -- Australia's leading 
socialist newspaper -- is publishing a regular Arabic language 
supplement. The /Flame /will cover news from the Arabic-speaking world 
as well as news and issues from within Australia. The editor-in-chief is 
Soubhi Iskander, a comrade who has endured years of imprisonment and 
torture at the hands of the repressive government in Sudan.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1019>


    Thailand: Why have NGOs sided with the royalists, against democracy
    and the poor? <http://links.org.au/node/1018>

By *Giles Ji Ungpakorn*
April 27, 2009 -- In the present political crisis in Thailand, it is 
shocking that most Thai NGOs have disgraced themselves by siding with 
the ``Yellow Shirt'' elites or have remained silent in the face of the 
general attack on democracy. It is shocking because NGO activists 
started out by being on the side of the poor and the oppressed in 
society. To explain this situation, we must go beyond a simple 
explanation that relies on personal failings of individuals or 
suggestions that NGOs have "underlying bad intentions", or that they are 
"agents of imperialism".

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1018>

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Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, 
experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political 
strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for 
open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from 
different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the 
international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social 
policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in 
the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing 
socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

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