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E-NEWS BULLETIN 2 November 2018 Links to present possibilities

Editorial
As predicted, Bolsanaro, the neo-fascist has been elected as Brazil’s president. It is likely to have global ramifications with an end to the dominance of left governments in Latin America. It represents the tipping point of a generalised global trend of a shift in capitalist establishment politics to the far right since the 2008 economic crisis that has continued unabated. The markets and monopoly capital have shown their approval, with the American and Brazilian stock exchanges showing steep increases in prices and activity.

Just as economics has long been globalised more rampantly under neo-liberal capitalism, so too has politics. Notwithstanding South Africa’s historical and political peculiarities, we are not immune to the global shift to the right since our conditions are similar – economic recession, high unemployment, extreme poverty and inequality, a high number of desperate immigrants and most crucially, very weak organisations of the left with the majority of trade unions having been usurped into the neo-liberal cudgels of the ruling class and doing its bidding, undermining resistance and policing workers. The Zuma presidency showed sharp signs that the ANC government was prepared to adopt brutal measures to defend SA capitalism, including the murder of striking workers, repressive measures against community protests and curbing freedom of expression.

It is imperative that we study and learn the lessons of the Brazilian experience and this week’s newsletter leads with an article by Alex Hochuli who traces and analyses the country’s evolution from mildly left to the far right. We call on our supporters and readers to read, study and share this and other articles on Brazil. Forewarned is forearmed.

BRAZIL

bolsonaroBolsonaro Rising

Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest democracy has elected a neofascist as president. The principal tragedy of Bolsonarism is the way it represents a lost revolutionary moment. One key lesson: Don’t trust liberals. thebaffler.com/


bolsonaro supportersWhat Bolsonaro’s election victory means

Bolsonaro is the embodiment of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for twenty-one years and embraced torture, murder and rape, as necessary tools in the fight against communism, except his professed target is crime. He has always been quite open about his contempt for democracy but the majority of the Brazilian electorate voted for him. mg.co.za/


bolsonaro fascistsBrazil, Fascism and the Left Wing of Neoliberalism

The question being asked in the bourgeois press is: what psychological malady is taking hold that could persuade voters to elect such a person? Because Mr. Bolsonaro is politically repressive and culturally intolerant, the electorate must want political repression and cultural intolerance. Because Mr. Bolsonaro is a gender bully and homophobic, voters must be gender bullies and homophobic. Missing from explanations of the rise of Mr. Bolsonaro is that for the last decade Brazil has experienced the worst economic recession in the country’s history. counterpunch.org/


bolsonaro zionistsNetanyahu Congratulates Bolsonaro for Brazil Election Win, Invites Him to Israel

Far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro is an Israel supporter and has promised to move Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem. haaretz.com/


bolsonaroThe Role of Social Media in Bolsonaro’s Irresistible Ascent

False news, propaganda, the construction of uncritical common sense and the sowing of hatred are not innovative practices in either political history or war. The attempt to configure passive and malleable subjects has been studied for centuries as a substratum of ideological struggles. What has changed is the vehicle of propaganda, its directionality and the territory where the circulation of myths and convincing and sensationalized slogans become more effective. resumen-english.org/


[watch] Brazil’s 2018 Election, The Working Class, Fascism and Capitalism With Brazilian Sao Paulo Transit Worker Fabio Bosco

Fabio Bosco, a Sao Paulo transit union activist and with the Brazilian independent trade union federation Conlutas talks about the 2018 election victory of rightwing racist and militarist Jair Bolsonaro and the reasons for the rejection of the Workers Party candidate, Fernando Haddad. He also discusses the role of the unions and the capitalist class in supporting the rightwing government. He also examines the role of social media and Whatsapp which is owned by Facebook in the United States and made millions in illegal funding by Brazilian capitalists to influence the elections.

SOUTH AFRICA

concourtLandmark ConCourt judgment says mining rights do not trump lawful land occupier rights

In a case that strikes at the heart of the land question, Petse began by quoting Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth: “For a colonised people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread, and above all, dignity.” news24.com/


jama community protestAmadiba Crisis Committee: “We are in solidarity with the Jama community protests against Sanral!”

Since Monday 22 October, the residents of Jama community in inland Amadiba area have been blocking the works for the building of the Mtentu giant bridge. In June, the community also blocked the works for one week for the same reason. The protests were repressed by “Zero Tolerance” from Durban. People were finally convinced to stop when there were new promises and threats against leaders. wwmp.org.za/


wild-coast-sunFamilies forcibly removed to make way for Wild Coast resort finally get justice

The community will get back its 700ha of ocean-facing land, and will be shareholders of, and receive rent for, the land the Wild Coast Sun resort was built on. businesslive.co.za/


prasa engineSenior M&G reporter’s Prasa contract raises ethical issues

The Mail & Guardian political editor, Matuma Letsoalo, has been suspended by the newspaper for his conflict of interest with respect to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. A forensic investigation into Prasa tenders had flagged his business interest in a travel agency contracted by the state-owned enterprise. Letsoalo has denied any wrongdoing. dailymaverick.co.za/


UBC at alexander forbesAlexander Forbes feels fallout of ‘missing’ pension billions

When the Financial Services Board cancelled dormant retirement funds, it transferred beneficiaries’ money into ‘unclaimed benefit funds’. However, beneficiaries say it’s not unclaimed but unpaid. Alexander Forbes is one fund administrator implicated in creaming off profits from the funds that are not theirs. businesslive.co.za/


cyrilSAFTU alarmed at President’s comments about business ‘heroes’

President Cyril Ramphosa at the Investment Conference on 26 October 2018 said that “it is time for South Africa to do away with vilifying business people and that the label ‘white monopoly capital’ should be discarded once and for all. We should treat our entrepreneurs as heroes.” SAFTU takes exception. saftu.org.za/


Set-top boxes: Why stop after 10 years and R10bn of taxpayers’ money?

When I heard the announcement that government, through Cabinet, had decided to stop the procurement of state-funded set-top boxes, I froze. What I could not understand was why – Mamodupi Mohlala. city-press.news24.com/


twitterversePolitical interference on South African Twitter

This article is an investigation into the political interference that has already occurred on South African Twitter between 2014 and 2018. Looking at how many accounts Twitter has suspended across 28 datasets relating to politics, social unrest and race relations in South Africa, the analysis generates some hypotheses around who might be involved in social media misinformation campaigns and what their agendas are. superlinear.co.za/


whites-in-redsDecolonisation: The perpetuation of normalised racism?

The VBS heist, argues Jeff Rudin, offers an understanding of the extent to which a black identity is mainly driven and sustained by a racialised access to scarce resources. Making race the road to riches is legitimised by a racism normalised to render all white people inescapably and permanently guilty of the crimes of apartheid. The fortuitous and recent arrival of the ideology of decolonisation further fuels this legitimisation. dailymaverick.co.za/


[listen] Refugees and Migrants – should we still have national borders?

Workers On Wednesday 31 October

GUESTS Tendai Bhiza (People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty) and Loren Landau (African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University)

Over the past few years, refugees and migrants have been in the spotlight all over the world. Since the end of Apartheid, millions of migrants and refugees have settled in South Africa – most coming from African and Asian countries. Those who are poor have encountered many problems here including bad treatment and corruption by state officials, xenophobic attacks in townships and discrimination in social life. At the same time our government has promoted an African renaissance and lately under President Cyril Ramaphosa, closer political unity similar to the European Union. What will this mean for us, should we still have national borders? wwmp.org.za/


thorn-logoVictory for THORN workers at Spar: former labour broker employees to be insourced

From 1 December 2018, all former employees of two labour brokers will be insourced and employed directly by Spar, and the grievances of these former Temporary Employment Service employees will be referred directly to Spar. wwmp.org.za/


heineken-workersHeineken strike leaders fear dismissal

Workers from a labour broker hired by Heineken held a one-day strike at the company’s Sedibeng brewery. They demanded better working conditions and direct employment by Heineken. The strike was unprotected, and the Labour Court interdicted it. Then workers went to the Heineken offices in Sandton last week, in what Imperial has described as an “illegal protest”. The workers deny it was illegal. But Sididli and other strike leaders were suspended and now await a disciplinary hearing. groundup.org.za/

[petition] Stop Heineken and others using labour brokers to bypass labour laws

heineken-slavers

We call on you to instruct the following multinational companies to abide by the labour laws of South Africa and respect workers’ rights: Heineken, Kellogg’s, Ferrero and PepsiCo (Simba Chips). We call on you to remind these corporations that labour broker workers have the right to become the permanent workers of the client company only and to equal treatment after three months of work, as per section 198A of the Labour Relations Act. We call on you to instruct these multinational corporations to stop and refrain from victimising workers who claim these rights. We call on you to cancel their trading licences if they continue to violent the rights of labour broker workers. Add your name here: awethu.amandla.mobi/

INTERNATIONAL

see no evilThe Poor, the Rich and the Immigrant

“A wall will save us” – this is the disturbing but simple message repeated as a mantra by the gardeners of hate, always looking for means of mass distraction. They scapegoat immigrants in order to produce the illusion of belonging to a global privileged gated community, covering the fact that borders and walls are traversing our cities, schools, career paths, and, perhaps, even bodies. counterpunch.org/


billionaire bonanzaAs handful of billionaire families benefit from rigged rig US economy

The rest of the American population is meanwhile left with stagnant or falling wages, meager or even negative wealth, and soaring economic insecurity. A full-time Amazon employee making $15 an hour would have to work for 2.5 million years to earn $78.5 billion, the amount Bezos’s fortune has expanded in the past year alone. commondreams.org/


yemeni girlPhoto of a Starving Girl in Yemen Prompts Facebook to Remove Posts of Article

For a few hours after The New York Times published an article about conflict and hunger in Yemen, Facebook temporarily removed posts from readers who had tried to share the report on the social platform. At issue was a photograph of a starving child. nytimes.com/


[Watch] “With Khashoggi’s Murder, Will the World Stop Turning a Blind Eye to Saudi Crimes?”

While Saudi Arabia is facing widespread condemnation in the media for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, the country has gotten away with worst crimes in the past. Newsclick editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha discusses what is fuelling this outrage against Khashoggi’s murder which was committed inside the premises of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Local news from Khayelitsha, East London, Port Elizabeth, Alexandra and Orange Farm in English and isiXhosa


Install the Elitsha app for your phone

NEW TECHNOLOGIES / NEW FORMS OF LABOUR

Talking to the mailman — an interview with free software movement activist and programmer, Richard Stallman

“People in the software field can’t avoid the issue of free versus proprietary software, freedom-respecting versus freedom-trampling software. We have a responsibility, if we’re doing things in the software field, to do it in a way that is ethical. I don’t know whether we will ever succeed in liberating everyone, but it’s clearly the right direction in which to push.” newleftreview.org/

ENVIRONMENT

smokestackHow Capitalism Stokes the Far Right and Climate Catastrophe

At a time when we should be uniting globally to reorganize our way of life to stave off climate disaster, many parts of the world are instead veering to the right, rejecting internationalism and demonizing marginalized communities. How did we get here? How can we escape annihilation? Crucial to answering these questions is understanding how the rise of the far right and the imminence of climate catastrophe are related threats. truthout.org/


bumblebeeEarth’s Wildlife Populations Have Dropped By 60 Percent Since 1970

The World Wildlife Fund has found that, on average, populations of mammals, birds, fish reptiles and amphibians have declined by 60 percent from 1970 to 2014. And humans are largely to blame. The top threats to wild animals including habitat loss and degradation, climate change, overfishing and overhunting. huffingtonpost.com/


bedtime earth‘We Have Less Time Than We Thought’: Alarming New Study Shows Oceans Have Retained Far More Heat Than Previously Believed

“The planet warmed more than we thought. It was hidden from us just because we didn’t sample it right. But it was there. It was in the ocean already.” commondreams.org/


french frigate shoalsWeather Disasters: Climate Change and the Potential for Conflict

A caravan of 1000 headed to the U.S. is causing much discomfiture in the Trump administration. Imagine the numbers multiplied by 100 or a 1000 in the scale of global calamity. There can be not much to quibble about global warming being the most important issue we face. counterpunch.org/

Disclaimer:

This newsletter is intended as a special and alternative news, information and knowledge source for all who are interested in issues relevant to promoting political, social and economic equality and the eradication of poverty. The articles contained herein are obtained from various electronic media platforms and do not necessarily reflect the views of WWMP.