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Action Is Needed For Real Change
The Real News Network is a fine new medium and Jay Paul is doing real good in building it up.
Here is his recent series of interviews with Howard Zinn.
In the first segment, Zinn says one should vote for Obama. But he makes a very important additional point.
Voting for Obama will only bring change if there is constant, huge pressure on him to really move towards real change. Such pressure will require a social movement and direct civil action to have some relevance.
Obama will only end the wars if some anti-war movement gets loud again. He will only raise taxes on the rich if there is public pressure to do so. He will only stop giving taxpayer money to the owners of the banks if there is civil action to pressure him to instead hand the available money to those in need.
When did Obama ever talked about the poor? He talked about the ‘middle class’. When did he talked about the poor?
Zinn sees the current situation comparable to the 1930s. Only direct action, labor strikes and civil disobedience moved FDR to implement the programs he implemented.
The good thing about this recession is that the indignation level of people may actually rise to a point to pressure Obama to really do something sensible. It still will need a lot of agitation and activism to counter the usual slump in activity after the election and to turn that indignation into pressure. Obama will do nothing significant, if he is not pressured from the street to do do so.
Think about that and what you probably could do after the election and prepare for now.
Zinn’s advice is not only to U.S. people. Obama has been hailed as the savior in European media. This to give him leverage to ask, for example, for more European troops for the senseless war in Afghanistan. Only an increase in action to counter such moves, real public pressure, will lead to a real change of course.
Any action will have to start soon after the election as it might decide about the selection of various ministers or secretaries. If you do not want Dennis Ross as sec-state, be ready to have an argument against him and voice it loud. If you do not want another former Goldman Sachs CEO as sec-treasury (Rubin) be ready to have an argument against him and voice it loud.
Be ready to take the streets over these issues. Be ready to ask other to also take to the streets and have an argument ready to convince them to do so.
Wheels <-- Chariot --> Wheels
Kidnappings impede Afghanistan’s economic growth
Tom Blackwell, National Post Published: Friday, October 24, 2008
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Lah Lagha’s 15-year-old son is safe now, freed from his kidnappers after a bizarre swap of hostages between police and abductors. But the currency trader cannot easily forget the incident eight months ago: the kidnappers keep phoning him from prison.
“Every week, they give me a warning: ‘When we come out, we’ll see you,'” said Mr. Lagha. “They present two options: ‘I can come to see you and kill you. The other is you come to the prison and pardon us.’ ”
Up and down the aisles of Kabul’s bustling money changer’s bazaar — a low-tech financial nerve centre where bulging stacks of cash are traded back and forth — almost everyone has such a tale.
One trader recounts how he and his brothers, all unarmed, fought off kidnappers even as they shot at them. The head of the bazaar was abducted himself. The day before Mr. Lagha told his story, the son of a top bank executive was snatched.
As if the growing insurgency and related violence were not enough, kidnapping of business people and their children for ransom in Afghanistan has become an epidemic in the past two years, and it is having a devastating effect on the country’s fragile economy.
In the initial euphoria after the Taliban’s defeat in 2001, private investment grew steadily to $1.2-billion in 2006. But it slid to $646-million in 2007 and has plummeted even further this year, reaching only $316-million by September, according to the Afghan Investment Support Agency.
“When a businessman does not have freedom and his life is not secure, how can they invest?” asked Mohammad Qurban Haqjo, CEO of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries. “Security is a very, very crucial challenge.”
In Kandahar province, where Canada has been the lead NATO force since 2006, kidnapping of the wealthy started earlier and has had a dramatic impact, said Mohammad Naseem, a local businessman. Of 128 new factories that opened from 2002 to 2004, all but two have closed in the face of growing violence, he said.
“I have many friends whose sons were kidnapped, who were kidnapped themselves,” said Mr. Naseem, who moved his own family to Dubai recently. “Ninety-eight per cent of the business community is out, or doing business from outside…. There is no economy in Kandahar.”
Businesses in Herat province, home to many of the country’s wealthiest individuals and previously considered relatively safe, closed their doors for several days last week in protest against the kidnapping scourge – and the lack of police response to it.
The official figures say that 118 business people have been kidnapped so far this year in just Kabul and Herat, but that is likely an low estimate, as many Afghans deal directly with abductors and never involve the authorities, said Mr. Haqjo.
In the face of complaints that the police either do nothing about abductions or are complicit in them, the Afghan Interior Ministry announced this week it was forming a new anti-kidnapping agency.
Entrepreneurs face other obstacles, too. They include time-consuming red tape, inconsistently applied tax laws, corruption and a government that seems suspicious of private enterprise generally, said Simran Kaur Lohnes, deputy head of the Afghan Investment Support Agency.
But the German expatriate, like others, is still enthusiastic about the country’s potential. It is rich in mineral resources – one of the world’s largest iron ore deposits was just discovered – has a strong agricultural history and could become a competitor to China in making low-end consumer goods, she said.
Aid from foreign nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) makes up about 40% of Afghanistan’s legal GDP now, but “NGO activity has totally failed,” said Ms. Lohnes.
“We don’t need more NGOs that are coming here, starting projects and then the funding runs out and they’re gone. That is useless. We need private-sector activity that ideally works on a low-end manufacturing level.”
A visit to the money-exchange bazaar, though, underlines at least one reason why the private-sector potential is leaking away. In the shops that line the market and the crowds of people who mill about outdoors, millions in cash are exchanged or lent out weekly under the age-old hawala system.
But the criminal threat hangs over it like a cloud.
Mr. Lagha’s first encounter with kidnappers came in 2003, when five armed men grabbed him just outside his home. He was knocked unconscious but, as the kidnappers were driving away, they found $20,000 on him and unceremoniously tossed the businessman out of their vehicle.
Then eight months ago, someone grabbed his son as he was walking home from an English class, demanding $200,000 in ransom. Luckily, Mr. Lagha had a close link to a senior police officer and used the connection to get the authorities to take action, a rare event.
They tracked down the abductors, took two of their sons into custody, then arranged a trade of hostages.
Last year, Haji Haroun Hakeemi, another money changer, was heading to work with his four brothers when a black Toyota Land Cruiser – the type of vehicle Cabinet ministers and foreign officials tend to use – pulled in front of them. But instead of officials inside, it was kidnappers who tried to wrestle one of the brothers into their truck.
They opened fire in the ensuing struggle, hitting one brother in the leg. But they managed to thwart the abduction.
“For the past three months, things have been getting worse,” said Obeidalah, another money changer, who goes by just one name. He said any business person who does not have family tying him down to Afghanistan has already left the country, taking his money with him. “No one can work properly with a calm mind.”
“If I had the chance and I had the money, I would not see another week here,” said Mr. Lagha.
“I have love for my country, I would like to stay in my country … [but] how can you work, how can you invest in a situation like this, when everyone is worried about their son or daughter?”
National Post
tblackwell@nationalpost.com
Posted by: Shah Loam | Oct 27 2008 2:17 utc | 7
immediate plans of action needed are what to do [a] to prevent another election theft and [b] how to collectively stop it if attempted
not sure what, if anything, can be done wrt a). However, from everything I’ve seen (I’ve been working for dems in Bernalillo county, NM’s “hearbeat”) dems are best prepared for repub shenanigans since I’ve been watching closely (2k).
Obama’s lead drops to five points in US race
I don’t know about that. We’ll see more data later today. However from dem field offices, participation in GOTV (dems here and in Co. have literally saturation level volunteers… many, many more people on the ground than needed. In precinct I manage, we’ve have had duplicate efforts from at least 4 separate well prepared GOTV groups. I’ve never seen anything like it.
In my precinct alone, just in last 3 weeks, we’ve had very large flip to our side of previously committed repub/McCain registered voters, a group which had remained steady until then throughout this cycle. Hearing the same thing from virtually every captain in ABQ. And word from offices in every other swing state saying exactly the same thing.
No letdown or cruise to finish line evident that I’ve seen, but certainly confidence… strong confidence, and good reason for it.
45k people @ Obama’s rally here Saturday. 100k+ in Denver yesterday.
There’s been a few blurbs in polling over last 10 days suggesting McCain closing the gap, only to have overwhelming data in the other direction w/in 24 hrs. Everything I see suggests, if anything, momentum towards Obama.
But I completely agree w/you…
Voting for Obama will only bring change if there is constant, huge pressure on him to really move towards real change. Such pressure will require a social movement and direct civil action to have some relevance.
We talk about that a lot here… an awful lot.
Big this is, AFAIC, there’s little to go on from his campaign, advisors, or stump speeches that provided reliable map where, exactly, Obama’s headed on critical issues. For every Dennis Ross, there’s a Richard Holbrooke. For every Robert Rubin, a Warren Buffett.
Until Obama broke well ahead, I’ve pushed hard for more specifics from him… I do have questions. However, seeing pre-pubescent level McCain & conservative media heads took the dialogue, seems to me he’s been wise in avoiding specifics… why give fodder to parsing & spinning pundits who really don’t give a rip about anything other than winning-the-count?
Personally, I’m encouraged & more optimistic than you’ve been in your recent postings. I do think Obama’s got the right stuff. We’ll see.
Posted by: jdmckay | Oct 27 2008 12:08 utc | 15
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