[Marxism] What's new at Links: Solidarity with Tamil people, oppose coup in Nepal, Bolivian socialism, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, forgotten pandemics in Africa

[glparramatta]

What's new at Links: Solidarity with Tamil people, oppose coup in Nepal, 
Bolivian socialism, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, forgotten pandemics in Africa

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    Capitalism in Wonderland: Why mainstream economists can't deal with
    the ecological crisis <http://links.org.au/node/1053> 

By Richard York, Brett Clark and John Bellamy Foster (posted at Links 
International Journal of Socialist Renewal with permission)
In a recent essay, "Economics Needs a Scientific Revolution", in one of 
the leading scientific journals, Nature, physicist Jean-Philippe 
Bouchaud, a researcher for an investment management company, asked 
rhetorically, "What is the flagship achievement of economics?" 
Bouchaud's answer: "Only its recurrent inability to predict and avert 
crises".

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1053>


    Who is endangering civil peace in Nepal? <http://links.org.au/node/1050>

The Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, 
India, is a sister edition of the United States-based Marxist journal 
Monthly Review <http://monthlyreview.org/>. The May 2009 issue featured 
this editorial.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1050>


    Interview with Bolivia's foreign minister: `Communitarian socialism
    will refound Bolivia' <http://links.org.au/node/1048>

Interview with Bolivia's foreign minister David Choquehuanca by Patricia 
Bravo and Cris González, translated from the original article in the 
March 20, 2009, edition of Punto Final (Chile) by David Montoute.
Bolivia's new ``Political Constitution of the State'', approved by 
referendum on January 25, 2009, by 61.4% of the vote and announced on 
February 7, is clearly of transcendental importance for the refoundation 
of Bolivia. The recognition of individual and collective rights, popular 
participation, the principle of equality and the end of all types of 
exclusion and discrimination are all present in the new constitutional text.
It establishes the creation of "a Unified Social State of Law whose 
character would be Plurinational Communitarian, free, independent, 
sovereign, democratic, intercultural, with decentralised autonomous 
departments, regions, municipalities and indigenous circumscriptions".

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1048>


    Zimbabwe: The struggle enters a new stage
    <http://links.org.au/node/1045>

By Munyaradzi Gwisai
[Read or download the May 2009 issue of the ISOZ's newspaper, Socialist 
Worker, at the end of this article.]
May 6, 2009 -- The formation of the government of national unity (GNU) 
in Zimbabwe between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 
and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front 
(ZANU-PF) in February 2009 was the logical outcome of the agreement made 
between them in the middle of last year. The final negotiations had 
stalled as Mugabe tried to manipulate the details to exact maximum 
concessions from the MDC.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1045>


    Why Pakistan's military helped Talibanise Swat
    <http://links.org.au/node/1052>

By Farooq Sulehria
May 17, 2009 -- The mass exodus from Swat is making headlines globally. 
Over a million have been displaced. This is the worst humanitarian 
crisis since the Rwanda tragedy in 1990s. The explanation offered is 
that this is necessary to flush the Taliban out of Swat's lush, green 
valley in Pakistan's north. This military operation, launched in order 
to stabilise the US occupation of Afghanistan and its so-called "war on 
terror", is hardly mentioned in the corporate media. On the contrary, 
major US newspapers have been invoking the fear that Pakistan's nuclear 
weapons might fall into the hands of the Taliban. Is this a story 
planted by the CIA?

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1052>


    Sri Lankan socialists call for self-determination for Tamils
    <http://links.org.au/node/1051>

May 13, 2009 -- The statement below was presented at a press conference 
by Vickramabahu Karunarathne (``Bahu''), general secretary of the Nava 
Sama Samaaja Party (NSSP, New Socialist Party). Below the statement is a 
document that outlines the NSSP's position on Tamil national 
self-determination

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1051>


    Indian communists: India must end support for genocide in Sri Lanka
    and the elite coup in Nepal <http://links.org.au/node/1049>

By Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
May 11, 2009 -- A shameful spectacle of opportunism is being played out 
in Indian politics even as Sri Lanka is waging a chilling ``final 
solution'' to its Tamil national question. In the name of a war to 
eliminate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mahinda 
Rajapakse's regime in Sri Lanka is waging war on the Tamil people. 
Independent observers, international rights groups and even journalists 
have been prohibited from covering the reality of the war. Conservative 
estimates, trickling through, put civilian deaths at a minimum of 5000, 
including at least 500 children, since January. At least 100,000 
civilians are estimated wounded. The Sri Lankan army is using cluster 
bombs and chemical warfare in blatant violation of the Geneva 
Conventions. Tens of thousands of innocent Tamils are caught up in the 
war zone, starved of food, water and medicine. Some 100,000 others, 
fleeing in desperation are being rounded up behind barbed wire fences in 
``camps'', where by all accounts they will be kept under detention for 
three years. Sri Lankan journalists questioning their government's 
brutal policy have been silenced by assassination and arrest. 
International journalists reporting on the detention camps for Tamil 
civilians have been detained and deported.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1049>


    Solidarity from Timor Leste: `Support the people and legitimate
    government of Nepal!' <http://links.org.au/node/1047>

Solidarity message for the people and legitimate government of Nepal, by 
Luta Hamutuk, Timor Leste
Dili, Timor Leste, May 13, 2009 -- The legitimate government of Nepal 
was formed as a result of a very democratic process in Nepal.This 
government came about from the struggle of a people, full of the spirit 
of self-reliance, which was fighting against all forms of feudal, 
imperialist and neoliberal oppression. However, now the agents of the 
oppressors are beginning to engage in sabotage against this legitimate 
and democratic government, efforts which are especially driven by the 
military forces of the oppressors.
Based on these facts, Luta Hamutuk -- an organisation in Timor Leste 
that is also fighting for economic justice and self-reliance, that is 
against all forms of imperialist oppression -- would like to state our 
full support for the people and democratic government of Nepal and 
demand as follows:

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1047>


    Philippines socialists on Nepal: `We stand in solidarity with this
    mass movement fighting for the people's interests'
    <http://links.org.au/node/1046>

May 14, 2009 -- The Partido Lakas ng Masa of the Philippines has 
attempted to follow the developments in Nepal over the recent period. We 
welcomed the ouster of the monarchy achieved by the people's struggle 
and the mass movement, the unity of the main left forces, the Unified 
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the Communist Party of Nepal 
(United Marxist Leninist), and the elections which gave the left control 
of the government. We welcomed as a victory for the left and progressive 
movement worldwide the election of a left government led by the UCPN 
(M), along with the CPN (UML).
We therefore consider the forced resignation of this government as a 
result of the refusal of the pro-elite Nepalese military hierarchy and 
the president, backed by the country's elite, to follow the directives 
of a democratically elected government carrying out the platform that it 
was elected upon, as detrimental to the people's interest and only 
serving the interests of the Nepalese elite.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1046>


    Malaysian socialists: `In defence of the revolution and democracy in
    Nepal' <http://links.org.au/node/1044>

Solidarity message to the revolutionary masses of Nepal
Statement by the Socialist Party of Malaysia
May 12, 2009.
1. The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) would like to express our 
greatest concern over the current political developments and 
intensifying social struggles in the newly born Republic of Nepal.
2. The political and military elites have once again revealed their true 
nature when the president, who is from the conservative Nepali Congress 
party, overrode the decision of Prime Minister Prachanda from the 
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) to sack Chief of Army 
Staff Katawal. Some opportunist sections of the coalition government, 
like the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) 
also turned to the right by opposing the UCPN (M) move.
3. The army high command has refused to obey instructions from the 
elected civilian government as well as refused to implement key parts of 
2006 peace accords which included the integration of UCPN (M)-led 
People's Liberation Army (PLA) into the current army forces. Sections of 
the high command in the current Nepalese army committed serious human 
rights violations during the armed conflict with PLA and continue to 
enjoy impunity, and even planned to stage a military coup against the 
elected government.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1044>


    African lives -- silent casualty of the global economic crisis
    <http://links.org.au/node/1043>

By the Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa), AIDS and Rights 
Alliance for Southern Africa, RAVANE+ PVVIH Network for the Indian Ocean 
Region (Mauritius) and the Grassroots Empowerment Trust (Kenya)
HIV is not in recession! TB is not in recession!
May 6, 2009 -- On the occasion of the Conference of African Ministers of 
Health in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a coalition of health advocates from 
sub-Saharan Africa warn that the lives of millions of people in 
sub-Saharan Africa are in jeopardy because of the lack of political will 
and investment to realise the right of access to life-saving treatment. 
Only one third of HIV-positive people in need of antiretroviral therapy 
(ART) to survive have access to treatment in the African region. The 
coalition fears that national and donor governments are betraying their 
health commitments, particularly promises to support the universal 
roll-out of ART by 2010.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1043>


    CPI (ML) Liberation: Indian government must stop intervening in
    Nepal <http://links.org.au/node/1042>

By the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
May 5, 2009 -- The fledgling republic of Nepal seems to be standing on 
the verge of a new phase of civil war. Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) 
Rookmangud Katawal had been asked by the civilian government to explain 
why he had continued military recruitment despite the government's halt 
order and reinstated eight brigadier-generals who had been retired by 
the defence ministry. Backed by its foreign patrons and right-wing 
parties in the country, the military high command openly defied the 
authority of the elected government. The government responded by 
removing General Katawal, who refused to accept this and the 
government's decision was then illegally overturned by President Ram 
Baran Yadav, of Nepalese Congress party. With its coalition partners in 
government refusing to support the United Communist Party of Nepal 
(Maoist) [UCPN (M)], Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) 
announced that he had no choice but to resign.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/1042>

* * *
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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