credit crisis
Articles about the financial crisis or "credit crunch" of 2008.
For Communist Workers' Inquiry
A working paper for an assembly of The Commune examining communist potential within the crisis and challenges for revolutionaries.
Local Report From Hackney, London - Crisis in the City's Ripped Back-Yard
A report on the effects of the crisis, cuts, restructuring and possibilities for struggle in Hackney, east London.
Written for debate at the 'Commune'-assembly on September 11th 2010 in London:
http://thecommune.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/from-meltdown-to-upheaval -11th-september-assembly/
Contents
1) Intro
2) Class/Capital Structure in Hackney
3) General Re-Structuring in the Terrain
4) Overview of the Cuts
5) Recent Strikes / Resistance
6) Initiatives of the Left
Artificial scarcity in a world of overproduction: an ecape that isn't
The one strategy open to crisis-ridden capitalism that doesn't risk class antagonism is the creation of artificial scarcity through regimes of intellectual property. Sander explains, however, that the ‘production of innovation' is no replacement for the production of value.
Whether today's global overcapacity is seen as cause or effect of the economic crisis, one thing is certain: it isn't easy to make a profit in a world awash with overproduction. Capitalism is born in conditions of scarcity and is unable to function outside of them. So it seems logical that the crisis creates a tendency to restore these conditions artificially.
Romania: Protests against austerity measures grow, general strike planned
Areas of the Romanian capital Bucharest were paralysed today by 50,000 demonstrators protesting against the savage austerity measures currently being pursued by the Romanian government. Meanwhile, unions have threatened a general strike on the 31st of May.
The protest was one of the biggest since the fall of the Ceauşescu government in 1989, and follows a number of demonstrations in the Romanian capital since the announcement of the cuts.
In critical and suffocating times - TPTG
The Ta Paida Tis Galarias (The Children of The Gallery) group report on the recent demonstrations in Athens against austerity measures, including the events leading to the tragic deaths of three bank workers and its implications for the movement of opposition.
What follows is a report on the demo of the 5th of May and the one that followed the day after and some general thoughts on the critical situation the movement in Greece is in at the time being.
Austerity measures approved in Greece, protests continue
The new measures have been voted in the Greek Parliament yesterday by a majority of 172 votes out of a total 300, these including the votes of the ruling Socialist Party (PASOK) and the extreme-right party of junta nostalgic creeps, LAOS.
The Conservative party, the Communist Party and the Radical Coalition of the Left voted against the measures. The procedure was not without surprises as 3 PASOK MPs cast a blank vote, leading to their expulsion from the Party. One of them a veteran Socialist politician and Olympic Games champion Mrs Sacorafa is refusing to hand over her seat in Parliament.
General strike paralyses Greece
Greece has been brought to a standstill as angry workers stage a general strike over planned austerity measures.
All flights are grounded and no trains or ferries are running as transport workers join public sector staff who began a 48-hour strike on Tuesday. Thousands have taken part in rallies in Athens and police have clashed with some protesters outside parliament.
New wave of strikes over austerity measures in Greece
A new wave of strikes against austerity measures are under way in Greece as unions react to social security changes ahead.
It has been a lukewarm return to the pre-Easter labour mobilisations, but it seems that another strike wave is on the rise in greece, once again against the austerity measures imposed under the constant shadow of the possibility of the country coming under IMF supervision.
Global Leveraged Buyout or the “Longest Boom in Capitalist History”?: A Reply to Robert Fitch
Loren Goldner's reply to Robert Fitch's article on the crisis in New Politics magazine, containing his critique of fictitious character of 1982-2007 boom.
This article appeared in New Politics, issue 47, spring 2009. See http://ww3.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue46/Fitch46.htm for the article to which it is a reply.
There’s only one thing left to settle: our accounts with capital and its state - TPTG
A report on the working class struggles against austerity measures in Greece by Proles and Poor’s Credit Rating Agency aka TPTG, a Greek communist group.
In periods of crisis, such as the current period of over accumulation crisis, capitalists use the politics of “public debt” in order to devise new ways to intensify exploitation. In contrast with capitalist upturns when the private debt is increased, downturns are characterized by the increase of the “public debt”.
