Anti-IMF protests in Jordon

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dark_ether's picture
dark_ether
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Jun 3 2018 02:40
Anti-IMF protests in Jordon

Be interested to here if any one has any news from people or organisations they know in Jordon?

From the BBC :
Protests in Jordan against tax rises and austerity measures - the biggest protests there for years - have entered their third consecutive night.

Police fired tear gas and blocked roads in the capital Amman to stop protesters getting close to the cabinet office.

The protesters say a new tax bill backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will hurt the poor and middle class.

King Abdullah has called for compromise from all sides.

Several thousand protesters chanting anti-government slogans and calling for King Abdullah to dismiss Prime Minister Hani Mulki have been holding vigils near the cabinet office.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44345136

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rooieravotr
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Jun 11 2018 13:09

Article by Black Rose Anarchist Federation:

Fresh Bread in Jordan

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baboon
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Jun 11 2018 15:23

"Hours after the launch of the general strike on Wednesday, Ali al-Ubous, head of the umbrella of unions, announced that the syndicates would be holding off on striking from now on in a bid to give the new government an opportunity to revise the proposed law.

His remarks were met with anger and frustration, Aroub Soubh - a Jordanian journalist and activist who was at the scene - said.

"People lost their cool, they started chanting and didn't give al-Ubous a chance to finish speaking," al-Soubh told Al Jazeera.

"They vowed to return to the streets and protest tonight," she said from the protest site in Amman.

Trade unions representing doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, teachers and others are participating in the strike.". Al-jazeera, June 6.

There are many youngsters involved in this movement and they have been careful not to get into unnecessary confrontations with the forces of repression. The unions seem to be trying to keep workers away from the youth movement, many of whom are unemployed. The tax increases don't affect the lower paid workers but they are agitating for an increase in the minimum wage along with other demands.

I agree with the last post that this upsurge is at a deeper level than 2011, but I certainly wouldn't characterise it as an "anti-IMF" struggle with all the leftist implications that that has. The struggle and demonstrations, lacking in the national flags of Jordan, have come up against the state and its trade unions.

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dark_ether's picture
dark_ether
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Jun 15 2018 14:21

The anti-IMF statement was perhaps a little hyperbolic, but the changes in taxation that were the catalyst for the protest were imposed as a result of the IMF (how directly/indirectly is up for debate I guess, though perhaps not a particularly useful debate). Plus, whether explicitly stated so or not, I'd argue that any struggle for better conditions for allworkers, especially low paid and unemployed, is leftist in nature.

Glad to read a more in depth analysis (and one from a Jordanian Anarchist at that), as when I initially looked back on the third the only English language reports i could find were corporate news ones.

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baboon
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Jun 16 2018 15:35

Hyperbolic or not it's an important issue to raise about the class struggle given the recent workers' strikes and protests in Iran and the particular situation of Jordan in a sea of imperialist war. The tax rises, now withdrawn, are just one aspect of the ongoing attacks on the working class in this heavily militarised country
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I wouldn't say that any struggle for better conditions is leftist but rather an essential element for taking the struggle forward. In my opinion the leftist slant on class struggle is an expression of its limitations and derailment, possibly into trade unionism or, as quite often, nationalism. The unions in Jordan, and the leftists that support them (SWP for example) have clearly tried to sabotage this struggle.

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baboon
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Jul 7 2018 19:39

A bit more on the protests and strikes in Jordan and associated matters:

http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/201807/15170/class-struggle-jordan-s-war-economy