socialismartnature:

Though a few months old, this article is still extremely useful in drawing up a sober assessment of the explosive growth and subsequent ebb of the Occupy movement — including its implications for future organizing …

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 … Today the future direction—and even the existence—of the Occupy movement, as such, is an open question. If activists and the left are to learn from this last wave of struggle, it is important to take this opportunity to assess the experience of the last eight months and the debates that have emerged. Most analysis of the Occupy movement has overwhelmingly centred on what are seen as its unique organisational and tactical forms. Many commentators and participants have focused on the way in which Occupy arose outside of the traditional forms of the left, movement organisations and the unions. They look for an explanation of its dizzying success in its tactical audacity, its rejection of hierarchical structures and its independence from existing organisations, which are seen as bureaucratic and ossified.

This article will argue that such a focus is too narrow to adequately understand the dramatic rise of the movement. Moreover, this focus on the “new” leaves us ill-equipped to understand the challenges facing us today and how to move forward. In reality, the picture is much more complex than the dominant narrative of the movement admits.

 … Regardless of the initial reasons for the explosion of the movement, it tells us little about how to move it forward now. OWS tapped into a deep vein of accumulated bitterness and discontent in the US. But as a movement, it far exceeded the existing organisational and political capacity of the working class. That class has been in retreat for 35 years and suffers the scars of defeat and demoralisation. The monumental events of 2011, from the Egyptian Revolution to the occupation of the Capitol in Madison to OWS, all began a process of reversing that tide. But it is precisely that—a process, which will advance spectacularly at times, suffer defeats at others and need to consolidate its forces.

It is unclear in what way the Occupy movement will revive or even whether, in its current form, it can. But it has fundamentally altered the landscape of American politics and exposed the fault lines of class anger. In that sense, it has made a contribution to the rebuilding of working class confidence, organisation and militancy. There is no shortage of issues around which to organise. And certainly the continuing assault of the ruling class in this country guarantees new upheavals. Recently the struggle for justice for Trayvon Martin—an unarmed black teenager murdered by a racist vigilante—has played a role in galvanising an emerging anti-racist movement. In May as many as 10,000 protesters marched against the NATO summit in Chicago. And as of this writing, the 32,000 members of the Chicago Teachers’ Union are preparing for a potential strike in the autumn. These struggles may not flow through the structures of the Occupy movement. But they are part of the same dynamic that gave rise to it. The most important contribution that those on the existing left and those inspired by the movement can make is to draw the lessons of the most recent wave of struggle and help extend the organisation of this resistance in all directions possible.

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

Drones that have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of suspected terrorists in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan soon may be patrolling the skies over Florida and the rest of the United States.

But rather than launching missiles, domestically flown drones could fill a variety of peaceful roles [sic], from aerial photography and land surveying to law-enforcement duties such as monitoring red-light running and speeding.

They also could be used for clandestine surveillance, triggering privacy concerns from civil-rights experts who worry about indiscriminate snooping on law-abiding citizens, not just criminal suspects.

What ultimately happens and under what restrictions are up for debate right now.

The Federal Aviation Administration, at the behest of Congress and President Barack Obama, is devising rules that by 2015 should determine how drones can safely share airspace with the nearly 340,000 commercial and private planes aloft every day nationwide.

Some of the testing could be done in Florida. The FAA could pick the six testing sites by December.

“We have lots to offer,” said Jim Kuzma, chief operating officer for Space Florida, a Cape Canaveral-based space-development agency courting the FAA on the state’s behalf.

Kuzma estimates as many as 50 companies in Florida are involved in some way with manufacturing drones. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach is one of the few institutions in the country that offers a degree in unmanned systems.

socialismartnature:

Capitalism kills.

I just want to point out how this article is an example of the way that the mainstream, corporate press — such as CNN — actually try to actively shape public opinion while feigning ‘objective news reporting.’ The author writes that cuts to Greek workers’ salaries and pensions have been “required” by the debt crisis. This is bullshit. One could easily write, alternatively, that the debt crisis “requires” raising taxes on the rich, defaulting on the foreign bankers who own Greek debt, etc., rather than attacking workers’ living standards …

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The suicide rate in Greece rose 40% in the first five months of 2011 compared with the previous year, according to health ministry data. A nongovernmental organization that runs a suicide helpline in Greece told CNN that it has seen a tenfold increase in calls, with three out of four callers citing economic problems. One in five Greeks was unemployed last year, and many more have suffered under the country’s debt crisis, which has required cuts in salaries and pensions.