Poll Results on Satisfaction with Capitalism and Multiparty Democracy

Twenty+ years after the Soviet Union’s implosion under Gorbachev’s disastrous policies, Russians, Ukrainians, and Lithuanians are disgusted with the direction of their countries and disillusioned with multi-party politics and “the free market”. The Pew Research Centre Poll tells the story of radical disillusionment:

Russians, Ukrainians, and Lithuanians indicate they want a deepened, real democracy, with a fair judiciary and free media. However, they do not believe their post-socialist countries have delivered these institutions.

(And since the beginning of the Global Economic Crisis the disquiet with the global financial system has gone viral. According to the result of a 27-nation survey published in the German magazine Der Spiegel 2 years ago, only 11 percent reported being content with the capitalist system’s functioning. Further, 23 percent believe the free market economy is inherently flawed: Only in the US and in Pakistan were at least one in five happy with the current economic system.)

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Pussy Riot: Whose Freedom, Whose Riot?

Radfem HUB

Please reblog this radical feminist analysis of the Pussy Riot controversy.

Recently there has been lots of noise around the arrest of three members of Pussy Riot, a Russian anarchist female punk band. The media almost unequivocally represented them as the modern heroines of our time, fighting for freedom, democracy, sexual liberation and peace against a dark and ruthless dictatorship (articles are to be found in the NYT, Le Monde. The Guardian, etc.) Feminist groups all over the Western world are sending links and petitions to “free pussy riot”, anddemonstrations have even been organised in support of the group by big institutionalised organisations such as “Osez le féminisme” (dare to be a feminist).

Now while I support without ambiguity the liberation of Pussy Riot’s members, it’s worth pausing for a minute to ask ourselves, as radical feminists, what the political dynamics are here. Why would Western media denounce so passionately the repression of feminists in Russia, when it usually only diffuses information that supports male supremacy and patriarchy? Feminism has long disappeared from any malestream media, except when journalists can turn it into male masturbation material, that is pornify either our suffering or our resistance to it. What’s going on here?

Why Don’t the Greek Communists Just Link Forces With the Radical Left Coalition?

by Johan Boyden

The political assessment of the Communist Party of Greece (which we posted here) deserves some introduction for our readers in Canada. Afterall, as Greece heads towards Sunday elections, all eyes seem to suddenly be turned to the volatile situation in the Hellenic Republic.

UPDATE: View the election results in graphic form and read the assessment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece.

Progressive-minded people in Canada are optimistic. After years of hard struggle with countless general strikes and mass rallies, maybe these elections will hand a victory to political parties that identify with the left? Maybe they will demonstrate a different direction from austerity and economic crisis to the world?

There is also a certain renewed anxiety in the voices of the ruling class.  “We cannot have a Greek election determining the future of the global economy. That’s not fair to anybody,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said recently. Today, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney referenced Greece and the European situation to warn of more mass unemployment and ‘recession’ over here.

Lukashenko: Belarus Supports Russia’s Stances towards Syria

by R. Raslan/ H. Said

President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko

MOSCOW, (SANA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus and Russia share the  same stances regarding the international events.

What Were the Chances To Be Sent to Gulag?

by Pavel Krasnov

In the article “A Logical Analysis of the Mass Repressions Theory” we found out that the so called “tens of millions of repressed peoples” – are nothing but a bunch of far-fetched lies unable to withstand even the simplest logical analysis. But how were things actually? How many people were sent to GULAG and why? How terrifying was it to live, that is how high were the chances of being sent there in real life, not in the lies of TV-propaganda clowns?

Supposed image of a former Soviet GULAG. Note the lack of resemblance to a Nazi death camp.

There are very clear Soviet statistics regarding this, because it is totally impossible to handle millions of people without bookkeeping and data records. Moreover it is not even possible to run a hundred-man factory without bookkeeping, let alone a whole country. This data does exist, and no one from serious scientific communities questions the statistics of those years. Otherwise they would have had to make a crazy supposition that in 30s of 20th century the USSR jails kept 2 records of the statistics – a real one for them to use, and a fake one for the people that would live decades later.

Let’s have a look at the statistics. We will also find out how much truth there is in the theory that the Industrialization in the USSR was made by the hands of ‘many millions of slaves-prisoners’.

Logical Analysis of the “Mass Repressions” Theory

by Pavel Krasnov

When speaking about mass repressions that took place during Stalin’s years, anti-Soviet propaganda states the following:

• 20 million Soviet people were killed during World War II, 20 more million were killed by the government during the war with its own people;
• 10 million people were executed;
• 40, 50, 60 up to 120 (!) million went through labor and concentration camps;
• Almost all the prisoners in these camps were innocent, since it is obvious that 40 millions people can hardly all be criminals;
• Almost all the prisoners were forced to build canals or sent to lumber camps in Siberia, where most of them died;
• Even the most notorious “Gulagers” state that mass repressions did not begin until 1933-1935. This means that all of the above events have passed in 15-20 years including the War time;
• When asked “Why didn’t the people rebel while they were being exterminated?” they answer that “The people didn’t know”. The fact that the people did not know the scale of the repressions is not only confirmed by almost all who lived during that time, but also by numerous written documents and testimonies.

Overwhelming as these statements appear, they bring up several questions for which there are simply no answers.

Greek Leftist Leader Alexis Tsipras: “It’s a War Between People and Capitalism”

by Helena Smith

Greece’s eurozone fate may now be in the hands of the 37-year-old political firebrand and his Syriza party.

Alexis Tsipras in his office at the Greek parliament building on Friday. He says Greece has been used as a guinea pig for the rest of Europe. Photograph: Martin Godwin

“I don’t believe in heroes or saviours,” says Alexis Tsipras, “but I do believe in fighting for rights … no one has the right to reduce a proud people to such a state of wretchedness and indignity.”

The man who holds the fate of the euro in his hands – as the leader of the Greek party willing to tear up the country’s €130bn (£100bn) bailout agreement – says Greece is on the frontline of a war that is engulfing Europe.

A long bombardment of “neo-liberal shock” – draconian tax rises and remorseless spending cuts – has left immense collateral damage. “We have never been in such a bad place,” he says, sleeves rolled up, staring hard into the middle distance, from behind the desk that he shares in his small parliamentary office. “After two and a half years of catastrophe, Greeks are on their knees. The social state has collapsed, one in two youngsters is out of work, there are people leaving en masse, the climate psychologically is one of pessimism, depression, mass suicides.”