Occupy
The Occupy movement continues to gain momentum; though its focus and – perhaps – its lack of the kinds of analysis which anarchists favour are similar in the United States to those shortcomings in the UK. Evictions and violence by the state against the Occupiers also continue. Indeed, by the end of November more than 5,000 people had been arrested in Occupy retaliations across the United States.
As a recent study found that over 17% of adults in the US over the age of 25 have no health insurance, protesters in Washington, D.C. took over a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce in mid-November; they disrupted a speech by healthcare giant, BlueCross BlueShield’s, CEO Scott Serota: “We are the 99 percent. And we are here because Scott Serota, CEO of Blue Cross, who makes more than $2.5 million per year, is an example of the 1 percent in the healthcare industry, who testified in Congress and influenced the health bill to create more profit for health insurers at the expense of human suffering and preventable death.” As soon as one protester was removed from the event, another stood up and began speaking.
At the end of November New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg boasted to an audience at MIT that the NYPD (New York City Police Department) infamous for its attempted removal of the original OWS camp was his ‘own personal army’… “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world.”
At the end of the month, Occupy Wall Street protesters joined with a group of South Korean activists outside the South Korean mission in New York to rally against the so-called free trade deal between the two countries. South Korean organiser Kim Dong-Kyun said, “The FTA is a trade agreement that benefits the one percent of Korea and the U.S., therefore it will bring pain to the 99 percent of America and the 99 percent of Korea. That is why we are doing this with the Occupy Wall Street people from both countries.”
Students at the University of California, Davis, and other campuses called a general strike In December to protest tuition rises and the brutal misuse of pepper spray in a peaceful protest last month.
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Economy
In November Jefferson County (Alabama) filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in US history. After failing to refinance its debt of nearly US$4 (£2.6) billion, it becomes the most recent of a trail of other communities unable to continue to operate financially. Ironically, Jefferson County reached its present critical financial position after scheming with Wall Street investors to finance the rebuilding of a broken sewer system using interest rate swaps with JPMorgan.
At the very end of November the governor of the state of Michigan, Rick Snyder, authorised a takeover of the city of Flint by staff whom he picked; he cited a financial emergency. THis makes Flint the fifth Michigan municipality to come under state-appointed management. Former Flint mayor Michael Brown is now the city’s new financial manager.
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Racism
The ‘case’ for war against Iran is slowly but surely being made by the US state. Believing they have a right to go anywhere and do anything to advance the privilege and the power of the North American élite, its figurehead, Obama, was clear when he said in mid-November: “The sanctions have enormous bite and enormous scope. And we’re building off the platform that has already been established. The question is, are there additional measures that we can take? And we’re going to explore every avenue to see if we can solve this issue diplomatically. I have said repeatedly, and I will say it today: We are not taking any options off the table.”
Also in the Middle East, a US Army sergeant, Calvin Gibbs, was convicted in November of leading the ‘kill team’ in Afghanistan which murdered civilians keeping their body parts for sport. Yet, Gibbs avoided an automatic life sentence; he will be eligible for parole after eight years.
In late November Latino voters in Arizona recalled (removed from office by vote) one of those responsible for that state’s anti-immigration law, Russell Pearce. He’s the first Arizona state senator ever to lose power this way and must step down immediately. Pearce’s Senate Bill 1070 requires police to investigate the immigration status of people they have lawfully detained.
Nationally, vile and vindictive proposals along not altogether dissimilar lines are afoot: Even though it may not pass both houses, and Obama has promised to veto it, provisions in the Pentagon spending bill (the National Defense Authorization Act) would expand drastically the government and military’s powers to detain those with opinions different from the state’s own indefinitely. For instance, the military could jail anyone whom it considers a ‘terrorism suspect’ (not someone convicted, but suspected, note) – anywhere in the world. And without charge or trial.
The intention is to extend the definition of what the military regards as its ‘battlefield’ – to any and every country in the world, including inside the United States. Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First comments, “In this case, we’ve seen the administration very eagerly hold people without trial for 10-plus years in military detention, so there’s no reason to believe they would not continue to do that here. So we’re talking about indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens, of lawful U.S. residents, as well as of people abroad.”
Louis Further
References:
Human Rights First: www.humanrightsfirst.org
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This article originally appeared in the January edition of Freedom newspaper see here
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