Out of 35 arrested in Ankara, 19 were brought to the special political courts, 19 were sent to preventive prison (Sincan F Type Prison), 5 released on parole and one released without charges for lack of evidence.
Police filmed relatives and friends of the victims of repression, who were not allowed to meet their beloved.
Three other people were also arrested in Adana.
Source: Occupied Taksim.
Do you think there is a common thread among the popular public protests in South America, Asia and Europe? BTW, Tents have been pitched in Tahrir Square in Cairo and protests are scheduled to begin this Sunday.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed: People wants social justice and freedom and governments (and the bourgeois oligarchies behind them) offer just merciless looting and brutal repression. We are living through the era of Naked Capitalism (again), without the costumes it styled in the time of the Cold War, but People is more and more demanding something radically different, something totally unrelated to what the oligarchs offer.
DeleteGlad to see that you survived the Uttarakhand floods, BTW. I saw a guy on TV being brought to a clinic or something and he looked much like you.
Don't worry - I was @ home enjoying the pre-monsoon showers. Had no idea they would cause so much destruction. There are a couple of Seasonal Rivers in Dehradun and a few lives were lost here too. Don't they say God makes 7 individuals with the same face. We are used to Nature's Fury. I was in Dehradun when the last major earthquake happened in 1991 IIRC. Should get another big one soon. Land Mafia constructed lots of Hotels near the Riverbanks - that increased the Human Toll + earlier people had to walk 10-15 Kilometers to reach the 4 major Temples - now Buses reach them. Pilgrim Tourism has increased 5 fold in the past decade or so. People must respect Nature. Central Himalayas are very Fragile. There may be no Kedarnath Pilgrimage for 3 Years. The entire down was destructed except the Temple. I think Lord Shiva has spoken - he wants to be left in Peace.
ReplyDeleteComing back to Naked Capitalism - I made a comment about an Indian Company being booted out of Bolivia some months back on your blog. The owner is in trouble - http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1851569/report-coal-scam-cbi-searches-cupboards-at-naveen-jindal-s-residence Car sales down in India - first time in 10 years + Real Estate companies in and around New Delhi and Mumbai have accumulated inventory for 2-3 years, normally they keep inventory for 1 year. Growth projections brought down for the Indian Economy.
I'm not yet a Communist but Communism and Socialism seem more humane than Capitalism. Money ultimately kills societies. Do you think the Stock Market in the US will crash in 2013 or 2014. Student Loan and Home Mortgage Rates have gone up there. I am waiting for a Freer, Just and more Open World.
"Land Mafia constructed lots of Hotels near the Riverbanks..."
DeleteThat's the kind of thing The People is up to the eyebrows of. We are all being ruled by a mafia, and we all want true democracy instead.
"accumulated inventory for 2-3 years"
I'd say classical Marxian overproduction crisis. It's everywhere in the case of homes (USA, Europe, China, etc.) however it has critical and very destructive implications for the lives of people and even the market economy itself because banksters, the MAFIA, won't let housing prices fall (as they should in "free market") and housing costs, like electricity bills, bus fares, highway tolls, etc. affect the cost of labor force, imposing a rigid bottom line for salaries much more effective than any minimum salary that the government may impose by law (nowadays almost always under the real needs of workers and circumvented in many ways). Here we are being told to work for peanuts but apartment rents are from €700 upwards, so you tell me how are we going to live with those salaries.
The Mafia is getting most of its benefits today from charging the people with rents, mortgages, utility bills, etc. But that way they are shooting themselves in the foot.
"Growth projections brought down for the Indian Economy".
Obviously. Indian and other developing economies grew fast thanks to exports, if affluent markets like Europe are in near-complete collapse, these economies can only rely on internal markets and these are weak. Even China is having some troubles.
"I'm not yet a Communist but Communism and Socialism seem more humane than Capitalism".
I think that a lot of people through the World are in that very stage of consciousness you are in. One of the problems is that we associate "communism" with autocracy and bureaucracy and it does not need to be that way nor IMO is the key anymore. The USSR-style immature and highly imperfect socialism was born within the disciplinary industry model (Fordism) and did very well in the time this Capitalist paradigm lasted (longer in the periphery than in the center, where it was over by c. 1968) but, when change happened (Toyotism, social industry), the Stalinist system was so arthritic that it could not adapt and therefore collapsed. It had a chance with the Praga Spring but instead of using it, it destroyed that hope, sentencing itself to a not-so-slow death: 23 years later the USSR itself collapsed (and the worst of the Stalinist bureaucracy became the new Capitalist Mafia, just as Trotsky had predicted back in the day).
"Do you think the Stock Market in the US will crash in 2013 or 2014".
In truth I do not know. The Japanese one has been crashing already but it is largely for its own most serious problems (Fukushima pollution, growing socio-political distrust, immense debt, etc.) I do not think that stock markets, which are largely speculative (even more today, with absolutely crazy nominal amounts being traded just on bets themselves, the so-called "derivatives"), are much reliable as economic references. What matters is the real economy: agriculture and industry first and foremost. Everything we need is made in those sectors, all the rest is just annexes (transport, real services) or speculation (banking, etc.) However the, mostly pointless, financial sector weights the most in nominal economy and that spells DISASTER.
I'd say classical Marxian overproduction crisis.
ReplyDeleteNot really. There is a lot of demand for Housing all over India. The trouble is that the Apartments made in the Urban centers are priced too high for well over 90% of the population. There are some cheaper Govt. Apartments too - but too few in number. Saw a story about the employment scenario in Spain this Morning and the situation does seem alarming. Not long before the South European People erupt in protest.
I'd agree with you about focusing on real Economy - Agriculture, Manufacturing, Education, Healthcare, rather than overpriced and overhyped Brands. The real measure of a Country's Wealth is Strong and Happy Citizens - not the number of Smartphones and Cars consumed per capita. Saw a story about Georgia's highest Village earlier today as well and the people there are real Happy. Focusing on the real Economy can help India become a developed Economy within a generation or two.
The overproduction crisis is always relative to the effective demand, which is defined by the salaries. As capitalists want to produce-sell all they can and want to pay the lowest possible salaries (and there's always some other exploiter willing to pay even less and produce in even worse conditions for workers and the environment) they end up with a deeply impoverished working class which cannot pay for what they offer.
DeleteThat's the Marxist concept of overproduction crisis: cost reduction (cutting of salaries) → destruction of the demand → products pile up unsold → industries close, fire workers, lower salaries even more → even greater destruction of the demand → even greater stocks unsold, etc.
Abstract demand without purchasing power is nothing in this system. Demand is relative to cost and if you ever studied any sort of economics you should know that. A normal person here may be willing to buy an apartment for 50,000 euros, for example (which is many years of normal salaries), but not for a million euros. Only few can afford that much. And this is not such a disparate figure: my great-aunt's apartment was sold for almost that figure less than a decade ago (my father was astonished!) and today working area apartments aren't cheaper than 120,000 euros, while in the center they are from 500,000 up! 120,000 euros are at least 10 years of work (only to pay that, in reality you need 30 years or more unless your family has two salaries and assuming you don't go unemployed and lose all, as happens often).
So in fact the offer is not meeting the demand, which is for much cheaper stuff.
Abstract demand without purchasing power is nothing in this system. Demand is relative to cost and if you ever studied any sort of economics you should know that.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy creating Graphs of various Economic Theories @ College but the only one I remember is the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns. I agree with your explanation of Over-Production Crisis. I have seen that in real Life. That's what is happening in the US now on a Major Scale. Student Loan Rates go up - they don't have Money to pay the Loans or buy new stuff. Ultimately it is a self-defeating system.
The Focus should be on preventing unrealistic Inflation of Land Prices. I guess the Real Estate Bust started the downfall in Spain. India has the Demographic Dividend @ hand but the Resources are accumulated in a Few Hands. In a way I think the slow down is good - coz it will force the policy makers to take a critical look at what went wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
DeleteIt's basic conventional economics, not Marxist theory. I'm surprised you are not familiar with this.
"In a way I think the slow down is good - coz it will force the policy makers to take a critical look at what went wrong".
The policy makers are the international capitalist mafia and they do not think anything they care about (their profit, which keeps growing) is wrong, all the rest are just epiphenomena for them. Politicians are bribed and blackmailed systematically: who owns the media?, who can make substantive donations?, who can move in or out an industry? Unless the economy (and that means the companies) are made public and ruled by intensely democratic means, there's no solution.
I say, for example: every major company becomes public (with a cooperative element to it), all representative bodies are elected yearly (no campaign other than your actions as administrator/representative: no room for lying), popular tribunals to judge all matters and charges (corrupts, liars and exploiters to the guillotine). That should fix it pretty well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
DeleteThanx but Theories never really interested me. The welfare of People did and does. Theories behave as they are supposed to behave in their Alician Wonderland.
I agree about the co-operative model being much better. There are some very successful stories in this sector in India. Worth a look - http://www.amul.com/ and http://www.lijjat.com/ Their products sell all over India.
The policy makers are the international capitalist mafia and they do not think anything they care about (their profit, which keeps growing) is wrong, all the rest are just epiphenomena for them.
That's why I'd Love to see the Biggest Stock Markets collapse. You may argue that they'll make more money out of the collapse. However, an artificial system has limits. I know people are Bribed so that they will oppress their own folks. Have some first-hand experience of this as well. But the people are rising - Not sure whether you are aware about a recent incident in the State of Chattisgarh - http://www.ndtv.com/blog/show/chhattisgarh-naxal-attack-24-killed-371356
The Future will be decided on the Land. Not in the Corporate Board-Rooms or the Internet :) As I wrote some months ago on your Blog - I have hope because India is a Young Nation!