Many mortgage payers – whether middle or working class – are facing financial ruin and/or loss of their home, thanks to Bank of England (BoE) punitive interest hikes.
The hikes are supposed to help bring down inflation. But some economists argue that these hikes are politically motivated and that inflation can be better curbed by very different means.
Another way
Howard Beckett of Unite the Union tweeted that the best way to curb inflation is by taxing the wealthy and by nationalising the energy companies:
The Bank of England has increased interest rates on 14 occasions.
The result. Mortgages are at their highest rates in 15 years. And inflation is still out of control.
There is another way. Tax wealth now. Nationalise energy now.
This story was originally published by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. The Environmental Protection Agency approved a component of boat fuel made from discarded plastic that the agency’s own risk formula determined was so hazardous, everyone exposed to the substance continually over a lifetime would be expected to develop cancer. Current…
In the latest update, a total of 45 countries are preparing to join the BRICS alliance weeks ahead of the summit. The new country that expressed interest and formally submitted its application to join the BRICS bloc is Palestine. A growing number of countries are showing discontent with the U.S. dollar and America’s control over global […]
We’ve all been told not to eat reheated chicken or undercooked chicken. But what about cooked sliced chicken in packets from the chilled section of a supermarket? Should we eat them? Nope or perhaps only with caution. This article briefly explains why. It includes a personal journey that could have led to my death. Unexplained […]
Inicio…. Opinión There is no more democratic way of life, in accordance with the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity, than the anarchist one.
Anarchy is a deepening of democracy, so the libertarian movement must insist on penetrating the social imaginary to give true content to both terms.
If the word democracy has suffered the addition of various perverse names to cover up its authoritarian nature (popular, organic…), now it is important to take advantage of the gradual discredit of the so-called parliamentary democracy so that the idea does not end up succumbing to the interests of power.
We can see the origin of democracy in Ancient Greece, without forgetting the exclusivist nature of that system, throughout history it can be seen as an attempt to expand the number of participants in the government;
From this point of view, the social and political self-management that the system of anarchy supposes would be the most perfect form of self-government (if one does not want to definitively renounce the term ‘government’, associated with a minority that makes the decisions).
The term democracy, with which professional politicians fill their mouths, has come to have an abstract character and to cover subtle forms of domination, so it is the turn for anarchists to contribute a lot to the expansion and perfection of its meaning.
First of all, and also as a way of broadening the concept and our own vital and political horizon, as the anthropologist David Graeber maintains, it is necessary to deepen the debate on whether democracy is born exclusively in the West and whether it has anything to do with democracy. actually with the election of representatives.
Graeber defends, and we can only agree with him, that democracy and anarchism (when we talk about self-organization, voluntary association, mutual support, denial of the State…) should be identical; Of course, there is no consensus in the social movements in this regard, although it is more a terminological problem than a real one.
Be that as it may, the word democracy still has a powerful claim and we can give a broad definition, with which most people can agree, that it is the collective management by ordinary people of their own affairs;
Graeber affirms that this conception already existed in the 19th century and that is why the politicians of the moment rejected the concept and then appropriated it by adapting history to present themselves as the legitimate heirs of a tradition that went back to Ancient Greece.
September 2022..M62, Social roots of the coup in Niger: –
When the anti-colonialist military movements in Africa were consolidated, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso, and the expulsion of the French (and European) troops from those two countries from Paris was achieved, the French said it did not matter, that they de would transfer them to Niger which would become “the heart of French military operations in the Sahel”.
That was February 2022. A year and a little later, that heart is beating with a force that is making the West tremble.
Niger has been able to stop the first aggressive wave, the famous ECOWAS ultimatum (with the West behind it) has passed without glory (although now they say they will meet again on the 10th for the same thing) and it has done so for three reasons: -for the firmness and unity that the military junta is showing, -because of the overwhelming popular support it has and -due to the rapid reaction of the anti-colonial countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and, to a certain extent, Algeria).
Also in Burkina Faso and Mali, the military had the support and backing of popular organizations, which unIlas que ya os hablé.already told you about. But what are they in Niger?
NIGER PIPELINE: EUROPE’S SALVATION?
You may have noticed the West is quite worried about Niger’s new, post-coup direction. When you filter out all the noise about ‘defending democracy,’ there could be a lot more self-interest at work than many realise. Sure, we’re all up to… pic.twitter.com/l4bEpN4NoK
The main one is Movimiento 62,, a coalition of 15 civil movements and unions, above all, which was formed in August 2022 to denounce the cost of living, the security crisis and, especially, against the presence of the French army. .
This has multiple reasons, among which weigh heavily, the deaths caused by French soldiers helping to suppress popular protests.
Its full name is “M62: Sacred Union for the Safeguarding of the Sovereignty and Dignity of People” and it was formed in August 2022 -referring to the 62nd anniversary of Niger’s formal independence from France- to denounce inflation, the cost of living, the security crisis but also the presence of the French army in Niger.
Their proclamations are simple: “Niger for Nigeriens. Out with foreign bases” (there are two, one from France and one from the US).
The Real Reason U.S. Troops Are in Niger – Foreign Policyforeignpolicy.comU.S. troops entered the region en masse in the early 2000s, when the United States began training and equipping militaries and helping build capacity in dozens of African countries that had never spawned a terrorist attack against the United States
The mobilizations were getting worse, the government for which the “democrats” are now crying was getting worse. The repression intensified, from deaths to arrests and censorship.
The blocking of the internet, the attacks on popular movements (especially the M62) in the ‘dunghill’ of the propaganda media became the norm.
The imprisonment of protesters reached a level similar to that of the French metropolis with the “yellow vests” or with the penultimate riot in the neighborhoods. With deaths too.
Thousands of people continued to fill the streets, protesting, enduring the “democratic” repression.
The zenith of the M62 came in November of last year when a massive protest against the transit of a French military convoy fired on the participants, causing 2 deaths and 18 wounded.
And that was the point of no return for what we are now experiencing and the breeding ground used by the military for its anti-colonial movement and the vast popular support it has.
Contrary to the “democrats” and “progres” in the style of Chile, for example, the first thing the military has done has been to empty the jails of the thousands of protesters who were detained for the aforementioned protests, starting with Abdoulaye Seydou, the fiercest critic of the deposed government and the best known promoter of anti-French sentiment.
His life in the last two years, since the now deposed president began to rule in 2021, has been jail. Go in and go out. His last entry, in January of this year for “disturbing public order.”
Anti-French sentiment is massive in the country, to which is added the issue of raw materials, such as uranium. The company that extracts and markets it is 85% French and 15% Nigerien.
That is the exact proportion of the profits: 85% for France, 15% for Niger. That’s why Niger can’t get out of poverty and why only 18’6% of the populationhas electricity (which has now been cut off by its provider, Nigeria). Ni
Niger is a headache for the West, which also distracts from country 404, formerly known as Ukraine.The usual propagandists, the ‘dunghill dwellers’, are looking like mad for any hint of Russian involvement.
ECOWAS is a creation of the colonialists to keep their former colonies subjugated. It is the West that plans, designs and orders to act.
As in the country 404. Everything that the inhabitants of the dunghill say about “democracy, constitutional order” and the like is only for the narrow minds of Westerners.
In other parts it does not strain. Especially since, in addition, there are plans for a gas pipeline that would go from Nigerialos propagandistas habituales, los habitantes del estercolero, to Algeria through Niger. When Russian gas has disappeared, Europe is desperately looking for new suppliers and Niger cuts such an ambitious plan in the bud.
The Free 