obama....

So the cheering smiling crowds go wild, the poor of America have found, they believe, a new champion and the Rich smile and rub their grubby hands because the State is in the hands of someone the masses really believe in...all the better to convince them of the nesessity of massive cuts in all social provisions in order to save the bankers and the continuance of the war in Afghanistan, for which, Obama has already requested more troops.

We live in a society where the economy of certain corporations is larger than the income of many small countries and yet within each of these giant corporate economies we have absolutely no democratic voice, every company is a hierarchy, the boss or shareholders at the top, middle management and then the foot soldiers, the pawns who do all the labour but have no say in the distribution of the products of their labour. No change in the personell of the State can shake this despotism ruling in the economy. The only choice you get is between which members of the ruling class you think should oppress you for the next four years. Of course the state has some 'autonomy' and can sometimes come into conflict with the ruling class as a whole but in essence the state, as a state of that class, as a system of armed men, judges and laws for the managing of the working class, can only ever really do one of 3 things- it can retard economic development, it can promote economic development, or it can do nothing...but the State can never challenge the prevailing economic order as it is a product of the irreconcilable class conflict engendered by that very same economic order.
Even when, in rare circumstances, the State comes into the possession of a group of reformers dedicated to change, then as we have seen time and time again, the state purifies itself of this 'abberation' i.e. the judges and the generals and the police force overthrow those who have 'infected' the capitalist's state with thier ideas of change. We saw this clearly in Chile in 73 when the socialist Salvador Allende put his faith in the state, the weapon of the ruling classes, to change things in favour of the working classes.He paid not only with his own life, but with the lives of thousands of workers massacred by Thatcher's good friend, General Pinochet.

So why cant real change ever come through Obama? Because the tyranny in the economy remains untouched. Although Obama represents a positive shift in American politics he will never deliver on the hopes and aspirations of the millions who voted him in. The New Deal of the 30's he's so fond of referencing ever did tackle the economic problems of that time, the Crash of the 1930's melted into the mobilisation for the World War.
No mainstream politician ever can. Only a movement that begins in the working class communities and on the streets, that develops it's own local and workplace based organs of democracy,which take over sphere by sphere the activites of working life,only this kind of movement can bring to life true democracy and liberate us from banking collapses and war.

james

Saturday 24th January, 3-6 pm
Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square, Dublin

Hour by hour the Israeli State is perpetuating a series of brutal war crimes against the people of Gaza. Humanitarian shelters, schools, food convoys are all considered legitimate targets by Israel. The number of Palestinians killed by Israel's attack on Gaza has risen to more than a thousand, 315 of whom are children.

Israel has recently bombed a cemetery containing the bodies of men, women and children murdered only days earlier by burning phosphorous shells. Now it seems that even the dead cannot escape as Israeli attacks.

These war crimes are systematically disregarded by the EU and the US. Israel receives billions of dollars in aid from the US and given special trade status within the EU.

The silence of Barack Obama is deafening as liberal apologists are lining up to defend Israel and justify these brutal attacks by stirring up fears about Islam and Hamas.

In a special Day School devoted to the Middle East the SWP will examine the history of this conflict, the role of imperialism in the Middle East and crucially the prospects for resistance and fightback in the region.

There will be two sessions one on Zionism and Empire, the other on the question of Islam and Resistance. Each session will begin with a short introduction, followed by an informal discussion where people should feel free to ask questions and debate the issues.

Session One: 3 – 4.30 pm
Zionism and Empire
Introduced by Richard Boyd Barrett (Chair of the Irish Anti War Movement)

BREAK

Session Two: 4.45 – 6 pm
Islam and Resistance
Introduced by Marnie Holborow (DCU Lecturer)


For more information phone 087-2839964

i was in the epicurean food hall the other day having something to eat and my guitar was resting against the table....this bloke sitting at the next table pushing past knocks over my guitar and with it my cup of tea but he doesnt turn to see what he did and mumbles 'sorry' without turning around...
i was f**kin fuming...i tipped him on the shoulder and said 'hey you might aswell have the rest of this tea as you knocked most of it on the floor!'...he wouldnt even turn around....so i stood up picked up half a cream cake left on the table and threw it onto the back of his head where it exploded covering him in cake bits and cream...very satisfying i must say...although the staff in the food hall prob think im a nutcase now...