/may2012

La police commence à mettre en oeuvre la très draconienne loi 78

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/queb-m24.shtml

Quebec student strike : Police begin to apply draconian Bill 78
By Keith Jones
24 May 2012

Well over 100,000 people marched through the streets of Montreal on Tuesday to mark the 100th day of the student strike

Quebec authorities have begun to make use of the sweeping repressive powers contained in Bill 78—the emergency legislation the provincial Liberal government rushed through the National Assembly late last week to suppress the province-wide student strike.

Facebook IPO engulfed by insider trading scandal
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/face-m24.shtml

Facebook IPO engulfed by insider trading scandal
By Barry Grey
24 May 2012

Multiple investigations and lawsuits have been announced following reports of deceptive practices and insider trading in connection with last Friday’s $16 billion initial public offering of Facebook stock.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the social networking company and its bank underwriters downgraded their forecasts for the company’s earnings shortly before they increased the number of shares and raised the offering price in advance of the IPO. Neither Facebook nor the banks publicly announced their downgrades. The major banks involved are Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

Slovak premier prepares austerity agenda
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/slov-m24.shtml

Slovak premier prepares austerity agenda
By Markus Salzmann
24 May 2012

Shortly after taking office, the new Slovak government signalled its intention to implement an austerity agenda. Social Democratic Prime Minister Robert Fico has declared that the reduction of the budget deficit to less than three percent of gross national product (GNP) by 2013 is the supreme goal of his government. Currently the deficit is 4.7 percent.

Graves violations des droits humains dans des centres de détentions pour immigrés aux Etats-Unis

Report details abuse at Georgia immigrant detention centers
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/immi-m22.shtml

By Shannon Jones
22 May 2012

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Georgia has issued a devastating report documenting widespread abuse at four immigration detention facilities in the state. The facilities investigated by the ACLU included the Stewart Detention Center, the largest in the US.

The 182-page report, titled “Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia,” was released last Wednesday. It details what the ACLU of Georgia characterizes as “systemic violation of immigrant detainees’ civil and human rights while detained in substandard prison-like conditions ill suited for civil detainees.”

Québec Canada Grève étudiante : répression d’Etat

Police state bill passed to suppress Quebec student strike
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/pers-m21.shtml

21 May 2012

Quebec’s National Assembly adopted emergency legislation last Friday that imposes draconian restrictions on the right to demonstrate and criminalizes the fourteen-week, provincewide student strike against plans to raise university tuition fees by more than 80 percent.

Passed in less than 24 hours, the Quebec Liberal government’s Bill 72 includes a series of police state measures:

Striking students and their supporters are banned from picketing within 50 meters of university and CEGEP (pre-university and technical college) buildings.

Montée des tensions en Mer de Chine méridionale : « un miracle s’il n’y a pas de guerre ».

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/pers-m19.shtml

A dangerous dispute in the South China Sea
19 May 2012

For more than a month, Philippine and Chinese vessels have been confronting each other near the Scarborough Shoal—a small group of disputed rocks in the South China Sea. What began as minor incident involving a warning by a Philippine ship to a Chinese fishing boat has escalated into a diplomatic row that risks military conflict.

The Philippines recently held joint military exercises with thousands of US troops, provocatively involving an amphibious operation and an assault on an oil rig. Pro-government groups have staged inflammatory anti-Chinese protests in the Philippines, and outside Chinese consulates in other countries. China reacted by blocking Philippine banana imports and issuing travel warnings to Chinese tourists. The Chinese navy has held its own exercises, including landing drills, in the South China Sea, amid warmongering in the state media.

Greece: The program of Syriza
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/syri-m19.shtml

The austerity measures in Greece are part of an international offensive of finance capital against the social gains of the working class, which has escalated dramatically since the financial crisis in 2008 and affects all capitalist countries—from the United States, England, Spain and Italy to France and Germany.

An inflationary policy—as now called for by the US and British governments—would merely continue such attacks in another form. The “Growth Pact” currently being discussed in the EU, and on which Tsipras is clearly setting his hopes, consists of providing additional funds for ailing banks and “structural reforms” to improve competitiveness, i.e. flexible working conditions and lower wages. Cuts in public spending would continue unabated.

Should Syriza actually win the Greek election, it would play an important role in the enforcement of such attacks. Looking at Syriza’s European sister parties—Communist Refoundation in Italy, the Left Party in Germany, the Left Front in France—they have all participated in the attacks on the working class whenever they have participated in government.

Hillary Clinton est en train de foutre la pression sur l’Inde pour qu’ils accentuent, avec les Etats-Unis etc... la pression sur l’Iran. Mais voilà, ce n’est pas tout à fait dans les Intérêts de l’Inde...

« Clinton pressures India to support sanctions on Iran »

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/incl-m15.shtml

Clinton pressures India to support sanctions on Iran
By Sarath Kumara - 15 May 2012

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her three-day visit to India last week to pressure India to fall into line with US sanctions against Iran. She met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. She also visited West Bengal and met the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Clinton acknowledged that Indian imports of Iranian oil had dropped. “We are aware that refineries have cut their orders and the actual purchases have been reduced, so we’re encouraged by what India has done,” she said. At the same time, she called for further cuts, saying: “If the international community eases the pressure or wavers in our resolve, Iran will have less incentive to negotiate in good faith to abandon its nuclear ambitions.”

Iceland’s former prime minister acquitted over role in financial crisis
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/icel-m03.shtml

L’ancien premier ministre islandais, Geir H. Haarde, vient d’être reconnu non coupable de l’essentiel des charges retenues contre lui (sa responsabilité dans la crise financière qui a emporté l’Islande en 2008)

Iceland’s former prime minister acquitted over role in financial crisis
By Jordan Shilton
3 May 2012

Last week, Iceland’s high court, the Landsdómir, acquitted ex-Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde of all major charges in the case brought against him over his role in the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis led to the collapse of the country’s three main banks in a matter of days, as the economy entered a deep recession.

On three out of the four charges against him, Haarde was found not guilty. The court judged that he had done all he could to urge the banks to reduce their exposure to foreign debt, that he had not been negligent by failing to react to the danger of a financial crisis, and that he could not be held responsible for having failed to compel the banks to transfer the liabilities for foreign deposits in savings accounts to subsidiaries based in other countries. The only count on which he was found guilty was the token charge of failing to organise a sufficient number of cabinet meetings to discuss the issue of the financial crisis.