Russia, Ukraine to resume talks on energy following Paris summit

Jason Melanovski

Following the Normandy Summit talks in Paris on December 5, Russia and Ukraine, along with the European Union (EU), resumed talks this week in attempts to strike a deal over the continuation of the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe.

Ukraine, with backing from the US and the European imperialist powers, is attempting to obtain a new ten-year deal with Russia’s energy monopoly Gazprom. It seeks to avoid being cut off from Europe as a major gas-transit country as Russia moves towards completing its Nord Stream 2 pipeline by the spring of 2020. The pipeline will transport gas directly from St. Petersburg to Germany.

The Ukrainian delegation at the Paris summit. Behind Ukrainian president Zelensky stands Interior Minister Arsen Avakov

The current deal is scheduled to expire on December 31. Without an extension, both Ukraine and Europe could experience significant disruptions to gas supplies in the middle of winter. In 2018, Russia supplied the entire EU with more than 40 percent of its gas.

For its part, Ukraine receives over $3 billion in Russian gas transit fees through its own energy giant, Naftogaz.

Earlier in November, Russia balked at any possibility of a long-term deal. Instead, it offered Naftogaz a mere one-year extension on the current deal and demanded that all legal claims against Gazprom, which currently total $22 billion, be dropped. United States sanctions against Nord Stream 2 are included in the massive $738 billion 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that has passed the US House of Representatives and Senate, and could temporarily delay Nord Stream 2’s completion. The US sanctions target not only Russia but also the German and European companies that are involved in the project.

The sanctions force Russia to fall back on a gas deal with Ukraine at least for the time being.

Revealing the shared imperialist interests underlying both major US political parties, the legislation targeting the pipeline’s completion has received bipartisan support, with Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen stating that it “sends an unmistakable, bipartisan message from Congress to Vladimir Putin that the United States will not sit idly by while the Kremlin seeks to further spread its malign influence.”

The National Defense Authorization Act also includes an additional $300 million in defense spending to support Ukraine. The Paris talks, which were held under the Normandy Format that includes Germany and France along with Russia and Ukraine—but notably not the United States—were promoted as a means to resolve not only the gas crisis, but also an end the over six-year-long civil war in eastern Ukraine. The war has claimed the lives of 14,000 people, displaced 1.4 million and left 3.5 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

While the talks were billed as a “win” or “draw” for Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky in both the United States and Ukrainian corporate media, they in fact failed to solve any of the intractable problems of the conflict.

Zelensky, who was elected in April on promises to end the widely despised war, essentially stuck to the dictates of the country’s far right, which demanded that the separatist-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk regions receive no special federal status and that local elections not be held until all occupied territories and borders are back under the control of Ukrainian forces.

Days prior to the Paris meeting, far-right forces set up tents in front of the presidential offices in Kiev and prepared to storm government buildings if any of their “red lines” were crossed by Zelensky in negotiations with Russia. Following the conclusion of the talks, which changed essentially nothing, the tents came down and the far-right forces conceded that Zelensky had obeyed their demands, while threateningly stating that “our war continues.”

The country’s far right has been backed by the US for years and has played a critical role in both the US-EU-backed coup in February 2014 and the ensuing civil war in east Ukraine. Ukraine has received $5 billion from the United States since 2014 and continues to receive 90 percent of its foreign military aid from Washington. A significant portion of this money has gone to support far-right forces like the Azov Battalion and the Right Sector. The US also explicitly voiced opposition to any softening of the line of Berlin and Paris toward Russia in advance of the Paris summit.

The far right and the US were further placated by the prominent inclusion in the talks of Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, who controls the country’s internal police forces and possesses well-known ties to Ukraine’s most notorious fascist militia, the Azov Battalion. Avakov also has ties to the factions of the US ruling class and state that seek to impeach Trump on a pro-war and anti-democratic basis over his attempts to pressure Ukrainian President Zelensky. He was mentioned positively by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, in her testimony in the congressional impeachment hearings.

Although as interior minister Avakov should theoretically have little to do with foreign policy, he was photographed in Zelensky’s entourage at the talks and gave interviews to well-known Ukrainian news outlets discussing the details of the talks and his impressions.

Following the talks, Avakov has taken on a much more public role in Ukrainian politics. Last week, he appeared on the 1+1 Ukrainian television station. Avakov stated that he foresaw police forces under his command being deployed to the separatist-controlled regions and that local militias would have to be disbanded before any local elections.

Such a move would essentially amount to the establishment of martial law in Donetsk and Luhansk with Avakov as its leader and would most certainly never be accepted by separatist forces that been fighting against the right-wing US-installed Kiev regime for over six years.

Since the talks, Zelensky likewise has demanded that the Minsk Agreement, which was signed in September 2014, be amended to stipulate that Ukraine gain control first over its border and the separatist regions before any local elections or federalization takes place.

At the Paris talks, both Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the implementation of the Minsk Agreement as is. This put them in direct opposition to both Zelensky and Ukraine’s far-right forces which direct the country’s foreign policy with Washington’s blessings.

Responding to Ukraine’s call to amend the agreement prior to the next scheduled Normandy Format meeting in March 2020, Russian representatives stated that Zelensky had simply “reiterated” the “unacceptable” ideas of former President Petro Poroshenko.

This week, Russian Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov also stated that any change to the Minsk Agreement regarding local elections should be discussed with the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics directly, and not with Russia.

Fiat Chrysler merger with PSA signals new attacks on autoworkers’ jobs and conditions

Jerry White

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and PSA Group have signed a binding merger agreement in a move which, according to analysts, will reshape the global industry. The $47 billion deal by the Italian-American company and the French-based owner of the Citroën, Peugeot and Opel brands will create the world’s fourth largest automaker by sales, trailing only Volkswagen Group, Toyota Motor and the Renault-Nissan alliance.

PSA workers march against threatened closures of Citroën-Peugeot factories

The FCA-PSA merger is the first of what is expected to be a wave of new consolidations in the global auto industry, under conditions of a slowing world economy, the eruption of trade conflict and an intense battle to dominate emerging markets for electric and self-driving vehicles and other so-called “mobility technologies.”

The once dominant US-based automakers General Motors and Ford will be relegated to the sixth and seventh spots respectively in the list of the world’s top auto companies. Both firms have established strategic partnerships--Ford with VW and GM with Toyota--and have embarked on their own cost-cutting restructuring campaigns. Over the last year alone, GM, Ford, VW, Nissan, Audi, Daimler and other global auto and component manufacturers have wiped out tens of thousands of jobs around the world.

According to Automotive News, “The deal will give PSA a long-sought presence in the US and should help FCA gain ground in developing low-emission technology, where it has lagged [behind] rivals. Yet the company will still be heavily reliant on Europe’s saturated auto market, and poorly positioned in China, the world’s largest country for car sales.”

As for FCA, it “will gain access to PSA’s more modern vehicle platforms, helping it meet tougher new emissions rules,” the industry publication said, “while Europe-focused PSA will benefit from FCA’s profitable US business that features brands such as Ram and Jeep.”

The two companies have combined sales of 8.7 million vehicles, but together they will have capacity to manufacture 14 million, according to LMC Automotive. While executives from both companies have claimed there will be no plant closures or production job losses due to the merger, industry analysts expect job cuts to hit the combined workforce of 400,000 employees. This will happen once the companies consolidate vehicle platforms, reduce factory capacity and eliminate redundancies in marketing, IT, logistics and administrative operations, particularly in Europe.

PSA worker protest in 2011

PSA and FCA aim to cut annual costs by 3.7 billion euros ($4 billion) through the tie-up. The merged company will be headed by current PSA CEO Carlos Tavares, who is a notorious cost-cutter. Tavares, who took over as CEO in 2014, is credited with bringing the French automaker, along with Opel, which PSA bought from GM in 2017, back to profitability through a series of cuts in jobs, wages and benefits, backed by the French, German and UK unions. With an operating margin of 8.4 percent in 2018, PSA was the most profitable volume automaker in Europe last year.

The merger has received the backing of the European unions, including the Stalinist General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in France, and the unions will have representatives on the new company’s corporate board of directors. The CGT, which is currently trying to stifle mass strikes against the Macron government, has gone along with PSA’s job cuts and its moves to extend working hours, in line with Macron efforts to end the legally mandated 35-hour work week.

In the US, the United Auto Workers union praised the merger. UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, who just oversaw the UAW’s imposition of a concessionary contract on 48,000 FCA workers, said she hopes the merger will “bring opportunities for growth that will benefit UAW members and our communities.” She added, “We know that FCA North America production is highly profitable and there is minimal product overlap at this time. We look forward to hearing more details in the future and working together to continue to make FCA a success and bring about job security for our members.”

Fiat Chrysler’s US operations were particularly attractive to PSA and its shareholders. The company posted a best-ever 10.6 percent profit margin in North America last year, and has been making record profits for nearly a decade since Fiat took over Chrysler during the US government’s bankruptcy restructuring of Chrysler in 2009. This is chiefly due to the collaboration of the UAW, which has agreed to wage and benefit concessions that have reduced the company’s labor costs by a third since 2006.

FCA workers in Detroit

FCA is currently facing a lawsuit from cross-town rival GM. The suit charges that FCA executives “acquired” the UAW by paying its officials millions of dollars in illegal bribes to sign pro-company labor agreements, and that this resulted in FCA gaining an unfair advantage over its competitors. The GM lawsuit charges that from at least 2009, the UAW was an “FCA-controlled enterprise,” which signed cost-cutting deals as part of then-FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne’s efforts to pressure GM into a merger.

In comments to reporters Wednesday, Tavares spoke about the GM lawsuit, saying that “we have obviously done our due diligence and we fully support FCA’s statement that this claim is meritless.”

The merger will provide a windfall for the two companies’ top investors, including family members of the two European automaking dynasties--the billionaire Agnelli clan of Italy, the founders of Fiat, and the Peugeots of France.

Ahead of the deal’s closing, FCA will pay its shareholders a 5.5 billion euro ($6.1 billion) special dividend. In addition, Automotive News reported, PSA will distribute its 46 percent stake in auto parts maker Faurecia to its shareholders, worth 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) based on Tuesday's market value. FCA’s holding in robot-maker Comau will be separated after closing “for the benefit of the shareholders of the combined company.”

In announcing the merger agreement, the companies pointed to greater efficiencies to be achieved by “optimizing investments in vehicle platforms, engine families and new technologies, while leveraging increased scale will enable the business to enhance its purchasing performance and create additional value for stakeholders.”

The completion of the proposed combination is expected to take place in 12 to 15 months, Automotive News reported, and will require approval by both companies’ shareholders at extraordinary shareholder meetings. The deal is also subject to antitrust and other regulatory requirements. Last month, Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the administration would “look very, very carefully” at the proposed merger because one of PSA’s shareholders is China’s Dongfeng Motor Group.

As part of its trade war with China, the Trump administration, with the full backing of the UAW and other unions, has claimed that the automotive industry is critical for “national security.” It has moved to block Chinese companies from gaining access to “US technologies.”

In an effort to gain US approval, Dongfeng Motor Group will trim its 12.2 percent stake in the French automaker by selling 30.7 million shares to PSA, worth 679 million euros ($748.4 million), leaving it with a 4.5 percent share of the merged group.

The ever greater global integration of the auto industry highlights the absurdity of the division of the world into rival capitalist nation-states and the pig-headed nationalism of the UAW, the CGT and the other unions. There is no such thing as an “American,” “French” or “Chinese” car. The global auto industry is an interconnected whole, involving the labor of tens of millions of production workers, engineers and technicians around the world, in addition to the millions more who extract the raw materials, all of whom contribute to the building of what are, in fact, world products.

In order to defend their jobs, wages and conditions, autoworkers need new organizations: rank-and-file factory and workplace committees that are independent of the unions. In opposition to the global assault on autoworkers, these committees will fight to mobilize the broadest sections of the working class in mass protests, plant occupations and national and cross-border strikes to defend jobs and living standards.

The growing industrial movement of the working class, including the strikes by French, US and Mexican workers, must be developed into a powerful political movement against the economic and political domination of the corporate and financial elite.

The new wave of mergers and mass layoffs demonstrates that under capitalism, revolutionary advances in technology such as artificial intelligence, 3-D printing, machine-to-machine communication, and electric and self-driving cars are used not to improve life for the broad masses of the population, but to drive more workers into industrial slavery and destitution. That is why the global auto industry must be transformed into a public enterprise, collectively owned and democratically controlled by the working class, as part of the socialist reorganization of the world economy.

Global Health Corps Paid Fellowship 2020/2021 for Young African Professionals

Application Deadline: 15th January 2020 by 12:00PM EST / 7:00PM CAT / 8:00PM EAT.

Eligible Countries: All African countries and other regions

To be taken at (country): USA

About the Award: Global Health Corps is building the next generation of diverse health leaders. We offer a range of paid fellowship positions with health organizations in Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, the United States, and Zambia and the opportunity to develop as a transformative leader in the health equity movement. Everyone has a role to play in the health equity movement.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: Global Health Corps Fellowship is looking for a global and diverse group of passionate and talented emerging leaders who:

• Are willing to push themselves outside their comfort zones, to embrace failure, and to approach a personally transformative year – with many challenges in the day-to-day – with integrity, humility, and self-reflection.
• Are ready to strengthen and use their voice — the most powerful tool for change that you have — in order to engage others, create space for critical conversation, and effect meaningful social change in global health.
• Are excited by a design-thinking approach to building a better world, creatively embracing wicked problems and ready to embrace failure as learning.
• Are committed to bringing your best and doing the work in the day-to-day, showing up as a critical part of the global health equity movement.
• Are passionate about social justice in global health and about finding and building their voices to effect health impact.
• Are committed to inclusivity and collaboration across sectors, cultures, and borders of all kinds, while investing in and supporting others.

Selection Criteria: By the start of the fellowship,  fellows must:

• Be 30 years or younger.
• Hold a bachelor’s or undergraduate university degree.
• Be proficient in English.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: Yearlong paid placements within partner organizations in Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, the US, and Zambia to address real-time capacity gaps and strengthen health systems.

• In addition to on-the-job training, we engage fellows in a comprehensive leadership training curriculum to build effective, empathetic, and innovative leaders of tomorrow.
• Fellow receive additional logistical and financial support during the year, including:
  • Monthly living and utilities stipend
  • Housing
  • Health insurance
  • Professional development grant of $600 and completion award of $1500
  • Travel coverage to and from placement site, all trainings, and retreats

Duration of Fellowship: 1 year

How to Apply:

• Apply here
• It is important to go through the Application Requirements before applying.

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Global Health Corps

UNESCO Immersive Residency 2020 for African Female Filmmakers (Nara, Japan)

Application Deadline: 10th January 2020

Eligible Countries: African countries (see below)

To be Taken at (Country): Nara, Japan

About the Award: Under the guidance of internationally acclaimed Japanese Film Director, Naomi Kawase, this arts residency for 10 young women film professionals from Africa in the village of Tawara, surrounding the spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Site of Nara, is a unique opportunity to work, discover, exchange, create. Residents selected will be invited to present their work at the Nara International Film Festival in September 2020. Apply now!
The Film and artist-in-residence will take place between 29 March and 12 April 2020. Participants will live and work in the beautiful village of Tawara (Nara, Japan), where Naomi Kawase filmed The Mourning Forest, Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The Nara team will provide artistic, technical and logistical assistance. Filming equipment will be put at the disposal of participants.
The residency participants will be invited again to screen and present the work completed at the Nara International Film Festival from 18-22 September 2020. They will participate in public discussions, masterclasses and networking sessions with Japanese film industry professionals.

Type: Training

Eligibility: Applicants are emerging women filmmakers, with some film or audio-visual experience, a good command of English and aged 21-35 from the following countries:

• Burkina Faso
• Kenya
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• South Africa

Two applicants will be selected in each country by a joint national/UNESCO committee.

Selection Criteria: Applicants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Motivation. Why you are interested in participating in this filmmaking residency in Nara, Japan?
2. Relevance. How do you think this filmmaking residency could help develop your capacities in filming?
3. Sustainability. How can you use this residency to promote further the role of women in the film sector?

Number of Awards: 10

Value of Award:
Logistic and operational support: Residents will benefit from a logistic support:

• – assistance on administrative and visa procedures
• – organization of accommodation in the village of Tawara

Financial support

• Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by UNESCO.
• Once selected to participate in this filmmaking residency programme, you will be provided: 1) 2 return air tickets from the city of your residence to Nara, Japan 2) Accommodation, meals and local transportation for the duration of your stay in Nara, Japan

Duration of Award: 2 weeks (29 March to 12 April 2020)

How to Apply:

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Japanese Government MEXT Scholarships 2020 for Teacher Training Students

Application Deadline: 14th February, 2020

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): Japan

About the Award: The Embassy of Japan is pleased to inform you that the Government of Japan will provide scholarship for Primary/Secondary school teachers who desire to take teacher training course and Japanese language training in Japan.
The scholarship is open to graduates of universities and teachers training colleges no more than thirty-four (34) years of age who have worked as teachers at primary/secondary schools or teacher training college for at least five years in their home countries at the time of application.
Beneficiaries shall upon their return, help to promote Japanese Language education in Nigeria.

Type: Training

Eligibility: 

(1) Nationality: Applicants must have the nationality of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japanese government. An applicant who has Japanese nationality at the time of application is not eligible.However, persons with dual nationality who hold Japanese nationality and whose place of residence at the time of application is outside of Japan are eligible to apply as long as they give up their Japanese nationality and choose the nationality of the foreign country by the date of their arrival in Japan. Applicant screening will be conducted at the Japanese Embassy orConsulate (hereinafter referred to “Japanese diplomatic mission”)in the country of applicant’s nationality.

(2)　Age：Applicants, in principle,must be born on or after April 2, 1984.

(3)　Academic and Career Background：Applicants must be graduates of universities or teacher training schools and have worked as teachersat primary/secondary educational institutions or teacher training schools (excluding universities)in their home countries for five years in total as of April 1, 2019.In-service university faculty members are not eligible.

(4)　Japanese Language Ability：Applicants must be keen to learn Japanese. Applicants must be interested in Japan and be keen to deepen their understanding of Japan after arriving in Japan.Applicants must also have the ability to do research and adapt to living in Japan.

(5)　Health：Applicants must be judged that they are medically adequate to pursue study in Japan by an examining physician on a prescribed certificate of health.

(6)　Arrival in Japan：　Applicants must be able to arrive in Japan by the designated period(usually October) between the day two weeks before the course starts and the first day of the course. (If the applicant arrives in Japan before this period for personal reasons, travel expenses to Japan will not be paid. Excluding cases of unavoidable circumstances, if the applicant cannot arrive in Japan by the end of the designated period the applicant must withdraw the offer.)

(7)　Visa acquisition：Applicants should,in principle,acquire “Student” visas before entering Japan and enter Japan with “Student” residence status. The visas should be issued at the Japanese diplomatic missions located in the country of applicants’ nationality. Those who change their visa status to one other than “Student” after arrival in Japan will lose their qualification to be Japanese Government Scholarship recipients from the date when their visa status changes.

(8)　Applicants must return to their home country and resume their work immediately after the end of the scholarship period.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship:

• Allowance：143,000 yen per month. (In case that the recipient researches in a designated region, 2,000 or 3,000 yen per month will be added. The monetary amount each year may be subject to change due to budgetary reasons.)
• Transportation to Japan：The recipient will be provided an economy-class airplane ticket, according to his/her itinerary and route as designated by MEXT,from the international airport nearest to his/her home country residence,where in principle is in the country of nationality, to the Narita International Airport or any other international airport that the appointed university usually uses when they enter to Japan.
• Expenses such as inland transportation from his/her home address to the international airport, airport tax, airport usage fees, special taxes on travel, or inland transportation within Japan including a connecting flight will NOT be covered. (*Although the address in the home country stated in the application form is in principle regarded as the recipient’s “home country residence,” if it will be changed at the time of leaving from his/her home country the changed address will be regarded as “home country residence.”)
• Transportation from Japan：The recipient who returns to his/her home country within the fixed period after the expiration of his/her scholarship will be provided, upon application, with an economy-class airplane ticket for travel from the Narita International Airport or any other international airport that the appointed university usually uses to the international airport nearest to his/her home address, wherein principle is in the country of nationality.
  • (Note 1) Any aviation and accident insurance to and from Japan shall be borne by the recipient.
  • (Note 2) Should the recipient not return to his/her home country soon after the end of the scholarship period to resume his/her duties, the transportation fee for the return to the home country will not be provided.
• Tuition and Other Fees：Fees for the entrance examination, matriculation and tuition at universities will be paid by the Japanese Government.

Duration of Scholarship: The term is the period necessary to complete each university’s training course and should be between October 2020 (or the starting month of the course) and March 2022. Extension of the term is not permitted

How to Apply: 

• Applicants must submit all required documents to the Japanese diplomatic mission in the applicant’s country. The submitted documents will not be returned.
• For Nigerian teachers: Completed MEXT scholarship application forms (find in link below) can be submitted by hand or by post to this address below:
  Embassy of Japan – Culture & Information Section
  No. 9 Bobo Street (Off Gana Street),
  Maitama District,
  Abuja

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details


Award Provider: Government of Japan

Important Notes: 

• (1)The recipient is advised to learn, before departing for Japan, the Japanese language and to acquire some information about Japanese weather, climate, customs, and university education in Japan, as well as about the difference between the Japanese legal system and that of his/her home country.
• (2)As the first installment of the scholarship payment cannot be provided immediately upon the recipient’s arrival, the recipient should bring at least approximately US $2,000 or the equivalent thereof to cover immediate needs after arrival in Japan.

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Programme 2020 for International Researchers (Fully-funded to Canada)

Application Deadline: 5th February 2020 11:59 PM Pacific Time Zone (UTC -8)

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Canada

About the Award: The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), a Canadian-based global organization, brings together more than 400 researchers from 16 countries who are pursuing answers to some of the most difficult challenges facing the world. The CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program provides funding and support to help early career researchers build networks and essential skills to position them as leaders and agents of change within academia and beyond.

Fields of Research: In 2020, the eligible programs are:

• Child & Brain Development
• Learning in Machines & Brains
• Quantum Information Science
• Quantum Materials

Type: Research, Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Applicants can be from anywhere in the world, but must hold a PhD (or equivalent) and be within five years of their first full-time academic appointment.
• Scholars’ research interests must be aligned with the themes of an eligible CIFAR research program.
• Be available to attend a two-day in-person interview* on June 26-27, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. Travel costs will be covered by CIFAR.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Program: Each CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar receives:

• A two-year term in a CIFAR research program, a global, interdisciplinary network of top-tier research leaders.
• $100,000 CAD in unrestricted research support
• Mentorship from a senior researcher within a CIFAR research program
• Opportunities to network, collaborate and form a community with peers from diverse disciplines across CIFAR’s research programs
• Specialized leadership and communication skills training, and support to put their skills into action, through participation in two cross-cohort annual meetings.

Duration of Program: 2 years – July 1, 2020 to June 30 2022.

How to Apply: Applications are submitted online and must include two to three letters of reference. Detailed Program Overview for more information.

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Colombia and the Revolutionary Process

Nino Pagliccia

In order to have a revolutionary process, it is necessary to go through revolutionary stages. First, what’s needed is a raised consciousness that may trigger some outrage by a sector of society which may subsequently grow into sustained protests. The protests might gather a critical mass with the support of the general population and turn into general strikes. If the popular movement becomes large enough to impact the economy and the normal functioning of the government, and if the movement is able to seize critical institutions of the government and civil society under a strong and trusted political leadership, then we may have the foundations on which to build a Revolution.

Of course, this is a simplified scenario. The revolutionary process is much more complex and will depend on other factors such as the level of repression exercised by the government through its armed forces and police, or attempts at sincere diplomatic dialogue, the level of overt and/or covert interference by foreign powers, the likelihood of foreign military interventions, as well as the commitment to popular resistance including forceful or armed resistance.

One could pick almost any Latin American country through its history and recognise elements of revolutionary processes that succeeded or failed at any given time. But there is one country that currently stands out and is seldom reported about by the dominant media. That country is Colombia and its long standing struggle. As we observe a persistent popular challenge and confrontation with the rightwing government of Ivan Duque, we realize that there are times when the only word that makes sense in the geopolitical dictionary is “Revolution”, and we ask, is Colombia initiating a revolutionary process?

Colombia has experienced one of the longest armed resistances against a dominant government anywhere in the world, which has been led since the mid-1960s by two major organizations, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army) and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army – ELN). The conflict has been mostly waged in rural areas outside the Bogotá urban area. That stage of armed resistance has confronted a strong repression responsible for thousands of Colombians, mostly civilians, killed in the large majority by rightwing paramilitary and Colombian security forces.

After a long peace process, in 2016-2017 the FARC-EP signed a peace accord with former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, disarmed itself and became the legal leftist political party Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (Common Alternative Revolutionary Force – FARC), preserving the acronym in Spanish as if to preserve the memory of its long struggle. However it decided not to participated in the elections of 2018 that were won by Ivan Duque of the Democratic Center party.

The peace accord signed by FARC-EP leader Rodrigo Londoño (nom de guerre, Timochenko) and Juan Manuel Santos is still in place, but the necessary trust to maintain it is wearing thin and it is becoming one of the major issues that is at the root of the current civil unrest taking place in Colombia. The political link between the ideologically far-right former president Alvaro Uribe, whose administration had engaged in massive military and paramilitary attacks on the rebel forces that also resulted in indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population, and current president Duque has not been conducive to building trust, especially when the implementation of large portions of the peace accord are not progressing fast enough if at all. Restitution of farm land lost due to forced displacements during the civil war, the program of crop substitution from illegal to commercial crops, the facilitated reincorporation of former combatants to civilian life, and, most importantly, the disbanding of government-condoned paramilitary groups are moving very slowly and this is attributed to a lack of resources and political will by the Duque administration.

The continued killing of former rebels and popular leaders has not helped the peace process. In fact, while Londoño remains in support of the process but also critical of it, a faction of the newly formed political party FARC headed by Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich went into hiding and later declared that they would take up arms again against the state as a “new stage in the armed struggle.” It would be a great mistake on the part of the Colombian government to use this as a pretext to justify violent repression against the population that has occurred even after the signing of the peace accord and may ultimately be responsible for the armed reaction.

Parallel to this development and not in contradiction with it, Colombians are becoming more vocal and over time organisations and groups have swelled the mass movement that we have seen since November 21. In what is comparable to street protests in Chile, Brazil and Ecuador, for more than three weeks multiple thousands of people have taken to the streets in major cities, including Bogotá, to stage mass protests with no end in sight. The protests have grown to be “long overdue” general strikes organised by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia (Central Workers Union of Colombia – CUT) and the Comité Nacional del Paro (National Strike Committee)

Besides unions, the mass movement includes students, social organizations, indigenous and Afro-Colombian people, farmers, cultural and environmental groups, and the political party FARC. The general population supports the protests in rejection of the Duque government’s neoliberal policies that include raising the compulsory retirement age, increasing workers’ contributions to the pension system, reducing the state’s role in social security, and lowering the young people’s minimum wage, among other things.

While the dominant media reports at length about the “pro-democracy” color revolution in Hong Kong they ignore the civil unrest taking place in Colombia. What is happening in Colombia is relevant news because it is part of the Latin American vociferous demands for peace and for opposition to unpopular government policies similar to those in Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, and soon in Bolivia, following the military coup.

Colombia has a 50-year long history of armed revolutionary process that is unique in Latin America but also ignored or some would say covered up. At the same time Colombia’s military budget is the second highest in the region, surpassed only by Brazil. The country has the largest concentration of US military presence in South America with nine military bases, out of 76 in the whole of Latin America as well as numerous US-funded organizations. Colombia has the infamous role of being the willing watch tower of the US’ Latin American “backyard”.

Colombia is attempting to develop a peace process to end the long armed stand-off with the state, however the state is not making the necessary institutional and political changes to make peace happen as agreed to and ratified. So the popular resistance aiming to achieve revolutionary conditions appears to continue now on two fronts, one that recently rejoined the armed struggle and the other that hopes to move through the electoral political process. If we define the revolutionary goal as the non-violent break from the hegemonic foreign imposed neoliberal structures, the two fronts have more in common than we believe. In fact, the broader movement seems to be growing quite widely and fast. This should be a warning call to the Duque administration that seems to be comfortably feeling at ease and conceited under the protection of domestic and foreign military.

Colombia may well be initiating a revolutionary process given its own objective conditions or persistently following its revolutionary path initiated more than half a century ago. The actors at play are all taking up their roles determined to carry them on to the end. We are reminded of Antonio Gramsci: “Revolutionaries see history as a creation of their own spirit, as being made up of a continuous series of forceful tugs at the other forces of society – both active and passive, and they prepare the maximum of favourable conditions for the definitive tug (revolution).”

India is Gradually Leaning Toward a Dangerous Unitarianism

Nyla Ali Khan

One of the unfortunate calamities of India’s historical past is that today religio-cultural tensions continue to sharpen divisions along communal lines in the country.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill and National Register of Citizens of India have increased the impetuousness and insanity that the rhetoric of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has brought out in their constituents. The jarring sounds of the blustering rhetoric of hate and destruction fill the air and engender mass hysteria.

While we live in the era of globalization, it is no secret that in the age of globalization there has been an unprecedented reversion to local, fundamentalist, and fiercely anti-internationalist interests.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill of India as well as the National Register of Citizens have been legitimized by reversion to religious values.

As the people of India seek to improve their lives, they find that oppositional nationalist and proto-nationalist forces can prove as dark a threat to their identities as that which colonialism presented. In Prime Minister Modi’s India, the uncritical reversion to fundamentalism and the superficial creation of a “unified” political identity has led to an erosion of unique and distinctive cultural identities.

Internal hierarchies entrenched by ultra right-wing nationalism relegate religious and ethnic minorities to the background. For instance, the imperialism of Hindi in the India of 2019 has relegated Urdu to the background. The year the BJP came back to power with a brute majority, Muslim culture was metaphorically dislocated.

Historically, the Partition of 1947 fragmented the writing community by redistributing its members into two separate territorial nations. One of the significant consequences of the Partition was the migration of Urdu writers of Muslim origin to Pakistan. So the chime of Independence was, as Aijaz Ahmad eloquently puts it, “experienced in the whole range of Urdu literature of the period not in the celebratory mode but as a defeat, a disorientation, a diaspora” (Lineages 118).

Ethnic and religious minorities in present-day India continue to protest against the singular definition of nation.

As I’ve said before, it is amusing is that all this is being done in the name of so-called national unity and emotional integration. I reiterate that it is my belief that in a federal set-up, the best way for emotional integration and national unity is not the over-centralization of powers but its decentralization leading to the restoration of power in the hands of the federating units. In light of the present over-centralization of powers, India is gradually tending to be a unitary rather than a federal state, and I do not consider this trend as a good omen for the solidarity and integrity of the nation.

Demonetisation: Assessment Of Its Impact

Arun Kumar

Three years after demonetisation was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 8, 2016, people still remember it as the beginning of a very difficult period. Many have come to accept what I have been saying that the economic downturn in India began then and now the official rate of growth has come down to below five per cent. Many small and micro businesses shut down and people lost jobs. Food prices fell sharply, impacting farmers’ incomes. Bankers had no respite for months, making normal banking difficult.

Black economy, no doubt, impacts the economy adversely through policy failure. Poor living conditions of the vast majority of Indians have a lot to do with poor governance due to corruption and policy failure. Law and order suffers because the police is busy collecting hafta and allows illegality to flourish so that more hafta can be collected. There’s widespead use of spurious medicines and adulteration of food. People’s health suffers and when they go for medical services they are often cheated by rampant malpractices. Housing quality is poor due to violation of standards and prices are high due to the black that needs to be paid. Vast population in urban areas live in slums.

Note shortage ended in about a year and now the currency in circulation is about 22 per cent more than at the time of demonetisation. But the impact of a) decline in investment, which fell to half during demonetisation, b) fall in employment and c) drop in production, led to a recession in the economy not just a slowdown. The official data does not recognise this, since it does not take into account the decline in the unorganised sector. The situation deteriorated further due to the implementation of a structurally-flawed GST in July 2017 and the NBFC crisis in 2018  slowed down credit availability. It hurt the unorganised sectors.

India became a test case of what happens to a large economy, which suddenly experiences a shortage of cash. In other countries where demonetisation has been implemented, it has been done with full preparation – new notes and coins are printed and minted in advance, like in the case of introduction of Euro. In Germany, old notes could be exchanged for up to five years later. So, there was no shortage of currency and it caused no disturbance. In other cases of demonetisation, it has been done when the economy is in a free fall like, the German economy after the Second World War or in Russia after the collapse of Soviet Union.

What is the role of cash and why does its shortage lead to an economic decline? Cash is used to circulate incomes and if it is short, economic activity slows down and incomes fall. That is what happened in India. In October 2016, 86 per cent of the currency in circulation was of the denominations of Rs1,000 and Rs500 and as they were taken out of circulation, a massive shortage of currency followed. Our earlier demonetisation in 1946 and 1978 did not cause any such problem because the high denomination notes were less than one per cent of the currency in circulation and did not cause any shortage of cash. Most people in 1978 had never seen a high denomination currency note (Rs1,000, Rs5,000 and Rs10,000).

Cash is used to make payments for activities and for exchange of goods and services. It is like blood in the body, which provides nutrient to all parts of the body. If its circulation slows the body begins to collapse. The organised sector can use electronic money but the unorganised sector in India consists largely of tiny units, which operate in cash. It is this segment which constitutes 94 per cent of the workforce and produces 45 per cent of the output that was hit badly.

Traders did not have money so farmers could not sell their produce and mandis were empty. Small and cottage sector units closed down and workers went back to their villages so the demand for work under MGNREGS shot up and government had to allocate an extra Rs9,000 crore from the budget. Even so, the RBI report said that workers got only 45 days of work and not 100 days that they are entitled to.

These units have still not recovered due to shortage of working capital, which they have used up for consumption since they did not have incomes. That is why demand is still short and the economy remains in recession.

Demonetisation was premised on the mistaken belief that ‘black means cash.’ The government and the majority of the population believed that lakhs of people hold sacks full of cash. But if the cash in circulation in October 2016 (Rs18 lakh crore) is divided among 130 crore people, the average holding comes to Rs14,000. Even if one assumes that only three per cent of the individuals earn substantial black incomes, the average would be Rs4.5 lakh, not crore, as generally believed.

Further, businesses and farmers hold cash as working capital and this is legitimate holding of cash, not black. About Rs10lakh crore is the need for working capital of crores of businesses. Further families need to hold money as precaution and for everyday needs. This would account for another Rs3-4 lakh crore. So, what could be called black cash could not be more than Rs3lakh crore.

Thus, the average holding of black cash per individual earning substantial amount of black would be only Rs75,000. So, black is in circulation for business and constitutes less than one per cent of the black wealth held. Holding cash does not give a return so it is better to use it to expand business.

The government had hoped that Rs3- lakh crore of cash would not come back to the banks to it would get a windfall gain but the RBI reported that 99.2 per cent of cash had come back to it. Only about Rs10,000 crore did not come back, which was lying abroad in Nepal.

The government hoped that tax collection would increase as the economy gets formalised and as it investigates those who deposited large sums of money. More people are filing their tax returns but the number declaring significant incomes has not risen so that  the ratio of tax to GDP has  hardly changed.

If the black economy had been checked this ratio should have risen sharply. GST collection were expected to rise sharply but that has not happened. Worse, the attempt to formalise the unorganised sector has further damaged it since it cannot be formalised. Finally, most incomes in the unorganised sector are below the taxable limit. So, how can formalisation help?

Proponents argued that economic recovery from the negative impact of demonetisation would be sharp. Instead, the economy has gone into a recession with lakhs of crores of income lost in the last three years. This has impacted the unorganised sector the most and that means the poor. Those who never saw black money got hurt, while the black income generators escaped.

Demonetisation, premised on the notion that black means cash, was not the silver bullet that could tackle the black economy.

US rural county jails see a rapid rise in incarceration rates

Benjamin Mateus

A recent report by Vera Institute of Justice, People in Jail 2019, found that at mid-year 2019 there were an estimated 758,400 people held in local jails, an increase of 1.8 percent from mid-year 2017. This does not take into account the more than 1.5 million prisoners held in federal and state facilities. Though the population in local jails is half that in state and federal prisons, a 2014 analysis found that more than 11 million people had circulated through the jails that year, a rate 20 times higher than those admitted to prisons the same year.

The peak in incarcerations in jails occurred in 2009, after which a slow decline was noted until 2015. Between mid-year 2019 and 2015, there have been more 31,000 incarcerations, a 4.3 percent increase. As the report explains, “most people in jail have not been convicted of the charges they are facing, and many are being detained in civil matters, such as people incarcerated pretrial for immigration cases or those incarcerated due to unpaid child support or fines and fees.”

The jail incarceration rate in the US stands at 368 per 100,000 working-age adults. When compared to their historic lows more than six decades ago, jail incarceration rates are 2.8 times higher today.

What is particularly notable about the findings in the study is the changing trends in local jail populations across the “urban to rural continuum.” Since 2013 to the present, rural counties have seen jail populations rise 27 percent—from 145,341 to 184,295 residents. Small to mid-sized cities have also seen a modest 7 percent increase—from 242,184 to 260,169 residents.

© World Socialist Web Site

By comparison, urban counties have had an 18 percent decline—from 203,143 to 166,979 residents. Suburban counties have seen a 1 percent decline—from 148,674 to 146,976 residents. Jail incarceration rates in 2019 were more than double for rural counties’ jails compared to urban centers. The rural population accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total population in local jails.

The data demonstrates that the growing trend in incarceration is directly related to the rising incarceration rates in rural counties. According to the report, since 2013, rural counties have held 39,000 more residents in local jails while small and mid-sized cities have held 18,000 more people. In large metropolitan regions with more than 1 million residents, jail populations have declined. Specifically, cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Buffalo, Nashville and Oakland have all seen a more than 25 percent decrease.

Interestingly, though incarcerated populations declined between 2008 and 2015 by 7.4 percent, jail capacities have increased in the same period by 10.4 percent, with a total capacity of 915,100. More than 20 percent of jail occupancy presently remains unused. This average figure, however, hides the reality of overcrowded jails in rural counties such as Hamblen in Tennessee, where their 255-bed jail holds 439 inmates.

According to Vera, one factor contributing to this rise is the impact of the immigration crisis on detention facilities. As cited by their study, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been transferring a growing number of those apprehended as illegal immigrants to local jails that have contracted with the federal government to boost their threadbare budgets. Since 2013, there has been a 23 percent increase in the number of immigrants detained, with an estimated 22,900 being held in local jails in October through November 2017.

Another major factor has been the impact of the opioid crisis, specifically in rural communities that have been devastated by the crisis. In 2017, there were more than 72,000 overdose deaths reported, making it the second leading cause of death in the US for people age 15-49.

In a 2019 study published in Lancet Public Health, “Economic Decline, Incarceration, and Mortality from drug use disorder in the USA between 1983 and 2014—an observational analysis,” the authors state that since 1980, mortality rates from drug use disorders have increased more than 600 percent.

The Lancet analysis of 2,640 US counties between 1983 and 2014 found there was at least a 10-fold increase in drug use disorder demonstrated over this period. They found a strong association specifically with economic hardship, incarceration rates, and a higher number of drug deaths.

The report notes: “Our findings suggest a strong association between the rise in incarceration rates and mortality rates from drug use disorders, over and above the potential effects of low household income and other important con-founders. We also highlight a largely neglected dimension of the US criminal justice system—local jails—which are independently associated with drug deaths.”

Incarceration leads to job losses, diminishing prospects, the social stigma of arrest, and a revolving cycle that feeds into itself the endless perpetuation of drug abuse and incarceration. Lack of resources to treat addiction in rural areas, along with county budget shortfalls, is leading to a rapid social decay of these communities. Many who are incarcerated are already mentally ill, having committed misdemeanors such as failure to pay fines or child support, but are unable to post bail while awaiting trial or sentencing.

Incarceration leads to declining incomes for families. Mental illness associated with the stress and anxiety of non-incarcerated spouses and family members creates unstable social relationships, driving the effect more broadly and deeply into the social fabric until there is little left to salvage. See Vera map on pretrial incarceration rates.

According to the Safety + Justice Challenge website:

• While the rate at which legally presumed innocent people are held in jail pretrial has grown 223 percent nationwide since 1970, it has risen 436 percent in rural counties, driven in large part by rural areas in the South and West.

• Despite their higher jail incarceration rates, rural counties have lower crime rates: their property crime rate is three-quarters, and violent crime rate is two-thirds, those of cities. While the opioid crisis that is unfolding in predominately rural areas is currently under a national spotlight, rural jail incarceration was on an upward trajectory well before the recent crisis.

• Rural jails have a more limited tax base than cities and experience resource challenges that contribute to their reliance on incarceration, including remote location of courts, scarce public defender services, and few diversion and pretrial services programs.

• It is now common practice for jails to rent out extra beds to other jails, state prisons and federal authorities. However, rural areas now use jail beds for purposes other than their own at a rate 888 percent higher than in 1978, while rates in urban areas increased by only 134 percent.

• The expanded use of rented jail beds in rural counties is driven in part by financial incentives, as other agencies offer a per-diem rate for each incarcerated person held in a local jail that can help fill budget gaps or even be used to justify a jail expansion.

Since its nadir in the 1960s, when state and federal prisons held less than 200,000 inmates, incarceration rates peaked in the mid-2000s to 800 per 100,000 residents, with approximately 2.2 million incarcerated people. When those under correctional supervision are included, the number in the justice system under supervision (for 2012 figures) reached an astronomical 7 million individuals.

© World Socialist Web Site

The preceding three decades that accompanied the massive incarceration of the population through the establishment of draconian sentencing reforms, put into practice as getting tough on crime, went hand in hand with a massive attack on the working class through deindustrialization, wage cuts and the dismantling of benefits and pensions.

While Wall Street enriched itself through speculative investments, the working class faced a demolition of welfare programs, food stamps and unemployment benefits. The cost of living spiked and household debt soared. The creation of a modern police state was a necessary outcome of this counteroffensive by the bourgeoise state.

Report finds US corporations paid “zero to negative” income tax rate in 2018

Jessica Goldstein

Three hundred and seventy-nine highly profitable Fortune 500 corporations in the United States paid an average effective federal income tax of just 11.3 percent in 2018 as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by President Donald Trump in December of 2017. This was one of the key findings of a report published Monday by the nonprofit tax policy organization, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

The report also found that more than half of the 379 companies, or 195, paid less than half of the new statutory corporate tax rate of 21 percent. Fifty-six companies paid effective tax rates of between zero and 5 percent in 2018. Ninety-one highly profitable corporations paid zero or less (negative) income tax in 2018.

The report explains that negative corporate tax rates can occur “because a corporation carries back excess tax deductions and/or credits to an earlier year or years and receives a tax refund check from the US Treasury Department.” In total, these highly profitable corporations received $6.29 billion in tax rebates.

The Trump plan was passed without any serious opposition from Democratic lawmakers, who voted against the bill but refused to appeal to or mobilize popular opposition to it, knowing that the measure would pass in both the House and Senate, which at the time were both under Republican control. The Democrats openly supported a somewhat smaller tax windfall for corporations, along the lines of a bill introduced under the Obama administration.

The cut in the corporate tax rate to 21 percent was a decrease of 40 percent from the previous 35 percent rate. That some of the most profitable corporations paid so much less than this already lowered rate was, according to the report, “by design,” a result of loopholes in the 2017 tax law that affected the overall tax rate.

According to ITEP, just 25 companies accounted for over half of the federal tax subsidies doled out at the expense of the working class. Many of those 25 include financial giants such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, and other monopolies like Wal-Mart, Comcast and AT&T.

Loopholes include accelerated depreciation, which allows companies to take larger upfront write-offs on the expected wear and tear of newly purchased equipment, and special deductions for the stock options included in executive compensation packages.

The corporations that were allowed to get away with paying zero or negative federal income tax rates include:

* Starbucks Corporation, which reaped $4.774 billion in profits in 2018 and received a $75 million tax rebate, effectively paying -1.6 percent in taxes. The corporation is notorious for paying workers low wages, forcing them to work unhealthy schedules and fostering an abusive and hostile work climate.

One worker wrote recently about his experience at Starbucks on the job review website indeed.com: “Terrible company with terrible leadership, can’t pay a living wage to their employees, all they do is threaten their managers, handicap them from doing their jobs, and make as much money as possible over the safety and well-being of their employees and customers. They don’t actually care about the experience, they just want money.”

* Amazon.com, which took in $10.84 billion in profits and was taxed -1.2 percent in 2018. The corporate giant received a $29 million rebate primarily due to a loophole in the tax code for treatment of stock options for executives.

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is currently the richest man in the world with a personal net worth of over $113 billion. The monopolistic corporation makes much of its profits through a web of warehouses worldwide where highly exploited workers are under constant surveillance. The company spies on employees and tracks their every move. Under physically demanding conditions, workers are paid just barely enough to survive. Many Amazon workers are homeless.

* FedEx, with $2.31 billion in profits in 2018, was taxed at an effective rate of -4.6 percent and received a rebate of $107 million. FedEx makes its profit off of a highly exploited global workforce that faces many of the same precarious and dangerous working conditions as UPS workers. The Teamsters union isolated the UPS workers from the FedEx workers and rammed through a sellout contract in 2018 despite a vote by the Teamsters rank and file against the contract.

* General Motors, which recorded $4.32 billion in profits in 2018, received a $104 million tax rebate, an effective tax rate of -2.4 percent. With the indispensable assistance of the United Auto Workers union, the company pushed through a sellout contract in October of this year following a 40-day strike.

General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michigan

* United States Steel, which made a profit of $432 million, received a $40 million rebate and had an effective tax rate of -9.3 percent. Earlier this year, US Steel announced several hundred layoffs at its plants across the US and production shutdowns around the world after pushing through a concessions contract in 2018 with the help of the United Steelworkers union (USW) that stripped workers of job protections.

* Delta Airlines, which reaped $5.07 billion in profits during 2018, received $187 million in tax rebates, benefiting from an effective tax rate of -3.7 percent. Flight attendants have suffered serious injuries on the job only to be denied health care from the claims company Sedgwick, which Delta uses to process workers’ insurance claims.

Had the 379 corporations identified in the ITEP study paid 21 percent in federal income taxes, they would have owed $73.9 billion to the federal government. To put that $73.9 billion into perspective, it is more than the amount needed to make tuition free at public colleges across the US ($70 billion per year) and twice what it would cost per year to end world hunger ($30 billion).