10 yrs ago, the anticapitalist movement predicted this recession. Now it must envisage............

[marmar]

..... an alternative global future.



from the Guardian UK:


Once beaten for stating the obvious, our time has come
Ten years ago, the anticapitalist movement predicted this recession. Now it must envisage an alternative global future

Katharine Ainger
The Guardian, Thursday 26 March 2009


It was 1999 and the summer of corporate love. Many pundits - now talking of "bad apples" and applauding bailouts - were predicting the stockmarket would go up forever. Not coincidentally, it was also a decade ago that the anticapitalist movement emerged with a rambunctious "carnival against capital" in London's Square Mile; the contagion spread to the streets of Seattle where the World Trade Organisation meeting was shut down by protesters later that year.

The movement, which was essentially demanding democratic control over the global economy, wreathed summit after summit of the G8, the WTO and the World Bank with protest and teargas. It was wild, infuriating, diverse and sometimes incoherent, as only a network that encompasses indigenous peoples, radical environmentalists, workers and kids in hoodies could be. The movement was like the child in the crowd as the emperor of global neoliberalism wheeled by, pointing out that his cloaks were woven from financial fictions and economic voodoo.

They must now be credited for their prescience. Today, everybody can see the emperor has no clothes; but as the G20 meets in London next week to ensure financial "stability" for a return to business as usual, it appears rather as though the emperor has rushed back to the very same discredited tailors to bail them out and commission several new outfits.

And what of the movement that predicted the crash? Post 9/11 it lost momentum as it was forced to rechannel energy into fighting rearguard actions against state repression and the war on terror. Yet the less visible but vital processes of developing workable alternatives, building grassroots movements, and popular education continued. The movement also effected a palpable cultural shift of alternative economic ideas and environmental concerns towards the mainstream; in Latin America social movements helped elect governments that were prepared to challenge neoliberal doctrine. Movement demands also foreshadowed a rebalancing of power towards the global south, and helped to delegitimise the institutions of the global economy.

These ideas have never been more relevant or necessary. Clearly we need a vision, and it doesn't look as if the G20, still so in thrall to financial capital, will deliver one. So could this be the hour for a movement that was beaten, teargassed and imprisoned for pointing out the now blindingly obvious? ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/26/anticapitalism-protest-recession-g20

[marmar]

1. Lunch-hour kick.....

:kick:

[C......N......C]

2. The stock market is the same as a state lottery.

A constant infusion of cash is needed to pay the lottery administration and the winners. There are some really big winners and a lot of little winners but in the end everybody loses money except the lottery administration. The stock market does this every 10 or so years. Its a good game and everybody is anxious to play again.

[nichomachus]

3. Close, but no cigar

Granted, the lottery does follow the casino model, where a certain percentage of proceeds are paid out to players and the rest is kept by the house.

But, most lotteries are upfront about this. They brag about where the money goes -- usually education or something. They tell you how much goes where. And, some casinos will even advertise what percentage they pay back. And, for the most part, the games are honest. Anyone who doesn't understand how this works shouldn't be allowed to handle money without supervision.

The stock market is different. It hides the fact that it is a scam. It pretends that we all have a chance to hit it big, when the only ones who hit it big are the inside traders who, Martha Stewart notwithstanding, dominate the game. The stock market is more like a crooked casino where a few people are allowed to win once in a while, but the games are all rigged to pay off the insiders regularly.

[Boojatta]

4. Usually, for something to be a prediction, it needs to be clearly stated BEFORE the event predicted.

Now, can you explain how one goes about identifying a clear prediction made by a "movement"?