[My translation from original Slovak at the Priama ackia ("Direct Action") website. All errors mine.]

Priama Akcia’s call: “We don’t intend to pay for the crisis!”

Activism opportunity in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

12 November 2008

A world summit will take place on 15 November 2008 in Washington at which 20 of the most economically powerful countries in the world (including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) will debate regarding reform of the global financial system. It is the day on which the elite will decide upon the salvation of capitalism. This meeting merits our attention because its outcome affects even us. Come what may, we are not going to just sit back and watch the whole crisis. There are many possibilities for beginning activism related to the crisis.

OUR POSSIBILITIES IN SLOVAKIA AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The politicians, bosses and bankers settle things and take care of their own. And we should do the same. The only way we can succeed in not being forced to pay for this crisis is to know ourselves, to have contact among ourselves and to help each other. The objective of this call is to take the first step toward presenting an approach to the crisis from the perspective of ordinary people rather than liberal economists and politicians.

We say this openly: ordinary people – workers, students, retirees and unemployed alike – should in our view take advantage of this global financial crisis to build contact among ourselves. Regardless of how or even whether the capitalists manage to salvage their system, the problems will not go away. They will always arouse discontent and the striving to resolve it by our very own energies. The current situation is an opportunity for establishing contact and thinking about setting up a contact network amongst ourselves. In the process the crisis can be built upon in terms of aid and solidarity regarding the various problems what await us in the near future.

CONCRETE ACTIONS IN OUR TOWNS AND WORKPLACES

During Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and subsequent days we will publish a flyer, a poster and a questionnaire at our website, www.priamaakcia.sk.

• We suggest distributing flyers basically everywhere. Places where people gather (cafes, clubs, etc.) are good, but distributing them in trains is also very good. All you have to do is get on before the train leaves, throw a few flyers into the cabin and get off before departure. Quick and effective.
• Posters for transport stops, schools, workplaces and elsewhere can also draw attention to this activism.
• The questionnaire will be able to be filled out right on a web page and is part of an international project by militant workers. More information coming soon.

Only two things are needed for anyone to get involved in this activity immediately: the urge to do something and the ability to print out materials. These will be prepared in PDF form for open download in Slovak and Czech. Even now you can talk about activism options with someone near you with whom you might be able to do something today, tomorrow or the day after.

OTHER ACTIVITIES GOING FORWARD

Other activities are planned as well. If you want to get involved, let us know at priamaakcia(at)priamaakcia(dot)sk. We will provide information on the website about further activism opportunities and we would be especially pleased if more people – including readers of this text – took part in our ideas. Should you get involved in any way (such as by distributing flyers), please let us know.

We can’t count on chit-chat saying that the crisis will impact us to a weaker extent than it will other countries. The fact is, it’s already impacting us through layoffs at US Steel, in the auto industry (the firms Riba Nitra, Dura Stupava and Johnson Controls), in machining (PPS, Embraco), etc. This will by no means be where it ends…

For spreading this call farther – among your acquaintances, friends or colleagues, via discussion forums, blogs, web pages, myspace, hi5, facebook or other information channels – we thank you in advance.

This is the impulse. What else, and how, is up to you.

WE DON’T INTEND TO PAY FOR THE CRISIS!
Watch www.priamaakcia.sk

PRIAMA AKCIA
Priama akcia (“Direct Action”) is the Slovak branch of the International Workers Association (IWA), a confederation which unites trade unions and initiatives from 16 countries of the world as a membership base.

So this morning I’m reading Roderick Long talking about whether or not Étienne de la Boétie actually wrote the Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. A mention of Isabel Paterson takes me over to Wikipedia on biographical curiosity. A reference citation to her place of burial takes me over to the Find a Grave website. Putting in my own surname, what do I find?

I find that one Stefan Gogulski was killed in 1940 at the Katyń massacre.

Who was Stefan? I have no idea. My father’s grandparents left Poland around 1905. “Gogulski” is not a common surname. According to some information I found a few years ago but have since mislaid, a census in the late 1990s showed about 650 “Gogulskis” living in Poland, most of them concentrated around the Poznań area.

Stefan was almost certainly a relative of mine, though the blood connection likely would need to be traced back to the mid-1800s to find the common ancestory.

So Stalin killed one of my relatives, then. Lovely.

And, oh look here… plugging in my paternal grandmother’s name at Find a Grave, I see that one Edward Korecki also was killed at Katyń.

So, two more rather personal reasons for me to hate the state, I guess. I’ll add these two to one I discovered a few years back…

Suitcase of Anna Kraus at Auschwitz

My mother’s birth name is Kraus. A few years ago when I visited Auschwitz, I took this photo above. There is a room there which displays gigantic piles of luggage which belonged to those killed there in the gas chambers and before the firing squads. And right there, front and center by the window, a connection to one of my family names. Mind you, “Kraus” is far more common than “Gogulski” or “Korecki”, but this was the top chiller on a brutally chilling meander through the detritus of the final solution.

I’ve gotta give my ancestors credit for getting the hell out of Germany and Poland when they did, even before World War I. Thanks, y’all.

Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

Technician in Liechtenstein Turns Over Names of Americans With Secret Bank Accounts

Heinrich Kieber, fuckface extraordinaire

Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme.

The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country’s bank secrecy laws.

[...]

Kieber reportedly sold three CD’s full of names and data to tax authorities to 12 countries including Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States.

Nice going, fuckface.

Let’s be clear on one thing. There is no such thing as a “tax cheat”.

“Cheating” on your taxes is the moral equivalent of telling a mugger you have no more money than what’s in your wallet when you’ve got a wad of currency crammed between your ass cheeks.

Kieber’s Washington lawyer, Jack Blum, says Kieber should be considered a whistleblower and a hero, not a thief, for revealing how the super rich hid billions of dollars using the Liechtenstein bank.

So let’s see… steal from your employer, violate the privacy of your customers, turn the data over to the biggest and most ruthless gangs of muggers the world has ever known, and you can count on at least one jackass lawyer to call you a hero.

The persistent inversion of all human values continues unabated in the comments on the article:

every person and I mean every person, should be prosecuted and made to pay all back taxes on those sums in offshore banks. I am sick and tired of the rich getting richer by not paying their fair share of taxes

Fair share? A fair share would be a capitation.

The criminals are those who choose to live in this country and run their vast corporations here, yet violate this country’s tax codes in order to add millions on top of their billions. The hero is the guy who blew the whistle. Only the self-serving elite would attempt to blur the distinction

Consider me one of the self-serving elite, then, but just you go ahead and try to locate my billions, buster.

Too often the only way corrupt behavior can be exposed is by the brave actions of a whistle-blower.

Tax is corruption. “Brave”? Ha! The guy stole from his employer and sold the data. We have things to call that, but “brave” isn’t one of them.

Why don’t we make it illegal for US citizens to have accounts in Liechtenstein and with the Swiss for that matter until they make public the account information to the IRS. We should sanction these governments just as we want to do with any rogue nation such as The Sudan. there is no way these rich CRIMINALS should have a safe place to hide their money.

Why don’t we make being a dumbass illegal? And who said anything about CRIMINALS anyway, other than Mr. Fuckface who sold out his customers? Ah that’s right, if someone has more than you do, they’re a criminal. I done gone and forgot the whole “Robin Hood” ethic.

Where can I send a small check to this guy to help him out?

You can address it to me, and I’ll forward it to him. Promise.

Karma works!

That’s right. And I have a flying pony.

I hope that the IRS does something with the information. Tax cheats really irk me- these are the true non-productive members of our society.

Oh, someone, STOP THE INSANITY!!!

Press TV, 10 June 2008: Israel launches ‘Iran Command’ for war

BBC, 10 June 2008: US and EU issue new Iran warning (more sanctions threatened)

McClatchy, 11 June 2008: Strike on Iran nuclear sites under discussion again

AP, via Newsday, 12 June 2008: Bush, in Germany, hints at military option on Iran

Jim Lobe speculates a bit, asking: “War?”

Chris Hedges points out that Saint Obama won’t end to US designs on Iran in The Iran Trap

As things look, Israel may well attack Iran soon

By Joschka Fischer

As a result of misguided American policy, the threat of another military confrontation hangs like a dark cloud over the Middle East. The United States’ enemies have been strengthened, and Iran – despite being branded as a member of the so-called “axis of evil” – has been catapulted into regional hegemony. Iran could never have achieved this on its own, certainly not in such a short time.

A hitherto latent rivalry between Iran and Israel thus has been transformed into an open struggle for dominance in the Middle East. The result has been the emergence of some surprising, if not bizarre, alliances: Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and the American-backed, Shiite-dominated Iraq are facing Israel, Saudi Arabia, and most of the other Sunni Arab states, all of which feel existentially threatened by Iran’s ascendance.

The danger of a major confrontation has been heightened further by a series of factors: persistently high oil prices, which have created new financial and political opportunities for Iran; the possible defeat of the West and its regional allies in proxy wars in Gaza and Lebanon; and the United Nations Security Council’s failure to induce Iran to accept even a temporary freeze of its nuclear program.

Iran’s nuclear program is the decisive factor in this equation, for it threatens irreversibly the region’s strategic balance. That Iran – a country whose president never tires of calling for Israel’s annihilation and that threatens Israel’s northern and southern borders through its massive support of proxy wars waged by Hizbullah and Hamas – might one day have missiles with nuclear warheads is Israel’s worst security nightmare. Politics is not just about facts, but also about perceptions. Whether or not a perception is accurate is beside the point, because it nonetheless leads to decisions.

This applies in particular when the perception concerns what the parties consider to be threats to their very existence. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats of annihilation are taken seriously in Israel because of the trauma of the Holocaust. And most Arab governments share the fear of a nuclear Iran. Earlier this month, Israel celebrated its 60th birthday, and US President George W. Bush went to Jerusalem to play a leading part in the commemoration. But those who had expected that his visit would mainly be about the stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians were bitterly disappointed. Bush’s central topic, including his speech to Israel’s Knesset, was Iran. Bush had promised to bring the Middle East conflict closer to a resolution before the end of his term this year. But his final visit to Israel seemed to indicate that his objective was different: he seemed to be planning, together with Israel, to end the Iranian nuclear program – and to do so by military, rather than by diplomatic, means.

Anyone following the press in Israel during the anniversary celebrations and listening closely to what was said in Jerusalem did not have to be a prophet to understand that matters are coming to a head. Consider the following:

First, “stop the appeasement!” is a demand raised across the political spectrum in Israel – and what is meant is the nuclear threat emanating from Iran.

Second, while Israel celebrated, Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted as saying that a life-and-death military confrontation was a distinct possibility.

Third, the outgoing commander of the Israeli Air Force declared that the air force was capable of any mission, no matter how difficult, to protect the country’s security. The destruction of a Syrian nuclear facility last year, and the lack of any international reaction to it, were viewed as an example for the coming action against Iran.

Fourth, the Israeli wish list for US arms deliveries, discussed with the American president, focused mainly on the improvement of the attack capabilities and precision of the Israeli Air Force.

Fifth, diplomatic initiatives and UN sanctions when it comes to Iran are seen as hopelessly ineffective.

And sixth, with the approaching end of the Bush presidency and uncertainty about his successor’s policy, the window of opportunity for Israeli action is seen as potentially closing.

The last two factors carry special weight. While Israeli military intelligence is on record as saying that Iran is expected to cross the red line on the path to nuclear power between 2010 and 2015 at the earliest, the feeling in Israel is that the political window of opportunity to attack is now, during the last months of Bush’s presidency.

Although it is acknowledged in Israel that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would involve grave and hard-to-assess risks, the choice between acceptance of an Iranian bomb and an attempt at its military destruction, with all the attendant consequences, is clear. Israel won’t stand by and wait for matters to take their course.

The Middle East is drifting toward a new great confrontation in 2008. Iran must understand that without a diplomatic solution in the coming months, a dangerous military conflict is very likely to erupt. It is high time for serious negotiations to begin.

The most recent offer by the six powers – the UN Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany – is on the table, and it goes very far in accommodating Iran’s interests. The decisive question, however, will be whether it will be possible to freeze the Iranian nuclear program for the duration of the negotiations to avoid a military confrontation before these negotiations are completed. Should this newest attempt fail, things will soon get serious. Deadly serious.

From the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran:

Bush’s Iran diplomacy is a sham; admits US Defence Secretary

CASMII Press Release

17 May 2008

In a moment of candour, Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary has admitted albeit implicitly that the Bush administration’s diplomacy towards Iran has long been a sham: “If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can’t go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us,” he stated in his address to a group of retired American diplomats on May 14.

Lamenting also that the US may have squandered an opportunity to engage with Iran under President Khatami’s government, Gates’ striking assertion echoes the confession of several European diplomats to Asia Times Online on 7th September 2005. For the first time, they admitted that the package offered by the EU-3 in their so-called negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme was “an empty box of chocolate” and that “there is nothing else we can offer.” The diplomats went on to say: “The Americans simply wouldn’t let us.”

In 2004, Gates co-authored the Council of Foreign Relations’ report “Iran: Time for a New Approach,” which rejected that Iran is on the verge of another revolution and called for the United States to reassess its long-standing policy of non-engagement with the current Iranian government. He was later a member of the Iraq study Group, the US Congress’ bipartisan panel, whose report in December 2006 strongly recommended direct dialogue with Iran.

The tacit but honest admission of the insincere nature of the US stance on Iran in Gates’ speech on Wednesday was once again confirmed on the same day by the US response to the Russian Foreign Minister’s statement on how to tackle effectively the conflicts in the Middle East. Sergei Lavrov called on international powers to offer security guarantees for Iran in order to help resolve all problems in the region and the crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The White House immediately rejected this call. Spokesman Gordon Johndroe simply retorted: “Security guarantees are not something we are looking at the moment,” exposing yet one more time the administration’s unwillingness to change its failing agenda for regime change and instead pursue a sincere path for peace.

President Bush’s highly inflammatory, threatening and hypocritical rhetoric against Iran in his address to the Israeli Knesset on May 16 provides the strongest evidence yet for his real objective. By making a comparison with the Nazi Germany and warning against appeasement, his speech was designed to destroy peace efforts and justify military action against Iran.

Ironically termed “diplomacy”, the US instigated sanctions against Iran are part of a plan to frustrate meaningful negotiations in order to portray violent aggression as a viable alternative to the public.

The Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) calls on the European Union, Russia and China to resist the Bush Administration’s war drive through the United Nations Security Council.

CASMII echoes the appeals of the international community and leading experts in demanding immediate and unconditional US negotiations with Iran.

For more information or to contact us please visit http://www.campaigniran.org