–Happy New Year, Comrades! The struggles continues in 2012!

–A rather long article on copyright and the academy and how we need to keep fighting for fair implementations of copyright and the “copyleft” alternatives to allow sharing of data and analysis in an increasingly commercialised academy and monopoly publishing world.
Oh, and I wrote it.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111231/news/news2.html

–The Peoples’ National Party has beaten Labour in Jamaica. A move to the left, but the PNP better put education first and build ties with the ALBA nations if it is going to be able to implement its manifesto.

Links | “This work will help put to bed the lies and distortions propagated by the powerful United States (US) propaganda machine: that the Cuban Revolution is undemocratic, homophobic and tyrannical. My visit to and study of Cuba finds that there is no basis to these claims.”

“The opposition did not have enough opportunity to fully demonstrate its ferocious character during the 2002 coup, though Chavez’s supporters were severely persecuted. The US plan for the next round of the fight is immensely more cruel – this time the Empire is going to teach a bloody lesson to the whole Latin America.”

“Muslim Brotherhood member and secretary general of the Lawyer’s Syndicate’s Freedoms Committee, Gamal Tag El-Din, has filed a lawsuit against Revolutionary Socialist members Yasser Abd El-Qawy, Sameh Naguib and Hesham Yousri. Tag El-Din is accusing the three Revolutionary Socialists members of inciting people to topple the state and occupy state buildings, burn down state buildings and intentionally create chaos.”

By Farrag Ismail | Al Arabiya

by Mike Whitney | Counterpunch | “For the second time in three years, the banking system has collapsed, which means that the banks are no longer able to fund themselves through the normal means, the wholesale markets.”

By Ignacio Ramonet | Other News | It is clear that the European Union cannot summon the political will to stand up to the markets and resolve the crisis.

See also: Libya struggles to address issue of militias | AFP

“Libya’s rulers are struggling to deal with thousands of civilian fighters who helped oust Moamer Kadhafi and remain organised in armed brigades but now want key roles in the new government.”

“At times, police officials themselves have raised concerns about intelligence-gathering programs. In about 2008, for instance, police began monitoring everyone in the city who legally changed names. Anyone who might be a Muslim convert or appeared to be Americanizing his or her name was investigated and personal information was put into police databases. Current and former officials say it produced no results. Police still receive the list of names of people who change their names, court officials said. But one official said the program is on hold while its effectiveness is evaluated.”

“Dr. Fouchier’s research group had taken one of the most dangerous flu viruses ever known and made it even more dangerous — by tweaking it genetically to make it more contagious. … The discovery has led advisers to the United States government, which paid for the research, to urge that the details be kept secret and not published in scientific journals to prevent the work from being replicated by terrorists, hostile governments or rogue scientists. … Dr. Fouchier said it would be easier to weaponize other germs. Which ones? He would not answer.”

The Independent | Many Turks believe their country should own up to its history, however inglorious

The first error was to think that many if not most of the Tea Party supporters came largely from the working class progressive base | Znet

–A continuation of my comments on student debt and education funding in Canada.

by Roger Annis | The chronic housing and shelter crisis on many of the Indigenous peoples’ territories in Canada has once again exploded into national news and politics, this time prompted by revelations of the housing conditions at Attawapiskat, a Cree Nation community of some 1,800 people located on the western shore of James Bay in northern Ontario.

History versus Theory: a Commentary on Marx’s Method of Capital

The 2010 Deutscher Memorial Prize was awarded to David Harvey for his book The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism. Moderated by Alex Callinicos.

by Dave Broad | MR Zine | Mr. Harper has been pushing a series of recent neoliberal economic and socially conservative policy changes designed to undo the last elements of post-WWII Keynesianism in Canada.

“The agreement formally ends a 20-year stand-off in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused to join the Fatah-dominated PLO … After boycotting elections to the Palestinian Authority because of its opposition to the Oslo peace accords, Hamas created a political party called Change and Reform that won the 2006 election.”

“The blasts in central Damascus on Friday signaled a dramatic escalation in violence, which Syrian authorities blame on armed groups they say have killed 2,000 soldiers and security force members this year. The United Nations says Assad’s crackdown has killed more than 5,000 people.”

See also: Suicide Bombing Changes Nature of the Syrian Revolution | Syria Comment

“The context of the bombings are the growing frustration of the opposition. The Assad regime remains strong compared to opposition forces. The external opposition leaders – the NSC – do not have a strategy for bringing down the regime that is realistic. Following this week’s Tunis meeting, the SNC demanded immediate foreign intervention to protect the Syrian people and stop the regime.”

“President Obama signed a bill Friday that includes a provision to expand U.S. military assistance to Israel. The bill [will] have the U.S. provide additional support to the annual $3 billion for ten years that the U.S. is already committed to under the Memorandum of Understanding. … Despite a tough economic climate and expected U.S. budget cuts – including drastic cuts to the U.S. military budget – U.S. lawmakers will provide $236 million in fiscal 2012 for the Israeli development of three missile defense programs”