Weekly Links 02/11/08

Green Issues
There is to be a meeting on Thursday 27th November 2008, where The Public Interest Research Centre will launch the report "Climate Safety" at Friends Meeting House, Euston, London. Speakers Caroline Lucas, George Monbiot, Kevin Anderson, Jeremy Leggett and Tim Helweg-Larsen will be discussing the question 'How do we get back to climate safety?'

An ecosocialist view on climate change from writer John Bellamy Foster here.

Unions and Work
Labourstart this week linked to a variety of interesting stories - a mass teacher's strike looming in Romania, conflict brewing between local government workers and the state in Nigeria, a series of strikes in motor vehicle and electronics plants in Germany and news on the struggle of workers employed by transport companies subcontracted by Unilever in Turkey.

Closer to home Scottish Water workers are being balloted on industrial action.

The IWW British Isles Regional Organising Committee now have a website created by members in Wales -
In Welsh -> http://union-wales.org/
And English -> http://union-wales.org/intro.html

A fellow worker alerted me to an article by US journalist Frank Joyce that has provoked debate on Alternet - Union Card or Mastercard - How a nation of workers became a nation of debtors

Italy
The dispute between teachers, pupils, lecturers and students and the right-wing Italian regime continues. Interesting stories and links on UK Indymedia about this - here, and here (with an account of protesting students clashing with far rightist students - some of the far right seem to want to attack the movement, others to infiltrate it)
Another report here from Libcom.

Meanwhile, the Italian Airline Alitalia is still in a state of crisis - Reuters report this weekend. The BBC has further news on this.

US Politics
The big media event of the week of course, barring any unexpected drama, should be the US election. Looking at the possible election of Obama from the left a range of positions are possible - here are the views of Howard Zinn, Todd Chretien and Mike Davis

Polemic
Ecosocialist writer John Bellamy Foster has written a Postscript to "The Financialization of Capital and the Crisis" which is available here.