The Thirtieth of May, 2013.

205 years ago, almost to the day, the Spanish people rebelled in Calle Alcalá, near the Puerta del Sol, in Madrid.

"The Second of May 1808",
by Francisco de Goya (1814) [A]

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Spain was of strategic value to the French emperor Napoleon. Taking advantage of the personal conflict between the Spanish king Carlos IV of the house of Bourbon and his heir, Fernando, Napoleon proposed a French-Spanish alliance against Portugal and Britain.

To gain the acquiescence of the Spanish prime minister, Manuel Rajoy de Godoy, the French and Fernando, who were in cahoots, promised him he would act as figurehead in a future pro-French Portuguese puppet government.

During November 1807, under the guise of reinforcing their Spanish "allies" and with Carlos' reluctant consent, a French army, under the command of Marshal Joachim Murat, crossed the border. Although Godoy was ecstatic, the measure proved highly unpopular with the Spanish people.

To make good his side of the bargain, and mounting on the opposition bandwagon, Fernando instigated the March 17th anti-Godoy riots in the town of Aranjuez, 50 km south of Madrid, forcing Carlos to dismiss Godoy. A few days later Carlos himself had to abdicate, leaving the throne to Fernando.

Fernando, however, did not count on the French having different ideas: Murat refused to recognize him.

Both Carlos and Fernando fled to France, to appeal to Bonaparte. To their surprise, Bonaparte decided to declare the Bourbon dynasty deposed and install his own brother, Joseph, as new Spanish king.

Faced with the news, the Spanish people took to the streets of Madrid on the Second of May, 1808, against the North African mercenary troops, known as Mamelukes, working for the French. The scene was represented by Goya in the painting above.

The following day, the French unleashed brutal and generalized repression against the Spanish people:

"The Third of May 1808",
by Francisco de Goya (1814) [B]

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The video below shows Troika mercenary occupation troops, also known as Mossos, charging on the 30th of May, 2013, against Spanish firefighters, protesting in Barcelona against the Troika puppet government of Mariano Rajoy/Artur Mas. (See here, in Spanish)

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The war in the Peninsula ended in 1814, with Napoleon's defeat.


Image Credits:
[A] "The Second of May 1808: The Charge of the Mamelukes", by Francisco de Goya (1814). Wikipedia. Source: Museo de El Prado.
[B] "The Third of May 1808: the shootings in Prince Pious' mountain", by Francisco de Goya (1814). Wikipedia. Source: Museo de El Prado.

Ferguson: One Speech Never Delivered.

Martin Ferguson, Labor MP from Batman, VIC, announced today his decision to retire at the next federal election.

Ferguson started his career as a research officer of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union (whose remains are currently a part of United Voices), rising to become assistant general secretary and general secretary of the union.

From there, he moved on to become a member of the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, ACTU (1984-90), vice-president (1985-90), and president of the ACTU (1990-96). Since 1997 Ferguson has been a federal Labor MP.

As he announced to Parliament his decision, Ferguson spoke of his career as trade unionist:

" 'My main motivation has been to get Australians into decent, well-paying jobs', Mr Ferguson said today of his career.
" 'This is what the Labor party means to me - helping those less fortunate in life by providing new jobs and opportunities to achieve a better quality of life'.
" 'Creating opportunities by working with business is not the same thing as pointless class rhetoric. In essence, we need to grow the pie to share it'." (See here)

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Some five years ago, former federal treasurer Peter Costello (National/Liberal Coalition, "conservative, centre right, libertarian") hurled that most damning accusation against the opposing bench: all Labor MPs were trade union members.

It's regrettable that Ferguson either wasn't present that day in Parliament, or, if he was, did not care to reply to Costello.

Ferguson could have spoken, then, of his pride on being a representative of the vast majority of Australians: the workers. You know, those who built the Parliament, and clean and guard it; those who tend to its gardens every day and cater for the MPs and take their phone calls. Those who drive buses and trucks and taxis all over Australia, manning also supermarket checkouts and attending patients and teaching kids and picking fruit, and packing meat, and delivering mail and collecting garbage on the streets.

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It is us, the faceless, voiceless, ignored people, who are the blood, flesh and bones of this country. It is because of our vote that you were there, Ferguson.

We, not "business", make the "pie grow". You, Ferguson, you may speak to "business", to well-dressed people, like yourself; and you may beg for what was ours all along; Costello and others like him may represent "business" in Parliament; but it is us who are Australia.

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Had Ferguson spoken then, perhaps he would have spared his fellow Labor colleagues the nervous, embarrassed smiles or the need to keep their mouths shut or to pretend to follow written notes, as Costello taunted and mocked them.

But, for some reason, he never did.

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A couple of weeks ago, the ABC's Chris Uhlmann published an opinion piece entitled "Labor Finds Itself Without a Homeland to Defend".

In it, Uhlmann relates how, among other Labor politicians, Kevin Rudd metamorphosed from "Christian socialist" into "economic conservative", to suddenly become "social democrat".

It's a sad reading, but it's not mistaken.

Hockey: Ax the Tax… Office.

As part of the National-Liberal Coalition's plan to give Australia a small government, the next federal treasurer, Joe Hockey ("conservative, centre right, libertarian") has announced the Coalition's plans to make the Australian Taxation Office less efficient.

In his address today to the National Press Club, Hockey decried the ATO's attempts at being efficient: the next Coalition government will conduct an inquiry into the handling of tax disputes. Once the inquiry finds that the ATO is only trying to fulfil its legal duty of making sure extremely rich tax payers actually pay their taxes, the Coalition will break up the tax office, "so that its policeman functions are separate to its responsibility for administering the tax system". (See here)

"Small businesses work hard for their money and should not be bankrolling government", Hockey said (see here). "Taxpayers are not the enemy. They should be respected".

In a video message to the Australian Mines and Metals Association conference in Melbourne delivered last week, Australia's richest small businesswoman, Gina Rinehart, pleaded that "miners and other resources industries are not just ATMs for everyone else to draw from". (See here)

It's nice to see Rinehart's pleas were promptly echoed by Hockey, almost to the letter.

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By sheer coincidence, during the last few days the subject of tax avoidance has been widely discussed in the media.

In Britain, Margaret Hodge, MP and chair of the Public Accounts Committee, told last week Google's northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, that his company's behaviour on tax was "devious, calculated and, in my view, unethical". (See here)

"I think that you do evil", added Hodge.

The British equivalent of the ATO, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was severely criticized during those hearings.

Lin Homer, HMRC permanent secretary, said the law needs to be changed before Google can be compelled to pay more tax.

Hodge accused the tax authority of failing in its duty and said it should take a tougher stance with Google:

" 'We don't trust your judgment,' Hodge said. 'You have lousy judgment and the people making those judgments aren't fit for purpose'."

Luckily, the Coalition will make sure similar things do not happen Down Under...

Here we'll have no hearings on tax evasion: inquiries here are on those trying to stop tax evasion.

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But, in this most egalitarian country, not all pleas are equally heard. The Salvation Army released today the results of a survey, on 2705 users of the organization's emergency relief services.

Since the Gillard Government (labor, centre left) decided to shift 84,000 single parents to the lower-paying Newstart allowance, there was a 12% increase in the number of those seeking help from the Salvos.

The pleas to reverse the decision receive the usual answer, from both Coalition and Labor politicians: get a job. You know: Australia needs to cut its deficit by sending you into misery, while the richest small businesspeople must not pay taxes. It's a matter of respect.

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The incoming treasurer promised his Canberra audience that "tomorrow will be better" if the Coalition takes power next September.

"I believe that in my heart," he said.

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I'm no cardiologist, so I don't know what his heart says or even whether he actually has one. But I have a functional brain and it tells me that these people don't give a fuck about us. It also tells me who they actually represent. And it ain't us.

It's time you understand this.

So, What About Marx?

Prof. Daniel E. Little (Chancellor for the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Professor of Philosophy) authored a short summary of Marx's work entitled "What About Marx?".

While some of Little's observations may be debatable (see the comments thread in the link, including a comment by Prof. Fred Moseley, of Mount Holyoke College), one thing must be acknowledged: in the current climate, where the mere fact of using Marxist terminology attracts acerbic criticism, if not outright abuse, Little shows uncommon courage.

Little concludes with these words:

"So what about it? Is Marxism relevant today? Yes, if we can avoid the dogmatism and rigidity that were often associated with the tradition. Power, exploitation, class, structures of production and distribution, property relations, workplace hierarchy -- these features certainly continue to be an important part of our social world".