Assange-free link list

Book lists
Following this post, here are book lists from Sarah, Norm and Noga. All great lists. Possibly more comments to follow.

South Africa: frontline in the class struggle

The Marikana mine massacre - the televised spectacle of mainly black riot policemen shooting down of over 34 striking mine workers - followed by the bullying by the mine owners by the British-based owners of the mine, Lonmin, who in turn are fully suported by the governing ANC, its main component the South African Communist Party and the mainstream union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the SACP-dominated trade union coalition COSATU. A close partner of Lonmin is Shanduka, the company of millionaire ANC politician Cyril Ramaphosa, close associate of Nelson Mandela and former president of the NUM; the Shanduka Group, through its subsidiary, Shanduka Resources, holds a 50.03% share holding in Incwala Resources, which in turn holds an 18% interest in Lonmin’s two principal operating subsidiaries, Western Platinum Limited and Eastern Platinum Limited, and a 26% stake in the Akanani platinum project. The wildcat strike is partly a strike against his union, the NUM, as well as against the Lonmin bosses.

The massacre is politically important for showing that racial justice does not lead to social justice; black plutocrats are no more kind than whiet plutocrats. South Africa's government is corrupt, thuggish and pro-business; inequality has grown since apartheid ended and the ANC cares nothing for the likes of the rock drillers except as vote-fodder. The massacre should serve as a wake-up call to the global labour movement about priorities - but alas probably won't.

Read Brendan O'Neill on the ANC’s Sharpeville;The Marikana Mine Worker's Massacre – a Massive Escalation in the War on the Poor by Ayanda Kota of Abahlali baseMjondolo (h/t SS); Umshini Wam by Chris McMichael; Blood on our hands, hands over ears by Jay Naidoo; and Semseni Na? by Chris Rodrigues. Contrast the disgusting half-truths, scape-goating of independent trade unionists and peddling of the ANC/NUM line by the Stalinists of the Morning Star - here, here. And the shameful response of COSATU's anti-Zionist thug Bongani Masuku.
 

Putin v Pussy Riot

Read Nick Cohen on the evil collusion between tyranny and theocracy in Russia and Hugo Rifkind via Mick Hartley on protests against Putin and the duplicity of WikiLeaks. (Sorry, Assange inserted himself there; meant to keep him out of this post.)


Jews, youth and socialism
I disagree with some of the things Peter Risdon says in this extremely thought-provoking post.

Secularism, theocracy, intolerance and double standards
Two very thoughtful posts by BenSix: Girl Accused on Pakistan's drift to theocracy and the West's relative indifference, and You Are Not Damien Karras…, on witchcraft allegations and those who ask the West to be indifferent. (My summaries don't do just to the content there.) And a thoughtful post by Pink Prosecco on the dilemmas of secularism. And here's a debate on the circumcision ban we were talking about earlier in the summer. (I might get back to that at some point.)

Also
Alan Mendoza's putsch at the Henry Jackson Society.  Eldridge Cleaver in 1968 on Jewish lessons for black nationalists. Sarah AB on the endlessly depressing topic of anti-Roma bigotry in Hungary. James Bloodworth on why railways are too important to run on greed. No future for French Jews? Who are America's heroes?

Image credits: AFP via Global Post; Reuters via The Atlantic via MH.