Global Power Project: The Group of Thirty, Architects of Austerity by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally published on Occupy.com
December 11, 2013

The Group of Thirty, a preeminent think tank that brings together dozens of the world’s most influential policy makers, central bankers, financiers and academics, has been the focus of two recent reports for Occupy.com’s Global Power Project. In studying this group, I compiled CVs of the G30′s current and senior members: a total of 34 individuals. The first report looked at the origins of the G30, while the second examined some of the current projects and reports emanating from the group. In this installment, I take a look at some specific members of the G30 and their roles in justifying and implementing austerity measures.

How Absurd Can It Get? US-UK Defending Dictatorships by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
December 9, 2013

Image by malyousif via Flickr

In a breathtaking display of absurdity, US secretary of defense Chuck Hagel and Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague were among senior Western delegates to address the annual conference on “regional security” held in Bahrain at the weekend.

These officials pontificated about regional threats, conflict, international law, human rights and so on; meanwhile out on the streets of Bahrain, not far from the venue, peaceful protesters calling for democratic freedom were being bludgeoned by regime police thugs.

Obama is Not a Socialist — Meet the Real Socialists by Danny Katch

Dandelion Salad

by Danny Katch
SocialistWorker.org
December 11, 2013

Image by Jacob Anikulapo via Flickr

SPEECHES THAT go down in history do so for different reasons.

Mario Savio’s call to students to throw themselves on the “gears of the machine” during the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in 1964 conjures the best of the moral outrage of that era. Sojourner Truth’s biting question “Ain’t I a woman?” conveys the impossible position that Black women still hold at the intersection of two different forms of oppression.