The most obvious common feature of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya—the three principal storm centres so far—is that a far-reaching program of neo-liberal “free market” restructuring has taken place in all of them in the recent period. These policies, including large-scale privatisation, the winding back of national economic and financial regulation, the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs and cuts in state subsidies, have been overseen by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on behalf of global finance capital.
Last October, the IMF issued a report in which it bewailed the general “lack of competitiveness in the Middle East and North Africa.”
It pointed, however, to two “success stories..." Tunisia had become the “outsourcing hub” of the region, with “simplified regulation, modern infrastructure, government incentives and commitment to a knowledge-based economy that generates well-trained, low-cost workers.” The self-immolation of a young unemployed worker last December was the trigger for the Tunisian uprising.
As for Egypt, it had attracted considerable global IT investment with recent “structural reforms” leading to “improvements in the business environment...” Libya has also been the subject of glowing reports...the IMF commended Libyan authorities “on efforts to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy”. The IMF report also noted that “progress” had been made in reducing civil service employment, pointing out that of the 340,000 public services employees transferred to a central labor office for retrenchment, about
one quarter had found other sources of income... It called for the retrenchment program to be “accelerated.” Privatisation, deepening social inequality, growing youth unemployment, the lack of opportunities for university and college graduates, falling real wages and the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth, much of it the result of what can only be described as criminal looting operations—these are not Middle Eastern, but global phenomena.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/pers-m05.shtmlOther facts from the article:
*A recent UNICEF finds: 1) futures/options trading on global commodity exchanges quadrupled 2005-2010
*FAO price index for an international food commodity basket went up 30% last year, & cereals went up 57%.
*After the run-up in food prices during the last round of speculation (2007-08), food prices didn't drop much -- in 2010 they were still an average of 55% higher than in 2007.
* Food prices = part of the global "restructuring" going on due to the economic meltdown, part & parcel with the attack on the middle classes & welfare state occuring in europe, the US, & other parts of the developed world.
We bailed the banksters out instead of jailing them. Doing so didn't resolve the crisis, it just pushed it onto the backs of everybody else. The global poor first, the middle classes second.
The international ruling class needs a fucking TAX HIKE.
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