Of course, the irony is that the same US politicians and corporations that wax indignant on the topic of China’s totalitarianism are also the same people fostering and profiting from that totalitarianism.

We all know that companies like Apple are exploiting millions of dollars out of underpaid Chinese laborers who are bereft of trade union and/or political rights.

But even people like Mitt Romney are in on the hypocritical jig. Bain Capital, the financial firm founded by Romney, is single-handdly advancing a multi-billion dollar Chinese project to blanket the country in security cameras. The effect, of course, will be to strengthen the hold of those very same totalitarian state officials over the people of China.

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I suppose it’s ironic that the very same people who call themselves “anti-authoritarians” participate in the most authoritarian activity at the end of the day — for really, what is more undemocratic than a handful of unaccountable, provocational, self-appointed “activist shock troops”, clad in black anonymity, and carrying out geurilla-war-style actions that will have massive repercussions for the vast majority of the rest of the movement activists who are not participants in (or even privy to) such violent actions?

This is a perfect embodiment of the pernicious notion developed by the 19th century anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin, of “the invisible dictatorship,” which would comprise those self-selected anarchists acting as the unelected, unaccountable leaders of the movement. (As if one could be “anti-government” by simply constructing a sort of unacknowledged ’secret government’ bereft of the open, democratic formalities that characterize the traditional state).

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MAY DAY—the international workers’ holiday with its origins in the struggles of the U.S. labor movement more than a century ago—was marked by demonstrations and events in cities around the country this year.

The biggest single demonstration was in New York City, where as many as 30,000 people came out to a rally and march to Wall Street. But there were other actions in New York—and in cities around the country, people came together in their hundreds and thousands, surpassing the expectations of organizers in a number of cases.

This year was the largest mobilization for May Day since the hey day of the immigrant rights mega-marches starting in 2006. Immigrant rights and labor groups were in the thick of the organizing, but so were activists from the Occupy movement of last fall, who looked to May 1 as an opportunity to reassert the message of the 99 percent against the greed, power and corruption of the 1 percent.

That the Occupy movement, like many other struggles before it, looked to May Day as a celebration of solidarity is a signal of the depths of the radicalization. Whatever the size of the demonstrations, they represented an attempt to connect the organizing of today to the rich history of working-class struggle in the U.S.

Of course, May Day was preceded by calls for a general strike of the U.S. working class and mass, nationwide consumer boycotts, but few people expected anything like that to happen. Almost everywhere, activists were happy to report stronger-than-expected turnouts for marches and rallies.

Predictably, the corporate media focused on confrontations between police and demonstrators in a handful of cities. Unfortunately, as has become increasingly clear over this year, a section of the Occupy movement has drifted toward a strategy that seeks a face-off with police and the threat of mass arrest, even when there is no potential of mobilizing the much wider layers of support that the Occupy struggle enjoyed last fall at its height.

The May Day demonstrations this year show the potential for taking new steps forward—crucially, with the renewed connections between unions, immigrant rights organizations and Occupy. The question for activists now has to be how we can deepen these ties and take new steps to broaden participation in the effort to build a left alternative to the world of the 1 percent.

More labor unrest under the reign of yet another US-backed monarchical dictatorship in the Middle East. And, of course, this particular monarch, the Jordanian King Abdullah II, occupies a special place among the despotic allies of the Obama administration.

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AMMAN — Thousands of teachers from across Jordan rallied outside the Prime Ministry on Tuesday, demanding a “long-promised” increase in their professional allowance among other calls to “restore their dignity”. 

The rally coincided with a nationwide teachers’ strike that left the Kingdom’s schools crippled for the seventh day in a row.

The National Committee for Teachers Association, which estimated the number of teachers taking part in the rally at more than 20,000, had called on educators from all across Jordan to gather outside the Prime Ministry “as yet another escalatory measure against the government’s refusal to grant them their rights”.

Submitted by Keith Rosenthal

Barack Obama has a net worth of approximately $5 million. Newt Gingrich has a net worth of approximately $6 million. Mitt Romney has a net worth of approximately $200 million.

This coming presidential election — like all past presidential elections in the U.S. — will be a contest between various members of the top 1% richest in society (i.e., those possessing more than $1 million in net wealth, i.e., the ‘ruling class’).

The plain fact is that the U.S. is not a thoroughgoing democratic society. It is a sort of democratic dictatorship of the 1% over the rest of society.  This ruling class has an almost-total monopoly on the ability to democratically debate, discuss, and elect candidates that best embody their interests as against all others.

The rest of us really don’t have a horse in the race. We are supposed to watch in awe as our rulers engage in the process of electing their next supreme representative.

Of course, the rest of us are allowed to participate in the charade, like a bunch of little children at the racetrack given a penny each to go and bet on whichever horse we like best.

But the real social actors in this whole drama are the ones who control the preponderance of wealth, and therefore influence, in society. They are the ones who will determine the outcome of their electoral process.

The best that the rest of us who comprise the remaining 99% of society can do is hope that, come 2012, the 1% will end up consensing on a politician who we deem to be the least terrible of the options (i.e., the ‘lesser evil’); or, alternatively, we could decide to finally give up the ghost altogether. We could exert our own democratic aspirations by eschewing the electoral horse-race of the 1% and exercising our power where it lies — not in money, but in the indispensable work that each of us do as socially-productive members of society.

This means taking the ‘Occupy’ movement further, and beyond a mere collection of tents. It means occupying our workplaces, schools, and communities, and demanding more social services, free education, better healthcare, clean and safe places to study, live, and work. It means striking for better wages, better benefits, more jobs, higher taxes on the rich, and against war.

It means rebelling against the modern-day Pharoahs of industry and finance, and forcing them to concede to our demands.

In fact, there are a myriad of things that we, the 99%, can do to put our democratic imprint on this corrupt society … but very very few of them actually have anything to do with the electoral ballot-box.

(Photo) Financial wealth distribution in the U.S. as a percentage of Congress & Senate »

 The U.S. ruling class, in its entirety, comprises the top 1-10% at the apex of society who own the vast majority of the wealth and resources, and control virtually the whole of the government.

We do not have a democracy. We have a ‘bourgeois’ democracy. The ‘bourgeoisie — the capitalists, the ‘1%’ — have a democracy, where they discuss and debate through the mechanism of government how best to administer their collective affairs and extend their dominance over all others.

For the rest of us, bourgeois democracy manifests itself as nothing more than the glorified dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

Is Obama worse than Bush?  A majority of people in the Arab world think so.

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Two and a half years after Obama came to office, raising expectations for change among many in the Arab world, favorable ratings of the United States have plummeted in the Middle East, according to a new poll conducted by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute Foundation.

In most countries surveyed, favorable attitudes toward the United States dropped to levels lower than they were during the last year of the Bush administration … Pollsters began their work shortly after a major speech Obama gave on the Middle East … Fewer than 10 percent of respondents described themselves as having a favorable view of Obama.

 … In five out of the six countries surveyed, the U.S. was viewed less favorably than Turkey, China, France — or Iran. Far from seeing the U.S. as a leader in the post-Arab Spring environment, the countries surveyed viewed “U.S. interference in the Arab world” as the greatest obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East, second only to the continued Palestinian occupation… . President Obama’s favorable ratings across the Arab world are 10% or less.

Despite their deepening political divide, the United States and Saudi Arabia are quietly expanding defense ties on a vast scale, led by a little-known project to develop an elite force to protect the kingdom’s oil riches and future nuclear sites.

The U.S. also is in discussions with Saudi Arabia to create an air and missile defense system with far greater capability against the regional rival the Saudis fear most, Iran. And it is with Iran mainly in mind that the Saudis are pressing ahead with a historic $60 billion arms deal that will provide dozens of new U.S.-built F-15 combat aircraft likely to ensure Saudi air superiority over Iran for years.

Together these moves amount to a historic expansion of a 66-year-old relationship that is built on America’s oil appetite, sustained by Saudi reliance on U.S. military reach and deepened by a shared worry about the threat of al-Qaida and the ambitions of Iran.

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Wow.  Obama is a piece of shit.  While he is set to give a speech today, in he which is expected to proclaim U.S. ‘support’ for the Arab Spring, he is meanwhile increasing U.S. funding to what is arguably the most regressive and barbaric regime on the planet today.

Ultimately, this holy alliance is not about al-Qaeda, and only narrowly about Iran, but more about keeping the democratic aspirations of the Arab world in check, which Saudi Arabia does in spades.

For it is not doubted by anyone that, if allowed to express themselves freely, the Arab masses would set about resisting U.S. imperial endeavors to control the region’s resources, wealth, and political character.

This is a turn of events that the American ruling class is in no way prepared to abide.

Tithi Bhattacharya and Bill Mullen report on the struggle of the people of Bahrain to oust a monarchy backed by the West. This article is accompanied by photos being distributed by solidarity activists to expose the regime’s barbaric torture of children.

Seriously, what is happening in Bahrain right now is literally worse than anything that was happening in Libya at the height of Qaddafi’s brutal crackdown, and it’s all taking place with the full support and approval of the United States government. 

Far from being concerned about the “violent repression of Arab civilians” (as per the U.S.’ casus belli in Libya), we now know that the U.S. actually gave the ‘green-light’ for Saudi Arabia to collaborate with the Bahraini dictatorship in violently suppressing the pro-democracy movement there, in exchange for Saudi support of the NATO war on Libya.

It is truly an outrageous crime that the U.S. can be so hypocritical as to talk about Qaddafi’s supposed war crimes in Libya, while continuing to back their puppet dictator in Bahrain as he sends police out to beat up and threaten to rape young children.

It is also a crime that the compliant, corporate U.S. media has so far remained virtually silent about Bahrain, while it obediently parrots all of the Obama administration’s talking points regarding Libya.

Finally, a word to all those supposedly anti-war liberals who have somehow found themselves in the pro-war camp when it comes to Libya: the U.S./NATO war on Libya is premised upon the Saudi/Bahrain crackdown on its own people.  You cannot support one without the other. 

If you truly care about Arab people fighting for freedom and a better future, it is incumbent upon you to renounce your support for the U.S. imperial war machine, which does not give a damn about the regular people of Libya, and which is orchestrating a massacre in Bahrain exceeding that which was threatened in Libya.

The stronger the U.S. presence in North Africa (by way of Libya) the stronger is the hand of the Bahraini dictatorship in gunning down its people.  The only hope for Bahrain now lies in seeing the U.S.’ regional influence become massively diminished, so that the Bahraini people may have the opportunity for a “fair fight,” facing off against a monarchy bereft of U.S. guns, money, and support. 

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In a secretly filmed interview, 16-year-old tells how she was severely beaten amid kingdom’s crackdown on protests.

Secret filming conducted by Al Jazeera has revealed shocking evidence of the brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

An undercover investigation conducted by Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Charles Stratford, has unearthed evidence that Bahraini police carried out periodic raids on girls’ schools since the unrest began.

The government of Bahrain deployed security forces onto the streets on March 14 in an attempt to quell more than four weeks of protests.

A three-month “state of emergency” that was declared by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on March 15, is due to be lifted on June 1.

At the height of the protests, up to 200,000 people rallied against the government. The crackdown was an attempt to end the protests that demanded the end of the despotic rule of the Khalifah royal family.

In an interview “Heba”, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, alleges she, along with three of her school friends, were taken away by the police from their school and subjected to severe beatings while in custody for three consecutive days.

“He hit me on the head, I started bleeding. I fell down, he told them [guards] to keep me in the rest-room,” she said during the secretly filmed interview.

“He [the officer] hit and banged me against the wall to scream. Since we did not cry out or scream, we were beaten more and more, stronger and stronger.

“Beating was severe, but being afraid of what comes next, we were senseless to the pain.”

Bahrain’s government has not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

According to the mainly Shia opposition Al Wefaq party, police have raided up to 15 mainly girls schools, detaining, beating and threatening to rape girls as young as 12.

A Bahrain human rights group says at least 70 teachers have also been detained. Meanwhile the media clampdown continues.

When all else failed, the business & ruling class of Michigan fell back on that age-old trick: dispense with democracy in exchange for dictatorship as the only way to push through an all-out attack on the majority of the people.

While dictatorship is on the wane in the East, it appears to be making a strong comeback here in the West.

 … as of this month, [Benton Harbor’s elected city commissioners] are literally powerless, and hold no authority to make any decisions. Not even on potholes.

The city is now run by Joseph L. Harris, an accountant and auditor from miles away …

Critics say the new powers, granted by the state’s new Republican leadership, are Michigan’s way to shrink benefits for public workers and undermine the strength of labor unions, just as officials have tried in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Michigan’s state-appointed emergency managers do have authority to set aside union contracts, giving the state, in the eyes of some, the opportunity to crush any local union deals in the name of budget repair.

“It’s dictatorship, plain and simple,” said Dennis Knowles, a city commissioner who sat in a darkened, mostly empty City Hall office the other day.

Israel’s resolute occupation of Palestinians in not just historic Palestine, but in the West Bank and Gaza Strip specifically, can be considered the oldest quasi-dictatorship in the Middle East, Bishara argues.