DSK case brings out French anti-Americanism

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-france-backlash-20110518,0,1675294.story


Reporting from Paris—
It was only a matter of time after the arrest in New York of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges before the America-bashing would begin in France (http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/france-PLGEO000002.topic).

On day one, the scandal involving the International Monetary Fund chief and a hotel maid brought shock and stupefaction. Day two, shame and self-pity. By day three, France was looking for a messenger to shoot, someone to blame for the likely political loss of the Socialist Party leader many believed would be the next president.



Related
STORY: IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn denied bail in sex-assault case (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-imf-chief-sex-charges-20110517,0,5485437.story)
http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-05/61629504-15224321-187105.JPG (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-imf-sexual-assault-20110516,0,4645049.story) STORY: IMF chief's sexual assault inquiry shakes Europe (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-imf-sexual-assault-20110516,0,4645049.story)
http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-05/61616851-15001307.jpg (http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-imf-leader-20110516,0,7179978.story) STORY: IMF chief held on suspicion of sexual assault on N.Y. hotel worker (http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-imf-leader-20110516,0,7179978.story)




And so the country launched itself into one of its predictable, periodic spasms of anti-Americanism.

How outrageous that New York police led Strauss-Kahn out of a Police Department facility in handcuffs, resulting in "grotesque" photographs, which nevertheless were widely published in France. What about the presumption of innocence? France wailed about headlines in U.S. tabloids, many of which were reproduced for French readers.

How could a judge throw Strauss-Kahn, DSK no less, into Rikers Island prison, which, readers of Le Figaro newspaper were informed, was noisy, overcrowded, dangerous and filled with prisoners carrying contagious diseases?

"There are numerous very heavy barred doors that make a noise each time they are opened or closed," French lawyer Gerald Lefcourt told the paper. Worse still, he said, "The food is terrible."

The American justice system has been deemed vastly inferior to France's system, which is based on the 1804 Napoleonic Code.

"In America only the wealthy can afford the best lawyers," one radio commentator lamented. Nobody pointed out that Strauss-Kahn is wealthy and can afford the best lawyers.

The reaction by many in France may be based less on loathing and more on a cultural divide wider, deeper and choppier than the Atlantic Ocean (http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/atlantic-ocean-PLGEOREG000027.topic) separating the two countries.

In sexual matters, the French consider themselves open-minded and liberal and dismiss Americans in particular — and Anglo-Saxons in general — as puritanical and uptight. It follows, therefore, that a French politician's sexual peccadilloes, extramarital affairs and indiscretions are nobody's business but his own.

It helps that much of the French news media, using privacy laws as a fig leaf, buys into this, creating an omerta around politicians and celebrities.

There is a sense in France of one rule for the elite and another for the rest of the population. It was brought into sharp focus Tuesday when French broadcast authorities warned news organizations that images of suspects in handcuffs, not unusual with noncelebrity suspects, contravened the law regarding the "dignity" of detainees.

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy told French radio he was outraged by the "grotesque" media lynching of his friend, who he said was being "thrown to the dogs."

"Do you think for a second we would be friends if I thought DSK was a compulsive rapist, a Neanderthal?" he said.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer entered a not-guilty plea Monday on four felony counts, including sexual abuse and attempted rape, and three misdemeanors. Strauss-Kahn, who was denied bail, did not address the court.

While some viewed Strauss-Kahn and France as victims of the scandal, few spared a thought for the woman he is accused of attacking Saturday.

In truth, it takes very little for France to revert to its default position on the United States. Sniping about the invasion of McDonald's (http://www.latimes.com/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/mcdonalds-PLENT000009.topic) or Starbucks (http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/starbucks-corp.-ORCRP014398.topic) on the Grands Boulevards of Paris, niggling about Americans buying up real estate in the chic parts of town and country (the British are just as bad, but everyone thinks they're American), criticizing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and trashing the cultural omnipresence of Walt Disney Co. (http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/media-industry/the-walt-disney-co.-ORCRP017360.topic)

Today, thanks to Strauss-Kahn, the French who choose to criticize the U.S. have a fresh reason to shake their heads and point fingers at the country they love to hate.

What a disappointing reason to hate on America. No, it's not the global domination of American capital, multiple wars, or the mistreatment of immigrants, it's the fact that the NYPD arrested a possible rapist from the IMF.

Why, when a man is accused of raping a poor immigrant, do people concentrate on feeling sympathy for the accused instead of his alleged victim? Why resent America for "embarrassing" this "poor sad IMF chief"? Just because he was shown in handcuffs? Good lord, what will their reaction be when they see the inevitable L&O SVU episode "loosely based" on the DSK situation?

[pluckedflowers]

Well, this is France we're talking about, where a great many people aren't even so sure the Revolution was a good idea...

[Tabarnack]

You would think as Marxists we would be skeptical when we hear that the bourgeois justice system of the Empire comes to the rescue of a poor maid against one of the most powerful banker in the world...could there be more to this story?

Naw, let's just lynch the guy, USA USA USA!

[chegitz guevara]

My understanding was this guy was supposed to be the next SPF candidate for President.

[RadioRaheem84]

French PR, nothing more.

[Tabarnack]

From "Business Insider":

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, better known as DSK, was having lunch with his daughter at the time when the sexual assault he is alleged to have committed supposedly took place, his lawyers say, according to French radio RMC.

According to this item, DSK checked out of the hotel at noon, hours before the events allegedly took place. He was scheduled to have lunch with his daughter, a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, that day.

If true, it should be easy enough to check out: both the hotel check-out and the lunch (via credit card) would have left a computer trail. Not to mention the fact that there would have been several witnesses at the restaurant.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

French PR, nothing more.

Since the American press in Paris only talks to the upper-class and their poodles, they're going to pass on anything they hear as "what the French say." The pleasant truth is, there have been quite a few French people, even journalists, even liberals, who approve of the Americans and are using this event to question the extraordinary class inequalities in the French justice system. One term that's started coming up is "droit de cuissage," which is French for "Droit de seigneur."

PS: I just googled "Droit de cuissage" and "Strauss-Kahn." 14,200 hits.

[Triple A]

I find it funny that an article critisizing french bashing america, has a subtle touch of americans bashing France.


And americans really dont have moral to attack France on the bashing subject. Just check the comment section of that newspaper.
"CHEESE EATING SURRENDER MONKEYS!"- first comment.

[Mather]

You would think as Marxists we would be skeptical when we hear that the bourgeois justice system of the Empire comes to the rescue of a poor maid against one of the most powerful banker in the world...could there be more to this story?

Conspiracy theories never seem to add up.

What reason would the ruling class have in damaging themselves in this way? This is a huge PR disaster for both the IMF and the French political establishment.

Also don't forget that this is not the first time that DSK has tried to have 'his way' with women. A number of other women going back years have claimed that he tried to do similar things with them.

This case is very different to the Julian Assange case.


Naw, let's just lynch the guy, USA USA USA!

DSK does indeed deserved to be lynched, for all the crimes he is guilty of as head of the IMF. The jury may still be out on whether he raped this particular woman, but there is no doubting the fact that he has raped the worlds poor and working class as head of the IMF. Unlike the pathetic reaction of the French political establishment and their mass media to this case, the Greek people for example will no doubt be happy that this man is now behind bars.

[Sasha]

yeah, considering the amount of among others; pepe le pew, mimes, garlic, striking and baquetes jokes i saw the last few days in the US media this is pretty much an case of pot vs ketle

[Leftie]

My understanding was this guy was supposed to be the next SPF candidate for President.

Yeah, most people expected him to stand for the elections.

But not anymore :laugh:

[Obs]

You would think as Marxists we would be skeptical when we hear that the bourgeois justice system of the Empire comes to the rescue of a poor maid against one of the most powerful banker in the world...could there be more to this story?

Naw, let's just lynch the guy, USA USA USA!
You would think as a Marxist you wouldn't be a dumb fuck and defend a rapist just because he happens to be prosecuted in the U.S., but there you go.

[RadioRaheem84]

Since the American press in Paris only talks to the upper-class and their poodles, they're going to pass on anything they hear as "what the French say." The pleasant truth is, there have been quite a few French people, even journalists, even liberals, who approve of the Americans and are using this event to question the extraordinary class inequalities in the French justice system. One term that's started coming up is "droit de cuissage," which is French for "Droit de seigneur."

PS: I just googled "Droit de cuissage" and "Strauss-Kahn." 14,200 hits.

Just how extraordinary are class inequalities in France? Do they have that barred entrance, only from wealthy pedigree type of society there?

At least in the States, we have an "equal opportunity" aristocracy, where anyone with half a brain willing to climb to the top can enter "royal" society. By willing of course I mean doing everything from whoring oneself out to companies; whether by being an excel monkey on Wall St. to selling out musically to LA record companies, to whatever will make you money.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Just how extraordinary are class inequalities in France?
Would you believe it if I told you there are large areas of Paris where anyone who's not white and expensively dressed will not go unless they have to? Where even the elite public schools, once among the best in the world, have become the equivalent of American prep schools, open only through pull and connections? Where a shop-owner will lock the door in your face if he/she thinks you don't meet the proper criteria (this happened a little while back to Oprah Winfrey)? Where the newly-elected President celebrates his victory on the Place de la Concorde and concludes it by dining at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Paris with all his wealthy friends, while on the other side of town, the working-class side, those who had come to support his opponent are chased off with tear-gas?

[RadioRaheem84]

Not that much different than that US. Only difference is that our politicians make an attempt to be populist and appeal to the people in some way.

Ironically, most of what you described I could see happening in our "liberal" cities like Boston, where I lived at for a year. There were just neighborhoods where one did not go unless they were white and wealthy.

Surprisingly, in Texas, for all of it's perception of being a right wing haven is actually LESS economically/racially segregated in the metropolitan area. I never really felt uncomfortable going to places I knew were beyond my economic reach.

That's what I mean by "equal opportunity" aristocracy. People in low cost major cities like Houston can go in and out of both worlds; working a low paying job but being able to afford to eat out at a fancy restaurant or buy a nice suit every once and a while. This is in exchange for any viable real social services or the right to unionize.

I had gotten so accustomed to living like this in Houston, that I just assumed my gf and I could reproduce the same scenario in the South of France. Boy was I wrong!

Apparently, young people do not go out to eat at the nice restaurants in the South of France unless loaded. We saved up for months to enjoy ourselves on our trip and found a lot of class envy (which is good) but apparently, we were mistaken for rich people. We were gawked at by the older locals in the restaurants and the waiter, who was 30, was giving us rude service.

Now it all makes sense.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

And americans really dont have moral to attack France on the bashing subject.

Of course the working class has no country and the nationalist poison being spewed in both countries is exactly that: poison.

[PhoenixAsh]

This guy does not deserve our defending...at all. This case is political, its going to be handled politically and...it is NOT the maid everybody is worried about. Nobody, not the politicians, not the justice system not the papers/media...care one bit about the victim.

THAT is something that deserves our attention and note.

[Tabarnack]

A few excerpts from "The serious questions raised by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair"

World Socialist Web Site.


In his class position, privilege and social outlook, Strauss-Kahn stands for everything the World Socialist Web Site opposes. But he is also a human being who is entitled to democratic rights, which include legal due process and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Judging from the treatment of Strauss-Kahn since his arrest and the coverage of this event in the American media, this presumption does not exist.

As of yet, no one has heard Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s side of the story. Rather, he has been subjected to a calculated process of humiliation and dehumanization—such as the disgusting “perp walk”—whose obvious purpose is to convict the accused in the public’s mind even before an indictment has been handed down.

The fact that allegations of rape and other lesser forms of sexual misconduct have been used for political ends does not mean that Strauss-Kahn is a victim of a conspiracy. However, it would require a staggering level of credulousness to dismiss out of hand, prior to the most careful investigation, the possibility that Strauss-Kahn—a man whose decisions have far-reaching political and financial consequences—has fallen into a well-laid trap.

Some have suggested that he was the victim of a honey-pot arranged by the Sarkozy forces.”
Impossible? Why is it mad to believe that Strauss-Kahn has powerful enemies, who have the means to set him up, or, at the very least, exploit the opportunity presented by the affair to finish him politically? To exclude that possibility is not only politically absurd, it effectively closes off a critical area of investigation.

Clearly, the arrest of Strauss-Kahn is seen by the US government as a political opportunity.It is understood that Strauss-Kahn’s replacement will have important policy implications, and a bitter struggle is already underway between European governments and the United States over the selection of a successor. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Europeans want to hold on to the top post at the IMF. “But the US,” the Journal writes, “as the largest single shareholder in the organization, will play a key role in determining the outcome.”

The Strauss-Kahn affair raises critical questions. The World Socialist Web Site insists on the presumption of innocence and other fundamental democratic rights. There is no credible reason why he should not be released on bail. Those on the political left who foolishly believe that Strauss-Kahn’s fate is a matter of indifference—or should even be welcomed as just punishment for his personal wealth and political sins—understand nothing of the importance of democratic rights. It is worth pointing out, moreover, that socialist convictions are not based on small-minded vengefulness.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

A few excerpts from "The serious questions raised by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair"

World Socialist Web Site.


In his class position, privilege and social outlook, Strauss-Kahn stands for everything the World Socialist Web Site opposes. But he is also a human being who is entitled to democratic rights, which include legal due process and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Judging from the treatment of Strauss-Kahn since his arrest and the coverage of this event in the American media, this presumption does not exist.

As of yet, no one has heard Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s side of the story. Rather, he has been subjected to a calculated process of humiliation and dehumanization—such as the disgusting “perp walk”—whose obvious purpose is to convict the accused in the public’s mind even before an indictment has been handed down.

The fact that allegations of rape and other lesser forms of sexual misconduct have been used for political ends does not mean that Strauss-Kahn is a victim of a conspiracy. However, it would require a staggering level of credulousness to dismiss out of hand, prior to the most careful investigation, the possibility that Strauss-Kahn—a man whose decisions have far-reaching political and financial consequences—has fallen into a well-laid trap.

Some have suggested that he was the victim of a honey-pot arranged by the Sarkozy forces.”
Impossible? Why is it mad to believe that Strauss-Kahn has powerful enemies, who have the means to set him up, or, at the very least, exploit the opportunity presented by the affair to finish him politically? To exclude that possibility is not only politically absurd, it effectively closes off a critical area of investigation.

Clearly, the arrest of Strauss-Kahn is seen by the US government as a political opportunity.It is understood that Strauss-Kahn’s replacement will have important policy implications, and a bitter struggle is already underway between European governments and the United States over the selection of a successor. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Europeans want to hold on to the top post at the IMF. “But the US,” the Journal writes, “as the largest single shareholder in the organization, will play a key role in determining the outcome.”

The Strauss-Kahn affair raises critical questions. The World Socialist Web Site insists on the presumption of innocence and other fundamental democratic rights. There is no credible reason why he should not be released on bail. Those on the political left who foolishly believe that Strauss-Kahn’s fate is a matter of indifference—or should even be welcomed as just punishment for his personal wealth and political sins—understand nothing of the importance of democratic rights. It is worth pointing out, moreover, that socialist convictions are not based on small-minded vengefulness.

What the :laugh:

Why are those people defending him? He is scum. He is not just a single abuser. The rapes he has been involved in are among the most horrendous and despicable gang-rapes ever committed, the rape of entire countries. He has no rights. I don't care if he is guilty in this case or not: there are crimes much worse which he has no qualms admitting, that are public, visible for any and all to see. He is a criminal on a whole other level, a monster, and any excuse to have him exorcised from the body politic is a good one. The IMF is organised crime.

[Os Cangaceiros]

How could a judge throw Strauss-Kahn, DSK no less, into Rikers Island prison, which, readers of Le Figaro newspaper were informed, was noisy, overcrowded, dangerous and filled with prisoners carrying contagious diseases?

"There are numerous very heavy barred doors that make a noise each time they are opened or closed," French lawyer Gerald Lefcourt told the paper. Worse still, he said, "The food is terrible."

The American justice system has been deemed vastly inferior to France's system, which is based on the 1804 Napoleonic Code.

lol is this the same country in which La Sante prison was located? :closedeyes:


According to whistle-blower and former prison official Veronique Vasseur, this prison was a hellhole, where prisoners were forced to live out their sentences in concrete cells full of rats and lice. Inmates were prone to lose their sanity as they dealt with the harsh daily realities of life at La Sante – which translates, ironically, to “health” in the English language. The well being of inmates was very low on the list of priorities for the French administrators of this torture chamber on a grand scale: weaker inmates were routinely enslaved by stronger ones, and rapes were a daily event at the prison. Suicide was rampant at la Sante, with a staggering 122 self-inflicted deaths of prisoners in 2002, and 73 more by mid 2003. The tendency to suicide could be linked to the terrible living conditions that plunged inmates into clinical depression: overcrowding, understaffing, and prison violence led these people to swallow drain cleaner in order to end their suffering once and for all.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Here's a rather harsh comparison of the difference between American and French criminal procedures by a French lawyer:
http://www.rue89.com/derriere-le-barreau/2011/05/17/violente-la-justice-americaine-et-en-france-alors-204355

[ckaihatsu]

This guy does not deserve our defending...at all. This case is political, its going to be handled politically and...it is NOT the maid everybody is worried about. Nobody, not the politicians, not the justice system not the papers/media...care one bit about the victim.

THAT is something that deserves our attention and note.





Conspiracy theories never seem to add up.

What reason would the ruling class have in damaging themselves in this way? This is a huge PR disaster for both the IMF and the French political establishment.

Also don't forget that this is not the first time that DSK has tried to have 'his way' with women. A number of other women going back years have claimed that he tried to do similar things with them.

This case is very different to the Julian Assange case.

DSK does indeed deserved to be lynched, for all the crimes he is guilty of as head of the IMF. The jury may still be out on whether he raped this particular woman, but there is no doubting the fact that he has raped the worlds poor and working class as head of the IMF. Unlike the pathetic reaction of the French political establishment and their mass media to this case, the Greek people for example will no doubt be happy that this man is now behind bars.


My pet theory / hypothesis is that this is bourgeois nationalist factional politics manifested in the personage of Strauss-Kahn, since France is so overextended in its financial support of Greece, leading to a policy schism in relation to Germany.

Germany wants to eject Greece from further EU support -- meaning that France would have to lump it -- while France is obviously now closer to Greece, to the extent of at least €110 billion.

Greece's sovereign debt is to Europe what Lehman Brothers was to the U.S. -- a toxic sinkhole in capitalism's operations that only threatens to grow worse while global growth (GDP) is basically at a standstill. While the U.S. has had to debase *its* strength -- the solidarity among its major corporations, and its world reserve currency -- the EU has had to debase *its* strength -- the solidarity among its sovereign states.

Finally we're getting to see some fallout from the bourgeoisie's economic system hitting the fan, now affecting the upper echelons of the ruling class as well as the world's working class, as always.





Europe one year after the bailout of Greece

10 May 2011




This month marks one year since the €110 billion loan made by the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out Greece.




Beyond the countries directly targeted by the EU and the IMF, the entire edifice of European capitalism has been thrown into question by the Greek debt crisis.

In the sphere of economic policy, the growing antagonisms between France and Germany were already evident in the run-up to the Greek bailout. After a concerted attack on Greek bonds by major international banks and rating agencies, European leaders were forced to hastily convene a meeting to save the euro.

Germany, on behalf of a group of northern European countries, demanded a policy of savage austerity for Greece and other heavily indebted European economies. France, Italy and Spain advanced a policy combining austerity with more financial support from the continent's wealthier economies—first and foremost Germany.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/pers-m10.shtml





European financial leaders postpone a new bailout for Greece

By Stefan Steinberg
18 May 2011




In May 2010, Greece was the first European country to receive a bailout from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The aim of the €110 billion bailout was to protect the assets of European banks and finance houses, which had invested heavily in the Greek economy. The bailout guaranteed Greece credit at punitively high interest rates for a number of years. In return, demands were placed on Greece to massively cut back its public spending and reduce its burden of debts.




The main fault line inside the Eurozone lies between Germany on the one side and a majority of countries, together with the European Central Bank, on the other. Germany has been pushing recently for some sort of restructuring of Greek debt.

This option would involve significant losses for European banks, notably the biggest investors in Greek debt: the French banks and the ECB. The latter has bought up large amounts of Greek government bonds since the start of the European debt crisis. Recently a leading member of the European Central Bank, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, warned that any restructuring of Greek debt would lead to a “true economic meltdown” in Europe.




The majority of EU countries, led by France and supported by the ECB, are demanding a solution that would involve Germany – as the continent's biggest economy – paying more to shore up the ailing Greek economy.




Both Germany and the European Commission immediately issued statements declaring that any replacement for Strauss-Kahn should come from Europe. Traditionally, in the post-war period, the IMF has been headed by a European with an American functioning as his deputy. In exchange, the post of chief of the World Bank has invariably been filled by an American.




At a time when Europe is coming under increasing pressure from both America and China, the sudden dispatch of the head of the IMF has only served to intensify antagonisms between the continent's major powers.

http://wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/euro-m18.shtml

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

How could a judge throw Strauss-Kahn, DSK no less, into Rikers Island prison, which, readers of Le Figaro newspaper were informed, was noisy, overcrowded, dangerous and filled with prisoners carrying contagious diseases?

Because that's where you go when you get arrested for a local crime in New York City and are denied bail. It's about jurisdiction, not choice.

I've been in prison, including in New York. It's hell. The prison system itself is horrific and inhumane, and it needs to be abolished. But why is this guy deserving of special treatment while everyone else gets thrown in places like Rikers?

[Hexen]

Since the American press in Paris only talks to the upper-class and their poodles, they're going to pass on anything they hear as "what the French say."

Yep, under capitalism the wealthy are the main citizenry while workers are ignored...

[Jeraldi]

Although he is a monster and has no rights, those saying that he got what he deserves on basis that he lead the IMF are missing the point.

How is this supposed to hurt the IMF? All this relay does is allows a new face at the head of the organization and business will continue as usual. The system is what allows this abuse not the current figurehead.

[ckaihatsu]

Just as China sustained U.S. demand by the loyal purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds, so Germany sustained europeriphery demand by its banks’ willingness to purchase government and bank debt. But there is a vital difference: the dollar is the world's preeminent reserve and trading currency, by a very long way (over 60% compared to around 25% for the euro), and the U.S. monetary authorities therefore enjoy the privileges of ‘seigniorage’: in other words, the money markets will absorb pretty much as many dollars as they choose to issue. Indeed, paradoxically it is to the dollar that global investors flee for security in times of trouble, their herd behaviour confirming the dollar's uniquely privileged position. All the Fed has to worry about is opposition from monetary faddists in Congress; whereas the European Central Bank (ECB) has not only to convince the markets that they know what they are doing, but also has to get the 17 eurozone governments to agree. There are thus powerful reasons for institutional inertia and indecision.

Whatever transpires in the coming months, it seems increasingly clear that forcing complete debt repayment on schedule upon Greece, Portugal and Ireland cannot work. But this serves to highlight a lesson from history that takes us way back beyond the 1980s Mexican case. And the great irony is that the debtor country in question was not Portugal, Greece or Ireland, but – Germany. When the victorious allies enforced an impossible burden of war reparation payments upon Germany at Versailles in 1919, the outcome was disastrous, as the young Keynes warned at the time in his famous pamphlet The Economic Consequences of the Peace. To very many historians, it was the imposition of endless austerity upon the Germans that provided the economic and social conditions underlying the rise of Hitler. What is more, it was through absorbing the lessons of that disastrous policy that the USA was persuaded, after 1945, to take a completely opposite course of action in the Marshall Aid programme, which enabled the economic reconstruction of Germany and of Western Europe as a whole. Surely the political and financial élite of Germany today know enough of their own country's history to appreciate that austerity is not the answer?

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/504.php

[ckaihatsu]

---





But the scenario advanced in the report for a three-legged global monetary system does not provide for stability. On the contrary, under such a system there would be an immediate shift toward the formation of trade and investment blocs based around the three leading currencies. As the report itself pointed out, in the absence of coordinated international controls of currency fluctuations, the tendency would be for countries to forge an “alliance with one of the leading-currency countries, via a currency peg or monetary union” in order to reduce financial risks.

In other words, the emergence of a multipolar global economy will recreate, in an even more explosive form, the situation that arose in the 1930s. Then the world was divided into rival currency and trading blocs, giving rise to the intense economic conflicts that eventually led to World War II.

But the international working class will ignore the implications of these processes at its peril. The immense movements in the tectonic plates of the world economy have raised to a new peak of intensity the contradiction between the global development of the productive forces and the division of the world into rival capitalist nation-states.




This contradiction drives the bourgeoisie into an ever-more frenzied struggle of each against all, for markets, profits and resources, leading ultimately to military conflict and a threat to human civilisation itself. It can be resolved only on a progressive basis by the international working class through the fight for political power and the establishment of a global planned socialist economy that tears down the barriers of the historically outmoded nation-state and profit system.

The changes to which the World Bank report points are the most fundamental in the world economy since the rise of Germany, Japan and the United States ended the hegemony of British imperialism at the beginning of the 20th century. Those changes led to a breakdown of the world capitalist order in 1914 and three decades of war and revolution. A new period of wars and revolutions has begun, in which the fundamental pre-condition for the victory of the working class is the building of a new revolutionary leadership on the program of world socialist revolution. This is the perspective of the International Committee of the Fourth International.




http://wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/pers-m21.shtml

[Mather]

My pet theory / hypothesis is that this is bourgeois nationalist factional politics manifested in the personage of Strauss-Kahn, since France is so overextended in its financial support of Greece, leading to a policy schism in relation to Germany.

Germany wants to eject Greece from further EU support -- meaning that France would have to lump it -- while France is obviously now closer to Greece, to the extent of at least €110 billion.

Greece's sovereign debt is to Europe what Lehman Brothers was to the U.S. -- a toxic sinkhole in capitalism's operations that only threatens to grow worse while global growth (GDP) is basically at a standstill. While the U.S. has had to debase *its* strength -- the solidarity among its major corporations, and its world reserve currency -- the EU has had to debase *its* strength -- the solidarity among its sovereign states.

Finally we're getting to see some fallout from the bourgeoisie's economic system hitting the fan, now affecting the upper echelons of the ruling class as well as the world's working class, as always.

I don't deny that there are sections of the German ruling class who seek to deny Greece any further loans and EU/IMF 'assistance' and would even like to see Greece ejected from the Euro. However other sections of the ruling class in Germany and more importantly the wider ruling classes of Europe know that if this were to happen it would exacerbate the economic crisis and would be disastrous for European and even global markets. The same applies to Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Iceland.

On DSK, the man is probably guilty as this is not the first time that allegations of this nature have been raised and the fact he was caught trying to flee back to Europe at JFK Airport. That there will be faction fights within the global capitalist class as to who succeeds DSK as IMF chief is inevitable but this intrigue is in itself not enough to dismiss the allegations against DSK as some sort of conspiracy.

[Mather]

Because that's where you go when you get arrested for a local crime in New York City and are denied bail. It's about jurisdiction, not choice.

I've been in prison, including in New York. It's hell. The prison system itself is horrific and inhumane, and it needs to be abolished. But why is this guy deserving of special treatment while everyone else gets thrown in places like Rikers?

I totally agree.

I found the reactions of the French political establishment and the media to be both disgusting and hypocritical. The whole tone coming from France was that DSK was 'too good' to be sent to Rikers Island prison, that there were fears he would be exposed to the 'wrong sort of people' (ie; working class prisoners) etc... It stinks of ruling class snobbery and exposes the French ruling class to be a lot less egalitarian than many had assumed. I also remember some French politico moaning on France 24 (a satellite news channel) about the fact that DSK was photographed during his arrest and that this was "degrading" to DSK. Well if I remember correctly the French ruling class made no complaints when the French state and police did a lot worse in arresting and expelling the Roma people from France last year. When the French state and police brutalise, beat up, arrest and expel Roma, African immigrants or working class youth the French ruling class and the media are totally silent, but with DSK it is a very different story.

[Mather]

Although he is a monster and has no rights, those saying that he got what he deserves on basis that he lead the IMF are missing the point.

It is not missing the point, as the point a lot of people on here are making is that DSK should simply be treated like any other prisoner and not be let off or given special and preferential treatment simply becuase he is a member of the ruling class.


How is this supposed to hurt the IMF? All this relay does is allows a new face at the head of the organization and business will continue as usual. The system is what allows this abuse not the current figurehead.

I never said that the DSK arrest would hurt or damage the IMF nor has anyone else on this thread made such a point. I agree with you that the IMF will simply dump DSK and replace him with someone else as DSK is but one individual. The IMF may suffer some bad PR in that the DSK case shows people what type of individuals make up the ruling class as DSK is not alone in having a scandal behind him.

But again, this is not really the point. The point we should raise is that ruling class figures like DSK get away with their crimes whilst the rest of us (the working class) face prison and a brutal 'justice system' for crimes a lot less severe and violent than rape.