Tidbits, August 16, 2011

* U.S. Workers can't Afford Another Telecom Merger (Media
  	and Democracy Coalition) 
* Re: Jamaica's Crippling Debt Crisis (John Talbutt) 
* Re: The World Should Be Watching Tahrir Square (Joseph 
 	 Maizlish) 
* Re: The Left's Crisis (Mary Ann Caton) 
* Attica is All of Us - Friday, September 9 2011

 ==========

 * U.S. Workers can't Afford Another Telecom Merger

 Media and Democracy Coalition
http://www.media-democracy.net/node/726

 AT&T is seeking approval from federal regulators to purchase
 competitive wireless carrier T-Mobile.  But mergers in the
 telecom industry over the last decade are likely to have
 cost tens of thousands of workers their jobs. Not every lost
 job at telecom carriers was a result of mergers, but the
 record shows that even as these companies get bigger,
 workers ardent benefiting.  The American economy - and its
 workers - can't afford a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.

 AT&T Mergers in 2005 - 2006 May Have Cost Up To 30,000 Jobs

 In 2005, SBC purchased AT&T Corp. and re-named the new
 combined company AT&T Inc.  The next year, AT&T Inc.
 purchased BellSouth, which also gave it complete control of
 Cingular Wireless.  Before this merger-mania, the companies
 employed 337,300 workers.  But the new, merged AT&T Inc. had
 only 304,180 workers in 2007.  That means as many as 33,120
 workers were out of a job in the year following the mergers.

 Read more and see great graphs at:
http://www.media-democracy.net/node/726

 More information and action you can take at: Stop AT&T's
 Takeover of T-Mobile
 http://attmobile.savetheinternet.com/resources

 {Thanks to Nan Rubin for sharing this with Portside.]

 ==========

 * Re: Jamaica's Crippling Debt Crisis

 It's an excellent article but after asking "...how much
 should a country sacrifice in order to keep paying off its
 debt?"; should not there been some mention of bankruptcy as
 an option.  Iceland and Argentina have declared bankruptcy
 in this century and it would be hard to argue that they are
 not now better for it.  Ireland did not and as of now it's
 unemployment rate is 14% and Moody's has downgraded Irish
 bonds to junk status.

 John Talbutt

 ==========

 * Re: The World Should Be Watching Tahrir Square

 Prof. Federman's report reminds us of the continuing
 dangers. One sentence seems odd:

 "That the ruling Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed
 Forces (SCAF) saw fit to shut down Tahrir Square shows, at
 best, that they don't understand the importance of that
 place for the democratic development of Egypt."

 Perhaps the SCAF seeing fit to shut down the square shows
 that they DO understand the importance of that place!

 Joseph Maizlish

 ==========

 * Re: The Left's Crisis

 I think this analysis is worth thinking about. The left
 indeed is in crisis and needs to reinvent itself. Maybe this
 is how.

 Mary Ann Caton

 ==========

 * Attica is All of Us - Friday, September 9 2011

 Join us on Friday September 9th 2011 at The Riverside Church
 for Attica is All of Us, an evening of music, performances
 and conversation to mark the 40th anniversary of the Attica
 Rebellion and Massacre and address current prison struggles.
 Free and open to the public.

 With.

 Attica Brothers

 Asha Bandele, Drug Policy Alliance, Journalist, Poet

 Baba Amiri Baraka, African-American Poet Laureate, Pan-
 African Elder Statesman, & Community Activist

 Dhoruba Al-Mujahid Bin-Wahad, Consultant, Institute For
 Development of Pan-African Policy, Ghana, W. Africa

 Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director, Correctional
 Association

 Elizabeth Fink, Attica Brothers Legal Defense

 Amy Goodman, Host, Democracy Now!

 Joseph "Jazz" Hayden, Campaign to End the New Jim Crow

 Jamal Joseph, former Black Panther; Chair, Columbia
 University's School of the Arts Film division.

 Cornel West, Professor, Public Intellectual & Activist

 Attica is All of Us Friday, September 9 2011 7-10pm (doors
 open at 6:30 PM) 490 Riverside Drive New York, NY 10027
 (Enter at 91 Claremont Avenue)

 Presented by Attica is All of Us and The Riverside Church
 Prison Ministry

 In collaboration with the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow,
 The Culture Project, The Nation, Drug Policy Alliance, & The
 Brecht Forum.

 RSVP HERE http://atticaisallofus.org/?page_id=271

 ==========

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