Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thousands March in Paris to Protest Education Cuts
Four decades after student demonstrations, strikes and riots paralyzed France and toppled the De Gaulle government, the seeds of another political crisis have been sown; and although the next upheaval, if it comes, is unlikely to result in a radical restructuring of the country, the way May '68 failed in the eyes of the young revolutionaries who took to the streets of Paris, the potential for an ideological shift--toward the Left--is clearly evident.
And the reverberations could be felt across the industrialized world.
AFP reports: Tens of thousands of protestors marched in Paris on Sunday to press demands that the French government scrap proposed education cuts and invest in schools as the best way to confront the financial crisis.
Organisers of the national day of protest said 80,000 people took part in the march but police put the figure at 32,000.
Shouting slogans like "Banks or education: I've made my choice!" and "Investing in schools is our future", the protestors -- mostly teachers and students--accused the government of failing to make education a priority.
The protest was held a few weeks before parliament is to begin debate on the education budget for 2009, which provides for 13,500 job cuts.
Close to 20,000 jobs were slashed in 2007 and 2008 under President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to trim the civil service by not replacing many of the retiring employees.
Higher Education Minister Valerie Pecresse said the protest was "unjustified and out of sync" with reality.
"Education today is the top priority of the government," she said.
The protest was organised by 47 organisations--parent's associations, teachers' unions and others -- in the latest show of force against the budget cuts.
Leading politicians in the opposition Socialist Party took part including Paris Mayor Betrand Delanoe who is the frontrunner to win the party leadership next month.
"This is a matter of urgency. Education is in jeopardy," Delanoe said.
Sarkozy campaigned for the presidency last year on a plan to trim down the civil service as part of a broader plan to overhaul the state and bring down public spending.Doubts Raised Over New Kim Photos
Doubts have been raised over newly released photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that were aired by the North’s KCTV on 12 Oct.
The photos were the first to be released in nearly two months and came out on the day the US announced that it has removed Pyongyang from the list of terrorism sponsoring states.
Kim, 66, has been out of public view since 14 Aug. He did not appear at national events, including the 60th anniversary of the regime’s foundation on 9 Sept, stoking speculation that he is seriously ill.
The rumour was addressed somewhat on 4 Oct, when the North’s media outlets reported that he had attended a university soccer match.
The North’s KCTV showed 10 photos of Kim inspecting a female artillery unit. The pictures were repeatedly featured by other broadcasters and newspapers over the weekend.
It did not reveal the timing or location. But Seoul intelligence officials say trees and grass in the background indicated the pictures may have been taken in the summer.
Seoul officials have said that Kim suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgery in mid-August. North Korea denies this claim.
Wearing his trademark dark sunglasses and khaki jumpsuit in the pictures, he looks normal as he converses with soldiers and watches a firing drill.
He looked thinner than before but showed no signs of critical illness, experts say.
Kim did not show up for the festivities celebrating the anniversary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party on 10 Oct.
-Hwang Jang-Jin, The Korea HeraldObama's Movement is the Message
Dateline USA....
Forget issues and ideology. The movement is the message.
Just as mass media technologies shape content and perceptions, as Marshall McLuhan explained, Barack Obama's Movement for Change is influencing mainstream media coverage and popular perceptions of the Democratic candidate.
The media subtext is clear: Obama deserves to win because of his mass rallies and mountain of money--hundreds of millions of dollars donated by ordinary Internet users. To deny him his victory, to disappoint his followers and fans around the world, is to go against history, to be anti-change, in the eyes of the mediaocracy.
The postmodernist media have embraced and promoted Obama's story; and nowadays, narrative rules.
It's all about the story line. The media have written Obama's next chapter, and they want to see it played out.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Foreign Confidential....
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