From farmelantj at juno.com Thu May 1 10:30:13 2008 From: farmelantj at juno.com (farmelantj at juno.com) Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 16:30:13 GMT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day Message-ID: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> Today is the tenth anniversary of the launch of two important progressive email lists: Doug Henwood's LBO-Talk List: http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/lbo-talk.html and Louis Prpyect's Marxmail List: http://www.marxmail.org Happy anniversary to both lists. Jim Farmelant _____________________________________________________________ Get Comcast High Speed Internet! $19.99 each month for first 6 months. Plus FREE Modem and $100 Cash Ba http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/JKFkuJi7P2fkC1Lrk9Gs3md4ivoY8TxN4dzbUrnfaRcgYL6CzGFSgh/?count=1234567890 From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu May 1 11:33:40 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 01 May 2008 12:33:40 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day In-Reply-To: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> References: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> Message-ID: Two lists so not worth participating in. Important? Have you lost your mind? I might as well join everyone else and schedule a lObamatomy. At 11:30 AM 5/1/2008, farmelantj at juno.com wrote: >Today is the tenth anniversary of the launch of two important >progressive email lists: Doug Henwood's LBO-Talk List: >http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/lbo-talk.html > >and Louis Prpyect's Marxmail List: >http://www.marxmail.org From dhenwood at panix.com Thu May 1 11:27:38 2008 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 13:27:38 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day In-Reply-To: References: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> Message-ID: <0474BB53-3877-4296-8762-B1CBDB3EF67B@panix.com> On May 1, 2008, at 1:33 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > Two lists so not worth participating in. Important? Have you lost > your mind? > > I might as well join everyone else and schedule a lObamatomy. It's always nice to hear from you, Ralph! Doug From jannuzi at gmail.com Thu May 1 18:36:44 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 09:36:44 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day May Day May Day Message-ID: RD > Two lists so not worth participating in. Important? Have you lost > your mind? > > I might as well join everyone else and schedule a lObamatomy. Yeah well, what a bum note for the MT list. I must say, of all the things that come to mind on May Day, Duff Henwood's Liberal Bourgeois Oaf (LBO) list and Louie Projector's Marxmal really don't come to mind either. Hey, I think I'll put on my Nation t-shirt and go join some Olympic torch protests--that's progressive, right? Or perhaps I'll watch the news til the next Fed rate cut--it's so deeply probative and explanatory! CJ From dhenwood at panix.com Thu May 1 19:03:30 2008 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 21:03:30 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day May Day May Day In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <16DDC6B8-3EE9-4127-869F-1FEA93060043@panix.com> On May 1, 2008, at 8:36 PM, CeJ wrote: > Yeah well, what a bum note for the MT list. I must say, of all the > things that come to mind on May Day, Duff Henwood's Liberal Bourgeois > Oaf (LBO) list and Louie Projector's Marxmal really don't come to mind > either. Hey, I think I'll put on my Nation t-shirt and go join some > Olympic torch protests--that's progressive, right? Or perhaps I'll > watch the news til the next Fed rate cut--it's so deeply probative and > explanatory! Always nice to hear from you too Chuckie! From jannuzi at gmail.com Thu May 1 19:34:58 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 10:34:58 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day May Day May Day Message-ID: DH >>Always nice to hear from you too Chuckie!>> Just goes to show what an important thinker and writer DH is--when he isn't being sarcastic. Happy May Day Dougie. Watch out for those WMD at the Port Authority! CJ From jannuzi at gmail.com Fri May 2 01:41:46 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 16:41:46 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Something anthemic for May Day Message-ID: A song for May Day. Even if a bit late--hey, everyday is May Day in my house. I suppose this might even cheer up the Spoons list survivors. CJ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF5t4FH5B4Y Belief In The Small Man lyrics by Stuart Adamson ----------------------- Just as one life turns from birth Just as the ring finds it's worth Just as the leaf turns to gold So you and I will be sold Chorus Sold for the work done While we could feel young Sold for the new son Gold for the pure one Where does our home lie When is our own Lonely the cold cry Only unknown Dark comes the night on the aged Hard comes the day still unpaid yet All in a bed still unmade it Chokes like the tomb and it says its Chorus (three times) Unknown, unknown Chorus Where does our home lie When is our own Lonely the cold cry Only unknown Unknown, unknown From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue May 6 08:04:46 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 10:04:46 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day In-Reply-To: References: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> Message-ID: <48202D3E.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Here's a tardy Happy May Day Unfortunately, I had retina detachment surgery on my other eye on May day. , So I can't see so good. Won't be writing as much for a while >>> Ralph Dumain 05/01/2008 1:33 PM >>> Two lists so not worth participating in. Important? Have you lost your mind? I might as well join everyone else and schedule a lObamatomy. At 11:30 AM 5/1/2008, farmelantj at juno.com wrote: >Today is the tenth anniversary of the launch of two important >progressive email lists: Doug Henwood's LBO-Talk List: >http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/lbo-talk.html > >and Louis Prpyect's Marxmail List: >http://www.marxmail.org _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue May 6 08:44:19 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 10:44:19 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright"s logic ? Message-ID: <48203683.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Maybe Rev. Wright is trying to protect O ? Most vet's of the movement, MLK's assassination, et.al have noted O's courage in running in the face of that history. MLK was not assassinated for the "I have a dream" dimension to his political persona, but for his condemnation of imperialism, poverty and racism. O's campaign has had both dimensions, with the latter especially or mainly in his connection to the person of Wright. By forcing O to more sharply separate himself from the condemnation of America dimension, Wright may be seeking to diminish the "confederate" threat to O. CB This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Tue May 6 11:47:13 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 12:47:13 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day In-Reply-To: <48202D3E.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> <48202D3E.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Good luck to you. I was in the hospital early for a diagnostic and ran into two former neighbors form two different locations. Everybody's gotta get into the act. Hope you enjoyed Marx's birthday yesterday. At 09:04 AM 5/6/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Here's a tardy Happy May Day > >Unfortunately, I had retina detachment surgery on my other eye on May >day. , So I can't see so good. Won't be writing as much for a while From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Tue May 6 11:53:19 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 12:53:19 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright"s logic ? In-Reply-To: <48203683.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <48203683.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Wrong on all counts. Wright sabotaged Obama. Some folks I have talked with claim he did this deliberately, whereas I assumed he was just trying to promote himself. Obama is just another wouild-be administrator of the neoliberal order, perhaps less slimy than Clinton. Wright is a nationalist poweconditioned to do, Pavlov-style. Obama should never have been a candidate, and black and white workers should have supported Edwards, but the media set up the contest between Clinton and Obama, and the electorate responded like obedient puppies. As a result, American democracy is done for, and the electorate will get what it deserves. I don't deserve it, though. At 09:44 AM 5/6/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Maybe Rev. Wright is trying to protect O ? > >Most vet's of the movement, MLK's assassination, et.al have noted O's >courage in running in the face of that history. > >MLK was not assassinated for the "I have a dream" dimension to his >political persona, but for his condemnation of imperialism, poverty and >racism. > >O's campaign has had both dimensions, with the latter especially or >mainly in his connection to the person of Wright. > >By forcing O to more sharply separate himself from the condemnation of >America dimension, Wright may be seeking to diminish the "confederate" >threat to O. > >CB From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Tue May 6 12:06:43 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 13:06:43 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright"s logic ? In-Reply-To: References: <48203683.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Somehow I accidentally deleted part of my message, which went something like this: Wright is a nationalist power-broker in Chicago, par for the course. Black and white voters responded Pavlov-style just as were conditioned to do, cleaving to their candidate according to the most shallow and thoughtless criteria possible, on both sides of the racial divide. At 12:53 PM 5/6/2008, Ralph Dumain wrote: >Wrong on all counts. Wright sabotaged Obama. Some folks I have >talked with claim he did this deliberately, whereas I assumed he was >just trying to promote himself. Obama is just another wouild-be >administrator of the neoliberal order, perhaps less slimy than >Clinton. >Wright is a nationalist poweconditioned to do, >Pavlov-style. >Obama should never have been a candidate, and black >and white workers should have supported Edwards, but the media set up >the contest between Clinton and Obama, and the electorate responded >like obedient puppies. As a result, American democracy is done for, >and the electorate will get what it deserves. I don't deserve it, though. > >At 09:44 AM 5/6/2008, Charles Brown wrote: > >Maybe Rev. Wright is trying to protect O ? > > > >Most vet's of the movement, MLK's assassination, et.al have noted O's > >courage in running in the face of that history. > > > >MLK was not assassinated for the "I have a dream" dimension to his > >political persona, but for his condemnation of imperialism, poverty and > >racism. > > > >O's campaign has had both dimensions, with the latter especially or > >mainly in his connection to the person of Wright. > > > >By forcing O to more sharply separate himself from the condemnation of > >America dimension, Wright may be seeking to diminish the "confederate" > >threat to O. > > > >CB > > >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > >-- >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.9/1417 - Release Date: >5/6/2008 8:07 AM From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue May 6 14:40:38 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 16:40:38 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] May Day In-Reply-To: References: <20080501.123013.11925.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com> <48202D3E.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <48208A06.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Yea, Happy Cinco de Mayo to Carlos >>> Ralph Dumain 05/06/2008 1:47 PM >>> Good luck to you. I was in the hospital early for a diagnostic and ran into two former neighbors form two different locations. Everybody's gotta get into the act. Hope you enjoyed Marx's birthday yesterday. At 09:04 AM 5/6/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Here's a tardy Happy May Day > >Unfortunately, I had retina detachment surgery on my other eye on May >day. , So I can't see so good. Won't be writing as much for a while _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue May 6 15:01:51 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 17:01:51 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright"s logic ? In-Reply-To: References: <48203683.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <48208EFF.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Ralph Dumain 05/06/2008 1:53 PM >>> Wrong on all counts. Wright sabotaged Obama. ^^^^ CB: That's consistent with my theory. If he doesn't get the nomination or elected, he doesn't get killed. ^^^^ Some folks I have talked with claim he did this deliberately, whereas I assumed he was just trying to promote himself. ^^^^^ CB: I thought this at first , and still don't completely count it out. I was thinking ultra-lefty with delusions of grandeur, maybe getting But then I had a second thought when I woke up this morning. Wright could be thinking if he still wins after this, at least America has passed a real test on reduction of racism. ^^^^^^^^ Obama is just another wouild-be administrator of the neoliberal order, perhaps less slimy than Clinton. Wright is a nationalist poweconditioned to do, Pavlov-style. ^^^^^ CB: Something inconsistent with Wright being a heavy nationalist is that the United church of Christ is not a Black church. It is a white church nationally. The Trinnity church has joint programs with white churches Wright is a leftis and progressive. He has a very good reptutation with people here in Detroit. He has several degrees, which is no guarantee, but being a fool and egomaniac just doesn't add up. ^^^^^^^ Obama should never have been a candidate, and black and white workers should have supported Edwards, but the media set up the contest between Clinton and Obama, and the electorate responded like obedient puppies. As a result, American democracy is done for, and the electorate will get what it deserves. I don't deserve it, though. At 09:44 AM 5/6/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Maybe Rev. Wright is trying to protect O ? > >Most vet's of the movement, MLK's assassination, et.al have noted O's >courage in running in the face of that history. > >MLK was not assassinated for the "I have a dream" dimension to his >political persona, but for his condemnation of imperialism, poverty and >racism. > >O's campaign has had both dimensions, with the latter especially or >mainly in his connection to the person of Wright. > >By forcing O to more sharply separate himself from the condemnation of >America dimension, Wright may be seeking to diminish the "confederate" >threat to O. > >CB _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From Waistline2 at aol.com Tue May 6 16:05:27 2008 From: Waistline2 at aol.com (Waistline2 at aol.com) Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 18:05:27 EDT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright"s logic ? Message-ID: In a message dated 5/6/2008 9:55:23 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, rdumain at autodidactproject.org writes: Wrong on all counts. Wright sabotaged Obama. Some folks I have talked with claim he did this deliberately, whereas I assumed he was just trying to promote himself. Obama is just another wouild-be administrator of the neoliberal order, perhaps less slimy than Clinton. Wright is a nationalist poweconditioned to do, Pavlov-style. Obama should never have been a candidate, and black and white workers should have supported Edwards, but the media set up the contest between Clinton and Obama, and the electorate responded like obedient puppies. As a result, American democracy is done for, and the electorate will get what it deserves. I don't deserve it, though. At 09:44 AM 5/6/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Maybe Rev. Wright is trying to protect O ? > >Most vet's of the movement, MLK's assassination, et.al have noted O's >courage in running in the face of that history. > >MLK was not assassinated for the "I have a dream" dimension to his >political persona, but for his condemnation of imperialism, poverty and >racism. > >O's campaign has had both dimensions, with the latter especially or >mainly in his connection to the person of Wright. > >By forcing O to more sharply separate himself from the condemnation of >America dimension, Wright may be seeking to diminish the "confederate" >threat to O. > >CB _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 7 13:37:04 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 15:37:04 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [lbo-talk] US elections ( Michelle O, ma belle) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4821CC9F.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> "James Heartfield" So, listers, help out someone who is looking in from outside the US If I understand it right, Obama's appeal is a kind of Blairite (or even Clintonite) transcendence of the 'old politics'. His core base is black and young, but to show that he is of a different stripe, he has to distance himself from race politics. ^^^^" CB: Distancing from "race politics isn't a different stripe from Clinton. It was the Repuclicans who have been playing race politics espcielly since the Nixon Souther strategy. Reaganite Reps centrally rely on racist politics, fomenting racism among white voters. Clinton didn't want race in the race against the Republicans. Maybe you mean distancing from "Black core base". Better "distancing" himseelf from himself since he _is_ Black. Even better distancing himself from a Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton sure loser type candidate. Jesse Jackson had a "Rainbow Coalition" theme by the way, so he didn't run a "Black campaign". Try to follow this. Jackson ran as a left social democrat ( non-Clinton). But in the US racist twisted dialectic, a candidate - White or Black; see Kucincich only able to get 5% with the most trenchant and obviously pro-working class program of anybody- who tries to appeal to the mass of white workers ( brain warped into Reagan Democrats for 28 years) on the basis of that pro-working class program are rejected as "trying to help Black people, welfare cheats, affirmative action " and all that crap. It's an astonishing testament to the mind control of US ruling class propaganda over the masses of White workers. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Talk about showing everybody racism as the main way that the US ruling class divides the US working class. It is starkly obvious. Anyway, all these definite pronouncements about the "nature" of Obama are just premature. It is _uncertain_ how O will turn out. The word "hope" includes by definition uncertainty. That's part of why it is an accurate term here, that and the fact -which I have said repeatedly since O won major White votes in Iowa - that large numbers of White people are voting for a Black candidate for President makes the word "hope" or "promising" sober and accurate. Not _certainly_, but possibly some good things could come out of the Obama adventure. O is he best risk for Americans, clearly as compared with Clinton and McCain. What's wrong with the anti-O position is that it is stated with such certainty or likelihood that nothing good can come from the O "move", ignoring the previously highly unlikely result of so many White people supporting a Black person for President; and their sticking to supporting O through Rev. Wright, media twisting the "bitter' comments from actually sympathetic to the working classes plight to make them seem "elitist"; , the Clintons trying hard to bring out racist attitudes. Large minorities of White voters have doggedly stayed with O. At this point it is actually better that we had Wright and the Clintons test the anti-racist revolve of White Americans.It has "vetted" Americans vis-a-vis O on the key issue of race. I say with Michelle O , I never have been so proud of Americans. By the way, "Michelle O" Michelle, ma belle, These are words, That go together well ^^^^ Hillary hoped to play up her experience, but that has been boxed in to an appeal to older voters against younger, and to white working class voters, afraid of change. ^^^^ CB: Yes, Clinton's "experience" in the context of O's "change" challenge is the same as "same ole same ole" . O just implies, "experience means no change , exactly what I'm running against". So, Clintno's theme plays straight into one thing he's winning on. Many are tired of the "experience" they have been having. McCain is _real_old, "experienced", a real non-changling.. Mike keeps point to the poll showing most won't vote for somebody McCain's age. Of course, it is uncertain that the change will be at all or will be for the better (duh). But it seems many or most people - and quite rationally,not maniacally at all- want to roll the dice on change. It's rational as a first logical step in that the only way to get out of the current mess is _some_ kind of change. So, Clinton's "experience" position is a loser coming right out of the shute. ^^^^^^^ Is that right? And is it right that it would be too problematic for the superdelegates to overturn Obama's majority of the committed delegates? Does that mean an election between Third Way Obama and McCain pushing a kind of old, white resentiment against change? ^^^ CB: ( This is the opposite of the sense of "resentiment". The "white' tradition is the non-slave tradition here) And obviously, literally _all_ the previous experience at the Presidential level is with "White". Black is inherently a profound change in the US. Everybody knows that in their gut. The notion that the racial "identity" of the President can make no difference on this is wrong. O's identity/character has the added dimension of having grown up in Hawaii, some in Indonesia and a father from Kenya ( though absent, O's grew up with significant consciousness of this). He is unusually cosmopolitan for an American is another source of promise( not certainty) It is not certain that O won't find a 4th Way or at least 3 and ?. He may find how to put some substantive diplomacy into foreign policy for example. For one thing, the US pragmatically needs it. It can't continue indefinitely to hold the whole world at gunpoint. It's insane to crank up a neo-Cold War with Russia, confront Iran. Bill Richardson , Mexican American O supporter, recently met diplomatically with Chavez, I believe. This higher than average American character This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 7 14:59:05 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 16:59:05 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Dem Pres race Message-ID: <4821DFD9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> "James So, listers, help out someone who is looking in from outside the US If I understand it right, Obama's appeal is a kind of Blairite (or even Clintonite) transcendence of the 'old politics'. His core base is black and young, but to show that he is of a different stripe, he has to distance himself from race politics. ^^^^" CB: Distancing from "race politics isn't a different stripe from Clinton. It was the Repuclicans who have been playing race politics espcielly since the Nixon Souther strategy. Reaganite Reps centrally rely on racist politics, fomenting racism among white voters. Clinton didn't want race in the race against the Republicans. Maybe you mean distancing from "Black core base". Better "distancing" himseelf from himself since he _is_ Black. Even better distancing himself from a Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton sure loser type candidate. Jesse Jackson had a "Rainbow Coalition" theme by the way, so he didn't run a "Black campaign". Try to follow this. Jackson ran as a left social democrat ( non-Clinton). But in the US racist twisted dialectic, a candidate - White or Black; see Kucincich only able to get 5% with the most trenchant and obviously pro-working class program of anybody- who tries to appeal to the mass of white workers ( brain warped into Reagan Democrats for 28 years) on the basis of that pro-working class program are rejected as "trying to help Black people, welfare cheats, affirmative action " and all that crap. It's an astonishing testament to the mind control of US ruling class propaganda over the masses of White workers. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Talk about showing everybody racism as the main way that the US ruling class divides the US working class. It is starkly obvious. Anyway, all these definite pronouncements about the "nature" of Obama are just premature. It is _uncertain_ how O will turn out. The word "hope" includes by definition uncertainty. That's part of why it is an accurate term here, that and the fact -which I have said repeatedly since O won major White votes in Iowa - that large numbers of White people are voting for a Black candidate for President makes the word "hope" or "promising" sober and accurate. Not _certainly_, but possibly some good things could come out of the Obama adventure. O is he best risk for Americans, clearly as compared with Clinton and McCain. What's wrong with the anti-O position is that it is stated with such certainty or likelihood that nothing good can come from the O "move", ignoring the previously highly unlikely result of so many White people supporting a Black person for President; and their sticking to supporting O through Rev. Wright, media twisting the "bitter' comments from actually sympathetic to the working classes plight to make them seem "elitist"; , the Clintons trying hard to bring out racist attitudes. Large minorities of White voters have doggedly stayed with O. At this point it is actually better that we had Wright and the Clintons test the anti-racist revolve of White Americans.It has "vetted" Americans vis-a-vis O on the key issue of race. I say with Michelle O , I never have been so proud of Americans. By the way, "Michelle O" Michelle, ma belle, These are words, That go together well ^^^^ Hillary hoped to play up her experience, but that has been boxed in to an appeal to older voters against younger, and to white working class voters, afraid of change. ^^^^ CB: Yes, Clinton's "experience" in the context of O's "change" challenge is the same as "same ole same ole" . O just implies, "experience means no change , exactly what I'm running against". So, Clintno's theme plays straight into one thing he's winning on. Many are tired of the "experience" they have been having. McCain is _real_old, "experienced", a real non-changling.. Mike keeps point to the poll showing most won't vote for somebody McCain's age. Of course, it is uncertain that the change will be at all or will be for the better (duh). But it seems many or most people - and quite rationally,not maniacally at all- want to roll the dice on change. It's rational as a first logical step in that the only way to get out of the current mess is _some_ kind of change. So, Clinton's "experience" position is a loser coming right out of the shute. ^^^^^^^ Is that right? And is it right that it would be too problematic for the superdelegates to overturn Obama's majority of the committed delegates? Does that mean an election between Third Way Obama and McCain pushing a kind of old, white resentiment against change? ^^^ CB: ( This is the opposite of the sense of "resentiment". The "white' tradition is the non-slave tradition here) And obviously, literally _all_ the previous experience at the Presidential level is with "White". Black is inherently a profound change in the US. Everybody knows that in their gut. The notion that the racial "identity" of the President can make no difference on this is wrong. O's identity/character has the added dimension of having grown up in Hawaii, some in Indonesia and a father from Kenya ( though absent, O's grew up with significant consciousness of this). He is unusually cosmopolitan for an American is another source of promise( not certainty) It is not certain that O won't find a 4th Way or at least 3 and ?. He may find how to put some substantive diplomacy into foreign policy for example. For one thing, the US pragmatically needs it. It can't continue indefinitely to hold the whole world at gunpoint. It's insane to crank up a neo-Cold War with Russia, confront Iran. Bill Richardson , Mexican American O supporter, recently met diplomatically with Chavez, I believe. This higher than average American character This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 7 15:37:25 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 17:37:25 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Reformatted Message-ID: <4821E8D5.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> "James Heartfield" So, listers, help out someone who is looking in from outside the US If I understand it right, Obama's appeal is a kind of Blairite (or even Clintonite) transcendence of the 'old politics'. His core base is black and young, but to show that he is of a different stripe, he has to distance himself from race politics. ^^^^" CB: Distancing from "race politics isn't a different stripe from Clinton. It was the Repuclicans who have been playing race politics espcielly since the Nixon Souther strategy. Reaganite Reps centrally rely on racist politics, fomenting racism among white voters. Clinton didn't want race in the race against the Republicans. Maybe you mean distancing from "Black core base". Better "distancing" himseelf from himself since he _is_ Black. Even better distancing himself from a Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton sure loser type candidate. Jesse Jackson had a "Rainbow Coalition" theme by the way, so he didn't run a "Black campaign". Try to follow this. Jackson ran as a left social democrat ( non-Clinton). But in the US racist twisted dialectic, a candidate - White or Black; see Kucincich only able to get 5% with the most trenchant and obviously pro-working class program of anybody- who tries to appeal to the mass of white workers ( brain warped into Reagan Democrats for 28 years) on the basis of that pro-working class program are rejected as "trying to help Black people, welfare cheats, affirmative action " and all that crap. It's an astonishing testament to the mind control of US ruling class propaganda over the masses of White workers. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Talk about showing everybody racism as the main way that the US ruling class divides the US working class. It is starkly obvious. Anyway, all these definite pronouncements about the "nature" of Obama are just premature. It is _uncertain_ how O will turn out. The word "hope" includes by definition uncertainty. That's part of why it is an accurate term here, that and the fact -which I have said repeatedly since O won major White votes in Iowa - that large numbers of White people are voting for a Black candidate for President makes the word "hope" or "promising" sober and accurate. Not _certainly_, but possibly some good things could come out of the Obama adventure. O is he best risk for Americans, clearly as compared with Clinton and McCain. What's wrong with the anti-O position is that it is stated with such certainty or likelihood that nothing good can come from the O "move", ignoring the previously highly unlikely result of so many White people supporting a Black person for President; and their sticking to supporting O through Rev. Wright, media twisting the "bitter' comments from actually sympathetic to the working classes plight to make them seem "elitist"; , the Clintons trying hard to bring out racist attitudes. Large minorities of White voters have doggedly stayed with O. At this point it is actually better that we had Wright and the Clintons test the anti-racist revolve of White Americans.It has "vetted" Americans vis-a-vis O on the key issue of race. I say with Michelle O , I never have been so proud of Americans. By the way, "Michelle O" Michelle, ma belle, These are words, That go together well ^^^^ Hillary hoped to play up her experience, but that has been boxed in to an appeal to older voters against younger, and to white working class voters, afraid of change. ^^^^ CB: Yes, Clinton's "experience" in the context of O's "change" challenge is the same as "same ole same ole" . O just implies, "experience means no change , exactly what I'm running against". So, Clintno's theme plays straight into one thing he's winning on. Many are tired of the "experience" they have been having. McCain is _real_old, "experienced", a real non-changling.. Mike keeps point to the poll showing most won't vote for somebody McCain's age. Of course, it is uncertain that the change will be at all or will be for the better (duh). But it seems many or most people - and quite rationally,not maniacally at all- want to roll the dice on change. It's rational as a first logical step in that the only way to get out of the current mess is _some_ kind of change. So, Clinton's "experience" position is a loser coming right out of the shute. ^^^^^^^ Is that right? And is it right that it would be too problematic for the superdelegates to overturn Obama's majority of the committed delegates? Does that mean an election between Third Way Obama and McCain pushing a kind of old, white resentiment against change? ^^^ CB: ( This is the opposite of the sense of "resentiment". The "white' tradition is the non-slave tradition here) And obviously, literally _all_ the previous experience at the Presidential level is with "White". Black is inherently a profound change in the US. Everybody knows that in their gut. The notion that the racial "identity" of the President can make no difference on this is wrong. O's identity/character has the added dimension of having grown up in Hawaii, some in Indonesia and a father from Kenya ( though absent, O's grew up with significant consciousness of this). He is unusually cosmopolitan for an American is another source of promise( not certainty) It is not certain that O won't find a 4th Way or at least 3 and ?. He may find how to put some substantive diplomacy into foreign policy for example. For one thing, the US pragmatically needs it. It can't continue indefinitely to hold the whole world at gunpoint. It's insane to crank up a neo-Cold War with Russia, confront Iran. Bill Richardson , Mexican American O supporter, recently met diplomatically with Chavez, I believe. This higher than average American character This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 08:43:35 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 10:43:35 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marx on Lincoln; Lincoln owned German language newspaper Message-ID: <4822D958.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Articles by Karl Marx in Die Presse 1862 Comments on the North American Events clip Lincoln?s proclamation( emancipation proclamation) is even more important than the Maryland campaign. Lincoln is a sui generis figure in the annals of history. he has no initiative, no idealistic impetus, cothurnus, no historical trappings. He gives his most important actions always the most commonplace form. Other people claim to be ?fighting for an idea?, when it is for them a matter of square feet of land. Lincoln, even when he is motivated by, an idea, talks about ?square feet?. He sings the bravura aria of his part hesitatively, reluctantly and unwillingly, as though apologising for being compelled by circumstances ?to act the lion?. The most redoubtable decrees - which will always remain remarkable historical documents-flung by him at the enemy all look like, and are intended to look like, routine summonses sent by a lawyer to the lawyer of the opposing party, legal chicaneries, involved, hidebound actiones juris. His latest proclamation, which is drafted in the same style, the manifesto abolishing slavery, is the most important document in American history since the establishment of the Union, tantamount to the tearing tip of the old American Constitution. Nothing is simpler than to show that Lincoln?s principa l political actions contain much that is aesthetically. repulsive, logically inadequate, farcical in form and politically, contradictory, as is done by, the English Pindars of slavery, The Times, The Saturday Review and tutti quanti. But Lincoln?s place in the history of the United States and of mankind will, nevertheless, be next to that of Washington! Nowadays, when the insignificant struts about melodramatically on this side of the Atlantic, is it of no significance at all that the significant is clothed in everyday dress in the new world? Lincoln is not the product of a popular revolution. This plebeian, who worked his way tip from stone-breaker to Senator in Illinois, without intellectual brilliance, without a particularly outstanding character, without exceptional importance-an average person of good will, was placed at the top by the interplay of the forces of universal suffrage unaware of the great issues at stake. The new world has never achieved a greater triumph than by this demonstration that, given its political and social organisation, ordinary people of good will can accomplish feats which only heroes could accomplish in the old world! Hegel once observed that comedy is in act superior to tragedy and humourous reasoning superior to grandiloquent reasoning.[Lectures on Aesthetics] Although Lincoln does riot possess the grandiloquence of historical action, as an average man of the people he has its humour. When (foes he issue the proclamation declaring that from January 1, 1863, slavery in the. Confederacy shall be abolished At the very moment when the Confederacy as an independent state decided on ?peace negotiations- at its Richmond Congress. At the very, moment when the slave-owners of the border states believed that the invasion of Kentucky by the armies of the South had made ?the peculiar institution? just as safe as was their domination over their compatriot, President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1862/10/12.htm Before becoming President, Lincoln owned a German language newspaper. The large number of German immigrants who had been on the rvolutionary side with Marx and Engels in 1848 were an important block of abolitionists, and supporters of Lincoln's election. The Marxist organizer Wedenmeyer was a professional soldier , and main correspondent with M and E in this period. He lived in Illinois. We can speculate as to whether Lincoln was aware of _The Communist Manifesto_ , or even Marx and Engels articles on the Civil War. They may have written him letters. "1859 Abraham Lincoln acquires the "Illinois Staatsanzeiger" paper and struggles through German grammar " http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/GermAmChron.htm This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu May 8 10:09:27 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 11:09:27 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marx on Lincoln; Lincoln owned German language newspaper In-Reply-To: <4822D958.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <4822D958.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Fascinating the way Marx sizes up Lincoln. Yeah, the German '48-er refugees played a significant role in the abolitionist movement and the Civil War. I think August Willich headed up a German-speaking regiment in the Union Army, also wrote a book on how to organize a democratic army. The story, I believe, is chronicled in a book on the Ohio Hegelians, HEGEL'S FIRST AMERICAN FOLLOWERS by Loyd Easton (1966). At 09:43 AM 5/8/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Articles by Karl Marx in Die Presse 1862 >Comments on the North American Events clip >Lincoln???s proclamation( emancipation >proclamation) is even more important than the >Maryland campaign. Lincoln is a sui generis >figure in the annals of history. he has no >initiative, no idealistic impetus, cothurnus, no >historical trappings. He gives his most >important actions always the most commonplace >form. Other people claim to be ???fighting for >an idea???, when it is for them a matter of >square feet of land. Lincoln, even when he is >motivated by, an idea, talks about ???square >feet???. He sings the bravura aria of his part >hesitatively, reluctantly and unwillingly, as >though apologising for being compelled by >circumstances ???to act the lion???. The most >redoubtable decrees - which will always remain >remarkable historical documents-flung by him at >the enemy all look like, and are intended to >look like, routine summonses sent by a lawyer to >the lawyer of the opposing party, legal >chicaneries, involved, hidebound actiones juris. >His latest proclamation, which is drafted in the >same style, the manifesto abolishing slavery, is >the most important document in American history >since the establishment of the Union, tantamount >to the tearing tip of the old American >Constitution. Nothing is simpler than to show >that Lincoln???s principa l political actions >contain much that is aesthetically. repulsive, >logically inadequate, farcical in form and >politically, contradictory, as is done by, the >English Pindars of slavery, The Times, The >Saturday Review and tutti quanti. But >Lincoln???s place in the history of the United >States and of mankind will, nevertheless, be >next to that of Washington! Nowadays, when the >insignificant struts about melodramatically on >this side of the Atlantic, is it of no >significance at all that the significant is >clothed in everyday dress in the new world? >Lincoln is not the product of a popular >revolution. This plebeian, who worked his way >tip from stone-breaker to Senator in Illinois, >without intellectual brilliance, without a >particularly outstanding character, without >exceptional importance-an average person of good >will, was placed at the top by the interplay of >the forces of universal suffrage unaware of the >great issues at stake. The new world has never >achieved a greater triumph than by this >demonstration that, given its political and >social organisation, ordinary people of good >will can accomplish feats which only heroes >could accomplish in the old world! Hegel once >observed that comedy is in act superior to >tragedy and humourous reasoning superior to >grandiloquent reasoning.[Lectures on Aesthetics] >Although Lincoln does riot possess the >grandiloquence of historical action, as an >average man of the people he has its humour. >When (foes he issue the proclamation declaring >that from January 1, 1863, slavery in the. >Confederacy shall be abolished At the very >moment when the Confederacy as an independent >state decided on ???peace negotiations- at its >Richmond Congress. At the very, moment when the >slave-owners of the border states believed that >the invasion of Kentucky by the armies of the >South had made ???the peculiar institution??? >just as safe as was their domination over their >compatriot, President Abraham Lincoln in >Washington. >http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1862/10/12.htm >Before becoming President, Lincoln owned a >German language newspaper. The large number of >German immigrants who had been on the >rvolutionary side with Marx and Engels in 1848 >were an important block of abolitionists, and >supporters of Lincoln's election. The Marxist >organizer Wedenmeyer was a professional >soldier , and main correspondent with M and E in >this period. He lived in Illinois. We can >speculate as to whether Lincoln was aware of >_The Communist Manifesto_ , or even Marx and >Engels articles on the Civil War. They may have >written him letters. "1859 Abraham Lincoln >acquires the "Illinois Staatsanzeiger" paper and >struggles through German grammar " From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 10:06:07 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 12:06:07 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marx on Lincoln; Lincoln owned German language newspaper In-Reply-To: References: <4822D958.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <4822ECB0.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Ralph Dumain 05/08/2008 12:09 PM >>> Fascinating the way Marx sizes up Lincoln. Yeah, the German '48-er refugees played a significant role in the abolitionist movement and the Civil War. I think August Willich headed up a German-speaking regiment in the Union Army, also wrote a book on how to organize a democratic army. The story, I believe, is chronicled in a book on the Ohio Hegelians, HEGEL'S FIRST AMERICAN FOLLOWERS by Loyd Easton (1966). ^^^^^^^ Thanks for that reference. There were several German's who were generals in the Union Army, and of course many other German troops. Then there was Joseph Wedemeyer. He was a Major in the Union army , but a executive on a general staff. Back in Germany , he was a professional artillery soldier. He was basically a sort of mentee/protegee of Marx and Engels. He ran a Marxist newspaper in Germany during the revolutionary period. There is extensive correspondence between him and Marx and Engels once he got to the US He organized early Marxist Party cells and unions in the US. He rallied 48'ers and workers as abolitionists and supporters of Lincoln for Pres. He lived in Illinois for a while. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1865/letters/65_03_10.htm http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2006w09/msg00104.htm http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2006w16/msg00116.htm At 09:43 AM 5/8/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Articles by Karl Marx in Die Presse 1862 >Comments on the North American Events clip >Lincoln???s proclamation( emancipation >proclamation) is even more important than the >Maryland campaign. Lincoln is a sui generis >figure in the annals of history. he has no >initiative, no idealistic impetus, cothurnus, no >historical trappings. He gives his most >important actions always the most commonplace >form. Other people claim to be ???fighting for >an idea?? , when it is for them a matter of >square feet of land. Lincoln, even when he is >motivated by, an idea, talks about ???square >feet?? . He sings the bravura aria of his part >hesitatively, reluctantly and unwillingly, as >though apologising for being compelled by >circumstances ???to act the lion?? . The most >redoubtable decrees - which will always remain >remarkable historical documents-flung by him at >the enemy all look like, and are intended to >look like, routine summonses sent by a lawyer to >the lawyer of the opposing party, legal >chicaneries, involved, hidebound actiones juris. >His latest proclamation, which is drafted in the >same style, the manifesto abolishing slavery, is >the most important document in American history >since the establishment of the Union, tantamount >to the tearing tip of the old American >Constitution. Nothing is simpler than to show >that Lincoln???s principa l political actions >contain much that is aesthetically. repulsive, >logically inadequate, farcical in form and >politically, contradictory, as is done by, the >English Pindars of slavery, The Times, The >Saturday Review and tutti quanti. But >Lincoln???s place in the history of the United >States and of mankind will, nevertheless, be >next to that of Washington! Nowadays, when the >insignificant struts about melodramatically on >this side of the Atlantic, is it of no >significance at all that the significant is >clothed in everyday dress in the new world? >Lincoln is not the product of a popular >revolution. This plebeian, who worked his way >tip from stone-breaker to Senator in Illinois, >without intellectual brilliance, without a >particularly outstanding character, without >exceptional importance-an average person of good >will, was placed at the top by the interplay of >the forces of universal suffrage unaware of the >great issues at stake. The new world has never >achieved a greater triumph than by this >demonstration that, given its political and >social organisation, ordinary people of good >will can accomplish feats which only heroes >could accomplish in the old world! Hegel once >observed that comedy is in act superior to >tragedy and humourous reasoning superior to >grandiloquent reasoning.[Lectures on Aesthetics] >Although Lincoln does riot possess the >grandiloquence of historical action, as an >average man of the people he has its humour. >When (foes he issue the proclamation declaring >that from January 1, 1863, slavery in the. >Confederacy shall be abolished At the very >moment when the Confederacy as an independent >state decided on ???peace negotiations- at its >Richmond Congress. At the very, moment when the >slave-owners of the border states believed that >the invasion of Kentucky by the armies of the >South had made ???the peculiar institution?? >just as safe as was their domination over their >compatriot, President Abraham Lincoln in >Washington. >http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1862/10/12.htm >Before becoming President, Lincoln owned a >German language newspaper. The large number of >German immigrants who had been on the >rvolutionary side with Marx and Engels in 1848 >were an important block of abolitionists, and >supporters of Lincoln's election. The Marxist >organizer Wedenmeyer was a professional >soldier , and main correspondent with M and E in >this period. He lived in Illinois. We can >speculate as to whether Lincoln was aware of >_The Communist Manifesto_ , or even Marx and >Engels articles on the Civil War. They may have >written him letters. "1859 Abraham Lincoln >acquires the "Illinois Staatsanzeiger" paper and >struggles through German grammar " _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 11:58:41 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 13:58:41 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Joseph Needham put Chinese science on the world map. Message-ID: <48230713.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/027994.html [Marxism] Joseph Needham put Chinese science on the world map. Walter Lippmann walterlx at earthlink.net Thu May 8 09:35:44 MDT 2008 Previous message: [Marxism] Hilary Clinton: Say it loud, we're white and we're proud! Next message: [Marxism] Trumbo Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (There's a much longer sound interview you can access, too.) ============================================================== China's eccentric champion Joseph Needham put Chinese science on the world map. By Marjorie Kehe from the May 6, 2008 edition http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0506/p15s03-bogn.htm Book editor Marjorie Kehe talks with author Simon Winchester. "Four thousand years ago, when we couldn't even read, the Chinese knew all the absolutely useful things we boast about today," wrote French philosophe Voltaire in 1764. But if today in the West we widely acknowledge those words to be true, that's largely due to an Englishman. Joseph Needham, a brilliant Cambridge don, was a "bespectacled, owlish, fearless adventurer ... a nudist, a wild dancer, an accordian player, and a chain-smoking churchgoer." He was also the man who dragged China's reputation in the West from the dustbin ("this booby nation," as Ralph Waldo Emerson called it in 1824) to its rightful place as a principal forger of human civilization. Needham is the subject of The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester, former journalist and bestselling nonfiction author ("The Professor and the Madman," "Krakatoa," and "The Map That Changed the World.") Winchester stumbled on Needham's name while researching another project and was surprised to realize that he knew nothing about the eccentric professor who had authored a massive, multivolume encyclopedia called "Science and Civilisation in China." Readers might be forgiven for imagining that the life of an encyclopedist of scientific history would have all the zip of a tax seminar. But not in the case of Needham. He was trained as a biochemist - and a brilliant one at that. But Needham was also a being stuffed to the brim with energy and passion. His enthusiasms spilled over into many areas - leftist politics, railways, morris dancing - and beautiful women. His marriage to another brainy young biochemist (both with bright futures at Cambridge University) did not prevent him from falling headlong for a Chinese scientist named Lu Gwei-djen. Needham's passion for Gwei-djen led him to learn her language, a study that he found to be "a liberation, like going for a swim on a hot day ... into the glittering crystalline world of ideological characters." Once fluent in Chinese, Needham was invited by the British government in 1943 to make a diplomatic mission to China while it was under siege by the Japanese. Needham accepted with alacrity and spent the next few years traveling the country. Winchester draws heavily on Needham's own writing and does a lively job of helping readers to see the China that so entranced him - a land of "narrow streets ... fizzing with lanterns, jammed with stalls, and crowded with tides of humanity" and "great mountain passes, overwhelming scenery, unpredictable roads, bridges broken down." He also re-creates the fury with which the ever-curious Needham tore through the Chinese countryside, exploring the Chinese origin of everything from the orange to the magnetic compass. The more he learned, the more awed Needham was by the depth and breadth of early Chinese ingenuity. Needham would never return to the study of biochemistry. Instead, he would spend the rest of his life puzzling over a question he first scribbled on the back of a letter while voyaging: "Sci. in general in China - why not develop?" In other words, why had China failed to capitalize on its early, historical promise? It was a question he would never fully answer. Needham lived to be 94, a life filled with multiple journeys to China and a privileged position at Cambridge. Needham's career, however, was not without controversy. In the 1950s he headed a commission that charged that the US had used biological weapons against North Korea (a charge now largely presumed to be false). He also turned a blind eye to what many Westerners saw as the abuses of Mao's government. ("The first freedom is to eat - and now the Chinese people are being fed," he insisted in defense of his friends in the country's Commmunist government.) "The Man Who Loved China" has a breathless quality. The land that Needham loved is vast - as are his own accomplishments. Readers travel at warp speed to reach the end of such a career in less than 300 pages of text. Perhaps as a result, we see Needham in action - constantly - but we learn surprisingly little of his interior. However, with all eyes turned to China this summer, those interested in the achievements of the Olympics' behemoth host will do well to take a tour with this remarkable guide. . Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor's book editor. Send comments to kehem at csps.com. ======================================== WALTER LIPPMANN, CubaNews Los Angeles, California http://www.walterlippmann.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/ "Cuba - Un Paraiso bajo el bloqueo" ======================================== This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 12:23:57 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 14:23:57 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] an ex-super power in the making Message-ID: <48230CFE.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Sure hope US imperialism is in decline. However, "super-power" is a US journalistic, pop poli "sci" category. The USSR didn't have an empire. It had to put the fascists "on ice". The Nazis and fascists from states in Eastern Europe waged literally the biggest war in the history of humanity on the Soviet People. It would have been incredibly irresponsible to the Soviet People , who had suffered 27 million dead ( usually casualties are more than the dead; so how many casualties were there !? hundreds of towns wiped out ; gigantic economic destruction) to just shove the Germans and their allies out of the SU ; but let the state powers in Eastern Europe and Germany remain standing , presumably to mount another invasion some day. Eastern Europe post WWII was not an empire. It was an appropriately and necessarily self-protective imprisonment of criminal states. Could they really have just left them to rehabilitate themselves ? Lets get real. On the other hand, the diminution of the USSR's state might be an early form of the withering away of a state. Charles http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028000.html This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 12:27:24 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 14:27:24 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] No contradiction ? Message-ID: <48230DCD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/027996.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 12:33:28 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 14:33:28 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] New pro-PRC group Message-ID: <48230F3A.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> [for facebook users] From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 12:36:34 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 14:36:34 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] The European Right's Powerful Push Message-ID: <48230FF3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> From Marxmail: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/027977.html _http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050708G.shtml_ (http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050708G.shtml) By Arielle Thedrel Le Figaro Monday 05 May 2008 Does Boris Johnson's victory in the London mayoral contest portend a Tory victory in the British legislative elections that must take place between now and 2010? Regardless, it tallies with European electorates' more general movement to the right. In London, as in Italy, the right has just resumed power. It was already in control in Germany, the Netherlands, and, in Scandinavian countries, of Denmark, and also of Sweden, long presented as a bastion of social democracy. This shift to the right also holds for Eastern Europe. Conservative or [neo]Liberal parties have been elected in Warsaw, Prague, the Baltic countries, Bucharest. They have the wind in their sails in Hungary, where the left in power is in its death throes as the 2010 legislative elections approach. Virtually alone, Spain seems to resist. However, Jos? Luis Zapatero's election owes much to the tactical errors committed by his right wing rivals during the March elections, as well as to their anachronistic takes on social issues. So the phenomenon is as extensive as it is spectacular and the wear and tear of being in power - which obtains most notably for Great Britain, governed by Labor since 1997 - does not suffice to explain it. "In the background," emphasizes Georges Mink, Research Director at ISP-CNRS, "there are enormous economic and social changes, the wilting of ideological certainties and - since the fall of the Berlin Wall - the appearance of new threats such as immigration." Transformations to which the left has yet to produce a convincing response: for the right's success is undoubtedly based on the failure of the social democratic model. "Globalization," Corinne Deloy, researcher at the Robert-Schuman Foundation, explains, "has made the social software obsolete. That's especially true now that - with the economic crisis we've entered into - there's nothing left to redistribute. Suddenly, people trust the right more to find solutions to problems that called the left's competence into question, for example, such primary themes as the demographic aging of European societies and retirement financing." The right has profited from Social Democracy's decline, but so have more radical movements on the left: witness Olivier Besancenot's breakthrough in France, but also that of the Socialist Party in the Netherlands, which became the third power in that country in 2006, and of the People's Socialist Party in Denmark (which garnered 13 percent of the votes in last November's elections), or, still better, of Die Linke in Germany (a coalition that brings together former DDR communists, unions and hard-line purist socialists). If the right appears better armed to confront the shock of globalization, it's also true that it has transformed itself by betting, to use Georges Mink's expression, on "ideological confusion." To mobilize voters, the right has, as Corinne Deloy reminds us, borrowed from the left: "In spite of opposition from part of the CDU, Angela Merkel has exploited certain social themes such as women's status and child care. In general, the right strives to retool the social model defended by the left in a rational manner." It has also cannibalized themes that traditionally belonged to the far right: the security issue, protection of [national] identity and immigration. In Italy, the new mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno (National Alliance), is the poster child for that strategy. In Hesse, the CDU didn't hesitate to exploit populist themes in the January regional elections. In the former Communist countries, where the welfare state reigned up until the end of the 1980s, the phenomenon was even more brutal. These countries' entry into the European Union in 2004 coincided with the emergence of a nationalist and openly anti-European right. Even today, in Prague, President Vaclav Klaus refuses to hoist the European flag alongside the national flag. -------- Arielle Thedrel is a star reporter in le Figaro's international division. ____________________________________ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 12:49:35 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 14:49:35 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marable on O Message-ID: <48231301.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Manning Marable: Barack Obama's Problem -- And Ours By James Grant, Visionary1 - Mar 8th, 2008 at 7:49 am EST Also listed in: 10 groups Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content Barack Obama's Problem -- And Ours Along the Color Line By Dr. Manning Marable, PhD, BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board ; Several years ago, I was walking home to my Manhattan apartment from Columbia University, just having delivered a lecture on New York State's notorious "Rockefeller Drug Laws." The state's mandatory-minimum sentencing laws had thrown tens of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders into state prisons with violent convicts. In my lecture I had called for more generous prisoner reentry programs, the restoration of felons' voting rights, increased educational programs inside prisons, and a restoration of judges' sentencing authority. A white administrator from another local university, a woman, who I had always judged to be fairly conservative and probably a Republican, had attended my lecture and was walking along with me to go to the subway. She told me that my lecture about the "prison industrial complex" had been a real "eye opener." The fact that two million Americans were imprisoned, she expressed, was a "real scandal." Then this college administrator blurted out, in a hurried manner, "You know, my son is also in prison . a victim of the drug laws." In a split second, I had to make a hard decision: whether to engage this white conservative administrator in a serious conversation about America's gulags and political economy of mass incarceration that had collaterally ensnared her son, or to pretend that I had not heard her last sentence, and to continue our conversation as if she had said nothing at all. Perhaps this is a sign of generational weakness on my part, but the overwhelming feeling I had at that precise moment was that, one day, the white administrator would deeply regret revealing such an intimate secret with a black person. I might tell the entire world about it. Instead of proceeding on the basis of mutual trust and common ground, transcending the boundaries of color, it would be better to ignore what was said in haste. All of this occurred to me in the span of one heartbeat. I decided to say nothing. Two seconds later, I could visually detect the signs of relief on the woman's face. African Americans have survived in the United States for over four hundred years because, at least up to the most recent generation of black people, we have made it our business to study white Americans generally, and especially those who exercise power. This explains why so many African Americans, at the very core of their being, express fears that millions of white Americans will be unable to cast ballots for Obama for president solely due to his racial identity. Of course, the majority of them would deny this, even to themselves. Among the remaining Democratic presidential candidates, former Senator John Edwards (albeit with a "suspended" campaign) has been consistently the most progressive on most policy issues, in my view. On issues such as health care and poverty, Edwards has been clearly to the left of both Obama and Hillary Clinton. But since Edwards probably cannot win the Democratic nomination the real choice is between Clinton and Obama. We've all heard the arguments explaining why Obama's "not qualified" to be president. Chief among them is that he "doesn't have enough experience in government." As a historian, I think it may be instructive to observe that three of the twentieth century's most influential presidents had shorter careers in electoral politics than Obama. Theodore Roosevelt, for instance, served as New York's governor for only two years, and was William McKinley's Vice President for barely six months. Woodrow Wilson served as New Jersey's governor for only two years before being elected president. And Franklin D. Roosevelt, our only four-term president, had served in Albany as New York's governor for four years. None of these leaders was ever elected to Congress. Obama's seven years in the Illinois State Senate, according to the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, show that "he scored significant achievements there: a law to videotape police interrogations in capital cases; an earned income tax credit to fight poverty; an expansion of early childhood education." To be perfectly honest, there are some public policy issues where I sharply disagree with Obama, such as health care. Obama's approach is not to use "mandates" to force millions of healthy twenty-somethings into the national health insurance pool. He claims that you won't need mandates, just lower the price of private health insurance and young adults will buy it on their own. Obama's children are still small, so maybe he can be excused for such an irrational argument. Obama's reluctance to embrace health mandates is about his desire to appeal to "centrists" and moderate Republicans. That brings us back to Barack's unspoken problem: white denial and voter flight. It's instructive to remember what happened to David Dinkins, the first (and still only) African American elected mayor of New York City. According to Andrew Kohul, the current president of the Pew Research Center, the Gallup organization's polling research on New York City's voters in 1989 indicated that Dinkins would defeat his Republican opponent, Rudolph Giuliani, by 15 percent. Instead, Dinkins only narrowly won by 2 percent. Kohul, who worked as a Gallup pollster in that election, concluded that "poorer, less well-educated [white] voters were less likely to answer our questions;" so the poll didn't have the opportunity to factor in their views. As Kohul admits, "Here's the problem - these whites who do not respond to surveys tend to have more unfavorable views of blacks than respondents who do the interviews." So I return to the white college administrator whose son is in prison on drug charges. I made a mistake. People of color must break through the mental racial barricades that divide America into parallel racial universes. We need to mobilize and support the election of Barack Obama not only because he is progressive and fully qualified to be president, but also because only his campaign can force all Americans to overcome the centuries-old silences about race that still create a deep chasm across this nation's democratic life. In the end, we must force our fellow citizens who happen to be white, to come to terms with their own whiteness, their guilt and fears about America's terrible racial past. If there is any hope for meaningful change inside U.S. electoral system in the future, it lies with progressive leaders like Barack Obama. If we can dare to dream politically, let us dream of the world as it should be. BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Manning Marable, PhD is one of America's most influential and widely read scholars. Since 1993, Dr. Marable has been Professor of Public Affairs, Political Science, History and African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York City. For ten years, Dr. Marable was founding director of the Institute for Research in African- American Studies at Columbia University, from 1993 to 2003. Dr. Marable is an author or editor of over 20 books, including Living Black History: How Reimagining the African-American Past Can Remake America's Racial Future (2006); The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero's Life And Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, And Speeches (2005); Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle (2002); Black Leadership: Four Great American Leaders and the Struggle for Civil Rights (1998); Beyond Black and White: Transforming African-American Politics (1995); and How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (South End Press Classics Series) (1983). His current project is a major biography of Malcolm X, entitled Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, to be published by Viking Press in 2009. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 13:21:21 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 15:21:21 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marable on O and King Message-ID: <48231A72.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://www.manningmarable.net/works/pdf/peacemakers.pdf This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu May 8 14:27:31 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 15:27:31 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] New pro-PRC group In-Reply-To: <48230F3A.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <48230F3A.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: What kind of vile little shits would participate in something as disgusting as this? At 01:33 PM 5/8/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >[for facebook users] > > From Marxmail: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/027991.html > > >Sukant Chandan > >please join in: >http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13348442706 > >INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS OF CHINA > >To defend the sovereignty of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) > >To support the PRC as a country with a rich patriotic and >revolutionary tradition and identity > >To celebrate the PRC as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country > >To celebrate Chinese film, music, food and general progressive Chinese >culture > >To encourage learning about the world historic achievements of poverty >alleviation in China and general societal development of a >former-colony and feudal country > >To support the PRC's work towards a peaceful and stable world and the >PRC's record in working towards a multi-polar world > >To disseminate the PRC's role in encouraging the development of the >developing countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and >especially Africa's rejuvenation > >To develop friendship and understanding with the peoples and >government of the PRC > >To support the PRC's hosting of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, an event >which is raising the PRC's prestige and stature in the world > >================================ > >RULES & ETIQUETTE: > >Please conduct yourself in a respect manner to yourself and others > >China-bashing will not be tolerated > >We welcome critical discussions and understand they can get heated at >times, but rude and arrogant attacks on leaders of the PRC and CPC >will be kept on a tight leash > >Racism, sexism, homophobia or any other kind of reactionary prejudices >will not be tolerated > >Eurocentrism /Western-centrism and neo-colonial arrogance from >whatever place in the political spectrum will be kept on a tight leash >;-) > >================================ > >REQUESTS: > >PLEASE contribute videos, posted items, articles, topics for >discussion > >Please ask your friends to join, everyone is welcome, but special >focus is intended for the non-Chinese people to engage in an >educational dialogue with the nature, challenges, limitations and >successes of the PRC and CPC. However, please do not interpret this in >anyway as to discouraging Chinese people in joining - you are more >than welcome! > >To our Chinese and Chinese-speaking friends, due to the advantage of >language, you have a special insight into the PRC, so please help us >non-Chinese and non-Chinese speaking people to understand the PRC and >CPC, help translate things into English from articles, youtube videos >etc, that you think maybe of interest. This could be music, food, >politics, comedy, anything! From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 13:44:10 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 15:44:10 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] New pro-PRC group In-Reply-To: References: <48230F3A.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <48231FCB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Ralph Dumain What kind of vile little shits would participate in something as disgusting as this? ^^^^^^^ Ralph, you can be such a _______ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu May 8 15:04:25 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 16:04:25 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] No contradiction ? In-Reply-To: <48230DCD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <48230DCD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: There are, however, a few things askew re the argument in the Black Commentator. (1) The interpretations of anti-Obama remarks, such as the SNL sketch, are sometimes less than convincing. What really makes the case is Hillary's claim that she and McCain are qualified, Obama not, and a number of other remarks not mentioned. (2) This business about white skin privilege and the white racist backlash overlooks some important differentiations among the older white Democrats who don't support Obama. Many of them would like to play it safe for a number of reasons. One is that white for them is safe, and black may be acceptable it if goes out of its way to prove itself ten times over. The experience argument, or perhaps the longevity on the national stage, also factors in. Also, the vacuousness of Obama's campaign. For older people, if they can believe in Clinton after having been betrayed by the Clintons and the Democratic Party for a generation, there is no change they can believe in, no empty promises from an unfamiliar source. These factors work in synergy with one another. The racial double standard certainly factors in, but in many cases, it does not work by itself. Obama is exotic to whites in a number of ways, throw in Jeremiah Wright and Obama loses. The only way to salvage the situation may already be foreclosed by Hillary's behavior: when she tries to rally support for Obama, she may not be able to persuade her constituents. (3) Also overlooked is the way that Obama got positioned as he did to become one of the two leading contenders: how was he cultivated, who encouraged him to run, who were the big donors, and what were their motivations? And what were his? What were the forces that made Obama a candidate at this time, and say, not 2012 or 2016? The very fact that this campaign has been so handily racialized, given that Obama started out with white support only, and that anyone would think there was anything worthwhile about the Clintons in the first place, and that anyone would place the race or sex of the candidate above his/her actual political positions, shows what a nation of dumbbells this really is. If a Southern white man running on a populist program could not get any play, who could think that Obama could win? Tavis Smiley repeatedly questions this black infatuation with Obama. Indeed, it would be an important symbolic victory, but it is such a gamble based on such shaky premises and saturated with such self-delusion, who can believe in it? At 01:27 PM 5/8/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/027996.html > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > From Marxmail > >Quote: > >Interesting and well- thought out argument for supporting Obama's bid >for >the nomination while maintaining that also supporting McKinney is not >a >contradiction. > >(http://www.blackcommentator.com/276/276_white_bloc_must_be_stopped_mann_guest.html) > > From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 8 15:50:38 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 17:50:38 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Pokie; Black as inherently second class in America Message-ID: <48233D70.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Does that mean Cousin Pookie voted? "The turnout was amazing, but I don't think it was Pookie," Dillard said in an interview Monday. "Pookie's just so disaffected, under the economy, he's just given up hope." Maybe, she said, it was Ray Ray. ^^^^^ CB: Most people don't vote most of the time. Most Black people don't vote most of the time. The "ideal type" seemingly referred to as Pokie or Ray Ray is solidly in the non-voting group. But in the Jesse Jackson tradition, O has a fifty state voter registration campaign started to turn out as many as possible of the disaffected and alienated people. In the 60's we said "poor people". Martin Luther King initiated a "Poor People's Campaign" just before his death. With respect to the effort to place O in Black social structure, Black middle class and all that, the inherent second class status of Black people in America must be taken into account of. The racial category Black carries with it a sort of "badge" of inherent working "classness" because of its historical root in the slave class.. "Black" remains a badge or incident of slavery, which was a severely or extra working class. So, even "middle class" Black people have an inherent dose of working class and non-eltite status. The Black social structure has a sort of collapsed more egalitarian shape compared to the White social structure. It doesn't mean there is no snobbery or class conflict though. This is why Black people don't consider it talking down to them when O uses Black English more with a Black audience. This is in part why it is somewhat absurd to try to tag O as "elitist" as the media and his opponents did following the "bitter" comments. Black in America is an inherently second class status, even for most middle class Black people . O couldn't talk folksy , like C, and get anywhere because he would immediately tumble too far down the status ladder to be eligible to be President. He had to be extra eloguent to be just even with his White peers. A Black candidate for President ( or any profession or high status position) is held to a higher standard than average to be considered eligible. This is less so with progress. My parents' generation took this as fundamental, my generation less so, but still true. As to Cosby, comrades might want to research the Garvey and Black Muslim movements for a longer tradition of emphasis on "Do for self" and " Tough love". But also, since the main victims of anomie in the Black community are Black people, many Black people have self-interest in dealing with the problems Cosby is trying to address, even as they don't want White people to be criticizing Black people for these same things they don't like, because they know structural racism is the deeper cause of a greater proportion of social problems. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Fri May 9 03:29:53 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 04:29:53 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Hillary going down in flames Message-ID: The Democratic Party leadership is going to have to squash this crazy woman like a bug, and not a minute too soon. The problem is not merely her race-based pitch, but her wording, which is outrageous beyond belief: ". . . that found how Senator Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me." "We need to bring back hardworking people to the Democratic Party. . . I'm winning Catholic voters and Hispanic voters, blue-collar workers and seniors. People Senator McCain will need in the general election." Note the repetition of the keyword "hardworking". And what are black voters, chopped liver? Or maybe lazy and shiftless? These statements are not merely descriptive, and not merely conducive to a self-fulfilling prophecy, but racially inflammatory in the extreme, and are not by any stretch indicative of the prospects for the Democratic candidate but only of her unquenchable lust for power. Hillary needs to be stomped fast and stomped hard. And of course she is no populist, not even for white people. Susan Faludi has the most ridiculous explanation for why white men are showing more support for Hillary now that she is acting tough. It's the worst sort of frivolous bourgeois white woman feminism. Can she really be deluding herself to think that sisterhood and male chauvinism are all that exist in the world? White people will always stick together against blacks no matter what their prejudices are against one another. At least they get to keep their power and money in the family. Unless of course interracial marriage is the dominant trend in the USA, which has not happened yet. The press agrees that Hillary is dead in the water. There are even suggestions that Obama is willing to consider her as a running mate. He's a politician; he'll do what he and the Dem leadership think best. That may be the only way to prevent older whites from deserting the party. It would be nice though to see the Dems kick her ass to the curb. From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net Fri May 9 06:19:40 2008 From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman) Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 08:19:40 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Hillary going down in flames Message-ID: <000001c8b1ce$f5437fc0$6401a8c0@office1pc> Ralph on Marxism-Thaxis quoted a passage from Clinton's latest race-baiting rap that was not in the versions I saw: "We need to bring back hardworking people to the Democratic Party. . . I'm winning Catholic voters and Hispanic voters, blue-collar workers and seniors. People Senator McCain will need in the general election." She seems to be making a double offer -- to the Democratic Party if it will give her what she wants, which is unlikely to happen. Obama would have to be crazy to nominate her for vice president and, since his health appears good, she would have no choice but to sabotage his administration, not to mention his election campaign, to assure herself another shot at the presidency in 2012. But she also seems to be possibly tendering an offer to McCain of voters he "will need in the general election." Perhaps she is suggesting herself as a vice-presidential candidate for an aged and possibly unwell Republican presidential candidate, who may serve only one term, not to mention what might develop with his health before his term ended. A kind of Republican-Fusion ticket might be the Republicans' best bet for separating themselves from the Bush legacy (by adopting the Clinton-Bush legacy instead). It might be a good move for McCain to reach out to a top Democrat who fought the good fight for "hard-working people (white, won't vote for Black candidate people -- the at least one-third of white workers who have been voting for Obama in the primaries are lazy bums, almost as bad as the Blacks!) in the Democratic Party and lost to the anti-American Black-latte- liberal alliance. Or is my reading too subtile? From shmage at pipeline.com Fri May 9 07:19:24 2008 From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage) Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 09:19:24 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Hillary going down in flames In-Reply-To: <000001c8b1ce$f5437fc0$6401a8c0@office1pc> References: <000001c8b1ce$f5437fc0$6401a8c0@office1pc> Message-ID: <037634EC-9D2A-40B4-A647-04E9A4B3BD26@pipeline.com> On May 9, 2008, at 8:19 AM, Fred Feldman wrote: > > ...But she also seems to be possibly tendering an offer to McCain of > voters he > "will need in the general election." Perhaps she is suggesting > herself as a > vice-presidential candidate for an aged and possibly unwell Republican > presidential candidate, who may serve only one term, not to mention > what > might develop with his health before his term ended. > > A kind of Republican-Fusion ticket might be the Republicans' best > bet for > separating themselves from the Bush legacy (by adopting the Clinton- > Bush > legacy instead)... Jon Stewart asked McCain that very question Wednesday night. He ridiculed the notion. No mention by either of the VP flirtation between him and Kerry in 2004. But about Frau Clinton he was right to ridicule the notion. Imagine the reaction of the Repugnicon Convention to HRC! McCain would be lucky to escape lynching. Shane Mage "Thunderbolt steers all things...it consents and does not consent to be called Zeus." Herakleitos of Ephesos From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 9 10:34:05 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 12:34:05 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] so much for the new coalition... Message-ID: <482444BD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> [ Dwayne Monroe Glen Ford, Adolph Reed and others insist that there is no "movement" in the way lefties usually mean, only people voting for, and affixing their hopes to a "good man" who promises "change". I'm sure there are people who'd argue that Sen. Clinton's supporters are part of a movement too. But none of us are buying that. Why do we think the word applies to the corona circling the Obama campaign? ^^^^ CB: The continuum might be something like movement...coalition...front...campaign. ( though I don't use this scheme entirely consistently below) Jesse Jackson coined a Rainbow Coalition in the context of a Presidential campaign. Other campaigns are for example an Equal Rights Amendment for equality of women. The Communist Party , for example, has over the last few decades called for the formation of an "All Peoples Front" and an " Anti-monopoly coalition " toward a working class and then socialist movement. It has a Party program http://www.cpusa.org/article/static/758/ fleshing out goals and aims of this movement, and this theoretical Anti-monopoly coalition and All-Peoples Front is toward the large (largely theoretical in the US) socialist, working class conscious movement. Historically , there's been a labor movement, a women's movement, a Civil Rights movement. There was a world wide anti-Apartheid Movement with respect to South Africa. There is now an anti-war movement, as against past wars. There is a more general peace movement, an environmental movement. Because O's Presidential campaign has masses of whites voting for a Black person for President, it has the quality of a stage or moment in the larger historical movement for African-American liberation and equality and against racism. In the past, this movement included an Abolitionist moment, and an anti-lynching movement, et al.. O's campaign is not a movement. It's most significant aspect is that it could help take another step in this larger historical movement for African American liberation and equality. What is the movement or movements that Ford and Reed want to bring about ? Do they have an assessment that the O electoral campaign, and perhaps beginning new coalition has nothing to do with the movement or movements that they are in favor of or are promoting ? In a larger sense, the current right wing swing in Europe might be anti-Arab immigrant racist based. So, W.E.B. Dubois' observation that the issue of color is the question in the twentieth Century, the darker and lighter races' relations,the national and race liberation movements may now be more upfront and at home in Old Europe , joining America to be the question of the 21st Century , no ? The mocking term "corona" is as inaccurate in the cynical direction as "movement" is in the "mania" direction. It doesn't make sense to try to compensate for overstatements like "movement" in the positive direction by making overstatements in a mocking direction like "corona". Charlie the Moor This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Fri May 9 10:02:23 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 11:02:23 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] hardworking ignorance Message-ID: Hillary digs deep into her Goldwater Republican psyche. "Hardworking" is now a hardworking code-word for her. Expertise and elitism http://www.samefacts.com/archives/election_2008_/2008/05/expertise_and_elitism.php Excerpts from this mini-critique: Hillary Clinton on This Week, challenged to name a single expert who thinks her gas tax holiday makes sense: "I think we've been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of government power and elite opinion basically behind policies that haven't worked well for the middle class and hard-working Americans." Note how completely Bushian these responses are. "Don't trust them expurts." From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Fri May 9 13:22:01 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 14:22:01 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] so much for the new coalition... In-Reply-To: <482444BD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <482444BD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: I disagree with this in certain respects. I mostly agree with Adolph Reed Jr., except I do not agree that Hillary is the lesser of two evils or even more electable than Obama. While it is important to burst the Obama bubble among self-deluded progressives, it's also important to keep in mind the limited context in which American mainstream politics operates. One must constantly navigate between the deep waters of a leftist perspective and shallow treacherous shoals of mainstream politics. The Rainbow Coalition was a similarly deluded movement, though not a similarly constituted movement. Jesse made it all about Jesse, not a movement. The Obama coalition is much less progressive than the Rainbow Delusion, because it reflects the further rightward drift in the past two or more decades. Remember that Walter Mondale ran in 1984 as the old liberalism's last gasp. Jackson fought the yuppification of the party as represented by Gary Hart. Now we are in deeper shit. The Obama coalition includes "independents" (euphemism for idiots?) and moderate Republicans and kids who don't know anything as well as progressives. Given the deteriorating conditions of the US economy, democracy, the war and foreign policy in general, it is possible that the Obama coalition could as a whole move leftward, leftward of Obama himself. Obama's election would not be a victory for Black America's material circumstances per se, but it would mark an important symbolic victory, widening perhaps the reactive assumptions of white Americans, who after all are not too bright. The anti-Obama thrust of less affluent and older white Americans is not about racism only; it is also about their lack of adaptability to changed social conditions, their social isolation and their alienation from popular culture. They are completely numbed and bewildered by what has happened to American society since Watergate, and their loyalty to Clinton is objectively at odds with their New Deal/Great Society heritage. Their irrationality is not about race alone but about their psychological incapacity to confront the true nature of their political system. Obama walks a fine line, but note that his campaign, if it is going to reach the white working class, will have to become more class-conscious and less about trying to be everybody's friend. Drinking beer and bowling will not be enough. But Edwards tried the class line, the media marginalized him, and the voters responded like Pavlovian dogs. Hence Obama walks a tightrope. But how Hillary could get away with pushing a pro-working-class line when neither she nor slick Willie is any such thing--it's beyond disgusting. Evidently it's the Reagan Democrat strategy. She deserves to be publicly humiliated, but she must already feel awkward with that squishy feeling you get when you attempt to walk around in public with a load of shit in your pants. At 11:34 AM 5/9/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >[ >Dwayne Monroe > >Glen Ford, Adolph Reed and others insist that there is no "movement" >in the way lefties usually mean, only people voting for, and affixing >their hopes to a "good man" who promises "change". I'm sure there are >people who'd argue that Sen. Clinton's supporters are part of a >movement too. But none of us are buying that. Why do we think the >word applies to the corona circling the Obama campaign? > >^^^^ >CB: The continuum might be something like >movement...coalition...front...campaign. > ( though I don't use this >scheme entirely consistently below) > > Jesse Jackson >coined a Rainbow Coalition in the context of a >Presidential campaign. Other campaigns are for example > an Equal Rights Amendment for equality of women. >The Communist Party , for example, has over the >last few decades called for the formation of an > "All Peoples Front" and an " Anti-monopoly coalition >" toward a working class and then socialist movement. >It has a Party program > >http://www.cpusa.org/article/static/758/ fleshing out >goals and aims of this movement, and this theoretical >Anti-monopoly coalition and All-Peoples Front is toward >the large (largely theoretical in the US) socialist, working > class conscious movement. Historically , there's been a > labor movement, a women's movement, a Civil Rights >movement. There was a world wide anti-Apartheid >Movement with respect to South Africa. There is now >an anti-war movement, as against past wars. There is >a more general peace movement, an environmental >movement. > >Because O's Presidential campaign has masses >of whites voting > for a Black person for President, it has the >quality of a stage or moment in the larger > historical movement >for African-American liberation and equality and against racism. >In the past, this movement included an Abolitionist >moment, and an anti-lynching movement, et al.. >O's campaign is not a movement. >It's most significant aspect is that it could help take another step >in this larger historical movement for African American > liberation and equality. > >What is the movement or movements that Ford >and Reed want to >bring about ? Do they have an assessment that the O > electoral campaign, and perhaps beginning new coalition >has nothing to do with the movement or movements that they >are in favor of or are promoting ? > >In a larger sense, the current right wing swing in >Europe might > be anti-Arab immigrant racist based. So, >W.E.B. Dubois' >observation that the issue of color is the question > in the twentieth >Century, the darker and lighter races' relations,the >national and race liberation movements may now be >more upfront and at home in Old Europe , joining America >to be the question of the 21st Century , no ? > >The mocking term "corona" is as inaccurate in the >cynical direction as "movement" is in the "mania" direction. > It doesn't make sense to try to compensate for >overstatements like "movement" in the positive direction > by making overstatements in a mocking direction like "corona". > > >Charlie the Moor From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 9 14:58:54 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 16:58:54 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Clandestine Workers Step Forward in French Protests Message-ID: <482482CD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Clandestine Workers Step Forward in French Protests International Herald Tribune Clandestine workers step forward in French protests By Katrin Bennhold and Caroline Brothers Thursday, May 8, 2008 NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France: The Caf? La Jatte is in many ways a typical Parisian eatery. It has a menu full of culinary promise, a sumptuous wine list and a handful of illegal African immigrants working in the kitchen. It also has a rather atypical former customer: President Nicolas Sarkozy, known for his tough stance on illegal immigration, was a regular when he was mayor of this leafy western suburb until 2002. Caf? La Jatte has become a symbol for an unusually public campaign by clandestine employees in France demanding work permits. Recent kitchen strikes here and at other restaurants have mushroomed into a broader protest movement touching several sectors and spreading fast outside of Paris. Since April 25, when France's largest labor union, the CGT, filed a request to legalize 900 restaurant employees, construction workers and cleaners, hundreds more have lined up to join the initiative. The movement has highlighted an uneasy dilemma facing France and other Western governments: The hard line on immigration that helped leaders like Sarkozy to get elected is increasingly at odds with economic realities. For the first time, the demands of France's illegal workers are backed by a growing number of their employers. Construction and cleaning companies say they cannot get enough legal workers to fill the available jobs. The employers' federation of the restaurant and hotel business has called for the legalization of 50,000 workers in that field alone. And Konex, a technology cabling firm, has rallied dozens of employers to form a lobby dedicated to the matter. "This is a problem of political hypocrisy," said Gilles Caussade, one of the two owners of Caf? La Jatte, as he glanced from his restaurant's sprawling outdoor terrace to the apartment building where Sarkozy used to live. "The economic needs are real," he said. "Manpower is no longer assured by those who are born in the country, and these are jobs that they do not want to do." Every time Caussade advertises a job in the paper, only Africans and Sri Lankans respond, he said. The 10 Malians now working in Caf? La Jatte's kitchen have all been there at least two years - one of them, who started as a dishwasher and is now a cook, since 1994. Employed on work permits borrowed from friends and relatives, they have been earning standard industry wages and paying taxes like regular employees. "That's the irony," Caussade said. "They are completely part of the system and yet, officially, they don't exist." Caussade said he had not known that his employees were illegal and had been caught by surprise when his staff started a five-day strike on April 19. But their battle has become his, he said, recounting how he personally took their applications for work permits to the police. "Now I just have to learn their real names," Caussade quipped. "Baba is no longer Baba, he is Abdouramane. Samba becomes Moussa." Caussade is no exception. At a recent conference organized by the human resources departments of some of France's biggest companies, executives urged the government to make it easier for immigrants to get work permits. Sylvie Brunet, head of human resources at ONET, a company in Marseille that provides cleaning services, said her business could not function without ample immigrant labor. "Even French high school dropouts don't want the jobs we offer," she said. St?phane Vallet of Bouygues, the construction company, concurred. The French Immigration Ministry estimates that there are 200,000 to 400,000 undocumented immigrants in France; reports in the French press suggest that as many as three out of four of them are working. But as employers lobby for the legalization of their workers, the police continue to round them up for expulsion, often targeting train stations in the early morning and late evening, when cleaners and builders commute. The issue is a headache for Sarkozy, who has ordered police chiefs across France to fulfill a strict deportation quota of 26,000 this year but who has also promised to help business alleviate labor shortages. In a high-profile television interview on April 24, Sarkozy defended his policies and accused company bosses employing illegal immigrants of being "hypocrites." "Don't tell me, whether you are the boss of a small company or not, that you have to find yourself a poor illegal worker when there are, among the immigrants who we do welcome and who do have papers, 22 percent unemployed," Sarkozy said, without elaborating on the statistic. The fact that employers have increasingly found themselves the target of criticism may be one reason they appear to be more sympathetic to the current campaign. The movement has been gathering momentum with isolated strikes since July 2007, when Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux issued a decree obligating employers to verify the legality of their workers with the police. Since then, two further sets of guidelines have been issued, opening the door to legalizing some staff in specific regions and sectors. This has raised hope among workers at a time when surging food prices have often made families in the immigrants' home countries even more dependent on their remittances. The government has ruled out legalization on a mass scale, saying that only a few hundred of those who have applied for papers in the current movement will get papers, on a case-by-case basis. Critics said that only adds to the confusion and that it could result in ad hoc decisions by prefectures, the regional police authorities charged with authorizing migrants to work. "Going case by case is not a policy; it is like saying to the prefectures, 'Work it out yourself,' " said Laurent Giovanonni, secretary general of Cimade, a nongovernmental organization that works in the detention centers where migrants without papers are held. In the case of the Caf? La Jatte workers, there has been some progress. As of Wednesday, 7 of the 10 La Jatte illegals had received three-month work permits; the other three hope to get such papers on Friday. "This has changed our lives," Abdouramane Sarr, the 42-year-old dishwasher-turned-cook, said Thursday in the steaming restaurant kitchen. No longer afraid of police controls, he is planning his first trip to Mali in 10 years. But at Passion Traiteur, an upscale caterer in the nearby suburb of Colombes, 3 of 20 striking workers have been ordered to leave the country. And the movement is spreading. On Wednesday, illegal workers occupied the premises of Adecco and Triangle, two job-placement companies in Creteil, southeast of Paris. In Nanterre, west of Paris, a dozen workers are on hunger strike. Meanwhile, a march of illegal workers that started in Lille several weeks ago will arrive in Paris on Saturday, when the abolition of slavery will be commemorated. One of the more colorful protests is taking place in central Paris, where a few hundred mostly African workers have been occupying a union building for a week. Anzoumane Sissoko, a Malian organizer of the protest, said that in his 15 years in France he had seen clandestine workers come out of the shadows sporadically, but never to this extent and with such self-confidence. "There is something different about this time," said Sissoko, himself illegal until last year. "People really think something could change for them." -- Yoshie This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From jannuzi at gmail.com Fri May 9 18:59:12 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 09:59:12 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Pokie; Black as inherently second class in America Message-ID: I supported Jesse Jackson because he was significantly left of the Democrat mainstream. He sought a multi-racial appeal that showed considerable vision and , compared with all the white male Democrats and Geraldine Ferraro, he talked tough on economic issues.He led discussions instead of being led on them. (So long as you remember people don't necessarily run for president to get to the White House but run instead to try and change their party and go from there). It's hard to get enthusiastic about Obama--especially when you see him doing interviews on nation-wide programs giving his views on foreign policy. CentCom will be chomping at their bits to escalate the 'crisis' in Afghanistan-Pakistan and he will walk right into it. Even as 'phased withdrawal' stalls because the Iraqis 'haven't stepped up to the plate' and the US must prevent a civil war and chaos (never mind the fact that the reason there is such chaos is a much-hated occupation). And then the comments on Israel. Clearly, here is a guy who is not going to lead the foreign policy state-within-a-state that controls the future of US. If elected, the de-occupation of Iraq will stall, the US will be working on which fake foreign policy crisis to inflate (Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, N. Korea, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc etc) while Obama is getting ready to run for re-election and 60 million Americans will lack health insurance. If Obama wants to win the presidency, I would advise him to move left and go after the Hispanic vote as well--but that would require that he lead his party into new territory before he can move the country. He hasn't even demonstrated an ability to move his party very much, and now time is short. I suggest he call 'conference' with what little is left of the 'progressive' wing of the Democratic Party instead of relying on Dean and Kerry for ideas. Dean showed him how to win caucuses as an outsider, and Kerry showed him how to (most likely) beat the Clintons, and now those wells are totally dry. The Democrats have got to defeat the Republican efforts to suppress votes and keep people unregistered. They need a large turnout of Democrats, newly registered Democrats and Independents. The idea that somehow Hillary Clinton is going to end up running with McCain is so stupid it had to come from Marmal list or something like that. BTW, just asking, has Spike Lee endorsed Obama? CJ From jannuzi at gmail.com Sat May 10 01:42:54 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 16:42:54 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] much of what is wrong with obama Message-ID: The right wingers see it clearly. He polls weaker than Kerry--and that was weak. His one hope is that McCain is a nasty puke who is a weaker campaigner than Dole and seems to be about as mentally capable as Reagan in his second term. You might also think Obama could force McCain to actually follow McCain's espousal of clean campaigning (for the first time in that rat's political life). http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=63661 Still, Obama sounds like just another American empire nutbag when discussing foreign policy and militarism as its tool. What is fascinating is how this all ties in with some delusional vision of America as humanity perfected. http://nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=29687 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6619.shtml http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080101233.html http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001096.html http://www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/cn070607.htm http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/obama-says-hed.html Now that he has beaten HC, I can say it: Obama sucks as badly as she does. CJ From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 10 10:30:14 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 11:30:14 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] much of what is wrong with obama In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Interesting what people focus on. Naturally they are interrelated, but I only thought about domestic policy, i.e. what happened to the New Deal/Great Society contingent which looms large in the destiny of the Democratic Party. I wouldn't expect much different from anyone on foreign policy, but the fact that Edwards was knocked out of the race early speaks clearly to the bankruptcy of the political system. Also, the perception of being "soft" has knocked out many a Democratic candidate. Had JFK not been aggressive on the military buildup he probably would have lost, even counting Mayor Daley's ballot-box stuffing. Obama doesn't want to appear weak on foreign policy, which is the aspect of his "inexperience" that could easily kill his candidacy. If McCain advocated wars the US could actually win he'd be in a shoe-in. But since all a large segment of white America cares about is a blowhard black preacher, Obama will lose. While others think he is a savior. This really is a nation of dummies. At 02:42 AM 5/10/2008, CeJ wrote: >The right wingers see it clearly. He polls weaker than Kerry--and that >was weak. His one hope is that McCain is a nasty puke who is a weaker >campaigner than Dole and seems to be about as mentally capable as >Reagan in his second term. You might also think Obama could force >McCain to actually follow McCain's espousal of clean campaigning (for >the first time in that rat's political life). > >http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=63661 > >Still, Obama sounds like just another American empire nutbag when >discussing foreign policy and militarism as its tool. What is >fascinating is how this all ties in with some delusional vision of >America as humanity perfected. > >http://nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=29687 > >http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6619.shtml > >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080101233.html > >http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001096.html > >http://www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/cn070607.htm > >http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/obama-says-hed.html > >Now that he has beaten HC, I can say it: Obama sucks as badly as she does. > >CJ > >____ From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 10 13:31:29 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 15:31:29 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [lbo-talk] Getting some business that Magic Barry ain't got In-Reply-To: <995cfd590805100441w4c5beb22hde4c60fdfd33081e@mail.gmail.com> References: <995cfd590805100441w4c5beb22hde4c60fdfd33081e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4825BFD1.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> The LBO archives are filled with talk that now exceeds the combined collected works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mao, Kim Il Song and Kim Il Jong. We should have by now theory and planning, policy and thought to beat the bourgeoisie. No worry that elaborating a coalition-front--action-movement-program, a little proposed _practice_ around here will fall into activistism anymore. Political practice one o one: ' What is a coalition ? What is a front ? What is a movement ? What is a program ? What is propaganda ? What is practice ? What is political consciousness ? What is class consciousness ? What is workigg class consciousness ? What is socialist consciousness ? What is ruling class consciousness ? What are the ruling ideas of our age ? What is theory ? What is practice ? What is the relationship between theory and practice ? What ideas unite the working class ? What ideas divide the working class ? What ideas unite the ruling class ? What ideas divide the ruling class ? Why do socialists focus on mass ideas ? There may be a misconception that materialism holds that individual people's activity and practice is not determined by their consciousness, thinking or ideas; that this is philosophical idealist error . That's not true. The materialist principle is that "infrastructure" and material practice ultimately determine social and consciousness structure. It determines changes in "grammar" not individual speaking events, to make an analogy to linguistics, structural linguistics. So, of course in order to get masses to move we have to figure out how to influence their thinking their ideas, their beliefs, their hopes, their dreams . Who said, "without revolutionary theory , there can be no revolutionary movement " ? And was s/he correct ? How didh'she prove they know what they were talking about ? "Movement " as in what Perfect Barry ain't got. Who said Marxism is not a dogma , but a guide to action ? Who said the test of theory is practice ? Who said philosophers have interpreted the world in a number of ways, but the thing is to change it ? "Interpretation" as in theory, talk, sitting around philosophizing, and writing books. "Change it" through action , activity, practice , through a movement. Only a mass movement can change the whole world. What ideas will move masses to move the world ? Mases will only move if inspired, they will only change things with change they can believe in. Pessimisim of the intellect and optimism of the will might be better said in America, Materialism of the intellect, Idealism of the will. What religion has over our atheism is optimism, a can-do spirit, the power of positive thinking. Thus, religion gets people to _do_ things. It inspires action. What socialist theorists need from religion is that optimism that we can change things. that "yes we can spirit". In this regard, Pretty Boy's slogans "Yes we can change things for the better" is quite correct. The struggle continues; victory is certain. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From dhenwood at panix.com Sat May 10 13:34:04 2008 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 15:34:04 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [lbo-talk] Getting some business that Magic Barry ain't got In-Reply-To: <4825BFD1.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <995cfd590805100441w4c5beb22hde4c60fdfd33081e@mail.gmail.com> <4825BFD1.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <5A93457B-2EB2-41EA-8176-A7B2B362A747@panix.com> On May 10, 2008, at 3:31 PM, Charles Brown wrote: > What religion has over our atheism is optimism, a > can-do spirit, the power of positive thinking. Thus, > religion gets people to _do_ things. It inspires action. > What socialist theorists need from religion is that > optimism that we can change things. that "yes we can > spirit". You sound like an inspirational after-dinner speaker. Doug From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 10 13:43:37 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 15:43:37 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [lbo-talk] Getting some business that Magic Barry ain't got In-Reply-To: <5A93457B-2EB2-41EA-8176-A7B2B362A747@panix.com> References: <995cfd590805100441w4c5beb22hde4c60fdfd33081e@mail.gmail.com> <4825BFD1.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> <5A93457B-2EB2-41EA-8176-A7B2B362A747@panix.com> Message-ID: <4825C2A8.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Doug Henwood 05/10/2008 3:34 PM >>> On May 10, 2008, at 3:31 PM, Charles Brown wrote: > What religion has over our atheism is optimism, a > can-do spirit, the power of positive thinking. Thus, > religion gets people to _do_ things. It inspires action. > What socialist theorists need from religion is that > optimism that we can change things. that "yes we can > spirit". You sound like an inspirational after-dinner speaker. Doug ^^^^^^^ Or a motivaational speaker ? I thought it was more like a Party school lecture. Don't worry. It's ok for Marxists to say some good things about religion. See _Introduction to Critique of Hegel's Philisophy of Right+ or whatever (smile) I'm not ditching atheism. I'm just pointing to that rational kernel in religion we should extract'; a little optimism of the will, can do spirit. Uninspired people can't change the world. This is all good Marxism. Marx and Engels openly extracted rational kernels from Hegel and other idealists. Engels discusses religion as the main idealism in _Socialism: utopian and Scientific_ (simle) _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 10 15:18:20 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 17:18:20 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Pokie; Black as inherently second class in America In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4825D8DC.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> CeJ I supported Jesse Jackson because he was significantly left of the Democrat mainstream. He sought a multi-racial appeal that showed considerable vision and , compared with all the white male Democrats and Geraldine Ferraro, he talked tough on economic issues.He led discussions instead of being led on them. (So long as you remember people don't necessarily run for president to get to the White House but run instead to try and change their party and go from there). It's hard to get enthusiastic about Obama--especially when you see him doing interviews on nation-wide programs giving his views on foreign policy. CentCom will be chomping at their bits to escalate the 'crisis' in Afghanistan-Pakistan and he will walk right into it. Even as 'phased withdrawal' stalls because the Iraqis 'haven't stepped up to the plate' and the US must prevent a civil war and chaos (never mind the fact that the reason there is such chaos is a much-hated occupation). And then the comments on Israel. Clearly, here is a guy who is not going to lead the foreign policy state-within-a-state that controls the future of US. If elected, the de-occupation of Iraq will stall, the US will be working on which fake foreign policy crisis to inflate (Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, N. Korea, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc etc) while Obama is getting ready to run for re-election and 60 million Americans will lack health insurance. If Obama wants to win the presidency, I would advise him to move left and go after the Hispanic vote as well--but that would require that he lead his party into new territory before he can move the country. He hasn't even demonstrated an ability to move his party very much, and now time is short. I suggest he call 'conference' with what little is left of the 'progressive' wing of the Democratic Party instead of relying on Dean and Kerry for ideas. Dean showed him how to win caucuses as an outsider, and Kerry showed him how to (most likely) beat the Clintons, and now those wells are totally dry. The Democrats have got to defeat the Republican efforts to suppress votes and keep people unregistered. They need a large turnout of Democrats, newly registered Democrats and Independents. The idea that somehow Hillary Clinton is going to end up running with McCain is so stupid it had to come from Marmal list or something like that. BTW, just asking, has Spike Lee endorsed Obama? CJ ^^^^ Put Spike Lee Obama in a search engine (smile) http://www.wrdw.com/politics/headlines/15775202.html I think most likely what you say will happen. Especially, when the American people elect a bunch of Republicans to Congress to keep Obama in check. So, the World and the country will probably continue careening on toward disaster. Oh well, it has been great fun,but just one of those overly active species. The Sorcerer's Apprentice _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 10 15:52:41 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 16:52:41 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Unfinished business: Martin Luther King in Memphis Message-ID: Unfinished business: Martin Luther King in Memphis International Socialism Issue: 118 Posted: 31 March 08 Brian Kelly Very interesting article. From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 10 16:35:07 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 18:35:07 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" Message-ID: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old "left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy was "subject thinking" /object thinking". As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to "object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic thinking (Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a salute greeting) picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves using something to represent something that it is not , an object or something outside something else represents something that it is not. The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand "imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not different , than what they represent. The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally it was speaking, but at any rate through language. Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals (subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put it. I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to "objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another subject as imitating another person type thinking. Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 10 16:46:40 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 18:46:40 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable Message-ID: <4825ED90.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/2008-May/071215.html Hey,you think the election of Obama is dispiriting . Check this out. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 10 19:55:56 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 20:55:56 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Actually, all this means is that Wright is just another crackpot black cultural nationalist, a typical obscurantist mediocrity produced by black nationalism. It's bad enough to be a preacher, but to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so impressed by him. At 05:35 PM 5/10/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed >linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old >"left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy >was "subject thinking" /object thinking". > >As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to >"object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. > >subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic >thinking > >(Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a >salute greeting) > >picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with >other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly >developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves >using something to represent something that it is not , an object or >something outside something else represents something that it is not. >The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are >not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's >deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy >textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand >"imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not >different , than what they represent. > >The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally >it was speaking, but at any rate through language. > >Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" >thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn >by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals >(subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put >it. >I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to >"objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another >subject as imitating another person type thinking. > >Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) >between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, >picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. From dhenwood at panix.com Sat May 10 19:09:37 2008 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 21:09:37 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: References: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <4BAA3985-AA03-45E1-BAFB-373FAE05D972@panix.com> On May 10, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > It's bad enough to be a preacher, but > to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so > impressed by him. According to Adolph Reed, who lived in Obama's legislative district at the time, Obama was thinking of running for mayor of Chicago, before he dreamed of being the chief executive of the world bourgeoisie. So he thought that joining Wright's church might give him some street cred - he already had the Hyde Park liberals in his pocket. Doug From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 10 20:17:13 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 21:17:13 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: <4BAA3985-AA03-45E1-BAFB-373FAE05D972@panix.com> References: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> <4BAA3985-AA03-45E1-BAFB-373FAE05D972@panix.com> Message-ID: I'm a great admirer of Reed. He can be a bit dry, which means he would not make a suitable demagogue. I mentioned him some days ago, without giving the reference for his article: Obama, no by Adolph Reed, Jr. http://www.progressive.org/mag_reed0508 My own comment can be found there with a myriad others. I don't agree with his assessment of Hillary, and while as cynical as I can be, I don't necessarily detach myself completely from bourgeois electoral politics; I like to be clear about what I'm doing, and I like to see people act and think with clarity about what they're doing. Reed is useful at least for puncturing the illusions of "progressives:, the "left", and maybe of some "liberals". I do think most of the left is utterly confused about a number of things, and racial politics is at the top of the list. We live in such an anti-intellectual country that even progressives never progress mentally beyond the level of talk radio. At 08:09 PM 5/10/2008, Doug Henwood wrote: >On May 10, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Ralph Dumain wrote: > > > It's bad enough to be a preacher, but > > to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so > > impressed by him. > >According to Adolph Reed, who lived in Obama's legislative district >at the time, Obama was thinking of running for mayor of Chicago, >before he dreamed of being the chief executive of the world >bourgeoisie. So he thought that joining Wright's church might give >him some street cred - he already had the Hyde Park liberals in his >pocket. > >Doug From mjlima at uol.com.br Sat May 10 22:30:32 2008 From: mjlima at uol.com.br (=?iso-8859-1?Q?M=E1rio_Jos=E9_de_Lima?=) Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 01:30:32 -0300 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [Pen-l] job creation - beyond slave auction Message-ID: <007f01c8b31f$c05e1b10$0201010a@mario> Dear Doug How you it would see the process of technological diffusion since of a more global point of view? Exactly of a world-wide point of view? How to understand the fact of that the technological progress gives to the countries most endowed the capacity to produce masses enormous of products with which they flood the world? M?rio ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" To: "Progressive Economics" Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 8:50 AM Subject: Re: [Pen-l] job creation - beyond slave auction > > On May 7, 2008, at 11:02 PM, Eugene Coyle wrote: > >> Technological progress destroys, doesn't create jobs. > > It can destroy jobs or create them. Railroads, cars, telephones, > airplanes, and computers all created far more jobs than they destroyed. > The railroad made the buggy whip paradigmatic for technological > obsolescence, but the job loss was dwarfed by the number of workers > needed to build and staff railroads, not to mention all the secondary > effects of all the jobs the railroad created. > > Doug > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > pen-l at lists.csuchico.edu > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sun May 11 06:00:33 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 05:00:33 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] [Pen-l] job creation - beyond slave auction In-Reply-To: <007f01c8b31f$c05e1b10$0201010a@mario> Message-ID: <474722.59646.qm@web35504.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Greetings! ...The questions from a historical viewpoint should be posted differently: How do we prepare the proletariat for getting rid of the reproduction of itself as a salary worker and the system of salary labor power? Since the 1847, the year of the publication of the first Communist Manifesto of the Revolutionary Party, minorities world wide have been working to answer correctly such a historical question unsuccessfully because, among other things, the reformist practice within the labor movement. Marx himself argued that even the most deep reform wouldn't touch the essence of the above mentioned problem or the nature of the reproduction process of the proletariat as a commodity. Look for example what is happening today around the world and the concept provided by Amadeo Bordiga to correctly understand the actual wave of opportunist degeneration that most of workers support and see it as "progressive" economics. When you study such counter evolutionary practice you learn of its bourgeois essence. So when you look at the development of technology, you have to look at it from a class perspective so see its nature. This way to look into the situation allows us to see unemployment as a need of capital's cycle of reproduction and preparation for war on an international scale. I'm not saying that war is a possibility but the essence of capital in order to start a new process and save its system from destruction. The tendency of the rate of profit decrease is today compelling the capitalist class competition to again destroy capital, means of production and productive forces as part of capital international centralization before all its contradiction explode. M?rio Jos? de Lima wrote: Dear Doug How you it would see the process of technological diffusion since of a more global point of view? Exactly of a world-wide point of view? How to understand the fact of that the technological progress gives to the countries most endowed the capacity to produce masses enormous of products with which they flood the world? M?rio ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" To: "Progressive Economics" Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 8:50 AM Subject: Re: [Pen-l] job creation - beyond slave auction > > On May 7, 2008, at 11:02 PM, Eugene Coyle wrote: > >> Technological progress destroys, doesn't create jobs. > > It can destroy jobs or create them. Railroads, cars, telephones, > airplanes, and computers all created far more jobs than they destroyed. > The railroad made the buggy whip paradigmatic for technological > obsolescence, but the job loss was dwarfed by the number of workers > needed to build and staff railroads, not to mention all the secondary > effects of all the jobs the railroad created. > > Doug > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > pen-l at lists.csuchico.edu > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sun May 11 06:10:05 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 05:10:05 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <409459.68092.qm@web35503.mail.mud.yahoo.com> you're right, it's just that: bullshit!!! Ralph Dumain wrote: Actually, all this means is that Wright is just another crackpot black cultural nationalist, a typical obscurantist mediocrity produced by black nationalism. It's bad enough to be a preacher, but to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so impressed by him. At 05:35 PM 5/10/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed >linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old >"left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy >was "subject thinking" /object thinking". > >As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to >"object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. > >subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic >thinking > >(Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a >salute greeting) > >picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with >other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly >developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves >using something to represent something that it is not , an object or >something outside something else represents something that it is not. >The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are >not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's >deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy >textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand >"imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not >different , than what they represent. > >The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally >it was speaking, but at any rate through language. > >Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" >thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn >by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals >(subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put >it. >I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to >"objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another >subject as imitating another person type thinking. > >Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) >between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, >picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sun May 11 14:14:25 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 13:14:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] so much for the new coalition... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <791552.87321.qm@web35502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ...there are so many things to talk about as part of the centralization process of militants and communists minority world wide that i just want to say that a good answer to start getting away from the social democratic political tradition within the proletarian movement is debating the ways to confront the true nature of the political system. how do we do that in or order to move on tho communism at . I've been working on that since the past 20 years and finally i was able to get in touch with various militants who also are trying to solve the problem of dispersion therefore weakness of the proletarian movement. let me tell that we are not wasting time and energy talking about electoral politics but organizing on an international level the revolutionary proletariat to confront capital and the State, whatever form the latest assume. That's how you show class consciousness, that's how one demonstrate belonging to a revolutionary class. Could anyone tell me that participating or serving as the proletarian base for the democratic or republican parties electoral politics one shows how conscious you are about the revolutionary nature of your class. I'll recommend the revolutionary proletariat to create Worker's nucleus as transition forms to move from the capitalist mode of production to the communist mode of production. let me put this way, instead of wasting time and energy engaging in electoral politics the working class must work on a organizational and theoretical rupture in order to get close to the time to combine a revolutionary attack against strategic position of the social system. That's the way i see and post the problem of this times and is my way to be a communist. Ralph Dumain wrote: I disagree with this in certain respects. I mostly agree with Adolph Reed Jr., except I do not agree that Hillary is the lesser of two evils or even more electable than Obama. While it is important to burst the Obama bubble among self-deluded progressives, it's also important to keep in mind the limited context in which American mainstream politics operates. One must constantly navigate between the deep waters of a leftist perspective and shallow treacherous shoals of mainstream politics. The Rainbow Coalition was a similarly deluded movement, though not a similarly constituted movement. Jesse made it all about Jesse, not a movement. The Obama coalition is much less progressive than the Rainbow Delusion, because it reflects the further rightward drift in the past two or more decades. Remember that Walter Mondale ran in 1984 as the old liberalism's last gasp. Jackson fought the yuppification of the party as represented by Gary Hart. Now we are in deeper shit. The Obama coalition includes "independents" (euphemism for idiots?) and moderate Republicans and kids who don't know anything as well as progressives. Given the deteriorating conditions of the US economy, democracy, the war and foreign policy in general, it is possible that the Obama coalition could as a whole move leftward, leftward of Obama himself. Obama's election would not be a victory for Black America's material circumstances per se, but it would mark an important symbolic victory, widening perhaps the reactive assumptions of white Americans, who after all are not too bright. The anti-Obama thrust of less affluent and older white Americans is not about racism only; it is also about their lack of adaptability to changed social conditions, their social isolation and their alienation from popular culture. They are completely numbed and bewildered by what has happened to American society since Watergate, and their loyalty to Clinton is objectively at odds with their New Deal/Great Society heritage. Their irrationality is not about race alone but about their psychological incapacity to confront the true nature of their political system. Obama walks a fine line, but note that his campaign, if it is going to reach the white working class, will have to become more class-conscious and less about trying to be everybody's friend. Drinking beer and bowling will not be enough. But Edwards tried the class line, the media marginalized him, and the voters responded like Pavlovian dogs. Hence Obama walks a tightrope. But how Hillary could get away with pushing a pro-working-class line when neither she nor slick Willie is any such thing--it's beyond disgusting. Evidently it's the Reagan Democrat strategy. She deserves to be publicly humiliated, but she must already feel awkward with that squishy feeling you get when you attempt to walk around in public with a load of shit in your pants. At 11:34 AM 5/9/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >[ >Dwayne Monroe > >Glen Ford, Adolph Reed and others insist that there is no "movement" >in the way lefties usually mean, only people voting for, and affixing >their hopes to a "good man" who promises "change". I'm sure there are >people who'd argue that Sen. Clinton's supporters are part of a >movement too. But none of us are buying that. Why do we think the >word applies to the corona circling the Obama campaign? > >^^^^ >CB: The continuum might be something like >movement...coalition...front...campaign. > ( though I don't use this >scheme entirely consistently below) > > Jesse Jackson >coined a Rainbow Coalition in the context of a >Presidential campaign. Other campaigns are for example > an Equal Rights Amendment for equality of women. >The Communist Party , for example, has over the >last few decades called for the formation of an > "All Peoples Front" and an " Anti-monopoly coalition >" toward a working class and then socialist movement. >It has a Party program > >http://www.cpusa.org/article/static/758/ fleshing out >goals and aims of this movement, and this theoretical >Anti-monopoly coalition and All-Peoples Front is toward >the large (largely theoretical in the US) socialist, working > class conscious movement. Historically , there's been a > labor movement, a women's movement, a Civil Rights >movement. There was a world wide anti-Apartheid >Movement with respect to South Africa. There is now >an anti-war movement, as against past wars. There is >a more general peace movement, an environmental >movement. > >Because O's Presidential campaign has masses >of whites voting > for a Black person for President, it has the >quality of a stage or moment in the larger > historical movement >for African-American liberation and equality and against racism. >In the past, this movement included an Abolitionist >moment, and an anti-lynching movement, et al.. >O's campaign is not a movement. >It's most significant aspect is that it could help take another step >in this larger historical movement for African American > liberation and equality. > >What is the movement or movements that Ford >and Reed want to >bring about ? Do they have an assessment that the O > electoral campaign, and perhaps beginning new coalition >has nothing to do with the movement or movements that they >are in favor of or are promoting ? > >In a larger sense, the current right wing swing in >Europe might > be anti-Arab immigrant racist based. So, >W.E.B. Dubois' >observation that the issue of color is the question > in the twentieth >Century, the darker and lighter races' relations,the >national and race liberation movements may now be >more upfront and at home in Old Europe , joining America >to be the question of the 21st Century , no ? > >The mocking term "corona" is as inaccurate in the >cynical direction as "movement" is in the "mania" direction. > It doesn't make sense to try to compensate for >overstatements like "movement" in the positive direction > by making overstatements in a mocking direction like "corona". > > >Charlie the Moor _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sun May 11 18:34:34 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 17:34:34 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] check this out! Message-ID: <723315.67571.qm@web35502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Elecciones 2008: Forjar otro Camino ?C?mo organizar, coordinar y centralizar fuerzas revolucionarias como parte de un proceso que posibilite superar el momento electoral actual y nos permita conducir al proletariado hacia una sociedad socialista? El camino que hist?ricamente nos ha impuesto el capital remite a la celebraci?n peri?dica de procesos electorales donde se manifiesta la competencia entre sus agentes sociales por el control de la m?quina de dominaci?n de clase para redistribuir la plusval?a, los medios de producci?n y controlar el mercado mundial. Pero hay un factor que es esencial para llevar a feliz t?rmino el proceso de reproducci?n ampliada de la mercanc?a fuerza de trabajo durante el momento electoral: reproducir la base proletaria como parte de la polarizaci?n burguesa de la empresa capitalista, como carne de ca??n de la paz social y la guerra de esta sociedad burguesa. No tememos un precedente hist?rico que podamos presentar como evidencia hist?rica consolidada positiva de construcci?n socialista, es decir, del ejercicio directo y efectivo, en el tiempo y en el espacio, del proletariado revolucionario. Aun as?, la historia de la humanidad puede mostrar tentativas comunistas que posibilitan orientar la pr?ctica contra el momento electoral del 2008. Reiteramos que la referencia obligada sigue siendo la Comuna de Paris de 1871 y la Ola de Acci?n Proletaria de 1917-1923 derrotada en Berl?n. En pa?ses de poca acumulaci?n capitalista existen corrientes burguesas que han logrado asumir la gesti?n de los asuntos del Estado, reformando su sociedad y a ?l mismo Sin embargo, aunque traten de ocultarlo, la miseria de su accionar reproduce y aumenta el desempleo, la cuesti?n de la vivienda, empeora las condiciones de salud, generaliza el crimen organizado y la esencia de la sociedad actual que lo produce, en fin han dejado la naturaleza del modo de producci?n capitalista intacta. Por eso todos los intentos de la burgues?a por resolver los problemas de su sociedad han fracasado. Por ejemplo, y para solo citar a los m?s reformistas en Am?rica Latina, el fracaso de la burgues?a cubana, bajo la direcci?n de la forma castrista del Estado, y desde ya se puede observar con claridad meridiana la bancarrota de la burgues?a venezolana a trav?s del proyecto ?chavista? por reformar la sociedad y el Estado. Tambi?n, observamos nuevas gestiones burguesas en Ecuador y en el Estado de Bolivia Evo Morales no ha podido tampoco contener la lucha del proletariado por erradicar sus condiciones de vida. Es decir que las gestiones que son calificadas de progresistas o que est?n construyendo el ?socialismo del siglo XXI? han reproducido la esencia del modo de producci?n capitalista, su divisi?n de la sociedad en clases, la explotaci?n, y el trabajo asalariado. Algunas estructuras a la izquierda del capital se atreven a afirmar que en el Estado de Venezuela estamos ante una ?revoluci?n bolivariana?; desde luego que esa afirmaci?n es un disparate que tiene como objeto controlar y manipular al proletariado, mantenerlo atrapado en las redes de las estructuras del capitalismo. Reiteramos, esos grupos continuaran intentando mantener al proletariado como base y carne de ca??n de la facci?n progresista de la burgues?a dominicana y de la democracia. Acotaci?n: En su libro Contra la Democracia la compa?era Miriam Qarmat explica la democracia ?como estructura esencial del funcionamiento de la sociedad mercantil generalizada?. Demuestra que ?la unidad hist?rica (y l?gica) democracia-mercanc?a es muy potente; son dos aspectos de una misma realidad. La democracia no surge de la esclavitud (aunque coexista con ella), sino del comercio. En efecto, en las sociedades antiguas donde la mercanc?a se encontraba en la periferia de la sociedad, la democracia tambi?n ocupaba ese lugar perif?rico, y s?lo adquir?a una importancia interna en los centros comerciales como, por ejemplo, en Atenas. En la sociedad mercantil generalizada, en el capitalismo, la democracia se generaliza. Un conjunto de comunidades ficticias (no s?lo la patria, sino la raza, el partido, la religi?n el frente, la regi?n, el club de f?tbol ) reproduce la ilusi?n de una comunidad como condici?n de la reproducci?n de la atomizaci?n del individuo y de la dictadura del capital. ?El ciclo hist?rico de la democracia coincide con el de la mercanc?a y por lo tanto con el individuo. Se desarrolla con el mercado y morir? con ?l. El hecho de definir los l?mites hist?ricos de la democracia y afirmar su muerte como necesidad hist?rica es un punto crucial de ruptura program?tica con la izquierda burguesa. ?Mientras el socialismo burgu?s fija la democracia como horizonte, los revolucionarios denuncian la democracia como el modo de vida de la sociedad burguesa, como la dictadura del capital sustentada en la destrucci?n del proletariado como clase, la atomizaci?n individual y ciudadana, la reestructuraci?n de los hombres explotados y dominados en un conjunto de comunidades ficticias, expresi?n de la competencia del capital, que al enfrentarse entre ellas asegura la dominaci?n de la burgues?a como clase y la reproducci?n de la forma social capitalista. Consecuente con ello, la revoluci?n social abolir? la mercanc?a misma y con ello toda democracia, verdadera condici?n para una sociedad sin explotados, ni explotadores, sin dominados, ni dominadores, una verdadera comunidad humana. Los compa?eros de Los Alcarrizos consideran que es posible forjar otro camino si en las comunidades se organizan N?cleos de Trabajadores como ?rganos del ?Estado? y sociedad socialista, con la intenci?n de destruir la sociedad y el Estado capitalista. Estamos hablando de la instauraci?n de la Comuna. Cuando esos ?rganos de poder proletario asuman la direcci?n del Estado burgu?s e inicien su destrucci?n se abrir? un proceso mundial de lucha de clase contra la burgues?a a escala planetaria, que pudiera evolucionar hacia la revoluci?n proletaria mundial. Lo importante es prepararnos concientes de que existe esa posibilidad y no permitir que las estructuras del capitalismo contin?en usando a nuestros hermanos de clase como base y carne de ca??n en cada momento electoral; de ah? que nuestra pr?ctica tiene que sabotear sistem?ticamente las elecciones para demostrar que el proletariado existe como clase revolucionaria. Es la mejor forma de ser solidarios con la lucha armada que en estos momentos est?n librando nuestros hermanos de clase en Ir?k. Confirmando que la direcci?n revolucionaria es un factor decisivo del proceso, los compa?eros de Los Alcarrizos est?n llamando a las minor?as revolucionarias a participar en la elaboraci?n de un Plan Com?n de Acci?n con la intenci?n de levantar un movimiento revolucionario que de al traste con a?os largos de humillaci?n y miseria. Se trata de un intento por instaurar, por primera vez en toda la historia del movimiento proletario en esta parte de la isla, v?a violencia revolucionaria, los g?rmenes de la Comuna destruida por la revoluci?n capitalista impulsada por la burgues?a ?haitiana?. Esta forma de plantear y abordar la cuesti?n de forjar nuestro propio camino resuelve, al mismo tiempo, el problema de la desaparici?n del Estado desde que la instauraci?n del la Comuna en la escala internacional lo hace desaparecer. En este momento electoral los proletarios en uniforme tienen que jugar un papel protagonista desde que la estructura militar para la cual trabajan es la responsable de mantener la dictadura del capital. De ah? que la tarea acci?n inmediata de los proletarios en uniforme sea sumarse a los trabajos de preparaci?n y coordinaci?n del ataque militar sorpresa y combinado para destruir todas las estructuras de la ?econom?a nacional? y el aparato militar. Los proletarios en uniforme (que ustedes llaman ?guardias?, ?marinos?, ?polic?as?) conscientes de que pertenecen a un proyecto social de clase tienen que asumir la cuota de responsabilidad hist?rica que les pertenece, creando en sus comunidades N?cleos de Trabajadores clandestinos, como parte del proceso y del momento para responder adecuadamente el llamado y propuesta electoral que nos hace la burgues?a. Se trata de crear una correlaci?n de fuerza que nos permita atacar y destruir las condiciones econ?micas que reproducen nuestra condici?n de clase explotada. Habl?bamos de que no tenemos evidencias hist?ricas en torno a la imposici?n y construcci?n del modo de producci?n comunista, aunque los agentes sociales del capital contin?en mintiendo en torno a la esencia de la sociedad cubana, Vietnamita, la Republica Popular China, llam?ndolas ?socialista?, cuando la verdad es que ellas son sociedades sustentadas en la destrucci?n del proletariado como clase revolucionaria; pero s? podemos presentar evidencias de los momentos de las tentativas revolucionarias en esa direcci?n, de nuestro proyecto social mundial. De todos modos queremos indicar que nuestra acci?n se encamina hacia la destrucci?n global del capitalismo y su sistema de trabajo asalariado y reemplazarlo por una econom?a socializada, destruyendo de ese modo las diferentes formas de crisis creadas por la metamorfosis de la mercanc?a. Por ejemplo, la crisis que se produce con la separaci?n del acto de compra y venta, que reside all?, en la esencia del dinero, ser?a superada con su destrucci?n. Lo que los compa?eros de Los Alcarrizos est?n tratando de impulsar es la aparici?n del proletariado como clase revolucionaria para superar su divisi?n en marcha hacia la sociedad socialista, la cual tiene que expandirse para no ser derrotada su tentativa por la fracci?n de clase que empu?a las armas en el mismo momento que lo hace el proletariado. Entonces la estructura a crear en las diferentes comunidades tiene la responsabilidad hist?rica de liquidar la universalidad de la contradicci?n principal que alberga el proceso revolucionario que estamos abriendo, el antagonismo entre la burgues?a y el proletariado. La unidad revolucionaria del proletariado que continuamos construyendo con el objetivo de asumir la tarea de destruir la sociedad democr?tica, de sus estructuras econ?micas y aparatos judiciales, educativos, religiosos, administrativos y militares, demoler su sistema de trabajo asalariado, de sus Sindicatos, t?cnicos, administradores, contables y ?oficiales del Estado con obreros que devengan salarios miserables, es una medida pr?ctica realizable con relaci?n a toda la pol?tica ?progresista? que de hecho es anti-comunista; una tarea liberadora que hace uso de la experiencia ?limitada? de la Comuna de Paris, (especialmente en el reino de la construcci?n del Estado), la cual inici? a revelar en la practica? (Lenin, State and Revolution, New York Internacional, 1932, P?g. 44). El aparato o estructura militar, Las Fuerzas Armadas al servicio del capital, ha incorporado a un n?mero importante de proletarios a sus estructuras dominadas por la burgues?a mundial. Su doctrina y entrenamiento son internalizadas por sus miembros para proteger los intereses de ella, por ejemplo, su propiedad privada de los medios de producci?n. Esa pr?ctica de salvaguardar la propiedad privada es la que domina y gu?a la acci?n reaccionaria de todo su cuerpo, protegi?ndose del ?nico ?derecho? hist?rico que tienen los proletarios en uniforme: la revoluci?n comunista. En esas estructuras est?n las armas necesarias para derrocar y destruir el poder burgu?s y sustituirlo por el poder revolucionario de los N?cleos de Trabajadores o NTR. Ellos tambi?n se encargaran de los invasores imperialistas del territorio ?haitiano? que desde el 2003 administran los asuntos del la burgues?a mundial a trav?s del Estado en Hait?. La realidad es que existen proletarios atrapados en las estructuras ?patri?ticas?, confundidos por el capital para servir a una de sus fracciones, debilitar la fuerza de su unidad y lucha contra toda la burgues?a, compa?eros que han abandonado nuestras filas para contribuir, moment?neamente, con nuestra derrota. Por eso le hacen el juego en cada proceso electoral, y continuaran haci?ndolo hasta que la dispersi?n y debilidad pol?tica del N?cleo Comunista se lo siga permitiendo. ?La lucha del proletariado insurrecto en Irak ilumina el Camino! Hay tambi?n otras formas clandestinas que pueden contribuir a un cambio de la correlaci?n de fuerza entre las clases, por ejemplo se podr?an crear un Comit?s Insurreccional de Fuerzas Armadas o CIFA que coordinen junto a los N?cleos el levantamiento de las masas proletarias en la escala nacional. Las condiciones econ?micas para inaugurar una ?era pol?tica nueva? est?n dadas, y poner fin a los gobiernos que nos han reducido a la servidumbre. (A. Home, The Fall of Paris, New York: Penguin, 1965), pag. 33. El programa revolucionario adem?s de significar una ruptura te?rica y org?nica, indica como tarea principal la destrucci?n de toda la estructura productiva nacional y el conjunto de aparatos que conforman el Estado de la clase capitalista. Sabemos que hay estructuras de ?izquierda? que est?n planteando que esas son ?tareas del futuro?, saboteando de esa manera la actualidad y vigencia de medidas de esa naturaleza. Argumentan que en ese cuerpo moribundo existe ?una parte sana que hay que salvar?, como si se tratara de una lucha entre individuos, lo cual trae impl?cito la concepci?n socialdem?crata de la transici?n al ?socialismo? que excluye la destrucci?n de la esencia de la enfermedad. Cuando una persona es afectada por una enfermedad Terminal, no importa la cantidad de droga que se le suministre para prolongar su vida: la muerte es segura. En el caso de la pandemia social que afecta a esta sociedad, lo mejor y m?s efectivo es acelerar su muerte. ?Afuera y contra las Elecciones! Pero el contenido del programa revolucionario ha sido violado y encontramos todav?a hoy fuerzas ?comunistas? haci?ndole el juego a la burgues?a en este momento electoral, participando en el mismo y justificando su participaci?n en la herencia contrarrevolucionaria bolchevique, en la ?t?ctica? leninista. Cuando cuestionamos al compa?ero ?Duarte? en torno a esa l?nea pol?tica y pr?ctica reaccionaria nos respondi? que ?eso no importa?. ?C?mo no va a importar que grupos, organizaciones y ?partidos? que se autocalifican de ?comunistas? participen en los procesos electorales, si en los mismos el proletariado aparece atomizado, diluido en el simple ?ciudadano?? ?C?mo no va ha importar si el proceso electoral es un intento burgu?s por consolidar la idea falsa de que ?l no existe como clase revolucionaria, desde que todos somos ?iguales ante la ley? de ah? que se niegue su acci?n diferenciada? S? importa y mucho, pues la base de esas estructuras es proletaria y contin?a siendo controlada y manipulada para servir intereses del capital, convirti?ndose ellos mismos en parte activa del sabotaje sistem?tico de las posiciones te?ricas hist?ricas del movimiento comunista en la escala internacional. Repetimos que la historia reciente registra esa pr?ctica capitalista en el seno del movimiento a partir de una supuesta ?t?ctica? que en verdad es su concepci?n estrat?gica del tipo de sociedad que aspiran y que contribuyen a construir. Son tan descarados que todo el paradigma esta basado en las debilidades te?ricas del comunismo. Todo lo que para nosotros representa la esencia del Programa del Partido Comunista hist?rico contra la burgues?a ha sido ?olvidado? por la contrarrevoluci?n. Dicho de otro modo, el capital tiene sus bases esenciales en el mismo coraz?n del movimiento obrero internacional; son esos proletarios que no se reconocen como clase revolucionaria, aut?noma, independiente de todos los ?partidos?, los que han posibilitado la ?continuidad del Estado?. Una de las primeras medidas que tienen que tomar los N?cleos de Trabajadores, los ?rganos del Estado en extinci?n, la Comuna del Caribe, con relaci?n a la sociedad capitalista, remite a la expropiaci?n de la propiedad de la Iglesia Cat?lica, la eliminaci?n del ITBIS que pagan los asalariados, del trabajo nocturno en panader?as , la ?socializaci?n? de la propiedad privada, la determinaci?n directamente social de la producci?n, la destrucci?n de las ramas Ejecutiva, legislativa y judicial del Estado y sustituci?n de las mismas por un Consejo de la Comuna. *** Algunos compa?eros han estado trabajando en la conformaci?n de un Frente con la intenci?n de asumir el poder del Estado, en el cual convergen los agentes sociales del capital, representantes y defensores de la ?democracia representativa?, la ?democracia popular?, de la peque?a propiedad, reformistas que est?n fuera del poder del Estado. Han estado intentando instaurar un ?poder popular?, el cual es una negaci?n del poder efectivo y desp?tico del proletariado revolucionario. Nuestro concepto de socialismo est? determinado por el contenido revolucionario del primer Manifiesto del Partido Comunista redactado en 1847, es decir que remite directamente a la elaboraci?n te?rica de Karl Marx, The Civil War in France, en Political Writings, vol.3 Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974, P?g. 212, independiente de la posibilidad de que surja un movimiento que no est? normado por la teor?a comunista en sus inicios, aunque para el te?rico burgu?s ?nuestras ideas han sido superadas por el levantamiento?, aunque se nos tilde de desfasados que queremos instaurar la dictadura social del proletariado, nosotros hacemos el intento de ayudar al proletariado que est? despertando a reconocer el contenido revolucionario de su programa en el mismo acto de la insurrecci?n. Se trata, como vanguardia comunista, es decir como cultura proletaria, de indicar el camino que tiene que forjar el proletariado si quiere despojarse del yugo del capital. Y es que al colocarnos en el terreno de las luchas cotidianas contra el capital, logramos tener una idea m?s exacta del pulso de la revoluci?n comunista. Nuestros seguidores podr?n continuar en todas partes del mundo la pasi?n indomable de la revoluci?n social. (Ver la cita de Bakunin presentada por F. Bruphacher en Marx and Bakunin, Munich: Die Aktin, 1922, P?gs. 101-102) Para las minor?as revolucionarias lo importante sigue siendo la naturaleza comunista de su pr?ctica cotidiana con el objetivo de impulsar al proletariado hacia posiciones radicales sin ning?n tipo de mediaciones o ?t?cticas?. Por ejemplo, los j?venes ?m?dicos? que est?n organizados en el Colegio M?dico Dominicano deben romper con esa estructura sindical y negarse a volver al trabajo en esas condiciones, crear n?cleos de trabajadores de la medicina como ?rganos de la nueva estructura de salud de la sociedad socialista, y todos nosotros debemos apoyarle en las calles. ?Que expresen su rabia enfrent?ndose contra la polic?a y alzando barricadas! Los ?estudiantes? de secundaria deben sumarse a la lucha callejera en todo el pa?s, quemar los Colegios privados y todas las estructuras del Estado que encuentren a su paso. ?Incendiarlo todo! ?Ubicar y matar a funcionarios! ?Quemar los hoteles! ?Destruir y saquear mansiones! ?Destruir y saquear supermercados! ?Atacar y destruir destacamentos y fortalezas! En el marco de ese movimiento los soldados tienen que desertar y unirse a los manifestantes portando sus armas y municiones para enfrentar la miseria que sacude a todo el proletariado y a su representante principal: Leonel Fern?ndez. No se trata de que nuestro movimiento se conforme con la destituci?n de ese agente social de la burgues?a, las relaciones de explotaci?n no se suprimen con la renuncia y/o derrocamiento de se?or Presidente de la rama Ejecutiva, su renuncia no cambiar? en nada este circo social; eso no har?a avanzar nunca nuestro movimiento ni transformar nuestra condici?n de proletarios, de explotados. Al contrario, los cambios de gobernantes es una medida que consuela a muchos proletarios en lucha, que parecen conformarse con una lavada de cara del Estado. El caso Evo Morales en Bolivia es un claro ejemplo. (Ver ?Luchas proletarias en Guinea Conakry?, Comunismo, Febrero 2008 No. 57) Lo esencial de la tentativa que impulsan los compa?eros de Los Alcarizos es la naturaleza de su pr?ctica que tiende a destruir el capital y su sociedad, entroncando con otras tentativas en la escala internacional. Asistimos a otro intento del proletariado revolucionario por estampar en la historia del movimiento comunista que conduce a la instauraci?n de su dictadura social, poder efectivo y directo, y los efectos positivos para nosotros que sin lugar a errores producir? dicho movimiento en toda Am?rica Latina y el Caribe, y destruir la Rep?blica. Estamos hablando de la segunda tentativa en Am?rica, recuerden que en la Patagonia se produjeron acciones proletarias en el marco de la Ola de Acci?n Proletaria de 1917-1923, y la de hoy requiere superar las debilidades de aquel intento, centralizando las fuerzas revolucionarias para generalizar su acci?n. Ello no quiere decir que nos vamos a sentar a observar a estos hijos de puta acumular capital y reducir el salario real. No. Debemos prepararnos para interrumpir el maldito proceso electoral con un ataque militar sorpresa y combinado que logre despertar a la masa proletaria en un combate de larga duraci?n afuera y contra las elecciones. Recordemos que todos los trabajadores conscientes de pertenecer a un proyecto social comunista reconocieron en el movimiento revolucionario iniciado en Francia la necesidad de liquidar a su enemigo hist?rico ?no solo en Par?s pero en todo el mundo?. (Paul Mattick, Reform or Revolution). Dice Mattick que por esa raz?n Marx describi? la Comuna ?como un gobierno esencialmente de los trabajadores y como ?la forma pol?tica, al fin descubierta, bajo la cual alcanzar la emancipaci?n econ?mica del trabajo, porque, como argument?, ?la dictadura pol?tica del productor no puede coexistir con la perturbaci?n de su esclavitud social. La Comuna fue entonces a servir de palanca para desenterrar el fundamento econ?mico sobre los cuales descansan la existencia de las clases, y entonces la dominaci?n de clase?. (The Civil War in France). Tambi?n nosotros hoy al leer cr?ticamente la experiencia hist?rica real de nuestro movimiento estamos conscientes que desde sus propios inicios el movimiento ?comunista? que hemos estado impulsando es falso, y por ello lo hemos negado e invitamos a todos los proletarios en Am?rica Latina, el Caribe y el Mundo a dar el salto cualitativo que hemos efectuado, a retomar el contenido revolucionario del primer Manifiesto del Partido Comunista y desenmascarar, como lo hace nuestro grupo al ubicar en el campo burgu?s al denominado ?Grupo Comunista Revolucionario Internacionalista?, en el marco de las Luchas proletarias en Guinea Conakry; ello demuestra que si importa compa?ero ?Duarte? deslindar los campos!!! Estamos convencidos de que existe dispersi?n, debilidad num?rica, que es tambi?n pol?tica, de las fuerzas comunistas y por eso estamos intentando ayudar a centralizar las fuerzas dispersas para generalizar su acci?n. Las propias necesidades de las masas proletarias que hoy se encuentran atrapadas en estructuras que no les pertenecen, se ver?n obligadas a dibujar una l?nea divisora donde dejaran las formas inadecuadas que obstaculizan el flujo contradictorio de sus luchas hasta la abolici?n de su propia condici?n de clase. Lo importante sigue siendo la lucha de clases, la multiplicidad de interpretaciones de los intereses involucrados en la construcci?n de una sociedad nueva y de aquellos que solo quieren reformarla. Desde nuestro punto de vista, siguiendo la interpretaci?n de Marx de las fuerzas que impulsaban la expansi?n de la Comuna en la escala internacional, los N?cleos de Trabajadores Revolucionarios que estamos creando son una forma pol?tica expansiva del proletariado mundial con la intenci?n de imponer la Comuna. En la actualidad lo que a nuestro grupo le interesa son los elementos cualitativos del movimiento proletario que podr?an servir, y de hecho afirman las luchas del proletariado internacional contra el capital. Y esos elementos cualitativos deben, llegado el momento pol?tico oportuno, expandir su pr?ctica por todos los rincones de la sociedad burguesa con la intenci?n de destruir su naturaleza. En cuanto a la t?cnica requerida y usada hist?ricamente por la estructura proletaria en su marcha para romper el Estado capitalista, desde muy temprano durante los a?os de la d?cada del 1920, la vanguardia comunista en la escala mundial ha asumido el centralismo org?nico normado por el contenido revolucionario de su programa hist?rico, en torno al cual se agrupan inicialmente los militantes mas conscientes para constituir una cultura proletaria y ayudar a alcanzar el ejercicio efectivo del poder proletario. En este sentido los n?cleos de trabajadores vienen a servir de ?modelo? en este momento para los pa?ses de menor acumulaci?n capitalista y otros centros industriales en diferentes latitudes del globo terr?queo. Si logramos instalar el r?gimen comunal en Santo Domingo y otros centros industriales, los dem?s centros industriales tendr?n que ceder el paso a los productores directos. Acotaci?n: Las fuerzas que impulsaban la Comuna cometieron el error de desmontar la dictadura social del proletariado antes de que la misma se expandiere a Estados de menor acumulaci?n capitalista, que era la concepci?n dominante en la Primera Internacional, a partir de lo plasmado en el primer Manifiesto del Partido Comunista de 1847, indicando que hab?a que apoderarse del conjunto de aparatos que conforman esa m?quina y sustituirlos por una Militia, con un t?rmino de servicio extremadamente reducido. Lo cual es insuficiente pues hab?a que seguir las indicaciones te?ricas de Arthur Arnould, quien consideraba desde entonces que el Estado es la negaci?n misma de los derechos de los ciudadanos. Oigamos lo que dice Arthur Arnould al respecto: ?Qu? es lo que yo he dicho siempre? Que el Estado era la negaci?n misma de los derechos de los ciudadanos, que eso que se llama gobierno, parlamentario o no, solo representa la dictadura del Estado, que toda libertad era vana, ilusoria, mientras que el Estado estuviese ah?, dado que el mismo no puede permitir, soportar ninguna de ellas. Algunos necios no dejaron de pretender que yo exageraba, y que nada era m?s f?cil que conciliar el fuego y el agua, el poder y la libertad, el Estado y la democracia, la centralizaci?n y la autonom?a, la unidad y el gobierno directo. ( ) Mientras el Estado subsista pues, no esper?is nada. Siguiendo esa idea desde la Comuna de Paris le planteamos al se?or Isa Conde, ex-secretario general del Partido ?Comunista? Dominicano (PCD), la necesidad hist?rica de destruir todo el aparato militar, para sustituirlo por un Ejercito Insurreccional Revolucionario, se neg? a aceptar esta idea central del programa comunista. Y contin?an todos los lamentos y las criticas (que) son siempre las mismas, sea cual fuese la forma de gobierno que preside nuestros destinos, y que, a excepci?n de los nuevos advenedizos, los descontentos son siempre los mismos y se reclutan en las mismas categor?as sociales. (?El Estado y la Revoluci?n? de Arthur Arnould, 1877). Como ustedes pueden ver, la idea de destruir el Estado ya era expresada por los protagonistas inmediatos de la Comuna de Paris, es decir que constatamos que la idea ya era una expresi?n consciente de los mismos protagonistas. Al hacer una lectura diferenciada nos damos cuenta de las debilidades te?ricas del primer Manifiesto en torno a la cuesti?n del Estado. El Consejo de la Comuna que proponemos instaurar en Santo Domingo es parte del proceso mundial de la revoluci?n proletaria anunciada en ese documento hist?rico y tiene que impulsar la producci?n, distribuci?n y consumo de los productos producidos de acuerdo a las necesidades de las comunidades, las cuales determinan las prioridades del Plan de Acci?n Comunitaria. Estamos hablando de una producci?n directamente social. El Consejo de la Comuna tiene que indicar, a partir de las condiciones y necesidades econ?micas y sociales de las comunidades que cantidad de alimentos es necesario producir, es decir que el consumo y la distribuci?n son determinados directamente por la producci?n social dando al traste con la crisis que produce el acto de separaci?n de la compra y la venta de mercanc?as en el mercado capitalista. En cuanto a el aumento de miembros de los ?rganos de administraci?n directa de las cosas, ellos surgir?n de la propia din?mica del Proceso revolucionario, de manera espont?nea se sumaran para consolidar las Comunas existentes y crear otras nuevas. No habr? necesidad de Asambleas Populares pues las propias condiciones econ?micas de las comunidades determinan el Plan Social Comunista. Dicho de otro modo, en cada Provincia tiene que existir un N?cleo de Trabajadores cuyo Plan Econ?mico y Social estar? determinado por las necesidades de las comunidades, lo cual garantiza la erradicaci?n de las mismas a corto plazo; pero en esta fase del proceso los N T R tienen la tarea de preparar el levantamiento del proletariado para instaurar su dictadura social revolucionaria. Estamos hablando del ataque militar sorpresa y combinado que har? surgir el Consejo de la Comuna, representaci?n proporcional de las comunidades. Lo importante y determinante sigue siendo el papel hist?rico asignado a la vanguardia del movimiento proletario, los N T Rs: destruir todos los vestigios del capital y tendencialmente su propia extinci?n como clase revolucionaria, su condici?n de proletarios. Los agentes responsables de la administraci?n de las cosas estar?n sujetos al centralismo org?nico del Partido que ha emergido espont?neamente de las luchas econ?micas contra el capital. Desde luego que existe la posibilidad de que durante los primeros momentos del proceso revolucionario las fuerzas que impulsan la Comuna tengan que hacer uso de algunos agentes burgueses que por su condici?n e involucramiento con los intereses de las comunidades se han ganado funciones importantes en el gobierno central, pero inmediatamente den muestra de no representar los intereses econ?micos inmediatos de las comunidades ser?n sustituidos. En cuanto a la unidad de la Naci?n a trav?s de la Constituci?n, ser? rota por la organizaci?n de las Comunas y la destrucci?n de su Estado que mantiene esa unidad parasitaria (The Civil War). ?Es nuestro plan viable? No tenemos ninguna intenci?n de repetir formas pol?ticas que ya han sido superadas por la historia de las tentativas revolucionarias en la escala internacional. Tampoco vamos a sentarnos en un cuarto fri? a redactar la ?Plataforma del Futuro? pues el futuro es ahora: la necesidad de destruir forma de vida social moribunda. Por eso vemos en la restauraci?n y desarrollo cualitativo de la forma comunal destruida por la ?revoluci?n francesa? la v?a id?nea para romper el poder de la burgues?a que desde entonces nos ha impuesto su paz social y guerra econ?mica. En su carta a Domela Nienwenhuis Marx deja claro su concepci?n de la tentativa revolucionaria de 1871 argumentando que a pesar de que la lucha hab?a sido imposible, fue instructiva al se?alar la necesidad de la dictadura proletaria para romper el poder del Estado de la burgues?a. No reconoce a la revoluci?n ?comunista? en un ?levantamiento de una sola ciudad bajo condiciones muy especiales?. Por eso Mattick considera la interpretaci?n que hace Lenin de las ideas de Marx en torno a la Comuna, como ?un modelo para la construcci?n de un ?Estado? comunista, incorrecta. De ning?n modo se trata de un ?Estado? comunista, el que el proletariado tiene que construir, sino una sociedad comunista. Su objetivo real no es otro Estado, federalista o centralista, democr?tico o dictatorial, sino una sociedad sin clases y abolici?n del Estado?. (Reform or Revolution) En las comunidades de las islas del Caribe Latinoamericano tambi?n se encuentran militantes que hemos heredado una interpretaci?n de los eventos hist?ricos producidos por nuestra clase, diferente a como verdaderamente sucedieron, por ejemplo, y en relaci?n a la lectura realizada por Lenin, Paul Mattick argumenta que ?sus descripciones est?n dirigidas mas a la receptividad emocional del proletariado que a su necesidad de veracidad?. De ah? que considere que cuando Lenin concibe la tentativa revolucionaria rusa ?como una emulaci?n de la Comuna de Paris, ?l estaba apelando a una Comuna mitol?gica, no a su car?cter actual?. ?Por suerte Marx y Engels estaban muertos y no pod?an responder! De lo anterior se desprende que hay que tener cuidado al leer la obra de Lenin y la concepci?n del Estado que adelanta en su panfleto del mismo nombre, 40 a?os despu?s que fuera publicada la obra de Arthur Arnould con el mismo nombre; porque para nosotros el problema de la revoluci?n comunista es una cuesti?n social mundial y no est? determinada por las condiciones particulares de este o aquel ?Estado Nacional?, a pesar de las afirmaciones te?ricas correctas que aparecen en el citado panfleto. Mas todav?a, no todos los enunciados de Marx y Engels son correctos, hay adem?s muchas debilidades te?ricas. Una lectura cr?tica de los trabajos de Lenin podr?a demostrar que ?l no hizo ninguna contribuci?n te?rica en el reino de la teor?a comunista. A pesar de que repite con mas claridad la tesis ?de? Marx en torno a la necesidad hist?rica de romper, demoler, destruir el Estado, tambi?n considera la ?dominaci?n pol?tica de los productores? incorporada en el nuevo Estado que emerge de la revoluci?n comunista, el cual servir? despu?s como veh?culo del proceso de socializaci?n. Se trata de una negaci?n de la capacidad independiente del proletariado para hacer su propia revoluci?n, para no hablar de construir el comunismo. Peor todav?a, Lenin afirma en el panfleto citado la habilidad que tiene el proletariado para construir la aut?ntica sociedad democr?tica y administrar su propia producci?n bajo un sistema de distribuci?n ?comunista?: ?La cultura capitalista?, escribe Lenin, ?ha creado la producci?n a gran escala (simplificando la mayor?a de las funciones) del ?viejo poder del Estado? (reduci?ndolo) a simple operaciones de registro ( ). En consecuencia, ?todos los funcionarios, sin excepci?n ser?n elegidos y sujetos de revocaci?n en cualquier momento, sus salarios reducidos al m?nimo?estas simples y evidentes medidas democr?ticas, mientras unifican completamente los intereses de los trabajadores y la mayor?a de los campesinos, al mismo tiempo sirven como un puente que nos conduce del capitalismo al socialismo?. La ?administraci?n obrera? del Estado y la transici?n del capitalismo al socialismo heredada de la social democracia pasan a jugar el papel determinante en la concepci?n asumida por Lenin del Estado; de ah? que ?ste ?ltimo administre las relaciones de producci?n y distribuci?n. En cuanto a la estructura econ?mica de la sociedad, o lo que es com?nmente conocido como ?econom?a nacional?, recomienda ?organizarla? a imagen y semejanza de uno de los aparatos del Estado, pone como ejemplo, el aparato de correo. Peor, guarda silencio en torno a la necesidad hist?rica de destruir el sistema de trabajo asalariado; aunque habla de nivelar los salarios, ?todo bajo el control y direcci?n del proletariado armado?este es nuestro objetivo inmediato. Este es el tipo de Estado y base econ?mica que necesitamos. Todos los ciudadanos son transformados en empleados asalariados del Estado . Toda la sociedad se convierte en una oficina y una factor?a con pago igual y trabajo igual?. Al leer de nuevo a Lenin nos damos cuenta de que es necesario y urgente romper con esa concepci?n del Estado y la Revoluci?n Comunista de un modo definitivo. La ?econom?a nacional? no debe ser ?organizada como el sistema postal? sino destruida; y la organizaci?n comunista de la producci?n es una funci?n de las comunas y/o organizaciones sociales que surgen antes y durante el proceso revolucionario, para eliminar las funciones de la dictadura proletaria liquid?ndola. La lectura que Lenin nos presenta de la ?desaparici?n del Estado? es una desviaci?n de la tesis comunista que asigna la desaparici?n del Estado al proceso de socializaci?n. En su panfleto se afirma que es el propio ?Estado proletario? el que inspira el proceso de socializaci?n. El ?Estado proletario tiene que gobernar para que la gran mayor?a ?aprenda? como gobernar el Estado!! ?La modernizaci?n del Estado! Forjar nuestro propio camino tambi?n pasa por destruir todos los mitos existentes antes de derrocar el poder de la burgues?a dominicana que ha instaurado al PLD para que administre la rama Ejecutiva del Estado. Esa tarea tiene que ser asumida por el proletariado revolucionario, destruir la sociedad actual. Los obreros revolucionarios estamos en capacidad de organizar una sociedad nueva nosotros mismos. Finalmente esperamos que este ensayo sirva para una discusi?n te?rica profunda en torno a las relaciones entre el Estado y la Revoluci?n Proletaria. Tenemos la m?s absoluta confianza en que el proletariado mundial romper? las cadenas que lo atan a estructuras que no le pertenecen. Sabemos que no necesitamos ser ?educados? para despojarnos del yugo del capital. ?Apoye al proletariado insurrecto en Irak! ?Basta de control y manipulaci?n ideol?gica! ?Trabajemos la revoluci?n comunista! ?Forjar nuestro propio Camino! ?Por un ataque militar contra la burgues?a! N?cleo Comunista --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 07:56:09 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 09:56:09 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: References: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <48281438.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> No it doesn't. The discussion of socalled "rigthbrain/ leftbrain " aries outside Black nationalist discusision. >>> Ralph Dumain 05/10/2008 9:55 PM >>> Actually, all this means is that Wright is just another crackpot black cultural nationalist, a typical obscurantist mediocrity produced by black nationalism. It's bad enough to be a preacher, but to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so impressed by him. At 05:35 PM 5/10/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed >linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old >"left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy >was "subject thinking" /object thinking". > >As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to >"object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. > >subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic >thinking > >(Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a >salute greeting) > >picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with >other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly >developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves >using something to represent something that it is not , an object or >something outside something else represents something that it is not. >The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are >not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's >deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy >textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand >"imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not >different , than what they represent. > >The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally >it was speaking, but at any rate through language. > >Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" >thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn >by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals >(subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put >it. >I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to >"objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another >subject as imitating another person type thinking. > >Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) >between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, >picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 07:58:17 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 09:58:17 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: References: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <482814B8.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> The United Church of Christ is a not a Black church. Nationally it is a "white' or at least integrated church. It is not even a traditionaly Black church like African Methodist Episcopal or AME Zion, or the Black Paptist denominations. >>> Ralph Dumain 05/10/2008 9:55 PM >>> Actually, all this means is that Wright is just another crackpot black cultural nationalist, a typical obscurantist mediocrity produced by black nationalism. It's bad enough to be a preacher, but to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so impressed by him. At 05:35 PM 5/10/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed >linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old >"left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy >was "subject thinking" /object thinking". > >As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to >"object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. > >subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic >thinking > >(Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a >salute greeting) > >picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with >other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly >developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves >using something to represent something that it is not , an object or >something outside something else represents something that it is not. >The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are >not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's >deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy >textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand >"imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not >different , than what they represent. > >The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally >it was speaking, but at any rate through language. > >Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" >thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn >by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals >(subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put >it. >I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to >"objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another >subject as imitating another person type thinking. > >Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) >between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, >picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 07:59:06 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 09:59:06 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: References: <4825EADB.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <482814E9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> I'd say your calling this ignorant is evidence of your ignorance. >>> Ralph Dumain 05/10/2008 9:55 PM >>> Actually, all this means is that Wright is just another crackpot black cultural nationalist, a typical obscurantist mediocrity produced by black nationalism. It's bad enough to be a preacher, but to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so impressed by him. At 05:35 PM 5/10/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed >linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old >"left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy >was "subject thinking" /object thinking". > >As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to >"object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. > >subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic >thinking > >(Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a >salute greeting) > >picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with >other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly >developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves >using something to represent something that it is not , an object or >something outside something else represents something that it is not. >The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are >not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's >deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy >textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand >"imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not >different , than what they represent. > >The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally >it was speaking, but at any rate through language. > >Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" >thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn >by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals >(subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put >it. >I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to >"objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another >subject as imitating another person type thinking. > >Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) >between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, >picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 09:12:13 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 11:12:13 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Crafty post headings of slanderous innuendo Message-ID: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> "Crafty" is a crafty post heading here, continuing overworked effort to impute bad motives to pretty boy Barry. This continues a strange focus on spinning everything about Barry as sinister, especially strange wihtou t a word about Clinton's now gross efforts to get whites to vote on racism. Charles Barack Obama's crafty rise >>> Doug Henwood THE LONG RUN Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side by JO BECKER and CHRISTOPHER DREW In August 1999, Barack Obama strolled amid the floats and bands This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 09:14:03 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 11:14:03 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wright and "leftbrain /rightbrain" In-Reply-To: <409459.68092.qm@web35503.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <409459.68092.qm@web35503.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <4828267A.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> What's bullshit ? What's your evidene tthat thought doesn't involve symbolic vs imitative thinkiing >>> juan De La Cruz 05/11/2008 8:10 AM >>> you're right, it's just that: bullshit!!! Ralph Dumain wrote: Actually, all this means is that Wright is just another crackpot black cultural nationalist, a typical obscurantist mediocrity produced by black nationalism. It's bad enough to be a preacher, but to peddle this ignorant bullshit makes one wonder why Obama was so impressed by him. At 05:35 PM 5/10/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >In his talk to the Detroit NAACP dinner , Rev. Wright discussed >linguistics (Black and Standard English) . He mentioned the old >"left-brain/rightbrain" thingy from about 30 years ago. His dichotomy >was "subject thinking" /object thinking". > >As I thought about it later, this could be "subject thinking" is to >"object thinking" as imitative thinking is to symbolic thinking. > >subject thinking : object thinking :: imitative thinking; symbolic >thinking > >(Actually thought of the latter when a little boy imitated me with a >salute greeting) > >picture or imtiative thinking is one function ( we share that with >other species;"monkey see monkey do"). Symbolic thinking as highly >developed as our's is ,is unique to humans. Symbolic thinking involves >using something to represent something that it is not , an object or >something outside something else represents something that it is not. >The marks on a page 'dog" are identified with something that they are >not identical to, an actual dog. ( See anthropologist Leslie white's >deinition of "symbol" in this regard; see any elementary anthroplogy >textbook. Picture thinking or representations on the otherhand >"imitate: or similate what they represent. They are similar, not >different , than what they represent. > >The prime example of the most objective thinking is writing. originally >it was speaking, but at any rate through language. > >Wright actually referred to "learning styles". His "subjective" >thinking involved learners who sympathize with the teacher. They learn >by thinking in terms of "subjects" or imitating other human individuals >(subjects). The other learning style is through "objects" as, Wright put >it. >I then made the "mental slide" from thinking though objects to >"objective thinking". Then I though of sympathizing with another >subject as imitating another person type thinking. > >Anyway, it was an update and connection ( in my frontal lobes ; smile) >between that old ideas of rightbrain/leftbrain, subject/object, >picturethinking/wordthinking, imitate/symbol. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From dhenwood at panix.com Mon May 12 09:20:32 2008 From: dhenwood at panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 11:20:32 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Crafty post headings of slanderous innuendo In-Reply-To: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> On May 12, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > "Crafty" is a crafty post heading here, continuing overworked > effort to > impute bad motives to pretty boy Barry. This continues a strange > focus > on spinning everything about Barry as sinister, especially strange > wihtou t a word about Clinton's now gross efforts to get whites to > vote > on racism. Yawn. Clinton is as revolting as her husband. I don't know why you have to have that repeated endlessly. I don't think anyone seriously on the left needs to say that. There are people on the left, some of them even serious people, who are drunk with illusions about Obama. This article reveals that he's been planning his rise for more than a decade. Everything he's said over that period went through the filter of his ambition. Of course there are many crafty politicians who've done just the same - e.g., Bill Clinton. But that's just the point. Obama's a crafy politician who's managed to convince many people - more through their own efforts than his, actually - that he's more than that. Doug From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 09:21:48 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 11:21:48 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Crafty post headings of slanderous innuendo In-Reply-To: <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> References: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> Message-ID: <4828284B.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Doug Henwood 05/12/2008 11:20 AM >>> On May 12, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > "Crafty" is a crafty post heading here, continuing overworked > effort to > impute bad motives to pretty boy Barry. This continues a strange > focus > on spinning everything about Barry as sinister, especially strange > wihtou t a word about Clinton's now gross efforts to get whites to > vote > on racism. Yawn. ^^^^ zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Clinton is as revolting as her husband. I don't know why you have to have that repeated endlessly. I don't think anyone seriously on the left needs to say that. There are people on the left, some of them even serious people, who are drunk with illusions about Obama. This article reveals that he's been planning his rise for more than a decade. Everything he's said over that period went through the filter of his ambition. Of course there are many crafty politicians who've done just the same - e.g., Bill Clinton. But that's just the point. Obama's a crafy politician who's managed to convince many people - more through their own efforts than his, actually - that he's more than that. Doug _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 10:09:59 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 12:09:59 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Crafty post headings of slanderous innuendo In-Reply-To: <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> References: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> Message-ID: <48283397.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Doug Henwood 05/12/2008 11:20 AM >>> On May 12, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > "Crafty" is a crafty post heading here, continuing overworked > effort to > impute bad motives to pretty boy Barry. This continues a strange > focus > on spinning everything about Barry as sinister, especially strange > wihtou t a word about Clinton's now gross efforts to get whites to > vote > on racism. Yawn. ^^^^ What a dull response. puts me to sleep ^^^^ Clinton is as revolting as her husband. I don't know why you have to have that repeated endlessly &&&& We get your point on Barry. There's no point to repeat ad nauseum your personal dislike of Barry, putting a strained spin on every last article you can find about him. You have a kind of irrational anti=exuberance about him that mirrors the irrational exuberance you claim his supporters have. It's really getting to be strange . But for you to ignore the context of Clinton just coming out with gross appeals for votes based on racism is just yawning/sleepyheaded thinking on your part. Without distancing yourself from Clinton, while constantly taking shots at Barry, leaves open the obvious and logical implication that you are supporting Clinton. Yes, in this context ,you have some obligation to say "no , I'm not supporting Clinton's appeals to racism. " You are acting like you are in some privileged world outside what's happening now In this climate, attacks on Obama are looically interpreted as syonymous with support for Clinton . You can't abstract your comments from the contest between them raging in front of everybody. That would be like pretending like you wouldn't be linked with Reagan in 1980 if you started making critical statements about Carter, and said nothing against Reagan. Get real. ^^^^^ . I don't think anyone seriously on the left needs to say that. ^^^^^^^ Yes, they do in this concrete context. Clinton and Barry are necessarily connected in this sense until the nomination is over: statements against Barry, are statements for Clinton. Anybody who is not in a daze would interpret them that way until the contest between them is over To act otherwise is to assume some kind of privilege. ^^^ There are people on the left, some of them even serious people, who are drunk with illusions about Obama. ^^^^^ Get the ___ out of here. Name one. How are you gging to be in an argument with Mack or Julio or Shane on Barry, and start saying "some on the left are drunk with illusions about Barry". That is a crafty way of saying" Max, you are drunk with illusions about Obama." That is crafty slanderous innuendo, and bold insult. You are the one who is acting drunk to think you can keep talking about the mania of some left supporters of Barry without people being legitimately insulted. How are you going to claim the people you have been arguing with are "drunk with illusions". That is straight up _ ad hominem_ argument on your part. It is an unveiled insult on the intelligence of your opponents in argument, for which you should be cussed out. And at the same time, you say nothing about Clinton's gross appeal to racism. Even Bob Herbert, a liberal, had to just frankly call her out like you never see in the NYT . That's how bad it has gotten. This article reveals that he's been planning his rise for more than a decade. ^^^^^ So what ? What is wrong with him planning to "rise" ? It's quite strange that you think there is something wrong with him trying to rise. What is your excuse for characterizing Barry's desire to hold high office as sinister ? That is down right bizarre. Secondly, when did Barry or anybody else claim that he accidently fell into running for Mayor or President, or that the idea just occurred to him more recently than ten years ago ? What a strawman you are attacking: the Barry Obama who never wanted to be President. ^^^^^^^^ Everything he's said over that period went through the filter of his ambition. ^^^^^ You haven't established that having ambition is bad. I'm sure Chavez had ambition. He led a coup many years before he was elected. Lenin had ambition. Lincoln had ambition. Fidel Castro had ambition. You seem to have a misunderstanding that radicals or progressives aren't supposed to have ambition. No revolutionary or radical would ever achieve anything if they didn't have ambition. What is the theory that revolutionaries just fall into leading revolutions with total humility and self-denigration ^^^^ Of course there are many crafty politicians who've done just the same - e.g., Bill Clinton. But that's just the point. Obama's a crafy politician who's managed to convince many people - more through their own efforts than his, actually - that he's more than that. Doug ^^^^^ The notion that radical or progressive leaders shouldn't have ambition is absurd. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Mon May 12 14:33:06 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 15:33:06 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Crafty post headings of slanderous innuendo In-Reply-To: <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> References: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> Message-ID: This New York TImes article, if it's an accurate picture, helps tremendously to clarify what's going on here: May 11, 2008 The Long Run Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side By JO BECKER and CHRISTOPHER DREW http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/us/politics/11chicago.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1210618963-wVEjdvgs7H0l8FzL/m/wfA&pagewanted=print I think much can be learned from Obama's maneuvers, including an explanation of why he is so well respected among his peers. Indeed, his skill at stabilizing competing interests to get something done with which everyone he deals with is willing to live is something the bourgeoisie could definitely use at this unstable moment in American history. Perhaps this also explains why Jeremiah Wright deliberately sabotaged Obama's candidacy. Chicago politics, man. "I'm a player, and I'm playing in the sunshine . . . " This doesn't change my opinion of Obama, or make him look any worse or better than what I thought of him before. As far as bourgeois politicians go, it seems we could do a lot worse as well as a little better. The only problem here is the illusions that so many progressives have about Obama that clouds their judgment and gets them excited about secondary issues. In this respect they mirror the unintelligence of the general American public. The past week I've been doing what I never do, examining huge piles of blogorrhea, and it's obvious how utterly confused and mentally undisciplined most of the progressive community is. The problem with mainstream critiques of Obama is the racial double standard. So Obama is a conniving politician: what else is new? Why is a black conniving politician worse than a white one? Why worry about Obama's phoniness and exculpate Hillary's, or the biggest phony of them all, Bill Clinton? Perhaps the best thing to come out of this campaign is the humiliation of the Clintons, especially to see Bill--our first black president--lose his charm and sink to the lowest level of race baiting. Pretty soon he will be Clarence Thomas's drinking buddy. The one remaining spotlight to be shown is not white people's racist double standard, all too obvious, but their brain-dead loyalty to Clinton. If you're going to be consistently prejudiced, you have to have an equivalence with which to measure your bias. That is, weigh a dishonest Clinton against a dishonest Obama, and choose the lesser of two evils. But the fact is, both whites and blacks have been taken in by the Clintons--and both groups stand condemned for their lack of judgment. At the very least, they both could have voted for Edwards. What's the world coming to when a southern white man can't get any play? At 10:20 AM 5/12/2008, Doug Henwood wrote: >On May 12, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > > "Crafty" is a crafty post heading here, continuing overworked > > effort to > > impute bad motives to pretty boy Barry. This continues a strange > > focus > > on spinning everything about Barry as sinister, especially strange > > wihtou t a word about Clinton's now gross efforts to get whites to > > vote > > on racism. > >Yawn. > >Clinton is as revolting as her husband. I don't know why you have to >have that repeated endlessly. I don't think anyone seriously on the >left needs to say that. There are people on the left, some of them >even serious people, who are drunk with illusions about Obama. This >article reveals that he's been planning his rise for more than a >decade. Everything he's said over that period went through the filter >of his ambition. Of course there are many crafty politicians who've >done just the same - e.g., Bill Clinton. But that's just the point. >Obama's a crafy politician who's managed to convince many people - >more through their own efforts than his, actually - that he's more >than that. > >Doug > >____ From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 16:30:30 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 18:30:30 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Critique of Clinton Message-ID: <48288CC7.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/opinion/10herbert.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Seeds of Destruction DiggFacebookMixxYahoo! BuzzPermalink By BOB HERBERT Published: May 10, 2008 The Clintons have never understood how to exit the stage gracefully. Skip to next paragraph Go to Columnist Page ? Their repertoire has always been deficient in grace and class. So there was Hillary Clinton cold-bloodedly asserting to USA Today that she was the candidate favored by ?hard-working Americans, white Americans,? and that her opponent, Barack Obama, the black candidate, just can?t cut it with that crowd. ?There?s a pattern emerging here,? said Mrs. Clinton. There is, indeed. There was a name for it when the Republicans were using that kind of lousy rhetoric to good effect: it was called the Southern strategy, although it was hardly limited to the South. Now the Clintons, in their desperation to find some way - any way - back to the White House, have leapt aboard that sorry train. He can?t win! Don?t you understand? He?s black! He?s black! The Clintons have been trying to embed that gruesomely destructive message in the brains of white voters and superdelegates for the longest time. It?s a grotesque insult to African-Americans, who have given so much support to both Bill and Hillary over the years. (Representative Charles Rangel of New York, who is black and has been an absolutely unwavering supporter of Senator Clinton?s White House quest, told The Daily News: ?I can?t believe Senator Clinton would say anything that dumb.?) But it?s an insult to white voters as well, including white working-class voters. It?s true that there are some whites who will not vote for a black candidate under any circumstance. But the United States is in a much better place now than it was when people like Richard Nixon, George Wallace and many others could make political hay by appealing to the very worst in people, using the kind of poisonous rhetoric that Senator Clinton is using now. I don?t know if Senator Obama can win the White House. No one knows. But to deliberately convey the idea that most white people - or most working-class white people - are unwilling to give an African-American candidate a fair hearing in a presidential election is a slur against whites. The last time the Clintons had to make a big exit was at the end of Bill Clinton?s second term as president - and they made a complete and utter hash of that historic moment. Having survived the Monica Lewinsky ordeal, you might have thought the Clintons would be on their best behavior. Instead, a huge scandal erupted when it became known that Mrs. Clinton?s brothers, Tony and Hugh Rodham, had lobbied the president on behalf of criminals who then received presidential pardons or a sentence commutation from Mr. Clinton. Tony Rodham helped get a pardon for a Tennessee couple that had hired him as a consultant and paid or loaned him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Over the protests of the Justice Department, President Clinton pardoned the couple, Edgar Allen Gregory Jr. and his wife, Vonna Jo, who had been convicted of bank fraud in Alabama. Hugh Rodham was paid $400,000 to lobby for a pardon of Almon Glenn Braswell, who had been convicted of mail fraud and perjury, and for the release from prison of Carlos Vignali, a drug trafficker who was convicted and imprisoned for conspiring to sell 800 pounds of cocaine. Sure enough, in his last hours in office (when he issued a blizzard of pardons, many of them controversial), President Clinton agreed to the pardon for Braswell and the sentence commutation for Vignali. Hugh Rodham reportedly returned the money after the scandal became public and was an enormous political liability for the Clintons. Both Clintons professed to be ignorant of anything improper or untoward regarding the pardons. Once, when asked specifically if she had talked with a deputy White House counsel about pardons, Mrs. Clinton said: ?People would hand me envelopes. I would just pass them on. You know, I would not have any reason to look into them.? It wasn?t just the pardons that sullied the Clintons? exit from the White House. They took furniture and rugs from the White House collection that had to be returned. And they received $86,000 in gifts during the president?s last year in office, including clothing (a pantsuit, a leather jacket), flatware, carpeting, and so on. In response to the outcry over that, they decided to repay the value of the gifts. So class is not a Clinton forte. But it?s one thing to lack class and a sense of grace, quite another to deliberately try and wreck the presidential prospects of your party?s likely nominee - and to do it in a way that has the potential to undermine the substantial racial progress that has been made in this country over many years. The Clintons should be ashamed of themselves. But they long ago proved to the world that they have no shame. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 12 17:12:52 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 19:12:52 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Crafty post headings of slanderous innuendo In-Reply-To: References: <4828260D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> <8A736820-26C9-437E-9C7C-21D18F5F7214@panix.com> Message-ID: <482896B5.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Right, crafty bourgeois newspaper exposes crafty bourgeois politician so radicals can understand what is going on . Why would the bourgeois paper of record help expose all the tricks of the bourgeoisie's rookie of the year for what he really is, blow his cover ? If Obama was being so pragmatic,why even make any contact with someone like Ayers, whose past had to come up at some point. That is certainly an unnecessary risk for an opportunist. How many votes did association with Ayres get him. For that matter, Wright might help in running for Mayor, but Doug says Barry has been planning to run for President for ten years. If he's so smart, how is it that he couldn't see that association with Wright might be a problem in getting large numbers of patriotic white people to support him . It doesn 't add up. Associated with those two was _not_ prragmatic. As is so often the case, a bourgeoisi rag's headline is contradicted by the content of the article. "On the campaign trail, Obama hewed closely to liberal orthodoxy, " in the current monopoly media's language , "liberal orthodoxy" actually means progressive, not liberal. How is it "pragmatic" to be a progressive in Reganite/Bush America , if you are planning to run for president. It's risky, not safe. There's danger that your past will come up when you run. What seems unurual is Barry 's ability to find a position that retains connections to a left ppsition yet somehow doesn't turn off the center. He makes actually existigg left-center connections. See _Working Class USA_ on left=cemter unity. And then prove that they exist in political reality by winning votes at various levels from bills in the legislature , to winning elective office and now close to the Dem nomination. He finds a rational kernel in the center and connects it to the left. How far that can go, we are going to find out. >>> Ralph Dumain 05/12/2008 4:33 PM >>> This New York TImes article, if it's an accurate picture, helps tremendously to clarify what's going on here: May 11, 2008 The Long Run Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side By JO BECKER and CHRISTOPHER DREW http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/us/politics/11chicago.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1210618963-wVEjdvgs7H0l8FzL/m/wfA&pagewanted=print I think much can be learned from Obama's maneuvers, including an explanation of why he is so well respected among his peers. Indeed, his skill at stabilizing competing interests to get something done with which everyone he deals with is willing to live is something the bourgeoisie could definitely use at this unstable moment in American history. Perhaps this also explains why Jeremiah Wright deliberately sabotaged Obama's candidacy. Chicago politics, man. "I'm a player, and I'm playing in the sunshine . . . " This doesn't change my opinion of Obama, or make him look any worse or better than what I thought of him before. As far as bourgeois politicians go, it seems we could do a lot worse as well as a little better. The only problem here is the illusions that so many progressives have about Obama that clouds their judgment and gets them excited about secondary issues. In this respect they mirror the unintelligence of the general American public. The past week I've been doing what I never do, examining huge piles of blogorrhea, and it's obvious how utterly confused and mentally undisciplined most of the progressive community is. The problem with mainstream critiques of Obama is the racial double standard. So Obama is a conniving politician: what else is new? Why is a black conniving politician worse than a white one? Why worry about Obama's phoniness and exculpate Hillary's, or the biggest phony of them all, Bill Clinton? Perhaps the best thing to come out of this campaign is the humiliation of the Clintons, especially to see Bill--our first black president--lose his charm and sink to the lowest level of race baiting. Pretty soon he will be Clarence Thomas's drinking buddy. The one remaining spotlight to be shown is not white people's racist double standard, all too obvious, but their brain-dead loyalty to Clinton. If you're going to be consistently prejudiced, you have to have an equivalence with which to measure your bias. That is, weigh a dishonest Clinton against a dishonest Obama, and choose the lesser of two evils. But the fact is, both whites and blacks have been taken in by the Clintons--and both groups stand condemned for their lack of judgment. At the very least, they both could have voted for Edwards. What's the world coming to when a southern white man can't get any play? At 10:20 AM 5/12/2008, Doug Henwood wrote: >On May 12, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > > "Crafty" is a crafty post heading here, continuing overworked > > effort to > > impute bad motives to pretty boy Barry. This continues a strange > > focus > > on spinning everything about Barry as sinister, especially strange > > wihtou t a word about Clinton's now gross efforts to get whites to > > vote > > on racism. > >Yawn. > >Clinton is as revolting as her husband. I don't know why you have to >have that repeated endlessly. I don't think anyone seriously on the >left needs to say that. There are people on the left, some of them >even serious people, who are drunk with illusions about Obama. This >article reveals that he's been planning his rise for more than a >decade. Everything he's said over that period went through the filter >of his ambition. Of course there are many crafty politicians who've >done just the same - e.g., Bill Clinton. But that's just the point. >Obama's a crafy politician who's managed to convince many people - >more through their own efforts than his, actually - that he's more >than that. > >Doug > >____ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Tue May 13 11:26:26 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 12:26:26 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Electoral Haiku Message-ID: Listened to the worst haiku I ever heard at a poetry reading Friday night, so I was inspired to write my own on the spot. I wrote one about Obama, and another about eating pussy. Here's the political one. Electoral Haiku Presidential pick: For or against Obama? White people squabble. -- R. Dumain, 9 May 2008 _______________ "I ate at the Y!" From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue May 13 14:10:54 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 16:10:54 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Barack Obama, Reverend Wright and Black liberation Message-ID: <4829BD8E.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Barack Obama, Reverend Wright and Black liberation theology By Malik Miah The groundswell of broad support for Barack Obama (both among Blacks and whites) is a phenomenon that deserves a serious analysis and understanding. It cannot be downplayed by passing it through the lens of pure-and-simple lesser-evilism. Some radicals dismiss the mass phenomenon, because Obama is a candidate of a ruling-class party. That simplistic rejection of Obama's campaign and its mass support is sectarian: The issue isn't whether to vote for a Democrat, but rather our response to a development that is having a wide-scale impact. How many times, in state after state, have we ever seen citizens of all races line up for hours to hear an African-American man talk about "hope'', on a platform that is fundamentally no different than his opponents? * Read more This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 14 10:40:03 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 12:40:03 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Critique of Clinton Message-ID: <482ADDA3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Electoral Haiku Ralph Dumain rdumain at autodidactproject.org Tue May 13 11:26:26 MDT 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listened to the worst haiku I ever heard at a poetry reading Friday night, so I was inspired to write my own on the spot. I wrote one about Obama, and another about eating pussy. Here's the political one. Electoral Haiku Presidential pick: For or against Obama? White people squabble. -- R. Dumain, 9 May 2008 _______________ "I ate at the Y!" &&&&& CB: I give this a rave review. (Cherry pie at the Y ?) This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Wed May 14 11:56:32 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 12:56:32 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Critique of Clinton In-Reply-To: <482ADDA3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <482ADDA3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Don't blame me. You asked for it. Y-Haiku Licking her sweet thigh . . . What a snack had in the shade-- I ate at the Y! R. Dumain, 9 May 2008 At 11:40 AM 5/14/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Electoral Haiku >Ralph Dumain rdumain at autodidactproject.org >Tue May 13 11:26:26 MDT 2008 > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Listened to the worst haiku I ever heard at a poetry reading Friday >night, so I was inspired to write my own on the spot. I wrote one >about Obama, and another about eating pussy. Here's the political one. > > Electoral Haiku > >Presidential pick: > For or against Obama? > White people squabble. > >-- R. Dumain, 9 May 2008 > > > >_______________ > >"I ate at the Y!" > >&&&&& > >CB: I give this a rave review. > >(Cherry pie at the Y ?) From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 14 12:42:41 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 14:42:41 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Statement from the steel workers Message-ID: <482AFA61.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> default.htm May 12, 2008 A Special Message from Pittsburgh on the 2008 Presidential Election Campaigns In a recent meeting of the International Executive Board, concerns were raised about the media?s ongoing attempts to sensationalize and mischaracterize the contest between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic Party presidential nominee. Most disturbing have been attempts to define working people?s voting decisions in this contest as somehow racially based, while completely ignoring the fact that for years Senator McCain and many of his Republican colleagues have treated all working people with complete disdain, whether those workers are white, Black, Hispanic or otherwise. Shouldn?t that be the issue for 2008, and not this absurd and unfair focus on race and sometimes on religion? There is a lot of talk that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now fated to lose the Democratic nomination and should pull out of the race. We believe it is her right to stay in the fight and challenge Senator Barack Obama as long as she has the desire and the means to do so. That is the essence of democracy, and of the Democratic Party process. But we believe just as strongly that Mrs. Clinton will be making a terrible mistake ? for herself, her Party and for the nation ? if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing racial undertones. America needs a clean break from eight catastrophic years of George W. Bush, and it needs it now. And so far, Senator John McCain is shaping up as simply the ?Bush Sequel? ? with more war in Iraq, even more tax cuts for the rich while the middle class struggles mightily, and courts packed with even more right-wing activists intent on undoing decades of progress in civil rights, civil liberties and other vital areas. The Democratic Party must field the most effective and vibrant candidate it possibly can. And more attack ads and squabbling will not help achieve that goal. The IEB feels, therefore, that we need to make it absolutely clear to our staff and local leadership that both Democratic candidates would be far superior advocates for the rights of working people and their families than Senator McCain, and to make it equally clear that neither Democrat should urge a choice based on the race or the age of working-class voters. All workers have a common need to be represented better than they have been by George Bush or will be by John McCain, whether he or she is a retiree, a worker in one of our facilities, or one of the fine young men and women fighting right now to protect our nation. It?s bad enough that John McCain?s supporters are already engaged in the politics of divide and conquer, especially if Senator Obama is the Nominee, which now seems likely. These destructive Republican tactics are deeply troubling and completely unfair, as Senator Obama?s grandparents, who raised him during much of his youth, fought in World War II and worked honorably in manufacturing jobs to support their family. And they are deeply troubling because the Senator has pledged his own undying allegiance to our country and to working-class Americans, and because of his outspoken commitment to a vibrant middle class which grows from the bottom up and which recognizes that when it comes to economic policies and trade, American workers must come first. Dividing working people along racial and ethnic lines is the oldest and meanest game in the book, and it is the one the Republicans are already using to distract attention from the fact that Senator McCain has made it abundantly clear that he offers nothing more than a continuation of the Bush administration?s sorry record of relentlessly assaulting the well-being and interests of working people and of our nation?s unions. John McCain is proposing a health care ?plan,? for example, that is a health care industry-driven rehash of the approach that employers have been trying to shove down our throats for years in bargaining ? and he is doing it with the full support of Bush and their Republican cronies in Congress and the insurance industry. John McCain has never seen a free trade deal that he doesn?t love ? and as a candidate he?s already cheerleading for even more of them. He is calling for more Bush-type tax cuts for the wealthy that are creating the worst income inequality the country has seen since 1928. He opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, which Senator Obama supports for all workers, including for part-time and contract employees. John McCain will keep doling out subsidies to big oil. And he (along with Senator Clinton, unfortunately) has pandered to working people?s struggle to pay for rising gasoline prices by calling for a microscopic ?gas tax holiday? that will only save working people pennies while robbing our country of the funds needed to rebuild our failing infrastructure ? which is just one of the job-creating functions that our government should be investing in instead. Given these troubling circumstances, the IEB urges all staff and local leadership to share Senator McCain?s vicious anti-worker record with our members, and to encourage them to understand that media attempts to sensationalize differences among working people based on race, ethnicity or religion will only distract us from the real need to change our nation?s policies on health care, trade, workers? rights, energy and foreign affairs. Getting that message out immediately to all our members and supporters is crucial, and we must not let either the last few days of the Democratic primary process or the everyday McCain lies rob us of the chance to end the Bush assault on us, our union and our families. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From ballistanc at yahoo.com Wed May 14 17:52:26 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 16:52:26 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Statement from the steel workers In-Reply-To: <482AFA61.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <453217.39714.qm@web35507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> i read your position and definitions of what you call "working people" and their participation in electoral politics and i'm just surprise that you call yourself "communist". let me tell you that today the communist position is deeply related to an intend to produce a revolutionary rupture to get rid of capitalist polarization. So, what should be the issue in this electoral moment,,,,look, we're trying to push the proletariat from the electoral process while you're asking him to vote for this or that bourgeois capitalist agent, that's not fear!!! in fact, you're consolidating the essence of democracy since historically it is related to capitalism...in relation to irak, the resistance there does not need social democracy support!!! now, when you talk about the middle class or capitalist struggle, the development of capitalism, i just want to remind you that since the Communist manifesto we already know that capitalist development goes together with the destruction of capital's fractions and therefore the growing of missery. you know that democrats have historically mislead the proletariat, whose intention in the last and longer tentative was to destroy the nation, the fucking Republic and the State, institutions you want to preserve, and you still call yoursel a "communist" or "marxist"....in relation to the participation of mr. obama's family in war world ii shows how the capitalist class has been able to divide the proletariat to participate in its war of capital and productive forces destruction since they were not conscious of their class nature. let finish by telling you that as a communist i'm against any reform since they won't change radically and destroy the nation. default.htm May 12, 2008 A Special Message from Pittsburgh on the 2008 Presidential Election Campaigns In a recent meeting of the International Executive Board, concerns were raised about the media???s ongoing attempts to sensationalize and mischaracterize the contest between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic Party presidential nominee. Most disturbing have been attempts to define working people???s voting decisions in this contest as somehow racially based, while completely ignoring the fact that for years Senator McCain and many of his Republican colleagues have treated all working people with complete disdain, whether those workers are white, Black, Hispanic or otherwise. Shouldn???t that be the issue for 2008, and not this absurd and unfair focus on race and sometimes on religion? There is a lot of talk that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now fated to lose the Democratic nomination and should pull out of the race. We believe it is her right to stay in the fight and challenge Senator Barack Obama as long as she has the desire and the means to do so. That is the essence of democracy, and of the Democratic Party process. But we believe just as strongly that Mrs. Clinton will be making a terrible mistake ??? for herself, her Party and for the nation ??? if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing racial undertones. America needs a clean break from eight catastrophic years of George W. Bush, and it needs it now. And so far, Senator John McCain is shaping up as simply the ???Bush Sequel??? ??? with more war in Iraq, even more tax cuts for the rich while the middle class struggles mightily, and courts packed with even more right-wing activists intent on undoing decades of progress in civil rights, civil liberties and other vital areas. The Democratic Party must field the most effective and vibrant candidate it possibly can. And more attack ads and squabbling will not help achieve that goal. The IEB feels, therefore, that we need to make it absolutely clear to our staff and local leadership that both Democratic candidates would be far superior advocates for the rights of working people and their families than Senator McCain, and to make it equally clear that neither Democrat should urge a choice based on the race or the age of working-class voters. All workers have a common need to be represented better than they have been by George Bush or will be by John McCain, whether he or she is a retiree, a worker in one of our facilities, or one of the fine young men and women fighting right now to protect our nation. It???s bad enough that John McCain???s supporters are already engaged in the politics of divide and conquer, especially if Senator Obama is the Nominee, which now seems likely. These destructive Republican tactics are deeply troubling and completely unfair, as Senator Obama???s grandparents, who raised him during much of his youth, fought in World War II and worked honorably in manufacturing jobs to support their family. And they are deeply troubling because the Senator has pledged his own undying allegiance to our country and to working-class Americans, and because of his outspoken commitment to a vibrant middle class which grows from the bottom up and which recognizes that when it comes to economic policies and trade, American workers must come first. Dividing working people along racial and ethnic lines is the oldest and meanest game in the book, and it is the one the Republicans are already using to distract attention from the fact that Senator McCain has made it abundantly clear that he offers nothing more than a continuation of the Bush administration???s sorry record of relentlessly assaulting the well-being and interests of working people and of our nation???s unions. John McCain is proposing a health care ???plan,??? for example, that is a health care industry-driven rehash of the approach that employers have been trying to shove down our throats for years in bargaining ??? and he is doing it with the full support of Bush and their Republican cronies in Congress and the insurance industry. John McCain has never seen a free trade deal that he doesn???t love ??? and as a candidate he???s already cheerleading for even more of them. He is calling for more Bush-type tax cuts for the wealthy that are creating the worst income inequality the country has seen since 1928. He opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, which Senator Obama supports for all workers, including for part-time and contract employees. John McCain will keep doling out subsidies to big oil. And he (along with Senator Clinton, unfortunately) has pandered to working people???s struggle to pay for rising gasoline prices by calling for a microscopic ???gas tax holiday??? that will only save working people pennies while robbing our country of the funds needed to rebuild our failing infrastructure ??? which is just one of the job-creating functions that our government should be investing in instead. Given these troubling circumstances, the IEB urges all staff and local leadership to share Senator McCain???s vicious anti-worker record with our members, and to encourage them to understand that media attempts to sensationalize differences among working people based on race, ethnicity or religion will only distract us from the real need to change our nation???s policies on health care, trade, workers??? rights, energy and foreign affairs. Getting that message out immediately to all our members and supporters is crucial, and we must not let either the last few days of the Democratic primary process or the everyday McCain lies rob us of the chance to end the Bush assault on us, our union and our families. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From jannuzi at gmail.com Wed May 14 18:09:56 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 09:09:56 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Critique of Clinton Message-ID: >>Licking her sweet thigh . . . What a snack had in the shade-- I ate at the Y!>> So did the Village People. By accident or design (check out that thread title), did we just get the definitive critique of HC from the Marxthaxers. Or were you seeking to put a little light on the subject of Bill Clinton's shenanigans with Monica Lewinsky? BTW, haiku usually doesn't rhyme, but your syllable count ain't bad. Now to go look up some old buddies from high school who were always talking about the same subject. CJ From jannuzi at gmail.com Wed May 14 18:14:47 2008 From: jannuzi at gmail.com (CeJ) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 09:14:47 +0900 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Barack Obama, Reverend Wright and Black liberation Message-ID: > The groundswell of broad support for Barack Obama (both among Blacks > and whites) is a phenomenon that deserves a serious analysis and > understanding. It cannot be downplayed by passing it through the lens > of pure-and-simple lesser-evilism. Yes it can--it can be downplayed this way. Why not? > > Some radicals dismiss the mass phenomenon, because Obama is a candidate > > of a ruling-class party. That simplistic rejection of Obama's campaign > > and its mass support is sectarian: The issue isn't whether to vote for > a > Democrat, but rather our response to a development that is having a > wide-scale impact. Who gives a toss about 'radical's' response to anything in the US? >How many times, in state after state, have we ever > seen citizens of all races line up for hours to hear an > African-American > man talk about "hope'', on a platform that is fundamentally no > different > than his opponents?>> So when you get right down to it, it's pretty obvious: Americans spend more time figuring out what type of fast food they want for lunch than they do on who to vote for. No hope. CJ From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 15 09:19:06 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 11:19:06 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] bad for the party? Message-ID: <482C1C29.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> shag -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- this hurts obama. how does it hurt the party? ^^^^ If Barry were the Party's nominee, it would seem that what hurts the Party's nominee, would hurt the Party. She also hurts the party by lessening the chance that she could be the vice presidential candidate. Black person/woman ticket would be real good for "the party". ^^^ also, i don't see that she's carrying a feminist banner. there was a report on NPR recently showing how she's never really played that up -- in much the same way obama has tried to play down race. ^^^ CB: Yes, Barry carries the banner for Black people whether he plays it up or not. He doesn't really have a choice whether he represents Black people. That Black people are endorsing him so tough corroborates this point. They wouldn't support him if they didn't see him as representing them. Barry knows this, by the way, I am sure. With all the talk of him being so smart, for me this is prime evidence of his cunning.( in the good sense of cunning) Any firster is seen as representing the group regardless of whether they explicitly and publically acknowledge it. Clinton has the banner thrust upon her, whether she plays it up or not. Toward the end she has been saying it more, though. She says she's staying in the campaign , not giving up, for all the women who have supported her. Too late. Women are the majority of the voters. If she had done that from the beginning , and stayed away from racism, she might have got the nom. ^^^^^ and the fact is, it doesn't besmirch the (corporate) feminist banner many other supporters wave. they never did anything good in terms of race issues anyway. the rest of them, from my observation, have _always_ been of the gender is the primary contradiction sort anyway. e.g., radical feminists like robin morgan. in the blogging world, most of the radical feminists (of the gender is primary sort) are clinton fans. ^^^^ CB: Agree. Thanks. Now I see how they don't get it on Feral Scholar blog on this either, as you tried to explain to me last year. The Pres. campaign is writing large the fundamental weakness of the so-called radical feminist thinking on this point. (as you say below) They are actually liberal, not "radical", feminists in substance, because they don't acknowledge the critique of feminism by Sojourner Truth, bel, hooks, Angela Davis, and you i.e. it's a political weakness to try to subordinate class and race struggles to gender struggle. By dropping the ball on racism, Clinton undermines her potential contribution to gender struggle, ( and she doesn't have a choice as to whether she impacts gender struggle by her conduct in the campaign; she carries the banner whether she wants to or not, as a firster) and falls into the most fundamental error in class struggle ( workers of different races, disunite , Yikes !) Of course, surprise, surprise she's not really on the workers' side in the class struggle. ^^^^^^ i've written at length about their idiocy -- specifically their complete and utter failure to deal with racism. i know i'm going to regret even responding. *sigh* ^^^^^ CB: You'll be fine, hon. And your use of "idiocy" is precise. Hopefully, Clinton will make up for all her missteps by some kind of "reconsideration" of her pronouncements, plead duress. Black people can be very forgiving. She had a flash of insight in the Pennsylvania debate when in response to a question as to whether Barry could win she said "yes, yes, yes". Maybe she could still be vp. By the way, Barry was at an autoplant in Detroit suburb, Macomb County, the original Reagan Democrat county , and called a reporter "sweetie". Then he called her and apologized. Like a Senator from Chicago , who used to organize laidoff steelworkers can't relate and identify with bluecollars. The story is all over the sports stations. White workers are calling in saying "leave him alone". I think it's going to be a landslide for Barry among White and Black bluecollars. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/NEWS15/805150398 http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/NEWS15/805150448 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu May 15 10:31:22 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:22 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] bad for the party? In-Reply-To: <482C1C29.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <482C1C29.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Barry? I don't have the context for this discussion from the snippets given, but nothing is phonier than the white--and it's white white white!--feminist fanaticism for Hillary. If this were how "feminists" think, what greater indictment of white middle class feminism could there be? It's identity politics at its dumbest and most fraudulent. And while all identity politics is dumb, if one must be played off against the other--blacks vs women--I'd pick the black side in a second, since "women" only means white women anyway. Once one begins to recognize black women--one is in a different realm from all of this BS. If anyone wants to moan about the plight of women in the USA--the black woman is the alpha and omega of the woman question. (For Evelyn, in memoriam, d. 13 May 2005) At 10:19 AM 5/15/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >shag > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >this hurts obama. how does it hurt the party? > >^^^^ > >If Barry were the Party's nominee, it would seem that what hurts the >Party's nominee, would hurt the Party. She also hurts the party by >lessening the chance that she could be the vice presidential candidate. >Black person/woman ticket would be real good for "the party". > >^^^ > >also, i don't see that she's carrying a feminist banner. there was a >report >on NPR recently showing how she's never really played that up -- in >much >the same way obama has tried to play down race. > >^^^ >CB: Yes, Barry carries the banner for Black people whether he plays it >up or not. He doesn't really have a choice whether he represents Black >people. That Black people are endorsing him so tough corroborates this >point. They wouldn't support him if they didn't see him as representing >them. Barry knows this, by the way, I am sure. With all the talk of him >being so smart, for me this is prime evidence of his cunning.( in the >good sense of cunning) Any firster is seen as representing the group >regardless of whether they explicitly and publically acknowledge it. >Clinton has the banner thrust upon her, whether she plays it up or not. >Toward the end she has been saying it more, though. She says she's >staying in the campaign , not giving up, for all the women who have >supported her. Too late. Women are the majority of the voters. If she >had done that from the beginning , and stayed away from racism, she >might have got the nom. > >^^^^^ > > > >and the fact is, it doesn't besmirch the (corporate) feminist banner >many >other supporters wave. they never did anything good in terms of race >issues >anyway. the rest of them, from my observation, have _always_ been of >the >gender is the primary contradiction sort anyway. e.g., radical >feminists >like robin morgan. in the blogging world, most of the radical feminists >(of >the gender is primary sort) are clinton fans. > >^^^^ >CB: Agree. Thanks. Now I see how they don't get it on Feral Scholar >blog on this either, as you tried to explain to me last year. The Pres. >campaign is writing large the fundamental weakness of the so-called >radical feminist thinking on this point. (as you say below) They are >actually liberal, not "radical", feminists in substance, because they >don't acknowledge the critique of feminism by Sojourner Truth, bel, >hooks, Angela Davis, and you i.e. it's a political weakness to try to >subordinate class and race struggles to gender struggle. By dropping >the ball on racism, Clinton undermines her potential contribution to >gender struggle, ( and she doesn't have a choice as to whether she >impacts gender struggle by her conduct in the campaign; she carries the >banner whether she wants to or not, as a firster) and falls into the >most fundamental error in class struggle ( workers of different races, >disunite , Yikes !) Of course, surprise, surprise she's not really on >the workers' side in the class struggle. >^^^^^^ > > > > > > > >i've written at length about their idiocy -- specifically their >complete >and utter failure to deal with racism. > >i know i'm going to regret even responding. > >*sigh* > >^^^^^ >CB: You'll be fine, hon. And your use of "idiocy" is precise. >Hopefully, Clinton will make up for all her missteps by some kind of >"reconsideration" of her pronouncements, plead duress. Black people can >be very forgiving. She had a flash of insight in the Pennsylvania debate >when in response to a question as to whether Barry could win she said >"yes, yes, yes". Maybe she could still be vp. >By the way, Barry was at an autoplant in Detroit suburb, Macomb County, >the original Reagan Democrat county , and called a reporter "sweetie". >Then he called her and apologized. Like a Senator from Chicago , who >used to organize laidoff steelworkers can't relate and identify with >bluecollars. The story is all over the sports stations. White workers >are calling in saying "leave him alone". I think it's going to be a >landslide for Barry among White and Black bluecollars. > >http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/NEWS15/805150398 > >http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/NEWS15/805150448 > From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 15 10:26:20 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 12:26:20 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] New School Message-ID: <482C2BEC.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Obama had no problem finding supporters in Warren. Branden Reeves, 24, supported Clinton early on, but was won over recently by Obama. "The old machine brigade came out of the Hillary campaign, and I wasn't happy about it," Reeves of Royal Oak said. "Obama is new-school, and he's hopeful. That's what we need more than anything -- hope." A few hours before the speech, A.J. O'Neil, owner of the Ferndale caf? bearing his name, held an unofficial primary election between Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama won 92 to 29. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 15 10:29:49 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 12:29:49 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Oh yea, Barry don't know bluecollar, right ? Message-ID: <482C2CBD.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> ing reporter 'sweetie' gets on YouTube BY KATHLEEN GRAY ? FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER ? May 15, 2008 Read Comments(47)Recommend Print this page E-mail this article Share this article: Del.icio.us Facebook Digg Reddit Newsvine What?s this? Sweetie: a term of endearment, or an overly familiar and offensive nickname? When it comes to news media relations for candidates, it's best to play it safe and avoid the word. Sen. Barack Obama, who is edging toward the Democratic presidential nomination, offhandedly called a Detroit television reporter "sweetie" during a tour Wednesday of Chrysler's Sterling Stamping Plant in Sterling Heights after she hurled a question at him: "Senator, what are you going to do to help American autoworkers?" The incident got picked up by the national news media, and the video, which shows Obama saying, "Hold on one second, sweetie, we'll do a press avail," to WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) reporter Peggy Agar, is playing on YouTube.com. Several hours later, Obama left a message on Agar's cell phone, apologizing. "It's a bad habit of mine," he said in the voice mail, which is on the TV station's Web site. "I mean no disrespect, so I am duly chastened on that front." Agar said in a televised report that she was more upset that Obama didn't answer her question. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 15 11:15:02 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 13:15:02 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Statement from the steel workers Message-ID: <482C3756.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> juan De La Cruz i read your position and definitions of what you call "working people" and their participation in electoral politics and i'm just surprise that you call yourself "communist". let me tell you that today the communist position is deeply related to an intend to produce a revolutionary rupture to get rid of capitalist polarization. So, what should be the issue in this electoral moment,,,,look, we're trying to push the proletariat from the electoral process while you're asking him to vote for this or that bourgeois capitalist agent, that's not fear!!! in fact, you're consolidating the essence of democracy since historically it is related to capitalism...in relation to irak, the resistance there does not need social democracy support!!! now, when you talk about the middle class or capitalist struggle, the development of capitalism, i just want to remind you that since the Communist manifesto we already know that capitalist development goes together with the destruction of capital's fractions and therefore the growing of missery. you know that democrats have historically mislead the proletariat, whose intention in the last and longer tentative was to destroy the nation, the fucking Republic and the State, institutions you want to preserve, and you still call yoursel a "communist" or "marxist"....in relation to the participation of mr. obama's family in war world ii shows how the capitalist class has been able to divide the proletariat to participate in its war of capital and productive forces destruction since they were not conscious of their class nature. let finish by telling you that as a communist i'm against any reform since they won't change radically and destroy the nation. ^^^^ CB: I don't buy your definition of communist or communist tactics related to electoral politics in the US today. See _Leftwing Communism: An Infantile Disorder_ by Lenin, and CPUSA website. For one thing, not participating in electoral politics, Communists in the US make themselves potentially vulnerable that they seek to overthrow the state by extra-electoral means, and a new McCarthyism. Furthermore, Communists must be part of the history and political culture of the country and working class that they are a part of. The American working class would consider non-participation in elections as as a strange and "unAmerican" activity. "If you are not going to change things through elections, how are you going to change things . if not through "nefarious" means ? " one will be asked. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From ballistanc at yahoo.com Fri May 16 17:01:27 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 16:01:27 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] lucha proletaria In-Reply-To: <935823.60784.qm@web51104.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <500398.45426.qm@web35503.mail.mud.yahoo.com> betancouour romana wrote: REBELION CONTRA EL HAMBRE, ES LA LUCHA DEL PROLETARIADO En todas partes del mundo la contradicci?n es siempre mas aguda entre las necesidades humanas y las necesidades del capital, la ganancia, paseo en metro criminal alrededor y con relaci?n a los mercados y la bolsa de valores, calendario c?­nico y criminal del plan estructural del ajustes, todo lo cual implica para nuestra clase siempre mas miseria, depravaci?n, envenenamiento generalizado y diario. ??La cat?strofe capitalista se acelera y es siempre nuestra clase la que recoge la pu?alada!! EL CAPITAL NOS DEPOJA DE CUALQUIER COSA PARA FORZARNOS A TRABAJAR CUANDO YA NO NECESITA NUESTRA FUERZA DE TRABAJO, NOS DEJA MORIR EL CAPITAL ASESINA Y NO TIENE NADA QUE OFRECER Pero el proletariado no acepta la brutalidad en ascenso de los muchos ataques contra sus condiciones de sobrevivencia sin hacer algo. Estas ultimas semanas, en decenas de pa?­ses alrededor del mundo, nuestra clase tomo las calles, reapropiando algo que comer para no morir. Enfrentada a esta reacci?n humana la social democracia deplora los asaltos y revueltas "sin ninguna proyecci?n". En nombre de salvar el planeta aboga austeridad, abnegaci?n y sumisi?n. Denunciando tal o cual "efecto pernicioso del sistema", etiquetando la mistificaci?n de "sobrepoblaci?n mundial", nos alimenta de nuevo con su salvaje imaginaci?n de reformas contable supuestamente para regular la ganancia y humanizar la barbarie capitalista. En todas partes hoy los proletarios del mundo son golpeados a trav?s de ataques generalizados contra "el poder de compra". Aun as?, resignaci?n a trav?s de la aceptaci?n social democr?tica del "mal menor" todav?a hoy prevalece...lo peor es y siempre ser? otra parte, mas lejos, en el "tercer mundo", por "los mas pobres", "los mas explotados" La burgues?­a todav?­a puede tomarse la libertad de mantener las luchas de nuestra clase aislada y restaurar su paz social mientras asesina con impunidad a nuestros hermanos de clase atacando por sus necesidades m?s elementales. Y esto con el apoyo necesario de estos completos idiotas, ciudadanos d?ciles quienes votan y sortean su desperdicio del hogar, estos espectadores sucios, parados delante de sus televisores y quienes quiz?s derraman lagrimas por la "violencia y hambre en el mundo" entre dos elecciones o resultados deportivos. ?Morir o luchar, no hay otra alternativa para el proletariado! ?Apoyemos a nuestros hermanos de clase luchando, luchemos en todas partes contra la explotaci?n! ?Revueltas contra el hambre y revueltas urbanas...Estas luchas son nuestras! ?Nuestro enemigo es en todas partes el mismo! Est? este sistema en crisis@ ?Ayud?mosle a morir! N??cleo Comunista, ? camaradas, este volante es la expresi?n de nuestra clase en lucha, c?pialo y distrib?yelo! http.//www.geocities.com/icgcikg From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 17 08:57:03 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 17 May 2008 10:57:03 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Definition of the Realm of Necessity Message-ID: <482EB9FF.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> The Realm of Necessity in the Marxist tradition is those societies where ruling classes control masses by conditioning fullfillment of the needs of the exploited classes on the exploited classes 'producing surpluses for the ruling , exploiting classes. ^^^^^^ > andie nachgeborenen 12:45 AM >>> I'm sorry, Ian, this is wayyy too glib. We don't go immediately from a right to a job or an adequate income, a right to a decent education, and so forth to an Orwellian nightmare or a Huxleyian dystopia. To get us onto the slippery slope, you have to show us how the first steps make the slide to the evil reductio plausible, likely, certain. something like that. And to say "one person's positive freedom is another's paternalism" is to suggest that you think, and I know you do not, that any person's view of this is as good as any other. Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, Richard Epstein find any guarantee of anything more than rights of noninterference in free exchange to be "paternalistic." We disagree. That's why we're on the left and they are on the right. Btw even that avatar of negative liberty, Isaiah Berlin, agreed that rights without the means to exercise them are hollow. (I quote the passage in several papers I know you have.) But Berlin ran together positive freedom (freedom to, the provision of rightsholders with resources to exercise their rights, with "real" freedom, self-legislation, acting in some mysterious way in accord with one's own will because it is the General Will. Consequently his critique of positive freedom is a mess. Approach it differently. Understand paternalism as disregarding another person's wishes for their own good. (Parents do this with kids all the time.) How is guaranteeing basic rights to work, income, education, food, housing _disregarding_ the wishes of others for their own good? I'm sure no one is advocating forcing ascetic adults to accept benefits (as we see it) they don't want. You don't want this money, to live in a house, to go to college or trade school, so don't. Now of course we might be disregarding the wishes of unwilling taxpayers who would rather not pay for others who do want (as most people do) these benefits. But it' sort of incidental that it is for the benefit of the unwilling taxpayers that we provide them; they benefit whether or not they recognize they they do, that's the way public goods problems word (and in this case are solved), but the real point is the benefit the willing recipients of the advantages. So paternalism is not the objection here, and unless you are going to go all Nozick and call taxation of the unwilling equivalent to forced labor, thereby abandoning the left, I don't see your problem. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ CB: Hear,hear , andie ! I hereby declare myself an "andie nachgeborenen" style Liberal, a postive and negative liberal, a New Deal Liberal Plus. The critiques of positive freedoms , (perhaps better termed powers)on this thread are on a slippery slope in the opposite direction away from "to each according to need", that is they are sliding to the right, as andie implies. They are moving back into the Realm of Necessity and away from the Realm of Freedom, as Marx and Engels defined them. The Realm of Necessity is where ruling classes control masses by conditioning fulfillment of needs on exploited classes producing surpluses for the exploiting, ruling classes. That's where these phony left arguments against positive powers/ freedoms are slipping us back to. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sun May 18 13:56:38 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 12:56:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] mas alla de las elecciones... In-Reply-To: <230240.5312.qm@web46304.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <288694.49376.qm@web35508.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Juan Ramon Ballista wrote: M?s all? de las Elecciones, Una Sociedad Nueva Las condiciones de vida de los proletarios que viven en Hait? remiten a la necesidad de tener que sobrevivir de un ingreso inferior a los $ 2 d?lares diarios, mientras que en la regi?n Sur y otras regiones del Estado dominicano las condiciones de vida son muy parecidas, obligando a cientos de proletarios a migrar hacia la ciudad Santo Domingo a partir de las necesidades del capital. En ambas partes de la isla hemos observado como la burgues?­a ha aumentado el precio de los alimentos por encima del 40%, en Hait?­ y en la Rep??blica Dominicana el Estado ha tenido que subsidiar la industria nacional y aun as?­, no ha podido detener el aumento de los precios. Todos conocemos las calamidades y abusos por los que tienen que pasar los excluidos por el sistema de distribuci??n de alimentos y del sistema de salud privada que generan la esencia de las relaciones de producci??n dominantes en ambas partes de la isla. Por ejemplo, el remedio que utilizan nuestros hermanos de clase del otro lado de la maldita frontera para el dolor causado por el hambre o pasmos de hambre son dulces secos hechos de barro mezclado con sal y pedazos de ???vegetales???. Este ???dulce de lodo??? se vende por 5 centavos en las calles y algunos proletarios no pueden siquiera comprar este ???alimento??? o ???comida que causa desnutrici??n severa, dislocamiento intestinal y contiene potencialmente t??xicos y par??sitos. /ver Herald Bulletin, April 25, 2008/. En d?­as pasados un proletario se accident?? y tuvieron que amputarle la mano porque no ten?­an hilo en el Hospital para coserlo, lo mismo le ocurri?? a una proletaria que trabajaba en una zona franca al ser despedida y dedicarse a recoger desperdicios en un basurero. Lo que estamos tratando de significar es que las condiciones de vida del proletariado es id??ntica en todas partes del mundo, aunque nos digan que es pa???lante que vamos. Mas todav?­a, en febrero de este mismo a??o en India, Narendra Totacam, calladamente se desliz?? en su casa de cart??n, abri?? una botella de pesticida y se la bebi??. El veneno termin?? con su vida r??pidamente. Peor todav?­a, en los d?­as siguientes, 60 proletarios agr?­colas se suicidaron. Y en los ??ltimos 10 a??os, 150,000 de ellos han cometido suicidio, empujados a la desesperaci??n porque no pueden pagar los pr??stamos.. /ver ???PC???s faro bonanza fails to save dying farmers???, marzo 14, 2008, Reuters/. Despu??s del desarrollo descomunal que ha significado una econom?­a impulsada esencialmente por la producci??n de petr??leo y sus derivados, ahora nos imponen la necesidad de diversificar r??pidamente la econom?­a mundial porque se agota el petr??leo, nos dicen. Pero, SI SE AGOTA EL COMBUSTIBLE POR QUE USTEDES NO REDUCEN SU ALTO CONSUMO DEL MISMO, DEJANDO DE PASEAR EN JET PRIVADO Y DE USAR OTROS MODOS DE TRANSPORTE ALTAMENTE COSTOSOS. Por ejemplo, el se??or Leonel Fern??ndez su se??ora esposa y la asociaci??n de malhechores en que han convertido al PLD, y que se acaban de imponer a trav??s del Estado en su gesti??n, viajan constantemente en jet privados que se pagan en d??lares con dinero del fisco. SI VIVIMOS EN MEDIO DE UNA MALDITA CRISIS PERMANENTE POR QUE USTEDES NO DEJAN DE CONSTRUIRSE MANSIONES DE LUJO Y RESUELVEN EL PROBLEMA DE LA VIVIENDA. SI PAGAMOS TANTOS IMPUESTOS POR QUE SIGUE AUMENTANDO EL NUMERO DE JOVENES PROLETARIOS QUE NO ENCUENTRAN EMPLEO. ??No! Es mejor continuar destruyendo parte del planeta y causando hambruna. Por ejemplo, en junio/mayo del 2007 en Foreign Affairs se public?? un art?­culo de C. Ford Runge y Benjam?­n Senaver, ???How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor??? donde se puede leer que ???llenar el tanque de un SUV con etenol puro requiere mas de 450 libras de ma?­z, lo cual es suficiente en t??rminos de calor?­as para alimentar a un proletario por un a??o???. Est?? bien claro que la burgues?­a mundial est?? bien edificada en torno a como ha esta siendo afectada las condiciones de vida del proletariado, pero a ella no le importa solucionar el problema sino reproducir las condiciones de existencia del proletariado, la mercanc?­a mano de obra y su sistema de trabajo asalariado. El 9 de abril Tony Karon, escritor del Time cit?? las palabras de Josette Sheeram del Programa Mundial de Alimentos de las Naciones Unidas quien dijo. / ???Estamos viendo comida en los escaparates pero???el proletariado???no tiene capacidad para comprarla.??? Ah?­ tienen ustedes la concepci??n burguesa del ???poder de compra??? que trata de ocultar que la esencia del problema de la sobreproducci??n y la anarqu?­a que reina en toda la econom?­a capitalista reside en la esencia de las relaciones de producci??n y propiedad que reproduce la explotaci??n y generaliza y empeora las condiciones de vida del proletariado en la escala internacional. En otras palabras, la distribuci??n y el consumo est??n directamente determinados por la naturaleza de la producci??n de mercanc?­as. Por eso y a pesar de la polic?­a contra motines estacionados frente a los supermercados y almacenes para cuidar los sacos de arroz y sacos de habichuelas en Egipto, la revuelta mundial contra el hambre tambi??n toc?? su puerta asquerosa. Las relaciones de propiedad y producci??n dominadas en todas partes del mundo, junto a un momento nuevo de centralizaci??n del capital mundial que ha visto aumentar su tasa de ganancia mundial sobre la base, en t??rminos generales, de capital ficticio pues hay una burbuja financiera en aumento de mas de $10,000 billones de d??lares norteamericanos flotando en el mundo financiero, entre otros elementos no menos importantes y criminales, hicieron estallar las protestas y revueltas proletarias mundiales contra el hambre, a pesar que el proletariado se encuentra atrapado en estructuras que no les pertenecen. En Hait?­ los d?­as de revuelta proletaria se extendieron por semanas por todo el pa?­s. Las calles fueron tomadas por el proletariado portando platos y calderos para significar su hambre, destruyendo ventanas, quemando edificios y carros, asaltando supermercados y tiendas de alimentos e intentando quemar el Palacio Presidencial en la capital Pout-au-Prince. En Bangladesh un n??mero importante de proletarios solo devenga $25 d??lares al mes y los precios del arroz se han duplicado desde el 2007. 20,000 proletarios tomaron las calles en demanda de aumento de salarios y protestaron por los aumentos de los precios de alimentos??? En Egipto tambi??n fueron asesinados algunos proletarios cuando protestaban en el centro textil de Mahalla al-Kobra, al norte del Cairo, y cientos fueron arrestados. En Burkina Faso en el Oeste de ??frica los proletarios tambi??n protestaron y pararon la jornada de trabajo por dos d?­as demandando una rebaja en el precio del arroz y otros productos. En Phnom Penh, Camboya-donde el ingreso promedio es 50 centavos al d?­a y el costo de un kilogramo de arroz ha aumentado $1 d??lar???los proletarios marcharon hacia el parlamento para protestar por el aumento de los precios de los alimentos. En la Costa Ivory, donde los aumentos de precios han alcanzado entre 30% y 60% desde una semana a otra, cientos marcharon a la casa del presidente Laurent Gbagbo, gritando ???tenemos hambre??? y ???la vida es demasiado cara, ustedes nos van a matar???. La polic?­a atac?? a las masas proletarias con gas y bastones. Las protestas y revueltas proletarias tambi??n se hicieron sentir en Bolivia, Per??, M??xico, las Filipinas, Pakist??n, Uzbekist??n, Tailandia, Yemen, Etiopia, y a trav??s de ??frica del sub.-Sahara. El proletariado, aunque dotav?­a atrapado en estructuras que no les pertenecen, comienza a despertar.. Los comunistas tenemos que continuar asumiendo la parte de responsabilidad hist??rica que nos corresponde, planificando, organizando, y elevando el car??cter de coordinaci??n mundial, centralizando nuestras fuerzas para generalizar su acci??n. Estas protestas y revueltas podr?­an convertirse en el germen de la revoluci??n proletaria mundial por la que ha estado luchando el movimiento comunista desde la derrota de la tentativa de 1917-1923. En la Rep??blica Dominicana tambi??n la producci??n de las necesidades b??sicas est?? determinada por el aumento de la tasa de acumulaci??n de capital. De ah?­ que recomendamos forjar una unidad revolucionaria con todos aquellos proletarios que se levantaron en Hait?­ contra el hambre, organizar y planificar mejor una tentativa contra el sistema capitalista. Reiteramos ???nuestra??? propuesta de la creaci??n de n??cleos de trabajadores, entendidos como estructuras revolucionarias de transici??n hacia el comunismo, que impulsen al resto de nuestra clase hacia la formaci??n de Comunas Agr?­colas para liquidar las relaciones de propiedad y producci??n que han multiplicado la generaci??n del hambre mundial. La pol?­tica agr?­cola que el ???Partido??? de la Liberaci??n Dominicana-PLD continuar?? impulsando reproducir?? las desigualdades y agravamientos de las condiciones de vida del proletariado, mientras la burgues?­a continua acumulando capital. Cada d?­a que pasa se observa una mayor integraci??n del Estado Dominicano a la din??mica del capital mundial. En otras palabras, volveremos a sentir los aumentos generalizado de las diferentes formas de crisis del capital desde que todos sus factores determinantes proceden del sistema capitalista mundial, por ejemplo, el desarrollo de su industria agr?­cola, la reestructuraci??n agr?­cola en todos los pa?­ses de menor acumulaci??n capitalista para ajustarlos a las necesidades del capital mundial, el uso del ma?­z y otros granos para producir combustible en ves de comida, y el financiamiento especulativo???continuaran su desarrollo criminal a no ser que el proletariado se decida a pararlo. La burgues?­a esta consciente de las causas del problema, por eso esta preparada para defender con las armas las revueltas, rebeliones y/o tentativas proletarias en la escala internacional. Por eso volvemos a reiterar que el proletariado solo tiene una alternativa para superar la situaci??n de hambruna mundial@ tomar las armas y desatar una guerra mundial revolucionaria contra la burgues?­a. Y ella est?? aqu?­, apostada en el Estado, representada por el PLD, quien actualmente administra su m??quina de dominaci??n de clase, y sus aliados organizados en estructuras de partidos que le hacen el juego cada dos y cuatro a??os. El desarrollo capitalista del Estado dominicano durante los ??ltimos 30 a??os ha elevado el consumismo???SUV, tel??fonos celulares, beepers, pantallas de Internet, dise??adores de botellas de agua, tapones de veh?­culos y electr??nicos, Burger king, Malls, grandes cadenas comerciales por departamentos, apartamentos nuevos, complejos de oficinas, plantas de manufacturas transformadas en torres de lujo, parque Cibern??tico, un crecimiento permanente de 7-8% anual???. Aun as?­, para 1998 mas de un quinto de proletarios vive por debajo de la l?­nea de pobreza oficial con solo $2 d??lares diarios, y el nivel de pobreza rural multiplicaba por encima de 2 la tasa de pobreza urbana, por ejemplo en lugares como San Jos?? de Ocoa. La din??mica criminal del capital mundial ha logrado transformar la estructura econ??mica desde 1950 hasta nuestros d?­as destruyendo algunas de sus propias fracciones en sectores econ??micos como agricultura, que sumado a la deuda externa e interna y la crisis de la industria azucarera,--reducci??n de los precios, y del consumo del az??car de ca??a en los Estados Unidos destruyeron parte de sus fuerzas productivas y redujeron la tasa de acumulaci??n del sector para 1980,--lo cual nos ha vuelto a colocar en un lugar privilegiado entre los Estados de poca acumulaci??n de capital. Los programas de austeridad o ???ajuste estructural??? impuestos por el Fondo Monetario Internacional en 1984 y1991 durante los gobiernos del PRD Y PRSC, respectivamente, fueron los detonantes de la rebeli??n proletaria en 1984. A partir de la destrucci??n de la fracci??n de capital estatal dedicada a la explotaci??n de la mano de obra en la industria azucarera, la burgues?­a asumi?? una ???estrategia econ??mica??? nueva basada en el turismo y ???zonas francas??? o industria de ensamblaje. Para 1983 la facci??n mas decidida de la burgues?­a mundial dise??a y pone en practica la Iniciativa Cuenca del Caribe o Caribbean Basin Initiative, la cual permiti?? ???entrada preferencial a la importaci??n del Caribe al mercado norteamericano???, inyectando mas le??a al fuego econ??mico y financiero. En cambio, la facci??n dominicana de la clase capitalista dej?? libre del pago de impuestos y otros subsidios para atraer a sus aliados burgueses norteamericanos. Para 1999, al mismo tiempo que empeoraban las condiciones de vida del proletariado, que su ???poder de compra??? se reduc?­a, ???cuatro sectores de la econom?­a, cada uno con una tasa de acumulaci??n anual excediendo el 10%, estaban vociferando a los cuatro vientos@ ?????el milagro dominicano???! Telecomunicaciones, construcci??n, turismo, y zona franca???sin que ello signifique negar el control y desarrollo de todo el proceso desde el sector financiero. Para 1999, solo el turismo hab?­a acumulado m??s de $4 billones, mientras que las 43 zonas francas???donde eran explotados m??s de 200,000 proletarios en 400 empresas???hab?­an acumulado casi $1 bill??n en exportaciones en 1998. Sin embargo, para 1998 la gran mayor?­a de proletarios viviendo por debajo de la l?­nea de pobreza oficial no ten?­an???ni tienen???sanitarios ni agua potable dentro de sus casas. Mas de la mitad no ten?­a agua potable en lo absoluto y mas de un quinto tampoco tenia???ni tiene???electricidad. La gran mayor?­a no hab?­a???ni ha???completado la escuela primaria. La pu??alada en la espalda del proletariado no se hizo esperar@ la gesti??n actual en 1996 privatiz?? todas las empresas del grupo CORDE, aumentando las condiciones de miseria en todo en territorio nacional. Mientras la burgues?­a disfrutaba y disfruta de lujosas mansiones, carros de lujo, y vacaciones de sky. Es verdad que los ???barrios marginados??? de Santo Domingo han crecido, pero de poblaci??n proletaria que migra desde las ??reas rurales sometidas a la pobreza extrema. En 1990 el propio Programa de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas admiti?? que el ???milagro dominicano??? no hab?­a reducido dr??sticamente la pobreza. Ninguno de los programas puesto en efecto desde el 1996, cuando Leonel Fern??ndez asumi?? la gesti??n del capital,--como el Plan de Desarrollo Social Nacional??? en 1996 y ???Programa Comunidad Decente??? en 1998,--para mejorar esferas del servicio social, como salud y educaci??n a trav??s de la descentralizaci??n e involucramiento de las comunidades locales, han podido parar ni el aumento de la tasa de acumulaci??n ni la generalizaci??n del deterioro de las condiciones de vida. Su ???programa contra la pobreza??? gast?? menos del 3% del Producto Interno Bruto en educaci??n y menos del 2% en salud. As?­ las cosas, y ante el triunfo de la re-elecci??n del se??or Fern??ndez y su asociaci??n de malhechores. Que tenemos que hacer@ Sabemos que esta nueva gesti??n del PLD continuar?? impulsando el crecimiento y desarrollo sobre la base de capital ficticio entonces la quiebra de otros y mas sectores agr?­colas que no podr??n competir en el mercado mundial iran a la quiebra y otros transformaran sus estructuras, lo cual implicar?? una reducci??n de los ingresos y la calidad de vida. Continuar?? el aumento de los precios de los art?­culos de primera necesidad, lo cual volver?? a disminuir el ???poder de compras??? del proletariado, es decir se repetir?? el circulo criminal del capital. El valor real del dinero continuar?? disminuyendo a pesar de la ???estabilidad de la tasa del d??lar???. El proceso de desarrollo agr?­cola mundial, de la mano con el de proletarizaci??n internacional, acaba de enviar a las filas del proletariado a 1.3 millones de ???mexicanos??? que ya no pod?­an seguir subsistiendo de la agricultura, de acuerdo a Raj Patel, en Stuffed and Starved. La din??mica del capital continuar?? imponiendo una curva en la producci??n burguesa de alimentos a partir de sus propias necesidades en la escala internacional. Ahora nos est??n imponiendo un cambio desde la producci??n de subsistencia a productos de un ???alto valor agregado???. En cuanto a la producci??n de biocombustible del ma?­z, trigo, y ca??a de az??car se ha convertido en un ???boom??? industrial rentable, lo cual ha transformado grandes extensiones de tierra que se dedicaban a la producci??n de alimentos a peque??a y mediana escala para satisfacer necesidades humanas y reproducir la explotaci??n del proletariado agr?­cola, es ahora utilizada para otro tipo de producci??n igualmente burguesa. Y si aquellos proletarios que contin??an atrapados en estructuras burguesas supuestamente ???comunistas??? todav?­a no entiende la magnitud de la crisis mundial de alimentos, y contin??an haci??ndole el juego a la burgues?­a en cada momento electoral y/o asumiendo otras pr??cticas igualmente burguesas, en un art?­culo publicado en el 2007 en Foreign Affairs se se??alaba@ ???el enorme volumen de ma?­z requerido por la industria de etenol est?? enviando olas de choque a trav??s del sistema de alimentos. No olvidemos que el Estado norteamericano representa cerca del 40% del total mundial de la producci??n de ma?­z, mas de la mitad de toda la exportaci??n de ma?­z. En marzo del mismo a??o, los precios del ma?­z aumentaron por encima de $4.38 un bushel???cada bushel contiene ocho galones--, el nivel mas alto en 10 a??os. Trigo y precios del arroz han tambi??n emergido hacia los cielos en d??cadas, porque aunque esos granos est??n siendo usados incesantemente como substitutos del ma?­z, la burgues?­a esta sembrando mas acres con ma?­z y menos acres otros granos???ver ???How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor,??? por C. Ford Runge and Benjam?­n Senaver, Foreign Affaire, may/june 2007. M??s todav?­a, los resultados destructivos inmediatos sobre el medio se dejar??n sentir, por ejemplo, para el 2020 en Indonesia. En julio 6 del 2007 se publico ???Food First Backgrounder, Biofuels???Myths of the Agro-fuels Transition,??? por Erick Holt Jim??nez, donde se documenta que las ???plantaciones de palma de aceite para bio-diesel???continuaran siendo???la causa principal de la perdida de foresta???en un???pa?­s con una de la mas alta tasas de deforestaci??n en el mundo???. En cuanto al mecanismo de mercanc?­as en el mercado financiero especulativo, no tenemos nada que agregar, todos sabemos como ha funcionado y continuara funcionando del mismo modo. Solo dir?? que en ???The Food Crisis, Global Markets and Deregulation Strike Again???, Gretchen Gordon, demostr?? el juego que han estado jugando los especuladores, ruleta financiera, con la existencia de comida diaria del proletariado mundial. Ante el cuadro de cosas que hemos esquematizado anteriormente, qu?? proponemos nosotros para resolver las diferentes formas de crisis del capital. 1ro. Para impedir que la burgues?­a continu?? reproduciendo la distribuci??n injusta de alimentos reiteramos nuestra propuesta de ampliar la centralizaci??n internacional del proletariado organizando al mismo tiempo n??cleos de trabajadores para planificar un levantamiento proletario combinado y sorpresivo que inicie un proceso/tentativa revolucionaria contra las relaciones de producci??n de alimentos que domina al mundo. 2do. Ese levantamiento proletario combinado y sorpresivo, a partir de las movilizaciones, revueltas y rebeliones recientes contra el hambre, tiene que ser focalizado contra toda la estructura econ??mica y contra el aparato militar. Y es el proletariado solo tiene una alternativa, luchar o morir. ??Retomemos las acciones contra el hambre y elevemos el nivel del Combate! From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 19 10:23:31 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 12:23:31 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Alliance Seniors Help Rite Aid Workers Win Union Election Message-ID: <48317142.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Alliance Seniors Help Rite Aid Workers Win Union Election In March, two years after they began organizing to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, workers at Rite Aid?s distribution center in Lancaster, California won a National Labor Relations Board election. Alliance members from Hawaii, Washington, and Oregon wrote letters of support and encouragement to the Rite-Aid workers. They also wrote protest letters to the company's CEO, responding to reports that, since March, Rite Aid has fired five active union supporters, suspended and disciplined six, and harassed many more. After overcoming such adversity, the workers in Lancaster will continue to seek the support of labor and community allies and Rite Aid customers - many of whom are seniors - as they prepare to start bargaining for their first contract. ?I am so proud of our Alliance members for looking out for their brothers and sisters. This is yet another example of lifelong activism,? said George J. Kourpias, President of the Alliance. **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Mon May 19 14:25:58 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 16:25:58 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] =?utf-8?q?Our_history=3A_John_Reed=E2=80=99s_=60?= =?utf-8?q?Ten_days_that_shook_the_world?= Message-ID: <4831AA16.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Our history: John Reed?s `Ten days that shook the world? | Links glparramatta glparramatta at greenleft.org.au Fri May 16 00:44:15 MDT 2008 Previous message: [Marxism] And another heartwarming tale from the new free and democratic Afghanistan Next message: [Marxism] Our history: John Reed?s `Ten days that shook the world? | Links Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Reed?s classic account of the Russian Revolution of November 1917 isn?t an attempt at large-scale dispassionate historical analysis, but an eyewitness account of the Bolsheviks? rise to power penned on the spot or shortly afterwards by a sympathetic US socialist. It is a mark of the respect in which Reed was held by the Bolsheviks that /Ten Days That Shook The World/ was published with a short but very appreciative introduction by no less than Lenin, in which the Russian socialist leader says that he would like to see Reed?s book ``published in millions of copies and translated into all languages??. Full: http://links.org.au/node/421 Reds (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Reds (1981 movie))? Interested in contributing to Wikipedia? ?Jump to: navigation, search Reds Reds movie poster Directed by Warren Beatty Produced by Warren Beatty Written by Warren Beatty Trevor Griffiths Starring Warren Beatty Diane Keaton Jack Nicholson Paul Sorvino Maureen Stapleton Gene Hackman Edward Herrmann Music by Stephen Sondheim Dave Grusin Cinematography Vittorio Storaro Editing by Dede Allen Craig McKay Distributed by Paramount Pictures Release date(s) December 4, 1981 (USA) Running time 194 min. Language English Russian German Budget $35,000,000 US (est.) IMDb profile Reds is a 1981 film starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. It centers on the life of John Reed, the Communist, journalist, and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book Ten Days that Shook the World. Besides Beatty and Keaton, the movie stars Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Hackman, Ramon Bieri, Nicolas Coster and M. Emmet Walsh. It was adapted by Warren Beatty, Peter S. Feibleman (uncredited), Trevor Griffiths, Elaine May (uncredited) and Jeremy Pikser from Reed's memoir. It was produced and directed by Beatty. The film also features, as "witnesses," interviews with the celebrated radical educator and peace activist 98-year old Scott Nearing (1883-1983), author Dorothy Frooks (1896-1997), reporter and author George Seldes (1890-1995), and the American writer Henry Miller (1891-1980), among others. Warren Beatty was awarded the Oscar for Best Director for the film. It was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost to Chariots of Fire. Contents [hide] 1 Cast 2 The Witnesses 3 Awards 4 External links [edit] Cast This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From cwarren at pcug.org.au Tue May 20 07:14:29 2008 From: cwarren at pcug.org.au (Chris) Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 23:14:29 +1000 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Attention all Trot watchers Message-ID: <1211289269.12451.7.camel@aranda> This should amuse you - it did me. Trots expel Leninists. see www.lpf.org.au The funny thing is, the DSP itself has complained about being expelled or proscribed from other progressive organisations for essentially the same reasons they apply here. Chris Warren From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue May 20 07:46:41 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 09:46:41 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Socialist History of the Automobile Message-ID: <48329E02.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Subject: [Pen-l] Socialist history of the automobile From: Louis Proyect Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 22:17:02 -0400 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No single commercial product in the history of capitalism has had a greater effect on the economy and politics than the automobile. No other product has been such a lever to increase consumption and increase markets in the developed world. It could be argued that the car, more than any other product, was at the very heart of the 20th century's economic expansion. In US society, for over a century, the car has been raised on a cultural pedestal worshipping individuality and defining big business' vision of freedom. The car hastened the massive sprawl of suburbia and in itself shaped US urban planning like no other product. Today, in the United States, public transport plays a distant second fiddle to the car with nine out of ten workers using their cars to travel to work. In people's everyday life, the car is now their second biggest household expense, next to housing. The car has reached its zenith. This brief socialist history of the automobile will attempt to give some background and context to today's car-dominated world. It will attempt to explain how the automobile and the mad chase for profits has shaped the world, and helped in turn lead humanity to its current fork, where one road indisputably will lead to global destruction. Full: http://links.org.au/node/423 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From ballistanc at yahoo.com Tue May 20 19:50:36 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 18:50:36 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fwd: Circular de Mayo Message-ID: <42665.44088.qm@web35502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Note: forwarded message attached. From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 21 07:28:23 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 09:28:23 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028569.html Message-ID: <4833EB36.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028569.html Published on Sunday, May 18, 2008 by CommonDreams.org Hillary Is White by Zillah Eisenstein It seems clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee for president this fall. Nevertheless, it is crucial to clarify how wrong-headed Hillary Clinton?s campaign has been so that the legacy she leaves does no more damage to a multi-racial, multi-class based feminism/womanism both here and abroad. None of the pundits and journalists appears to be wondering and worrying about black women in this post-Indiana-North-Carolina-West-Virginia moment. Instead, all eyes, and especially Hillary and Bill?s are on the so-called ?white-hard-working working class?. Hillary?s preoccupation with white voters is a dead give-a-way of how she thinks about gender, and being a woman. Gender is white to her, like race is black. Bill and Hillary Clinton have thrown African-Americans to the wind because they thought they could play the gender card with its history of whiteness and win. And here lies the rub. Hillary Clinton presents herself to the electorate as a woman. She argues that she wants to break the glass ceiling of/for gender. But the truth is that she is not simply a woman but both a woman and also white. The very fact that she ignores her own race, in a way that Obama cannot, is proof of the normalized privileging of whiteness. In this instance white is not a color, but the color, the standard, by which others are judged. So she silently, inadvertently but knowingly, uses her color to write her meanings of gender and mobilize older white women and angry white men by doing so. She presents herself as a woman but her real power here is as white. Misogyny ? the fear, hatred, punishment, and discrimination towards women ? ensures that Hillary?s privilege is her whiteness. Most often the term white is not spoken alongside the term woman; there is no need. One only specifies color when it is not white. Women are assumed to be white if not specified otherwise, especially if you are speaking about gender or women?s rights, or feminism. Forget the fact that it was a group of black women that initially challenged the Supreme Court in the first sex discrimination case in this country years ago. Hillary speaks of herself as a woman, and then speaks separately about race, as though she does not embody both at the same time. She has as much ?race? as Barack, but her race is not a problem for her. It is for him, even though it may not be as much as a problem as she is trying to make it. As such, Hillary, as a (white) woman pits herself against Barack (as black) with a race so to speak. So Hillary (as a woman) is falsely, wrongly, pitted against Barack (as black). Her whiteness privileges and pits gender against race. She encodes her whiteness as though it is central to her gender, and to her kind of feminism without saying a word. She re-awakens and rewrites the history of 19th century U.S. feminism that pitted black men getting the vote before white women had that right. More recently, women?s rights rhetoric was used to justify the bombing of the Taliban and brown people in Afghanistan and Iraq. Feminism has a history of being bankrupt on this issue so this is nothing new. What is forgotten here is that women?s rights come, or should come, in all colors. Barack Obama has said he wants to embrace the new notions of race and the racial progress that has occurred. He is not post-racist, but recognizes the newly raced relations as they exist at present. Nevertheless, he must give a speech on race although he says he does not want to be a racial candidate. He recognizes that the country has new-old racial hierarchies with complex identities and that he himself represents white and African blackness, whatever this might mean for him. Meanwhile Hillary says she is running as a woman, and never gives a speech on gender because white angry men and women, would not be pleased by this. So patriarchy, or sexual discrimination, or the structural hierarchy of masculinity with its racialized and class aspects is never mentioned in her campaign. She uses whiteness as her weapon and pretends to be speaking about gender. But she never once mentions the unacceptable misogyny of this country, or the sexual hierarchy of the labor force, or any of the great racial and class inequities that define women?s lives today. This is a misuse and abuse of her gender. Feminisms of all sorts have moved beyond the idea that feminism is a white woman?s thing; or that feminisms should be particularly beholden to the white mainstreamed part of the U.S. women?s movement. Large numbers of women, especially women of color, but many white women as well, know that race and gender are inseparable and that is why most of these women, whatever their color, are voting for Barack Obama. Hillary should not be allowed to push feminism backwards for her own political ambition. It is not surprising that it is older white women who disproportionately support her. They identify with old notions of womanhood-a homogenized notion that all females share an identity, and race and class are not connected issues to be named and spoken. This is why younger women and progressive women from the civil rights and women?s movements, some of whom are older, disproportionately support Obama. My thoughts about Hillary Clinton have their own history, which also coincide with her history. I have not been a fan of hers. I have written critically of her for more than a decade now. She has never spoken on behalf of women or as a candidate with a woman?s agenda, let alone as a feminist when she was in the White House. Many of us who are her contemporaries were active in the Civil Rights Movement and Women?s Movements and Anti-Vietnam War movement ? while she chose not to be. Her one speech addressing the exploitation of women was delivered in Beijing, China, as though it is women outside, but not inside the U.S. who face untold discrimination. Now she runs for president and has become a gun-toting, war mongering white woman who asks for your vote if you are an angry white Reagan Democrat. Maybe she thinks manly gender is the answer for breaking glass ceilings for women. I would argue that she is not breaking gender boundaries but rather has embraced and extended masculine/misogyny for females. And misogyny always comes in racialized form. She remains female in body and hence parades as a decoy for feminist claims. And her white self is central to this decoy status. Susan Faludi wrote in the New York Times that Hillary is having a success with white male support because she is willing to battle, and engage in rough play like one of the boys. She is supposedly willing to ?join the brawl? and as such has won their confidence. She has ?broke through the glass floor and got down with the boys? opening the way for women to finally make it ?through the glass ceiling and into the White house?. Barbara Ehrenreich in The Nation hesitantly embraces this assessment and then more forcefully criticizes Clinton for her ruthlessness. Ehrenreich writes that Clinton has ?smashed the myth of innate female moral superiority in the worst possible way demonstrating female moral inferiority.? Hillary has proven that sometimes the best man for the job may be a female posing to be a man. In other words, Hillary has simply clothed herself in men?s tactics and strategies. She can nuke with the best of them. Hillary not only authorized the war in Iraq but she repeatedly continued to do so for several more years ? up until the time she began running for president. She allowed, along with Bill Clinton, the egregious trade blockade against Iraq as hundreds of thousands of children starved to death after the ?91 war. She more recently has supported Israel?s terror bombing of Lebanon and has newly endorsed ?the total obliteration? of Iran. But this is just part of the sad story. Hillary?s embrace of a masculinist machismo embraces the very misogyny that most feminists want to dismantle. Instead of challenging the gender divide Hillary simply slides over to the other side of it. Instead of offering a new vision of what it might mean to have a female president she offers us old versions of white privilege and war mongering. But the structural privilege of patriarchy is ignored and obfuscated with Hillary?s race card. Nevertheless many (white) women write, like Marie Cocco in the Washington Post (May 15, ?08), that she won?t miss the misogyny of the campaign when it?s over ? she lists the sexist T-shirts, and array of commercial goods circulating at present. While I abhor any form of degradation of girls and women, or any human being for that matter, I am also hesitant to see this as a sufficient critique of the problem. Hillary Clinton should never be demeaned for being a woman. But being a woman comes in all colors and classes. Hillary has done the unforgivable. She has used race ? the whiteness card ? on behalf of gender. We, the big ?we? ? the huge diversely defined feminisms in this country and across the globe ? are better than this. Black feminists in this country, during the 1970?s and 80?s women?s movement made sure to break open the race/gender divide and clarify that gender is always racialized and race is always gendered. No person ever experiences one with out the other. Only when whiteness parades as an invisible standard can you think that gender and race can be separate. As such Hillary is white and a female and Barack is black and male. They are each both. Everyone is. Hillary?s manipulation and misrepresentation of her gender reveals her sexual decoy status. Being female is not enough to allow one to claim their gender as a political tactic. Such claims must be rooted in a commitment to end gender discrimination and their racial and class formulations; not pit races and classes against each other in the hopes of being the first woman president. Clinton does not share a political identity with women of all classes and colors and nations simply because she has a female body. She first needs to claim that body and demand rights for it ? reproductive, day care, health, education, etc. She has no multi-racial woman?s agenda because she has no anti-racist agenda. Meanwhile she is thrilled that she won big in West Virginia. West Virginia is ?almost heaven? to Hillary. She says it shows the country that she can win the ?hardworking white Americans? in November. But West Virginia is not heaven, nor is it like much of the rest of the country. It may look like what the U.S. used to be, but that is exactly the point. It does not have the diversity of color, age, culture that defines the U.S. today. Neither does Hillary?s vision. Hillary is a sexual decoy. She looks like a woman but is not a feminist nor does she speak for or on behalf of most women. She speaks for white people while identifying with her gender, as a woman. But she has trumped herself here. If a female prepares to bully the rest of the world with war and white privilege hopefully we ? the big ?we? ? the ?we? that spans across our differences will defeat the political forces she represents. And this means building a coalition for the November elections that makes sure that a non-misogynist agenda is part of the anti-racist politics of the Obama campaign. Zillah Eisenstein is professor of politics at Ithaca College, a feminist anti-racist activist, and author of ten books in feminisms and feminist theories across the globe. Her most recent book is Sexual Decoys: Gender, Race and War in Imperial Democracy (London: Zed Books, 2007). This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 22 07:52:37 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 09:52:37 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ballad for Americans love of country Message-ID: <48354264.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Lets see if Barry can tap the rational kernel of "patriotism", love of country as expressed in the Ballad for Americans. Ballad For Americans "Ballad For Americans" (1939) is an American patriotic cantata with lyrics by John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled "The Ballad for Uncle Sam", it was originally written for a WPA theatre project called Sing for Your Supper.[1] The "Ballad" was performed on the CBS radio network by Paul Robeson, accompanied by chorus and orchestra. Both Robeson and Bing Crosby had commercially successful recordings of the piece. In the 1940 presidential campaign it was played at both the Republican National Convention and that of the Communist Party. Its popularity continued through the period of World War II[2] - in autumn 1943, 200 African American soldiers performed the piece in a benefit concert at London's Royal Albert Hall[3] - but because of Robinson and Robeson's left-wing politics, it largely fell out of the general repertoire of American popular music during the Second Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. It has, nonetheless, been periodically revived, notably during the United States Bicentennial (1976).[2] There is also a well-known recording by Odetta, recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Invoking the American Revolution (it names several prominent revolutionary patriots and quotes the preamble of the Declaration of Independence), and the freeing of the slaves in the American Civil War (there is a brief lyrical and musical quotation of the spiritual "Go Down Moses"), as well as Lewis and Clark, the Klondike Gold Rush, and Susan B. Anthony, the piece draws an inclusive picture of America: "I'm just an Irish American, Negro, Jewish American, Italian, French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish American, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech and double-check American - I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Atheist, Roman Catholic - [etc.]" The lyrics periodically point at elite skepticism toward its inclusive American vision ("Nobody who was anybody believed it") before coming back to its refrain: For I have always believed it, And I believe it now, And now you know who I am. (Who are you?) America! America! Many performers of the "Ballad" have made minor changes in the lyrics. For example, in the passage quoted above, the NYC Labor Chorus make several changes, including changing "Negro" to "African" and substituting "Jamaican" for "Litvak". Similarly, they add "Moslem" to the list of religions.[4] In a passage near the end that begins "Out of the cheating, out of the shouting," Robeson in his 1940 recording adds "lynchings" to the list[5]; the NYC Labor Chorus attempt to bring the piece up to date with: Out of the greed and polluting, Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Out of the lies of McCarthy, Out of the murders of Martin and John?[4] [edit] Notes ^ Online notes from 2005 Paul Robeson Conference at Lafayette College. Accessed 31 January 2006. ^ a b Dreier & Flacks ^ "Ballad for Britons", Time, 11 October 1943 ^ a b "Ballad For Americans" lyrics as given on the site of the NYC Labor Chorus. ^ Paul Robeson recording, accessed on the Lafayette College site [edit] References Peter Dreier & Dick Flacks, "Patriotism's Secret History". The Nation, June 3, 2002 issue. Accessed 31 January 2006. Paul Robeson Conference April 7-9, 2005 at Lafeyette College. Page includes a link to Robeson's 1945 recording of "Ballad for Americans" in WMA format. Accessed 31 January 2006. "Ballad For Americans" lyrics by John La Touche (1939). "Ballad For Americans" lyrics as given on the site of the NYC Labor Chorus. Accessed 31 January 2006. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_For_Americans" Categories: American patriotic songs | American songs | Cantatas This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 22 11:46:38 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 13:46:38 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] American Axle workers keep up the fight Message-ID: <4835793D.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> American Axle workers keep up the fight http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/13053/1/143/ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 22 12:20:54 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 14:20:54 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Report: Unemployment Insurance System Faces Message-ID: <48358145.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> _Click here: AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Report: Unemployment Insurance System Faces Funding Crisis_ (http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/05/20/report-unemployment-insurance-system-faces-funding-crisis/) in solidarity jim This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 22 14:52:33 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 16:52:33 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] The Bernstein-Bax debate Message-ID: <4835A4D1.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Capitalism didn't just not develop "Africa" and America, and Asia. It _under_-developed them. It put them in a worse socio-economic situation than they were before colonialism and slavery. The aboriginal indigenous socio-economic systems were better than the colonial ones. This is important to note because capitalism is at root responsible for the famines and mass poverty that occur periodically in Africa and elsewhere today, contra the impression one gets from US propaganda ( in news reports as well as history books) that Europeans saved "savages" from themselves in executing the White Man's Burden. This is the vicious, profound lie in the whole concept of the White Man's Burden and the "civilizing" mission of European colonialism. This is the prevarication underlying Americans' bragging that America is the greatest country in the world, and Americans rather live here than any place else in the world. No shit. Over the last , 500 years, Europeans have destroyed just about everybody else's Motherland or in the case of some like the Indigenous North Americans destroyed the People themselves in genocide. Africans weren't savages before the Europeans got there. They were savaged by the white savages, the morally backward Europeans , who, unfortunately, discovered advanced weaponry and were disease ridden, with their guns, germs and steel, goddamn 'em. Nonetheless, we have no choice but to appeal to white people's human side, the Ballad for Americans, love of country, _e pluribus unum_, their universally developed "individual" , as Ted would say. John Henry Ballad For Americans "Ballad For Americans" (1939) is an American patriotic cantata with lyrics by John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled "The Ballad for Uncle Sam", it was originally written for a WPA theatre project called Sing for Your Supper.[1] The "Ballad" was performed on the CBS radio network by Paul Robeson, accompanied by chorus and orchestra. Both Robeson and Bing Crosby had commercially successful recordings of the piece. In the 1940 presidential campaign it was played at both the Republican National Convention and that of the Communist Party. Its popularity continued through the period of World War II[2] - in autumn 1943, 200 African American soldiers performed the piece in a benefit concert at London's Royal Albert Hall[3] - but because of Robinson and Robeson's left-wing politics, it largely fell out of the general repertoire of American popular music during the Second Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. It has, nonetheless, been periodically revived, notably during the United States Bicentennial (1976).[2] There is also a well-known recording by Odetta, recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Invoking the American Revolution (it names several prominent revolutionary patriots and quotes the preamble of the Declaration of Independence), and the freeing of the slaves in the American Civil War (there is a brief lyrical and musical quotation of the spiritual "Go Down Moses"), as well as Lewis and Clark, the Klondike Gold Rush, and Susan B. Anthony, the piece draws an inclusive picture of America: "I'm just an Irish American, Negro, Jewish American, Italian, French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish American, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech and double-check American - I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Atheist, Roman Catholic - [etc.]" The lyrics periodically point at elite skepticism toward its inclusive American vision ("Nobody who was anybody believed it") before coming back to its refrain: For I have always believed it, And I believe it now, And now you know who I am. (Who are you?) America! America! Many performers of the "Ballad" have made minor changes in the lyrics. For example, in the passage quoted above, the NYC Labor Chorus make several changes, including changing "Negro" to "African" and substituting "Jamaican" for "Litvak". Similarly, they add "Moslem" to the list of religions.[4] In a passage near the end that begins "Out of the cheating, out of the shouting," Robeson in his 1940 recording adds "lynchings" to the list[5]; the NYC Labor Chorus attempt to bring the piece up to date with: Out of the greed and polluting, Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Out of the lies of McCarthy, Out of the murders of Martin and John?[4] [edit] Notes ^ Online notes from 2005 Paul Robeson Conference at Lafayette College. Accessed 31 January 2006. ^ a b Dreier & Flacks ^ "Ballad for Britons", Time, 11 October 1943 ^ a b "Ballad For Americans" lyrics as given on the site of the NYC Labor Chorus. ^ Paul Robeson recording, accessed on the Lafayette College site [edit] References Peter Dreier & Dick Flacks, "Patriotism's Secret History". The Nation, June 3, 2002 issue. Accessed 31 January 2006. Paul Robeson Conference April 7-9, 2005 at Lafeyette College. Page includes a link to Robeson's 1945 recording of "Ballad for Americans" in WMA format. Accessed 31 January 2006. "Ballad For Americans" lyrics by John La Touche (1939). "Ballad For Americans" lyrics as given on the site of the NYC Labor Chorus. Accessed 31 January 2006. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_For_Americans" Categories: American patriotic songs | American songs | Cantatas This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Thu May 22 09:22:53 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 10:22:53 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ballad for Americans love of country In-Reply-To: <48354264.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <48354264.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Yes, Robeson's performance was a radical act for its time, per Earl Robinson's intention to put the Negro at the center of the American experience--a radical act even now, but increasingly common even in the 1940s, per Duke Ellington, Richard Wright, et al. What this has to do with Obama, I don't know. Probably the flag lapel biz won't work. All older white people had to see was Jeremiah Wright and it's all over for Obama. Only the total catastrophe of the Bush administration gives Obama even a fighting chance. In any case, Obama's neoliberal buppie version of patriotism lacks the intensity of the Americanism of black Americans who grew up under more repressive circumstances. After all, who appreciates the ideal values of a society more than its outsiders, for whom ideals are urgent necessities and not rote platitudes? The record of Black Americanism--esp. among its writers and musicians--is second to none in its devotion to the potentials of an America that refuses to recognize the real basis of its greatness. I'll just give a couple of lesser known examples to be found on my web site: Duke Ellington: "We, Too, Sing 'America'" "Skies of America" by Ornette Coleman Another little-known example is the avant-garde musician Anthony Braxton, who in his "third millennial inteview", after going on and on and on and on about the exclusion and invisibility of black thinkers and artists, esp. those that refuse to be pigeonholed, concludes: >To have these two-dimensional concepts about >blues and swing are false arguments, arguments >that make sense to a certain sector of >musicology?-certainly, to a certain sector of >music theorists, and the academy. Arguments that >can be used to isolate the vibrational spectra >of trans-African invention and mystic dynamics. >To strip that information and use it for their >own purposes, while at the same time denying the >thrust of trans-African, and, finally, American >invention, its proper vibrational >components-?because what I'm talking of is >something more profound than Africa. I'm talking >of the greatest nation in documented history; >I'm talking about our home, Mike Heffley. > >Our home is a home that has everybody here, >bouncing off one another. Our home, especially >as we move into the Third Millennium, is more >complex than simply a Christian nation: it's a >Muslim nation, it's a Christian nation, it's an >Indian nation. It's a nation where women are >suddenly not in the same position, and are >suddenly able to ask the question, "what do I >want for myself?" It's a country where this next >generation of African Americans are not going to >be able to talk about disadvantages in the old >way; but in fact, the components of the old way will apply. http://www.autodidactproject.org/my/braxton2q.html This is our home--and look how we're behaving at home. We should be ashamed to set foot outside it. At 08:52 AM 5/22/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Lets see if Barry can tap the rational kernel of >"patriotism", love of country as expressed in >the Ballad for Americans. Ballad For Americans >"Ballad For Americans" (1939) is an American >patriotic cantata with lyrics by John La Touche >and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled >"The Ballad for Uncle Sam", it was originally >written for a WPA theatre project called Sing >for Your Supper.[1] The "Ballad" was performed >on the CBS radio network by Paul Robeson, >accompanied by chorus and orchestra. Both >Robeson and Bing Crosby had commercially >successful recordings of the piece. In the 1940 >presidential campaign it was played at both the >Republican National Convention and that of the >Communist Party. Its popularity continued >through the period of World War II[2] - in >autumn 1943, 200 African American soldiers >performed the piece in a benefit concert at >London's Royal Albert Hall[3] - but because of >Robinson and Robeson's left-wing politics, it >largely fell out of the general repertoire of >American popular music during the Second Red >Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. It has, >nonetheless, been periodically revived, notably >during the United States Bicentennial (1976).[2] >There is also a well-known recording by Odetta, >recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Invoking the >American Revolution (it names several prominent >revolutionary patriots and quotes the preamble >of the Declaration of Independence), and the >freeing of the slaves in the American Civil War >(there is a brief lyrical and musical quotation >of the spiritual "Go Down Moses"), as well as >Lewis and Clark, the Klondike Gold Rush, and >Susan B. Anthony, the piece draws an inclusive >picture of America: "I'm just an Irish American, >Negro, Jewish American, Italian, French and >English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, >Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish >American, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech and >double-check American - I was baptized Baptist, >Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Atheist, >Roman Catholic - [etc.]" The lyrics periodically >point at elite skepticism toward its inclusive >American vision ("Nobody who was anybody >believed it") before coming back to its refrain: >For I have always believed it, And I believe it >now, And now you know who I am. (Who are you?) >America! America! Many performers of the >"Ballad" have made minor changes in the lyrics. >For example, in the passage quoted above, the >NYC Labor Chorus make several changes, including >changing "Negro" to "African" and substituting >"Jamaican" for "Litvak". Similarly, they add >"Moslem" to the list of religions.[4] In a >passage near the end that begins "Out of the >cheating, out of the shouting," Robeson in his >1940 recording adds "lynchings" to the list[5]; >the NYC Labor Chorus attempt to bring the piece >up to date with: Out of the greed and polluting, >Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Out of the >lies of McCarthy, Out of the murders of Martin >and John [4] [edit] Notes ^ Online notes from >2005 Paul Robeson Conference at Lafayette >College. Accessed 31 January 2006. ^ a b Dreier >& Flacks ^ "Ballad for Britons", Time, 11 >October 1943 ^ a b "Ballad For Americans" lyrics >as given on the site of the NYC Labor Chorus. ^ >Paul Robeson recording, accessed on the >Lafayette College site [edit] References Peter >Dreier & Dick Flacks, "Patriotism's Secret >History". The Nation, June 3, 2002 issue. >Accessed 31 January 2006. Paul Robeson >Conference April 7-9, 2005 at Lafeyette College. >Page includes a link to Robeson's 1945 recording >of "Ballad for Americans" in WMA format. >Accessed 31 January 2006. "Ballad For Americans" >lyrics by John La Touche (1939). "Ballad For >Americans" lyrics as given on the site of the >NYC Labor Chorus. Accessed 31 January 2006. >Retrieved from >"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_For_Americans" >Categories: American patriotic songs | American >songs | Cantatas This message has been scanned >for malware by SurfControl plc. >www.surfcontrol.com >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change >your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: >269.23.21/1458 - Release Date: 5/21/2008 7:21 AM From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 22 16:10:55 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 18:10:55 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ballad for Americans love of country In-Reply-To: References: <48354264.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <4835B72F.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> Ralph Dumain Yes, Robeson's performance was a radical act for its time, per Earl Robinson's intention to put the Negro at the center of the American experience--a radical act even now, but increasingly common even in the 1940s, per Duke Ellington, Richard Wright, et al. What this has to do with Obama, I don't know. ^^^^ CB: Well, it was a stream of consciousness snippet. I was trying to think of what might be a rational kernel in Barry's love of country. It like the positive aspects of different nations' working classes and masses as positive nationalism, dare I say, Patriotisim. Lets try matriotism/motherland. Hey, in Barry's speech in Iowa on Tuesday he used a very interesting formulation. I wrote it down. " A country that doesn't just value wealth, but workers, the workers who create all that wealth " ^^^^ Probably the flag lapel biz won't work. All older white people had to see was Jeremiah Wright and it's all over for Obama. Only the total catastrophe of the Bush administration gives Obama even a fighting chance. In any case, Obama's neoliberal buppie version of patriotism lacks the intensity of the Americanism of black Americans who grew up under more repressive circumstances. After all, who appreciates the ideal values of a society more than its outsiders, for whom ideals are urgent necessities and not rote platitudes? The record of Black Americanism--esp. among its writers and musicians--is second to none in its devotion to the potentials of an America that refuses to recognize the real basis of its greatness. I'll just give a couple of lesser known examples to be found on my web site: ^^^^ CB: Agree wholeheartedly with your idea and examples. But isn't Paul Robeson the quintessence of your idea ? He was an All American athlete , too. And a lawyer. The rational kernel of the American motherland is _e pluribus unum_, progressive, multiculturalism/pluralism, New World cosmopolitanism. Barry has this in spades in a character sense. Oh, I was thinking of Carl Sandberg , too. America as the microcosm of "Workers of the world , unite !" Duke Ellington: "We, Too, Sing 'America'" "Skies of America" by Ornette Coleman Another little-known example is the avant-garde musician Anthony Braxton, who in his "third millennial inteview", after going on and on and on and on about the exclusion and invisibility of black thinkers and artists, esp. those that refuse to be pigeonholed, concludes: >To have these two-dimensional concepts about >blues and swing are false arguments, arguments >that make sense to a certain sector of >musicology--certainly, to a certain sector of >music theorists, and the academy. Arguments that >can be used to isolate the vibrational spectra >of trans-African invention and mystic dynamics. >To strip that information and use it for their >own purposes, while at the same time denying the >thrust of trans-African, and, finally, American >invention, its proper vibrational >components--because what I'm talking of is >something more profound than Africa. I'm talking >of the greatest nation in documented history; >I'm talking about our home, Mike Heffley. > >Our home is a home that has everybody here, >bouncing off one another. Our home, especially >as we move into the Third Millennium, is more >complex than simply a Christian nation: it's a >Muslim nation, it's a Christian nation, it's an >Indian nation. It's a nation where women are >suddenly not in the same position, and are >suddenly able to ask the question, "what do I >want for myself?" It's a country where this next >generation of African Americans are not going to >be able to talk about disadvantages in the old >way; but in fact, the components of the old way will apply. http://www.autodidactproject.org/my/braxton2q.html This is our home--and look how we're behaving at home. We should be ashamed to set foot outside it. At 08:52 AM 5/22/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Lets see if Barry can tap the rational kernel of >"patriotism", love of country as expressed in >the Ballad for Americans. Ballad For Americans >"Ballad For Americans" (1939) is an American >patriotic cantata with lyrics by John La Touche >and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled >"The Ballad for Uncle Sam", it was originally >written for a WPA theatre project called Sing >for Your Supper.[1] The "Ballad" was performed >on the CBS radio network by Paul Robeson, >accompanied by chorus and orchestra. Both >Robeson and Bing Crosby had commercially >successful recordings of the piece. In the 1940 >presidential campaign it was played at both the >Republican National Convention and that of the >Communist Party. Its popularity continued >through the period of World War II[2] - in >autumn 1943, 200 African American soldiers >performed the piece in a benefit concert at >London's Royal Albert Hall[3] - but because of >Robinson and Robeson's left-wing politics, it >largely fell out of the general repertoire of >American popular music during the Second Red >Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. It has, >nonetheless, been periodically revived, notably >during the United States Bicentennial (1976).[2] >There is also a well-known recording by Odetta, >recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Invoking the >American Revolution (it names several prominent >revolutionary patriots and quotes the preamble >of the Declaration of Independence), and the >freeing of the slaves in the American Civil War >(there is a brief lyrical and musical quotation >of the spiritual "Go Down Moses"), as well as >Lewis and Clark, the Klondike Gold Rush, and >Susan B. Anthony, the piece draws an inclusive >picture of America: "I'm just an Irish American, >Negro, Jewish American, Italian, French and >English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, >Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish >American, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech and >double-check American - I was baptized Baptist, >Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Atheist, >Roman Catholic - [etc.]" The lyrics periodically >point at elite skepticism toward its inclusive >American vision ("Nobody who was anybody >believed it") before coming back to its refrain: >For I have always believed it, And I believe it >now, And now you know who I am. (Who are you?) >America! America! Many performers of the >"Ballad" have made minor changes in the lyrics. >For example, in the passage quoted above, the >NYC Labor Chorus make several changes, including >changing "Negro" to "African" and substituting >"Jamaican" for "Litvak". Similarly, they add >"Moslem" to the list of religions.[4] In a >passage near the end that begins "Out of the >cheating, out of the shouting," Robeson in his >1940 recording adds "lynchings" to the list[5]; >the NYC Labor Chorus attempt to bring the piece >up to date with: Out of the greed and polluting, >Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Out of the >lies of McCarthy, Out of the murders of Martin >and John?[4] [edit] Notes ^ Online notes from >2005 Paul Robeson Conference at Lafayette >College. Accessed 31 January 2006. ^ a b Dreier >& Flacks ^ "Ballad for Britons", Time, 11 >October 1943 ^ a b "Ballad For Americans" lyrics >as given on the site of the NYC Labor Chorus. ^ >Paul Robeson recording, accessed on the >Lafayette College site [edit] References Peter >Dreier & Dick Flacks, "Patriotism's Secret >History". The Nation, June 3, 2002 issue. >Accessed 31 January 2006. Paul Robeson >Conference April 7-9, 2005 at Lafeyette College. >Page includes a link to Robeson's 1945 recording >of "Ballad for Americans" in WMA format. >Accessed 31 January 2006. "Ballad For Americans" >lyrics by John La Touche (1939). "Ballad For >Americans" lyrics as given on the site of the >NYC Labor Chorus. Accessed 31 January 2006. >Retrieved from >"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_For_Americans" >Categories: American patriotic songs | American >songs | Cantatas This message has been scanned >for malware by SurfControl plc. >www.surfcontrol.com >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change >your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: >269.23.21/1458 - Release Date: 5/21/2008 7:21 AM _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 23 09:22:33 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 11:22:33 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Hits on auto capital keep on coming, esp. to variable capital Message-ID: <4836A8F9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> AXLE CONTRACT WINS APPROVAL Detroit workers seal deal, mark painful turning point http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/BUSINESS01/805230305 Industry's structural shift hits Ford hard Consumer move to smaller vehicles may mean more cuts, internal changes for ailing Detroit automaker http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/AUTO01/805230375 ^^^^ CB: Auto capital is getting slaughtered by Capital's current dynamic. Of course, _variable_ capital, i.e labor gets the most devastating hit. Big auto has got to be against Bush's war more than anybody, since it is causing oil prices to rise, and cutting into sales of gas guzzlers even more. Nationalize the auto industry ! This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 23 15:04:19 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 17:04:19 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] SACP on xenophobic attacks Message-ID: <4836F912.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> SACP on xenophobic attacks | Links glparramatta South African Communist Party's views on the xenphobic attacks in South Africa have just been posted ... at http://links.org.au/node/429 http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028630.html This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From ballistanc at yahoo.com Fri May 23 20:39:17 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 19:39:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Can you read English.... Message-ID: <802669.25774.qm@web35501.mail.mud.yahoo.com> May 2008: hurricane in Burma (100,000 dead), earthquake in China (50,000 dead), etc. "Catastrophes": Way of life of Capital * * * Seveso, Bhopal, Chernobyl, Sandoz, etc - a long list. These were not blunders, but are part of the inescapable tendency of capitalist production. Leftists, greens and all kinds of philanthropic packs of wolves, mobilize and shout through the spectacle of poverty about the lack of information, lack of safety precautions, media blackouts. Confused debates ensue about the responsibility of public bodies and organisations, whining about the excesses of capitalism and proposals for miraculous solutions to adjust the capitalist order, as if the dangers of nuclear technology or the chemical industry were not one of the fundamental expressions, among many others, of the horror of capital's domination. They get indignant about this state of affairs and demand clean and rational capitalism, led by Science. Science and rationality are merely research for profit. Science, the "whore" of Capital. Capitalist waste corresponds to the rationality of capital, whose raison d'etre is the production of capital. Chemical industries and civilian and military nuclear industries do indeed represent a threat for humankind because of serious, irreversible pollution, in particular because, by the logic of its system, capital generates submission of the totality of humankind, especially proletarians, as well as natural resources, to its anarchic functioning. However, it is in all areas of daily life that capital, incessantly in search of greater profit, mutilates and massacres individuals through this technology of prostitution. Capital is the concentration of population in cities so one can no longer breathe, the incessantly increasing mass of individual cars, air and water pollution, etc. Capital is also industrial injuries, deaths due to increasing poverty, doctored foods, town planning with overcrowding into poky little holes in an universe of concrete, great famines never due to natural causes, but to capital, which undermines non-profit-making agriculture, constructs dams and cities on high-risk terrain, etc. Economy(ies), profits... Capital is never innocent in catastrophes. They are not the product of fate, but of the race to profit, to profitability. Catastrophes are directly provoked and worsened by social causes. In the past: Primitive man, just like the animals, picked and consumed fruits that nature produced itself; and just like the animals, he avoided the natural raging of the elements which he was incapable of controlling and the phenomena which threatened his life. Today: The emergence of capital and commodity-production supposes the domination of man on nature. The variety of the earth's natural products and the need to use them, to save them, played a decisive role in the history of the development of commodity relationships and those between man and the "natural environment". Beyond each one's particular gravity, catastrophes express a more general situation. Military and technical development and the race for profit impose the logic of profit and profitability, to the detriment of proletarians. Capital, hungry for over-work, ends up not only extorting the greatest possible amount of work-force from the living, to the extent that it shortens their existence, but makes good business out of the destruction of dead labour (equipment, buildings,...) in so far as it allows the products still useful (only for the needs of proletarians) to be replaced by new living labour. When catastrophes destroy dwellings, cultures, etc., they destroy a certain wealth. This lost wealth was an accumulation of past work. To eliminate the effects of the catastrophe, it is necessary to have a huge mass of current, living labour. It is more beneficial for capital not to invest in maintenance, security,... On the other hand, reconstruction allows it to "use" living labour, therefore to exploit proletarians. Capital, in its logic, has to annihilate still useful dead labour - destruction of things that are no longer profitable for it - whose only usefulness is to satisfy needs. "Capital, oppressor of the living, also assassinates the dead." In the past: The bourgeoisie glorified science and technology by presenting them as an absolute good and spread the idea that society can put humankind in the best conditions to struggle against the difficulties of the natural environment, by way of technical, scientific and productive development. It is progress, it declared, that will resolve all the problems of humanity and proletarians must submit to this new divinity and serve it. Today: The more progress has developed, the more the living conditions of the proletariat have worsened. "Revolutionary history will not define the capitalist age as the age of the rational, but as that of junk. From all the idols that man has known, those of modern progress and technology will fall from the altars with the greatest crash." - Marx - Capital must be destroyed, there is nothing else that can be done with it. The theory according to which the technical forces of production will be useful to future generations by the prodigious productivity of work once capital and its constraints of profit have been annihilated, in fact signifies ever-increasing exploitation for the proletariat today. Capital, in its frantic struggle for valorization, can only be progressive (that is to say destructive), always producing more to valorize without taking human needs into account - the race to profit inevitably entails the destruction of the whole of humanity. However, it is not suicidal, so it produces its own humanitarian organizations to struggle against its own excesses. When the capitalist class realized that its cosy existence was at risk of being threatened by the rotting monster, environmentalism appeared. Ecologists are merely regulators of capital, they are an integral part of the State. Their myopia and their impotence forbid them to go back to the real causes and especially to tackle them. It is not man in general, nor society in general, which are responsible for the poisoning of nature and man's life, but a precise mode of production, governed by precise laws, characterized by the generalization of the production of commodities by way of wage labour. Pollution, disasters, etc. are only aspects, consequences of the development of commodity-production, of the frantic race of capital for its valorization. The ecologists' drivel systematically praises nature and all that is natural. "By drivelling too much about nature, one gets to the point of idealizing the state where naked men scratched the ground with their nails to find edible tubers." - Marx - It's not a question of advocating a return to "nature" and "natural conditions". It is not about planting three trees in the concrete or instituting upper legal limits on the progressively stupefying effects and slow death by asphyxiating pollutants. Environmentalism represents the reaction of capital to its own excesses, its attempt to control and limit its anachronistic destruction. Environmentalism addresses its appeals to man and to society in general, to all willing to listen. It is worse than ineffective because it is indignant about some of the effects of capital and yet takes good care not to tackle their causes. Speaking to everyone, it drowns the proletariat in a general unity of all citizens. It is as absurd and criminal to claim that capitalism can be clean and non-polluting as it is to claim that there can be capitalism without oppression, without massacre, without poverty, etc. As long as capitalism exists, it will exploit and oppress men, and as long as it exists, it will devastate nature. It is necessary to finish with and to destroy this society, and the proletariat must break all solidarity with capital and rediscover the terrain of class struggle. "The immense river of human history also has its threatening and irresistible floods. When the wave increases, it roars against both dikes that shut it in. On the right hand is the conformist dike, for the conservation of traditional and existent forms - a continuous passage of priests chanting in procession, of cops on patrol, of schoolmasters and charlatans spouting official lies and the class scholastic. On the left hand, the reformist dike: members of "popular" parties, professionals of opportunism, members of parliament and chiefs of progressist trade-unions are crowded in there. Bandying insults on both sides of the current, both processions claim to possess the recipe to see to it that the powerful river continues its suppressed and forced course. But at the great moments of history, the current breaks all hindrances, overflows its banks and "leaps", as the P? at Guastalla and at Volano, towards an unexpected direction, sweeping away both sordid gangs in the irresistible wave of revolution, reversing dikes of all kinds, and giving to the society, as to the earth, a new face." Amadeo Bordiga: Humankind and terrestrial crust. Internationalist Communist Group BP 33 - Saint-Gilles (BRU) 3 - 1060 Brussels - Belgium e-mail: icgcikg[at]yahoo.com geovisit(); From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 10:41:34 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 12:41:34 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Barack Obama Wins the Sojourner Truth Vote Message-ID: <48380CFF.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> I've been saying this for a couple of months now. Charles http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3602 Barack Obama Wins the Sojourner Truth Vote Run Date: 05/16/08 By Rev. Valda Jean Combs WeNews commentator West Virginia primary polling data has underscored Hillary Clinton's claim to the allegiance of white voters who aren't comfortable with black leadership. Rev. Valda Jean Combs says that helps explain why so many black women are going for Obama. Editor's Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women's eNews. (WOMENSENEWS)--The post-primary polling data out of West Virginia this week has been hitting us with the central message that race strongly factored into Sen. Hillary Clinton's lopsided victory. So now, as the race cards are spread right out there on the national table, I have a question: Does anyone still wonder why so many black women are going for Sen. Barack Obama? Some of Clinton's backers this campaign season have tried to make a vote for their candidate seem like a vote for all women. Younger women drawn to Obama's message of change have demurred. So have peace activist women horrified by Clinton's vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Black women also have our own reasons--rooted in the history of this country and the two waves of women's rights activism--to make another choice. And I'd like to talk about that. But first, let me make it plain that my support of Barack Obama is not a failure to understand the damage patriarchy has done to our community. Instead it's an intentional embrace of a brother who eschews paternalism and who himself embraces community. This contrasts with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Both have marginalized Obama at different times: "He gives good speeches," "he's not electable," "he's another Jesse Jackson" and most recently "hard working whites support me." It's an encoded drumbeat that spreads the message that Obama is "not like us." Racism Affirmed Rather than challenge racism, the Clintons have affirmed those for whom race is a barrier to supporting a black Democratic nominee. In their quest for the White House, the Clintons have sacrificed the black vote and the black loyalty that helped to put Bill Clinton in office. We have a saying in my community, "It is a sorry child who forgets those who helped them along the way." At the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 1851 Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave, posed a defiant question to white men and women when she asked, "Ain't I a woman?" Sister Sojourner spoke out despite the pleas of white female suffragists who thought that demanding the vote for former slaves would doom their cause to failure. Sojourner felt then, as I do, what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of now." But the dialogue she sought did not occur. Sojourner's place was to speak when she was asked, and to sit down and shut up when her agenda diverged from that of her suffragist sisters. Sister Sojourner experienced sexism, but it was racism that caused her children to be sold away and racism that forced her to plow the fields like a man. When black women press for inclusion, white women have historically been hard of hearing. As a result, far from viewing white women as partners in the struggle, women of color have the historical knowledge of white women in partnership with their men as oppressors. Slavery's Still-Sour Taste Slavery left a sour taste in the mouths of black women whose forebears suckled and nurtured white children while their own children were neglected or sold away. Slavery bred antipathy between the black slave woman forced to endure rape at the hands of the white male slave owner and mistreatment at the hands of the white female slave owner. And then there were the black men lynched, murdered and prosecuted based on false accusations by white women. While leading feminists often acknowledge this historical truth, this acknowledgement did not equal inclusion. Women of color fought alongside white feminists in the 1970s and 1980s, but found our perspective elbowed aside; our loyalty taken for granted. Feminism's almost exclusive focus on the worth of woman's work outside the home was a non-issue for black women who worked inside and outside the home and whose work was devalued in both realms. But when we raised the problematic irony of women of color working outside their own homes in the homes of white women--where they were paid low wages with no benefits--this was often lost on white feminists. They seemed more riveted on breaking down the gender barriers to elite schools and high-paying professions. Feminism could not, or would not, grasp the loyalty of black women to a patriarchal church that has marginalized and sometimes oppressed us; our insistence that we will not leave our men behind; and a moral vision, borne out of oppression, that seeks a just society for all humanity, with equal opportunities and rights for all groups. 'Ain't I a Woman?' Yet Again In the middle of feminism's second wave black feminists were experiencing deja vu all over again. Like Sister Sojourner we were once again demanding of white feminists, "Ain't I a woman?" Out of that demand grew the movement we call "womanism," a term that Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker coined in the introduction to her 1983 book "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose." Womanism recognizes that--at least for now--only black women can articulate the complex nature of our history, our theology, our community, our voice and the fierce power of our love. Implicit in that love is the embrace of church, family and women, but also our men. For women who experience oppression more intensely, we require a more intense liberation movement. Finally, while feminism places priority on women, womanism places priority on the collective whole. While feminism speaks to sexism, womanism speaks to sexism, racism, classism and ethnocentrism. As an endnote to her definition of womanism, Walker writes, "Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender," an acknowledgement that womanism expands the parameters of white feminism to include issues important to women of color and women in poverty. My support for Obama is a repudiation of the politics that have reigned supreme since Sojourner Truth, a politics that says my dream must wait until someone else's has been realized. Obama stands for the proposition that we can go forward together, as one. This is what my 94-year-old grandmother and her 84-year-old sister have prayed for, stood for and hoped for. The fierce urgency of now is up against the fierce arrogance of now. Black women supporting Obama now dare to believe that change can come in our time. A change that offers our boys hope that they, too, can become president; a change that offers our community hope that black families can survive and thrive; and change that says out of oppression can come liberation for not just some of us, but all of us. If we have learned anything from Sister Sojourner, it is that we must speak now, for we are women too. Valda Jean Combs is a pastor in the United Methodist Church, an ordained Baptist minister and licensed attorney. Combs heads Full Proof HIV Ministry, an organization that educates, raises awareness and combats stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in faith institutions. Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors at womensenews.org. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 24 11:57:11 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 12:57:11 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Barack Obama Wins the Sojourner Truth Vote In-Reply-To: <48380CFF.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <48380CFF.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: Alice Walker is an airhead, and "womanism" is an obscurantist ideology. The author is a pastor, which means her argument has to be padded with BS. Otherwise, all this is true and it's obvious that "women" is just a code word for "white women". In every movement there is a political vanguard among whom a fraction holds to the most progressive views, but if you think the average white woman, feminist even, has the slightest concern for black women, you are indeed living in a fantasy world. The author also fails, like so many addled preachers, to be clear about what to expect from Obama. A victory for Obama will be largely a symbolic victory in the race propaganda war. That is, if Obama can hurdle the barriers now thrown up against him (after he has been catapulted into this position thanks largely to the same white elite that will now screw him), he will have scored a major victory in the media propaganda ideological environment. Such a victory should not be sneezed at, but should Obama actually try to improve the situation of black people if by some miracle he gets elected, he will be fucked. In any case, Jeremiah Wright alone will sink Obama, with or without flag pins, guns and religion, etc. Keep in mind that the majority of white Americans are blithering idiots. At 11:41 AM 5/24/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >I've been saying this for a couple of months now. > >Charles > >http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3602 > >Barack Obama Wins the Sojourner Truth Vote >Run Date: 05/16/08 >By Rev. Valda Jean Combs >WeNews commentator >West Virginia primary polling data has underscored Hillary Clinton's >claim to the allegiance of white voters who aren't comfortable with >black leadership. Rev. Valda Jean Combs says that helps explain why so >many black women are going for Obama. > >Editor's Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed >are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women's eNews. > > >(WOMENSENEWS)--The post-primary polling data out of West Virginia this >week has been hitting us with the central message that race strongly >factored into Sen. Hillary Clinton's lopsided victory. > >So now, as the race cards are spread right out there on the national >table, I have a question: Does anyone still wonder why so many black >women are going for Sen. Barack Obama? > >Some of Clinton's backers this campaign season have tried to make a >vote for their candidate seem like a vote for all women. > >Younger women drawn to Obama's message of change have demurred. So have >peace activist women horrified by Clinton's vote to authorize the use of >force in Iraq. > >Black women also have our own reasons--rooted in the history of this >country and the two waves of women's rights activism--to make another >choice. And I'd like to talk about that. > >But first, let me make it plain that my support of Barack Obama is not >a failure to understand the damage patriarchy has done to our community. >Instead it's an intentional embrace of a brother who eschews paternalism >and who himself embraces community. > >This contrasts with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Both have marginalized >Obama at different times: "He gives good speeches," "he's not >electable," "he's another Jesse Jackson" and most recently "hard working >whites support me." It's an encoded drumbeat that spreads the message >that Obama is "not like us." > >Racism Affirmed >Rather than challenge racism, the Clintons have affirmed those for whom >race is a barrier to supporting a black Democratic nominee. In their >quest for the White House, the Clintons have sacrificed the black vote >and the black loyalty that helped to put Bill Clinton in office. > >We have a saying in my community, "It is a sorry child who forgets >those who helped them along the way." > >At the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 1851 Sojourner Truth, an >emancipated slave, > >posed a defiant question to white men and women when she asked, "Ain't >I a woman?" > >Sister Sojourner spoke out despite the pleas of white female >suffragists who thought that demanding the vote for former slaves would >doom their cause to failure. Sojourner felt then, as I do, what the Rev. >Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of now." > >But the dialogue she sought did not occur. Sojourner's place was to >speak when she was asked, and to sit down and shut up when her agenda >diverged from that of her suffragist sisters. Sister Sojourner >experienced sexism, but it was racism that caused her children to be >sold away and racism that forced her to plow the fields like a man. > >When black women press for inclusion, white women have historically >been hard of hearing. As a result, far from viewing white women as >partners in the struggle, women of color have the historical knowledge >of white women in partnership with their men as oppressors. > >Slavery's Still-Sour Taste >Slavery left a sour taste in the mouths of black women whose forebears >suckled and nurtured white children while their own children were >neglected or sold away. Slavery bred antipathy between the black slave >woman forced to endure rape at the hands of the white male slave owner >and mistreatment at the hands of the white female slave owner. And then >there were the black men lynched, murdered and prosecuted based on false >accusations by white women. > >While leading feminists often acknowledge this historical truth, this >acknowledgement did not equal inclusion. Women of color fought alongside >white feminists in the 1970s and 1980s, but found our perspective >elbowed aside; our loyalty taken for granted. > >Feminism's almost exclusive focus on the worth of woman's work outside >the home was a non-issue for black women who worked inside and outside >the home and whose work was devalued in both realms. > >But when we raised the problematic irony of women of color working >outside their own homes in the homes of white women--where they were >paid low wages with no benefits--this was often lost on white feminists. >They seemed more riveted on breaking down the gender barriers to elite >schools and high-paying professions. > >Feminism could not, or would not, grasp the loyalty of black women to a >patriarchal church that has marginalized and sometimes oppressed us; our >insistence that we will not leave our men behind; and a moral vision, >borne out of oppression, that seeks a just society for all humanity, >with equal opportunities and rights for all groups. > >'Ain't I a Woman?' Yet Again >In the middle of feminism's second wave black feminists were >experiencing deja vu all over again. Like Sister Sojourner we were once >again demanding of white feminists, "Ain't I a woman?" > >Out of that demand grew the movement we call "womanism," a term that >Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker coined in the introduction to >her 1983 book "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose." > >Womanism recognizes that--at least for now--only black women can >articulate the complex nature of our history, our theology, our >community, our voice and the fierce power of our love. > >Implicit in that love is the embrace of church, family and women, but >also our men. For women who experience oppression more intensely, we >require a more intense liberation movement. > >Finally, while feminism places priority on women, womanism places >priority on the collective whole. While feminism speaks to sexism, >womanism speaks to sexism, racism, classism and ethnocentrism. As an >endnote to her definition of womanism, Walker writes, "Womanist is to >feminist as purple is to lavender," an acknowledgement that womanism >expands the parameters of white feminism to include issues important to >women of color and women in poverty. > >My support for Obama is a repudiation of the politics that have reigned >supreme since Sojourner Truth, a politics that says my dream must wait >until someone else's has been realized. > >Obama stands for the proposition that we can go forward together, as >one. This is what my 94-year-old grandmother and her 84-year-old sister >have prayed for, stood for and hoped for. The fierce urgency of now is >up against the fierce arrogance of now. > >Black women supporting Obama now dare to believe that change can come >in our time. A change that offers our boys hope that they, too, can >become president; a change that offers our community hope that black >families can survive and thrive; and change that says out of oppression >can come liberation for not just some of us, but all of us. If we have >learned anything from Sister Sojourner, it is that we must speak now, >for we are women too. > >Valda Jean Combs is a pastor in the United Methodist Church, an >ordained Baptist minister and licensed attorney. Combs heads Full Proof >HIV Ministry, an organization that educates, raises awareness and >combats stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in faith institutions. > >Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at >editors at womensenews.org. > > > > > > >This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. >www.surfcontrol.com > >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > >-- >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.0/1462 - Release Date: >5/23/2008 7:20 AM From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 11:04:00 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:04:00 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Capitalism with Chinese characteristics Message-ID: <48381240.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028790.html Marxism] Imperialism in 1848 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, but you didn't compare China to Stalin's Russia. You compared it to Victorian Great Britain. wrote: I agree with you that there was imperialism in 1848, but it was not the same imperialism that Hilferding, Hobson, Lenin and Bukharin wrote about. Capitalism was arguably the system that the CM described as revolutionizing the means of production, but as Rosa Luxemburg would point out in "Accumulation of Capital", it never had that effect in the colonized country despite what Marx wrote in 1853. ^^^ CB: And of course, in China today capitalism is not being brought to China by colonizing, imperializing, racist Europeans, which takes it qualitatively out of the empirical category of Luxembourg's critique. The capitalism in China and Vietnam has self-determining control by nationally liberated ,indigenous peoples. In China ,it's capitalism with Chinese national characteristics, controlled by the Chinese state power, qualitatively different than capitalism brought to India by a British state power, and much more like capitalism brought to Britain by a British state power. In China today, it is also monopoly capitalism, finance capitalism, not pre-monopoly capitalism. Lenin, in _Imperialism_ , noted that monopoly capital prepares the ground for socialism better than capitalism of so-called free competition. Finally, it is capitalism "supervised" by a Communist Party, which declares that it is still trying to build socialism. This is a Communist Party that tried mightily to travel a road to socialism bypassing capitalism. It then frankly, honestly, with extraordinarily courageous self-criticism, assessed that it was not succeeding; basically declared that its "socialism" was not good enough; and perhaps that the material production was not sufficient to protect China from real imperialism, which had already conducted two genocidal wars on China's bordering countries, had nuked Japan, demonstrating full willingness to annihilate genocidally "yellow perils", explicitly threatened to do so, had a world ending scale of nukes pointed at that country ! I don't care that some American Marxists don't trust the Chinese Communist Party on these issues, frankly. That's a sort of leftist White Man's Burden, as far as I'm concerned; or left humanitarian/progressive intervention - Like China has to risk annihilation and continue in massssssssss poverty to uphold American Marxists' ideals. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 11:10:16 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:10:16 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] CHAVEZ on China: "Two revolutions, one single path" Message-ID: <483813B8.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028421.html CHAVEZ on China: "Two revolutions, one single path" Sukant Chandan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://friendsofchina.blogspot.com/2008/05/chavez-on-china-two-revolutions-single.html "Brothers gonna work it out" (Public Enemy) This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 11:15:56 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:15:56 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] CHAVEZ on China: Message-ID: <4838150C.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028422.html CHAVEZ on China: "Two revolutions, one single path" Louis Proyect -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >http://friendsofchina.blogspot.com/2008/05/chavez-on-china-two-revolutions-single.html From the article linked to above: "At this event, other five agreements were endorsed by the Venezuelan and Chinese representatives, including one to reduce poverty." Does this include reducing poverty in China? I have no objection to crossposting diplomatic fluff from the Venezuelan press, but really there are far better places to understand China--especially in light of the assertion that the two countries are on the same revolutionary path. I recommend in particular the publication that Pance announced the other day: http://chinaleftreview.org/index.php?id=33 The article titled "Land from the Tiller: The Push for Rural Land Privatization in China" is particularly interesting since it documents the involvement of Roy Prosterman's RDI in China's land privatization program: http://chinaleftreview.org/index.php?id=58 Here's some info from Prosterman's RDI website (http://www.rdiland.org): South Vietnam (1967-1973) Roy Prosterman developed a "land-to-the-tiller" program-carried out between 1970 and 1973-that gave land ownership to one million tenant farmer families. Although too late to halt the conflict, the program cut Viet Cong recruitment by 80 percent and increased agricultural productivity by 30 percent. Then-President Thieu said that if this program had been carried out in the 1950s, there never would have been a renewed conflict in South Vietnam. The success of these small family farms influenced the Hanoi government to break-up collective farms in the North two decades later-a reform that Prosterman and his colleagues were invited in to review and assess in 1993. Vietnam is now a net exporter of grain. For more information about Vietnam's land reform, contact Roy Prosterman at royp at rdiland.org. El Salvador (1980-1984) RDI designed and helped the government carry out a land reform that provided land ownership to 50,000 tenant farm families. RDI also played an important educational role with the U.S. government, which helped to form conditions on U.S. aid to El Salvador. RDI's work led to the U.S. government's support for land reform in El Salvador, keeping it alive under extremely difficult conditions. Two prominent former U.S. Ambassadors have said that this reform probably kept El Salvador from falling to the communist rebels. Contact Roy Prosterman at royp at rdiland.org. And here's something from the Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8745 October 15, 2007 Development Policy Analysis no. 3 Securing Land Rights for Chinese Farmers: A Leap Forward for Stability and Growth by Zhu Keliang and Roy Prosterman Zhu Keliang is a Beijing-based attorney and China program manager for the Rural Development Institute. Roy Prosterman is founder and chairman emeritus of the Rural Development Institute. Published on October 15, 2007 Executive Summary A critical determinant of China's long-term economic growth and social stability will be whether the wealth of its economic boom can reach the majority of its 700 million farmers, who make up approximately 56 percent of the total population. The benefits that the rural population has received from the economic reforms of the past two and a half decades, while significant, were largely achieved in the 1980s, and now the countryside lags badly behind the urban sector. A survey we conducted in 17 provinces, among 1,962 farmers and other respondents, confirms one fundamental cause of the widening rural-urban income gap: most Chinese farmers still lack secure and marketable land rights that would allow them to make long-term investments in land, decisively improve productivity, and accumulate wealth. Zhu Keliang is a Beijing-based attorney and China program manager for the Rural Development Institute. Roy Prosterman is founder and chairman emeritus of the Rural Development Institute. Farmers in China face multiple threats to their land rights from local government and village officials. The most prominent threat is land expropriation or acquisition through eminent domain to satisfy demands of industrial growth or urban expansion. Despite a series of central laws and policies, in practice, farmers who lose their land typically receive little or no compensation. Closely related as another source of insecurity of land rights is the persistent "readjustment" or "reallocation" of farmers' landholdings that is administratively conducted by village officials. Today, such land-related problems are the number one cause for rural grievances and unrest in China, which reported 17,900 cases of "massive rural incidents" of farmers' protests in the first nine months of 2006. China adopted a Property Law in March 2007 that aims to strengthen the security of farmers' land rights, and the next key step will be full implementation of the law. We calculate that securing rural land rights would bring more than half a trillion dollars of value to farmers. Implementing the property law requires major institutional and legal measures on several fronts that China must tackle in the immediate future. (clip) I don't care if people like Sukant Chandan want to bullshit themselves, but they shouldn't overdo it here. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 11:17:34 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:17:34 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] CHAVEZ on China Message-ID: <4838156F.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-May/028424.html CHAVEZ on China: "Two revolutions, one single path" Sukant Chandan sukant.chandan at gmail.com Sun May 18 15:20:33 MDT 2008 Previous message: [Marxism] New Doug Henwood radio shows Next message: [Marxism] CHAVEZ on China: "Two revolutions, one single path" Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 300 million people lifted out of poverty in the last 20 decades. not bad. Actually, historically never seen before in the history of mankind Developing ones economic and industrial (and military) to meet the challenges of an aggressive US imperialism which clearly has China in its sights: not bad. China keeping to and promoting its anti-imperialist and Marxist ideology: I am not complaining. China wants develop its relations with all left and socialist and communist forces which are in support of its efforts to develop its country and in support of its communist party. I would suggest that people propose a whole-rounded concrete alternative path for China. As I have suggested before, I would suggest people engage with the tens of thousands of english-speaking Chinese youth who are discussing these and many other issues on e-groups such as on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9356526887 No point shouting about China without engaging those we are concerned about. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 11:55:59 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:55:59 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions Message-ID: <48381E70.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Ruthless Critic of All that Exists ------------------------------------------------------------ How is it "self-determining"? Was a referendum taken on the issue in which the Chinese masses were consulted? ^^^^ CB: Maybe. How do you know how the Chinese Communist Party communicates with the masses of Chinese People ? Might have been a secret vote, secret from Americans and Europeans and non-Chinese speakers in the first place. Did the Chinese Communist Party hold a referendum before the 1949 revolution ? Your question sounds like a question that a liberal professor would ask in 1949 to give a Euro-American liberal-"democratic" certification of the Chinese Revolution. "Uh , if the Chinese didn't hold a Euro-American type election, then we cannot give our blessings that it was democratic, sorry ". Uh fuck you white man. You sound like a liberal humanitarian interventionist. Was a bourgeois electoral referendum taken in Cuba to endorse and certify that the armed struggle resulted in a 'self-determined" state power ? Did Lenin prescribe referenda to decide whether an oppressed nation's decisions are truly self-determining, in his theses on national liberation and self-determination ? Who are you ? Somebody from the White Marxist Amnesty International checking up on the Chinese Communist government on behalf of the Chinese People's "political rights" ? Just exactly who the fuck are you ? ^^^^ ^^^^^ Do the Chinese workers have workers' councils which determine or influence policy, or elect or recall representatives to the government? ^^^^^ CB: They have a Communist Party, which is related to the Chinese working class like the Bolsheviks were to the Russian working class, or the Cuban Communist Party is related to the Cuban working class or the Vietnamese Communist Party is related to the Vn People or the Korean Communist Party is related to the Korean People. ^^^^^ It seems to me that they do not have even the minimum (highly insufficient) of self-determination that even bourgeois democracy provides. ^^^^^ CB: What exactly does it matter what it seems to you ? Are you Chinese ? It "seems" to you. Whence the source of your seeming ? Are you in China ? Are you part of the white Comintern, sitting up in your armchair, ruthlessly criticizing from afar on the Communist parties and revolutions that actually exist ? Comparing the actual with your ideal pipe dream of what communism is supposed to be ? Carrying the white Communists' Burden ? This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 24 13:12:58 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 15:12:58 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Obama v. Clinton Puts Stretch Marks on Sisterhood Message-ID: <4838307A.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Obama v. Clinton Puts Stretch Marks on Sisterhood Run Date: 04/15/08 By Amy Tiemann WeNews commentator As the Democratic primaries continue to split women's rights activists down generational lines, Amy Tiemann sees an overdue mother-daughter power struggle in which younger women are claiming their share of the political stage. Editor's Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women's eNews. (WOMENSENEWS)--"Sisterhood" bound women together during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s. Fast-forward three decades, and it is time to start asking ourselves what happens when you try to stretch sisterhood across a generational divide and then push and pull it between the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Answer: serious stretch marks. Yes, Clinton is attracting her share of Gen X and Y supporters as she wages an impressive political battle. And plenty of older, self-described feminists support Obama. Take Sheila Goldmacher. "I am a 74-year-old Jewish feminist lesbian and do not support Hillary and have disliked her for a long time as well as her husband Bill," she recently e-mailed Women's eNews. "They have helped to bring us the disaster we now have on our hands by the imposition of NAFTA, which she seems to been backtracking on; the so-called Welfare Reform Act, which has continued to make life miserable for countless numbers of women and children in this country. Stop trying to see this race as only men vs. women." Goldmacher notwithstanding, plenty of second-wavers have turned the campaigns into a test of feminist credentials. Robin Morgan's commentary, published by the Women's Media Center in February, is by now the most talked about example. Far From Sororal Morgan has published three books promoting "Sisterhood" but her attitude toward younger women supporting Obama is far from sororal. "Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they're not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten the status quo), who can't identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her. Goodbye to women of any age again feeling unworthy, sulking 'what if she's not electable?' or 'maybe it's post-feminism and whoooosh we're already free . . . '" In the wake of the Morgan commentary we've seen some peace-pipe efforts by women anxious to keep the media from having too much fun with our little "catfight." But I don't feel ready to drop the issue. This feels like an overdue "Mother-Daughter" power struggle that we need to examine. There is a great deal at stake here, as we face a future full of challenges that will require us to work across generational lines. I agree with Feministing's Jessica Valenti, who pointed out that when Gloria Steinem recently convened a roundtable to try to heal the race-gender split, there was "nary a woman under 40 in sight" and that this meeting "represents the exact problem it purports to seek an end to: the narrowing of feminist viewpoints." Over-40 Crowd In the past year I have been invited to many gatherings of women's rights leaders and have been one of the only women under 40. There is a great deal of potential there, but we have to keep working at it. We need to honor the idea that younger women can legitimately make different political choices, and it's not because we are fickle, ignorant or swept up in "Obama-mania." Even the eminently reasonable Ellen Goodman described the daughters as "having a lower boiling point or a lower consciousness" when they say "a woman in the White House is fine but not this woman." Writers such as Linda Hirshman and Leslie Bennetts have characterized the current crop of mothers as unambitious, or uninvolved. But how well have they gotten to know women under 40 (outside of their own rebellious daughters, perhaps)? In "The Feminine Mistake" Leslie Bennetts interviewed a woman who complained she hasn't seen the "young Gloria Steinems." That is exactly the problem: baby-boomer women are busy looking for the leader they already know while ignoring women who are working for social justice in new ways. Bennetts, for one, makes it clear that she is aware of organizations like Mothers and More and MomsRising.org. But these grassroots activist movements fail to register on her radar, and Bennetts remains "shocked by the failure of the younger generations to understand that the majority of women . . . share common needs." Unfinished Business By raising this question, Bennetts also raises the unfinished business of the second-wavers. Women of color and low-income women have argued for years that their perspectives and needs took a back seat to the strategies of more privileged white women getting ahead in high-profile, male-dominated professions. Now that dynamic is showing up between the generations. Ten years from now we could look back on the arguments about Clinton v. Obama as the wedge that emphasized a generational divide, to the detriment of all women. The Mother-Daughter dynamic illuminates a power differential. In many ways the Mothers have the upper hand. They control the largest established organizations, the purse strings of foundation grants. By excluding younger women's definitions of feminism, however, the Mothers are short-circuiting their power. The Mothers need to remember that they need the Daughters as well. Gen-Xers such as myself are no longer children; we're reaching our 40s now. Not only do we represent the future, we are the bridge to the millennial generation who will clean up after all of us. I am already having discussions with my 8-year-old daughter about the fact that she and her peers are going to have to cope with a post-oil world, face the effects of global warming in the second half of the 21st century, and deal with complex issues involving international relations. I have asked her to think about how she would envision running cars without gasoline, and she has some really good ideas. I look at her and see an elder of the future. Why can't more boomers see that in women like me? I am worried that modern feminism may go the way of "The Greatest Generation," something younger women honor as a historical legacy that does not directly involve us. If we want to proceed together, rather than breaking into splinter movements, we are going to have to create a coalition that shares power and respects a wider variety of opinions. Amy Tiemann, Ph.D., writes about mothers' leadership in her book, "Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family" and on her Web site, MojoMom.com Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors at womensenews.org. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 24 13:26:17 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 14:26:17 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Booker Rising Message-ID: I just stumbled upon a disgusting black conservative blog called "Booker Rising": http://bookerrising.blogspot.com/ Speaking of Booker T. Washington's crimes, recently I learned how international and pivotal his malfeasance was. See: ANDREW ZIMMERMAN "A German Alabama in Africa: The Tuskegee Expedition to German Togo and the Transnational Origins of West African Cotton Growers" The American Historical Review, Vol. 110, Issue 5, 2005. http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/110.5/zimmerman.html I recently attended a mind-blowing lecture by Zimmerman documenting the key role Booker T and his crew played in the technological and economic colonial development of the West African cotton industry and the subjugation of native African labor on behalf of the German empire. From steiger2001 at centrum.cz Sat May 24 18:48:18 2008 From: steiger2001 at centrum.cz (steiger2001 at centrum.cz) Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 02:48:18 +0200 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions In-Reply-To: <48381E70.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <48381E70.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <200805250248.11991@centrum.cz> CB maintains the Chinese workers "have" the Communist Party. s somebody who has spent all his adult life inside Czechoslovakia which was ruled by the C?P for 40 years -- 1948 to 1989 -- I can only tell every comrade who does not have this experience that the Czech(oslovak) CP as any other in the "socialist camp" has neither been ruled nor "owned" by the workers. This in spite thwe fact that of course the party was always claiming to be the party of workers and "cooperative farmers". Do not have any illusions on Chinese CP -- just follow the news on wage and living conditions of the "wandering workers" -- and too often opn working conditions of "regular" workers. Stephen Steiger, Prague, Czech Republic??? ______________________________________________________________ > Od: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us > Komu: , > Datum: 24.05.2008 19:58 > P?edm?t: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions > > >Ruthless Critic of All that Exists > >------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >How is it "self-determining"? Was a referendum taken on the issue in >which the Chinese masses were consulted? > >^^^^ >CB: Maybe. ?How do you know how the Chinese Communist Party >communicates with the masses of Chinese People ? Might have been a >secret vote, secret from Americans and Europeans and non-Chinese >speakers in the first place. ?Did the Chinese Communist Party hold a >referendum before the 1949 revolution ? ? Your question sounds like a >question that a liberal professor would ask in 1949 to give a >Euro-American liberal-"democratic" certification of the Chinese >Revolution. ? "Uh , if the Chinese didn't hold a Euro-American type >election, then we cannot give our blessings that it was democratic, >sorry ". Uh fuck you white man. > >You sound like a liberal humanitarian interventionist. Was a bourgeois >electoral referendum taken in Cuba to endorse and certify that the armed >struggle resulted in a 'self-determined" state power ? Did Lenin >prescribe referenda to decide whether an oppressed nation's decisions >are truly self-determining, in his theses on national liberation and >self-determination ? >Who are you ? Somebody from the White Marxist Amnesty International >checking up on the Chinese Communist government on behalf of the Chinese >People's "political rights" ? Just exactly who the fuck are you ? > >^^^^ > >^^^^^ > > > Do the Chinese workers have >workers' councils which determine or influence policy, or elect or >recall representatives to the government? > >^^^^^ >CB: They have a Communist Party, which is related to the Chinese >working class like the Bolsheviks were to the Russian working class, or >the Cuban Communist Party is related to the Cuban working class or the >Vietnamese Communist Party is related to the Vn People or the Korean >Communist Party is related to the Korean People. > >^^^^^ > >It seems to me that they do not have even the minimum (highly >insufficient) of self-determination that even bourgeois democracy >provides. > >^^^^^ >CB: What exactly does it matter what it seems to you ? ?Are you Chinese >? ?It "seems" to you. ?Whence the source of your seeming ? ?Are you in >China ? ?Are you part of the white Comintern, sitting up in your >armchair, ruthlessly criticizing from afar on the Communist parties and >revolutions that actually exist ? Comparing the actual with your ideal >pipe dream of what communism is supposed to be ? Carrying the white >Communists' Burden ? > > >This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com > >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From ballistanc at yahoo.com Sun May 25 05:25:48 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 04:25:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions In-Reply-To: <200805250248.11991@centrum.cz> Message-ID: <617673.41804.qm@web35507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ...you don't have to live in a particular country to have an objective historical understanding of a particular moment of the class struggle, you could live there for years and still don't understand shit about it, and the nature of the State which is the negation of the dictatorship of the proletariat....The official history of the "communist" movement talks about or considers that there in Russia was produced a "socialist revolution" but historical evidence demonstrate that conception is false. Therefore the whole movement that is known as "Marxist" is just or has become part of the ideology of the capitalist State reproducing itself therefore class domination. In fact, the existence of wage labor, salary workers and the State itself shows that the 1949 and 1966 proletarian rebellions in China as well as the 1959 that took place in Cuba were shifted to the right of capital....Even more important, I consider the 1917 Bolshevik insurrection as a revolutionary tentative and not a communist revolution. steiger2001 at centrum.cz wrote: CB maintains the Chinese workers "have" the Communist Party. s somebody who has spent all his adult life inside Czechoslovakia which was ruled by the C P for 40 years -- 1948 to 1989 -- I can only tell every comrade who does not have this experience that the Czech(oslovak) CP as any other in the "socialist camp" has neither been ruled nor "owned" by the workers. This in spite thwe fact that of course the party was always claiming to be the party of workers and "cooperative farmers". Do not have any illusions on Chinese CP -- just follow the news on wage and living conditions of the "wandering workers" -- and too often opn working conditions of "regular" workers. Stephen Steiger, Prague, Czech Republic ______________________________________________________________ > Od: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us > Komu: , > Datum: 24.05.2008 19:58 > P?edm?t: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions > > >Ruthless Critic of All that Exists > >------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >How is it "self-determining"? Was a referendum taken on the issue in >which the Chinese masses were consulted? > >^^^^ >CB: Maybe. How do you know how the Chinese Communist Party >communicates with the masses of Chinese People ? Might have been a >secret vote, secret from Americans and Europeans and non-Chinese >speakers in the first place. Did the Chinese Communist Party hold a >referendum before the 1949 revolution ? Your question sounds like a >question that a liberal professor would ask in 1949 to give a >Euro-American liberal-"democratic" certification of the Chinese >Revolution. "Uh , if the Chinese didn't hold a Euro-American type >election, then we cannot give our blessings that it was democratic, >sorry ". Uh fuck you white man. > >You sound like a liberal humanitarian interventionist. Was a bourgeois >electoral referendum taken in Cuba to endorse and certify that the armed >struggle resulted in a 'self-determined" state power ? Did Lenin >prescribe referenda to decide whether an oppressed nation's decisions >are truly self-determining, in his theses on national liberation and >self-determination ? >Who are you ? Somebody from the White Marxist Amnesty International >checking up on the Chinese Communist government on behalf of the Chinese >People's "political rights" ? Just exactly who the fuck are you ? > >^^^^ > >^^^^^ > > > Do the Chinese workers have >workers' councils which determine or influence policy, or elect or >recall representatives to the government? > >^^^^^ >CB: They have a Communist Party, which is related to the Chinese >working class like the Bolsheviks were to the Russian working class, or >the Cuban Communist Party is related to the Cuban working class or the >Vietnamese Communist Party is related to the Vn People or the Korean >Communist Party is related to the Korean People. > >^^^^^ > >It seems to me that they do not have even the minimum (highly >insufficient) of self-determination that even bourgeois democracy >provides. > >^^^^^ >CB: What exactly does it matter what it seems to you ? Are you Chinese >? It "seems" to you. Whence the source of your seeming ? Are you in >China ? Are you part of the white Comintern, sitting up in your >armchair, ruthlessly criticizing from afar on the Communist parties and >revolutions that actually exist ? Comparing the actual with your ideal >pipe dream of what communism is supposed to be ? Carrying the white >Communists' Burden ? > > >This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com > >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sun May 25 08:09:25 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 10:09:25 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Barack Obama Wins the Sojourner Truth Vote Message-ID: <48393AD4.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Ralph Dumain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alice Walker is an airhead, and "womanism" is an obscurantist ideology. The author is a pastor, which means her argument has to be padded with BS. ^^^^ CB: Harriet Tubman was a pastor too, a Moses. She padded her arguments with a shotgun.. I think of womanism as a different name from feminism giving Black women a space to raise criticism of male supremacy while at the same time raising criticisms of the racism within the main feminism. What do you think of _The Color Purple_ ? The resurrection of Zora Neale Hurston ? _Mules and Men_ gives us some precious Ballads for Americans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker [edit] Activism and marriage After high school, Walker went to Spelman College in Atlanta on full scholarship in 1961 and later transferred up north to Sarah Lawrence College near New York City, graduating in 1965. Walker became interested in the U.S. civil rights movement in part due to the influence of activist Howard Zinn, who was one of her professors at Spelman College. Continuing the activism that she participated in during her college years, Walker returned to the South where she became involved with voter registration drives, campaigns for welfare rights, and children's programs in Mississippi.[3] In 1965, Walker met and later married Mel Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer. They became the first legally married inter-racial couple in Mississippi.[4] This brought them a steady stream of harassment and even murderous threats from the Ku Klux Klan. The couple had a daughter, Rebecca in 1969, but divorced eight years later. .... An article she published in 1975 was largely responsible for the renewal of interest in the work of Zora Neale Hurston, who was a large source of inspiration for Walker's writing and subject matter. In 1973, Walker and fellow Hurston scholar Charlotte D. Hunt discovered Hurston's unmarked grave in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Both women paid for a modest headstone for the gravesite.[5] ^^^^ Otherwise, all this is true and it's obvious that "women" is just a code word for "white women". ^^^^ CB: Obvious, but widely suppressed, not said out loud much by white people, including white feminists. So, it is sort of necessary to say it on the left and in a political season when a woman is a viable contestant for President, since feminist issues get more play in the mass consciousness in same. ^^^^ In every movement there is a political vanguard among whom a fraction holds to the most progressive views, but if you think the average white woman, feminist even, has the slightest concern for black women, you are indeed living in a fantasy world. ^^^ CB: That's why Black women are supporting Barry. ^^^^^ The author also fails, like so many addled preachers, to be clear about what to expect from Obama. ^^^ CB: It's a short article, not meant to cover the waterfront. The author is also a lawyer. We tend to be sharp as tack, even sharper than philosophers. We also tend to be "brief" ,i.e. succinct. ^^^ A victory for Obama will be largely a symbolic victory in the race propaganda war. ^^^^ CB: Yes,_if_ Barry to win, which he has not , yet, a big symbol, the Presidency is. It is a big political symbol, representing many other powerful offices, and powerful offices constitute a major aspect of the institutions of power. in the late 60's and 70's a main area of actualization of so-called Black Power was in the election of big city and other city mayors. Didn't get to the level of governor much. Executive power. What _is_ the symbolic and propaganda significance of the Presidency in the American political consciousness, ideology, thought patterns ? What does it represent in terms of real power ? Your vote is your voice. It's talk, speaking of power. Talk is cheap. Tens of millions vote for President, and for a majority or a majority in the states constituting a majority of the electoral college to vote for a Black person....??? Does it mean nothing ? Is it an empty signifier or whatever ? Will Barry change some laws and policies ? He'll need a Congress, and state legislatures to do that. He'll need governors, and city councils. He'll need union Presidents, and women's clubs, leagues and rivers African-American are, symbolically in American hisotry, the Soul of the Nation. When White Americans decide to uplift Black People, they lift while they climb,( like Black women in the Black women's club movement http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/arkansas-women/organizations/black_women_organize.asp)) who lifted as the climbed. The 70;s was an advance of the whole working class, as Negroes were lifted by the white majority out of the Civil Rights movement, the white majority lifted itself. Then Reaganism put a halt to that upthrust of the working class. The question of the color line is the question for thw white majority working class, for itself. When it lifts its Soul, it lifts itself. Will White America Balladeers sing a Negro Spiritual in 2008 ? Will they lift every voice , vote, and sing ? &&&&& That is, if Obama can hurdle the barriers now thrown up against him (after he has been catapulted into this position thanks largely to the same white elite that will now screw him), he will have scored a major victory in the media propaganda ideological environment. Such a victory should not be sneezed at, but should Obama actually try to improve the situation of black people if by some miracle he gets elected, he will be fucked. ^^^ CB: No, if he were President ( which he ain't) Barry should not focus on improving the situation of Black people. He should focus on improving the situation of the grandchildren of Ballad for American Americans. , which include Indigenous Americans, European-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, He is running as an All-American, like Paul Robeson, and he should be an All-American President. _E pluribus unum_. He is running in a movie by one of the Hollywood Ten. He's in a Carl Sandburg poem. He's going to a toe party with Zora Neale Hurston and Ma Rainey, and the children of Rosey the Rivetter, the Bowery Boys, Mutt and Jeff, maybe even Yankee Doodle. Certainly Jimmy Higgins. Wake up Rip Van Winkle. Did you dream Martin Luther King's dream, not King Georg's ? A dream as American as May Day ! Hurray ! Hurray ! and the Fourth of July. BALLAD FOR AMERICANS Music: Earl Robinson Words: John LaTouche (Revised by NYC Labor Chorus) (LYRIC REVISIONS ARE INDIDICATED BY PARENTHESES) In seventy-six the sky was red thunder rumbling overhead Bad King George couldn't sleep in his bed And on that stormy morn, Ol' Uncle Sam was born. Some birthday! Ol' Sam put on a three cornered hat And in a Richmond church he sat And Patrick Henry told him that while America drew breath It was "Liberty or death." What kind of hat is a three-cornered hat? Did they all believe in liberty in those days? Nobody who was anybody believed it. Ev'rybody who was anybody they doubted it. Nobody had faith. Nobody but Washington, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Chaim Solomon, Crispus Attucks, Lafayette. Nobodies. The nobodies ran a trea party at Boston. Betsy Ross organized a sewing circle. Paul Revere had a horse race. And a little ragged group believed it. And some gentlemen and ladies believed it. And some wise men and some fools, and I believed it too. And you know who I am. No. Who are you mister? Yeah, how come all this? Well, I'll tell you. It's like this... No let us tell you. Mister Tom Jefferson, a mighty fine man. He wrote it down in a mighty fine plan. And the rest all signed it with a mighty fine hand As they crossed thier T's and dotted their I's A bran' new country did arise. And a mighty fine idea. "Adopted unanimously in Congress July 4, 1776, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these rights are Life, Yes sir!, Liberty, That's right! And the pursuit of happiness." Is that what they said? The very words. That does sound mighty fine. Buildiing a nation is awful tough. The people found the going rough. (Some lived in cities, some worked the land, And united they did stand, to make our country grand.) Still nobody who was anybody believed it. Everybody who anybody they stayed at home. But Lewis and Clarke and the pioneers, Driven by hunger, haunted by fears, The Klondike miners and the forty niners, Some wanted freedom and some wanted riches, Some liked to loaf while others dug ditches. But they believed it. And I believed it too, And you know who I am. No, who are you anyway, Mister? Well, you see it's like this. I started to tell you. I represent the whole... Why that's it! Let my people go. That's the idea! Old Abe Lincoln was thin and long, His heart was high and his faith was strong. But he hated oppression, he hated wrong, And he went down to his grave to free the slave. A man in white skin can never be free while his black brother is in slavery, "And we here highly resolve that these dead shall not haave died in vain. And this government of the people, by the people and for the people Shall not perish from the Earth." Abraham Lincoln said that on November 19, 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And he was right. I believe that too. Say, we still don't know who you are, mister. Well, I started to tell you... The machine age came with a great big roar, As America grew in peace and war. And a million wheels went around and 'round. The cities reached into the sky, And dug down deep into the ground. And some got rich and some got poor. But the people carried through, So our country grew. (With Susan B. Anthony and the Suffragettes, We women fought with all our might And we made voting our right. Our struggle continues to this day. And the people carried through, So our country grew.) Still nobody who was anybody believed it. Everybody who was anybody they doubted it. And they are doubting still, And I guess they always will, But who cares what they say whem I am on my way Say, will you please tell us who you are? What's your name, Buddy? Where you goin'? Who are you? Well, I'm the everybody who's nobody, I'm the nobody who's everybody. What's your racket? What do you do for a living? Well, I'm an Engineer, musician, street cleaner, carpenter, teacher, How about a farmer? Also. Office clerk? Yes sir! That's right. (Homemaker?) Certainly! Factory worker? You said it. (Mail carrier?) Yes ma'am. (Hospital worker?) Absotively! (Social worker?) Posolutely! Truck driver? Definitely! Miner, seamstress, ditchdigger, all of them. I am the "etceteras" and the "and so forths" that do the work. Now hold on here, what are you trying to give us? Are you an American? Am I an American? I'm just an Irish, (African), Jewish, Italian, French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, (Jamaican), Swedish, Finnish, (Dominican), Greek and Turk and Czech and (Native American). And that ain't all. I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Luthern, Atheist, Roman Catholic, (Moslem) Jewish, Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon, Quaker, Christian Scientist and lots more. You sure are something. Our country's strong, our country's young, And her greatest songs are still unsung. >From her plains and mountains we have sprung, To keep the faith with those who went before. We nobodies who are anybody belive it. We anybodies who are everybody have no doubts. Out of the cheating, out of the shouting, (Out of the greed and polluting, Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Out of the lies of McCarthy, Out of the murders of Martin and John, It will come again, Our song of hope is here again.) (Precious as our planet), Deep as our valleys, High as our mountains, Strong as the people who made it. For I have always believed it, and I believe it now, And now you know who I am. Who are you? America! America! http://www.cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu/robeson/links/NYlabor.ballad.lyrics.html When you say he will be fucked, what more specifically do you mean ? ^^^^ ^^^ In any case, Jeremiah Wright alone will sink Obama, with or without flag pins, guns and religion, etc. Keep in mind that the majority of white Americans are blithering idiots. ^^^^ CB: Barry should aim to be a "Statue of Liberty" American, not so much a "Flag" American. Let us continue the love of Motherland, American tradition. We forgive you , Hillary Clinton. You are not really Lady MacBeth. We know you are fair, not foul. You are blond in your heart, as well as in your hair. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From steiger2001 at centrum.cz Sun May 25 12:03:35 2008 From: steiger2001 at centrum.cz (steiger2001 at centrum.cz) Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 20:03:35 +0200 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existingrevolutions In-Reply-To: <617673.41804.qm@web35507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <200805250248.11991@centrum.cz> <617673.41804.qm@web35507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <200805252003.6839@centrum.cz> ballistanc I agree completely -- am not opposing you but CB. Not many would probably accept your view of "October"but I find it a good formula. ______________________________________________________________ > Od: ballistanc at yahoo.com > Komu: Forum for the discussion of theoretical issues raised by Karl Marx and thethinkers he inspired > Datum: 25.05.2008 13:58 > P?edm?t: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existingrevolutions > >...you don't have to live in a particular country to have an objective historical understanding of a particular moment of the class struggle, you could live there for years and still don't understand shit about it, and the nature of the State which is the negation of the dictatorship of the proletariat....The official history of the "communist" movement talks about or considers that there in Russia was produced a "socialist revolution" but historical evidence demonstrate that conception is false. ?Therefore the whole movement that is known as "Marxist" is just or has become part of the ideology of the capitalist State reproducing itself therefore class domination. ?In fact, the existence of wage labor, salary workers and the State itself shows that the 1949 and 1966 proletarian rebellions in China as well as the 1959 that took place in Cuba were shifted to the right of capital....Even more important, I consider the 1917 Bolshevik insurrection as a revolutionary tentative > and not a communist revolution. > >steiger2001 at centrum.cz wrote: ? CB maintains the Chinese workers "have" the Communist Party. s somebody who has spent all his adult life inside Czechoslovakia which was ruled by the C P for 40 years -- 1948 to 1989 -- I can only tell every comrade who does not have this experience that the Czech(oslovak) CP as any other in the "socialist camp" has neither been ruled nor "owned" by the workers. This in spite thwe fact that of course the party was always claiming to be the party of workers and "cooperative farmers". Do not have any illusions on Chinese CP -- just follow the news on wage and living conditions of the "wandering workers" -- and too often opn working conditions of "regular" workers. Stephen Steiger, Prague, Czech Republic ? >______________________________________________________________ >> Od: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us >> Komu: , > Datum: 24.05.2008 19:58 >> Poedm`it: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions >> >> >>Ruthless Critic of All that Exists > >>------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> >>How is it "self-determining"? Was a referendum taken on the issue in >>which the Chinese masses were consulted? >> >>^^^^ >>CB: Maybe. ?How do you know how the Chinese Communist Party >>communicates with the masses of Chinese People ? Might have been a >>secret vote, secret from Americans and Europeans and non-Chinese >>speakers in the first place. ?Did the Chinese Communist Party hold a >>referendum before the 1949 revolution ? ? Your question sounds like a >>question that a liberal professor would ask in 1949 to give a >>Euro-American liberal-"democratic" certification of the Chinese >>Revolution. ? "Uh , if the Chinese didn't hold a Euro-American type >>election, then we cannot give our blessings that it was democratic, >>sorry ". Uh fuck you white man. >> >>You sound like a liberal humanitarian interventionist. Was a bourgeois >>electoral referendum taken in Cuba to endorse and certify that the armed >>struggle resulted in a 'self-determined" state power ? Did Lenin >>prescribe referenda to decide whether an oppressed nation's decisions >>are truly self-determining, in his theses on national liberation and >>self-determination ? >>Who are you ? Somebody from the White Marxist Amnesty International >>checking up on the Chinese Communist government on behalf of the Chinese >>People's "political rights" ? Just exactly who the fuck are you ? >> >>^^^^ >> >>^^^^^ >> >> >> Do the Chinese workers have >>workers' councils which determine or influence policy, or elect or >>recall representatives to the government? >> >>^^^^^ >>CB: They have a Communist Party, which is related to the Chinese >>working class like the Bolsheviks were to the Russian working class, or >>the Cuban Communist Party is related to the Cuban working class or the >>Vietnamese Communist Party is related to the Vn People or the Korean >>Communist Party is related to the Korean People. > >>^^^^^ >> >>It seems to me that they do not have even the minimum (highly >>insufficient) of self-determination that even bourgeois democracy >>provides. >> >>^^^^^ >>CB: What exactly does it matter what it seems to you ? ?Are you Chinese >>? ?It "seems" to you. ?Whence the source of your seeming ? ?Are you in >>China ? ?Are you part of the white Comintern, sitting up in your >>armchair, ruthlessly criticizing from afar on the Communist parties and >>revolutions that actually exist ? Comparing the actual with your ideal >>pipe dream of what communism is supposed to be ? Carrying the white >>Communists' Burden ? >> >> >>This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >>Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >>To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >>http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis >> >_______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > ? ? ? _______________________________________________ >Marxism-Thaxis mailing list >Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu >To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > From Waistline2 at aol.com Mon May 26 16:09:47 2008 From: Waistline2 at aol.com (Waistline2 at aol.com) Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 18:09:47 EDT Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Reform in Cuba Message-ID: What do you think of these reforms -- especially those concerning food and agriculture -- reported on by various media (below a few examples from left-liberal US media IPS and FPIF)? <_http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42430_ (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42430) > ECONOMY-CUBA: Does the Ration Book Still Make Sense? By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, May 20 (IPS) - Criticised as one more sign of the failures of socialism, or viewed as a right that should not be given up, the ration book, part of Cuban life for 46 years, could disappear as a result of the transformations needed in the country's economy. Economists consulted by IPS said there appears to be a consensus in the government about the need to eliminate this form of across-the-board distribution which, while it played its part at one time, is now an anachronism, and if anything, contributes to inequality. However, "it can't be withdrawn abruptly, and besides, it would need to be accompanied by a series of measures to prevent a drastic impact on some sectors of the population," Professor Armando Nova told IPS. "We must work towards eliminating this distribution system that gives all of Cuba's 11.2 million people the same benefits, even though some people don't need them," said the economy professor. "It might be better to subsidise individuals and families rather than products, but it must be part of a very well-thought-out, systematic process," he said. Debate on the topic has increased since Cuban President Ra?l Castro said the enormous subsidies, which include the products distributed under the ration book system, are irrational and unsustainable in the country's current economic conditions. Official sources report that the average annual cost of basic products that are rationed and sold at subsidised prices is one billion dollars. But this year, total food imports will amount to 1.9 billion dollars, due to soaring food prices on the international market. "The ration book products don't cover the entire month, but at least the system ensures that I can get a few things at low prices: rice, some beans, sugar, and a bit of protein. Even so, my pension vanishes like a vapor. If they take it away, just imagine what it'll be like," said Digna P?rez, a 59-year-old retired teacher. Besides the items P?rez mentioned, every person is entitled to a monthly ration of oil, 10 eggs, toothpaste and soap, among other products. Until the late 1980s, rationed supplies also included manufactured goods. A document from the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in Cuba says that access to this food quota is a right guaranteed to every citizen, and emphasises that additional supplements are provided for vulnerable groups with extra needs, such as children, pregnant and lactating women, and people who for medical reasons have specific dietary requirements. According to Nova, studies indicate that the rationed food received by Cuban families now provides approximately 36 percent of the daily calories needed per person, lasting about 12 days a month, whereas proteins last 10 days, and fats cover nine days a month. "The ration book is only a shadow of what it was in the 1960s. But while it is not the major source of food in terms of total intake, it is not insignificant either," said Nova, who carries out research at the University of Havana Centre for the Study of the Cuban Economy (CEEC) at the. "In fact, the ration book is only a shadow of what it was in the 1960s, nor is it a determining factor in total food intake, but neither is it to be despised," said Nova, a researcher at the University of Havana's Centre for the Study of the Cuban Economy (CEEC). The rationing system was created in March 1962 to combat food shortages caused, in part, by the stance taken by the United States, Cuba's main supplier at the time, which cut off all ties with this country because it objected to the direction the Cuban Revolution was taking. Another reason given was the growth of purchasing power of the population, which outstripped the rate of production of consumer goods and the state's capacity to import them. Rationing meant that a minimum quota of food and goods could be guaranteed to all the population at subsidised prices, which were sometimes below production costs. "It was a difficult situation that could have been explosive internally, and the ration book fulfilled the aim of ensuring that every family had the basic necessities. By the 1980s, thanks to this regulated distribution and the existence of a large free market with affordable prices, it could be said that Cuba had achieved a degree of equity unparalleled in Latin America," said Nova. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the East European socialist bloc, then Cuba's main political and economic allies, again deprived the country of its main markets and the economy went into free fall, with a drastic impact on the local standards of living. By 1993, consumption was 31 percent lower than in 1989, and gross domestic product (GDP) had plunged by 35 percent. A package of adjustment measures began to turn the economy around in 1993, and by 2000 total consumption had grown by 37 percent, according to experts. In order to cover their needs, consumers must now go to the free farmers' markets, which sell fruit, vegetables, grains, cereals, pork and other foods of good quality in the local currency, pesos, but at high prices. Other essential goods such as shoes, personal hygiene items, household appliances and furniture, as well as foods long since absent from the ration book system, are sold in the government's hard currency shops (TRDs). The TRDs only accept convertible Cuban pesos (CUC), the only hard currency permitted in the country, which the state exchange bureaus (CADECAS) will change for 25 Cuban pesos or 1.25 dollars. In the business sector, however, the official rate is one CUC to a Cuban peso. The domestic market, which is completely under state control, includes shops for agricultural products with maximum prices agreed between producers and the government; agricultural and livestock markets; sales on-site at market gardens and hydroponic farms; and neighbourhood sales outlets and kiosks. At all these retail outlets, quality, assortment and stability of supply tend to be inferior, while prices are the same or only slightly cheaper than in the free farmers' markets and TRDs, which are references for prices even on the black market. In Nova's view, "efforts should be made to unify all these markets and seek agreements to secure lower prices," as part of a recipe which should include the elimination of "the ties that hinder the development of productive forces." He said this would require "changes in the relations of production" to enable higher yields, particularly in the agricultural and livestock sectors, and progress "towards an exchange rate in the business sector that would complete the production circle." Experts have indicated that among the factors that discourage food producers are the one-to-one exchange rate for Cuban pesos and CUCs in businesses, and the lack of an exchange market where they can buy hard currency to purchase imported agricultural inputs and equipment to allow them to increase production. (END/2008) <_http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42488_ (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42488) > ECONOMY-CUBA: A New Model in the Making? By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, May 23 (IPS) - Preparations for the sixth congress of Cuba's ruling Communist Party (PCC), to be held in late 2009, may speed up the "structural changes" promised by President Ra?l Castro and pave the way for a development strategy more suited to present conditions, experts say. Economists consulted by IPS say that the Economic Resolution of the fifth PCC congress, held in 1997, has been overtaken by events and no longer reflects reality. Each party congress is meant to reflect on the previous five years and decide guidelines for the next five-year period. The sixth congress, due in 2002, had been postponed. Omar Everleny P?rez Villanueva, the deputy director of the Centre for the Study of the Cuban Economy (CEEC) at the University of Havana, said one example of change in the Cuban economy is that the country now earns sizeable revenues from professional medical services, which was not the case in the late 1990s. According to statistics that have not been officially confirmed, sales of medical services generate between five and six billion dollars a year, which is used to finance strategic imports such as fuel and foods, or to buy equipment and medical technology for the national health service. CEEC researchers say that in the last few years, the economy has developed in an improvised fashion in response to urgent problems, like the energy crisis in 2004, which forced a change of energy policy towards savings, greater efficiency and use of renewable sources. According to P?rez Villanueva, Cuba must stop going from crisis to crisis, with solutions thought up on the spur of the moment, and advance towards a development strategy that includes a wide range of simultaneous measures, from monetary policy to those directly related to industrial and agricultural production. "We need a programme, a set of guidelines that defines where we are going and marks the stages, and that sets out the tasks involved in building socialism," said economist and CEEC researcher Armando Nova, who pointed out that Cuba has had to work under the pressure of the U.S. embargo for over four decades. Nova agrees with P?rez Villanueva and other academics that, among other things, "productive forces need to be freed up," with clear rules. The market needs to expand to provide incentives for production and work, and excessive centralisation and financial and productive restrictions on businesses should be eliminated, he added. "It must be recognised that the domestic market is a real and concrete tool that drives development. Of course, it cannot be left to its own devices, but should be regulated by means of economic mechanisms, so that the plan and the market are compatible," Nova told IPS. One of the measures being implemented that could lead to structural changes in agriculture is, in fact, the creation of shops where small farmers can buy what they need directly, instead of having to use the centralised distribution system that existed before, Nova said. In mid-2007 Ra?l Castro, then interim president, announced that "structural and conceptual changes would have to be introduced as necessary" to boost crop yields and curb food imports, which will absorb an estimated 1.9 billion dollars in 2008. According to CEEC studies, it is a good move to begin with measures in agriculture because of the "multiplier effect" the sector has on the economy as a whole. Among the essential changes advocated by the experts are the decentralisation of planning and the creation of an environment that stimulates production. The current plans to distribute more land to farmers are important, the experts say, but they stress that land reform must go hand-in-hand with markets, credit and an attractive rate of exchange. To date the exchange rate for businesses is one Cuban peso per convertible peso or CUC (the local hard currency that replaced dollars), while state exchange shops buy CUCs for 24 pesos and sell them for 25. The authorities are considering granting farmers land, without title, because it is estimated that about 50 percent of the cultivable land on the island is lying fallow. According to Nova, 200,000 hectares have been granted on those conditions since the 1990s. In general, the beneficiaries were private small farmers engaged in family farming, and agricultural cooperatives, Nova said. The government is prioritising changes in the agricultural sector, and regards increased food production as a matter of national security. Specialised media have said that the restructuring process being carried out now is to be completed by the middle of this year. Until the 1980s, Cuba produced industrial goods like pressure cookers, refrigerators and gas cookers. In P?rez Villanueva's view, these industries should also be revived, with the participation of foreign investment if necessary, to supply the domestic market and for export to other Caribbean nations, for example. "No society can hope to develop without important contributions from agriculture and industry. Services alone cannot keep the country going. A radical reform is needed, to shift the foundations of how the economy has been operating up to now, otherwise we'll always be in crisis management mode," he said. At the beginning of this year, sales of articles like computers and cell phones were allowed for the first time, in the shops where only CUCs are accepted. These items used to be available only to businesses, diplomats and foreign citizens. Cubans are also now allowed to stay at hotels that used to be reserved exclusively for foreign tourists. "These measures were taken to correct prohibitions that should never have existed, but they do not constitute structural changes, although they might be a step towards recognising the way the market can play a role in helping achieve better economic results," said Nova. (END/2008) <_http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5206_ (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5206) > Saul Landau, "Cuba: The Struggle Continues," (Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, May 7, 2008). <_http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5205_ (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5205) > Samuel Farber, "Life After Fidel," (Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, May 7, 2008). -- Yoshie <_http://montages.blogspot.com/_ (http://montages.blogspot.com/) > **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002) From ballistanc at yahoo.com Mon May 26 15:35:43 2008 From: ballistanc at yahoo.com (juan De La Cruz) Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 14:35:43 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fwd: Fw: [comunismo_gci] Las llamadas revueltas del hambre: el proletariado en lucha Message-ID: <860939.70988.qm@web35502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Note: forwarded message attached. From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 28 10:11:05 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 12:11:05 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] SF Peace and Freedom Party's Recommendations for the June 3rd Election Message-ID: <483D4BD9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> At its May 21, 2008 meeting, the SF County Central Committee approved the recommendations below for propositions on the June 3rd ballot. 98: Eminent Domain NO Reason: Eminent domain has provided the rightwingers who whine about the govenment engaging in legalized "takings" with a plausible scenario to scare small home-owners, especially in rural areas who don't know from rent control. This is a ruse. The truth is that Californians are losing their homes in unprecedented numbers as the collapsing economy strains workers to the limit. Now, a coalition of big landlords, developers and mobile home park owners have paid millions to put Prop. 98 on the ballot. Their real goal? To eliminate rent control and other renter protections throughout the state. 99: Eminent Domain YES Reason: This will put some reasonble limits on how eminent domain can be used in this state, by more clearly defining what is a "public use," among other things. It will protect homeowners without the hidden agenda of gutting rent control. A: School Parcel Tax YES Reasons: Prop. 13 and the current governor have made funding for public schools increasingly difficult and have reduced California to 46th in the nation in education. and teachers are already leaving this district at an ever increasing rate. A Parcel Tax would not be our first choice for increasing local funding. A split roll tax (a form of progressive taxation) state-wide would be way better - but, unfortunately the courts have already ruled that out (although a new initiative is being worked on to allow it that the courts may approve.) This tax would be about $200.00 per parcel annually. Many other Bay Area municipalities have already passed one for the same purpose at a much higher rate. The school district and the teacher's union are supporting this and were both involved in drafting it. It needs a two thirds majority yes vote to pass. B: Changing Qualifications for Retiree Health and Pension Benefits NO Reasons: Creates a two tier system. New hires, starting in January, 2009, would not be vested as soon as current employees under the old system, forming a possible incentive to force early retirement. The current system may be expensive, but its closer to what we all deserve, besides if we had a single-payer healthcare system for all - this would probably be unnecessary. C: Forfeiture of Benefits for City Employees Convicted of "Moral Turpitude." NO Reasons: The definition of this is too slippery and subjective. In fact the term has been a favorite of highly conservative judges. It would inevitably be used selectively and punitively. D: Appointments to City Boards and Commissions YES Reasons: As it stands the word "diversity" is, essentially a goal, and a somewhat vague one, at that. This measure would implement some oversight and systems for collecting data on diversity in hiring for City Boards and Commissions, so that some kind of track record could be established. E: Requiring Supervisor's approval of Mayoral Appointments to the PUC YES Reasons: Mayor Newsom used his power to remove Susan Leal from the Public Utilities Commission because she was interested in moving the City towards public power. There needs to be some check on a mayor that wants to mold an important body like the PUC to fit his own agenda. F: Affordable Housing requirement for Candelstick Point and Hunter's Point Shipyard Development YES Reason: The detractors of this measure have claimed that it will only stop the Lennar Corporation from developing Hunters Point, and cannot be expected to accomplish anything else for the neighborhood. Even if that's true, it would still be an excellent reason for supporting it. 50% affordable housing should not be an unreasonable goal. But even if all it does is preserve the status quo-as bad is it is- it would still help prevent it from being gentrified beyond recognition, putting an end to what is valuable and unique in that neighborhood. G: Mixed use Development Project for Camdlestick Point and Hunters Point Shipyard NO Reason: The Lennar Corporation has a very bad reputation. They are so bound up in litigation in other municipalities all over the country, for operating in bad faith, that there is a stock-holders mutiny brewing because their stock has been reduced to junk bond status. They cannot be trusted to keep any agreement they sign. H: Prohibiting Elected Officials, Candidates, or committees they control from soliciting or accepting contributions from certain city contractors. YES Reason: A ballot measure passed by the voters seven years ago established the framework for this. This measure would close some of the loopholes in the original measure. Tom Lacey, for the Peace and Freedom Party San Francisco County This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed May 28 11:12:25 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 13:12:25 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Ruthless critic of actually existing revolutions Message-ID: <483D5A39.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> steiger CB maintains the Chinese workers "have" the Communist Party. s somebody who has spent all his adult life inside Czechoslovakia which was ruled by the C P for 40 years -- 1948 to 1989 -- I can only tell every comrade who does not have this experience that the Czech(oslovak) CP as any other in the "socialist camp" has neither been ruled nor "owned" by the workers. This in spite thwe fact that of course the party was always claiming to be the party of workers and "cooperative farmers". Do not have any illusions on Chinese CP -- just follow the news on wage and living conditions of the "wandering workers" -- and too often opn working conditions of "regular" workers. Stephen Steiger, Prague, Czech Republic . ^^^^ CB: How does your experience with the Czech Communist Party speak to the what's happened with the Chinese Communist Party ? The question would be did the Czech Communist Party have policies in the best interest of the Czech working class , given all the objective circumstances of Czechoslovakia starting in about 1945, including that Czechoslovakia was ruled by local fascists immediately previously, may have participated in the invasion of the SU, in other words was saturated with arch-reactionary elements, and a working class that had very little leadership from Communists before the Soviet took over and likely had little class or socialist consciousness, etc. , etc. In other words, what was the state of Czech working class and socialist consciousness in the period you were there ? Just because they were a class-in-themselves doesn't mean they were a class-for-themselves , and competent to "rule" a Communist Party. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From monacojerry at gmail.com Wed May 28 15:53:53 2008 From: monacojerry at gmail.com (Jerry Monaco) Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 17:53:53 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] An Eisenhower backs O In-Reply-To: <47BC0EAE.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <47BC0EAE.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: " The biggest barrier to rolling up our sleeves and preparing for a better future is our own apathy, fear or immobility." On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 12:27 PM, Charles Brown < charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> wrote: > > Washington Post, Saturday, February 2, 2008; A15 > Why I'm Backing Obama > By Susan Eisenhower " The biggest barrier to rolling up our sleeves and preparing for a better future is our own apathy, fear or immobility." "a zero-sum political environment" "ordinary Americans to stand straight again" "salve our national wounds" " genuine bipartisan cooperation" "Obama can assure the world" "sense of renewal" "America first -- ahead of our own selfish interests" "our president ... bipartisan help" "an unacceptable legacy for any great nation" "defending ... long-term interests of this nation as a whole" _____ The usual cliches and pretty disgusting also. Jerry > > From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 29 07:01:03 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 09:01:03 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] An Eisenhower backs O In-Reply-To: References: <47BC0EAE.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: <483E70CF.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> >>> "Jerry Monaco" _____ The usual cliches and pretty disgusting also. Jerry ^^^^^ not > > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Thu May 29 10:53:47 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 12:53:47 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Reason for hope Message-ID: <483EA75C.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12916 Reason for hope by Jack Lessenberry ( White liberal journalism professor and alternative newspaper columnist) 5/28/2008 Now there is a sense of possibility, of hope, of something changing the dreariness. Forty-five years ago this August, a man named Martin Luther King Jr. gave a remarkable speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Most people think of it as the "I have a dream" speech, and have read or seen brief snatches of it. Everybody today knows that it was a very important speech, and it was. But they don't usually tell you that perhaps the biggest reason it was important was that it was the first speech by a black man that white Americans paid much attention to. It now seems almost certain that there will be another such speech this Aug. 28, the exact anniversary of that one. While the new speech may not be as eloquent as the "dream" speech, this much is certain: A vastly larger audience of white - and black - Americans will be listening. That's because the speaker will be Barack Obama, and - barring an unforeseen, shocking development - he will be accepting the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. My guess is that MLK never imagined such a thing could happen, especially not in what could still have been his lifetime. Hard to believe, perhaps, but Dr. King would be a mere 79 years old today, and undoubtedly would be there in Denver this summer, if it wasn't for the bullet he caught. He wouldn't have been surprised by the bullet. However, if somebody had told him in 1963 that a mulatto toddler in Hawaii with an African name would someday be president, he would have had them dragged off and committed. Obama was 3 years old when the bodies of three college kids were pulled from under a dam in Mississippi; they had been murdered for the horrendous crime of trying to register American citizens to vote. He was 6 when the bullet blew away Martin Luther King's jaw, and life. Things have changed more than anyone ever thought possible. True, in other ways they haven't changed nearly enough. In what they used to call the inner city, life may in many ways be worse than in 1963. But now there is a sense of possibility, of hope, of something changing the dreariness. I see this in my students. Naturally, you would expect them to be gung-ho for Obama. Where I really see it, though, is in all sorts of unexpected places. The beaten-down and cranky elderly woman in the pet shop in Warren, for example; were this 1968, I am convinced she'd be for George Wallace. "Me? The only one I can stand is Obama. He's the only one telling the truth," she told me, as she rang up my dog food. Or this letter I got last week: "I like Obama because I truly believe that he can change the world. It's no secret that the rest of the world basically hates the United States, and we need a president that can begin to repair the damage the 'Shrub' has been responsible for." Sound like someone from Amnesty International? Not hardly; the writer, Charles Missig, is a Macomb County sheriff's deputy. That doesn't mean the fall election is going to be easy. Here's an unpleasant and inconvenient truth: Were John Edwards, say, the nominee, this election wouldn't even be in doubt. The Republican Party's standing is lower than a snake's belly, thanks mainly to the abject embarrassment from Crawford, Texas. But racism and fear of the "other" is still rampant in this nation. The Washington Post did a story recently about what canvassers and campaign workers for Obama had encountered, including a union organizer who said he would never vote for a black person, and a local mayor who said he feared "there is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world." I have little doubt that Barack Obama could defeat George W. Bush. (On the other hand, so could my pet guinea pig.) But, to many people, John McCain may seem like a compromise. He feels more moderate and, while old as hell, doesn't sound like a moron when he talks. Flying to Texas last weekend, I sat next to a pleasant, middle-age doctor's wife from East Lansing. She didn't like Bush, but was voting for McCain. She said she felt comfortable with him, and thought it would be a nice balance since she felt that Congress was apt to be Democratic. She wasn't a bad person or a stupid one or a racist; just someone who never had anything go seriously wrong in her life. Folks like that are usually reluctant to take a chance on change. Here's something I'd bet my life on: A majority of white voters in this country will vote for John McCain. But that isn't as bad as it sounds. A majority of white voters always vote Republican for president. Democrats have gotten a majority of them only once since 1944! Yet many, many millions of them have already voted for Obama this year. The candidate himself says it isn't about race, but a question of "can we get a majority of the American people to give us a fair hearing?" My guess is that, to paraphrase his campaign slogan, yes, he can. Think of what he has done so far: This guy was a black freshman senator with a funny name who had the audacity to challenge the most famous name in the country for the nomination. He won a landslide in Oregon last week, where there are few African-Americans and where even the Kennedys failed to win primaries and general elections. If it comes down to the economy, as it should, and the war, there ought to be a lot of people who may not be crazy about helping blacks, but who are desperate for something different in this country. Remember, nobody has been paying much attention to McCain and what he is really about. And if they aren't - well, maybe we'll deserve what we get. Heading for the rocks again: Lost in all the exciting coverage of the polygamist compound was the news that, once again, the Michigan budget was headed for a major deficit in the year starting Oct. 1. This despite last year's months-long budget war that was supposed to solve the problem. Nothing was solved at all, of course. Actually, by sticking a last-minute surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax, they may have made things worse. I know a food co-op in Ann Arbor whose state tax bill went from $1,000 to $25,000 this year! What's needed, if we are ever to be competitive again, is a complete overhaul of the way the state does business and computes its budget. And the lawmakers have a golden opportunity to do that - from Nov. 5 through next year. Why then? Simple. Thanks to term limits, the vast majority of them will be lame ducks! The governor and lieutenant governor can't run again. Nearly all the state senators and probably more than half the House members are in their last terms. They now have the ability to make the hard and potentially unpopular decisions. They may not volunteer to do so, of course - but let's push them. Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Contact him at letters at metrotimes.com. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From am.twofist at gmail.com Thu May 29 15:53:25 2008 From: am.twofist at gmail.com (Am Twofist) Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 09:53:25 +1200 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] exploitation, class and unproductive labor Message-ID: <7dbf3f5f0805291453x232ddb4eye15feb9b0dfb1879@mail.gmail.com> Hi list, I have been searching most everywhere for a clear description of how exploitation works in relation to "unproductive labor" How, for example, is a teacher or a city council administrator exploited when both a school and a city council are loss making enterprises. Can ether of these be described as proletariat - as there would seem no "means production" that they could gain from? Furthermore are the self employed exploited in some manner? Many question, I hope there are some answers. From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 30 08:28:42 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:28:42 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Marx, materialism and idealism Message-ID: <483FD6DA.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> As far as the notion of "practice before theory", Marx's second Thesis on F, proposes that practice is the test of theory. This would imply "theory before practice", as the Activistism thesis implies. It seems more sensible that there would be an ongoing reciprocity between them - ...theory-practice-theory-practice... Practice tests theory for its truth value in this epistemological precis by Marx. The 11th thesis declares the ultimate purpose of Marx's project is to change the world. Philosophers have interpreted the world in a number of ways; the truth test by practice , presumably determines which interpretations by philosophers, artists, scientists, intellectuals, predominantly mental laborers are true, and thereby the best basis for changing the world. So, in the "end", successfully changing the world is simultaneously proof of the truth of the theory or interpretation used, and it is the "thing", the achievement of the goal, the purpose of the Marxist philosopher/intellectual's whole project. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 30 08:42:04 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:42:04 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Materialism, idealism, theory, practice, etc. Message-ID: <483FD9FC.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> On Materialism ( speaking of Mao), there are two levels of the relationship between thought and being: "economics" and "physics". While society remains in the Realm of Necessity , ruling classes control masses by conditioning fulfillment of the _material_needs of the exploited classes on the exploited classes ' producing surpluses for the ruling , exploiting classes. The materialism (determinism by the material) at this level derives from the coercive use of conditional provision of material needs. In all societies, including those in the Realm of Freedom ( socialist, communist future and ancient) , all people must , of course, "obey" the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, objective reality etc. "physics", in the general sense. How do Foucault, Butler, and other Post-moderns differ with these materialist principles ? Charles This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Fri May 30 09:00:16 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 11:00:16 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Third level of materialism Message-ID: <483FDE3F.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> On Materialism ( speaking of Mao), there are two levels of the relationship between thought and being: "economics" and "physics". While society remains in the Realm of Necessity , ruling classes control masses by conditioning fulfillment of the _material_needs of the exploited classes on the exploited classes ' producing surpluses for the ruling , exploiting classes. The materialism (determinism by the material) at this level derives from the coercive use of conditional provision of material needs. In all societies, including those in the Realm of Freedom ( socialist, communist future and ancient) , all people must , of course, "obey" the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, objective reality etc. "physics", in the general sense. How do Foucault, Butler, and other Post-moderns differ with these materialist principles ? ^^^ Let me suggest a third level of materialist determination, derived from the dialectic between the Marxists and the structuralists/post-moderns, et. al. The superstructure is _determined_ when it is changed. It is changed only rarely, in revolutions. Revolutions are rare, by definition; in "punctuations". Most of the time of history, society is in convention or "equilibrium", not revolution. In conventional times, it is the superstructure of ideas that determines individual peoples' conduct. There is determination by ideas, ideology. Thought determines the actions by "beings". Only when practice of ideas comes into such crisis as to create a system changing contradiction in the system of ideas ( the cultural "grammar" in Levi-Straussian structural anthropology) does a revolution arise. This system and convention changing crisis and contradiction between practice and ideas is what Marx describes in his famous passage below. "At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production, or ? what is but a legal expression for the same thing ? with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an epoch of social revolution. With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed. In considering such transformations a distinction should always be made between the material transformation of the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, aesthetic or philosophic ? in short, ideological forms in which men become conscious of this conflict and fight it out. Just as our opinion of an individual is not based on what he thinks of himself, so can we not judge of such a period of transformation by its own consciousness; on the contrary, this consciousness must be explained rather from the contradictions of material life, from the existing conflict between the social productive forces and the relations of production. " Preface of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface-abs.htm This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Sat May 31 12:30:11 2008 From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown) Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 14:30:11 -0400 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] OBAMA - An Analysis Message-ID: <484160F3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> OBAMA - An Analysis By Larry Holmes Published May 28, 2008 7:39 PM Larry Holmes WW photo May 27-Though still not a certainty at this date, it now appears likely that Barack Obama will be the Democratic Party?s presidential candidate and, even less certain but a possibility, the first Black president of the U.S. Even for those of us in the U.S. and around the world who correctly view the crisis-ridden capitalist system, its political parties and its sham elections as the negation of democracy so far as the workers and the oppressed of the world are concerned, it is impossible not to acknowledge that the prospect of the election of a Black president in the U.S.-the center of world imperialism and racism-is an historic event. Only six months ago, most thought they?d never see a Black politician get this close to the U.S. presidency in their lifetime. It?s not surprising that the overwhelming majority of Black people in the U.S. support Obama?s campaign. It is surprising and revealing that so many white people also support Obama. Whether Obama?s white support will remain strong is a big question. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is still trying to bust it up, and if Obama is the Democratic Party candidate, Sen. John McCain and others will try to destroy it with a no-holds-barred racist campaign. Still, however untested, fragile and contradictory, it is most welcoming and encouraging for anyone who is progressive and familiar with the depth and prevalence of racism in the U.S. that tens of millions of white people have voted for a Black person named Barack Hussein Obama in the Democratic party primaries and caucuses. Obama is not a revolutionary and he poses no threat to the capitalist system. Still, in a relative sense, it is hard to imagine a more dramatic sign than Obama?s electoral success that the people of the U.S. want to break with the reactionary, warmongering, racist and xenophobic political climate that has endured seemingly forever and certainly since 9/11. Obama is popular because the people want to end the war in Iraq and there is a belief that Obama is more likely to do that than Rodham Clinton, who only a few weeks ago vowed to ?obliterate Iran? and is widely viewed as being tied to Bush?s endless war policy. As far as advancing the interests of U.S. imperialism goes, there is no fundamental difference between Rodham Clinton and Obama-or McCain, for that matter. Many if not most of Obama?s foreign policy advisors are veterans of Bill Clinton?s presidency but, despite that fact, so far as the masses see the war, while Rodham Clinton seems to be for some change, Obama seems to represent more change. The catchword here is ?seems.? In fact, Rodham Clinton, McCain and Obama have all pledged to continue the occupation of Iraq after the elections. They have all also vowed to intensify the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, attack Iran ?if necessary,? support Israel to the hilt and continue the blockade against Cuba. Class character of Obama?s campaign The masses did not launch Obama?s presidential campaign-a section of the U.S. ruling class and its political operatives did. Some in the ruling class got behind Obama merely to advance their faction fight against the Clintons inside the Democratic Party. And yes, some of those opposed to Clinton are misogynist, plain and simple. But other forces in the U.S. ruling class have rallied behind Obama because they view him as better suited than Clinton or McCain to deal with a central crisis of U.S. imperialism. They need to find a way to halt the rapid deterioration of its position as the world?s dominant economic and military power. The foreign policy debate among the candidates seems to have been reduced to whether or not U.S. imperialism should talk to its enemies, with Obama advocating the talk instead of-or in addition to-a war policy. Fundamentally, this is a phony debate. Diplomacy or talking is just another weapon that every imperialist government uses to further its interests. Imperialists talk one day and bomb the next. From the perspective of broad strategy, however, there is something to the debate. To Obama and his ruling class backers, the so-called neo-conservative policy of relying on U.S. imperialism?s military might to re-colonize the Middle East and dominate the world has been a complete catastrophe, leaving U.S imperialism?s power and standing in shambles. Obama and his backers want to try a different approach. Obama is more attuned and reflective of the emerging new transnational capitalist order created by imperialist globalization. To reverse the erosion of U.S. imperialism?s world position, Obama wants to pivot away from relying exclusively on military might, put a friendlier face on U.S. imperialism and strengthen its ability to compete economically with China, India, Europe, Latin America, etc. The contradiction is that the problems of the capitalist system are so many and so grave that Obama, new ideas and all, can?t fix them. The near collapse of the world banking system this past March, saved only by the massive intervention of the U.S. Federal Reserve, was not the end of the capitalist credit crisis. It?s the beginning of a new systemic crisis of world capitalism that?s likely to be bigger and more violent than the Great Depression of the 1930s. The only question is the speed with which the crisis will unfold and the events that will affect its course. U.S. imperialism is bogged down in at least two wars that it can neither win nor abandon, with a possibility of war against Iran before the fall elections. For the workers, things are only getting worse. The rate of home foreclosures and job layoffs is rising every month, only outpaced by rising gas and food prices. Many are worried that racism will take down Obama?s candidacy. Others are worried that racist bullets could take Obama?s life. These are both serious things to worry about. The most frustrating problem may be that because Obama is a captive of the awful system he seeks to serve as president, he can?t defend himself. The attacks have already been terrible and if Obama gets the Democratic Party nomination, from now until November he?s going to be called a traitor, a terrorist and a threat to Western culture, civilization, Christianity, ?American? values and worse. And if Obama wants to win the election, he?s going to have to take it and smile because it?s not really the approval of the masses that he needs to get to the White House; it?s the approval of the capitalist ruling class and the election campaign is his audition before them. One of the reasons that Clinton-once the status quo candidate of the Democratic Party hierarchy-was able to pose as the populist champion of workers (not Black workers and immigrant workers, but U.S.-born white workers) is because Obama was forewarned that if he wanted to be the first Black president, he?d better not sound like a civil rights leader or a fighter for the working class. It?s a widespread misconception that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama?s former pastor, almost torpedoed his presidential campaign. This is not true. Rev. Wright didn?t play those sound bites from several of his sermons over the airwaves non-stop. All of this was deliberately and carefully orchestrated by the ruling class media as a kind of loyalty test for Obama. There is no logical reason why the U.S. ruling class need question the loyalty of Obama. However, the U.S. ruling class is not logical; it is deeply suspicious and paranoid, as one might expect from a deeply racist and reactionary class of exploiters and oppressors who have built an empire through slavery, colonialism, war, robbery and repression. The U.S. ruling class is acutely conscious of what it has done and continues to do to Black people. The U.S. ruling class knows and fears the deep anger that Black people have for them. The purpose of the Rev. Wright affair was to force Obama not only to repudiate and break with Rev. Wright, but more importantly to promise that he would never give voice to or even acknowledge the existence of racism and the anger against it if he?s elected president. Racism is all too alive, but Obama must pretend as though it?s a thing of the past. Relationship of working-class, anti-imperialist & Black liberation movements to Obama Suppose Obama is elected president. One of the first orders of business for the next U.S. president will be presiding over massive cuts in social programs including Medicare, Medicaid, education and Social Security. Moreover, these cuts will be taking place at the same time that workers are being pummeled and bloodied by a deepening economic crisis. It isn?t hard to imagine the ruling class setting up the first Black president to take the blame for all the pain, suffering and crisis that is sure to come. This brings us to the question of the relationship between the working-class movement, the anti-imperialist forces, all progressive forces, and especially those who are working to reconstitute a working-class-centered, anti-imperialist Black liberation movement in the U.S., and the Obama phenomenon. For the broader movement, clearly we cannot get carried away with our criticism and exposure of Obama when mass support for him is essentially progressive and opposition to him is largely of a racist and reactionary character. Neither can we afford to be deluded by the class nature of Obama, and all the other contradictions. The contradictions also make it difficult if not futile for revolutionaries to work inside his campaign as a vehicle for advancing progressive demands. Obama does not yet feel pressure from the mass movement. The pressure he is sensitive to is coming from the ruling class. By way of historical comparison, Jesse Jackson?s two campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s were full of contradictions as well. The difference, however, is that Jackson?s campaigns came from below and as such were subject to the pressure of the masses. That is not the case with Obama?s campaign, at least for now. Actually, the only way that progressives can defend Obama against racism and reaction, if and when that?s necessary, is to be positioned outside of and independent of his campaign and the Democratic Party. It will be up to Black activists to take the lead in explaining Obama?s contradictions and challenging them. If there was ever a time for progressive and revolutionary Black forces to forge some strategic unity, now is such a time. It is possible that the independent presidential candidacy of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney could serve as one of the poles to unite around. McKinney was until recently the most progressive and militant Black person in Congress. Indeed, she lost her congressional seat twice as a direct result of her militant antiwar and anti-racist work. Clearly, for all those on the left who realize that the deepening crisis of imperialism is bound to produce a resurgence of the working-class struggle sooner than many think and radicalize more and more workers, swelling our ranks, the need to foster working-class-centered and anti-imperialist organizations independent of the ruling class?s political parties and rooted in the struggle is beyond essential. It?s urgent. More than ever, workers are starting to view imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as major aggravating factors deepening the economic crisis, and rightly so. The reality is not lost on workers who know that, to pay for imperialist wars, they are forfeiting not only social programs but the gas they need to drive to work. The war crisis and the economic crisis together are laying the basis for the next phase of the anti-war struggle. It will be more than a marginal protest movement that can be absorbed and derailed by the capitalist elections. The next phase of the anti-war movement, if working-class militants prevail, will be centered in a working-class upsurge. The sisters and brothers of the International Longshore Workers Union gave us all a glimpse of the potential of this next phase when thousands of them shut the docks down all along the West Coast of the U.S. this past May Day to protest the war. Of no small significance, particularly in light of the contradictions of the 2008 presidential campaign, this walkout was led by Black longshore workers who, along with immigrant rights workers, invited Cynthia McKinney to be the guest speaker at the main May Day rally in San Francisco. The writer is a leader of Workers World Party and a member of its national Secretariat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Articles copyright 1995-2008 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011 Email: ww at workers.org Subscribe wwnews-subscribe at workersworld.net Support independent news http This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From rdumain at autodidactproject.org Sat May 31 15:14:42 2008 From: rdumain at autodidactproject.org (Ralph Dumain) Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 16:14:42 -0500 Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] OBAMA - An Analysis In-Reply-To: <484160F3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> References: <484160F3.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> Message-ID: The crux is in the cited passages below. At 01:30 PM 5/31/2008, Charles Brown cited: >Obama is more attuned and reflective of the >emerging new transnational capitalist order >created by imperialist globalization. To reverse >the erosion of U.S. imperialism???s world >position, Obama wants to pivot away from relying >exclusively on military might, put a friendlier >face on U.S. imperialism and strengthen its >ability to compete economically with China, >India, Europe, Latin America, etc. The >contradiction is that the problems of the >capitalist system are so many and so grave that >Obama, new ideas and all, can???t fix them. .......................... >Many are worried that racism will take down >Obama???s candidacy. Others are worried that >racist bullets could take Obama???s life. These >are both serious things to worry about. The most >frustrating problem may be that because Obama is >a captive of the awful system he seeks to serve >as president, he can???t defend himself. The >attacks have already been terrible and if Obama >gets the Democratic Party nomination, from now >until November he???s going to be called a >traitor, a terrorist and a threat to Western >culture, civilization, Christianity, >???American??? values and worse. And if Obama >wants to win the election, he???s going to have >to take it and smile because it???s not really >the approval of the masses that he needs to get >to the White House; it???s the approval of the >capitalist ruling class and the election >campaign is his audition before them. One of the >reasons that Clinton-once the status quo >candidate of the Democratic Party hierarchy-was >able to pose as the populist champion of workers >(not Black workers and immigrant workers, but >U.S.-born white workers) is because Obama was >forewarned that if he wanted to be the first >Black president, he???d better not sound like a >civil rights leader or a fighter for the working >class. It???s a widespread misconception that >Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama???s former pastor, >almost torpedoed his presidential campaign. This >is not true. Rev. Wright didn???t play those >sound bites from several of his sermons over the >airwaves non-stop. All of this was deliberately >and carefully orchestrated by the ruling class >media as a kind of loyalty test for Obama. There >is no logical reason why the U.S. ruling class >need question the loyalty of Obama. However, the >U.S. ruling class is not logical; it is deeply >suspicious and paranoid, as one might expect >from a deeply racist and reactionary class of >exploiters and oppressors who have built an >empire through slavery, colonialism, war, >robbery and repression. The U.S. ruling class is >acutely conscious of what it has done and >continues to do to Black people. The U.S. ruling >class knows and fears the deep anger that Black >people have for them. The purpose of the Rev. >Wright affair was to force Obama not only to >repudiate and break with Rev. Wright, but more >importantly to promise that he would never give >voice to or even acknowledge the existence of >racism and the anger against it if he???s >elected president. Racism is all too alive, but >Obama must pretend as though it???s a thing of the past. ................................ >Suppose Obama is elected president. One of the >first orders of business for the next U.S. >president will be presiding over massive cuts in >social programs including Medicare, Medicaid, >education and Social Security. Moreover, these >cuts will be taking place at the same time that >workers are being pummeled and bloodied by a >deepening economic crisis. It isn???t hard to >imagine the ruling class setting up the first >Black president to take the blame for all the >pain, suffering and crisis that is sure to come. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Columbia and City College of New York. He felt that the difficulty was due to the fact that employment opportunities for black scholars in white schools were minimal as were the opportunities for anthropologists in black schools. During this time he pursued his research interest in early colonial Southeastern North America publishing two articles on Indian culture patterns and Black-Indian-White relations. The articles focused on ethnohistorical issues and were published in the journal Ethnohistory. Like his dissertation these articles established his significant abilities as an ethnohistorian. Both articles corrected the record regarding certain issues Willis felt had been misreported by ethnologists. His approach was innovative. In addition to examining the standard historical treatises, he looked for "ethnographic facts found now and then in routine documents written by busy officials and semi-literate traders" and compared these facts with the extended descriptions of more sophisticated authors (Willis 1957:125). The scholarship was enlivened by the personal interest Willis took in the five groups he studied: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Creeks and Seminoles. He often talked informally about these groups mentioning the names of Chiefs and Braves and discussing the relationships between slaves, former slaves and the Indians as if he lived among them. The result was a fascinating look at the cultural complexity and diversity of early southeastern colonial life, which often belied the neat anthropological analyses fitting Indian culture into preconceived theoretical categories devised by anthropologists for comparative analyses of social organization. In "Patrilineal Institutions in Southeastern North America" Willis documented numerous examples of patrilineal practices in this supposedly matrilineal area, using l8th century sources that had been largely ignored. He suggested the interesting hypothesis that the matrilineal institutions, which existed side- by-side the patrilineal, may have seemed prominent to later observers "because native patrilineal institutions were swamped and obscured by newer patrilineal institutions that developed as a result of White contact." He suggested that because patrilineal institutions may have been less formalized than the matrilineal clan system, they would have been more difficult to see (Willis l963b:260-61.) This article and Willis' first article, "The Nation of Bread" (l957), combined the historical method with Boasian particularism. Explaining his research approach in a letter to Charles H. Fairbanks, who was then head of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida, Willis characterized the complexity of 18th century southeastern Indian culture, emphasizing the "great deal of cultural variation" that often included "outright contradictions." The well known confederacies of the Creeks, Cherokee, and Choctaw, which some anthropologists treated as homogeneous cultural units, he saw as "confederacies of different cultural units." Each of the tribal towns of the "Creek Nation," he suggested, had a different culture, which meant that the tribal unit of significance was not the nation but the town (Willis letter to Fairbanks l963a). While working on these early papers, Willis did not turn away from his interest in Negro culture and history. In l957, he wrote to his trusted Howard mentor, Rayford Logan, saying that he wanted to shift his research toward "problems dealing with the Negro." His first paper on this subject examined the relationship among Blacks, Indians, and White European groups on the southeastern colonial frontier. Entitled "Divide and Rule: Red, White, and Black in the Southeast," the paper was published in the Journal of Negro History in l963 and was reprinted four times thereafter. It was a masterpiece of particularistic analysis of l8th century multiculturalism in the midst of intense political struggle. As he stated in this paper, "(t)he Colonial southeast was an arena of an unremitting struggle for empire among Whites: English, French, Spanish, and later Americans" (Willis l963a:159.) Whites competed for the allegiance of Indian tribes and sought to drive a wedge between Indians and Negroes, as well as among Indian tribes, by employing strategies of divide and rule. This paper demonstrated that Willis had come of age as a scholar. In a letter of recommendation written the next year, l964, Morton Fried, recognized Willis as "one of the country's authorities on the Colonial period in the Southeastern United States." Fried expressed the belief that Willis had "an unusually acute grasp of the historical problems (of this area) in terms of the triangle constituted by Indians, Negroes and the European settlers." "Any thorough study of the race problem in any culture," he concluded "requires some use of Willis' contribution" (Fried l964 letter). ACADEMIC TENURE AT SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY In l964, still without a job and despairing of every getting one in the Northeast, Willis and his wife moved into his family home in Dallas. His mother had lived in the big house alone, until her death of a heart attack at the age of 76 in June of l963. Willis wrote in a letter to Dorothy Libby that it was a "very sudden and unexpected tragedy." He had remained close to his mother, visiting 3 or 4 times a year to check on her. She died a few days after he arrived for one of these visits on June l8th (Willis letter to Libby, l963b). The year after he moved to Dallas, Willis became the first black faculty member to integrate Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Looking to head off trouble rising from civil rights struggles all over the country, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Southern Methodist offered Willis a joint appointment as assistant professor. It would seem, however, that SMU was not ready for full time integration of a black faculty member. The joint appointment required him to spend two-thirds of his time at SMU, a White upper middle class school located at one end of the city of Dallas, and the other third of his time at Bishop College, a black Baptist school with a lower income student body, located at the other end, miles apart. The job was exhausting, involving a great deal of travel time between the schools to meet class schedules, faculty meetings, conferences, etc. Often there was conflict in the class schedules. Willis spent only one year in the joint appointment--the academic year of l965-66. Fearing that the arrangement would become stabilized, precluding a full-time appointment at SMU, he gave up the Bishop position and taught part-time as an assistant professor at SMU in l966-67, sustaining a temporary loss of income. He became a full-time assistant professor in the Fall of l967 and was promoted to associate professor in May of l968 with tenure. The years at SMU were bitter-sweet, in the end more bitter than sweet. Willis and his wife made life-long friends during his tenure at SMU. Edward B. Jelks, for example, was an archeologist who came to SMU with his wife the same year that Willis joined the SMU faculty. The two couples struck up a lasting friendship which Gene Willis continued in the years after Willis died. In l988 Jelks dedicated the book, The Historical Dictionary of North American Archaeology, on which his wife worked as assistant editor, "to the memory of William S. Willis, Jr." In the Preface of the book he wrote, "[a] very special acknowledgment is due my friend and colleague, the late Dr. William S. Willis, Jr. whose encouragement led to my undertaking this project in the first place." Jelks left SMU in l968 to go to Illinois State University. After his first year at SMU, Willis seemed exhausted when he wrote to Fried commenting that he and his wife had "made it." However, he hastened to add that he and his wife could not have asked for a more "cordial and warm reception" at SMU and in Dallas. They were readily accepted by the SMU social community and Willis was elected to several Boards in Dallas (Willis l966 letter to Fried). The following year, Willis interpreted their social acceptance as evidence that he and his wife's "efforts to integrate had been successful to a large extent" (Willis l967a letter to Fried.) The exhilaration he felt in surmounting the many challenges continued. In the Fall of l967, he summed up his feelings in a letter to Fried. ...this experience has probably been the most exciting, most significant, and most revealing one in our lives. There are so many aspects about us, about Negroes, and Whites that we did not dream of until we went through this ordeal. We feel we are the richer for it. We only wish that it had come much earlier in our lives, but then America was not ready and we were probably not ready (Willis l967b letter to Fried.) The first signs of trouble came in the Fall of l967 when Willis found that, due to his popularity as a teacher, he was carrying almost half of the students in a nine-faculty member department and was the only faculty member faced with three separate preparations. He felt he was the "workhorse of the department" who received the least pay (Willis l967c letter to Skinner.) It seemed that although he had managed to achieve his primary goal of full-time status and integration at SMU, the costs to his peace of mind were severe. Thereafter, his letters express growing frustration and desperation. Willis felt isolated and helpless at SMU and in the Dallas community. At SMU the problem was "white lethargy" and in Dallas it was "black hostility." To the Negro community, he wrote in a letter to Elliott P. Skinner, "I am a criticism, a threat, a challenge, and an overt desertion." SMU, on the other hand, had in him "[i]ts integration too easily and too cheaply." He felt that he would have to apply new pressure to be treated equally. He thought he would have to "de-emphasize teaching and general behavioral acceptability" in order to "reduce anxiety and exhaustion." Other solutions were to publish, invite outside offers, "become more difficult," and "be prepared to resign" (Willis l967d letter to Skinner; Willis l968a letter to Fried.) Skinner responded by commenting on the inter-personal dynamics facing one who crosses the line separating the races. The Negro community Willis left behind would prevent him from "playing the role of precursor," Skinner suggested. On the other hand, the "danger at SMU," he wrote, was that Willis would be made welcome "but like a virus intruder judged ultimately as subversive of the system" and, thus, he would be "surrounded and consumed by leucocyte." Commenting on the solutions Willis had proposed, Skinner, who knew Willis well as a close friend, doubted very much that he could de-emphasize his teaching because he was always eager to do his best. "I cannot see you behaving badly," Skinner said. "You are too much of a gentleman for that." Publishing and inviting outside offers were better solutions, Skinner advised, along with playing politics. According to Skinner, the political was the key to most things in American society if one had the cynicism necessary to play the game (Skinner l967 letter to Willis.) Willis followed Skinner's advice. He asked for more equal treatment, including an office. For unknown reasons, Willis was not given an office in the anthropology department. The first office assigned to him was one vacated by someone on leave in January of l968. Before that he had to make due with an office in the sociology department (anthropology and sociology split into separate departments the year after Willis joined the faculty.) Willis continued to be the lowest paid faculty member, carrying the most new courses. The situation changed somewhat when he was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the spring of l968 and was granted a leave of absence for the fall semester. His growing militancy was evident when he was invited during this leave to give a major lecture at the University of Texas at Austin. The lecture was part of a series of public lectures devoted to the "Negro's role in American history." Willis was one of ten outstanding students of "the black past" who participated in the series. He spoke on the subject of "Anthropology and Negroes on the Southern Colonial Frontier" to an enthusiastic audience of 500. He felt that the lecture established good rapport with the Negro students without antagonizing the white students. In the talk, Willis departed from mainstream anthropology by stressing the importance of studying "Negroes" in the United States and by opposing the almost exclusive emphasis on Indians. He suggested that the reason for the neglect of Negroes was related to the fact that modern Western anthropology had evolved as the study of colonialized peoples and others outside the boundaries of Western civilization. Indians fit the conventional subject matter of anthropology better than Negroes because the reservation was the functional equivalent of the colony of imperialism. Furthermore, he pointed out, it was impossible to find funding from the federal government or Northern philanthropy because neither was willing "to risk Southern white anger for the sake of a mere exercise in scholarship" (Willis l970a:37.) In addition to challenging anthropology's neglect of Negro culture and history, Willis also attacked the "lily-white composition of anthropology," pointing out that there were no more than ten Negroes in the country holding Ph.D. degrees in anthropology (Willis l970a:38.) He attributed the scarcity to few employment opportunities for blacks in white institutions and little enthusiasm for anthropology in black institutions. In his opinion, Negro colleges were operated "by and for middle-class mulattos," who were concerned with assimilating white middle- class culture (l970a:39.) Studying exotic peoples in other countries or on reservations at home was irrelevant for people struggling with prejudice and discrimination on a daily basis, he suggested (ibid.) This talk demonstrated the direction in which Willis was moving in anthropology. His four years in Texas had radicalized him, he wrote to Skinner at the time he gave the talk (Willis l968b letter to Skinner.) About this time he proposed a new course entitled the "Anthropology of New World Negroes." Upon his return to SMU in the Spring of l969, he began to take an increasingly vocal position both in the class room and in other forums, presenting a stronger version of his Austin talk to the SMU Anthropology Club entitled "Why U.S. Anthropology has Neglected U.S. Negroes" (Willis l969a letter to Skinner.) During the spring semester, black students at SMU staged a confrontation with the SMU administration, occupying the President's office for a few hours. There was no violence and some constructive agreements were reached, including the establishment of an Institute of Afro-American studies. Willis was involved in some of these proceedings, however he did not take a militant position. When approached to serve as a sponsor for setting up a separatist black organization on campus, he expressed the wish to retain a neutral public stance. He saw himself as occupying a middle ground in the increasingly polarized discourse of the time. He did not want to be identified as a "black anthropologist," because of his commitment to integration and his opposition to any form of racism. Above all, he cherished his identity as an anthropologist (Willis l969b letters to Skinner, Foster, and Mintz.) As time progressed, the demands at SMU and the problems of negotiating the various black factions in the Dallas community together with a longing to be closer to his anthropological colleagues and the professional debates in New York, led Willis and his wife to begin thinking seriously of leaving Dallas. His salary was extraordinarily low for an associate professor with tenure ($13,500 in l970.) He was continually frustrated and discouraged by petty annoyances and outright insults suffered in the Department. In the Fall of l970, he resigned from the Graduate Faculty in protest when he learned that his colleagues had reduced his one graduate course to an undergraduate level, giving it a new name, in his absence and without consulting him. It was a seminar in the history of anthropology, which he had introduced four years previously. He withdrew his resignation only after receiving a letter of apology from the Department Chair and the Dean. There were other more serious incidents. One in particular demonstrated the extraordinary insensitivity of the Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, Fred Wendorf. In April of l971, Wendorf distributed copies of a peculiar document to the faculty at a departmental faculty meeting. The document was a year-end "Report of Activities for the Calendar Year l971." The report contained racist and sexist slurs directed at black students, women, and the Afro-American studies program signed by a fictitious professor named P.O. Stamp. Under the heading "Teaching" there was an account of a course called "Black Stamps." According to its author, this course was well received by majors in the program of Afro-American Studies, who were much impressed by my slides of the British one-penny black. Unfortunately, some of my students were misled by these exhibits to conclude that Queen Victoria was a black woman, a misconception which was corrected only after intensive studies of subsequent issues featuring Edward VII and George V. Under "Awards and Honors," the author listed a "Honorary D. Ph. (Doctor of Philately) from Balls State University." Under "Community Service," he listed himself as "an advisor to the League of Women Bloaters (a society for the promotion of pregnancy)." Willis was not present when the document was distributed and obtained it later. He was told that at the meeting Wendorf stated that the document came from the Provost. Willis wrote immediately to the Provost, protesting the existence of this document with its "unfortunate racial slurs and off-color vulgarisms," indicating that he did not believe that it originated in the Provost's office (Willis l971a letter to McFarland.) The Provost replied that the document did not originate in his office and apologized for the "affront." However, adding insult to injury the Provost belittled the seriousness of the affair saying it was no more than "one person's effort at humor" and should be treated as nothing more than "poor taste" (McFarland l971 letter to Willis.) However, this was not the end of the matter. Soon after, the Chairman placed a large placard on the departmental bulletin board announcing a party at his home with P.O.Stamp as the guest of honor. Willis did not attend the party but learned that the honored guest was no other than the Dean of the Graduate School who had just been promoted to Vice-Provost (Willis l971b letter to Willie.) About this time, Willis learned that his request for a leave without pay for the year l971-72 had been officially approved by the Board of Trustees as a terminal leave of absence. When he protested to the Provost, he was informed that this was done because the Chairman of the Department and the Dean, heralded at the aforementioned party as P.O.Stamp, had understood that when Willis made the request for the leave he had indicated his intention not to return to the University. The Provost took all of this to be "a misunderstanding," but didn't provide much comfort when he assured Willis of "our willingness" to discuss with him his relationship to the University at any time during the period of the leave. Willis finally received clarification of the issue in a letter from the President who apologized for the whole incident and removed the word "terminal" from the record (Willis 1971c letter to Brooks; Brooks and McFarland l971 letter to Willis; Tate l971 letter to Willis.) A year later, Willis resigned. The letter of resignation, addressed to Willis M. Tate, Chancellor, Southern Methodist University, was dated April 27, l972. The letter read as follows: Dear Dr. Tate: When I was invited in l965 to become the first black faculty member at Southern Methodist University, I had some hope that a step toward racial justice was being taken and that such a step might lead to more important changes and greater racial understanding. In practice, however, quite the contrary has happened. The treatment which I received from Dr. Fred Wendorf, Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, at first surprised and then infuriated me. I have brought specific instances to the attention of the central administration on numerous occasions. It has eventually become sadly obvious to me that the administration is unwilling to demonstrate the courage and vision necessary to deal effectively with the problem and permit me to function with dignity. As a result, my position in the Department of Anthropology under Dr. Wendorf is intolerable. I resign herewith my tenured appointment as an associate professor, effective immediately. This is a sad ending for what I began so hopefully in 1965, and I fear that it is another victory for what in my opinion is a deplorable attitude. Nevertheless, I can no longer function effectively in my work while having to cope with the treatment accorded me. Very truly yours, In a draft of this letter, Willis had added that although he could not prove "that this treatment by Professor Wendorf is due to racial bigotry, the impact on me is the same." The resignation came after Willis had suffered further indignities by the Chairman who, in his absence, removed all of his personal effects from Willis's office in the Department and sent them to an office in another building. Writing about this and other incidents to Sidney Mintz, Willis expressed his incredulity over the way he had been treated, especially in light of the fact that the Department had received a NSF Developmental Grant of $600,000, "the only one given an anthropology department, with the special provision that the new focus of [the] Department would be in urban ethnography, especially minority problems" (Willis l971d letter to Mintz.) Willis felt that his color and brains had been exploited by the Chair to get the grant and then, once the grant was awarded overlooked his contribution. Willis was not even mentioned as a member of the department when news of the grant was published in the Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association. LATER WORK The same year that Willis resigned his "Skeletons" article appeared in Reinventing Anthropology, the controversial book edited by Dell Hymes. Hymes invited Willis to contribute an article because of his Austin lecture, which was published in The Black Experience, the edited book based on Willis' University of Texas lecture of l968. Reinventing Anthropology (Hymes l972) was part of Pantheon's "anti-text" series, texts which took up important problems not covered in the standard text books. Hymes wanted the book to cover a range of questions. For example, what would anthropology be like if reinvented now? What would it be like if reinvented in an age of film? How much of anthropology is the way it is because of the goals of anthropology and how much because it has become an American academic profession? Hymes also included critiques of the limitations of anthropological study of culture change in the context of colonialism (Hymes l970 letter to Willis.) Originally, Willis thought of entitling his contribution "The Anthropologist as Vulture," or "The Anthropologist as Exploiter." He finished the final draft in June of l971 just after the P.O. Stamp incident and the attempt to ease him out of SMU. He admitted that the paper was written "in bitterness and under considerable strain" and that the perspective he developed was due to his six years in Dallas. With his usual honesty, he wondered whether the bitterness and the isolation he had endured at SMU might have introduced in the argument an "element of distortion" (Willis l971e letters to Hymes and Fried.) In the paper, Willis argues that anthropology's virtual silence on the domination of colored peoples at home and abroad was inconsistent with its tradition of scientific antiracism. HE points out that although scientific antiracism had been developed as a theory to establish the irrelevancy of race as an explanation of differing sociocultural patterns, it was "not conceived primarily to defend colored peoples" (emphasis his). Instead, it was used to establish "the irrelevancy of racial explanations in regard to white groups" (Willis l972:138-39.) As Boas himself admitted, Willis continued, most scientific antiracism was an "effort to combat the anti-Semitic drift" in the white world (Willis l972:139). Willis was incensed at the detachment of many Boasians from the civil rights movement. He pointed out that Herskovits, for example, used black populations to confirm antiracist conclusions in the physical anthropology of Boas, yet excluded ending "discrimination against New World blacks as a goal of Afro- American studies" (Willis l972:139.) Willis concluded that most anthropologists are "at best committed only to gradual socio-cultural change," thereby postponing the end of imperialism to a distant future. Moreover, the equilibrium model of functionalism so prevalent in British social anthropology could be seen as a defense of the status quo. Such models "locate the causes of change inside artificial boundaries of small communities and not in the worldwide system of capitalist imperialism." By misplacing causation, he claimed, anthropology both provided an inadequate guide to change and insufficient theories of change. Thus, anthropology was unable to either properly describe or provide "any scientific basis for a program of socio-cultural change" (Willis l972:144-45.) This was a strong paper, which was virtually ignored or belittled in the reviews. Its indictment of anthropological practice with respect to "colored peoples" has yet to be fully confronted or even recognized. Other concerns he raised are now more accepted in the anthropological discourse. For example, today few anthropologists would neglect the effect of national political and economic processes on local socio-cultural forms. After moving to Philadelphia, his wife's home, Willis continued his intensive examination of the Boas papers on file at the American Philosophical Society, which include over 60,000 letters. Because of his untimely death, we don't know what Willis might have finally concluded from this research. However, there are a few clues. His first piece on Boas was completed in l973, not long after his resignation. Entitled "Franz Boas and the Study of Black Folklore" (Willis l975), this paper describes Boas' efforts to encourage the collection of black folklore and to train black professionals in the fields of anthropology and folklore. Willis describes how together with Elsie Clews Parsons, a wealthy sociologist turned anthropologist, Boas sought out black students who then received financial backing from Parsons to collect black folklore. Frank Speck introduced them to Arthur Huff Fauset in the twenties who was eventually awarded a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania in l942. Gladys Reichard introduced them to Zora Neale Hurston who studied briefly at Columbia. Both Fauset and Hurston became competent folklorists under the guidance of Boas and Parsons (ibid., 320-21.) In this paper, Willis suggests that "the main key to Boas as a person and as a scientist" was the conflict he felt between his personal politics and desire to professionalize anthropology as a discipline. According to Willis, Boas's interest in black folklore "arose from political commitments that shaped his vision of anthropology." These commitments, Willis suggests, "were more fundamental than the professionalization of anthropology, although professionalism was sometimes strong enough to clash successfully with Boas's politics." Even though professionalism might have "acted as a break on Boas's political activism" until his later years, Willis concludes that this "professionalism was often an apolitical mask for deeper political convictions" (Willis l975:309.) In an interview taped for a PBS special on Boas in l979, Willis went even further to propose that race was Boas's fundamental concern in anthropology. According to Willis, Boas's contribution to the study of race was unique for four reasons: (1) he introduced a new way of looking at race by minimizing the importance of race as a determinant of human behavior; (2) he tried to shift the main focus of anthropological research from the North American Indian to other peoples, especially to black people in the United States; (3) he tried to establish a "black presence" in anthropology by drawing black students into Ph.D. programs; and (4)he tried to establish close cooperation between anthropology as a discipline and black scholars and political leaders interested in studying black people in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Boasian scholars will undoubtedly take issue with the contention that Boas tried to shift the main focus of anthropological ressearch from North American Indians to other peoples. Unfortunately, Willis died before he was able to finish his documentation of these propositions. We can only speculate as to how his research developed after his comments on Boas for the PBS series. Two clues are provided from Willis's file at the American Philosophical Society. At the time of his death, Willis was working on a paper entitled "Boas in Atlanta." This unpublished paper describes Boas's trip to Atlanta in l906 to deliver the commencement address at Atlanta University, one of the major black colleges in the United States. Willis was surprised that Boas went to Atlanta. Although by 1906 Boas had attained a certain eminence in anthropology, he had powerful enemies in the field who as late as the late l910s and l920s came close to expelling him from the American Anthropological Association. According to Willis: That Boas would make this visit when there existed this limitation on his predominance in anthropology tells something significant about Boas and what this trip meant to him....he was risking giving his opponents ammunition against him when we take into consideration the state of race relations at that time (Willis ms nd:1-2.) According to Willis, racial politics at the time pitted Booker T. Washington against W.E.B. DuBois, who invited Boas to Atlanta. Since Booker T. Washington controlled white philanthropy Willis thought that if Boas wanted funds to study Negroes he made "a strategic blunder in accepting the invitation to speak at Atlanta" (ibid., p. 15.) However, if Booker T. Washington was offended at Boas's acceptance of the invitation there was nothing in the speech delivered by Boas that was inconsistent with Booker T. Washington's position. Willis characterized Boas's speech as follows: He used euphemisms. He did not advocate political agitation. He did not condemn the white man. He urged the student to self help, to work hard, to be patient, to be smiling and cheerful. This was all straight BTW. No it was not what Boas said at Atlanta, but the very fact that he went to Atlanta at the invitation of Dubois. Boas unknowingly was in the enemy camp. Boas soon recognized his blunder. Then began his attempts to mend fences with BTW. [He had] secret meeting with BTW. This might be one reason for the strange coolness that persisted between DuBois and Boas. Boas might have resented that DuBois got him involved in the racial politics [without warning him] (ibid., pp. 15- 16.) Willis was clearly ambivalent about the talk Boas delivered in Atlanta. On the positive side, Willis appreciated Boas's emphasis on culture in explaining the position of American Negroes in the United States. According to Willis, He [Boas] did not think that American Negroes had achieved very much so far in the United States. He did not believe that this lack of achievement should be taken to mean that Negroes were biologically incapable of making a contribution. He used the relatively high level of African cultural development to show what the Negro was capable of achieving when not hindered by whites. Africa was used to indicate Negro capability and to counteract the idea that the Negro was incapable....In addition to praise for Africa, he used this to give the Negroes hope. He urged them to self-help, to have hope, to be patient, to be cheerful (ibid., p. 4.) Willis was not happy with Boas's stress on the Protestant work ethic, "gradualism," and with all that he did not say in this speech. Regarding what Boas did not say, Willis wrote: In the first place, he soft-pedalled what the white man had done. He did not explicitly refer to the slave trade, slavery, segregation, imperialism, discrimination, exploitation, lynching. Instead, he resorted to euphemism: innocuous gloss of these events. Moreover, Boas did not advocate protest and agitation. He did not advocate immediatism. He did not advocate that Negroes should immediately agitate and protest for their rights. He did not condemn what whites had and were doing to Negroes (ibid., pp. 4-5.) At the time of his death, Willis may have been trying to resolve his ambivalence about Boas's contribution to "antiracism." The day before he died he requested xerox copies of two letters on file at the American Philosophical Society. One was a letter written on May 6, l935 by Prof. William K. Gregory resigning as Chairman of the Galton society in protest against anti-Semitism and the Society's alignment with Germany. The second letter was written by Raymond Pearl in response to Gregory's letter of resignation. Dated May 8, Pearl's response poses the central dilemma which Willis undoubtedly felt confronted Boas, namely how to resolve the clash between professionalism and politics. Pearl's resolution of this dilemma was not one with which Willis would have agreed. Although sharing Gregory's views "about the current political philosophy of Germany," "in considerable part -- indeed probably wholly--", Pearl questioned the wisdom of Gregory's resigning. "I have a deep conviction," he wrote, "that political considerations should never be allowed to play a part in science." Pearl went on to express the hope that since Gregory's action was "motivated by political rather than scientific considerations," he would reconsider his resignation. CONCLUSION Willis understood the professional minefield that characterized the issue of race in pre-civil rights America. Rather than condemning Boas for his "gradualism," he appreciated his effort to sever the connection between race and biology that characterized American thought. He also understood that in building anthropology as an accepted academic discipline, Boas strengthened the scientific foundation for "antiracism," which although not conceived with "colored peoples" in mind came to apply to them as much as to Jews and white immigrants. Whatever the reason, be it his race which ensured his marginality in the field or the civil rights movement which emboldened him, Willis was more direct and outspoken. In his letters, teaching, activism, and publications, he did not hide behind the apolitical masks of scientific professionalism. He was the gentleman scholar who remained true to his beliefs in science, anthropology, and human betterment. Despite the discrimination he experienced, he did not prevaricate or dissemble. He resented all stereotypes and suffered when thoughtless colleagues applied them to him. Although he identified with his race, he was intellectually aligned with the many anthropologists with whom he corresponded on a regular basis. His correspondence with students and colleagues of like mind--George Foster, Morton Fried, Elliott P. Skinner, Sidney Mintz, Marvin Harris, Dell Hymes, Charles Fairbanks, Rayford Logan (and later Arthur Fauset)--demonstrated a fertile, inquiring mind with deep feelings, always loyal, committed to the very end of his life to anthropology, as some are committed to family. Although Willis did not receive his just reward from the field to which he devoted his life, his many friends in the field will never forget him. I feel confident in saying that all who knew William Willis would be glad to add their voices to the letter Stephen Catlett wrote to Gene Willis on August 9, l983, a few days after his death: It just will not yet sink into my mind that I will not be seeing your husband's kind, loving face again...His, and your, generosity and concern over the years, to me and others...has always seemed...to be an almost unique quality that is to be treasured....I will never be able to think of Franz Boas again and not be lovingly reminded of Dr. Willis. It only saddens me more to think that he was not able to publish more from the wealth of information he had amassed in his head and on paper over these many years of research. REFERENCES* Brooks, James E. and H. Neil McFarland. l971. Letter to William S. Willis. Fenton, William N. l957. Letters to Willis March 5; July 24. Hymes Dell. l970. Letter to William S. Willis, Oct. 16. ___. 1972. Reinventing Anthropology. New York: Random House. McFarland, H. Neil. l971. Letter to William S. Willis, May 3. Fried, Morton. l983. Obituary: William S. Willis, Jr. American Philosophical Society. ___. l964. Letter To Whom it May Concern, Oct. 7. Skinner, Elliott P. l967. Letter to William Willis, July 27. Tate, Willis M. l971. Letter to William S. Willis, June 4. Willis, William S. Jr.l957 Letter to William Fenton, Feb. 13. ___. nd. Ms, "Boas Goes to Atlanta." ___. l963a. Letter to Charles H. Fairbanks, Dec. 18. ___. 1963b. Letter to Dorothy Libby, July 17, l963. ___. l966. Letter to Morton Fried, May 17. ___. l967a. Letter to Morton Fried, March 26. ___. l967b. Letter to Morton Fried, Oct. 9. ___. 1967c. Letter to Elliott P. Skinner, Sept. 23. ___. l967d. Letter to Elliott P. Skinner, May 31, l967. ___. l968a. Letter to Morton Fried, March 8. ___. l968b. Letter to Elliott P. Skinner, Nov. 23. ___. l969a. Letter to Elliott P. Skinner, April 12. ___. l969b. Letters to Eilliott P. Skinner, April 12; George Foster, May 20; Sidney Mintz, May 20. ___. l971a. Letter to Dr. H. Neil McFarland, Provost, April 29. ___. l971b. Letter to Prof. Charles V. Willie, June 27. ___. 1971c. Letter to Dr. James E. Brooks, Associate Provost, May 20. ___. l971d. Letter to Sidney Mintz, Nov. 8. ___. l971e. Letters to Dell Hymes and Morton Fried, June 17. ___. l973. Letter to Morton Fried, March 17. *Letters cited in References are on file at the American Philosophical Society. For articles by William S. Willis see following bibliography of his work. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM S. WILLIS, JR. [From "A Tribute to William S. Willis, Jr., paper presented by James P. Gallagher, at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, November 16-20, l983] 1955 Colonial Conflict and the Cherokee Indians, 1710-1760. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor (Dissertation). l957 "The Nation of Bread," Ethnohistory, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.125-149. 1963a "Divide and Rule: Red, White, and Black in the Southeast," Journal of Negro History, 48(3):157-176. Reprinted in: (a) Leonard Dinnerstein and Kenneth T. Jackson (eds.), American Vistas, 1607-1877. New York, London, and Toronto: Oxford University Press, l971, Vol. I, 1st ed. (b) Charles M. Hudson (ed.) Red, White, and Black: Symposium on Indians in the Old South, Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, No. 5. Athens: University of Georgia Press, l971. (c) Bobbs-Merrill Reprints in Black Studies, BC-323. (d) Bruce A. Glasrud and Alan M. Smith (eds), Promises to Keep. Rand-McNally and Co., l972. 1963b "Patrilineal Institutions in Southeastern North America," Ethnohistory, (3):250-269. l970a "Anthropology and Negroes on the Southern Colonial Frontier," in Jones C. Curtis and Levis L. Gould (eds.), The Black Experience in America: Selected Essays, pp. 33-50. Austin, University of Texas Press. 1970b "Review of J.K. Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842." American Anthropologist, 72(3):636. l972 "Skeletons in the Anthropological Closet," in Dell Hymes (ed.), Reinventing Anthropology, New York, Pantheon Books. Reprinted in: Morton H. Fried (ed.), Explorations in Anthropology: Readings in Cultures, Man, and Nature, New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Co. l973, pp. 459-474. l975 "Franz Boas and the Study of Black Folklore," In John W. Bennett (ed.), The New Ethnicity: Perspectives from Ethnology, St. Paul, West Publishing Co. l980 "Fusion and Separation: Archaeology and Ethnology in Southeastern North America," In Stanley Diamond, (ed.) Theory and Practice: Essays presented to Gene Weltfish, The Hague, Mouton. In Press "Indian-Black Relationships," in Raymond D. Fogelson, (ed.) Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 13 (Southeast), Washington D.C., Smithsonian. PAPERS READ 1961 "Patrilineal Institutions in the Southeast," 60th Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Nov. 16-19. l965 "Fusion and Separation: Two Processes Involved in Developmental Sequences of the Southeastern United States," 69th Annual Meeting, Texas Academy of Science, Dallas, Texas, December 9-11. l967 "Fusion and Separation: Two Processes Involved in One Developmental Sequence in Southeastern North America," Atlanta, Georgia, March 30 - April 1. (Revised and expanded version of earlier paper). 1968 "Anthropology and Negroes on the Southern Colonial Frontier," The Negro in American History Lecture Series, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, October 24. 1969 "Anthropology and the Primitives," The Hockaday School, Dallas, Texas, Feb. 24. "Why North American Anthropology has Ignored North American Negroes," SMU Graduate Anthropology Club, March. l973 "Franz Boas and the Study of Black Folklore," l973 Joint Meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society and the American Ethnological Society, March 8-10. l983 "Dubious Boasiana" Seminar Series Anthropology Department, Graduate Students and Faculty, Columbia University, April 20. NOTES This paper is dedicated to the memory of William S. Willis Jr, who was my first mentor in anthropology. I am very grateful to his wife, Gene Willis, for her generous cooperation in the research for this paper and for her willingness to critique drafts. I am also grateful to Ira E. Harrison for his encouragement to write this paper and for his critiques along the way. Dell Hymes provided important insights in his comments on the final draft. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At 10:23 AM 6/5/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >To go with our critique of the use and abuse of biology, let us write on >the uses and abuses of the culture concept...Like Confederate culture, >American gun culture... righwing God culture and symbolic systems, >institutions and structures.. representations and cultural grammars. > >^^^^^^^ >The Use and Abuse of Biology: An >Anthropological Critique of Sociobiology (Paperback) > >http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=20259 _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: ANTI-VIOLENCE Obama Passed Law to Help Combat Violence Against Women. Obama co-sponsored a bill that would authorize increased appropriations for FY2006-FY2010 for grants to combat violent crimes against women, revise provisions specifying purposes for grants to include use for under served populations and for forensic medical exams of sex offense victims, increase set aside amounts for grants to Indian tribal governments and U.S. territories and possessions, prohibit law enforcement officers, prosecutors, or other government officials from requiring sex offense victims to submit to a polygraph examination as a condition for proceeding with an investigation or prosecution of a sex offense. The bill would establish a sexual assault services program, directing the Attorney General to make grants to states, territories, and tribal entities for rape crisis centers or other programs and projects to assist those victimized by sexual assault, culturally specific community-based organizations for various services on behalf of sexual assault victims, and state, territorial, and tribal sexual assault coalitions. The bill would also award grants to accredited schools of medicine to develop interdisciplinary training and education programs that provide health professions students with an understanding of, and clinical skills pertinent to, domestic violence, sexual assault, and dating violence. [109th, HR 3402 (S. 1197), Passed by Unanimous Consent, 12/16/05; PL 109-162, 1/5/06] Obama Passed A Law To Create The Victims Economic Security And Safety Act(VESSA), Which Helps Victims Of Abuse Seek Treatment Without Losing Their Job. Obama was the chief sponsor and voted to created the Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act. The bill provided that an employee who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, or who has a family or household member who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, may take leave from work to address domestic or sexual violence by seeking medical attention or obtaining health or legal services. The Chicago Tribune reported, "But VESSA, as it is known, allows time off for personal issues not covered by the FMLA and is designed to help victims keep their jobs." Obama said he sponsored the bill after being approached by several advocacy group for battered women. "They came to me and indicated how difficult it is for victims of physical and sexual abuse to deal with the repercussions of an assault and then try to balance it with work and everything else." [93rd GA; HB 3486; 3R P 58-0-0, 5/20/03; Signed into law 8/25/03, PA 93-0591; Chicago Tribune, 8/20/03; University Wire, 8/22/03] Obama Passed Law To Increase Penalties For Repeat Domestic Offenders. Obama was the chief co-sponsor and voted for House bill providing that domestic battery or a violation of an order of protection is a Class 4 felony if the defendant had a prior conviction for certain enumerated offenses, including first degree murder, aggravated domestic battery, and criminal sexual assault. A person commits stalking if he or she has been previously convicted of stalking another person and knowingly (on one occasion) follows that same person or commits certain threatening acts against that person or that person's family. [92nd GA; HB 4081; 2002; Signed into law 8/22/02, PA 92-0827] Obama Passed Law To Increase Penalties For Committing Battery In Or Near A Domestic Violence Shelter. Obama was the chief co-sponsor of and voted for bill providing that a person commits aggravated battery if he or she (or the person battered) is in a domestic violence shelter, or if the person battered is within 500 feet going to or from the shelter. [92nd GA, SB 0175, 3/29/01, 3R P; 55-0-0; P.A. 92-0516, 1/1/02; 91st GA, SB 1406, Session Sine Die, 1/9/01] Obama Passed Law Improving "No Contact" Court Procedures in Domestic Abuse Petitions. Obama helped amend the Civil No Contact Order Act, including simplifying the forms for filing a petition. The law allows for the court to appoint counsel to represent the petitioner if the respondent is represented by counsel and changes what a civil no contact order may contain. [93rd, HB4395, 3R: 57-0-0, 5/5/04; PA 93-0811, 7/26/04] Obama Passed Law Requiring Clear Language be Included in Emergency Orders of Protection. Obama co-sponsored and helped pass a law that requires the government be specific about the restrictions placed on the recipient of an emergency order of protection. This legislation prevents perpetrators of domestic violence from claiming ignorance of the law. [93rd GA, SB2495, 3R: 57-0-0, 3/25/04; Concurrence: 53-0-0, 5/26/04 PA 93-0944, 8/17/04] Obama Passed Law Raising Standards Related to Domestic Violence. Obama sponsored a bill and voted to amend the Nursing Home Care Act and the Hospital Licensing Act to require licensees under those Acts to comply with standards relating to domestic violence established by the Joint Committee on Accreditation or other accrediting organizations approved by the Department of Public Health. [91st GA, SB0850, 1999, PA 91-0163, 99-07-16] Back to Top Why Women Support Obama "I support Barak Obama because he is an honest man with a vision for this country that exceeds our wildest dreams. He is kind, compassionate, brilliant, articulate and tough when necessary. He will restore divided ideologies and we will be the 'United' States once again." -- Terrie, California PROTECTION AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT Obama Passed The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Database Act of 2005.Obama co-sponsored a bill that would require the Attorney General to make publicly available in a registry via the Internet, from information contained in the National Sex Offender Registry or in state sex offender websites, specified information about sexually violent predators and persons convicted of a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a minor, who are required to register with a minimally sufficient state sexual offender registration program; and allow registry users to identify offenders who are currently residing within a specified radius of a given location. Requires registry information to include the offender's name, address, date of birth, physical description, and photograph, the nature and date of commission of the offense, and the date on which the offender is released from prison or placed on parole, supervised release, or probation. Linda Walker, Dru Sjodin's mother, said that Dru's Law "is a step in the right direction, but more work needs to be done to protect women and children. 'I think it has to stay in the forefront of our nation's agenda.' she said." [109th, S. 792, Passed by Unanimous Consent, 7/28/05; Referred to House Subcommittee, 9/19/05; Aberdeen American News, 10/6/06] Obama Passed A Bill To Protect Children From Known Sex Offenders. Obama co-sponsored a bill to improve the national program to register and monitor individuals who commit crimes against children or sex offenses. The bill would require the Attorney General to maintain a National Sex Offender Registry at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as a National Sex Offender Public Registry. The bill would also require adults or juveniles who are convicted as adults of sexually violent offenses, certain offenses against minors, or other specified crimes (covered individuals) to provide specified information to designated persons in their domicile, work, or school states for the rest of their lives (with specified exceptions). The bill would require such an individual, initially and thereafter as specified, to register with and appear before such designated persons to provide identification, home, work, school, and vehicle information and to have a photograph and fingerprints taken. [109th, S. 1086, Passed by Unanimous Consent, 5/4/06; Held at desk, 5/8/06] Obama Passed Law Expanding Rights Of Alleged Victims of Sexual Assault. Obama sponsored a bill and voted to amend the Criminal Code of 1961 to eliminate the 48 hour time requirement after the collection of the sample in which an alleged sexual assault survivor must return to the hospital performing the sample analysis of all controlled substances and alcohol ingested by the alleged victim a signed written authorization in order to have the sample analysis performed. [93rd, HB4771, 2004, Third Reading: 5/19/2004, PA 93-0958 8/20/2004] Obama Passed A Law To Make Administering A Date Rape Drug Aggravated Battery As Well As An Aggravating Offense To Criminal Sexual Assault. Obama sponsored a bill and voted to amend the Criminal Code of 1961 to provide that administering a controlled substance to a person without his or her consent for nonmedical purposes constitutes aggravated battery. The bill provided that delivering a controlled substance to a victim without his or her consent as part of the same course of conduct as the commission of criminal sexual assault or criminal sexual abuse is an aggravating circumstance that enhances these offenses to aggravated criminal sexual assault or aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Further amends the Criminal Code of 1961. [90th GA, SB 1224, 3R P 54-0-0, 3/24/98; HA 1 Concur P 55-0-1, 5/20/98; PA 90-0735, 8/11/98] Obama Passed A Law to Expand the Definitions of "Sex Offender" and "Sex Offense" and Mandate Offender Disclosure. Obama sponsored a bill and voted to amend the Sex Offender Registration Act to include in the definition of "sex offender" a person who is convicted or adjudicated for a sex offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The bill included in the definition of a "sex offense", a 3rd or subsequent conviction for public indecency or a conviction for custodial sexual misconduct or permitting sexual abuse of a child if these offenses are committed on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act. The bill provided that the sheriff shall disclose sex offender information to the boards of institutions of higher education or other appropriate administrative offices of each non-public institution of higher education located in the county where the sex offender is required to register, resides, or is attending an institution of higher education. [92nd GA, HB 5874, 3R P 55-0-0, 5/7/02; Adopt CC Report P 54-0-1, 5/31/03; PA 92- 0828, 8/22/02] Obama Passed Law to Require EMS For Sexual Assault Survivors To Include Coverage For Emergency Contraception. Obama was the chief co-sponsor and voted for adding, as an additional criterion for IDPH approval for a hospital's plan for emergency services for sexual assault survivors, that the plan must provide sufficient protections from the risk of pregnancy by the sexual assault survivor. Bill requires that hospitals providing such services develop and implement protocol that ensures that each sexual assault survivor receives medically and factually accurate information about emergency contraception. [92nd GA; SB 0114; 2001; Signed into law 7/25/01, PA 92-0156] Obama Passed a Bill Eliminating Good Behavior Time For Sex Offenders. Obama sponsored and passed a bill to amend the County Jail Good Behavior Allowance Act by stipulating that any convict may not receive time off for good behavior if he has been incarcerated for sexual assault or aggravated sexual abuse. [91st GA, SB 0485, 3/11/99, 3R P; 54-1-2; P.A. 91-0117, 7/15/99; Senate Floor Transcript, 3/11/99, p. 74] Obama Passed Law to Extend Statute Of Limitations On Certain Sexual Offenses.Obama was the chief co-sponsor and voted for bill extending the statute of limitations for several criminal sexual offenses, including aggravated criminal sexual assault. [91st GA; HB 0329; 1999; Signed into law 8/11/99, PA 91-0475] Obama Sponsored Illinois Senate Version Of The Bill That Would Seal Sexual Assault Victim's Records. Obama sponsored a bill that would amend the Criminal Identification Act to provide that the victim of criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, criminal sexual abuse, or aggravated criminal sexual abuse, may request that the State's Attorney file a petition with the trial judge to have the court records of the case sealed. The bill provided that, upon order of the court for good cause shown, the records may be made available for public inspection. [91st GA, SB 943, 1999, 3R P 58-0-0, 3/23/99, Total Veto Stands, 11/18/99] SB 943 Was Amended To Include The Exact Bill Language Of HB 854 Before Obama Signed On As A Sponsor. Obama was the chief co-sponsor of and voted for SB 943, which would amend the Criminal Identification Act to provide that the victim of criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, criminal sexual abuse, or aggravated criminal sexual abuse, may request that the State's Attorney file a petition with the trial judge to have the court records of the case sealed. The bill provided that, upon order of the court for good cause shown, the records may be made available for public inspection. Obama signed onto the bill after the original language was amended to include the same language of HB 854. [91st GA, SB 943, 1999, 3R P 58-0-0, 3/23/99, Total Veto Stands, 11/18/99] Back to Top EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Obama Passed Equal Pay Act In Illinois To Give 330,000 More Women Protection From Pay Discrimination. Obama co-sponsored and voted for the Equal Pay Act which provided that no employer may discriminate between employees on the basis of sex by paying ages solely on the basis of the employee's gender. According to the AP, the "Illinois Equal Pay Act expands the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963 to give about 330,000 more women in the state protection from gender-based discrimination in pay" by applying the law to companies that employee 4 or more people, rather than the federal standard of fifteen. Obama attended the bill signing on Mother's Day of 2003. [93rd GA; SB 0002; 2003; Signed into law, 5/11/03, PA 93-0006; AP, 5/11/03; Chicago Tribune, 5/8/03; Chicago Tribune, 5/12/03] Obama Passed A Law To Create The Victims Economic Security And Safety Act(VESSA), Which Would Help Victims Of Abuse Seek Treatment Without Losing Their Job. Obama was the chief sponsor and voted to created the Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act. The bill provided that an employee who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, or who has a family or household member who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence whose interests are not adverse to the employee, may take leave from work to address domestic or sexual violence by: seeking medical attention for, or recovering from, physical or psychological injuries caused by domestic or sexual violence to the employee or the employee's family or household member; obtaining services from a victim services organization for the employee or the employee's family or household member; obtaining psychological or other counseling for the employee or the employee's family or household member; participating in safety planning, temporarily or permanently relocating, or taking other actions to increase the safety of the employee or the employee's family or household member from future domestic or sexual violence or ensure economic security; or seeking legal assistance or remedies to ensure the health and safety of the employee or the employee's family or household member, including preparing for or participating in any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or derived from domestic or sexual violence. The Chicago Tribune reported, "But VESSA, as it is known, allows time off for personal issues not covered by the FMLA and is designed to help victims keep their jobs." Obama said he sponsored the bill after being approached by several advocacy group for battered women. "They came to me and indicated how difficult it is for victims of physical and sexual abuse to deal with the repercussions of an assault and then try to balance it with work and everything else." [93rd GA; HB 3486; 3R P 58-0-0, 5/20/03; Signed into law 8/25/03, PA 93-0591; Chicago Tribune, 8/20/03; University Wire, 8/22/03] Obama Passed Into Law a Requirement that Women And Minority Scientists/Engineers Be Represented And Consulted on Specific Technology and Science Efforts. In 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment, which became law, to the America Competes Act requiring that minorities and females be represented and consulted during the development of innovation/competitiveness strategies at the National Science and Technology Summit (NSTS), on the President's Council on Innovation and Competitiveness, and elsewhere. [S.Amdts. 923, Agreed to by unanimous consent, 4/25/07; S. 761, Incorporated into H.R. 2272, which became P.L. 110-289, 8/9/07] Obama Passed Into Law An Amendment Creating A Mentoring Program For Women And Underrepresented Groups At DOE. In 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment, which became law, to the America Competes Act that established a mentoring program to support women and underrepresented groups as they progress through education programs proposed by the Department of Energy. The amendment was included in the final version of the bill that passed Congress and was signed into law. [S.Amdts. 905, Agreed to by unanimous consent, 4/25/07, S. 761, Incorporated into H.R. 2272, which became P.L. 110-289, 8/9/07] This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again! America Little dark baby, Little Jew baby, Little outcast, America is seeking the stars, America is seeking tomorrow. You are America. I am America America? the dream, America? the vision. America? the star-seeking I. Out of yesterday The chains of slavery; Out of yesterday, The ghettos of Europe ; Out of yesterday, The poverty and pain of the old, old world, The building and struggle of this new one, We come You and I, Seeking the stars. You and I, You of the blue eyes And the blond hair, I of the dark eyes And the crinkly hair. You and I Offering hands Being brothers, Being one, Being America. You and I. And I? Who am I? You know me: I am Crispus Attucks at the Boston Tea Party; Jimmy Jones in the ranks of the last black troops marching for democracy. I am Sojourner Truth preaching and praying for the goodness of this wide, wide land; Today?s black mother bearing tomorrow?s America. Who am I? You know me, Dream of my dreams, I am America. I am America seeking the stars. America? Hoping, praying, Fighting,! dreaming. Knowing There are stains On the beauty of my democracy, I want to be clean. I want to grovel No longer in the mire. I want to reach always After stars. Who am I? I am the ghetto child, I am the dark baby, I am you And the blond tomorrow And yet I am my one sole self, America seeking the stars. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Patriotic Ballad Uncut and Wet Mark L Actually, the story behind the "Star-Spangled Banner" (originally "the Defense of Fort McHenry") is amazing and interesting enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner The War of 1812 started as an attempt by the politicians and expansionists to seize new territory while England was busy fighting Napoleon. In short order, Napoleon was out of the picture and the wrath of the most powerful empire in history (to that point) turned on the United States, which realized at about that time that it had this massive coastline that simply couldn't be defended and a war that the population in much of the country had really not been behind. Americans responded with a popular effort to do what they could. In New York, hundreds volunteered, trade by trade, to put makeshift fortifications into place. The famous poet (and union printer) Samuel Woodward celebrated the work of "Plumbers, founders, dyers, tinmen, turners shavers, Sweepers, clerks and criers, jewelers and engravers. Clothiers, drapers, players, cartmen, hatters, tailors Gaugers, sealers, weighers, carpenters and sailors!" All laboring as "The Patriotic Diggers." http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiPATRDIGG;ttPATRDIGG.html Once the British were focused, they found that they could land their well-trained veteran troops almost anywhere and move pretty much with impunity through the American countryside. Most famously, on August 24, 1814, they entered and burned much of Washington, DC, before there was really that much there, of course. The British moved on Baltimore September 12-15, and the population mobilized to defend their city. Trade unionists and African-Americans took up arms to protect their homes, alongside the property owners. When the British landed 5,000 men at North Point to march on the city from the rear, some of the militia ventured out from their works to meet them in a sharp engagement that resulted in the death of the British commander and the blunting of their attack. On September 13-14, the British fleet tried from the other direction, using mortar boats and their new Congreve rockets in an attempt to take Fort McHenry. It was this overnight bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key, watching from a British ship, to write the poem. The interesting aftermath was that when Key went into Baltimore to find a printer to put his poem into circulation, he couldn't find anyone available. (He eventually found a young apprentice who did the work. All the journeymen from the Typographical Union were out on the barricades ready to meet the British if they made another attempt. Finally, another endearing aspect of the national anthem is that it was put to a drinking tune. For an entertaining presentation of the original (probably as a school project) on YouTube, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5JZXTb5ABg&feature=related ML This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: crises, what appears at first glance to be a pension and Social Security problem turns out to be a financialization (debt) problem. In an attempt to maximize dividend payouts, companies in the auto, steel, airline and other industries made a bargain with labor to take its wages in the form of deferred pension and health-care payments. And labor - being much more farsighted than corporate financial managers - chose to defer the latter. In the case of public sector pensions, the problem is the anti-tax ideology promoted by the financial sector, which prefers government to borrow from the wealthy rather than tax them. Cities from New York to San Diego chose not to raise taxes but to promise public sector employees future retirement income and health care. Also like companies, they chose to finance their budgets by borrowing, by issuing bonds rather than by taxing their traditional real estate tax base. In a nutshell, they chose to borrow from the rich rather than tax them. Corporate and public bond issuers point out that there is not enough revenue to pay all claimants. But rather than blaming the lenders for making loans to be paid by carving up and selling off assets rather than by producing more, financial lobbies are taking a neo-Malthusian position. They are blaming the corporate and public sector cost squeeze on pension obligations stemming from the fact that people are living longer. The number of retirees per employee or taxpayer is rising - and the much-vaunted rise of science, technology and productivity is not supposed to be able to carry this extra load. Or rather, economies cannot carry this load and also pay exponentially rising debt service and money-management fees. But this blame-the-victim logic ignores the fact that today's debts - and property prices - are growing at compound interest, beyond the ability of economies to produce a net economic surplus to pay. Something has to give. For the financial sector, what gives is supposed to be labor's wages, industry's profits and the government's taxing power. We got into this mess by giving special tax breaks to real estate and finance at the expense of labor and industry, and warping the tax system to favor debt over equity. Financial managers and politicians conformed to type by living in the short-run. Labor did not demand that government take responsibility for what is commonly provided to employees and retirees in most civilized countries: a living income and health care. Instead, both labor and its employers took this responsibility on the private sector itself. It was a cost that other countries are spared from having to bear - and from having to "financialize" by pre-saving in the form of financial speculation, to pay pensions and health care out of capital gains that are to be ensured by the government cutting taxes to leave more profits and other revenue to capitalize into yet higher loans to bid up asset prices. The entire detour of financialization has added a vast non-production cost to the expense of doing business and hiring labor in America. To put matters bluntly, we have taken a wrong path - yet hardly anyone in authority is explaining how to retrace our steps to get out of the present dilemma. As long as one believes that government can only add to overhead waste - and that the financial sector can only "economize" and make the economy more efficient - there will be little motivation to seek an alternative. Without doubt, one can point to exorbitant retirement giveaways such as New York City's pension arrangements for public transport workers, policemen and firemen. Their craft unions obtained pension and health care rights substantially above those of the labor force in general. But such deviations from the norm are inevitable in a system where pensions and health care are left to company-by-company, city-by-city and state-by-state negotiations rather than negotiated nationally as is the case in social democracies. The situation is the same with taxes negotiated at the local level. Companies and real estate investors play states and cities against each other to extract special tax breaks for locating in their areas. Political lobbying and insider dealing become rife under such conditions. At the root of America's pension and health care problems is an ideological opposition to public services and taxation at the national level. In the aftermath of World War II, corporations opposed "socialized medicine". This left companies to pay for health care out of their earnings rather than leaving it to government to organize and pay out of the general tax base. This probably made sense to the vested interests when they bore the brunt of progressive taxation. But they seem not to have noted that this attitude has ceased to be self-serving now that the richest families have shifted the taxes onto the lower brackets. General Motors recently has protested that health care costs more money per auto than steel. Yet someone must pay for health care and retirement. If not the government, then who - besides one's employer? So one wonders just what General Motors wants more: the luxury of an obsolete anti-Bolshevist rhetoric, or to make consumers pay for their health care and Social Security as "user fees" without the upper tax brackets taking the responsibility that they take in countries with more progressive tax systems. In retrospect it would seem that companies did not act in their self-interest when they insisted on taking responsibility on themselves for providing medical care whose price has soared, largely because the medical profession itself has been taken over by financialized health management organizations (HMOs) in the insurance sector (an increasingly prosperous element of the FIRE sector). They have put doctors as well as patients on rations - fee-for-service in the case of physicians, and rationed care for the hapless insured. And this is supposed to be the free market alternative to centralized planning! The explanation for companies acting this way is to be found in the era of progressive taxation. More than two centuries of classical economic analysis had shown the logic of taxing predatory wealth (land ownership, monopoly rights and financial claims on the economy) rather than labor and industry. The objective was to tax all forms of income that were not necessary for production to take place. Above all were rights to land, which is provided by nature, for the purpose of charging an access fee, and other extractive property rights and financial charges loaded on top of what actually is needed to be spent on production. The early income tax captured such "unearned income". The wealthy classes thus opposed public provision of services, including medical care as well as basic infrastructure, in an epoch when they were the major parties being taxed. But being sclerotic and rigid, the rentier classes failed to shift their attitudes toward public service as they moved to free themselves from taxation. Ever since the United States enacted its first modern income tax in 1913, finance and its major clients - real estate and monopolies - have lobbied to distort the tax code to make their gains tax-exempt. Rather than declaring taxable income, they count as a cost of production interest and over-depreciation for real estate, as well as payments to corporate shells in offshore tax-avoidance centers. The finance and property sectors also take their returns in the form of capital gains rather than as profits, trading through financial hedge funds whose revenue is taxed at only half the rate of normal income. The wealthiest one percent take their returns in the form of bonuses, not wages, and enjoy a cut-off point of only $102,000 for FICA Social Security and Medicare wage withholding. When Wall Street Journal editorials assert that the richest one percent earn "only" a small portion of taxable income, all this really means is that a shrinking portion of their economic returns are deemed subject to the income tax. Their buildup of wealth takes a form not classified as "income". Inherited wealth meanwhile is the great loophole for avoiding ever having to pay capital gains that have accrued on real estate and other assets rising in price. If the rentier classes act flexibly, they will see that as they shed their national, state and local fiscal burden, it is time to "socialize of the risks" as a travesty of true socialism by passing the costs of pensions and health care off of companies and localities onto the federal government. After all, now that labor and consumers are paying the lion's share of taxes, is it not all right to extend public spending to take over areas of cost hitherto borne by corporate business and other private-sector employers? This promises to be the next big political fight. But ideological sloganeering dies slowly, and corporate business and the financial sector continue to oppose "big government" even as they are un-taxed. That is the problem with the vested interests: they live only for themselves in the short run. The financial mentality is opportunistic ("after me, the deluge"), caring little about the future. Labor cannot enjoy this luxury. It needs to look to how it will live after its working years end and health care becomes a rising expense. This perspective involves a more far-sighted economic and social contract. Meanwhile, property taxes continue to be phased out as the basis for state and local finance. The tax burden is being shifted onto income and sales levies that fall on consumers, not on the preferred tax status of high finance and property. For many years now, the political drive to un-tax real estate led cities such as San Diego and entire states such as New Jersey to pay their work force in the form of retirement and health care obligations rather than current wages, while borrowing from the rich rather than taxing them. The income hitherto paid as property tax was available either to pledge to bankers for loans to buy property rising in price as it was untaxed. All this was fiscal and economic madness from a long-term vantage point - not the madness of crowds, but that of self-serving lobbying by the financial sector. The result has been a trend that cannot go on for long. But having managed to free themselves from progressive wealth and income taxation, the vested financial and property interests evidently believe that they can pull the same trick again and free themselves from the obligation to live up to the pension and health care promises that corporate and public-sector employers have made to their work force. Such evasion requires a populist rhetoric. Malthusian doctrine worked well two centuries ago, so why not try it once again? Blame population growth - in this case, not the tendency of the poor to have more children, but the ability of employees to live beyond the retirement age at which they were supposed to die if they had conformed to the models used so hopefully by their employers in explaining their financial position. The claim is being made that paying business and public-sector commitments to labor will bankrupt both. There is no mention of debt payments to bondholders for funds borrowed to cut progressive taxes on the rich. Nor is the burden of high housing and other real estate prices that the July 30 bailout of mortgage lenders aims to create. Something has to give, but it is this old worldview. No doubt when the next financial crisis hits we will see all the usual journalistic adjectives: "unexpected", "surprising everyone by the depth of the problem", et cetera. Give me a break! Can no major media see the obvious trends at work? _____ Michael Hudson is a former Wall Street economist specializing in the balance of payments and real estate at the Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.), Arthur Anderson, and later at the Hudson Institute (no relation). In 1990 he helped established the world's first sovereign debt fund for Scudder Stevens & Clark. Dr Hudson was Dennis Kucinich's Chief Economic Advisor in the recent Democratic primary presidential campaign, and has advised the US, Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments, as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). A Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new edition, Pluto Press, 2002) He can be reached via his website, _mh at michael-hudson.com_ (mailto:mh at michael-hudson.com) _http://www.counterpunch.com/hudson07312008.html_ (http://www.counterpunch.com/hudson07312008.html) _http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com_ (http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com) _http://www.ashisuto.co.jp_ (http://www.ashisuto.co.jp) **************Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017 ) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Von Bayku=C5=9F 7 Do=C4=9Fan G=C3=B6=C3=A7men Domenico Losurdo ve Andreas Arndt=E2=80=99la s=C3=B6yle=C5=9Fi Interview with Andreas Arndt and Domenico Losurdo Interview mit Andreas Arndt und Domenico Losurdo 12 G.W.F. Hegel Kim soyut d=C3=BC=C5=9F=C3=BCn=C3=BCyor? Who thinks abstract? Wer denkt abstrakt? 43 Alexandre Koj=C3=A8ve Hegel, Marx ve H=C4=B1ristiyanl=C4=B1k Hegel, Marx and Christianity=20 Hegel, Marx und Christentum 50 =C3=96mer Anl=C4=B1 Hegel=E2=80=99in empirizm ele=C5=9Ftirisi hegel's Critique of Empiricism Hegels Kritik des Empirismus 76 Meryem U=C3=A7ar Bilin=C3=A7 ile =C3=B6zbilin=C3=A7 aras=C4=B1nda duran sonsuzluk: Evrik Evren The infinite between conciousness and self-conciousness: The world upside down Die Unendlichkeit zwischen Bewu=C3=9Ftsein und Selbstbewu=C3=9Ftsein:=20 Die verkehrte Welt 102 Georg Luk=C3=A1cs Gen=C3=A7 Hegel Young Hegel Der junge Hegel 126 Richard Gunn Hegel=E2=80=99de tarihin ba=C5=9Flang=C4=B1c=C4=B1 ve sonu The beginning and the end of history in Hegel Der Anfang und das Ende der Geschichte bei Hegel 162 =C4=B0 =C3=87 =C4=B0 N D E K =C4=B0 L E R TOZLU RAFLARDAN Archive Archiv=20 =C3=96nay S=C3=B6zer Hegel felsefesi ve metafizi=C4=9Fin sonu Hegelian philosophy and the end of metaphysics Die Hegelsche Philosophie und das Ende der Metaphysik 187 Frederick Beiser Heg el ve=3D2 0metafizik problemi Hegel and The problem of metaphysics Hegel und das Metaphysikproblem=20 200 Taylan Altu=C4=9F Hegel=E2=80=99in sanat felsefesi Hegel's philosophy of arts Hegels Philosophie der Kunst 222 G.W.F. Hegel Mythologia 252 Hakk=C4=B1 H=C3=BCnler Hegel=E2=80=99in Estetik=E2=80=99inde =C5=9Fiir sanat=C4=B1n=C4=B1n konumuna ve karakteristiklerine taslak bir bak=C4=B1=C5=9F A preparatory view on the place and characteristic of poetic in Hegel's aest= hetic Eine erste Betrachtung =C3=BCber den Ort und Charakteristik der Poetik=C2= =A0 in Hegels =C3=84sthetik =20 254 Jean-Marie Vaysse Heidegger ve Alman idealizmi Heidegger and German idealism Heidegger und der deutsche Idealismus 259 Ta=C5=9Fk=C4=B1ner Ketenci Hegel=E2=80=99in aynas=C4=B1nda Kant eti=C4=9Fi Katian Ethic in the mirror of Hegel Kantsche Ethik im Hegelschen Spiegel=20 276 Do=C4=9Fan G=C3=B6=C3=A7men Felsefe, akademik bir boncuk oyunu de=C4=9Fildir! Philosophy is not an academic game of pearls (On T. S. Hoffmann's Hegel book) Philosophie ist kein akademisches Glasperlenspiel (=C3=9Cber T. S. Hoffmanns Hegel-Buch) 291 =C4=B0ngilizce =3DC 3zetler English abstracts Zusammenfassungen in Englisch 299 Bu say=C4=B1ya katk=C4=B1da bulunanlar On Contributors =C3=9Cber Autoren 304 =20 =20 =C2=A0---------------------- Do=C4=9Fan G=C3=B6=C3=A7men Author of The Adam Smith Problem: Reconciling Human Nature and Society in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, I. B. Tauris, London&New York 2007 AOL Email goes Mobile! You can now read your AOL Emails whilst on the move.=20= Sign up for a free AOL E mail account with unlimited storage today. =20 AOL Email goes Mobile! You can now read your AOL Emails whilst on the move.=20= Sign up for a free AOL Email account with unlimited storage today. =20 AOL Email goes Mobile! 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From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: =E2=80=9CThe Sufis comprise many shades of opinion=E2=80=94from asceticism = and quietism to pantheism. The pantheistic type =E2=80=A6 throw the transce= ndental and visionary aspects of Sufiism into undue relief, as the sayings = attributed to Bayezid (d. A.D. 874), e.g., =E2=80=9CI am the winedrinker an= d the wine and the cupbearer=E2=80=9D; =E2=80=9CI went from God to God, unt= il they cried from me in me, =E2=80=98O Thou I.=E2=80=9D=20 Additionally, consider other aspects and variations (refer to works of Rumi= , Sachal, Shah Latif, etc. Apropos, the Sufi Muslims, even in current times, in general are pacifist. = =E2=80=94- The 70 plus sects of Islam ranging from Quaddians, Aga Khanis, S= unnis, Shias, etc.) Have wide variations in terms of beliefs, practices, mo= res, etc. (e.g. Islam forbids images =E2=80=94- Moslem graves in Sindh have= images) =E2=80=94-=20 Following the actions of some, generalizing, and then collectively lumping = diversity as one, simply isn=E2=80=99t =E2=80=94- reductio absurdum =E2=80= =94- it is also extremely dangerous, given the conditions of our times =E2= =80=94- especially, in understanding, and hopefully resolving=E2=80=A6. To Richard Hennessey (#18) =E2=80=94- Hopefully, the above amplifies your s= entiment. To: All =E2=80=94- Refer to earlier Chronicle article and comments on the s= ame subject =E2=80=94- many interesting perspectives are present in same. =E2=80=94 zahid Jun 4, 12:45 PM #=20 To: All ClarificationAddition To Chronicle Reference in Comment # 22=E2=80=94- The = Article pertaining to the firing of Ms. Wendy Gonaver was in the May 2, 200= 8 Issue (Titled: =E2=80=9CCal State Instructor Fired for Refusing to Sign L= oyalty Oath=E2=80=9D). Kindly see the May 2 article, and the comments therein =E2=80=94- for earli= er, similar (maybe not in some opinions) perspectives. =E2=80=94 zahid Jun 4, 01:03 PM #=20 As a graduate from another California state college I was very pleased to r= ead of Ms. Gonaver=E2=80=99s victory. Loyalty oaths are a throwback to the = McCarthy era and have absolutely nothing to do with loyalty. If I were a te= rrorist I would be very willing to take a loyalty oath, hiding beneath a cl= oak of loyalty. As Dylan sings (borrowing from an earlier sourcer): =E2=80= =9Cpatriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings/ Steal a littl= e and they put you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=94 Donald Jun 4, 01:11 PM #=20 So, Zahid, what exactly is your point? That not all Muslims are murderers? = We know that. I=E2=80=99m concerned, however, about Muslim groups and indiv= iduals who rationalize terroristic murder with their religious beliefs and = the noticeable lack of Muslim voices criticizing such actions. One can see = how many westerners could arrive at the belief that all Muslims seek the de= struction of the U.S. I do, however, appreciate your considered posts in th= is regard=E2=80=94your solitary voice gives one hope. =E2=80=94 John Jun 4, 01:18 PM #=20 More wisdom from donald. You=E2=80=99re a legend in your own mind, sir. Mig= ht I suggest adding a few of your tried and true references to Hitler and t= he Nazis? They=E2=80=99re simple AND convenient AND require little thought.= You know the type of post that you normally write: emotionally overwrought. =E2=80=94 Schmonald Jun 4, 01:25 PM #=20 The myth being upheld at every turn that Muslims have not and do not decry = violence has got to stop. All Muslims decry violence, Islam itself forbids = violence.=20 =E2=80=9CBecause of this did We ordain unto the children of Israel that if = anyone slays a human being-unless it be [in punishment] for murder or for s= preading corruption on earth-it shall be as though he had slain all mankind= ; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the l= ives of all mankind. And, indeed, there came unto them Our apostles with al= l evidence of the truth: yet, behold, notwithstanding all this, many of the= m go on committing all manner of excesses on earth.=E2=80=9D Quran 5:32 If you search the entire Quran you will not find the word sword. So how is = it that others say Islam was spread by it? =E2=80=94 WhiteAngloSaxonMuslim Jun 4, 01:41 PM #=20 =E2=80=9CSchmonald=E2=80=9D I=E2=80=99m astounded by your obsession about e= very thing I write. Why don=E2=80=99t you just find another web site to spr= ead your wrath. Talk about overwrought emotionalism! So far I haven=E2=80= =99t heard a single rational comment from you. And by the way, what does Hi= tler and the Nazis have anything to do with what I=E2=80=99m saying. Why do= n=E2=80=99t you just lighten up a bit? =E2=80=94 Donald Jun 4, 03:13 PM #=20 Personally, I=E2=80=99d prefer the aroma of horse manure to the fumes emana= ting from loyalty oaths. It=E2=80=99s not true that =E2=80=9Cit can=E2=80= =99t happen here.=E2=80=9D It is happening here.=20 And look up =E2=80=9Cad hominem=E2=80=9D while you=E2=80=99re at it, Roy. =E2=80=94 Dan Jun 4, 03:43 PM #=20 Oh boy! Our politicians (both local and national) have done a fine job of w= hat it means to be =E2=80=9Cfree.=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=94 Jack Jun 4, 03:50 PM #=20 Perhaps amused is a better description than obsessed, D-man. You anger so q= uickly and are so convinced that you=E2=80=99re right about everything. You= seem to need a challenger. I am that hero, sir. =E2=80=94 Donald McRonald Jun 4, 03:53 PM #=20 WhiteAngloSaxonMuslim, I agree that the myth must stop. It is not a myth, but a fact: convert or d= ie. What is happening in the Sudan? Muslims exterminating non-muslims and t= aking their land for their own. Myth? No. Save that =E2=80=9Cpeaceful=E2=80= =9D nonsense for someone who hasn=E2=80=99t lived it. =E2=80=94 D. Greenburg Jun 4, 04:00 PM #=20 I fail to see any anger or emotional outrage expressed by my comment (#24) = that have provoked the rage of you stalkers. I=E2=80=99ve got an idea for a= project: try getting a life and get off my back. =E2=80=94 Donald Jun 4, 04:05 PM #=20 To: John (#25): Basically, what I was attempting to convey is that even inadvertent general= izations (as made in certain comments), could potentially result in creatin= g possible ill-will, even among staunch well-wishers =E2=80=94- which in si= mplistic terms is undesirable; especially, when we are immersed in a strugg= le that is mired in ideological perceptions. At a bare minimum, we should b= e garnering the positives, and the potential positives in negating the nega= tives.=20 In oversimplified terms just consider the dismissal of a voice of peace, no= t with reason, arguments, mutual coexistence requirements, or even the enem= y=E2=80=99s own faith-based underpinnings, =E2=80=94- but by a sound bite (= emanating from inadvertent generalization) such as: =E2=80=9CListen to him/= her =E2=80=94- advocating for the enemy, have you my friend, not even under= stood the fundamentals involved here, or are you ignorant of the fact that = they consider you one of us, they consider you the enemy.=E2=80=9D=20 In addition to the above, let us not ignore the fact that quite a few in le= adership positions, or desirous of leadership positions, employ emotional, = psychological, and especially faith and/or nationalistic patriotism as expl= oitative tools =E2=80=94- in attaining self-serving desiderata. This has be= en an age-old highly effective practice (the historians here could amplify = =E2=80=94- in my opine, in the recent past Nazism had its roots in national= istic patriotism, and the Khomeni Regime in Iran eliminated many of their o= wn, by their own, by exploitatively employing faith =E2=80=94- even our own= unfortunate Civil War, rationalized by many varying perspective, had in my= opine, during the prewar phase, varying elements of the individualistic (o= r group collective) self-serving desiderata in play, which contributed to n= egating the forces of =E2=80=9Cconflict resolution=E2=80=9D, whilst fuellin= g the forces of =E2=80=9Cconflict=E2=80=9D). Ergo, on a personal level, =E2=80=94- in several comments herein I see vali= dity, and intellect, but what I find somewhat lacking in general, is an enl= ightenment in granting validity to opposing views =E2=80=94-=20 For instance, I see herein the importance of a =E2=80=9CLoyalty Oath=E2=80= =9D and the use of the =E2=80=9CLoyalty Oath=E2=80=9D as an explotative too= l. =E2=80=94- So does making adapting a postion the =E2=80=9CLoyalty Oath= =E2=80=9D optional? Bye the Bye =E2=80=94- As a final note on the subject of Loyalty Oath, let = me refer everyone to a the comments section of the May 2, 2008 Article in t= he Chronicle (Titled: Cal State Instructor Fired for Refusing to Sign Loyal= ty Oath): Therein =E2=80=94- Comment # 66, Made by Hans Montag (May 6, 2008), stuck i= n my mind =E2=80=94- for it referred to President Kennedy =E2=80=94- who al= so refused to sign a Loyalty Oath. =E2=80=94 zahid Jun 4, 04:14 PM #=20 Would =E2=80=9Coriginal Marci=E2=80=9D (#3) please explain your opaque-as-mud remark? I can=E2=80=99t fathom how a Quaker objecting to a McCarthyist loyalty oath requirement makes these =E2=80=9Ctwo sides of the same coin.=E2=80=9D Just wondering. =E2=80=94 Dave Jun 4, 04:15 PM #=20 To All =E2=80=94- Any Comment on the fact that stated by Hans Montag that: President Kennedy Refused to sign the Loyalty Oath? For details on above refer to the comment #66 Made by Hans Montag (May 2, 2= 008; Article in the Chronicle Titled: Cal State Instructor Fired for Refusi= ng to Sign Loyalty Oath). =E2=80=94 zahid Jun 4, 04:26 PM #=20 I think it is patriotic to oppose your country when it is wrong (as in Viet= Name and Iraq) The =E2=80=9Cmy country right or wrong=E2=80=9D position do= es not demonstrate patriotism but, rather, an authoritarian personality. =E2=80=94 Edward Jun 4, 06:55 PM #=20 Dear Dave,=20 I don=E2=80=99t know if I can explain it. You render unto Caesar what is Ca= esar=E2=80=99s, etc. I just don=E2=80=99t think of consciousness that bring= s you to Quakerism as being concerned with something so meaningless and ear= thly; to wit, if the company you wish to work for wishes you to sign a loya= lty oath to which you object, then having them waive the requirement doesn= =E2=80=99t change the nature of the organization that would require a loyal= ty oath. I mean, the loyalty oath is only one of thousands of spiritual com= promises you=E2=80=99ll have to make in such an organization. Only you=E2= =80=99ll make them, and you won=E2=80=99t even know that many are far far w= orse than signing the loyalty oath. And it=E2=80=99s the fact that you won= =E2=80=99t know when you=E2=80=99re compromising that makes it so insidious= and sad; and ironic, in that the loyalty oath was a sign to walk out the w= ay you walked in, but seduced by what lay beyond, you step over one snake o= nly to fall into the pit he slithered out of. You know? =E2=80=94 original marci Jun 4, 08:07 PM #=20 To D. Greenburg #32. As if Muslims were the only people guilty of such crim= es. Witness the Inquisitions. Recall the expulsion of Jews from Spain after= the Muslim Moors were tossed out by Christian forces. Remamber the massacr= e in Sabra and Chitilla in 1982.=20 None of the three major monotheistic religions are inherently evil. Claims = to the contrary show clear lack of knowledge and understanding. =E2=80=94 jon Jun 4, 10:25 PM #=20 Thanks, Original Marci. =E2=80=94 Dave Jun 4, 11:35 PM #=20 Patriotism is the last refuge To which a tyrant clings Steal a little and they put you in jail Still a lot and they make you king. =E2=80=94 Dylan Jun 5, 09:30 AM #=20 Donald, there isn=E2=80=99t any stalking going on, just heckling. There is = an important distinction between the two. When one posts opinions in an ope= n, online forum, one may not reasonably expect to have the final word on an= issue being discussed. Are you advocating censoring the Chronicle blogs? I= would be against your notion that the blogs be controlled so that only =E2= =80=9Cright=E2=80=9D comments are allowed. =E2=80=94 Arnold Jun 5, 12:55 PM #=20 Arnold: (or whatever your real name is). Why is expressing one=E2=80=99s vi= ew an indication of the belief that =E2=80=9Conly right comments are allowe= d.=E2=80=9D Frankly, your hostility and your =E2=80=9Checkling=E2=80=9D baf= fle me. What are you trying to prove anyway This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontr= ol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Single Page Reprints Share LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxYahoo! BuzzPermalink =20 By MARC LACEY Published: September 5, 2008=20 SOME people march to protest their government. Gorki Luis =C3=81guila Carra= sco, the lead singer of a Cuban punk rock group called Porno para Ricardo (= =E2=80=9CPorn for Ricardo=E2=80=9D), vents his discontent by gyrating at a = microphone, clutching an electric guitar and spewing out some of the most o= ff-color, ear-splitting lyrics around. Skip to next paragraph=20 Enlarge This Image =20 Jose Goitia "The level for unpopularity of the Castro tyranny is so great. It's obvious= . You breathe it. It's dense. But the people are afraid." -- Gorki Luis =C3= =81guila Carrasco.=20 Related Porno para Ricardo's Web site =20 =20 Claudi Daut/Reuters Gorki was charged with "social dangerousness."=20 Amid the string of expletives that he bellows in his underground concerts i= n and around Havana are bold criticisms of Fidel and Ra=C3=BAl Castro, the = past and present leaders of the island. So outspoken has he become that the= authorities recently charged him with =E2=80=9Csocial dangerousness=E2=80= =9D and hauled him off to jail. Turns out, though, he will sing again. After his detention drew internation= al outrage, including a condemnation from the Bush administration, the Cuba= n authorities dropped the charge, which could have led to four years in pri= son. Instead they convicted him of public disorder and fined him 600 pesos,= or $28 =E2=80=94 more than a month=E2=80=99s salary in Cuba. =E2=80=9CI feel even more hate for this tyranny,=E2=80=9D Gorki, as he is u= niversally known, said to reporters after he was freed. He then likened his= release to walking from a small jail cell into a larger one. With a mane of curly black hair that is as wild as his persona, Gorki is by= no means the only outspoken artist in Cuba. Other rebellious singers and p= ainters, though, are more discreet when it comes to the upper crust of the = Cuban leadership. They criticize the system in a way that does not get too = personal. Not so Gorki, who rails against Cuban Communism, scoffs at the revolution a= nd lambastes in no uncertain terms Fidel Castro, who turned 82 last month, = and his younger brother, Ra=C3=BAl, 77, the longtime defense minister who t= ook over the presidency in February after Fidel fell ill. And Gorki does al= l of it in a near scream. =E2=80=9CThe Comandante holds elections, which he=E2=80=99s invented to kee= p power,=E2=80=9D he says of Fidel Castro in =E2=80=9CEl Comandante,=E2=80= =9D one of his signature songs. =E2=80=9CThe Comandante wants me to go vote= so he can keep [expletive] my life.=E2=80=9D In a shout, he sings: =E2=80=9CThe Comandante wants me to work and he pays = me a miserable salary. The Comandante wants me to applaud after he=E2=80=99= s spoken his delirious [expletive]. Don=E2=80=99t eat [expletive], Comandan= te, for you are a tyrant and no one can stand you.=E2=80=9D Gorki has received backing from more traditional critics of the government,= such as Elizardo S=C3=A1nchez, who leads an unauthorized human rights grou= p that Havana tolerates, and Yoani S=C3=A1nchez, an outspoken blogger who w= rote recently of Gorki, =E2=80=9Che sings, sways and shouts in his bloody r= ock lyrics what others mutter with fear.=E2=80=9D THE Cuban government has remained quiet about Gorki=E2=80=99s recent legal = troubles. Some supporters have spoken up, though. Walter Lippmann, an Ameri= can who runs an e-mail news service that collects material critical of Wash= ington=E2=80=99s embargo on Cuba, recently wrote, =E2=80=9CHe helps clarify= the precise meaning of the word =E2=80=98punk=E2=80=99 in the term =E2=80= =98punk rock.=E2=80=99 =E2=80=9D Gorki=E2=80=99s recent jail stint was not his first. In 2003 he was convict= ed on a drug charge and spent nearly two years in custody. He condemns that= arrest as a setup by a young woman who pretended to be a fan but really wo= rked for state security. In that case, he emerged from custody even angrier= than before. A self-taught musician and the father of a preteen girl, Gorki, 39, once to= ld an interviewer that he grew up listening to American and English rock, p= articularly Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and the Clash. =E2=80=9CMy dad never = liked rock =E2=80=99n=E2=80=99 roll,=E2=80=9D he said, =E2=80=9Cand since h= e knew that this type of music brought me problems, he used to advise me to= listen to other bands.=E2=80=9D His mother, an outspoken critic of the government, and his older sister lef= t Cuba years ago for Mexico. Gorki married while he was in jail in 2003 so = that he and his wife could have conjugal visits. They are separated now but= share time with their 12-year-old daughter, Gabriella. =E2=80=9CI try to t= ell her who I am, why I say the things I say,=E2=80=9D he said. A decade ago, he organized Porno para Ricardo =E2=80=94 named for a friend = who loved pornography but could not get enough of it because of a governmen= t ban.=20 At a recent concert Ricardo himself, a 50-ish man who dresses like a transi= ent, arrived pushing a bicycle and carrying a half-empty bottle of rum. He = quickly became the life of the party. Gorki=E2=80=99s words are not the only rebellious thing about him. He had h= is nose pierced and often wears a T-shirt that calls 1959, the year of the = Cuban revolution, a =E2=80=9Cyear of error.=E2=80=9D He was named after Max= im Gorky, the Russian author and founder of literary Socialist Realism.=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontr= ol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Green Party activist Peter Camejo dies at 67 From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: 6:07 PM PDT, September 13, 2008 SACRAMENTO ? Peter Camejo, a Green Party leader who was a third-party candidate in three California gubernatorial elections before becoming Ralph Nader's running mate in the 2004 presidential race, has died. He was 67. Camejo, who had been battling lymphoma, died Saturday at his home in Folsom, outside Sacramento. "Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere," Nader wrote in a statement released Saturday. "Everyone who met Peter, talked to Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the passing of a great American." Camejo ran for the state's top office in 2002, 2003 and 2006, supporting abortion rights, universal health care and a moratorium on the death penalty. Before joining the Green Party, he also ran for president as the Socialist Workers Party nominee in 1976. During the 2004 presidential contest, Camejo was independent Nader's vice presidential pick. Last month, Camejo, who lost his hair from chemotherapy, attended the Peace and Freedom Party convention in Sacramento to endorse Nader's current bid for the presidency with running mate Matt Gonzalez. "Ralph Nader is more than a candidate, he's an issue," Camejo said in his Aug. 2 speech, adding that Nader brought true reform, offering an independent choice to the "ruling party." Nader said Camejo passed away a few days after completing his autobiography, which has a working title of "Northstar." According to a statement put out by Camejo's family on a blog that had been updating his condition, Camejo voluntarily returned home Friday after undergoing treatment at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for a reoccurrence of lymphoma. "Peter's health had declined rapidly over the last two days due to the aggressiveness of his cancer and the strength of the drugs used to combat his disease," according to the family statement. "His wife was at his side when he passed peacefully this morning." The family is planning private funeral services, and a public memorial will be arranged later. Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times ____________________________________________________________ Click here to learn more about nursing jobs. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3nEvqThloWtCvTKLYJtLfwlYHEpvCdrU0xM0d2Lfr1MNrIn3/ From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=84847511 - Similar pages by INI nor Materialism - Related articles - All 2 versions JSTOR: Existential Marxism in Postwar France: From Sartre to AlthusserHowever, what is clear is that Sartre, Althusser and many other 'left' intellectuals were forced by the events of that time to critically examine not only ... links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007-1315(197706)28%3A2%3C259%3AEMIPFF%3E2.0.CO%3B... - Similar pages by B Smart - 1977 Amazon.com: Philosophy in Turbulent Times: Canguilhem, Sartre ...For Elisabeth Roudinesco, a historian of psychoanalysis and one of France's leading intellectuals, Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, ... www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Turbulent-Times-Canguilhem-Althusser/dp/0231143001 - 188k - Cached - Similar pages Chicago Journals - Critical InquirySartre and Althusser are very different, even opposed. But you can reconcile them on one point, namely, that philosophy is nothing if it is not linked to ... www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/592538 - Similar pages by A Badiou - 2008 Andrew Robinson - Theory Blog: MAO, ALTHUSSER, SARTRE (MA ...My aim is to establish whether the recognition of parts of their own outlook in Maoism by Sartre and Althusser is a recognition based on a similarity in ... andyrobinsontheoryblog.blogspot.com/2004/11/mao-althusser-sartre-ma-dissertation.html - 369k - Cached - Similar pages Literary Theory -- Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser as ...In particular, Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser reshaped the notion of the author and the subject to encompass the existence of a complacent citizenry. ... www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=26087 - 24k - Cached - Similar pages PopCultures.com | Theorists and CriticsLouis Althusser (k.i.s.s.); Review of Althusser's The Future Lasts Forever - Curtis .... "Sartre and Local Aesthetics: Rethinking Sartre as an Oppositional ... www.popcultures.com/theorist.htm - 33k - Cached - Similar pages CiteULike: Politics and Theory: Althusser and SartreTY - JOUR ID - citeulike:399334 L3 - citeulike-article-id:399 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS "(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them." Market Ticker's Karl Denninger summed this up best: "This is the de facto nationalization of the entire banking, insurance and related financial system..That's right - every bank and other financial institution in the United States has just become a de-facto organ of the United States Government, if Hank Paulson thinks they should be, and he may order them to do virtually anything that he claims is in furtherance of this act.....The bill gives Paulson the ability to nationalize unlimited amount of private debt and force you and your children to pay for it." Denninger again: "The claim is that this is intended to 'promote confidence and stability' in the financial markets. It will do no such thing. It will instead strike terror into the hearts of investors worldwide who hold any sort of paper, whether it be preferred stock, common stock or debt, in any financial entity that happens to be domiciled in the United States, never mind the potential impact on Treasury yields and the United States sovereign credit rating. I predict that if this passes it will precipitate the mother and father of all financial panics." (Market Ticker) Amen. The transformation from a free market to a centralized, Soviet-style economy run by men whose judgment and credibility is already greatly in doubt; does not auger well for the markets or the country. Anyone with a lick of sense would cash in their chips first thing Monday and look for capital's Elysium Fields overseas or as far as possible from the circus sideshow now run by G-Sax ringleader, Colonel Klink. Paulson's Chicken Little routine might might have soiled a few senatorial undergarments, but let's hope the American people are made of sterner stuff and will reject this charade. The conversation should be shifted from conceding more authority to hucksters in pin-stripes to indictments for securities fraud. Even the most economically-challenged nation ought to be able to afford a few sets of leg-irons and a couple hundred jail cells. That's all it will take. That, and a couple brisk dunks on the waterboard. Glub, glub. Paulson's plan to revive the banking system by buying up hundreds of billions of dollars of illiquid mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other equally poisonous debt-instruments; ignores the fact these complex bonds have already been "marked to market" in the recent firesale by Merrill Lynch. Just weeks ago, Merrill sold $31 billion of these CDOs for roughly $.20 on the dollar and provided 75 percent of the financing, which means that the CDOs were really worth approximately $.06 on the dollar. If this is the settlement that Paulson has in mind, than the taxpayer will be well served. But this will not recapitalize the banks balance sheets or mop up the ocean of red ink which is flooding the financial system. No, Paulson intends to hand out lavish treats to his banker buddies, while interest rates soar, pension funds collapse, the housing market crashes, and the dollar does a last, looping swan-dive into a pool of molten lava. Thanks, Hank. Economist and author Henry Liu summarized the current maneuvering like this: "The Fed is merely trying to inject money to keep prices not supported by fundamentals from falling. It is a prescription for hyperinflation. The only way to keep price of worthless assets high is to lower the value of money. And that appears to be the Fed unspoken strategy." Indeed. The Fed and Treasury have decided to backstop the entire global financial system (foreign banks can access the Fed's facilities, too!) with paper money which is rapidly losing its value. Watch the greenback tumble tomorrow in currency trading. Congress is getting steamrolled and the American people are getting snookered. Consumer confidence--already at historic lows--is headed for the wood-chipper feet-first. Something has got to give. One minute everything is hunky-dory; the subprime meltdown is "contained" and "the fundamentals of our economy are strong".(Paulson) And, less than a week later, congress is forced to surrender their constitutionally-mandated right to oversee spending in order to forestall economic Armageddon. Which is it? Or is the real objective just to keep the country on an emotional teeter-totter long enough for all state-power to be subsumed by the Wall Street Politburo? No one knows what will happen next. We are in uncharted waters. And no one knows what the political landscape will look like after the dust settles from this outrageous power grab. According to Paulson, things are so dire, the entire nation will be reduced to smoldering rubble and twisted iron. But can we trust him this time after his long litany of lies? Isn't it about time to send the cockroaches scuttling back to their hideouts and bring in the cleaning crew to hose the whole place down? It sounds like a job for Ralph Nader, a man of vision and unshakable integrity. Give Ralph a badge and let him deploy his Raiders to Wall Street armed with bullwhips and tasers. Let them post a guard in every CEOs and CFOs office and every boardroom on the Street---and if even one decimal is accidentally moved to the right or left on the corporate ledger; clap them in leg-irons and drag them off squealing to Guantanamo. That's how you clean up Wall Street! Don't let the prospect of a national crisis trick you into giving up your freedom, America. The people behind this scam are the same landsharks and flim-flam men who polluted the global marketplace with their snake oil and toxic sludge. These are the fraudsters who manufactured the crisis to begin with. This is just the latest installment of the Shock Doctrine; engineer a crisis, and then, steal whatever is left behind. Same sh**, different day. Be resolute. Don't budge. Our economic foundations may be crumbling, but or determination is not. This is our country, not Goldman Sach's. The people who destroyed America must be held to account. Their time is coming. Justice first. **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Central to his writing, which you may know, was the insight that the Europeans accept evil and good as part pf human nature where as the Americans believe that evil is removeable, improving the human but in reality destroying him. The novel, "The Americans" is pretty bald statement of this but so are the short stories, just more subtle. Henry put it this way (which I don't understand) "The Americans find evil only in church!" But the American concept underlies all the basic principals as well as the second Great Depression in less than one hundred years....I do not think that America is capable of a democratice republic, not because of the concepts but because of geography. Well, probaby both.....What an illustrative president Bush has been ridding the world of evil at the same time ridding it of laws ...one thinks of, not Gilgamensh but the very first lawmaker king in the fertile cresent, on clay tablets This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: storms of sparks that appear here and there, the Marxmail list seems to be one of the very few places where US American socialists of different traditions can more or less accomodate to each other and, in a general climate not as much of tolerance as of urgency, have been able not to go to each other's throat at every minute attempt at dissention. =20 This has been, of course, the result of Louis Proyect management. Not always of my liking, as it is reasonable in these issues, but if one judges by the result, congrats are in order. =20 Perhaps this is the moment to pose a question: =ABWill US American comrades on the list be up to what the situation expects from them?=BB =20 I honestly and earnestly hope the answer will be a YES. =20 US American Marxmailers ARE in a condition to render a great service to the ideas they profess. =20 Maybe you are in a position to make history, not just comment it, comrades. =20 2008/9/30, Greg McDonald <_sabocat59 at mac.com_ (mailto:sabocat59 at mac.com) >: =20 > Jay wrote: > > agitational leaflet that could be widely handed out explaining why this > is a crisis of capitalism -- not just a case of "greed" or the failure > of government regulatory mechanisms or some such -- and pointing the way > forward to a 21st century socialist kind of political economy. Has > anybody got such a leaflet already in hand? If not, maybe this Marxism > List could work -- through some sort of Wiki process? -- in > developing one.> > > I second the motion. Who would like to be on the committee? > > Greg McD > =20 --=20 =20 N=E9stor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor=EDa **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial=20 challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips a= nd=20 calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=3Demlcntuswall00000001) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: The Real Great Depression The depression of 1929 is the wrong model for the current economic crisis By SCOTT REYNOLDS NELSON As a historian who works on the 19th century, I have been reading my newspaper with a considerable sense of dread. While many commentators on the recent mortgage and banking crisis have drawn parallels to the Great Depression of 1929, that comparison is not particularly apt. Two years ago, I began research on the Panic of 1873, an event of some interest to my colleagues in American business and labor history but probably unknown to everyone else. But as I turn the crank on the microfilm reader, I have been hearing weird echoes of recent events. When commentators invoke 1929, I am dubious. According to most historians and economists, that depression had more to do with overlarge factory inventories, a stock-market crash, and Germany's inability to pay back war debts, which then led to continuing strain on British gold reserves. None of those factors is really an issue now. Contemporary industries have very sensitive controls for trimming production as consumption declines; our current stock-market dip followed bank problems that emerged more than a year ago; and there are no serious international problems with gold reserves, simply because banks no longer peg their lending to them. In fact, the current economic woes look a lot like what my 96-year-old grandmother still calls "the real Great Depression." She pinched pennies in the 1930s, but she says that times were not nearly so bad as the depression her grandparents went through. That crash came in 1873 and lasted more than four years. It looks much more like our current crisis. The problems had emerged around 1870, starting in Europe. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, formed in 1867, in the states unified by Prussia into the German empire, and in France, the emperors supported a flowering of new lending institutions that issued mortgages for municipal and residential construction, especially in the capitals of Vienna, Berlin, and Paris. Mortgages were easier to obtain than before, and a building boom commenced. Land values seemed to climb and climb; borrowers ravenously assumed more and more credit, using unbuilt or half-built houses as collateral. The most marvelous spots for sightseers in the three cities today are the magisterial buildings erected in the so-called founder period. But the economic fundamentals were shaky. Wheat exporters from Russia and Central Europe faced a new international competitor who drastically undersold them. The 19th-century version of containers manufactured in China and bound for Wal-Mart consisted of produce from farmers in the American Midwest. They used grain elevators, conveyer belts, and massive steam ships to export trainloads of wheat to abroad. Britain, the biggest importer of wheat, shifted to the cheap stuff quite suddenly around 1871. By 1872 kerosene and manufactured food were rocketing out of America's heartland, undermining rapeseed, flour, and beef prices. The crash came in Central Europe in May 1873, as it became clear that the region's assumptions about continual economic growth were too optimistic. Europeans faced what they came to call the American Commercial Invasion. A new industrial superpower had arrived, one whose low costs threatened European trade and a European way of life. As continental banks tumbled, British banks held back their capital, unsure of which institutions were most involved in the mortgage crisis. The cost to borrow money from another bank - the interbank lending rate - reached impossibly high rates. This banking crisis hit the United States in the fall of 1873. Railroad companies tumbled first. They had crafted complex financial instruments that promised a fixed return, though few understood the underlying object that was guaranteed to investors in case of default. (Answer: nothing). The bonds had sold well at first, but they had tumbled after 1871 as investors began to doubt their value, prices weakened, and many railroads took on short-term bank loans to continue laying track. Then, as short-term lending rates skyrocketed across the Atlantic in 1873, the railroads were in trouble. When the railroad financier Jay Cooke proved unable to pay off his debts, the stock market crashed in September, closing hundreds of banks over the next three years. The panic continued for more than four years in the United States and for nearly six years in Europe. The long-term effects of the Panic of 1873 were perverse. For the largest manufacturing companies in the United States - those with guaranteed contracts and the ability to make rebate deals with the railroads - the Panic years were golden. Andrew Carnegie, Cyrus McCormick, and John D. Rockefeller had enough capital reserves to finance their own continuing growth. For smaller industrial firms that relied on seasonal demand and outside capital, the situation was dire. As capital reserves dried up, so did their industries. Carnegie and Rockefeller bought out their competitors at fire-sale prices. The Gilded Age in the United States, as far as industrial concentration was concerned, had begun. As the panic deepened, ordinary Americans suffered terribly. A cigar maker named Samuel Gompers who was young in 1873 later recalled that with the panic, "economic organization crumbled with some primeval upheaval." Between 1873 and 1877, as many smaller factories and workshops shuttered their doors, tens of thousands of workers - many former Civil War soldiers - became transients. The terms "tramp" and "bum," both indirect references to former soldiers, became commonplace American terms. Relief rolls exploded in major cities, with 25-percent unemployment (100,000 workers) in New York City alone. Unemployed workers demonstrated in Boston, Chicago, and New York in the winter of 1873-74 demanding public work. In New York's Tompkins Square in 1874, police entered the crowd with clubs and beat up thousands of men and women. The most violent strikes in American history followed the panic, including by the secret labor group known as the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania's coal fields in 1875, when masked workmen exchanged gunfire with the "Coal and Iron Police," a private force commissioned by the state. A nationwide railroad strike followed in 1877, in which mobs destroyed railway hubs in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Cumberland, Md. In Central and Eastern Europe, times were even harder. Many political analysts blamed the crisis on a combination of foreign banks and Jews. Nationalistic political leaders (or agents of the Russian czar) embraced a new, sophisticated brand of anti-Semitism that proved appealing to thousands who had lost their livelihoods in the panic. Anti-Jewish pogroms followed in the 1880s, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. Heartland communities large and small had found a scapegoat: aliens in their own midst. The echoes of the past in the current problems with residential mortgages trouble me. Loans after about 2001 were issued to first-time homebuyers who signed up for adjustablerate mortgages they could likely never pay off, even in the best of times. Real-estate speculators, hoping to flip properties, overextended themselves, assuming that home prices would keep climbing. Those debts were wrapped in complex securities that mortgage companies and other entrepreneurial banks then sold to other banks; concerned about the stability of those securities, banks then bought a kind of insurance policy called a credit-derivative swap, which risk managers imagined would protect their investments. More than two million foreclosure filings - default notices, auction-sale notices, and bank repossessions - were reported in 2007. By then trillions of dollars were already invested in this credit-derivative market. Were those new financial instruments resilient enough to cover all the risk? (Answer: no.) As in 1873, a complex financial pyramid rested on a pinhead. Banks are hoarding cash. Banks that hoard cash do not make short-term loans. Businesses large and small now face a potential dearth of short-term credit to buy raw materials, ship their products, and keep goods on shelves. If there are lessons from 1873, they are different from those of 1929. Most important, when banks fall on Wall Street, they stop all the traffic on Main Street - for a very long time. The protracted reconstruction of banks in the United States and Europe created widespread unemployment. Unions (previously illegal in much of the world) flourished but were then destroyed by corporate institutions that learned to operate on the edge of the law. In Europe, politicians found their scapegoats in Jews, on the fringes of the economy. (Americans, on the other hand, mostly blamed themselves; many began to embrace what would later be called fundamentalist religion.) The post-panic winners, even after the bailout, might be those firms - financial and otherwise - that have substantial cash reserves. A widespread consolidation of industries may be on the horizon, along with a nationalistic response of high tariff barriers, a decline in international trade, and scapegoating of immigrant competitors for scarce jobs. The failure in July of the World Trade Organization talks begun in Doha seven years ago suggests a new wave of protectionism may be on the way. In the end, the Panic of 1873 demonstrated that the center of gravity for the world's credit had shifted west - from Central Europe toward the United States. The current panic suggests a further shift - from the United States to China and India. Beyond that I would not hazard a guess. I still have microfilm to read. Scott Reynolds Nelson is a professor of history at the College of William and Mary. Among his books is Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American legend (Oxford University Press, 2006). _______________________________________________ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: and with a half-million votes, he finished second to incumbent Governor Jer= ry Brown in California's 1982 Democratic primary election to the United Sta= tes Senate.[citation needed] Vidal's Senate bid had the backing of liberal = celebrities such as Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.[citation needed] The c= ampaign was documented in the film, Gore Vidal: The Man Who Said No directe= d by Gary Conklin. Although frequently identified with Democratic causes and personalities,[ci= tation needed] Vidal wrote in the 1970s: "[t]here is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and i= t has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupi= der, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than th= e Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt=E2=80=94until rece= ntly... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments whe= n the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentia= lly, there is no difference between the two parties."[30] Vidal's political views are usually characterized either as liberal or prog= ressive.[citation needed] Vidal has a protective, almost proprietary attitu= de toward his native land and its politics: "My family helped start [this c= ountry]", he has written, "and we've been in political life... since the 16= 90s, and I have a very possessive sense about this country."[31] Vidal cons= iders himself a "radical reformer" wanting to return to the "pure republica= nism" of early America.[citation needed] As a prep school student, he was a= supporter of the America First Committee.[citation needed] Unlike other Am= erica First Committee supporters, he continues in the opinion that the Unit= ed States should not have entered World War II (though acknowledging materi= al assistance to the Allies was a good idea).[citation needed] He has sugge= sted that President Roosevelt deliberately provoked the Japanese to attack = the U.S. at Pearl Harbor to facilitate American entry to the war, and belie= ves FDR had advance knowledge of the attack.[32] Vidal has contributed an article to The Nation in which he expressed suppor= t for Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, citing him as "the= most eloquent of the lot" and that Kucinich "is very much a favorite out t= here in the amber fields of grain".[33] [edit] Vidal vs. Buckley In 1968, ABC News hired Vidal and William F. Buckley, Jr. as political anal= ysts of the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions, predicting = that television viewers would enjoy seeing two men of letters engage in on-= air battle.[citation needed] As it turned out, verbal and nearly physical c= ombat ensued. After days of mutual bickering, their debates devolved to vit= riolic, ad hominem attacks. During discussions of the 1968 Democratic Natio= nal Convention protests, the men were arguing about Freedom of Speech in re= gards to American protestors displaying a Viet Cong flag when Vidal told Bu= ckley to "shut up a minute" and, in response to Buckley's reference to "pro= -Nazi" protestors, went on to say "As far as I'm concerned, the only sort o= f pro-Crypto-Nazi I can think of is you." The visibly livid Buckley replied= : "Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you i= n the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered." After an interruption by anc= hor and facilitator Howard K. Smith, the men continued to discuss the topic= in a less hostile manner.[34] Later, in 1969, the feud was continued as Buckley further attacked Vidal in= the lengthy essay, "On Experiencing Gore Vidal", published in the August 1= 969 issue of Esquire. The essay is collected in The Governor Listeth, an an= thology of Buckley's writings of the time. In a key passage attacking Vidal= as an apologist for homosexuality, Buckley wrote, "The man who in his essa= ys proclaims the normalcy of his affliction [i.e., homosexuality], and in h= is art the desirability of it, is not to be confused with the man who bears= his sorrow quietly. The addict is to be pitied and even respected, not the= pusher." Vidal responded in the September 1969 issue of Esquire, variously character= izing Buckley as "anti-black", "anti-semitic", and a "warmonger".[35] The p= residing judge in Buckley's subsequent libel suit against Vidal initially c= oncluded that "[t]he court must conclude that Vidal's comments in these par= agraphs meet the minimal standard of fair comment. The inferences made by V= idal from Buckley's [earlier editorial] statements cannot be said to be com= pletely unreasonable."[citation needed] However, Vidal also strongly implie= d that, in 1944, Buckley and unnamed siblings had vandalized a Protestant c= hurch in their Sharon, Connecticut, hometown after the pastor's wife had so= ld a house to a Jewish family. Buckley sued Vidal and Esquire for libel. Vi= dal counter-claimed for libel against Buckley, citing Buckley's characteriz= ation of Vidal's novel Myra Breckinridge as pornography.[citation needed] The court dismissed Vidal's counter-claim; Buckley settled for $115,000 in = attorney's fees and an editorial statement from Esquire magazine that they = were "utterly convinced" of the untruthfulness of Vidal's assertion.[36] Ho= wever, in a letter to Newsweek, the Esquire publisher stated that "the sett= lement of Buckley's suit against us" was not "a 'disavowal' of Vidal's arti= cle. On the contrary, it clearly states that we published that article beca= use we believed that Vidal had a right to assert his opinions, even though = we did not share them." As Vidal biographer, Fred Kaplan, later commented, "The court had 'not' sus= tained Buckley's case against Esquire... [t]he court had 'not' ruled that V= idal's article was 'defamatory.' It had ruled that the case would have to g= o to trial in order to determine as a matter of fact whether or not it was = defamatory. [italics original.] The cash value of the settlement with Esqui= re represented 'only' Buckley's legal expenses [not damages based on libel]= ... " ultimately, Vidal bore the cost of his own attorney's fees, estimated= at $75,000. In 2003, this affair re-surfaced when Esquire published Esquire's Big Book = of Great Writing, an anthology that included Vidal's essay. Buckley again s= ued for libel, and Esquire again settled for $55,000 in attorney's fees and= $10,000 in personal damages to Buckley.[citation needed] After Buckley's death on February 27, 2008, Vidal succinctly summed up his = impressions of his rival with the following obituary on March 20, 2008: "RI= P WFB=E2=80=94in hell." [37] In a June 15, 2008, interview with the New Yor= k Times, Vidal was asked by Deborah Solomon, "How did you feel when you hea= rd that Buckley died this year?" Vidal responded, "I thought hell is bound = to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, a= pplauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred."[38] [edit] Other controversies Vidal has stirred controversy by his contact with Timothy McVeigh. The two = began corresponding while McVeigh was imprisoned; Vidal believes McVeigh bo= mbed the federal building as retribution for the FBI's role in the 1993 Bra= nch Davidian Compound massacre in Waco, Texas.[39] Vidal is a member of the advisory board of the World Can't Wait organizatio= n, a left-wing organization, which demands the impeachment of George W. Bus= h and the charging of his administration with crimes against humanity.[40] During an interview in the 2005 documentary, Why We Fight, Vidal claims tha= t during the final months of World War II, the Japanese had tried to surren= der to the United States, but to no avail. He said, "They were trying to su= rrender all that summer, but Truman wouldn't listen, because Truman wanted = to drop the bombs." When the interviewer asked why, Vidal replied, "To show= off. To frighten Stalin. To change the balance of power in the world. To d= eclare war on communism. Perhaps we were starting a pre-emptive world war." [edit] Views on September 11, 2001, attacks against the United States Vidal is strongly critical of the George W. Bush administration, listing it= among administrations he considers to have either an explicit or implicit = expansionist agenda.[citation needed] He claims that for several years the Bush administration and their associat= es have aimed to control the oil of central Asia (after, in his view, gaini= ng effective control of the oil of the Persian Gulf in 1991). Specifically = regarding the September 11, 2001, attacks, Vidal writes how such an attack,= which American intelligence warned was coming, politically justified the p= lans that the administration already had in August 2001 for invading Afghan= istan the following October.[citation needed] In October of 2006, Vidal derided NORAD for its inability to intercept the = hijacked aircraft on 9/11, which he asserted was the result of "stand down = orders."[41] In May 2007, Vidal clarified his views, saying: "I'm not a conspiracy theor= ist, I'm a conspiracy analyst. Everything the Bushites touch is screwed up.= They could never have pulled off 9/11, even if they wanted to. Even if the= y longed to. They could step aside, though, or just go out to lunch while t= hese terrible things were happening to the nation. I believe that of them."= [42] [edit] Bibliography [edit] Essays=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontr= ol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: c=20 American fascist. President Clinton - (who did more to hurt blacks and the=20= most=20 poor Americans than any of the Republican presidents with his changing=20 we;fare as we know it), is not a fascist, nor an ideologist of racial super= iority.=20 =20 Bush W. the individual, and Dick Cheney the individual are authentic=20 American fascist. McCain and Palin tends towards thinly disguised fascist a= nd white=20 chauvinism. In the 30 day run up to the vote, one can expect the fascists t= o=20 unleashed a tidal wave of white chauvinism as an appeal to the base of the=20 Republican Party.=20 While I supported and went with Nader in 2000 that is not my intention or=20 inclination for Nov. 2008. =20 We are living in dangerous times because, unlike German or Italian fascism,= =20 modern fascism does not arise from the sector interest of capital, but rath= er=20 from the bourgeoisie as a class facing destruction as the consequence of =20 society leaping to a new mode of production. =20 One can only lead a mass of people where they are already going. In other=20 words some of us are trying to catch up with and have momentarily caught up= =20 with the hundreds of thousands of people who are voting with their feet in=20 support of Senator Obama. =20 I am compelled to go where the real masses are flowing because there is no=20 other avenue open. And I talk about economic communism. =20 There, I said it again . . . economic communism in the here and now. Not=20 socialist schemes and dreams but flat out economic communism. This means=20 fighting to win individuals over to the vision of a society where socially =20= necessary=20 means of life are a birth right, not requiring labor exchange by the =20 individual as a precondition for access. =20 I once again feel compelled to mention that the Obama candidacy and campaig= n=20 caught me completely by surprise and had me standing in awe at the rapid=20 shift in the manifest thinking of a huge section of the American people. L= et me=20 be very honest about what is unfolding in front of us. The idea of a Black=20 man running and winning President - in my lifetime, never occurred to me as= =20 something serious to consider, before the Obama campaign.=20 I do not know how events are going to flow over the course of the next=20 decade or two. I remember all my Marxism and Leninist propositions concerni= ng the=20 decay of classes and how a section of the bourgeoisie and bourgeois=20 intelligentsia defect from its class in acute crisis and flow to the polari= ty of the=20 proletarians. But this is all theory.=20 If you want to know where the masses are going then pay attention to Senato= r=20 Obama's rallies and his impact on the electorate. =20 On the other hand, had there been no Obama I would have never supported=20 Hillary Clinton for President. =20 WL **************New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your destination.= =20 Dining, Movies, Events, News & more. Try it out! =20 (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=3Demlcntnew00000001) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: o the delusions of Tulip mania and the Great Depression nothing much has ch= anged. As Charles Mackay says in his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions &= the Madness of Crowds, =E2=80=9CMoney, again, has often been a cause of th= e delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate g= amblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of pape= r.=E2=80=9D But there is very little that one learns from speculative disasters, as hum= an memory is short and unreliable. The Great Depression taught the American= public the perils of unregulated market and the elected representatives pa= ssed the Glass- Steagal Act to protect the ordinary investors from financia= l ruin. The Act was repealed in 1999 when the memory dimmed about the Great= Depression. Then another financial disaster hit Wall Street. Now there is = talk of imposing controls on financial markets again. =E2=80=9CWall Street=E2=80=9D, a cynic once said, =E2=80=9C is a Street wit= h a river at one end and a graveyard at the other.=E2=80=9D Perhaps it woul= d be appropriate to inscribe on the tombstone the words, Plus =C3=A7a chang= e, plus c'est la m=C3=AAme chose. The inscription in French simply means, t= he more things change, the more they're the same. ---------------- 1 The Tumbrils Roll at Dawn- Mike Whitney 2 The Greed Fallacy- Arthur MacEwan-Dollars & Sense. 3 The Wall Street Model: Unintelligent Design- Pam Martens- Counterpunch.org 4 Stagnation and the Financial Explosion- Monthly Review Press. 5 The explosion of debt and speculation- Fred Magdoff- Monthly Review 6 The explosion of debt and speculation- Fred Magdoff- Monthly Review 7 Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2006. 8 The Great Crash 1929-J.K.Galbraith- Pelican Book. Sridhar is a Koshy's regular, a Tinto Brass fan, and a cynical Bangalorean This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontr= ol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Happy days are here again The skies above are here again So, lets sing a song of cheer again Happy times Happy nights Happy days Are here again! This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Happy days are here again The skies above are here again So, lets sing a song of cheer again Happy times Happy nights Happy days Are here again! This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Part of a series on=20 Marxist theory=20 =20 Theoretical works[show] The Communist Manifesto Das Kapital=20 The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon Grundrisse The German Ideology=20 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 Theses on Feuerbach=20 Sociology =C2=B7 Anthropology[show] Alienation =C2=B7 Bourgeoisie Class consciousness Commodity fetishism Communism =C2=B7 Cultural hegemony Exploitation =C2=B7 Human nature Ideology =C2=B7 Proletariat Reification =C2=B7 Socialism Relations of production=20 Economics[show] Marxian economics Labour power =C2=B7 Law of value Means of production Mode of production Productive forces Surplus labour =C2=B7 Surplus value Transformation problem Wage labour=20 History[show] Anarchism and Marxism Capitalist production Class struggle Dictatorship of the proletariat Primitive capital accumulation Proletarian revolution Proletarian internationalism World revolution=20 Philosophy[show] Historical materialism Dialectical materialism Marxist philosophy Analytical Marxism Libertarian Marxism Marxist autonomism Marxist feminism Marxist geography Marxist humanism Structural Marxism Western Marxism Young Marx=20 People[show] Karl Marx =C2=B7 Friedrich Engels Karl Kautsky =C2=B7 Eduard Bernstein Georgi Plekhanov =C2=B7 Rosa Luxemburg Vladimir Lenin =C2=B7 Leon Trotsky Georg Luk=C3=A1cs =C2=B7 Joseph Stalin Antonio Gramsci =C2=B7 Mao Zedong Frankfurt School Louis Althusser =C2=B7 more=20 Criticism[show] Criticisms of Marxism=20 Categories[show] All categorised articles=20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- Communism portal=20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- =20 v =E2=97=8F d =E2=97=8F e=20 In Marxist theory, commodity fetishism is a state of social relations, said to arise in capitalist market based societies, in which social relationships are transformed into apparently objective relationships between commodities or money. The term is introduced in the opening chapter of Karl Marx's main work of political economy, Capital, of 1867 =2E As it relates to commodities specifically, commodity fetishism is the belief that value inheres in commodities instead of being added to them through labor. This is the root of Marx's critique relating to conditions surrounding fetishism--that capitalists "fetishize" commodities, believing that they contain value, and the effects of labor are misunderstood. Marx's use of the term fetish can be interpreted as an ironic comment on the "rational", "scientific" mindset of industrial capitalist societies. In Marx's day, the word was primarily used in the study of primitive religions; Marx's "fetishism of commodities" might be seen as proposing that just such primitive belief systems exist at the heart of modern society. In most subsequent Marxist thought, commodity fetishism is defined as an illusion arising from the central role that private property plays in capitalism's social processes. It is a central component of the dominant ideology in capitalist societies. Contents [hide] 1 Marx's argument=20 2 After Marx=20 3 See also=20 4 References=20 5 External links=20 =20 [edit] Marx's argument According to Marx, people value objects that they can use (i.e. objects that have "use-value"), and most things people can use are produced through human labor. In market societies, however, people can use one object to acquire another through exchange; goods thus take on "exchange-value". Even when people barter or exchange gifts, such exchanges can be used to cement or extend social relationships. In capitalist societies, however, there is a labor market; rather than being seen as the source of use-values, labor itself becomes another commodity and takes on an exchange-value. Thus, labor is devalued. Conversely, commodities are seen as having power over the people who produce them. A simple example will illustrate this process: the person who owns a Cadillac (or Lexus or Bentley) has more prestige than the people working on the assembly-line that produced it. But commodity fetishism refers to more - the belief that the car (or any manufactured object) is more important than people, and confers special powers (i.e., beyond the power to travel sixty miles in an hour, or flatten hedgehogs) to those who possess it. In general, commodity fetishism tends to replace inter-human relationships with relationships between humans and objects: for example, the relationship between producer and consumer is obscured. The producer can only see his relationship with the object he produces, being unaware of the people who will ultimately use that object. Similarly, the consumer can only see his relationship with the object he uses, being unaware of the people who produced that object. Thus, commodity fetishism ensures that neither side is fully conscious of the political and social positions they occupy. The object of Marxist critique is to reveal the social relations that are hidden behind relations among objects ... and to reveal the creativity of the worker hidden behind the objectification of human beings. [edit] After Marx The fetishism of commodities has proven fertile material for work by other theorists since Marx, who have added to, adapted, or, perhaps, "vulgarized" the original concept. Sigmund Freud's well-known but unrelated theory of sexual fetishism led to new interpretations of commodity fetishism, as types of sexually charged relationships between a person and a manufactured object. Gy=C3=B6rgy Luk=C3=A1cs based History and Class Consciousness on Marx's n= otion, developing his own notion of commodity reification as the key obstacle to class consciousness. Luk=C3=A1cs's work was a significant influence on later philosophers such as Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard. Debord developed a notion of the spectacle that ran directly parallel to Marx's notion of the commodity; for Debord, the spectacle made relations among people seem like relations among images (and vice versa). The spectacle is the form taken by society once the instruments of cultural production have become wholly commoditised and exposed to circulation. Debord's work should be seen as a confirmation of the existence of what Marx's critique would seem to predict as, within it, the intimacies of intersubjective and personal self-relating are critiqued as already being affected by commodification. In the work of the semiotician Baudrillard, commodity fetishism is deployed to explain subjective feelings towards consumer goods in the "realm of circulation", that is, among consumers. Baudrillard was especially interested in the cultural mystique added to objects by advertising, which encourages consumers to purchase them as aids to the construction of their personal identity. In For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, Baudrillard develops a notion of the sign that, like Debord's notion of spectacle, runs alongside Marx's commodity. Other theorists have been concerned with the social status of the producers of consumer items relative to their consumers. For example, the person who owns a Porsche has more prestige than the people working on the assembly-line that produced it. But this version of commodity fetishism refers to more-the belief that the car (or any manufactured object) is more important than people, and confers special powers beyond material utility to those who possess it (see also Conspicuous consumption). [edit] See also Commodity (Marxism)=20 Jean Baudrillard, a theorist whose System of Objects borrows from Marx False consciousness=20 Guy Debord=20 Debord's The Society of the Spectacle (full text)=20 Georg Lukacs's theory of Class consciousness and false consciousness and his concept of reification=20 Marxism=20 relations of production=20 Ideology=20 Diamond=20 Gold=20 Change the World Without Taking Power=20 [edit] References Debord, Guy (1983) The Society of the Spectacle, ????: Black and Red.=20 Luk=C3=A1cs, Georg (1972) History and Class Consciousness, Cambridge: MIT Press.=20 Marx, Karl (1992) Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy, London: Penguin.=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Karl Marx: did he get it all right? As financial markets crash, the reputation of Karl Marx soars. So has his time come at last? Our writer examines the evidence, while other commentators from the Left discuss his validityPhilip Collins=20 The world financial system is melting down. The credit markets have ceased trading. The State has taken a controlling stake in some of the banks. Governments are guaranteeing bank deposits. People are contemplating putting their money in tins or buying gold if they can afford it. The capitalists are losing their jobs and the workers are losing their property. Could it be that Marx's hour has come at last?=20 The 40,000 pilgrims who have made their way this year to Trier, the Prussian town where Marx was born in 1818, clearly think so. So do the unrepentant Marxist professors who have taken to the airwaves to declare that they knew this would happen all along. Finally, you can hear them think, the world is having the good grace to live down to their opinion of it.=20 And perhaps so do the readers who have recently bought Marx's great text of economic analysis, Das Kapital. Booksellers in Berlin have been quoted as saying that it has been flying off the shelves. Even if it has, Das Kapital will probably fly back on to them quick enough. This is a book that will be read long after Milton and Shakespeare have been forgotten - only not until then.=20 It isn't exactly an easy read. Generally, for most people, books with equations are best avoided. The introduction is comprehensible to the layman and, in its last few pages, it ends on a high. In the middle, it gets a bit sticky. Das Kapital is a reminder of Philip Larkin's definition of the English novel: a beginning, a muddle and an end.=20 But Marx does seem to have been on to something. His basic point is that there is some good news and some bad news. He gave you the bad news first: capitalism is dreadful. The workers are exploited and the capitalists get rich at their expense. So far, so Lehman Brothers. The good news was that the bad news was bound to come to an end. Capitalism wasn't just nasty, it was doomed. It would collapse under the weight of its own internal contradictions. A bit like Lehman Brothers.=20 Marx's anger wasn't directed principally at individual capitalists. After all, his great German collaborator and friend, Friedrich Engels, was a Manchester mill owner. If it hadn't been for Engels, Marx would never have finished the book. In fact, if it hadn't been for Engels, Marx would never have finished his evening meal. Marx took his distaste for capital to the extent that he never had any. Whether or not the irony was deliberate, he wrote his text condemning capitalism while living off its charity.=20 The exploitation was bigger than any one person. It was endemic in a society in which class oppressed class. The bourgeoisie, those who owned the means of production, lorded it over the workers. The proletariat, whose only commodity was their labour, were forced to sell themselves like chattels. Thus were they alienated from their true nature. Everything else - art, culture, religion - were just so many diversions laid on by the producers to keep the minds of the workers off their revolutionary destiny. To put it in our terms: it was the economy, stupid.=20 And the economy powered history with a capital H. Every era gives way to something better, in an inevitable march to communism. The primitive communism of tribal societies yields to slavery which is, in turn, replaced by feudalism. The feudal merchants become capitalists, exploit the workers and inspire the proletariat to revolution. The interim management of the workers then produces the eternal administration of the socialist Utopia. Once the process gets going, it's unstoppable.=20 But this is where the comparison ends. It doesn't really sound a lot like the credit crunch. It is hard to think of investment bankers as the benighted proletariat labouring under the burden of false consciousness. If they are exploited at all, then the bonuses probably soften the blow. Many layers of management, most of it very highly paid, has inserted itself in the gap between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. And there's not much sign of revolution from the working class. Maybe if the Government tweaks the flexible-working arrangements it might start.=20 It's when he gets into predicting the future that Marx really starts to go wrong. As a prophet, he is strictly in the tealeaf reading category. Very conveniently, he makes it easy for us. Marx sets out, in The Communist Manifesto, the ten steps to communism. This book, remember, wasn't just a how-to guide. It wasn't the ten habits of highly revolutionary people. It was a supposedly scientific account of what would happen. So it's perfectly reasonable to score Marx out of ten. He doesn't, in truth, do all that well.=20 Marx said that there would be a heavily progressive system of income tax and you could say we have that. He said that the state should take control of the supply of credit. The =C2=A337 billion bail-out of banks i= s not quite what Marx envisaged but we can stretch a point. Marx demanded free public education for all children and an end to child labour in factories, a practice that capitalists decided they could, after all, do without. The demand for state control of factories has not come to pass but Marx coupled that, rather illogically, with cultivating wastelands according to a common plan. John Prescott often talked a lot about using brownfield rather than greenfield sites for development and that has to be worth half a point.=20 But some of the big predictions still look on the far horizon. A British people obsessed with the housing market have never paid the slightest attention to the slogan that Marx borrowed from Proudhon - all property is theft. All estate agency is theft, perhaps. The rights of inheritance, far from being abolished, have been strengthened, mostly because the British hang on so tenaciously to their property that they don't let go even when they are dead. We have yet to confiscate all the property of emigrants and rebels (although the freezing of assets of Icelandic banks and terrorists is at least making a start). And, notwithstanding the BBC, Network Rail and the re-regulation of the buses, we haven't really seen the centralisation of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the state. Neither is there much sign of an army of agricultural workers in a nation in which agriculture now account for less than 1 per cent of GDP. Finally, the state has not taken charge of the distribution of people between the town and the country. Should anyone be odd enough to want to live in the English countryside, they are allowed to.=20 Marx's score is a generous three and a half out of ten. The internet is awash with lunatics who believe that most countries are already practising communism without realising it. But, in fact, if the end is coming, we are only just over a third of the way there.=20 Marx should have the last word. =E2=80=9CFrom the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.=E2=80=9D Not Karl but Groucho.=20 Was the Left vindicated?=20 Martin Jacques: Visiting professor at Renmin University, Beijing; edited Marxism Today from 1977 until 1991 This crisis shows that capitalism is not only a dynamic system, but one that is inherently prone to crisis. In that sense, Marx was, and is, right. During each period of economic growth and prosperity, from Lawson to Brown, for example, this is forgotten, amid boasts that boom and bust have been banished for ever. This crisis has once more confounded such boasts. But it is not only Marx who has been validated by this crisis, but Keynes, too. For 30 years we've been told that the market always knows best and that the Government is at best a necessary evil. In this crisis we see that the market can result in huge distortions with calamitious results; and that only the Government is big enough and legitimate enough - as the representative of all the people - to intervene and sort the mess out. It marks the end of the neo-liberal era and the return of social democracy.=20 Professor Eric Hobsbawm: Marxist historian=20 The interest in Marx seems a vindication, as his analysis of capitalism put its finger on globalisation and periodic crises and instabilities. Over the past few decades people thought the market would sort everything out, which seemed to me a statement of theology rather than reality. It's good that people are taking this kind of analysis more seriously than they have for a long time because it breaks with the conventional analysis that has dominated most governments and a lot of ideologies over the years. It's fun to discover that what one has been saying for a long time, and others have been pooh-poohing, is being taken seriously. But that isn't the important thing; that is to recognise that a phase of this particular world system has passed and we must think of another one. It will take a long time for it to settle down, but there is no way we're going back to where we were in the 1980s and 1990s, and that's a good thing.=20 Frank Furedi: Professor of sociology, Kent University, founder of the British Revolutionary Communist Party in the 1970s (disbanded in 1998) Marx's fundamental insight into the transient character of society's arrangements has been pretty well demonstrated by recent events and the shifting contours of European history. In many respects what he saw was the co-existence of powerful destructive forces with powerful constructive forces within the capitalist system. But one must remember that he's a 19th-century thinker who, along with other important thinkers - Adam Smith among them - provided important signposts on understanding our society. They're of limited use in the capacity to find your own way in the world, and younger generations must rethink problems for themselves. The danger is that people such as Marx provide answers to the questions that we're all asking, but we shouldn't begin with the answers: we must begin with the right questions.=20 Mick Hume: The Times's libertarian Marxist columnist, launched and edited Living Marxism magazine 20 years ago=20 Marx was right to identify and analyse the tendency towards crises within capitalism, but he did not predict the system's =E2=80=9Cinevitabl= e=E2=80=9D collapse. Today too many people who have never read or understood Marx are trying to turn him into an anti-capitalist Nostradamus who supposedly predicted it all, a soothsayer rather than revolutionary social scientist. Marx always emphasised that the resolution of a crisis would ultimately depend on political factors: that man makes his own history, although not in circumstances of his own choosing. It is still the case that there is no alternative, no political contestation about the future of society. Instead, whether from rightwing Republicans in the US or Labour here, we just have state-run managerial politics aiming to preserve as much of the status quo as possible. The rest of us are reduced to passive spectators rather than active political agents. Marx would not be laughing in his grave or dancing on anybody else's as some suggest. If anything I think he'd a be a bit depressed about missed opportunities. And anybody who takes pleasure in human misery is an idiot.=20 John McDonnell: MP for Hayes and Harlington=20 Das Kapital and Wages, Prices and Profit should be issued to all government ministers as the definitive guides to the causes of capitalism in crisis; they will give them an understanding of the inherent exploitative nature and instability of an economic system that is putting thousands of people on the dole queue each month and making many homeless. I'd suggest that they then read Robert Owen's work on co-operatives, Antonio Gramsci's prison writings on winning the battle of ideas, Ernest Mandel's Late Capitalism and Ralph Miliband's Socialism for a Sceptical Age.=20 Claire Fox: Director of the Institute of Ideas=20 I'm worried about this gleeful pseudo- Marxist critique of the system; there's a vulgarisation of Marxism going on. It isn't some kind of religion in which you have divine retribution, with bankers now on the receiving end. People seem to be refusing to acknowledge that this means a period of enforced austerity for ordinary people. Owning your house is not a sign of psychological flaw; it could be deemed aspirational. Marx's most profound statement was about the role of human agency in change. Society can't change unless you have a clear idea of politics and ideas, and that requires people to see themselves as history-makers, to be actively participating, not to be in a period of political disengagement. So the new interest confirms a passivity in a way, and the idea of dinner-party Schadenfreude is really sick.=20 Claire Fox will speak at the Battle of Ideas festival on November 1 and 2. The event is co-sponsored by The Times; visit www.battleofideas.org.uk/ for details=20 Mortgage holders of the world, unite=20 What would Marx have made of the credit crunch if he were still living? Alexei Sayle has the answer=20 Karl Marx was an inveterate fiddler with his words and a compulsive misser of deadlines, so there are many inconsistencies and a few downright contradictions in the holy texts of Marxism. However, it's not too speculative to say that until recently Karl would have been feeling a bit down: just as if Jesus had ever met the Rev Ian Paisley or any number of popes he would have given up on the whole =E2=80=9Cson of God=E2= =80=9D message and become a Pilates teacher, so Marx would have been appalled by the murderers, sociopaths and kleptomaniacs who oppressed half the world in the name of his philosophy. That these idiots then let even their half-assed version of Marxism collapse, seemingly leaving capitalism unopposed and stronger than ever, would have made him really cheesed off.=20 Plus, given what we know about his personal circumstances - how all his life he and his family were pursued by moneylenders and landlords - it's certain that Marx would still have been bad with money. My guess is that despite spending nearly 150 years waiting for capitalism to inevitably collapse, in March this year he would have allowed Steve, his =E2=80=9Cfinancial adviser=E2=80=9D at the Westphalia and East Prussia Bu= ilding Society, to persuade him to purchase a newly done-up flat in Central Manchester. =E2=80=9CBuy-to-let, Karl, mate,=E2=80=9D Steve would have sa= id. =E2=80=9CYou can't go wrong.=E2=80=9D=20 However, these past few weeks of financial turmoil across the world would have perked old Marx right up: after all, being broke was nothing new to him - and finally, after so many years in the wilderness, his thoughts, his hopes, his prediction that capitalism was unsustainable in the long term, would be considered anew.=20 From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: hiding for so many long decades of pain, his true disciples are emerging blinking into the light. At last they are being asked to write small pieces in newspapers and appear on late-night political TV shows hosted by men with strange hair, and with one voice these true disciples of Karl Marx are saying: =E2=80=9CI told you so! I bloody told you so! I've = been going on about this stuff for years but you didn't listen, did you? Instead you just stopped inviting me to your dinner parties and didn't answer my increasingly desperate text messages. Now you're sorry, aren't you? But it's too late. Ha ha ha ha ha.=E2=80=9D=20 Mister Roberts by Alexei Sayle is published by Sceptre, =C2=A312.99=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: A source of mild entertainment amid the financial carnage has been watching libertarians scurry to explain how the financial crisis is the result of too much government intervention, not too little. One line of argument casts as villain the Community Reinvestment Act, which prevents banks from "redlining" minority neighborhoods as not creditworthy. Another theory blames Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for subsidizing and securitizing mortgages with an implicit government guarantee. An alternate thesis is that past bailouts encouraged investors to behave recklessly in anticipation of a taxpayer rescue. But libertarian apologists fall wildly short of providing any convincing explanation for what went wrong. Like all true ideologues, they interpret mounting evidence of error as proof that they were right all along. To which the rest of us can only respond: haven't you people done enough harm already? We have narrowly avoided a global depression and are mercifully pointed toward merely the worst recession in a long while. This is thanks to an economic meltdown made possible by libertarian ideas. I don't have much patience with the notion that trying to figure out how we got into this mess is somehow pointless=C3=A2Sarah Palin's view of global warming. As with any failure, inquest is central to improvement. And any competent forensic work has to put the libertarian theory of self-regulating financial markets at the scene of the crime. More specific: In 1997=C3=A298, the global economy was rocked by a series of cascading financial crises in Asia, Latin America and Russia. Perhaps the most alarming moment was the failure of a giant, super-leveraged hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management, which threatened the solvency of financial institutions that served as counterparties to its derivative contracts (much like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers this year). After LTCM's collapse, it became clear to anyone paying attention to this unfortunately esoteric issue that unregulated credit-market derivatives posed risks to the global financial system and that supervision was advisable. This was a very scary problem and a very boring one=C3=A2a hazardous combination. Neglecting to prevent the Crash of '08 was a sin of omission=C3=A2less th= e result of deregulation, per se, than of disbelief in financial regulation as a legitimate mechanism. At any point from 1998 on, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, their administrations or congressional leaders with oversight authority might have stood up and said, "Hey, I think we're in danger and need some additional rules here." Had the advocates of prudent regulation been more effective, there's an excellent chance that the subprime debacle would not have turned into a raging financial inferno. This wasn't just a collective failure. Three officials, more than any others, have been responsible for preventing effective regulatory action for a period of years: Alan Greenspan, the oracular former Fed chairman; Phil Gramm, the heartless former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee; and Christopher Cox, the unapologetic chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Blame Greenspan for making the case that the exploding trade in derivatives was a benign way of hedging against risk. Blame Gramm for making sure derivatives weren't covered by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Blame Cox for championing Bush's policy of "voluntary" regulation of investment banks at the SEC. Cox and Gramm are often accused of being in the pocket of the securities industry. That's not entirely fair; these men took the hands-off positions they did because of their political philosophy, which holds that markets are always right and governments always wrong to interfere. They share with Greenspan, the only member of the trio who openly calls himself a libertarian, an aversion to any infringement of the right to buy and sell. That belief, which George Soros calls "market fundamentalism," best explains how permissive lending standards during a boom led to a global calamity that spread so far and so fast. The best thing you can say about libertarians is that, because their views derive from abstract theory, they tend to be principled and rigorous in their logic. Those outside of government at places like the CATO Institute and Reason magazine are just as consistent in their opposition to government bailouts as to the kind of regulation that might have prevented one from being necessary. "Let failed banks fail" is the purist line. This approach would deliver a wonderful lesson in personal responsibility, creating thousands of new jobs in the soup kitchen and food-pantry industry. The worst thing you can say about libertarians is that they are intellectually immature, frozen in the worldview many of them absorbed from Ayn Rand. Like other ideologues, libertarians react to the world failing to conform to their model by asking where the world went wrong. Their heroic view of capitalism makes it difficult for them to accept that markets can be irrational, misunderstand risk and misallocate resources=C3=A2or that financial systems without vigorous government oversight constitute a recipe for disaster. They are bankrupt, and this time, there will be no bailout. Weisberg is editor in chief of the Slate Group and the author of "The Bush Tragedy." A version of this column also appears on Slate.com. URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/164502=20 _______________________________________________ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: offices were flooded with outraged calls. On March 18 1953, a damaging communiqu=C3=A9 appeared in L'Humanit=C3=A9 from the secretariat of the F= rench Communist party, "categorically" disapproving publication of the portrait "by comrade Picasso". It thanked and congratulated the numerous comrades who had immediately "informed the central committee of their objections" and demanded that comrade Aragon "publish the essential passages of those letters, which will provide a contribution towards a positive criticism".=20 Aragon was obliged to publish the communiqu=C3=A9 in the following issue = of Les Lettres fran=C3=A7aises, as well as a self-criticism in L'Humanit=C3=A9= . The major reproach in the letters was that the portrait neglected to reflect the emotions of the public - "the love that the working class feel for the regretted comrade Stalin and for the Soviet Union" - and that it did not do justice to the moral, spiritual, and intellectual personality of Stalin. "No, this is not Stalin's face," wrote one correspondent, "that face which was at once so kind and strong, so expressive, so inspiring of confidence in the honesty of our dear, great Stalin." "Where is the radiance, the smile, the intelligence - in a word, the humanity - elsewhere always so visible in our dear Stalin's portraits?" asked another. Picasso failed to capture the reassuring father figure, the man whose image "had for years given a face to our hopes".=20 The most devastating letter came from the artist Andr=C3=A9 Fougeron, the devoted exponent of the Zhdanov-approved style of socialist realism. As Daix wrote, it possessed the weight and character of a momentous political document, because it revealed for the first time the pressure put on communist artists to conform to the party line. Fougeron expressed "the indignation and sadness of all the comrades" that Aragon, with his choice of Picasso's portrait, gave his "tacit encouragement to continue the sterile tricks of aesthetic formalism".=20 As organiser of the forthcoming Karl Marx exhibition, Fougeron declared furthermore that he absolutely refused to accept the "so-called portrait" as Picasso's contribution. Aragon was mortified, and threatened suicide. His wife, Elsa, pleaded in vain with Lecur to refrain from demanding Aragon's self-criticism. Picasso, besieged by journalists eager to have him admit that his portrait sought to mock Stalin, refuted any such suggestion.=20 Nor did the attacks against him entice Picasso to disparage the party, as some had hoped. Despite various reports that quoted Picasso as saying that one did not criticise the flowers that were sent to the funeral or the tears that were shed, Gilot recalled a more detached attitude. According to her, Picasso replied that aesthetic matters were debatable, that therefore it was the party's right to criticise him and that he saw no need to politicise the issue. "You've got the same situation in the party as in any big family," he said. "There is always some damn fool to stir up trouble, but you have to put up with him."=20 In conversation with Daix, who was sent by Aragon to appease him, Picasso speculated: "Can you imagine if I had done the real Stalin, such as he has become, with his wrinkles, his pockets under the eyes, his warts.. A portrait in the style of Cranach! Can you hear them scream? 'He has disfigured Stalin! He has aged Stalin!'" He continued: "And then too, I said to myself, why not a Stalin in heroic nudity?... Yes, but, Stalin nude, and what about his virility?... If you take the pecker of the classical sculptor... So small... But, come on, Stalin, he was a true male, a bull. So then, if you give him the phallus of a bull, and you've got this little Stalin behind his big thing they'll cry: But you've made him into a sex maniac! A satyr!=20 "Then if you are a true realist you take your tape measure and you measure it all properly. That's worse, you made Stalin into an ordinary man. And then, as you are ready to sacrifice yourself, you make a plaster cast of your own thing. Well, it's even worse. What, you dare take yourself for Stalin! After all, Stalin, he must have had an erection all the time, just like the Greek statues... Tell me, you who knows, socialist realism, is that Stalin with an erection or without an erection?"=20 When in the summer of 1954 the communists began reluctantly to acknowledge Stalin's crimes (although little was conceded publicly), Picasso, thinking aloud, asked Daix: "Don't you think that soon they will find that my portrait is too nice?" On another occasion, he reflected: "Fortunately I drew the young Stalin. The old one never existed. Only for the official painters."=20 Picasso later called the year 1953 his "saison en enfer" - his season in hell. He admitted to some friends how shaken he had been by the accusations and humiliations of the scandal. The year is widely believed to signal the end of Picasso's political commitment. Yet while his cooperation with the party was never again as close as it had been in the years 1944-53, his commitment did not stop. He continued to produce drawings for the press and for poster designs, made supportive appearances at party events, and readily signed petitions and protest declarations initiated by the party.=20 He also never discontinued his financial support. While many left because of the party's attitude during the Hungarian uprising in 1956, Picasso reaffirmed his loyalty. In an interview with the art critic Carlton Lake in July 1957, he once again confirmed his belief in communism and his intention never to leave the party. In 1962 he was awarded the Lenin prize. In August 1968, speaking with friends, he deplored the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, but failed to do so publicly. At the end of that year, he refused once again to speak out against his long-held political beliefs.=20 Picasso had entered the party with enthusiasm and some idealism. It is difficult to know when the awareness of the gap between its claims and the realities set in. After Khrushchev's "secret speech" at the 20th congress of the Soviet Union's Communist party, in February 1956, in which he reported on the crimes of Stalin's tyranny, it became impossible for anybody to claim ignorance. Picasso apparently was appalled: "While they asked you to do ever more for the happiness of men... they hung this one and tortured that one. And those were innocents. Will this change?"=20 Even as the evidence of the harsh realities of the communist world mounted, even as it dawned that "they were as wrong in politics as in the arts" - a possibility he had once expressed with foreboding - he continued to refuse anyone the right to question his political engagement.=20 Daix later maintained that although "Picasso could be unjust, capricious, even sadistic in private_ in a quarter of a century, I always found him ready to assume his share of the misfortunes of whatever community he had chosen. Not only the communists, but all of his own: the Spaniards, the painters, the poets, his near relations. Ready, that is, able to give his time, his work as a painter. If this side of him remains so misunderstood, it is because the party was part of his family, and family matters were taken care of in private."=20 Picasso's response to detrimental news from the Soviet Union was: "And the workers, are they still masters of their factories, and the peasants, the owners of their land? Well then, everything else is secondary - the only thing that matters is to save the revolution."=20 =E2=97=8F This is an edited extract from Picasso: The Communist Years by Gertje R Utley, Yale University Press, =C2=A335. To order a copy for only= =C2=A332 +99p UK p&p, phone 0800 316 6102, or send a cheque to Guardian CultureShop, 32-34 Park Royal Road, London NW10 7LN. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Henri Poincar=C3=A9=20 Jules Henri Poincar=C3=A9 (1854-1912). Photograph from the frontispiece o= f the 1913 edition of Last Thoughts.=20 Born 29 April 1854(1854-04-29) Nancy, Lorraine, France=20 Died 17 July 1912 (aged 58) Paris, France =20 Residence France=20 Nationality French=20 Fields Mathematician and physicist=20 Institutions Corps des Mines Caen University La Sorbonne Bureau des Longitudes=20 Alma mater Lyc=C3=A9e Nancy =C3=89cole Polytechnique =C3=89cole des Mines=20 Doctoral advisor Charles Hermite=20 Doctoral students Louis Bachelier Dimitrie Pompeiu Mihailo Petrovi=C4=87=20 Other notable students Tobias Dantzig=20 Known for Poincar=C3=A9 conjecture Three-body problem Topology Special relativity Poincar=C3=A9=E2=80=93Hopf theorem Poincar=C3=A9 duality Poincar=C3=A9=E2=80=93Birkhoff=E2=80=93Witt theorem Poincar=C3=A9 inequality Hilbert=E2=80=93Poincar=C3=A9 series Poincar=C3=A9 metric Rotation number Coining term 'Betti number' Chaos theory Sphere-world Poincar=C3=A9-Bendixson theorem=20 Influences Lazarus Fuchs=20 Influenced Louis Rougier George David Birkhoff=20 Notable awards RAS Gold Medal (1900) Sylvester Medal (1901) Matteucci Medal (1905) Bruce Medal (1911)=20 Religious stance Roman Catholic (until 1872)=20 Signature =20 Notes He was a cousin of Pierre Boutroux.=20 Jules Henri Poincar=C3=A9 (29 April 1854 =E2=80=93 17 July 1912) (IPA: [=CB= =88=CA=92yl =C9=91=CC=83=CB=88=CA=81i pw=C9=9B=CC=83ka=CB=88=CA=81e][1]) was a French mathematician and theoret= ical physicist, and a philosopher of science. Poincar=C3=A9 is often described as a polymath,= and in mathematics as The Last Universalist, since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime. As a mathematician and physicist, he made many original fundamental contributions to pure and applied mathematics, mathematical physics, and celestial mechanics. He was responsible for formulating the Poincar=C3=A9 conjecture, one of the most famous problems in mathematics. In his research on the three-body problem, Poincar=C3=A9 became the first person= to discover a chaotic deterministic system which laid the foundations of modern chaos theory. He is considered to be one of the founders of the field of topology. Poincar=C3=A9 introduced the modern principle of relativity and was the first to present the Lorentz transformations in their modern symmetrical form. Poincar=C3=A9 discovered the remaining relativistic velocity transformations and recorded them in a letter to Lorentz in 1905. Thus he obtained perfect invariance of all of Maxwell's equations, an important step in the formulation of the theory of special relativity. The Poincar=C3=A9 group used in physics and mathematics was named after him. Contents [hide] 1 Life=20 1.1 Education=20 1.2 Career=20 1.2.1 Students=20 2 Work=20 2.1 Summary=20 2.2 The three-body problem=20 2.3 Work on relativity=20 2.3.1 Local time=20 2.3.2 Principle of relativity and Lorentz transformations=20 2.3.3 Mass-energy relation=20 2.3.4 Poincar=C3=A9 and Einstein=20 2.3.5 Assessments=20 3 Character=20 3.1 Toulouse' characterisation=20 3.2 Shortcomings=20 4 Honours=20 5 Philosophy=20 6 See also=20 7 References=20 7.1 Footnotes and primary sources=20 7.2 Poincar=C3=A9's Writings in English translation=20 7.3 General references=20 7.4 Secondary sources to work on relativity=20 8 External links=20 =20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: the richest capitalist countries, each of which holds securities to amounts ranging approximately from 100,000 to 150,000 million francs. Of these four countries, two, Britain and France, are the oldest capitalist countries, and, as we shall see, possess the most colonies; the other two, the United States and Germany, are capitalist countries leading in the rapidity of development and the degree of extension of capitalist monopolies in industry. Together, these four countries own 479,000 million francs, that is, nearly 80 per cent of the world=E2=80=99s financ= e capital. In one way or another, nearly the whole of the rest of the world is more or less the debtor to and tributary of these international banker countries, these four =E2=80=9Cpillars=E2=80=9D of world finance c= apital.=20 It is particularly important to examine the part which the export of capital plays in creating the international network of dependence on and connections of finance capital.=20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- Notes [1] R. Hilferding, Finance Capital, Moscow, 1912 (in Russian), pp. 338-39. =E2=80=94Lenin [2] R. Liefmann, op. cit., S. 476. =E2=80=94Lenin [3] Hans Gideon Fleymann, Die gemischten Werke im deutschen Grosseisengewerbe Stuttgart, 1904, S. 268-69. =E2=80=94Lenin [4] Liefmann, Beteiligungsgesellschaften, etc., S. 258 of the first edition. =E2=80=94Lenin [5] Schulze-Gaevernitz in Grundriss der Sozial=C3=B6konomik, V, 2, S. 110. =E2=80=94Lenin [6] L. Eschwege, =E2=80=9CTochtergesellschaften=E2=80=9D in Die Bank, 191= 4, S.545 =E2=80=94Lenin [7] Kurt Heinig, =E2=80=9CDer Weg des Elecktrotrusts=E2=80=9D in Die Neue= Zeit, 1912, 30. S. 484 =E2=80=94Lenin [8] E. Agahd, Grossbanken und Weltmarkt. Die wirstschaftliche und politische Bedeutung der Grossbanken im Weltmarkt unter Ber=C3=BCchsichti= gung ihres Einflusses auf Russlands Volkswirtscahft und die deutsche-russichen Beziehungen, Berlin, 1914 =E2=80=94Lenin [9] Lysis, Contre l=E2=80=99oligarchie financi=C3=A8re en France, 5 ed. P= aris, 1908, pp. 11, 12, 26, 39, 40, 48. =E2=80=94Lenin [10] Die Bank, 1913, No. 7, S. 630. =E2=80=94Lenin [11] Stillich, op. cit., S. 143, also W. Sombart, Die deutsche Volkswirtschaft im 19. jahrhundert, 2. Aufl., 1909, S. 526, Anlage 8. =E2=80=94Lenin [12] Finance Capital, p. 172. =E2=80=94Lenin [13] Stillich, op. cit., S. 138 and Liefmann, op. cit., S. 51. =E2=80=94Lenin [14] In Die Bank, 1913, S. 952, L. Eschwege, Der Sumpf; ibid., 1912, 1, S. 223 et seq. =E2=80=94Lenin [15] =E2=80=9CVerkehrstrust=E2=80=9D in Die Bank, 1914, 1, S. 89. =E2=80=94= Lenin [16] =E2=80=9CDer Zug zur Bank=E2=80=9D in Die Bank, 1909, 1, S. 79. =E2=80= =94Lenin [17] ibid., S. 301. =E2=80=94Lenin [18] ibid., 1911, 2, S. 825; 1913, 2, S. 962. =E2=80=94Lenin [19] E. Agahd, op. cit., S. 202. =E2=80=94Lenin [20] Bulletin de l=E2=80=99institut international de statistique, t. XIX, livr. II, La Haye, 1912. Data concerning small states, second column, are estimated by adding 20 per cent to the 1902 figures. =E2=80=94Lenin This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: large cargo ships dropping from $234,000 a day to $7,340. This massive drop reflects two factors: the reduction in world demand for raw materials and other commodities, and the inability of shippers to have their payments guaranteed by banks because of the credit crisis.=20 Falling commodity prices also demonstrate this drop-off in world trade. Copper prices, for example, have fallen 23 per cent in the past two months. Chinese consumption of the metal, critical to much industrial production, has fallen by more than half this year. ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, stated on November 5 that its global output would decline by more than 30 percent. The World Bank (which has consistently underestimated the severity of the current downturn) is now predicting global trade volumes to shrink for the first time since 1982. Social dislocation This drop in world trade will have a particularly devastating impact on those countries that have adopted 'export-oriented' models of development. This model was heavily promoted by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and most economists over the last couple of decades. As global demand shrinks, countries reliant on exports will be faced with collapse of their core industries and potential mass unemployment. This will place further pressure on wages as new labour reserves augment already large levels of unemployment. Standard and Chartered estimate, for example, that Chinese exports could tumble to =E2=80=9Czero or even negative growth=E2=80=9D in 2009. J= P Morgan Chase is predicting that Chinese exports will fall 5.7 percent for every one percent drop in global economic growth. This is not just a matter of getting by on smaller levels of still positive growth. China needs to create 17 million jobs a year in order to deal with the large numbers of farmers moving from the countryside to urban areas. This means that the country must maintain high rates of growth. Even if growth drops from 11-12% annually to 8% the country faces potentially huge social dislocation. Already, workers in China are protesting in the millions as their factories close and owners abscond with unpaid wages. A collapse in world trade is not the only potentially devastating threat this crisis presents to the global periphery. Like the 1997 Asian Crisis, the rapid withdrawal of foreign funds from stock markets and other investments in the South could cause the meltdown of currencies and the collapse of industries already reeling from slowdowns in trade. A quick survey of a few countries demonstrates the deadly mix of capital outflows, high inflation and drops in export earnings: In Pakistan, foreign-currency reserves have dropped more than 74 percent in the past year to about $4.3-billion (U.S.). The country is teetering on the edge of total collapse and urgently requires $6-billion in order to pay for imports and service its existing debt. The dire situation of foreign outflows led the German foreign minister to state on 28 October that the =E2=80=9Cworld has just six days to save Pakistan=E2= =80=9D (at the time of writing it looks like Pakistan will get this money in the form of loans from the IMF and/or countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council). Sri Lanka has lost nearly 25% of its foreign reserves since the beginning of August as foreign investors repatriate their dollar holdings from the country. Nearly 50 percent of Sri Lanka's textile and garments exports (accounting for some 43 percent of total foreign exchange earnings) went to the U.S. in 2007, while another 45 percent went to the EU. These exports will likely be decimated by a generalized collapse in demand. The weakening of the Sri Lankan rupee over the last few years has contributed to a 20% increase in inflation, with high food prices hitting the poorest most heavily. India has seen its foreign exchange reserves drop by 17% since March 2008. Over $51-billion (U.S.) left India during the third week of October, the largest fall in eight years. The Indian textile industry, which makes up the second largest component of the country's labour force after agriculture, exports 70% of its product to U.S. and European markets. It is expected that textile and garment orders will decline by at least 25% over winter and mass lay-offs have already begun. On October 29, the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industries predicted that companies in seven key industries (steel, cement, finance, construction, real estate, aviation, and information technology) would need to cut 25% of their workforce. This at a time when the country struggles with an immense gap between rich and poor. The wealth of the richest 53 people in India is equivalent to 31 percent of the country's GDP, yet according to the World Bank 42 percent of the population lives below the official poverty line of $1.25 a day. These patterns are repeated across the globe. Countries including Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea as well as the poorer countries of Eastern and Southern Europe are faced with collapsing growth rates, capital flight, and declines in the value of their currency. In many cases, these problems have been exacerbated due to a proliferation of low-interest loans taken by individuals and companies that were denominated in foreign currency (such as Swiss Francs, Euros, and Dollars). These loans initially offered a better rate of interest than the domestic currency, but, as local currencies have dropped in value, the amount of money required to be repaid has increased dramatically. Business Week estimates that borrowers in so-called 'emerging markets' owe some $4.7-trillion (U.S.) in foreign-denominated debt, up 38% over the past two years. This is the reassertion of a debt crisis from the 1980s that never really went away, but only partially subsided.=20 The IMF returns This unfolding social crisis has returned the IMF to center stage. Typically, the IMF lends to those countries facing potential collapse and, in return, demands the fulfillment of stringent economic conditions. The scale of borrowing is already immense: Iceland ($2.4-billion), Ukraine ($16.5-billion), and Hungary ($15.7-billion) have been extended loans with Pakistan, Serbia, Belarus, and Turkey likely candidates in the near future. The conditions that come with this latest round of IMF lending have been particularly opaque. The policies that Ukraine is expected to pass, for example, are not yet known despite the fact the country has essentially agreed to take a $16.5-billion loan from the IMF. Hungary has agreed to cuts in welfare spending, a freeze in salaries and canceling bonuses for public sector workers yet the final details have not been made public. Iceland was required to raise interest rates to 18% with the economy predicted to contract by 10% and inflation reaching 20%. We can certainly expect that the conditions attached to loans in the poorer countries in the Global South will be much more stringent than those imposed on these European countries. There is little doubt that these countries will face massive job losses, intense pressure to privatize public resources, and slashing of state spending on welfare, education and health in the name of 'balanced budgets.' Whether these attacks on the social fabric are successful, however, will ultimately depend on the level of resistance they face. Authoritarian state On 11 October, a meeting of progressive economists in Caracas, Venezuela, issued a statement warning that the dynamic of this crisis =E2=80=9Cencourages new rounds of capital concentration and, if the peopl= e do not firmly oppose this, it is becoming perilously likely that restructuring will occur simply to save privileged sectors.=E2=80=9D This= is an important point to understand. Capitalist crisis doesn't automatically lead to the end of capitalism. Without effective resistance and struggle, the crisis will eventually be resolved at the expense of working people - particularly those in the South. This could be one of the most serious crises that capitalism has faced in living memory. But we should not be fooled into thinking that the system will somehow be reformed or its contradictions solved through peaceful and orderly means. The most likely immediate outcome is a hardened, more authoritarian state that seeks to restore profitability through ratcheting up repression and forcing people to accept the loss of jobs, housing and any kind of social support. In the South, this will inevitably mean more war and military repression.=20 If this is not prevented then the system will utilize this crisis to restructure and continue business as usual. This is why resistance - both at home and abroad - will be the single most important determinant to how this eventually plays out. In Latin America, for example, attempts to restrict capital flight, place key economic sectors under popular control, and establish alternative currency and trade arrangements are important initiatives that point to the necessity of solutions beyond capitalism. In the Middle East, popular resistance to the political and economic control of the region has undoubtedly checked the extension of U.S. power. Any displacement of crisis onto the South means playing different groups of people against one another. For this reason, the ideological corollary of war and military repression abroad is likely an increasingly virulent racism in the North - directed at immigrants, people of color and indigenous populations. This means that for activists in North America the question of global solidarity and resistance to racism must be placed as a central priority of any effective fightback. Any attempt to turn inwards, or dismiss international solidarity as less important in this phase will be disastrous for all working people - across the globe. =E2=97=8F Adam Hanieh can be contacted at hanieh08 at gmail.com=20 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( The B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: the richest capitalist countries, each of which holds securities to amounts ranging approximately from 100,000 to 150,000 million francs. Of these four countries, two, Britain and France, are the oldest capitalist countries, and, as we shall see, possess the most colonies; the other two, the United States and Germany, are capitalist countries leading in the rapidity of development and the degree of extension of capitalist monopolies in industry. Together, these four countries own 479,000 million francs, that is, nearly 80 per cent of the world=E2=80=99s financ= e capital. In one way or another, nearly the whole of the rest of the world is more or less the debtor to and tributary of these international banker countries, these four =E2=80=9Cpillars=E2=80=9D of world finance c= apital.=20 It is particularly important to examine the part which the export of capital plays in creating the international network of dependence on and connections of finance capital.=20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- Notes [1] R. Hilferding, Finance Capital, Moscow, 1912 (in Russian), pp. 338-39. =E2=80=94Lenin [2] R. Liefmann, op. cit., S. 476. =E2=80=94Lenin [3] Hans Gideon Fleymann, Die gemischten Werke im deutschen Grosseisengewerbe Stuttgart, 1904, S. 268-69. =E2=80=94Lenin [4] Liefmann, Beteiligungsgesellschaften, etc., S. 258 of the first edition. =E2=80=94Lenin [5] Schulze-Gaevernitz in Grundriss der Sozial=C3=B6konomik, V, 2, S. 110. =E2=80=94Lenin [6] L. Eschwege, =E2=80=9CTochtergesellschaften=E2=80=9D in Die Bank, 191= 4, S.545 =E2=80=94Lenin [7] Kurt Heinig, =E2=80=9CDer Weg des Elecktrotrusts=E2=80=9D in Die Neue= Zeit, 1912, 30. S. 484 =E2=80=94Lenin [8] E. Agahd, Grossbanken und Weltmarkt. Die wirstschaftliche und politische Bedeutung der Grossbanken im Weltmarkt unter Ber=C3=BCchsichti= gung ihres Einflusses auf Russlands Volkswirtscahft und die deutsche-russichen Beziehungen, Berlin, 1914 =E2=80=94Lenin [9] Lysis, Contre l=E2=80=99oligarchie financi=C3=A8re en France, 5 ed. P= aris, 1908, pp. 11, 12, 26, 39, 40, 48. =E2=80=94Lenin [10] Die Bank, 1913, No. 7, S. 630. =E2=80=94Lenin [11] Stillich, op. cit., S. 143, also W. Sombart, Die deutsche Volkswirtschaft im 19. jahrhundert, 2. Aufl., 1909, S. 526, Anlage 8. =E2=80=94Lenin [12] Finance Capital, p. 172. =E2=80=94Lenin [13] Stillich, op. cit., S. 138 and Liefmann, op. cit., S. 51. =E2=80=94Lenin [14] In Die Bank, 1913, S. 952, L. Eschwege, Der Sumpf; ibid., 1912, 1, S. 223 et seq. =E2=80=94Lenin [15] =E2=80=9CVerkehrstrust=E2=80=9D in Die Bank, 1914, 1, S. 89. =E2=80=94= Lenin [16] =E2=80=9CDer Zug zur Bank=E2=80=9D in Die Bank, 1909, 1, S. 79. =E2=80= =94Lenin [17] ibid., S. 301. =E2=80=94Lenin [18] ibid., 1911, 2, S. 825; 1913, 2, S. 962. =E2=80=94Lenin [19] E. Agahd, op. cit., S. 202. =E2=80=94Lenin [20] Bulletin de l=E2=80=99institut international de statistique, t. XIX, livr. II, La Haye, 1912. Data concerning small states, second column, are estimated by adding 20 per cent to the 1902 figures. =E2=80=94Lenin [21] [PLACEHOLDER.]=20 [22] [PLACEHOLDER.]=20 [23] [PLACEHOLDER.]=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: implosion of Wall Street has delivered a debilitating body blow to the hopes of U.S. imperialism for unrivaled dominance in the 21st century. When combined with the Iraq disaster, the worldwide anger over structural adjustment policies and unequal trade, the inattention to global warming and world poverty, and the emergence of new global powers in nearly every region of the world =E2=80=93 China in the first place =E2= =80=93 it signals a terminal crisis of U.S. imperialism=E2=80=99s dominance of the = world system of states. Or to say it differently, a unipolar world is giving way to a multipolar world, which, I would add, presents both opportunities and dangers to the new administration and humanity.=20 In fact, an urgent question for the American people is the following: Will U.S. imperialism adapt peacefully to new world realities or will it employ massive force to maintain its standing in the world? Bush tried force, but failed, and will leave the White House in January completely discredited. There is good reason to believe that the new administration will choose a different option. How far it will go is another question that can=E2=80=99t be answered yet. Suffice it to say that the redefiniti= on of the U.S. role in the world community and demilitarization (including denuclearization) are among the most compelling issues in the first part of the 21st century, ranking in importance to combating global warming. Unless attended to, both could endanger the survival of our species on Mother Earth. .... This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: care, education and public transportation. These issues cannot be solved on the basis of the struggle with ones employer. Further, it is only when the struggle of the proletarian masses leap or begins the leap outside the realm of employer - bosses, that the proletarian masses can make real headway. Nationalization forces the struggle outside the bound of employer-employee. Waistline. **************Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000010) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Von Bayku=C5=9F 7 Ertu=C3=B0rul Turan=E2=80=94Erdo=C3=B0an Y=C3=BDld=C3=BDr=C3=BDm=E2=80=94Sin= an Kadir =C3=87elik Hasan =C3=9Cnal Nalbanto=C3=B0lu=E2=80=99yla s=C3=B6yle=C5=9Fi Interview with Turkish philosopher Hasan =C3=9Cnal Nalbantoglu Interview mit dem t=C3=BCrkischen Philosophen Hasan =C3=9Cnal Nalbantoglu= =C2=A0 12 Nebil Reyhani =C3=9Dki ak=C3=BDl kavram=C3=BD Two Concepts of Reason Zwei Begriffe der Vernunft 29 Do=C3=B0an G=C3=B6=C3=A7men =C3=96zne felsefesinde iki d=C3=B6n=C3=BCm noktas=C3=BD: baz=C3=BD g=C3=BCncel yakla=C3=BE=C3=BDmlar ba=C3=B0lam=C3=BDnda Ren=C3=A9 D= escartes=E2=80=99tan Adam Smith=E2=80=99e =C3=B6znenin kurulu=C5=9Fu ve kurtulu=C5=9Fu Two Turning Points in the Philosophy of the Self: From Rene Descartes to Ada= m Smith Constitution and Emancipation of the Self in Relation to some Contemporary A= pproaches Zwei We ndepunkte in der Philosophie des Subjekts: Von Rene Descartes to Adam Smith:= =20 Die Konstitution =C2=A0und Emanzipation des Subjekts 43 Alain Badiou Bir b=C3=BCt=C3=BCne ait olan her =C5=9Fey, b=C3=BCt=C3=BCnde i=C3=A7erilmi= =C5=9F olarak ona engel olur Everything, that belongs to the whole, hinders whole as immanent part of it Alles was dem Ganzen geh=C3=B6rt, verhindert das Ganze als sein immanentes T= eil=20 83 Alain Badiou Eylem: =C3=B6znenin kona=C3=B0=C3=BD Action: The Place Where the Self Stops Aktion: Wo das Subjekt steht 93 Do=C3=B0an =C3=96zlem Dilthey=E2=80=99da Kant ele=C5=9Ftirisi ba=C3=B0lam=C3=BDnda felsefenin =C3= =B6z=C3=BCn=C3=BCn belirlenemezli=C3=B0i The Undefinability of the Nature of Philosophy Considered in the Context of=20= Dilthey's Critique of Kant Die Unbestimmbarkeit des Wesens der Philosophie in Dilthey's Kritik von Kant 101 Saffet Murat Tura =C3=96znesi olmayan s=C3=BCre=C3=A7=E2=80=94I The Process without Subject Der Prozess ohne Subjekt 131 Pierre Hadot "Benli=C3=B0in terbiyesi" fikri =C3=BCzerine d=C3=BC=C5=9F=C3=BCnceler Thoughts on the Idea of "Disciplining the Self" =C2=A0Gedanken =C3=9Cber die "Disziplinierung des Selbst" 151 Hannah Arendt Martin Heidegger=E2=80=99in sekseninci do=C3=B0um g=C3=BCn=C3=BC vesilesiyle= * Because of Martin Heidegger's 80th Birthday Anl=C3=A4sslich des 80. Geburtstag von Martin Heidegger 161 Hans Heinz Holz Hans Heinz Holz Do=C3=B0a hukukundan d=C3=BCnya tarihine From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: =C2=A0Vom Naturrecht zu Weltgeschichte 173 Reinhard Jellen Georg Wilhelm=3D2 0Friedrich Hegel=E2=80=99in Tinin Fenomenolojisi ve Marksizm The Phenomenology of Sprit of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Marxism Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's P=C3=A4nomenologie des Geistes und Marxismus 195 TOZLU RAFLARDAN Archive Archive =C3=9Dlham Dilman =C3=9Dlham Dilman Descartes=E2=80=99=C3=BDn insan kavram=C3=BD: zihin ve v=C3=BCcut Descartes' Conception of Human Being: Mind Body Das Menschenbild von Descartes: Leib und Seele=20 209 Bet=C3=BCl =C3=87otuks=C3=B6ken Dilman Descartes=E2=80=99a haks=C3=BDzl=C3=BDk etmiyor mu? Does Dilman not injustice to Descartes Tut Dilman Descartes nicht unrecht? 223 =C3=87etin Balanuye Bilin=C3=A7: do=C3=B0al ve mucizevi ama mucize de=C3=B0il! Consciousness: Natural and Wunderbar but not Wunder! Bewusstsein: Nat=C3=BCrlich und Wunderbar aber kein Wunder!=20 229 G=C3=BC=C3=A7l=C3=BC Ate=C3=BEo=C3=B0lu =C3=96znesiz bir yap=C3=BD m=C3=BD? Structure without Subject? Struktur ohne Subjekt? 235 =C3=9Dngilizce =C3=96zetler Abstracts in English Zusammenfassungen in Englisch 250 Bu say=C3=BDya katk=C3=BDda bulunanlar Contributers Autoren 256 ________________________________________________________________________ AOL eMail auf Ihrem Handy! Ab sofort k=C3=B6nnen Sie auch unterwegs Ihre AOL= email abrufen. Registrieren Sie sich jetzt kostenlos. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: mn=20 It's been one week since New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sor= kin wrote that at General Motors, "the average worker was paid about $70 an= hour, including health care and pension costs."=20 The nugget was part of a column in which Sorkin argued that the government = should not bail out the ailing Big Three automakers and that they instead s= hould embrace bankruptcy.=20 Sorkin's point was that labor costs were out of control -- workers enjoyed = "gold-plated benefits" -- and that during bankruptcy, the auto companies co= uld address those runaway wages.=20 As I mentioned, it's been one week since the column appeared, which seems l= ike plenty of time for Sorkin and the Times to correct the misleading $70-a= n-hour claim. But to date, there's been no clarification from the newspaper= of record or from Sorkin himself.=20 And he isn't alone. Appearing on NPR last week, Times senior business corre= spondent Micheline Maynard told listeners that the "hourly wage" of Detroit= 's union autoworkers had been driven up "towards $80 an hour."=20 Somebody at the Times needs to clarify the record, because the average Unit= ed Auto Workers member is not paid $80 an hour. Or even $70. Not even close= . Yet (thanks to the Times?) the issue has become a central talking point i= n the unfolding national debate about the future of America's automotive in= dustry.=20 Indeed, that $70-an-hour meme, actively promoted by the anti-union conserva= tive media, has ricocheted around the traditional press as well as the poli= tical landscape, where it was picked up by congressional critics last week = during hearings and used to argue against aiding GM, Ford, and Chrysler.=20 For the record, I'm not from Michigan, and I don't have friends or family m= embers who work in the auto or auto-supply business. And honestly, I think = there are compelling arguments on both sides of the question about whether = to bail out the U.S. auto industry. So I'm genuinely torn on the issue. But= what's obvious to me is that it's harmful to public discourse when the pre= ss, on such a central issue facing our country, fails to clearly state the = facts and instead perpetuates misinformation with sloppy reporting -- repor= ting that seems to hold blue-collar workers to a different standard than th= eir white-collar counterparts.=20 Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that automoti= ve executives should return to Washington in coming weeks to "make their ca= se, to the Congress and the American people," for a federal bailout. And as= Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner for economics Paul Krugman wrote re= cently, "[M]aybe letting the auto companies die is the right decision, even= though an auto industry collapse would be a huge blow to an already slumpi= ng economy. But it's a decision that should be taken carefully" [emphasis a= dded].=20 But having the media echo conservative misinformation and bandy about urban= -myth salary figures about allegedly high-on-the-hog GM workers does not co= nstitute a careful review of the facts.=20 Question: Is the press just being sloppy on this issue of supposedly pamper= ed autoworkers, or are there other elements in play? Because honestly, I've= had trouble escaping the not-very-subtle elitist, get-a-load-of-this tone = that has run through the media's misinformation on the topic; i.e., "These = autoworkers get paid that?!"=20 Answer: No, they don't, so please stop reporting it. (And why has the press= been so reticent to note that Big Three autoworkers recently made signific= ant concessions to management?)=20 And it's funny, because I don't remember hearing much coverage in the press= about AIG workers' six- and seven-figure salaries when the U.S. government= announced it was bailing out the insurance giant. And I haven't seen or he= ard a single press reference to the annual salaries pocketed by Citigroup e= mployees, even though the government has moved in quickly to bail the banki= ng giant out of a hole its executives dug.=20 As Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) pointed out during congressional hearings last = week, "There is apparently a cultural condition that's more ready to accept= aid to a white-collar industry than the blue-collar industry, and that has= to be confronted."=20 That cultural condition seems to extend to, and be embraced by, today's whi= te-collar press corps.=20 Make no mistake: The $70-an-hour claim represents a classic case of conserv= ative misinformation. It's also a very dangerous one. The falsehood about a= utoworkers is being spread at a crucial time, when a make-or-break public d= ebate is taking place, a debate that could affect millions of American work= ers.=20 * "Lavish contracts granted to the United Auto Workers, for instance, put G= M on the hook for more than $70 an hour per worker." [New York Post]=20 * "The United Auto Workers are keen on saving their jobs and the $70-an-hou= r paychecks that go with them." [National Review]=20 * "[T]here's no reason that a UAW worker should get total compensation of $= 70 an hour when the average American only makes about $25 an hour in total = compensation." [James Gattuso, from the conservative Heritage Foundation, a= ppearing on MSNBC]=20 * "Given that we're in tough economic times, it's hard for the average Amer= ican to muster a lot of sympathy for workers at the Big 3 automakers when a= ll of the companies pay out over $70 per hour in wages, pension and health = care benefits." [Right Wing News]=20 * "The bailout as proposed today is a bailout of the UAW; it's not the auto= industry. A Big Three worker in Detroit makes $73 an hour if you include a= ll the benefits." [Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, appearing on= the syndicated television show Inside Washington]=20 * "Companies at which union workers make $71 an hour in wages and benefits = -- compared to just $47 an hour at Toyota's U.S. plants -- are not going to= be saved by a $25 billion government check." [Former House Speaker Newt Gi= ngrich, writing at Human Events Online]=20 * "Big Three union workers, with their gold-plated health care plans, make = about $73 an hour in total compensation." [Conservative columnist Amanda Ca= rpenter at Townhall.com]=20 * "When you're paying $73.73 an hour to those people with salary and benefi= ts and your competition is paying $48 to its workers, you're going to get y= our butt kicked in the marketplace unfortunately." [Conservative radio host= Lars Larson]=20 * "The average Detroit autoworker makes more than $100K each year." [On-scr= een Fox News graphic]=20 Let's note that any suggestion in the press that most UAW workers earn, or = are paid, $70 an hour is spectacularly dishonest. Period. (As one Daily Kos= diarist pointed out last week, according to the UAW website, the base pay = for a worker in a UAW plant is about $28 an hour.)=20 What that $70 figure (or $73) actually represents is what it costs GM in to= tal labor expenses, on an hourly basis, to manufacture autos.=20 Do you see that there's a big distinction? General Motors doles out $70 an = hour in overall labor costs to manufacture cars. But individual employees d= on't get paid $70 an hour to make cars. (The discrepancy between costs and = wages is explained by additional benefits, pension fees, and health-care co= sts GM pays out to current and retired employees.)=20 Simply put, GM's labor costs are not synonymous with hourly wages earned by= UAW employees. Many in the press have casually used the two interchangeabl= y. But they're not.=20 Felix Salmon at Portfolio did perhaps the best job explaining the misinform= ation at play:=20 The average GM assembly-line worker makes about $28 per hour in wages, and = I can assure you that GM is not paying $42 an hour in health insurance and = pension plan contributions. Rather, the $70 per hour figure (or $73 an hour= , or whatever) is a ridiculous number obtained by adding up GM's total labo= r, health, and pension costs, and then dividing by the total number of hour= s worked. In other words, it includes all the healthcare and retirement cos= ts of retired workers. [emphasis in original]=20 Indeed, according to this Associated Press report, a chunk of GM's $70-an-h= our labor costs goes toward paying current retirees' pensions and health-ca= re coverage. In other words, that's money that's not going to end up in the= pocket of any autoworker when he cashes his paycheck this week. That's mon= ey GM has to set aside in order to pay off costs associated with workers al= ready in retirement. That money has absolutely nothing to do with calculati= ng the hourly wage of a full-time UAW employee today. None.=20 So, no, UAW workers don't make $70 an hour even if you factor in benefits, = because a portion of those benefits are going to people who retired years a= go.=20 Nonetheless, that formulation (wages+benefits=3D$70 an hour) has been wides= pread. That's what Sorkin did in his Times column: "The average worker was = paid about $70 an hour, including health care and pension costs."=20 Not only is that inaccurate, but there's also a problem in terms of percept= ion. It's true that autoworkers don't earn annual salaries and that when ca= lculating hourly wages, the cost of benefits paid directly to the worker ca= n be included. But some media outlets have been so casual and sloppy in pre= senting the facts that news consumers are left with the false impression th= at GM workers pocket $70 an hour. That's not true, and it seems some in the= press are doing very little to correct that misperception.=20 For instance, BusinessWeek also used the same convoluted language: "Older U= AW members make more than $70 per hour in combined wages and benefits." Dal= las Morning News columnist Cheryl Hall did it, too: "GM's average worker ma= kes $78.21 an hour in wages and benefits."=20 Why does the press use that convoluted equation when calculating how much a= utoworkers supposedly make?=20 I have a hunch it's because that $70 an hour is a real eyepopper. It makes = a very deep impression within the space of just a few words.=20 I'm sure everybody understood the $70-an-hour implication in Sorkin's colum= n, especially since he also lamented the "gold-plated benefits" UAW workers= enjoyed. (They were "off the charts," he stressed.) And since it's harder = to back up a claim of gold-plated benefits by citing the actual hourly wage= of UAW workers ($28), Sorkin went with the $70 figure, along with complete= ly nebulous language about "health care and pension costs."=20 The takeaway from Sorkin's column was quite clear: GM is mismanaged, and it= s workers are wildly overpaid.=20 By the way, here's the right way to cover the issue: In a November 18 colum= n, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's David Nicklaus wrote that the Big Three "n= eed to bring their labor costs, which average $72 an hour, closer to the Ho= nda or Toyota level of about $45." Note how Nicklaus never implied that lab= ors costs equaled take-home wages. Why? Because they don't. (And kudos to W= ashington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein, who refuses to use the= $70-an-hour figure because it's so misleading.)=20 How much money GM's workers make is certainly relevant when discussing the = unfolding automotive crisis. But the press should stop confusing the issue,= and tainting the perceptions of news consumers, by casually suggesting tha= t $70-an-hour labor costs represent what UAW workers pocket every 60 minute= s.=20 That's misleading and dishonest.=20 And that's why it's still not too late for Sorkin and the Times to correct = the record.=20 =20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontr= ol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: "For that reason the term =E2=80=9Crentier state=E2=80=9D (Rentnerstaat),= or usurer state, is coming into common use in the economic literature that deals with imperialism. The world has become divided into a handful of usurer states and a vast majority of debtor states. =E2=80=9CAt the top of the l= ist of foreign investments,=E2=80=9D says Schulze-Gaevernitz, =E2=80=9Care th= ose placed in politically dependent or allied countries: Great Britain grants loans to Egypt, Japan, China and South America. Her navy plays here the part of bailiff in case of necessity. Great Britain=E2=80=99s political power protects her from the indignation of her debtors.=E2=80=9D [2] Sartorius = von Waltershausen in his book, The National Economic System of Capital Investments Abroad, cites Holland as the model =E2=80=9Crentier state=E2=80= =9D and points out that Great Britain and France are now becoming such. [3] Schilder is of the opinion that five industrial states have become =E2=80=9Cdefinitely pronounced creditor countries=E2=80=9D: Great Britain= , France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. He does not include Holland in this list simply because she is =E2=80=9Cindustrially little developed=E2= =80=9D. [4] The United States is a creditor only of the American countries.=20 =E2=80=9CGreat Britain,=E2=80=9D says Schulze-Gaevernitz, =E2=80=9Cis gra= dually becoming transformed from an industrial into a creditor state. Notwithstanding the absolute increase in industrial output and the export of manufactured goods, there is an increase in the relative importance of income from interest and dividends, issues of securities, commissions and speculation in the whole of the national economy. In my opinion it is precisely this that forms the economic basis of imperialist ascendancy. The creditor is more firmly attached to the debtor than the seller is to the buyer. [5] In regard to Germany, A. Lansburgh, the publisher of the Berlin Die Bank, in 1911, in an article entitled =E2=80=9CGermany=E2=80=94a Rentier State=E2=80=9D, wrote the following: =E2= =80=9CPeople in Germany are ready to sneer at the yearning to become rentiers that is observed in France. But they forget that as far as the bourgeoisie is concerned the situation in Germany is becoming more and more like that in France.=E2=80=9D [6] -" This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: how unstable and irregular export trade is when it is bound up with loans, how bad it is to invest capital abroad instead of =E2=80=9Cnatural= ly=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Charmoniously=E2=80=9D developing home industry, how =E2=80=9C= costly=E2=80=9D are the millions in bakshish that Krupp has to pay in floating foreign loans, etc. But the facts tell us clearly: the increase in exports is connected with just these swindling tricks of finance capital, which is not concerned with bourgeois morality, but with skinning the ox twice=E2=80=94first, it pockets the profits from the loan; then it pocket= s other profits from the same loan which the borrower uses to make purchases from Krupp, or to purchase railway material from the Steel Syndicate, etc.=20 I repeat that I do not by any means consider Lansburgh=E2=80=99s figures = to be perfect; but I had to quote them because they are more scientific than Kautsky=E2=80=99s and Spectator=E2=80=99s and because Lansburgh show= ed the correct way to approach the question. In discussing the significance of finance capital in regard to exports, etc., one must be able to single out the connection of exports especially and solely with the tricks of the financiers, especially and solely with the sale of goods by cartels, etc. Simply to compare colonies with non-colonies, one imperialism with another imperialism, one semi-colony or colony (Egypt) with all other countries, is to evade and to obscure the very essence of the question. Kautsky=E2=80=99s theoretical critique of imperialism has nothing in comm= on with Marxism and serves only as a preamble to propaganda for peace and unity with the opportunists and the social-chauvinists, precisely for the reason that it evades and obscures the very profound and fundamental contradictions of imperialism: the contradictions between monopoly and free competition which exists side by side with it, between the gigantic =E2=80=9Coperations=E2=80=9D (and gigantic profits) of finance capital an= d =E2=80=9Chonest=E2=80=9D trade in the free market, the contradiction betw= een cartels and trusts, on the one hand, and non-cartelised industry, on the other, etc.=20 The notorious theory of =E2=80=9Cultra-imperialism=E2=80=9D, invented by = Kautsky, is just as reactionary. Compare his arguments on this subject in 1915, with Hobson=E2=80=99s arguments in 1902.=20 Kautsky: =E2=80=9C... Cannot the present imperialist policy be supplanted= by a new, ultra-imperialist policy, which will introduce the joint exploitation of the world by internationally united finance capital in place of the mutual rivalries of national finance capitals? Such a new phase of capitalism is at any rate conceivable. Can it be achieved? Sufficient premises are still lacking to enable us to answer this question.=E2=80=9D [7]=20 Hobson: =E2=80=9CChristendom thus laid out in a few great federal empires= , each with a retinue of uncivilised dependencies, seems to many the most legitimate development of present tendencies, and one which would offer the best hope of permanent peace on an assured basis of inter-Imperialism.=E2=80=9D=20 Kautsky called ultra-imperialism or super-imperialism what Hobson, thirteen years earlier, described as inter- imperialism. Except for coining a new and clever catchword, replacing one Latin prefix by another, the only progress Kautsky has made in the sphere of =E2=80=9Cscientific=E2=80=9D thought is that he gave out as Marxism what = Hobson, in effect, described as the cant of English parsons. After the Anglo-Boer War it was quite natural for this highly honourable caste to exert their main efforts to console the British middle class and the workers who had lost many of their relatives on the battlefields of South Africa and who were obliged to pay higher taxes in order to guarantee still higher profits for the British financiers. And what better consolation could there be than the theory that imperialism is not so bad; that it stands close to inter- (or ultra-) imperialism, which can ensure permanent peace? No matter what the good intentions of the English parsons, or of sentimental Kautsky, may have been, the only objective, i.e., real, social significance of Kautsky=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9C= theory=E2=80=9D is this: it is a most reactionary method of consoling the masses with hopes of permanent peace being possible under capitalism, by distracting their attention from the sharp antagonisms and acute problems of the present times, and directing it towards illusory prospects of an imaginary =E2=80=9Cultraimperialism=E2=80=9D of the future. Deception of = the masses=E2=80=94that is all there is in Kautsky=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CMarxist= =E2=80=9D theory.=20 Indeed, it is enough to compare well-known and indisputable facts to become convinced of the utter falsity of the prospects which Kautsky tries to conjure up before the German workers (and the workers of all lands). Let us consider India, Indo-China and China. It is known that these three colonial and semi-colonial countries, with a population of six to seven hundred million, are subjected to the exploitation of the finance capital of several imperialist powers: Great Britain, France, Japan, the U.S.A., etc. Let us assume that these imperialist countries form alliances against one another in order to protect or enlarge their possessions, their interests and their spheres of influence in these Asiatic states; these alliances will be =E2=80=9Cinter-imperialist=E2=80=9D= , or =E2=80=9Cultra-imperialist=E2=80=9D alliances. Let us assume that all the imperialist countries conclude an alliance for the =E2=80=9Cpeaceful=E2=80= =9D division of these parts of Asia; this alliance would be an alliance of =E2=80=9Cinternationally united finance capital=E2=80=9D. There are actua= l examples of alliances of this kind in the history of the twentieth century=E2=80=94the attitude of the powers to China, for instance. We ask= , is it =E2=80=9Cconceivable=E2=80=9D, assuming that the capitalist system rem= ains intact=E2=80=94and this is precisely the assumption that Kautsky does make=E2=80=94that such alliances would be more than temporary, that they would eliminate friction, conflicts and struggle in every possible form? The question has only to be presented clearly for any other than a negative answer to be impossible. This is because the only conceivable basis under capitalism for the division of spheres of influence, interests, colonies, etc., is a calculation of the strength of those participating, their general economic, financial, military strength, etc. And the strength of these participants in the division does not change to an equal degree, for the even development of different undertakings, trusts, branches of industry, or countries is impossible under capitalism. Half a century ago Germany was a miserable, insignificant country, if her capitalist strength is compared with that of the Britain of that time; Japan compared with Russia in the same way. Is it =E2=80=9Cconceivable=E2=80=9D that in ten or twenty years=E2=80=99 = time the relative strength of the imperialist powers will have remained unchanged? It is out of the question.=20 Therefore, in the realities of the capitalist system, and not in the banal philistine fantasies of English parsons, or of the German =E2=80=9CMarxist=E2=80=9D, Kautsky, =E2=80=9Cinter-imperialist=E2=80=9D o= r =E2=80=9Cultra-imperialist=E2=80=9D alliances, no matter what form they m= ay assume, whether of one imperialist coalition against another, or of a general alliance embracing all the imperialist powers, are inevitably nothing more than a =E2=80=9Ctruce=E2=80=9D in periods between wars. Peac= eful alliances prepare the ground for wars, and in their turn grow out of wars; the one conditions the other, producing alternating forms of peaceful and non-peaceful struggle on one and the same basis of imperialist connections and relations within world economics and world politics. But in order to pacify the workers and reconcile them with the social-chauvinists who have deserted to the side of the bourgeoisie, over-wise Kautsky separates one link of a single chain from another, separates the present peaceful (and ultra-imperialist, nay, ultra-ultra-imperialist) alliance of all the powers for the =E2=80=9Cpacification=E2=80=9D of China (remember the suppression of the = Boxer Rebellion[13]) from the non-peaceful conflict of tomorrow, which will prepare the ground for another =E2=80=9Cpeaceful=E2=80=9D general allianc= e for the partition, say, of Turkey, on the day after tomorrow, etc., etc. Instead of showing the living connection between periods of imperialist peace and periods of imperialist war, Kautsky presents the workers with a lifeless abstraction in order to reconcile them to their lifeless leaders.=20 An American writer, Hill, in his A History of the Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe refers in his preface to the following periods in the recent history of diplomacy: (1) the era of revolution; (2) the constitutional movement; (3) the present era of =E2=80=9Ccommercial imperialism=E2=80=9D. [8] Another writer divides the = history of Great Britain=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9Cworld policy=E2=80=9D since 1870 into= four periods: (1) the first Asiatic period (that of the struggle against Russia=E2=80=99= s advance in Central Asia towards India); (2) the African period (approximately 1885-1902): that of the struggle against France for the partition of Africa (the =E2=80=9CFashoda incident=E2=80=9D of 1898 which= brought her within a hair=E2=80=99s breadth of war with France); (3) the second Asiatic period (alliance with Japan against Russia); and (4) the =E2=80=9CEuropean=E2=80=9D period, chiefly anti-German. [9] =E2=80=9CThe = political patrol clashes take place on the financial field,=E2=80=9D wrote the bank= er, Riesser, in 1905, in showing how French finance capital operating in Italy was preparing the way for a political alliance of these countries, and how a conflict was developing between Germany and Great Britain over Persia, between all the European capitalists over Chinese loans, etc. Behold, the living reality of peaceful =E2=80=9Cultra-imperialist=E2=80=9D= alliances in their inseverable connection with ordinary imperialist conflicts!=20 Kautsky=E2=80=99s obscuring of the deepest contradictions of imperialism, which inevitably boils down to painting imperialism in bright colours, leaves its traces in this writer=E2=80=99s criticism of the political fea= tures of imperialism. Imperialism is the epoch of finance capital and of monopolies, which introduce everywhere the striving for domination, not for freedom. Whatever the political system, the result of these tendencies is everywhere reaction and an extreme intensification of antagonisms in this field. Particularly intensified become the yoke of national oppression and the striving for annexations, i.e., the violation of national independence (for annexation is nothing but the violation of the right of nations to self-determination). Hilferding rightly notes the connection between imperialism and the intensification of national oppression. =E2=80=9CIn the newly opened-up countries,=E2=80=9D= he writes, =E2=80=9Cthe capital imported into them intensifies antagonisms a= nd excites against the intruders the constantly growing resistance of the peoples who are awakening to national consciousness; this resistance can easily develop into dangerous measures against foreign capital. The old social relations become completely revolutionised, the age-long agrarian isolation of =E2=80=98nations without history=E2=80=99 is destroyed and t= hey are drawn into the capitalist whirlpool. Capitalism itself gradually provides the subjugated with the means and resources for their emancipation and they set out to achieve the goal which once seemed highest to the European nations: the creation of a united national state as a means to economic and cultural freedom. This movement for national independence threatens European capital in its most valuable and most promising fields of exploitation, and European capital can maintain its domination only by continually increasing its military forces.=E2=80=9D [= 10]=20 To this must be added that it is not only in newly opened-up countries, but also in the old, that imperialism is leading to annexation, to increased national oppression, and, consequently, also to increasing resistance. While objecting to the intensification of political reaction by imperialism, Kautsky leaves in the shade a question that has become particularly urgent, viz., the impossibility of unity with the opportunists in the epoch of imperialism. While objecting to annexations , he presents his objections in a form that is most acceptable and least offensive to the opportunists. He addresses himself to a German audience, yet he obscures the most topical and important point, for instance, the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany. In order to appraise this =E2=80=9Cmental aberration=E2=80=9D of Kautsky=E2=80=99s I = shall take the following example. Let us suppose that a Japanese condemns the annexation of the Philippines by the Americans. The question is: will many believe that he does so because he has a horror of annexations as such, and not because he himself has a desire to annex the Philippines? And shall we not be constrained to admit that the =E2=80=9Cfight=E2=80=9D= the Japanese is waging against annexations can be regarded as being sincere and politically honest only if he fights against the annexation of Korea by Japan, and urges freedom for Korea to secede from Japan?=20 Kautsky=E2=80=99s theoretical analysis of imperialism, as well as his economic and political critique of imperialism, are permeated through and through with a spirit, absolutely irreconcilable with Marxism, of obscuring and glossing over the fundamental contradictions of imperialism and with a striving to preserve at all costs the crumbling unity with opportunism in the European working-class movement.=20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- Notes [1] Weltwirtschaffliches Archiv, Bd. II, S. 193. =E2=80=94Lenin [2] J. Patouillet, L=E2=80=99imp=C3=A9rialisme am=C3=A9ricain, Dijon, 190= 4, p. 272. =E2=80=94Lenin [3] Bulletin de l=E2=80=99Institut International de Statistique, T. XIX, = Lvr. II, p. 225. =E2=80=94Lenin [4] Kautsky, Nationalstaat, imperialistischer Staat und Staatenbund, N=C3=BCrnberg, 1915, S. 72, 70. =E2=80=94Lenin [5] Finance Capital, p. 567. =E2=80=94Lenin [6] Die Bank, 1909, 2, S. 819 et seq. =E2=80=94Lenin [7] Die Neue Zeit, April 30, 1915, S. 144. =E2=80=94Lenin [8] David Jayne Hill, History of the Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe, Vol. I, p. X. =E2=80=94Lenin [9] Schilder, op. cit., S. 178. =E2=80=94Lenin [10] Finance Capital, p. 487. =E2=80=94Lenin This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: imperialism, it follows that we must define it as capitalism in transition, or, more precisely, as moribund capitalism. It is very instructive in this respect to note that bourgeois economists, in describing modern capitalism, frequently employ catchwords and phrases like =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Cabsence of isolation=E2=80=9D= , etc.; =E2=80=9Cin conformity with their functions and course of development=E2=80=9D, banks= are =E2=80=9Cnot purely private business enterprises: they are more and more outgrowing the sphere of purely private business regulation=E2=80=9D. And= this very Riesser, whose words I have just quoted, declares with all seriousness that the =E2=80=9Cprophecy=E2=80=9D of the Marxists concernin= g =E2=80=9Csocialisation=E2=80=9D has =E2=80=9Cnot come true=E2=80=9D!=20 What then does this catchword =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D express? It = merely expresses the most striking feature of the process going on before our eyes. It shows that the observer counts the separate trees, but cannot see the wood. It slavishly copies the superficial, the fortuitous, the chaotic. It reveals the observer as one who is overwhelmed by the mass of raw material and is utterly incapable of appreciating its meaning and importance. Ownership of shares, the relations between owners of private property =E2=80=9Cinterlock in a haphazard way=E2=80=9D. But underlying t= his interlocking, its very base, are the changing social relations of production. When a big enterprise assumes gigantic proportions, and, on the basis of an exact computation of mass data, organises according to plan the supply of primary raw materials to the extent of two-thirds, or three-fourths, of all that is necessary for tens of millions of people; when the raw materials are transported in a systematic and organised manner to the most suitable places of production, sometimes situated hundreds or thousands of miles from each other; when a single centre directs all the consecutive stages of processing the material right up to the manufacture of numerous varieties of finished articles; when these products are distributed according to a single plan among tens and hundreds of millions of consumers (the marketing of oil in America and Germany by the American oil trust)=E2=80=94then it becomes evident that w= e have socialisation of production, and not mere =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80= =9D, that private economic and private property relations constitute a shell which no longer fits its contents, a shell which must inevitably decay if its removal is artificially delayed, a shell which may remain in a state of decay for a fairly long period (if, at the worst, the cure of the opportunist abscess is protracted), but which will inevitably be removed.=20 The enthusiastic admirer of German imperialism, Schulze-Gaevernitz, exclaims:=20 =E2=80=9COnce the supreme management of the German banks has been entrust= ed to the hands of a dozen persons, their activity is even today more significant for the public good than that of the majority of the Ministers of State. .. . (The =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D of bankers, = ministers, magnates of industry and rentiers is here conveniently forgotten.) If we imagine the development of those tendencies we have noted carried to their logical conclusion we will have: the money capital of the nation united in the banks; the banks themselves combined into cartels; the investment capital of the nation cast in the shape of securities. Then the forecast of that genius Saint-Simon will be fulfilled: =E2=80=98The present anarchy of production, which corresponds to the fact that economic relations are developing without uniform regulation, must make way for organisation in production. Production will no longer be directed by isolated manufacturers, independent of each other and ignorant of man=E2=80=99s economic needs; that will be done by a certain public institution. A central committee of management, being able to survey the large field of social economy from a more elevated point of view, will regulate it for the benefit of the whole of society, will put the means of production into suitable hands, and above all will take care that there be constant harmony between production and consumption. Institutions already exist which have assumed as part of their functions a certain organisation of economic labour, the banks.=E2=80=99 We are sti= ll a long way from the fulfilment of Saint-Simon=E2=80=99s forecast, but we ar= e on the way towards it: Marxism, different from what Marx imagined, but different only in form.=E2=80=9D [1]=20 A crushing =E2=80=9Crefutation=E2=80=9D of Marx indeed, which retreats a = step from Marx=E2=80=99s precise, scientific analysis to Saint-Simon=E2=80=99s gues= s-work, the guess-work of a genius, but guess-work all the same.=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: ments - which only they can make heard - in concentrating reinvestment and = restructuring in the existing auto communities. Here are the engineering, r= esearch, and labor resources. Here is a strong political base for a renewal= of manufacturing.=20 =20=20 Of course, in a nationalized (in whole or in part - the key is "decisive"!)= industry the role of workers organizations can change. In this writers vie= w the most important change is to align worker incentives such that they ha= ve a substantial stake and voice in the surplus created, especially as requ= ired to maintain income rising in an agreed upon proportion to productivity= .=20 Its Christmas, and of course, GM management is doing its very hard bargaini= ng - on top of dismal sales of autos worldwide - by announcing a shutdown f= or January. To me it seems reasonable that the facilities could remain safe= from harm by both absence and enemies (like owners and creditors liquidati= ng everything they can before bankruptcy proceedings begin in earnest) if p= erhaps they remain guarded and occupied - hosting an extended peoples holid= ay party and encampment, so to speak.=20 jcase4218 at gmail.com=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontr= ol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: imperialism, it follows that we must define it as capitalism in transition, or, more precisely, as moribund capitalism. It is very instructive in this respect to note that bourgeois economists, in describing modern capitalism, frequently employ catchwords and phrases like =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Cabsence of isolation=E2=80=9D= , etc.; =E2=80=9Cin conformity with their functions and course of development=E2=80=9D, banks= are =E2=80=9Cnot purely private business enterprises: they are more and more outgrowing the sphere of purely private business regulation=E2=80=9D. And= this very Riesser, whose words I have just quoted, declares with all seriousness that the =E2=80=9Cprophecy=E2=80=9D of the Marxists concernin= g =E2=80=9Csocialisation=E2=80=9D has =E2=80=9Cnot come true=E2=80=9D!=20 What then does this catchword =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D express? It = merely expresses the most striking feature of the process going on before our eyes. It shows that the observer counts the separate trees, but cannot see the wood. It slavishly copies the superficial, the fortuitous, the chaotic. It reveals the observer as one who is overwhelmed by the mass of raw material and is utterly incapable of appreciating its meaning and importance. Ownership of shares, the relations between owners of private property =E2=80=9Cinterlock in a haphazard way=E2=80=9D. But underlying t= his interlocking, its very base, are the changing social relations of production. When a big enterprise assumes gigantic proportions, and, on the basis of an exact computation of mass data, organises according to plan the supply of primary raw materials to the extent of two-thirds, or three-fourths, of all that is necessary for tens of millions of people; when the raw materials are transported in a systematic and organised manner to the most suitable places of production, sometimes situated hundreds or thousands of miles from each other; when a single centre directs all the consecutive stages of processing the material right up to the manufacture of numerous varieties of finished articles; when these products are distributed according to a single plan among tens and hundreds of millions of consumers (the marketing of oil in America and Germany by the American oil trust)=E2=80=94then it becomes evident that w= e have socialisation of production, and not mere =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80= =9D, that private economic and private property relations constitute a shell which no longer fits its contents, a shell which must inevitably decay if its removal is artificially delayed, a shell which may remain in a state of decay for a fairly long period (if, at the worst, the cure of the opportunist abscess is protracted), but which will inevitably be removed.=20 The enthusiastic admirer of German imperialism, Schulze-Gaevernitz, exclaims:=20 =E2=80=9COnce the supreme management of the German banks has been entrust= ed to the hands of a dozen persons, their activity is even today more significant for the public good than that of the majority of the Ministers of State. .. . (The =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D of bankers, = ministers, magnates of industry and rentiers is here conveniently forgotten.) If we imagine the development of those tendencies we have noted carried to their logical conclusion we will have: the money capital of the nation united in the banks; the banks themselves combined into cartels; the investment capital of the nation cast in the shape of securities. Then the forecast of that genius Saint-Simon will be fulfilled: =E2=80=98The present anarchy of production, which corresponds to the fact that economic relations are developing without uniform regulation, must make way for organisation in production. Production will no longer be directed by isolated manufacturers, independent of each other and ignorant of man=E2=80=99s economic needs; that will be done by a certain public institution. A central committee of management, being able to survey the large field of social economy from a more elevated point of view, will regulate it for the benefit of the whole of society, will put the means of production into suitable hands, and above all will take care that there be constant harmony between production and consumption. Institutions already exist which have assumed as part of their functions a certain organisation of economic labour, the banks.=E2=80=99 We are sti= ll a long way from the fulfilment of Saint-Simon=E2=80=99s forecast, but we ar= e on the way towards it: Marxism, different from what Marx imagined, but different only in form.=E2=80=9D [1]=20 A crushing =E2=80=9Crefutation=E2=80=9D of Marx indeed, which retreats a = step from Marx=E2=80=99s precise, scientific analysis to Saint-Simon=E2=80=99s gues= s-work, the guess-work of a genius, but guess-work all the same.=20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- Notes [1] Grundriss der Sozial=C3=B6konomik, S. 146. =E2=80=94Lenin This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: imperialism, it follows that we must define it as capitalism in transition, or, more precisely, as moribund capitalism. It is very instructive in this respect to note that bourgeois economists, in describing modern capitalism, frequently employ catchwords and phrases like =E2=80=9Cinterlocking=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Cabsence of isolation=E2=80=9D= , etc.; =E2=80=9Cin conformity with their functions and course of development=E2=80=9D, banks= are =E2=80=9Cnot purely private business enterprises: they are more and more outgrowing the sphere of purely private business regulation=E2=80=9D. And= this very Riesser, whose words I have just quoted, declares with all seriousness that the =E2=80=9Cprophecy=E2=80=9D of the Marxists concernin= g =E2=80=9Csocialisation=E2=80=9D has =E2=80=9Cnot come true=E2=80=9D!=20 ^^^ CB: Most of this Lenin could have written with substantial currency in 2008. One group of the US bourgeoisie was charging other parts of the US bourgeoisie with "socialism" just a few weeks ago. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com From bogus@does.not.exist.com Fri May 30 04:35:31 2008 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:31 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: p p h o t o e s s a y living under the trees by david bacon About 30 million Mexicans survive on less than 30=20 pesos per day-not quite $3. The minimum wage is=20 45 pesos per day. The Mexican federal government=20 estimates that 37.7 percent of its 106 million=20 citizens-40 million people-live in poverty. Some=20 25 million, or 23.6 percent, live in extreme=20 poverty. In rural Mexico, more than 10 million=20 people have a daily income of less than 12=20 pesos-a little more than one dollar. It's no accident the state of Oaxaca is one of=20 the main starting points for the current stream=20 of Mexican migrants coming to the United States.=20 Extreme poverty encompasses 75 percent of its=20 3.4 million residents, according to EDUCA, a=20 Mexican education and development organization. Thousands of indigenous people leave Oaxaca's=20 hillside villages for the United States every=20 year, not only for economic reasons but also=20 because a repressive political system thwarts the=20 kind of economic development that could lift=20 incomes in the poorest rural areas. Lack of=20 development pushes people off the land. The=20 majority of Oaxacans are indigenous people-that=20 is, they belong to communities and ethnic groups=20 that existed long before Columbus landed in the=20 Caribbean. They speak 23 different languages. "Migration is a necessity, not a choice,"=20 explained Romualdo Juan Gutierrez Cortez, a=20 teacher in Santiago Juxtlahuaca, in Oaxaca's=20 rural Mixteca region. "It is disheartening to see=20 a student go through many hardships to get an=20 education here in Mexico and become a=20 professional, and then later in the United=20 States do manual labor. Sometimes those with an=20 education are working side-by-side with others=20 who do not even know how to read." In California, migrants have become the majority=20 of people working in the fields. Settlements of=20 Triquis, Mixtecs, Chatinos, and other indigenous=20 groups are dispersed in a Oaxacan diaspora. This=20 movement of people has created larger=20 transnational communities, bound together by=20 shared culture and language, and the social=20 organizations people bring with them from place=20 to place. Living Under the Trees is a project that=20 documents the experiences and conditions of=20 indigenous farm worker communities. It focuses=20 on social movements in indigenous communities and=20 how indigenous culture helps communities survive=20 and enjoy life. The project's purpose is to win=20 public support for policies to help those=20 communities by putting a human face on conditions=20 and providing a forum in which people speak for=20 themselves. It is a joint effort of California=20 Rural Legal Assistance, its Indigenous Farm=20 Worker Project, and the Indigenous Front of=20 Binational Organizations. An exhibition of=20 photographs and oral history panels from this=20 project has been touring throughout California=20 for two years. These particular photographs highlight the=20 relationship between community residents and=20 their surroundings, as well as their relations=20 with each other. They show situations of extreme=20 poverty, but are also intended to depict people=20 who are capable of changing conditions, by=20 organizing themselves and creating social change. David Bacon is a documentary photographer and=20 journalist. He is the author of IllegalPeople How=20 Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes=20 Immigrants. All photos and text are =C2=A9 David=20 Bacon. For more articles and images on immigration, see=20 http://dbacon.igc.org/Imgrants/imgrants.htm=20 Just out from Beacon Press: Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates=20 Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=3D2002=20 See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the US Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006) http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=3D4575=20 See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the=20 U.S./Mexico Border (University of California,=20 2004) http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html=20 -- __________________________________ David Bacon, Photographs and Stories http://dbacon.igc.org=20 This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcon= trol.com