From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 00:08:01 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 02:08:01 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
References: <15528034.1225518309512.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <D09705FD8C4B45079F9F475CBEFD9FD1@dmsthinkpad>

Walter, that-- if in 1962 Obama had been president he would have been less 
likely to use nuclear weapons than McCain-- is about as absurd a area for 
discussion as anything, as all the absurdities, you have ever brought up 
rolled up into one.

Brings to mind an incident way in the 60s after Ali won his title. Some 
geniusues used computers to simulate a fight between Ali and Rocky Marciano. 
The computer had Marciano winning the fight.  To which Ali replied, "The 
only way Marciano beats me is if the computer is from Alabama."

Which is to say, garbage in, garbage out.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Walter Lippmann" <walterlx at earthlink.net>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 1:45 AM 



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 00:11:46 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 02:11:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <9559430.1225519906158.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

SARTESIAN writes:
Walter, that-- if in 1962 Obama had been president he would have been less 
likely to use nuclear weapons than McCain-- is about as absurd a area for 
discussion as anything, as all the absurdities, you have ever brought up 
rolled up into one.
=========================================================================
WALTER responds:
You are fully entitled to your opinion, whatever it might be about what
might have happened in October 1962, I agree with Blight and Short and
you express no opinion on that question. Fine with me that you express
no opinion. None was attributed to you.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From markalause at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 00:51:37 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 02:51:37 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <15528034.1225518309512.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <15528034.1225518309512.JavaMail.root@elwamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0810312351vcf0c729k87ace3d09c61ca3c@mail.gmail.com>

I do understand the impulse to support Obama.  I'd give anything to be
able to rationalize going with him.  And, living in a swing state, I
could support Obama here and challenge the radical credentials of my
friends  for their failure to vote for the Vegetarian Bolsheviki
ticket in New York.   When David Cobb urged this, we recognized it as
rank opportunism of the worst sort.  How is it not so when we do it?

And why is it so hard to formulate a common line on the United
States--that applies here or New York or New Orleans or Wasilla--when
we seem to know so bloody well what line radicals in other countries
should or shouldn't do?

A friend of mine back in Chicago used to joke that he was always
looking to sell out the revolution...just as soon as he got a serious
offer.  He'd always go cheap, he said, but nobody was buying.

As always tends to be the case, there's a germ of truth to it.  I wish
I could find one single legitimate reason to justify finding Obama
acceptable and I can't.  For me, too, I'd probably be a pretty cheap
purchase.  But they're not buying.  They can't even spare a nod or
wink to the left...much less buy us a drink.

And so it goes...

ML


From craig at red-bean.com  Sat Nov  1 01:00:26 2008
From: craig at red-bean.com (Craig Brozefsky)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:00:26 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <EE0B173E16904AC782F89F1EFEC75910@albanta>
References: <31499259.1225488791099.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<EE0B173E16904AC782F89F1EFEC75910@albanta>
Message-ID: <490BFE8A.3030906@red-bean.com>

Joaquin Bustelo wrote:
> "So think about this," she said. "This year is the year of the ballot. Next
> year, if we WIN the ballot, will be the year for something more, but if we
> lose, we'll be stuck fighting to keep what we have."

We will be stuck fighting next year to keep what we have, regardless.

Only we'll have spent the last two years building a flimsy coalition 
around collective denial and "hope" and will get a moment to 
congratulate ourselves before it all falls apart.

> What would comrades do next Tuesday in my shoes? And it has to be
> *consistent*: whatever I tell my neighbor or a Latino community meeting or
> Cynthia McKinney if she comes back has to be the truth, what I actually did
> November 4. I really don't know how to function any other way politically.

Then write-in for McKinney, or Nader, or whoever.  Not but someone who 
is going to bomb our brothers and sisters.  The death and destruction 
and harm that will bring is very real, not some abstract foreign policy 
position.  Pissing off some people over a vote that will be forgotten in 
a few years is nothing, particularly when the struggle will quickly wash 
over any kind of "who voted for who" finger-pointing in a 
quasi-democratic farce.




From russell.morse at yahoo.com  Sat Nov  1 05:59:33 2008
From: russell.morse at yahoo.com (Russell Morse)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 04:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Marxism] Khalidi case - "anti-Semitism" slanders losing efficacy
Message-ID: <984055.29056.qm@web45308.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/31/neocons/index.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103003244.html

http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/mccain-racism-hypocrisy-on-khalidi.html


      

From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au  Sat Nov  1 06:46:27 2008
From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:46:27 +1100
Subject: [Marxism] The difference between McCain and Obama | Links
Message-ID: <490C4FA3.1080405@greenleft.org.au>

http://links.org.au/node/719


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sat Nov  1 06:49:08 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:49:08 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last-minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <57E0C390E6B945B6BB6241D700641247@office1pc>

On Joaquin's points, I have come to the conclusion that voting for a
bourgeois party or a coalition involving bourgeois forces is not a
PRINCIPLED question. Even aside from the many circumstances in the
semicolonial world where this is just a sectarian dead end. 

The Bolsheviks never held this principled position, to my knowledge.

Anyway, I tend to view my support for McKinney in this election as a tactic
derived from a strategy, not as a principled question. And if I was in
Joaquin's position I would feel a lot of moral qualms about NOT voting for
Obama.

Although I like to think in terms of tactics and strategy, I think our
present position kind of makes voting more a matter of conscience, and even
personal witness. This list exists in part because most of us has no
organization, and really cannot carry out electoral political action
collectively. And a lot of the discussion here is in terms of personal
witness. I understand the factors that impose this on us, although I dislike
that approach to voting.

Does voting for Obama cross class lines? To me the answer to that is  YES. I
think that is obvious.

Does that mean it is wrong from a working class or social-revolutionary
standpoint to do that in all questions. I don't think that is so. It is
determined concretely. A great deal of class-collaboration takes place every
day, and has to. Was the Soviet Union wrong to fight world war II in a
military alliance with US imperialism? No, that was a necessity of survival
-- and it was a necessary political act, not just a military one. How the
Soviet bureaucracy used that alliance against revolutionary struggles is
another question.

The fact that Truman drop atomic bombs on Japan is a fact and a crime
against humanity.

The fact that Kennedy went ahead with the US-controlled Bay of Pigs invasion
of Cuba, and later blockaded Cuba and threatened world nuclear war was also
a crime against humanity. He decided to not use US planes as air cover --
thus refusing to commit US forces at the Bay of Pigs unless the
counterrevolutionaries could win a foothold on their own -- and later
decided not to invade Cuba and to settle the conflict without world war.
These are also facts. 

I will add something else: a broad swathe of bourgeois public opinion has
reached the conclusion that McCain is less cool-headed and rational under
pressure than Obama, and that his rationality in a critical situation is
more trustworthy. That does not mean that he will not take responsibility
for or be responsible for killing lots of people. I see every reason to
believe he will. He is an imperialist candidate of an imperialist party to
rule the last world empire

But I see nothing wrong with Walter noticing the facts about what Kennedy
did, both his readiness to risk war to deal blows to Cuba and his decisions
to back off. This is one reason why the Miami mafia hate his memory so much,
and why a few of them may have done more than just hate him. Lajny has to
get used to the fact that the days when radicals could reasonably argue that
in some sense a more peaceable party than the Democrats are gone. I remember
entertaining this idea myself back in the 50s, when I was relatively
pro-Eisenhower and absolutely loathed Stevenson and the Kennedys. There may
have been an empirical basis for this idea back then, but the Republicans
are all caught up now.

I think Joaquin under the circumstances should vote his conscience, coupled
with whatever tactical and strategic considerations he uses. Arguments that
this is a vote for war and so on are empty moralizing.  We don't get to vote
on imperialist wars. No sense pretending that we do, and then beating each
other over the head about its our fault if more war happens. More war is
going to happen regardless of how we vote, including voting for McKinney and
Nader.

Our problem is that only one class contends for power in the elections --
the ruling section of the capitalist class. Everything else is
propagandistic campaigning, not contention for power. We are not in that
game yet.

I think the election of Obama is not simply a lesser evil, but an actual
step FORWARD for the people of  this country. One of the points I keep
making is that Obama does not just advocate change. Because of his
nationality, HIS ELECTION IS CHANGE AND FOR THE BETTER. And it is taking
place as part of a broader shift that is more favorable to us.

My support for McKinney and Clemente is based on estimating them as a
vanguard expression of this process.

If some comrades think that crossing class lines in a polling booth is some
mortal sin, well, I don't. But just in case, Joaquin can always go to
confession on Sunday and be absolved.

He's lucky. I would have to wait for Yom Kippur.
Fred Feldman






From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 07:23:24 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 09:23:24 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Marxism] Last-minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <9469164.1225545804884.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

The McCain-Palin-Bush forces aren't only using James Dobson as their
spearhead in attacking Obama. They widely use a multi-issue, not a
single-issue approach. And mostly they don't spend too much time
attacking one another as people on the political left do. 

In California, these forces are mobilizing through their friends in the
anti-gay world, among others. Elehwhere their hope is to use all-out
support for Israel, fear of undocumented immigrants, or whatever port
will do in a storm to stimulate the feelings of panic and fear in the
population during stressful economic times to mobilize the vote for
there side.

This is but ONE sample of the kind of material which is being
circulated widely on the internet. It's over 30 years old but being
presented as if it was just learned now. It's hard to guage, looking
at a computer screen, how much influence such material is having,
though not for lack of trying. It's linked on the MIAMI HERALD's
website, which is where I learned about it.


1-Bill Ayers worked with Cuba, says FBI report
http://www.miamiherald.com/1322/story/750971.html

2-McCain campaign robo calls criticize Obama
(an attack on the Los Angeles Times which McCain
 regarding Palestinian-American scholar Rashid Khalida,
 now teaching at Colombia University.)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/729397.html

3-McCain: Obama's economic policies are left-wing
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/749897.html

4-Some in the Cuban rightist world are even spreading a story
suggesting that Obama is really Cuban, not of Kenyan heritage:
http://saguaenmuerto.blogspot.com/2008/10/posible-presidente-sagero.html

5-The stakes are high regarding US policy toward Cuba: 
Election could shift policy on Cuba
Sat Nov 1, 2008 8:50am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4A00TL20081101

No mention is made in any of this about support to and for
McCain by the ultra-rightist Cuban exiles militants as
Ann Louise Bardach has well-documented on Slate.com:

The GOP's Bill Ayers?
The McCain campaign has its own questionable 
connections to bombers and assassins.
By A.L. Bardach

Slate.com
Oct. 15, 2008

http://www.slate.com/id/2202183/pagenum/all/#page_start
=======================================================

Ayers played a primary role in the Venceremos Brigades
Bill Ayers worked with Cuba says FBI report
By Judi McLeod  Tuesday, October 28, 2008

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5860

Unrepentant terrorist former leading Weather Underground Organization (WUO) member
William Ayers was aided by Fidel Castro?s Cuba in the 1970s, according to a Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report. 

The 400-page report, a copy of which was obtained by the New York Times, revealed
that Cuban intelligence officers in the General Directorate of Intelligence (known
by its initials in Spanish as the DGI, Cuba?s equivalent of the CIA) set up the 
Venceremos Brigades in which WUO members participated.

?The ultimate objective of the DGI?s participation in the setting up of the Venceremos
Brigades was ?the recruitment of individuals who are politically oriented and who
someday may obtain a position, elective or appointive, somewhere in the U.S. Government,
which would provide the Cuban Government with access to political, economic and 
military intelligence.? (Italics CFP?s).

?Three years before militant members of the students for a Democratic Society split
off to form the Weather Underground Organization in 1970, North Vietnamese and Cuban
officials were influencing radical antiwar strategy through foreign meetings.  Many
of those meetings were held in Communist countries, including Hungary, Czechoslovakia
and North Vietnam,? said the report.

?After the Weathermen went ?underground? in 1970 when many of them were being sought
by the FBI on criminal charges, Cuban intelligence officers were in touch with them
from both the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York and the Cuban Embassy
in Canada.?

In fact according to the report, Ayers played a primary role in the Venceremos Brigades,
a role revealed courtesy of Larry Grathwohl, a man publicly described as the ?most
effective informer the FBI ever placed among the Weathermen.?

It was Ayers who told ?fellow underground WUO member Grathwohl that if communication
could not be made through specially arranged Canadian numbers to flee American authorities,
an individual should get in touch with the Cuban Embassy in Canada in order to establish
contact with other members of the WUO.

?To do this an individual should use the code name ?Delgado? when referring to himself
and the person with whom he desired to make contact,? the report said.

The report was prepared in August 1976 after the Department of Justice opened a 
criminal investigation into charges that bureau agents had committed burglaries 
and carried out illegal mail openings and wiretaps in their attempts to apprehend
Weathermen fugitives.

Closely held, only 10 copies of the report were sent to the bureau director, Clarence
M. Kelley.

The following were some of its key points:
# The conduit for contact in the United States was a group of intelligence agents
assigned to the staff of the Cuban mission to the United Nations in New York.  These
agents arranged for American youths to be inculcated with revolutionary fervor and,
occasionally, to be trained in practical weaponry by Cuban military officers through
the so-called Venceremos Brigades.
# Cuban officials helped several Weather Underground adherents who feared arrest
in the United States to travel to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and then to reenter the
United States surreptitiously.
# It also reported that contact with the Cubans in the United States was made at
the Cuban Mission to the United Nations on East 67th Street in Manhattan.  Several
top officials stationed at the Embassy in 1969 and 1970 were identified in the report
as Cuban espionage agents.
# In another incident, the report said, four Weathermen who had been in Cuba with
the Venceremos Brigades were sent back to the United Stares through Czechoslovakia
rather than through Canada with other brigade members to lessen their chances of
being arrested by the United States authorities.  The four wanted to get back to
the United States safely after the explosion of a house in Greenwich Village killed
two members of the Weather group, Dianna Oughton and Ted Gold, and the Cubans ?obliged?
them by making the European travel arrangements.

Ayers and his wife, former WUO member Bernadine Dohrn were back in Cuba this September
as part of ?Team Havana?, a conference on ?Useful Art?, or art that includes aspects
of social activism. 

Sponsored by Cathedra de Arte Conducta, an arts program hosted by the Instituto 
Superior de Arte in Havana, the project was conceived by Cuban visual artist and
University of Chicago faculty member Tania Bruguera.

According to Janice Misurell-Mitchell, writing in CUBE Circuits, part of Team Havana?s
work was to ?present lectures and informal sessions, films and videos and performances.?

Published twice a year, the Chicago-based CUBE is partially sponsored by grants 
from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, the NIB Foundation, the Argosy
Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and by a CityArts Program
1 grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

Meanwhile, for some the 1970s Cuban strategy to ?someday obtain a position, elective
or appointive, somewhere in the U.S. government, which would provide the Cuban Government
with access to political, economic and military intelligence? rings with a certain
irony.

Given Ayers ties to Presidential frontrunner Barack Hussein Obama we can only hope
that ?someday? won?t be now.

Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print
media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard.
Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and Glenn Beck.

Judi can be emailed at: judi at canadafreepress.com 


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 08:13:18 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:13:18 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last-minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <57E0C390E6B945B6BB6241D700641247@office1pc>
References: <57E0C390E6B945B6BB6241D700641247@office1pc>
Message-ID: <20081101141321.6D30ADE93@mailbackend.panix.com>

Fred wrote:
>On Joaquin's points, I have come to the conclusion that voting for a
>bourgeois party or a coalition involving bourgeois forces is not a
>PRINCIPLED question. Even aside from the many circumstances in the
>semicolonial world where this is just a sectarian dead end.
>
>The Bolsheviks never held this principled position, to my knowledge.

Lenin's writings on electoral politics, unlike the vanguardist sects 
of today, were very much engaged with the immediate tasks of the mass 
movement and not defining "principles".

This excerpt from a 1909 article on "The Last Word of Russian 
Liberalism"is fairly typical:

Inadvertently the Cadet conference has signally confirmed the tactics 
of our Party. We must survive this new historical period when the 
autocracy is trying to save itself in a new way and is plainly 
heading for bankruptcy again on this new path. We must survive this 
period, systematically, persistently, patiently working to build up a 
broader and stronger organisation of the more politically conscious 
masses of the socialist proletariat and the democratic peasantry. We 
must utilise all conditions and opportunities for Party activity at a 
time when, both the Black-Hundred Duma and the monarchy are obliged 
to take the path of partyism. We must use this time as a period for 
training fresh masses of the people, on a new basis, under new 
conditions, to wage a more vigorous revolutionary struggle for our 
old demands. The revolution and the counter-revolution have shown 
that the monarchy is quite incompatible with democracy, rule by the 
people, freedom of the people?we must carry out among the masses 
propaganda for the abolition of the monarchy, for republicanism, as 
the condition without which the people cannot be victorious, we must 
make the slogan of "down with the monarchy" as popular a "household 
word" as the slogan of "down with the autocracy" became as a result 
of the long years of persistent work by the Social-Democrats in 
1895?1904. The revolution and the counter-revolution have shown in 
practice the full power and significance of the landlord class?we 
must sow among the masses of the peasantry propaganda for the 
complete abolition of this class, the complete destruction of 
landlordism. The revolution and counter-revolution have shown in 
actual fact the true nature of the liberals and bourgeois 
intelligentsia?we must ensure that the masses of the peasantry 
clearly understand that the leadership of the liberals will ruin 
their cause, that without independent revolutionary mass struggle 
whatever the Cadet "reforms", they will inevitably remain in bondage 
to the landlord. The revolution and counter-revolution have shown us 
the alliance of autocracy and the bourgeoisie, the alliance of the 
Russian and international bourgeoisie?we must educate, rally and 
organise in three times greater numbers than in 1905 the masses of 
the proletariat, which alone, led by an independent Social-Democratic 
Party and marching hand in hand with the proletariat of the advanced 
countries, is capable of winning freedom for Russia.

full: http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/dec/24.htm 



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 08:32:29 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:32:29 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Unrealistic hopes
Message-ID: <20081101143231.73F0BDBFD@mailbackend.panix.com>

The Times (London), October 31, 2008 Friday
Don't want to rain on your parade, but this won't be easy, says Obama
by Tim Reid, Washington

Barack Obama's senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower 
expectations for his presidency if he wins next week's election, amid 
concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harbouring 
unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.

The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful 
recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring 
people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric 
and promises of "hope" and "change" are now confronted with the 
reality of a stricken economy.

One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the 
transition, immediately after the election, were critical, "so 
there's not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair".

The aide said that Mr Obama himself was the first to realise that 
expectations risked being inflated.

In an interview with a Colorado radio station, Mr Obama appeared to 
be engaged already in expectation lowering. Asked about his goals for 
the first hundred days, he said he would need more time to tackle 
such big and costly issues as health care reform, global warming and 
Iraq. "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it's 
probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the 
difference," he said. He has also been reminding crowds in recent 
days how "hard" it will be to achieve his goals, and that it will take time.

"I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy - 
especially now," Mr Obama told a rally in Sarasota, Florida, 
yesterday, citing "the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of 
the war in Iraq". Mr Obama's transition team is headed by John 
Podesta, a Washington veteran and a former chief-of-staff to Bill 
Clinton. He has spent months overseeing a virtual Democratic 
government-in-exile to plan a smooth transition should Mr Obama 
emerge victorious next week. The plans are so far advanced that an 
Obama cabinet has been largely decided upon, with the expectation 
that most of his senior appointments could be announced shortly after 
election day.

Yet Mr Obama and his aides are under no illusions about the size of 
the challenges the Democrat will inherit if he enters the Oval 
Office. Tom Daschle, the party's former leader in the US Senate and a 
strong contender for the post of White House chief-of-staff in an 
Obama administration, said last month that the winner next week would 
have only a 50 per cent chance of winning a second term in 2012.

Not only will the next president take office with the country sliding 
into a potentially long recession - and mired in debt - but the 
challenges abroad are immense. There is an unfinished war in Iraq, a 
worsening situation in Afghanistan and an unstable and nuclear-armed 
Pakistan to contend with. Iran appears intent on acquiring the bomb 
and there remains the ever-present threat from al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists.

If he wins, Mr Obama will inherit a Democratic-controlled Congress, 
and might even have the benefit of a 60-seat filibuster-proof 
"supermajority" in the Senate. Such a scenario would allow him to 
push through legislation largely unfettered by Republican opposition. 
Yet it also means that should the country still be mired in recession 
in three years' time, voters - who have short memories - will 
probably blame him and the Democrats on Capitol Hill. Those stakes 
have led Mr Obama to conclude that while expectations need to be 
tempered, big things need to be achieved very early in his first 
term, when he will still have the political capital to achieve some 
of his most ambitious legislative goals.

Having promised "real" change, the pressure will be on him to 
deliver. In the Colorado interview, Mr Obama added: "The next 
president has got to come quickly out of the box."

The early priorities being lined up if he takes power are a mixture 
of symbolism and substance. He plans to make a major address in a big 
Muslim country early in his first term. Having pledged on the 
campaign trail to close Guantanamo Bay, he is also determined to make 
early moves to rid America of the controversial prison. Yet what to 
do with the remaining inmates looms as an intractable problem, as 
many of their home governments refuse to allow them to return.

Mr Obama's first legislative goals will be to follow through on his 
pledge to cut taxes for the middle class and raise them for the 
wealthiest Americans, and to push through a hugely expensive Bill to 
provide near-universal health insurance.



From markalause at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 08:54:57 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 10:54:57 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last-minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <20081101141321.6D30ADE93@mailbackend.panix.com>
References: <57E0C390E6B945B6BB6241D700641247@office1pc>
	<20081101141321.6D30ADE93@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811010754s62944e15y5ec14a66964e3458@mail.gmail.com>

Walter Lippmann <walterlx at earthlink.net> wrote:
> The McCain-Palin-Bush forces aren't only using James Dobson as their
> spearhead in attacking Obama. They widely use a multi-issue, not a
> single-issue approach. And mostly they don't spend too much time
> attacking one another as people on the political left do.
>

Really????  I'd suggest that what you're seeing as some kind of
unitary conspiracy to emphasize different things in different
circumstances is just a failure to read the evidence from the inside
out.  These "McCain-Palin-Bush" forces are all tugging their own
directions and creating a lot of acrimony in their own ranks.  In
fact, this dissintengration of the old Reaganite coalition is why a
number of prominent old reactionaries (now embraced by the
"progressives" supporting Obama) are calling for a Democratic vote.

Or maybe they're only calling for a Democratic vote in some states....

Fred Feldman <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
>
> I have come to the conclusion that voting for a
> bourgeois party or a coalition involving bourgeois forces is not a
> PRINCIPLED question. Even aside from the many circumstances in the
> semicolonial world where this is just a sectarian dead end.
>
[snips]

> Does voting for Obama cross class lines? To me the answer to that is  YES. I
> think that is obvious.
>
> Does that mean it is wrong from a working class or social-revolutionary
> standpoint to do that in all questions. I don't think that is so. It is
> determined concretely. A great deal of class-collaboration takes place every
> day, and has to. Was the Soviet Union wrong to fight world war II in a
> military alliance with US imperialism? No, that was a necessity of survival
> -- and it was a necessary political act, not just a military one. How the
> Soviet bureaucracy used that alliance against revolutionary struggles is
> another question.
>

I agree entirely that some abstract set of religious principles isn't
the point.  This is the point of the earlier arguments about whether
candidates who call themselves "socialist" are preferable to those
that don't.  Broader questions have much greater importance.  For a
materialist, context defines everything.

As to drawing the class line at the ballot box, we are not in "the
semicolonial world where this is just a sectarian dead end."

Nor does this have much to do with the Soviet alliance with US
imperialism sixty or seventy years ago.  Neither McCain nor Palin are
Hitlerites.

The ballot is a mandate to rule from the governed to the governing.
As I tell my liberal friends, regardless of what progressive notions
you have in your mind or your heart when you cast your ballot, it is
objectively vote of confidence in his agenda.  That's how it's going
to be seen and understood socially, and the rest is a matter between
you and the Holy Ghost.

My approach doesn't even pretend to be rooted in Leninism (which is
open to all sorts of twistings and rationalizations), but by the
experience of radicals here in the U.S.   We don't give our mandate to
people who asking for that mandate because they want to slaughter
Indians or Mexicans.  We don't give our mandate to the people who want
to root economic prosperity in slavery.  We don't give that mandate to
people who believe they don't need to obtain that mandate from ALL of
us.  We don't give that mandate to people who believe it to be their
divinely ordained or social Darwinian destiny to deny us basic human
rights.  We don't give that mandate to people who deny us our civil
rights (which include our right to form parties, run candidates, etc.)

Solidarity!
Mark L.

PS: However deplorable it seems to rationalize voting for Obama on the
flimsiest of grounds, I find it doubly deplorable to use the McKinney
campaign as a means of doing so.  Indeed, it strikes me as much the
same as the CP use of the Browder campaign to support FDR.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 09:02:19 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:02:19 -0400
Subject: US may never release Uighurs from Guantánamo
Message-ID: <20081101150222.5ED64D833@mailbackend.panix.com>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/01/guantanamo-china

No charges but US may never release Guant?namo Chinese

Seventeen Chinese prisoners who have been held for nearly seven years 
in Guant?namo Bay will be informed on Monday that they could spend 
the rest of their lives behind bars, even though they face no charges 
and have been told by a judge they should be freed.

No country is willing to accept them and the US justice department 
has now blocked moves for them to be allowed to go to the US 
mainland, where they had been offered a home by refugee and Christian 
organisations.

The men's lawyer, Sabin Willett, is flying to Guant?namo Bay this 
weekend to break the news to the men, who are members of the Uighur 
ethnic group seeking autonomy from China. In a blunt and angry letter 
to justice department lawyers, Willett spelled out what he thought of 
the way the men had been treated.

"After years of stalling and staying and appellate gamesmanship, you 
pleaded no contest - they are not enemy combatants," Willett has 
written. "You have never charged them with any crime."

Last month a federal judge ruled that the men should be freed. "They 
were on freedom's doorstep," said Willett. "The plane was at Gitmo. 
The stateside Lutheran refugee services and the Uighur families and 
Tallahassee clergy were ready to receive them." However, the justice 
department appealed against the ruling and Willett claims this will 
put the men into a potentially endless limbo.

Yesterday Willett said his clients were "saddened" by the latest 
events. The men, who are Muslims, were in Afghanistan in 2001 and 
were captured by Pakistani troops and handed over to the US. So far, 
more than 100 countries have been asked to take them as refugees but 
none have agreed. Willett blamed US authorities for incorrectly 
describing them as terrorists.

According to the US justice department, the men "are linked to an 
organisation that the state department has labelled to be a terrorist 
entity, and it is beside the point that the organisation is not 'a 
threat to us' because the law excluding members of such groups does 
not require such proof."

Willett is also angry the defence department will not agree to let 
him meet his clients unless they are chained to the floor. He called 
for this restriction to be lifted: "Just permit these men one shred 
of human dignity." He added: "Americans are not supposed to treat 
enemy prisoners of war this way under the service field manuals, or 
the Geneva conventions - if anyone paid attention to the field 
manuals or the Geneva conventions anymore."



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 09:06:43 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:06:43 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Oliver Stone's Oedipal Problem
Message-ID: <20081101150645.E5242D52D@mailbackend.panix.com>

Counterpunch, October 31, 2008
Oliver Stone's Oedipal Problem
Bush Ultra Lite

By SAUL LANDAU and FARRAH HASSAN

At a time when we need Marx's analytical abilities, Oliver Stone 
offers Freud. In his one-dimensional biopic, "W," we do not gain 
insight into how a less than brilliant president circumvented 
carefully constructed procedures to safeguard the military industrial 
complex. Instead, Stone offers a pastiche of biographical scenes, 
from Bush's raucous boozing days at Yale to his ascendancy to the 
Oval House and fateful decision to invade Iraq.

In this cinematic attempt to pseudo-psychoanalyze Bush, Stone alludes 
to his Oedipal premise: W idolizing and simultaneously resenting his 
over achieving father and un-accepting mother. These cinematic 
allusions to a rich, dysfunctional family, visual hammers pounded on 
the audience's head, should somehow help us understand how this 
chronic underachiever booked the highest office of the land and led 
him to invade Iraq.

full: http://www.counterpunch.com/landau10312008.html



From binesi at gvtel.com  Sat Nov  1 09:09:20 2008
From: binesi at gvtel.com (David Thorstad)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:09:20 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <11083738.1225516759011.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <11083738.1225516759011.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <490C7120.3080000@gvtel.com>

Judging from the rank reformism rampant on this list, I take Walter's 
advice here as further confirmation of how far some former Marxists have 
sunk into liberalism. The very idea that the highly undemocratic 
"choice" offered by the criminal American ruling class merits a vote for 
an open warmonger like His Saintliness suggests a surrender that's right 
up there with the "renegade Kautsky."  If even "progressive" bourgeois 
candidates like McKinney and Nader are not on the Georgia ballot, 
presumably no socialists are either. In that case, why not write in 
Betty Boop? Do you really believe it matters one iota how you vote? It 
isn't just write-ins that are not counted. When I was SWP banch 
organizer in Minneapolis eons ago, a Democrat party district leader 
called to report that in her rural district, both she and her sister 
voted for the SWP, but the SWP candidate got no votes in their district.
    This discussion shows how irrelevant most of the American left has 
become. Even urging a vote for a top capitalist oinker? Till now, I 
would have said, "Say it ain't so." Clearly, it is.
David
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Walter Lippmann wrote:
> JOAQUIN BUSTELO asked:
> What would comrades do next Tuesday in my shoes? And it has to be
> *consistent*: whatever I tell my neighbor or a Latino community meeting or
> Cynthia McKinney if she comes back has to be the truth, what I actually did
> November 4. I really don't know how to function any other way politically.
> =========================================================================
>
> If McKinney is not on the ballot, you should vote for Obama.
> This is the real world, not an imaginary one. Do the right
> thing and contribute to the biggest possible defeat of the
> McCain-Palin-Bush trend in politics. Your individual vote
> isn't likely to matter much, but in the context of efforts
> to obstruct and deny voting rights, it's very important that
> you exercise your franchise and defend everyone's right to.
>
>
> Walter Lippmann
>   



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 09:26:06 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:26:06 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <490C7120.3080000@gvtel.com>
References: <11083738.1225516759011.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<490C7120.3080000@gvtel.com>
Message-ID: <20081101152612.C3188DC8D@mailbackend.panix.com>

David wrote:
>Judging from the rank reformism rampant on this list, I take Walter's
>advice here as further confirmation of how far some former Marxists have
>sunk into liberalism. The very idea that the highly undemocratic
>"choice" offered by the criminal American ruling class merits a vote for
>an open warmonger like His Saintliness suggests a surrender that's right
>up there with the "renegade Kautsky."

Comrades are certainly entitled to their views on this question, but 
we must refrain from these kinds of characterizations. A mailing list 
is a rather "confined" space and sharp language such as this can lead 
to the kinds of flame wars that destroyed a list that preceded this one. 



From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 09:34:52 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 17:34:52 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811010834rd9bb1e4v77ed042e0c9df49e@mail.gmail.com>

For our popular Frontists who claim to be Marxists, voting for an
imperialist party is not a problem. Big surprise.!!!  However to slander
Lenin in order to use him as a fig leaf is low. It was a major devise  in
the arsenal of the Stalinists, as deforming Marx was the trick of the Social
Democracy's revisionism..

Any one who wants to use Lenin on this question should quote Lenin after he
broke from the influence of Kautsky, rather than bringing in Kautsky's
politics in the name of Lenin.

From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 09:39:30 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:39:30 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
Message-ID: <815722.1225553970638.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

LOUIS PROYECT writes:
Comrades are certainly entitled to their views on this question, but 
we must refrain from these kinds of characterizations. A mailing list 
is a rather "confined" space and sharp language such as this can lead 
to the kinds of flame wars that destroyed a list that preceded this one. 
========================================================================

It's best to keep the discussion to the political issues in dispute and
leave the personalized and nasty characterizations out of the postings. 
Remember, there's nothing life or death going on here, it's electronic
mail and exchanges of political viewpoints, nothing more nor less, and
we'll all be back here on Wednesday discussing and arguing about what
it all means in light of the results, if they are clear here, nor not.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 10:03:37 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 12:03:37 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
Message-ID: <4527301.1225555417652.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Saw and enjoyed this somewhat overlong mystery yesterday
starring Angelina Jolie as the mother of a child who 
disappeared in Los Angeles in 1928. Some months later,
the LAPD finds a boy who looks similar to Jolie's sun
but when she recognized he's not her child (among other
things he's three-inches shorter and been circumcised)
the LAPD tosses her in to the county hospital mental
ward where she's violently sedated, but told she's be
let free if she signs a statement saying that was wrong
and the child was really hers. Jolie isn't glamorous as
she is in other movies, and it's a bit overlong, but it
held my attention. As it turns out in the narrative, 
"a true story", the child was taken by a serial killer
and, well, I won't tell you how it ends up. Roger Ebert
and Kenneth Turan liked the movie a lot, but the NY Times
complained about it.

Here in Los Angeles we're having yet another serial killer
on the loose now:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-serial1-2008nov01,0,1188783.story

"The Changeling" reminded me also of another recent film,
the French film TELL NO ONE. Both movies depict in graphic
ways what can happen to anyone who disagrees with the way
the police have decided that a case should be resolves.

While in the end, one or a few honest cops helps unravel the
situation, it's truly frightening to see, and in Eastwood's
version it's terrifyingly graphically depicted, what the 
cops can do to anyone who doesn't go along with their script.

There's a very powerful depiction of the way the death penalty
was carried out in the mid-1930s, as well: by hanging.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California



=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sat Nov  1 10:19:23 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:19:23 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] NYT: "Specter of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops "
Message-ID: <30FA697B81ED43958A77A31507729C79@office1pc>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/business/economy/01deflation.html
November 1, 2008
Specter of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops 
By PETER S. GOODMAN
As dozens of countries slip deeper into financial distress, a new threat may
be gathering force within the American economy - the prospect that goods
will pile up waiting for buyers and prices will fall, suffocating fresh
investment and worsening joblessness for months or even years. 

The word for this is deflation, or declining prices, a term that gives
economists chills. 

Deflation accompanied the Depression of the 1930s. Persistently falling
prices also were at the heart of Japan's so-called lost decade after the
catastrophic collapse of its real estate bubble at the end of the 1980s - a
period in which some experts now find parallels to the American predicament.

"That certainly is the snapshot of the risk I see," said Robert J. Barbera,
chief economist at the research and trading firm ITG. "It is the crisis we
face."

With economies around the globe weakening, demand for oil, copper, grains
and other commodities has diminished, bringing down prices of these raw
materials. But prices have yet to decline noticeably for most goods and
services, with one conspicuous exception - houses. Still, reduced demand is
beginning to soften prices for a few products, like furniture and bedding,
which are down slightly since the beginning of 2007, according to government
data. Prices are also falling for some appliances, tools and hardware.

Only a few months ago, American policy makers were worried about the reverse
problem - rising prices, or inflation - as then-soaring costs for oil and
food filtered through the economy. In July, average prices were 5.6 percent
higher than a year earlier - the fastest pace of inflation since 1991. But
by the end of September, annual inflation had dipped to 4.9 percent and was
widely expected to go lower. 

The new worry is that in the worst case, the end of inflation may be the
beginning of something malevolent: a long, slow retrenchment in which
consumers and businesses worldwide lose the wherewithal to buy, sending
prices down for many goods. Though still considered unlikely, that would
prompt businesses to slow production and accelerate layoffs, taking more
paychecks out of the economy and further weakening demand. 

The danger of this is the difficulty of a cure. Policy makers can generally
choke off inflation by raising interest rates, dampening economic activity
and reducing demand for goods. But as Japan discovered, an economy may
remain ensnared by deflation for many years, even when interest rates are
dropped to zero: falling prices make companies reluctant to invest even when
credit is free. 

Through much of the 1990s, prices for property and many goods kept falling
in Japan. As layoffs increased and purchasing power declined, prices fell
lower still, in a downward spiral of diminishing fortunes. Some fear the
American economy could be sinking toward a similar fate, if a recession is
deep and prolonged, as consumers lose spending power just as much of Europe,
Asia and Latin America succumb to a slowdown. 

"That's a meaningful risk at this point," said Nouriel Roubini, an economist
at New York University's Stern School of Business, who forecast the
financial crisis well in advance and has been warning of deflation for
months. "We could get into a vicious circle of deepening malaise." 

Most economists - Mr. Roubini and Mr. Barbera included - say American policy
makers have tools to avert the sort of deflationary black hole that captured
Japan. Deflation fears last broke out in the United States in 2003, but the
Federal Reserve defeated the menace with low interest rates that kept the
economy growing. This time, the Fed is again being aggressive, dropping its
target rate to 1 percent this week. And the government's various bailout
plans have also pumped money into the economy. 

"If you print enough money, you can create inflation," said Kenneth S.
Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and now
a professor at Harvard. 

But even as American authorities unleash credit, the threat has intensified.
Not since the Depression have so many countries faced so much trouble at
once. The financial crisis has gone global, like a virus mutating in the
face of every experimental cure. From South Korea to Iceland to Brazil, the
pandemic has spread, bringing with it a tightening of credit that has
starved even healthy companies of finance. 

"We're entering a really fierce global recession," Mr. Rogoff said. "A
significant financial crisis has been allowed to morph into a full-fledged
global panic. It's a very dangerous situation. The danger is that instead of
having a few bad years, we'll have another lost decade."

Global economic growth has flourished in recent years, much of it fertilized
with borrowed investment. This raised kingdoms of houses in Florida and
California, steel mills in Ukraine, slaughterhouses in Brazil and shopping
malls in Turkey.

That tide is now moving in reverse. Banks and other financial institutions
are reckoning with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of disastrous
investments. As they struggle to rebuild their capital, they are halting
loans to many customers, demanding swift repayment from others and dumping
assets - homes sold out of foreclosure, investments linked to mortgages and
corporate loans. Selling is pushing prices down further, making the assets
left on balance sheets worth less, in some cases prompting another round of
sales. 

"You get this adverse feedback loop where assets keep falling in value," Mr.
Barbera said. "You're essentially putting big downward pressure on the
global economy."

In past crises, like those that devastated Mexico in 1994 and much of Asia
in 1997 and 1998, weak economies managed to recover by exporting
aggressively, not least to the United States. But American consumers are
battered this time. After years of borrowing against homes and tapping
credit cards, consumers are pulling back. 


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Sat Nov  1 10:43:03 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:43:03 -0700
Subject: [Marxism]  Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
Message-ID: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>

On Walter's recommendation I'll go see it. We have, it seems, very 
similar tastes in movies.

One of things that attracts me to this movie is that it's a period piece 
on LA. As a city, I've never liked LA. Perhaps it was a combination of 
New Yorker prejudice that many NYers harbor about LA or it was lack of 
seriously good pizza. I certainly didn't like it when I lived there. I'm 
not sure. But LA has such a fascinating history that almost all the 
movies I've seen that are done seriously that involve historical events 
or periods have been excellent. The two movies I'm thinking of were 
Chinatown and LA Confidential.

Also, the fact that Clint Eastwood directs it makes this movie even more 
attractive.

David


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 10:50:50 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:50:50 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
In-Reply-To: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com>


>Also, the fact that Clint Eastwood directs it makes this movie even more
>attractive.
>
>David

Plus, along with Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas, 
he is one of our neglected masters. 



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 11:10:00 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 13:10:00 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States of America
	istheentire capitalist class!
References: <7b8a676d0810301704m2f18bbd4sfe409a620e0b1125@mail.gmail.com>
	<2B670CAABD3642848B65FAA1AC038D20@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>

Speaking of the ruling class and its heroes, nobody gets accorded more hero 
status , now that Greenspan has been shown, for the third time, to be 
nothing more than an hack ideologue, than Warren Buffett.

The Wall Street Journal weekend edition, Nov 1-2, has an interesting article 
called:

"The Other Reason for Warren Buffett's Success"
--Yes, There Is His Stock-Picking Prowess, But Exclusive Deals Add to 
Berkshire' Fortunes--

Among some of the interesting facts about the common man's billionaire 
portfolio is-- that it no longer consists, in the main, of publicly trade 
securities.

"As recently as 1995, 73.5% of Berkshire's total assets consisted of a 
portfolio of publicly traded stocks.... As of June 30 [2008] though, 
Berkshire's stockholdings made up just 25% of its assets.

He has been buying private firms outright and landing 'sweetheart' deals in 
public companies.

Since the beginning of 2006, Berkshire has spent nearly $17 billion buying 
private companies lock, stock, and barrel..

Meanwhile on the sweetheart front, in 2008 alone, Mr. Buffett has sunk $5 
billion into Goldman Sachs Group, $3 billion into GE, $3 billion into Dow 
Chemical, and $6.5 billion into the merger of Mars Inc. with Wm. Wrigley Jr. 
Co-- all with preferential terms....

In his latest round of sweetheart deals, he gets a generous upside and 
virtually eliminates any downside, a 'heads I win, tails I win' structure 
that other investors can only dream about.

...Mr. Buffett tries to secure a margine of safety.  That term...means that 
the price is so far below the business's underlying value that severe loss 
is improbable."

Like I said, securities are not long term investments, but only  trading 
vehicles, unless of course you are selling the securities, then flogging the 
"long term" is a time-proven method of separating fools from their money. 



From binesi at gvtel.com  Sat Nov  1 11:10:31 2008
From: binesi at gvtel.com (David Thorstad)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:10:31 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <20081101152612.C3188DC8D@mailbackend.panix.com>
References: <11083738.1225516759011.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>	<490C7120.3080000@gvtel.com>
	<20081101152612.C3188DC8D@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <490C8D87.7010907@gvtel.com>

Huh? And this after both Fred Feldman and Walter Lippmann have recently 
compared me to a Nazi because of my opposition to same-sex marriage (ven 
if it was a "left" Nazi in Feldman's case)! I note that prior to my 
"sharp" comment, the word "shit" was used to describe Walter. I have 
never resorted to name calling (as Walter has), and, frankly, do not 
consider my comment to be overly "sharp." The jist of my post was that 
it doesn't matter who you vote for in the phoney baloney capitalist 
charade of "elections," and urging a vote for the top Democrat is worthy 
of comparison to Kautsky. Here, some wisdom from Lenin's /The 
Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky/ (1918--90 years ago): 
Elections "*never* *decide* important questions under bourgeois 
democracy, which are decided by the stock exchange and banks."
    That said, I do hope my comments don't lead to "flame wars." That 
was not not my intention at all.
David
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Louis Proyect wrote:
> <div class="moz-text-flowed">David wrote:
>> Judging from the rank reformism rampant on this list, I take Walter's
>> advice here as further confirmation of how far some former Marxists have
>> sunk into liberalism. The very idea that the highly undemocratic
>> "choice" offered by the criminal American ruling class merits a vote for
>> an open warmonger like His Saintliness suggests a surrender that's right
>> up there with the "renegade Kautsky."
>
> Comrades are certainly entitled to their views on this question, but 
> we must refrain from these kinds of characterizations. A mailing list 
> is a rather "confined" space and sharp language such as this can lead 
> to the kinds of flame wars that destroyed a list that preceded this one.
>
>
> </div>
>



From markalause at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 11:12:10 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 13:12:10 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811010834rd9bb1e4v77ed042e0c9df49e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <685ad9b30811010834rd9bb1e4v77ed042e0c9df49e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811011012m5e26419ana2ee6b5861bda41f@mail.gmail.com>

I don't think voting for a bourgeois party makes you a popular
frontist.  If memory serves, a popular front historically involves
people in a workers' party entering a front with a bourgeois party.
So, it seems to me that being a popular frontist would be way to the
left of what we're discussing here.

The essential point here doesn't even require addressing the question
of party.  To use the old analogies I raised, it might have been quite
reasonable for abolitionists to have supported an antislavery Whig or
an antislavery Democrat or not to have run an independent abolitionist
candidate against them.

So, even allowing for the much more coherent and standardized
structure of modern political parties, the question seems reasonable
if we had a genuine radical running on a major party ticket.  And,
yes, things are parched in the desert of American politics.

So let's just look for a straightforward liberal....

Does anybody seriously think that this is an honest description of
Obama?  And what evidence is there for that?

ML


From mschiller at pobox.com  Sat Nov  1 11:17:09 2008
From: mschiller at pobox.com (martin)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 10:17:09 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
 you have to decide what is a social class.
In-Reply-To: <641718A6991741F6BABE4CE6FEC1FF6A@dmsthinkpad>
References: <7b8a676d0810311957y4fa43ce1gf1cc6a3a97f3b6e1@mail.gmail.com>
	<641718A6991741F6BABE4CE6FEC1FF6A@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <61A18694-E1CD-42FA-A816-9825DAE9408C@pobox.com>


On Oct 31, 2008, at 10:57 PM, S. Artesian wrote:

> Clinton, as it was reported, stopped and stared at
> Rubin, and said, "You mean to tell me that the economic policy of the
> President depends on the approval of a handful of bond traders on Wall
> Street?"  Rubin told him that indeed it did.

But the bond traders were simply following policy decisions of their  
respective corporations. Humans do not constitute a 'ruling class'.  
They benefit from the rules that are generated by corporate policy,  
and the corporate policy is generated by a networking feature of  
corporate governance ie. overlap within boards of directors. It's a  
self-perpetuating, self-correcting system, using a meat network to  
communicate and correct.

martin


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 11:18:23 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 13:18:23 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
	<20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <C47E22E9C2F94497A562B69D222D1873@dmsthinkpad>

Do I detect more than a note of sarcasm?  I sure hope so, because every 
movie Spielberg makes is derivative of someone elses work, which makes him 
the perfect poster boy for the modern era of derivative capitalism, and for 
Hollywood itself which is, literally, nothing without derivatives.

He made one great movie, IMO, Jaws, and that of course was a masterpiece of 
derivativeness-- from Moby Dick.

Lucas?  Future medieval fascism, complete with racism.

Scorcese?  Good camera work, great dialogue, but plots, themes of such 
unrelieved pettiness, I'm screaming for the movie to be over 30 minutes 
after it starts.

And Eastwood?

Give me Spike Lee anyday-- for direction, sequencing, story, editing.

By the way-- if anybody needs movie recommendations how about-- I Served the 
King of England, and  A Secret ?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3 at panix.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"




From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 11:22:35 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 13:22:35 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
References: <7b8a676d0810311957y4fa43ce1gf1cc6a3a97f3b6e1@mail.gmail.com><641718A6991741F6BABE4CE6FEC1FF6A@dmsthinkpad>
	<61A18694-E1CD-42FA-A816-9825DAE9408C@pobox.com>
Message-ID: <CC2F40625DEF4E2598B0B07508CC77DD@dmsthinkpad>

I belive the term "bond traders" was used by Clinton to identify, not the 
actual traders on the floor of the exchanges that do the trading, but as a 
"colloquialism" for  the heads of the investment banks, the (then) 19  banks 
designated Primary Dealers of US Treasury instruments.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "martin" <mschiller at pobox.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class, you have to 
decide what is a social class.


>
> On Oct 31, 2008, at 10:57 PM, S. Artesian wrote:
>
>> Clinton, as it was reported, stopped and stared at
>> Rubin, and said, "You mean to tell me that the economic policy of the
>> President depends on the approval of a handful of bond traders on Wall
>> Street?"  Rubin told him that indeed it did.
>
> But the bond traders were simply following policy decisions of their
> respective corporations. Humans do not constitute a 'ruling class'.
> They benefit from the rules that are generated by corporate policy,
> and the corporate policy is generated by a networking feature of
> corporate governance ie. overlap within boards of directors. It's a
> self-perpetuating, self-correcting system, using a meat network to
> communicate and correct.
>
> martin
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: 
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sartesian%40earthlink.net 



From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sat Nov  1 11:55:34 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:55:34 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
	<20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <490C9816.2D8EEB9E@ilstu.edu>



Louis Proyect wrote:
> 
> >Also, the fact that Clint Eastwood directs it makes this movie even more
> >attractive.
> >
> >David
> 
> Plus, along with Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas,
> he is one of our neglected masters.

How neglected? It always struck me that he was pretty widely recognized.
I agree (most of) his movies are excellent.

Carrol



From mschiller at pobox.com  Sat Nov  1 12:06:21 2008
From: mschiller at pobox.com (martin)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:06:21 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
 you have to decide what is a social class.
In-Reply-To: <CC2F40625DEF4E2598B0B07508CC77DD@dmsthinkpad>
References: <7b8a676d0810311957y4fa43ce1gf1cc6a3a97f3b6e1@mail.gmail.com><641718A6991741F6BABE4CE6FEC1FF6A@dmsthinkpad>
	<61A18694-E1CD-42FA-A816-9825DAE9408C@pobox.com>
	<CC2F40625DEF4E2598B0B07508CC77DD@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <FFCB7EC6-DE96-47AA-9518-BE8C39DF0184@pobox.com>


On Nov 1, 2008, at 10:22 AM, S. Artesian wrote:

> I belive the term "bond traders" was used by Clinton to identify,  
> not the
> actual traders on the floor of the exchanges that do the trading,  
> but as a
> "colloquialism" for  the heads of the investment banks, the (then)  
> 19  banks
> designated Primary Dealers of US Treasury instruments.

You seem to be trying to pin down some human beings to take  
responsibility for our corporate rulers. That cursed confusion of  
corporations and humans strikes again. <g>

martin


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 12:08:05 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:08:05 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
In-Reply-To: <490C9816.2D8EEB9E@ilstu.edu>
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
	<20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<490C9816.2D8EEB9E@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <20081101180813.97BADD285@mailbackend.panix.com>


>How neglected? It always struck me that he was pretty widely recognized.
>I agree (most of) his movies are excellent.
>
>Carrol

I was being ironic. 



From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 12:08:15 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 20:08:15 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811011108h5611d54bl9b7f89b63adfaf8c@mail.gmail.com>

The essence of the politics of Popular Front is the subordination of the
working class to the ruling class. In the US this politics in the 1930s was
to support  the government of Franklin Roosevelt. Today at best we can
characterize Obama as a pale copy of Roosevelt. Thus to tell people who call
to vote for him that they are Popular Frontist is an exaggeration in their
favor.

Either we fight to over throw this system and replace it with workers states
as transition to socialism  and thus for  a revolutionary party of the
working class  independent  from all the capitalist parties  or we play a
reformist game leading to defeats not only of the working class but o the
middle class the reformists believe they represent honestly while in reality
they serve only the ruling class.

From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 12:29:09 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:29:09 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811011108h5611d54bl9b7f89b63adfaf8c@mail.gmail.co
 m>
References: <685ad9b30811011108h5611d54bl9b7f89b63adfaf8c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20081101182912.4286EDA81@mailbackend.panix.com>

Yossi wrote:
>Either we fight to over throw this system and replace it with workers states
>as transition to socialism  and thus for  a revolutionary party of the
>working class  independent  from all the capitalist parties  or we play a
>reformist game leading to defeats not only of the working class but o the
>middle class the reformists believe they represent honestly while in reality
>they serve only the ruling class.

Yossi, don't you realize how sterile this kind of appeal is?

You are not arguing with people on Daily Kos or the Nation Magazine. 
People subscribe to the Marxism list because they are for a 
revolutionary party and socialist revolution. The debates occur over 
how to achieve those goals.

Furthermore, don't you realize how *odd* you appear when you "preach 
to the choir" in this fashion? If you really want to advance the 
discussion here, you must learn how to avoid glittering generalities 
as my 7th grade English teacher once referred to them. 



From schaffer at optonline.net  Sat Nov  1 12:44:18 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:44:18 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
In-Reply-To: <C47E22E9C2F94497A562B69D222D1873@dmsthinkpad>
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
	<20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<C47E22E9C2F94497A562B69D222D1873@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <490CA382.20001@optonline.net>

S. Artesian wrote:
> Do I detect more than a note of sarcasm?  I sure hope so, because every 
> movie Spielberg makes is derivative of someone elses work, which makes him 
> the perfect poster boy for the modern era of derivative capitalism, and for 
> Hollywood itself which is, literally, nothing without derivatives.
>
>   

did Hollywood do a lot of financing via these schemes???

> Give me Spike Lee anyday-- for direction, sequencing, story, editing.
>
>   


the best: Inside Man .... with great opening credits that rival 
Hitchcock/Hermann ... and just discovered on IMDB he's making a 
sequel...Lee into derivatives now?

Les


From adambrichmond at yahoo.com  Sat Nov  1 12:47:24 2008
From: adambrichmond at yahoo.com (Adam Richmond)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:47:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Marxism] Obama/Biden's statements against same sex marriage used
	by right
Message-ID: <144521.802.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

I just received a mailing from the reactionary "Yes on 8" targeting African American voters.  It prominently features a photo of Barack Obama with one of his many quotes against gay marriage (I'm not in favor of gay marriage...) with Biden's on the back (Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.  We do not support that.)

Obama has come out against Prop 8, but this position is in contradiction to his overall policies opposing same sex marriage. 

In response, on a razor's edge, Geoff Kors, he director of the No on 8 campaign, issued a letter denouncing the ad.  Unfortunately for him Obama has placed the campaign against Prop 8 in jeopardy.  In failing to aggressively oppose Prop 8, the right is able to exploit Obama's cowardly overall orientation to this issue.

This is line with the overall performance of the Democrats on LGBT issues.  They let gays have a seat at the table of the Democratic party, and then kneecap the struggle at every turn.  The LGBT movement must be independent of the Democratic Party in order to clearly announce to the LGBT masses and our supporters who are friends and enemies are.  Obama has proved himself to be an obstacle.  

Adam Richmond







      


From schaffer at optonline.net  Sat Nov  1 12:52:22 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:52:22 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States of
	America	istheentire capitalist class!
In-Reply-To: <CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
References: <7b8a676d0810301704m2f18bbd4sfe409a620e0b1125@mail.gmail.com>
	<2B670CAABD3642848B65FAA1AC038D20@dmsthinkpad>
	<CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <490CA566.3020205@optonline.net>

S. Artesian wrote:
> Speaking of the ruling class and its heroes, nobody gets accorded more hero 
> status , now that Greenspan has been shown, for the third time, to be 
> nothing more than an hack ideologue, than Warren Buffett.


speaking of Warren Buffet ... i was in Border's Bookstore last night 
with an old friend, looking thru the Math and Science sections, finding 
nothing but Physics for Dummies, Quantum Mechanics Demystified, and so 
forth. directly behind this row of books was the economics and finance 
section. i was amazed how many serious, math-based books there were on 
hedge funds, derivatives, and all that stuff.

plus, an entire row on Buffet that rivaled the omnipresent Einstein row 
over in physics land.

Les


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sat Nov  1 12:59:49 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:59:49 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Today's report on purged voters,
	other keep-the-voters-away gimmicks
Message-ID: <20881C17E2964AFFBA21483C30AD437A@office1pc>

This is the latest I find on vote stealing and manipulation efforts. Note
that in Florida, moves to disenfranchise voters through purging voting rolls
have had more success.
Fred Feldman


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/10/31/2008-10-31_as_number_of_
new_voters_swells_so_do_fea.html

As number of new voters swells, so do fears that they won't be counted
BY KENNETH R. BAZINET and GREG B. SMITH 
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS 

Saturday, November 1st 2008, 1:51 AM 

A huge surge of new voters could swamp the nation's ill-prepared election
systems, creating major headaches and possible vote challenges Tuesday,
officials are warning.

A stunning 184 million citizens have registered to vote for this election,
the National Association of Secretaries of State announced Friday. 

That's a 28% jump over the 143 million registered to vote in the 2004
presidential election. 

RELATED: OH, MAC, YOU HAD TO TAKE THE LOW ROAD!
And officials predict a turnout of 130 to 140 million, way more than the 122
million who voted four ago, which itself provided the highest turnout since
Richard Nixon beat Hubert Humphrey in 1968. 

As a result, this year will likely be worse than 2004, when a wave of voters
overwhelmed polling stations in battleground states like Ohio. 

"It's going to be really long lines," predicted Larry Norden of the Brennan
Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. 

RELATED: BARACK'S BUCK BLITZ ADS UP
The proof is in the huge turnout for early voting in states around the
nation where waits stretching for as many as seven hours have become the
accepted norm, Norden said. 

"It's going to make for a really long Election Day and unfortunately some
people don't have the time to wait," he said. 

If the election is a blowout, long lines are merely a headache. If the
election is close, people may not get to vote - and results could be called
into question. 

RELATED: McCAINIACS SAY NEW MATH = WIN
The biggest issue is new voters whose eligibility is easier to challenge. 

Already campaigns have been launched in two swing states, Ohio and Florida,
to disqualify new voters whose voter registration conflicts with other
databases. 

In Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a GOP attempt to challenge 200,000
voters, and the U.S. Department of Justice refused to intervene. 

In Florida, a "No Match, No Vote" law checking voter registration against
various governmental databases survived a court challenge. 

A lower court upheld a challenge to the law by the NAACP, but the law was
reinstated on appeal and went into effect Sept. 8. As of last week 9,000 "no
match" voters had been flagged. 

In Florida, site of the 2000 election debacle, voting machines are also an
issue. 

Palm Beach County, home of the notorious "hanging chad," ditched paper
ballots for touchscreen machines. Unfortunately, during a vote this year on
a circuit judge, phantom votes turned up. 

Electioneering chicanery meant to keep poor and minority voters at home has
erupted around the country in recent weeks, campaign officials reported. 

Some examples: 

 

In states like New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, Latino voters
received telephone calls from people who claimed that they could vote by
phone to avoid long lines at the polls. 
 

In predominantly African-American West Philadelphia, leaflets turned up
falsely warning of arrests at the polls for voters with outstanding parking
tickets. 
 

Flyers with an authentic-looking Virginia state seal told voters in the
Hampton Roads region they could avoid lines at the polls by voting next
Wednesday - a day after the balloting nationwide. 
 

In St. Louis officials found that a woman dead for months cast an absentee
ballot in the presidential primary. 
 




From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sat Nov  1 13:15:43 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:15:43 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net>
	<20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<490C9816.2D8EEB9E@ilstu.edu>
	<20081101180813.97BADD285@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <490CAADF.279F95E@ilstu.edu>



Louis Proyect wrote:
> 
> >How neglected? It always struck me that he was pretty widely recognized.
> >I agree (most of) his movies are excellent.
> >
> >Carrol
> 
> I was being ironic.

Even sarcasm seldom travels well in e-mail! But then I didn't pay much
attention to your list before replying.

Carrol



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 13:28:53 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:28:53 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Would Obama withdraw from Iraq?
Message-ID: <20081101192856.B7F94D307@mailbackend.panix.com>

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/378887/obama_and_iraq?rel=hpbox



From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sat Nov  1 13:32:55 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:32:55 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Why Gay Marriage Sucks - More To Digest and
 Still	VoteNoon Prop 8
References: <166949.89618.qm@web88007.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <490CAEE7.2C0C201A@ilstu.edu>



Pance Stojkovski wrote:
> 
> >> Carrol Cox wrote
> >> in fact Marx himself prepared a questionnaire of (if I
> >> remember correctly) some 200 questions which was designed to
> >> transform the person answering the questions.
> 
> > David Pic?n ?lvarez wrote:
> > Is this somewhere in the MIA? I'd be quite curious to
> > read it.
> >
> 
> I'm curious too. I searched MIA and found this in Volume 24:
> http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/volume24/index.htm
> 
> but the relevant chapter has not been transcribed yet:
> Workers' Questionnaire (Marx) - page 328.
> 
> Is that it?

I don't know. What is the date? My fucking eyes are so bad I can't even
read the volume #s clearly on the MECW, and I've apparently misplaced
Vol. 24. As I remember Ollman's presentation, it was written during the
last year or two of Marx's life. Jan is away for the weekend. When she
returns I'll ask her to look through the volumes for it.

Carrol


> 
> pance.
> 
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/cbcox%40ilstu.edu



From dbmcdonald at comcast.net  Sat Nov  1 13:35:00 2008
From: dbmcdonald at comcast.net (David McDonald)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:35:00 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] Last-minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <490CAF64.6030504@comcast.net>

Fred writes:

I think the election of Obama is not simply a lesser evil, but an actual
step FORWARD for the people of this country. One of the points I keep
making is that Obama does not just advocate change. Because of his
nationality, HIS ELECTION IS CHANGE AND FOR THE BETTER. And it is taking
place as part of a broader shift that is more favorable to us.

My support for McKinney and Clemente is based on estimating them as a
vanguard expression of this process.

If some comrades think that crossing class lines in a polling booth is some
mortal sin, well, I don't. But just in case, Joaquin can always go to
confession on Sunday and be absolved.

He's lucky. I would have to wait for Yom Kippur.



David responds:

I'd like to thank Fred and Joaquin in particular for bringing flexible 
(some would say and have said, reformist) thinking to the discussion of 
Obama's candidacy.

I have decided to vote for Obama. Although tending that way for some 
time, my decision was solidified by something that happened in the 
Martin Luther King Celebration Committee here in Seattle.

This Committee is the longest-standing community organization honoring 
King's memory in the country, with annual demonstrations on King's 
birthday going back to 1983. The Committee meets from October through 
January, and usually draws from 20-30 activists per meeting. It is 
overwhelmingly but by no means exclusively Black, and seeks to be 
diverse by inclination and policy. The rally speakers' list and workshop 
membership are always racially diverse, for instance.

Anyway, the Committee re-convened early in October to begin discussions 
for the 2009 event. At the first meeting I initiated a short informal 
discussion before the meeting about Obama's chances. I said I thought he 
was going to win, for sure, but many around the table including some 
very senior Black activists demurred, saying basically they feared the 
Bradley effect while one guy said simply, "I don't trust white America." 
Well, who could blame him? I don't trust white America myself. But, as 
Joaquin has pointed out, Obama does not need a majority of white 
Americans to vote for him in order to win.

In any case, as the discussion continued for a short while, people began 
to talk about what would happen if Obama did win. The discussion was all 
in the mode of, "If we win,..." then a conjecture. What was important to 
me was that the "we" referred NOT the Democratic Party, but to Black 
people overall.

This strand has been discussed theoretically on the list by Fred, 
Joaquin and others, talking about Trotsky's phrase of voting for the 
Black person, not the Democrat. I'm just reporting on the factual level 
that that sentiment is very alive with the Black activists in the MLK 
Celebration Committee in Seattle.

I asked my closest collaborator among these folks, a youngish Black 
woman whom I've worked extensively with on peace movement and Black 
issues, and who was (before Obama's candidacy) very drawn to the 
McKinney campaign (as was I), how she was feeling about the election, 
and her answer was "scared". I don't know what about, whether about 
potential violence, about getting her hopes let down, or what. I let it go.

Interestingly, other than the decision to move our traditional meeting 
from Tuesday to Wednesday so as not to conflict with election night 
activities, there was actually no discussion about Obama at the next 
meeting, even informally. I got the feeling that everyone in the room 
was holding their breath, wanting to feel good about the election but 
fearful of yet another shattering disappointment, and maybe a little 
jittery about jinxing the whole thing by celebrating in anticipation.

In any case, I'm voting for Obama because I want to be with these folks 
all the way on election night. It's too bad that Cynthia's campaign 
happened to run up against Obama's candidacy, because she is a very cool 
person, a serious radical politician and someone well worth working your 
ass off for under other circumstances, but I have stopped doing 
political work out of dutifulness. Tough for Cynthia, she deserves 
better, but that's no reason I have to bang my head against the wall 
this year.



From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 13:45:04 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 21:45:04 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811011245u33df748l249f9233579d26dd@mail.gmail.com>

"You are not arguing with people on Daily Kos or the Nation Magazine.

People subscribe to the Marxism list because they are for a

revolutionary party and socialist revolution. The debates occur over

how to achieve those goals"



No Louis

People who fight to overthrow this system do not support imperialist parties
during elections. No amounts of  words  can change this simple ABC of
Marxism. Those who support imperialist parties are simple non  and Anti
Marxists.  As a matter of fact some kind of neo socialists, or Neo Marxists,
regardless of  how they call themselves.  You can not be or a workers
revolutions and support the representatives of the exploiters. The North
American  Indian called some White Liberals spited tongue

Others call such a linguistic  devise  a smoke screen.



Of course I appear odd to those who want to support imperialism. In the
country I live in, any one who is not a Zionist appears ODD, so I am used to
be in this particular position when it comes to those who support the
system, and claim that they are seeking new methods that were condemn by the
revolutionaries  already in the 19th century in France.


If you want to convince  odd people like me and all  those who are not ready
to support imperialism  you will have to improve come with a better argument
than the one I am used  to in Israel.

From binesi at gvtel.com  Sat Nov  1 13:55:03 2008
From: binesi at gvtel.com (David Thorstad)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:55:03 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
Message-ID: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>

Louis asked me to show where Fred Feldman and Walter Lippman had 
compared me to a Nazi, as I asserted in a post.

Here is Fred Feldman's post of October 13, comparing me to Julius 
Streicher, publisher of /Der St?rmer/. (I apologize for misremembering 
that his comparison was a reaction to my post about Obama's alleged 
salacious "sex perv" connections, and not same-sex marriage.) I let it 
go at the time as a mere snotty excess. But since I'm being smacked for 
less egregious sins--pointing out the liberal reformism of people like 
Feldman and Lippmann who see no problem in Marxists voting for Obama--I 
cite it again.
    So much for Feldman's comparing me to a Nazi, even if it is a "left" 
one. As for Lippmann, I could be wrong about my assertion that he too 
compared me to a Nazi in our personal exchanges (part of which he posted 
on the list), and since I don't save or copy many exchanges, I am ready 
to concede that my assertion was inaccurate, since I haven't saved the 
exchanges we had so can't prove it. That said, Walter did resort to name 
calling, repeatedly referring to me there and on the list as a 
"thoroughgoing reactionary." During our exchanges, I went back and read 
one of his lengthy internal SWP discussion bulletin contributions from 
1979 in which he stated--already then--nearly thirty years ago, that I 
was a "reactionary." At least he's consistent. I suspect both he and 
Feldman supported Barry Sheppard's wretched "Memorandum" on gay 
liberation in 1973, which Barry has written in his memoir was written to 
accommodate prejudice against homosexuals as a result of prodding from 
Farrell Dobbs (something that was kept secret from the ranks at the 
time--so much for "proletarian democracy," which in this case resembles 
Stalinism more than socialist democracy). Kudos to them if they did not, 
but am I wrong?
    Another rather bizarre attempt to link me to racism (!) and the 
right came from Jeff (Oct. 27) in his comments on "Why Gay Marriage 
Sucks," in which, reacting to my opposition to "hate-crimes" 
legislation, he stated:

    "So to summarize, you are AGAINST legislation which is AGAINST 
racist violence. [huh? This was about Wyoming antigay "hate crimes" 
legislation, and had nothing to do with racist violence] And that puts 
you exactly where in the struggle against racism? Yes, WE know that 
you're a Marxist etc. But are you going to go out canvassing with 
Klansman [sic] by your side? Knock on doors and explain that the guy in 
the white robe next to you supports your position "for the worng 
reason?" To me, this is another oddball argument that goes well beyond 
my comment that leftist Obama supporters are liberals, not Marxists.
    Addressing the arguments of those one does not see eye to eye with, 
rather than labeling them with loaded terms that turn them into the 
Other, would seem advisable. The tendency of some (Feldman, Lippmann...) 
to resort to self-serving labeling instead reminds me of some of the 
internal SWP discussions I witnessed, in which comrades eager to get in 
good with the leadership resorted to the same kind of demonizing. And 
look where that outfit they defended at the time ended up.
David
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

David Thorstad:
I see no reason not to publicize any of this,
nor do I feel any need to defend a capitalist politician from such
revelations, most especially since I have no information that they are not
true.

Fred comments:
Well if the revolutionary left ever "needs" its own "Der Sturmer," Thorstad
is clearly the one to provide it. The times may yet find the man.

That's it from me on this political pornography, at least until
consequences, if any, start coming in.
Fred Feldman



From wsredden at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 13:56:55 2008
From: wsredden at gmail.com (Shawn Redden)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 15:56:55 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0810311247y342cffb2g440bd3e92c2baaa@mail.gmail.com>
References: <A4AD475A8DE44F6ABBD3CA575CF19FBF@office1pc>
	<490B3DDC.EA8BD166@ilstu.edu>
	<b16d8daf0810311247y342cffb2g440bd3e92c2baaa@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <a06240800c53262d835b2@[192.168.1.3]>

Careful, Comrade Lause.  Implying that LHO didn't do the deed leads 
one down a slippery slope of conspiracy theorism.  Pretty soon the 
folks on Alternet, Common Dreams, and Marxmail will be attacking you 
for believing in aliens and Area 51 as they do now with Hugo Chavez, 
Fidel Casto, and the former head of Russia's general staff.

It's much better to keep inveighing against McKinney (whose campaign 
resembles Nader's 96 effort) since the vastly superior Nader campaign 
may perhaps get 2% of the vote.

Shawn

At 3:47 PM -0400 10/31/08, Mark Lause wrote:
>Zangara is also described, less credibly perhaps, as a "patsy" a la 
>Lee Harvey Oswald.
>
>ML




From shmage at pipeline.com  Sat Nov  1 13:58:24 2008
From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 15:58:24 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States of America
	istheentire capitalist class!
In-Reply-To: <CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
References: <7b8a676d0810301704m2f18bbd4sfe409a620e0b1125@mail.gmail.com>
	<2B670CAABD3642848B65FAA1AC038D20@dmsthinkpad>
	<CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <8DABE75B-E2E6-4E15-AF53-6277C5333478@pipeline.com>


On Nov 1, 2008, at 1:10 PM, S. Artesian wrote:
>
> "The Other Reason for Warren Buffett's Success"
> "...As recently as 1995, 73.5% of Berkshire's total assets consisted  
> of a
> portfolio of publicly traded stocks.... As of June 30 [2008] though,
> Berkshire's stockholdings made up just 25% of its assets...
> ...Since the beginning of 2006, Berkshire has spent nearly $17  
> billion buying
> private companies lock, stock, and barrel...
>
> >Like I said, securities are not long term investments, but only   
> trading
> >vehicles, unless of course you are selling the securities, then  
> flogging the
> >"long term" is a time-proven method of separating fools from their  
> money.


This totally misunderstands Buffet, what he does, and why he  
succeeds.  Buffet has from day one stated his method of securities  
analysis as to value equity investments on the basis of their pro rata  
share of what he would be willing to pay for the *whole company*.   
Since 1995, recognizing the gross overvaluation of most of the stock  
market,  and recognizing that buying enough common shares to be  
meaningful for BK
would inflate their price even more unreasonably, he has accumulated  
cash and used it to make *long term investments* when whole companies  
can be bought at a reasonable price (and now to place funds at juicy  
terms when corporations debilitated by their short-term speculations  
have to come to him for funds).  '"Securities" includes the stock of  
privately as well as publicly held corporations.  A corporation's  
common stock does not cease to be a "security" even if BK owns 100% of  
it and even if it consolidates results on its overall tax return.

Shane Mage

> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 14:03:57 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:03:57 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811011245u33df748l249f9233579d26dd@mail.gmail.com
 >
References: <685ad9b30811011245u33df748l249f9233579d26dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20081101200400.BA945D83D@mailbackend.panix.com>


>No Louis
>
>People who fight to overthrow this system do not support imperialist parties
>during elections.

But, Yossi, there are major differences among us about what parties 
are "kosher". You think that both Nader and Obama are pork, but I do not.



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 14:04:19 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:04:19 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
References: <7b8a676d0810311957y4fa43ce1gf1cc6a3a97f3b6e1@mail.gmail.com><641718A6991741F6BABE4CE6FEC1FF6A@dmsthinkpad><61A18694-E1CD-42FA-A816-9825DAE9408C@pobox.com><CC2F40625DEF4E2598B0B07508CC77DD@dmsthinkpad>
	<FFCB7EC6-DE96-47AA-9518-BE8C39DF0184@pobox.com>
Message-ID: <6EBF4B41AE6A4D858C2175F7BDFABD73@dmsthinkpad>

What?  Corporations are not golems, molochs, Frankeinsteins, or ghosts in a 
machine.  They are purposeful organizations created, owned, run, directed by 
human beings to make money.  If you don't think those who run corporations, 
chairmen and ceos of businesses like Exxon, Halliburton, Goldman Sachs, JP 
Morgan Chase actually meet and discuss what they want the government to do 
and when, you are not keeping up on the news.

They, these personified corporate types, are the corporate rules.  They 
don't always agree on every detail, but the great thing about being in the 
ruling class is-- you don't have to agree to get what you want, or at least 
what you need.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "martin" <mschiller at pobox.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 2:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class, you have to 
decide what is a social class. 



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 14:11:58 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:11:58 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling"
References: <490C8717.2090106@comcast.net><20081101165057.AC0091BB7@mailbackend.panix.com><C47E22E9C2F94497A562B69D222D1873@dmsthinkpad>
	<490CA382.20001@optonline.net>
Message-ID: <AB17D4B946EF4A15A76F50A10958B170@dmsthinkpad>

I was referring, in the main, to culture-- culturally derivative.  However, 
yes Hollywood did go to investment banks to finance some works and did 
establish positions in derivatives, and hedges-- include credit default 
swaps to protect themselves in case the movie came a cropper and they 
couldn't refinance. Don't know how extensive it was.

One thing I don't think they were able to establish in the realm of publicly 
traded securities was the film version of a collateralized debt obligation--  
where the debt is secured by a revenue stream from either movie box office 
receipts, video royalties, sales to cable etc. Maybe Joaquin has so info on 
that. But I bet that it gets done the next time around-- probably using the 
rights to the studio film library as collateral.

Tell you what, we could probably get them to collateralize the revolution 
and issue notes during the next bubble.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Les Schaffer" <schaffer at optonline.net>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling" 



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sat Nov  1 14:14:41 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:14:41 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
Message-ID: <20081101201445.75147DC33@mailbackend.panix.com>

Fred Feldman wrote:
>Well if the revolutionary left ever "needs" its own "Der Sturmer," 
>Thorstad is clearly the one to provide it.

This escaped my attention. If I ever see anything like this again 
from anybody, they will get the boot. 



From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 14:15:27 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:15:27 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] 188 million registered to vote -- 80 percent of
	eligible total -- up 32 percent from 2004
In-Reply-To: <B950937441B74EB79FB65C2BA9CAB1D2@office1pc>
References: <B950937441B74EB79FB65C2BA9CAB1D2@office1pc>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811011315v1b887de2t943f5147f366b55d@mail.gmail.com>

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 7:56 AM, Fred Feldman <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> Voter registration smashes records
> States say 188 million have signed up to vote

(November 1, 2004) Fox News Poll:

Kerry 48%, Bush 45% (Registered Voters)

Full: <http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/110104_poll.pdf>


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 14:16:30 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:16:30 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States
	ofAmerica	istheentire capitalist class!
References: <7b8a676d0810301704m2f18bbd4sfe409a620e0b1125@mail.gmail.com><2B670CAABD3642848B65FAA1AC038D20@dmsthinkpad><CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
	<490CA566.3020205@optonline.net>
Message-ID: <E126B2F5105940E4AFE39FC836D9F94E@dmsthinkpad>

Les,

Entire "discipline" using algorithms to predict market movement, to detect 
anomalies in markets and establish arbitrage positions, to establish 
positions long and short, and hedge same.  The practitioners of this, many 
of whom have backgrounds in mathematics, including not a few Ph.Ds are 
called "quants."

Actually at the beginning of this crisis way back when Bear Stearns closed 2 
hedge funds, WSJ and FT were filled with articles about how the "quants" got 
it wrong.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Les Schaffer" <schaffer at optonline.net>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States ofAmerica 
istheentire capitalist class!




From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 14:28:20 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:28:20 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States of
	Americaistheentire capitalist class!
References: <7b8a676d0810301704m2f18bbd4sfe409a620e0b1125@mail.gmail.com><2B670CAABD3642848B65FAA1AC038D20@dmsthinkpad><CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
	<8DABE75B-E2E6-4E15-AF53-6277C5333478@pipeline.com>
Message-ID: <85A2C17F082E4D4C9A16E5280116F672@dmsthinkpad>

No, Shane, you totally misunderstand the WSJ article, Buffet, and for better 
or worse, securities market.

This baloney about "value investing" for the long term, touted by its number 
one baloneyist, Benjamin Graham, is great if you buy, not the securities in 
the secondary markets, but the company itself in the negotiated market--  
with a "private" price.  This is what Buffett does with lesser success, 
according to the WSJ,  when he bought Salomon Bros. US Air, and Champion 
International.

He tries to follow the same position when buying securities, negotiating 
rights and warrants and prices that already discount downside, guaranteeing 
his position "primacy" in amounts and types of dividend payments; terms that 
are not available to the general public.  That's what value investing is all 
about.  And that's why, at the end of the market day, the "gap" between 
value investing, and the purchase of "distressed securities," and the gap 
between heroes like Buffett and villains like Trump, disappears.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shane Mage" <shmage at pipeline.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States of 
Americaistheentire capitalist class! 



From russo.matthew9 at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 14:32:22 2008
From: russo.matthew9 at gmail.com (Matthew Russo)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 13:32:22 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] Forward, comrades, to "socialism"
Message-ID: <1b7033e60811011332r35764cdaia68c819db7d0f0d5@mail.gmail.com>

The New Yorker, reporting from Fake America East on Sarah Palin, the Redneck
Welfare Queen:

For her part, Sarah Palin, who has lately taken to calling Obama "Barack the
Wealth Spreader," seems to be something of a suspect character herself. She
is, at the very least, a fellow-traveller of what might be called socialism
with an Alaskan face. The state that she governs has no income or sales tax.
I*nstead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies* that lease its oil
fields[what, they don't OWN the fields?!?]. The proceeds finance the
government's activities and *enable it to issue a four-figure annual check
to every man, woman, and child in the state*. [Multiple checks per family!!]
One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that *she added an
extra twelve hundred dollars to this year's check*, bringing the per-person
total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President,
she told a visiting journalist?Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine?that
"we're set up, unlike other states in the union, where it's *collectively
Alaskans own the resources*. So we *share in the wealth* when the
development of these resources occurs." Perhaps there is some meaningful
distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it ("collectively," no
less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.

 :-D :-D :-D Alaska seems like a genuine "worker's paradise", and Palin
sounds more "redistributive" than Obama the pinko-commie!

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/11/03/081103taco_talk_hertzberg

I can't recall a time before in my life where all the favorite terms have
gathered so thickly in the public ether as they have now.  Forward,
comrades, to "socialism" :-D :-D :-D

Now who was that who said that about history appearing second time as a
farce?

-Matt, from Fake America West

From shmage at pipeline.com  Sat Nov  1 14:38:40 2008
From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 16:38:40 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] 188 million registered to vote -- 80 percent of
	eligible total -- up 32 percent from 2004
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811011315v1b887de2t943f5147f366b55d@mail.gmail.com>
References: <B950937441B74EB79FB65C2BA9CAB1D2@office1pc>
	<908b689f0811011315v1b887de2t943f5147f366b55d@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <BD040503-3554-407A-9DF3-F9D30D1337B9@pipeline.com>


On Nov 1, 2008, at 4:15 PM, Ruthless Critic of All that Exists wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 7:56 AM, Fred Feldman <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net 
> > wrote:
>> Voter registration smashes records
>> States say 188 million have signed up to vote
> (November 1, 2004) Fox News Poll:
> Kerry 48%, Bush 45% (Registered Voters)


That poll is probably very very close to the actual vote (before the  
Repugnicon theft machine went into full operation).


Shane Mage

> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos


From schaffer at optonline.net  Sat Nov  1 14:46:58 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:46:58 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United
	States	ofAmerica	istheentire capitalist class!
In-Reply-To: <E126B2F5105940E4AFE39FC836D9F94E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <7b8a676d0810301704m2f18bbd4sfe409a620e0b1125@mail.gmail.com>
	<2B670CAABD3642848B65FAA1AC038D20@dmsthinkpad>
	<CFCC98495D5C4E22AC319A31382A5BAA@dmsthinkpad>
	<490CA566.3020205@optonline.net>
	<E126B2F5105940E4AFE39FC836D9F94E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <490CC042.7030603@optonline.net>

S. Artesian wrote:
> Entire "discipline" using algorithms to predict market movement, to detect 
> anomalies in markets and establish arbitrage positions, to establish 
> positions long and short, and hedge same.  The practitioners of this, many 
> of whom have backgrounds in mathematics, including not a few Ph.Ds are 
> called "quants."
>
> Actually at the beginning of this crisis way back when Bear Stearns closed 2 
> hedge funds, WSJ and FT were filled with articles about how the "quants" got 
> it wrong.


yea, i know, seen some good physics and math students head that way. 
i've been following the field from a distance for a few years, including 
one guy who thinks techniques from quantum field theory (QFT) is a good 
basis for predicting stock market volatility. the Border's comment: just 
found it interesting a. there was a larger selection of technical books 
in the econ and hedge section than in the physics and chemistry section 
and b. econ has their heroes just like physics and math have theirs. for 
the most part, i find the Einstein books a bore.

re/ quants: someone asked me a few years ago if i wanted to apply the 
QFT stuff to derivatives, because there were companies looking for new 
algorithms to price options. i had a few meetings to see what all the 
fuss was about, but dropped it out of sheer boredom and bewilderment 
that it was anything other than dice rolling (pacem Albert). maybe if i 
had stuck with it, marxmail would have its own super duper server, and i 
could be lying on the beach, earning 20% (line from Alan Rickman, in Die 
Hard). or better yet, i could have bought my own locomotive engine ...

speaking of capitalist class, i think this article will cause Lenin to 
resurrect next April:

    Despite Crisis, Wealthy Russians Are Buying Up Coastal Montenegro

    By DAN BILEFSKY
    Published: October 31, 2008

    BUDVA, Montenegro ? The global financial crisis has buffeted the
    balance sheets of Russia?s legion of billionaires. But suitcases of
    cash and Russian-owned luxury yachts keep arriving in this idyllic
    town on the Adriatic, helping Montenegro earn the nickname
    Moscow-on-the-Sea.

    Thanks largely to Russia, Montenegro receives more foreign
    investment per capita than any other country on the Continent.
    Russians are building a $310 million hotel and condominium complex
    on a rocky peninsula at Budva.

    Among the biggest investors is the Russian developer Vyentseslav
    Leibman, a young millionaire who is pressing ahead with investments
    of $310 million, including plans for a 27-floor modernist hotel,
    luxury seaside villas, docks for the pleasure boats of the Russian
    superrich and a water park for their children.

    The investment might seem daring given the way the economic downturn
    has hit several of his fellow wealthy Russians. But Mr. Leibman, a
    Muscovite who is managing partner at Mirax Group, the company owned
    by the Russian billionaire developer Sergei Polonsky, insists he can
    barely keep up with demand.

    He said more than half of the sprawling condominiums in Mirax?s new
    complex ? which sell for more than $10,400 per square foot and come
    with outdoor marble Jacuzzis ? had been sold to executives of giant
    Russian companies like Gazprom, Lukoil and VTB. They paid, he said,
    upfront and in cash.

    Despite the financial crisis, ?the money keeps coming,? said Mr.
    Leibman, who recently helped bring Madonna to perform in Budva to
    promote his development. ?And hopefully the global financial crisis
    will help sober up the cost of land here, which is now more
    expensive than in Monaco.?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/world/europe/01balkans.html


Les



From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sat Nov  1 15:22:15 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:22:15 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Marx's Questionnaire, was Re: Why Gay Marriage
References: <166949.89618.qm@web88007.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
	<490CAEE7.2C0C201A@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <490CC887.E8278598@ilstu.edu>

I came across the volume by accident. S.Artesian is correct. MECW 24, p.
328. My memory (as usual) was fairly fucked up but had some fragments
correct. It was shorter than I remember Ollman saying, but still quite
long: 4 sections totalling 99 questions, one of which has 6
sub-questions. The questions are all "thought" questions through which
the worker analyzes his/her own conditions and places them in some sort
of context. I have only browsed through it so far, but it looks
potentially powerful as a propaganda device in small grouo discussion.

Incidentally, and I'm going to be vague on this too. I remember reading
a brief report on an SDS (J.O.I.N.) project, I think in Baltimore, which
utilized some form of questionnaire in door-to-door canvassing and had
some success with it. This sort of thing should be kept in mind for when
a new movement with some coherence begins in the u.s. for various forms
of organizing -- but particularly, I think, for door-to-door work. I'm
only a pessimist in the short run (which since  I'm 78 is sort of the
long run for me personally). Ollman does point out in one book that real
periods of change ALWAYS catcvh everyone by surprise and are NEVER
predicted ahead of time.

Carrol

Carrol Cox wrote:
> 
> Pance Stojkovski wrote:
> >
> > >> Carrol Cox wrote
> > >> in fact Marx himself prepared a questionnaire of (if I
> > >> remember correctly) some 200 questions which was designed to
> > >> transform the person answering the questions.
> >
> > > David Pic?n ?lvarez wrote:
> > > Is this somewhere in the MIA? I'd be quite curious to
> > > read it.
> > >
> >
> > I'm curious too. I searched MIA and found this in Volume 24:
> > http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/volume24/index.htm
> >
> > but the relevant chapter has not been transcribed yet:
> > Workers' Questionnaire (Marx) - page 328.
> >
> > Is that it?
> 
> I don't know. What is the date? My fucking eyes are so bad I can't even
> read the volume #s clearly on the MECW, and I've apparently misplaced
> Vol. 24. As I remember Ollman's presentation, it was written during the
> last year or two of Marx's life. Jan is away for the weekend. When she
> returns I'll ask her to look through the volumes for it.
> 
> Carrol
> 
> >
> > pance.
> >
> > ________________________________________________
> > YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> > Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> > Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/cbcox%40ilstu.edu
> 
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
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From markalause at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 15:31:20 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 17:31:20 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <a06240800c53262d835b2@192.168.1.3>
References: <A4AD475A8DE44F6ABBD3CA575CF19FBF@office1pc>
	<490B3DDC.EA8BD166@ilstu.edu>
	<b16d8daf0810311247y342cffb2g440bd3e92c2baaa@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06240800c53262d835b2@192.168.1.3>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811011431o5821789ahbe722e75baea732b@mail.gmail.com>

Shawn Redden <wsredden at gmail.com> wrote:
> Careful, Comrade Lause.  Implying that LHO didn't do the deed leads
> one down a slippery slope of conspiracy theorism.
>

What I wrote was that the killer of Mayor Cermak, "Zangara is also
described, less credibly perhaps, as a 'patsy' a la Lee Harvey
Oswald."  I did not imply that Oswald was a patsy.

As an aside, at the time they were busily selling the financial
bailout, CNN interviewed one of the "experts."  He was himself
involved with blowing the bubble that had bursts as a financier, a
government functionary and a political advisor.  Told that many people
suspected collusion between capital, government and politicians, this
fellow dismissively brushed it all off as a "conspiracy theory."  This
jerk who, himself, embodied that kind of collusion and identified
himself as such, denied the hint of collusion as a "conspiracy
theorism."

How stupid are we?

On second thought, let's not even bother answering the question...

: - )

ML


From ppz at optusnet.com.au  Sat Nov  1 16:11:04 2008
From: ppz at optusnet.com.au (PPZ)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:11:04 +1100
Subject: [Marxism] Slideshow of Karachi rally against US imperialist bombing
	of	Pakistan
Message-ID: <1225577464.5719.21.camel@ppz-desktop>

http://www.asia-pacific-action.org/node/208



From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 17:38:06 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 19:38:06 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Last-minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <490CAF64.6030504@comcast.net>
References: <490CAF64.6030504@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811011638s5bdd04c6r4fd86ca007f3773b@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 3:35 PM, David McDonald <dbmcdonald at comcast.net> wrote:

> In any case, I'm voting for Obama because I want to be with these folks
> all the way on election night. It's too bad that Cynthia's campaign
> happened to run up against Obama's candidacy, because she is a very cool
> person, a serious radical politician and someone well worth working your
> ass off for under other circumstances, but I have stopped doing
> political work out of dutifulness. Tough for Cynthia, she deserves
> better, but that's no reason I have to bang my head against the wall
> this year.

Why can't you vote for McKinney *and* celebrate with these friends of
yours? I see no contradiction in doing so.


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sat Nov  1 17:38:33 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:38:33 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Few benefits for US yet from dollar rise,
 but dollar-borrowing countries squeezed
Message-ID: <480542750076489E917AABF102B70F36@office1pc>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100702
439.html
Few Seeing Usual Benefits of Rising Dollar
Normally, Americans Would Travel More and Imports Would Jump, but Caution
Rules the Day

By Mary Jordan and Karla Adam
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, November 1, 2008; A09



LONDON -- The value of the U.S. dollar has soared with unheard-of speed
against many currencies in recent weeks, but the global financial crisis has
altered the usual effects of such a spike.

Normally a rising dollar means more Americans traveling abroad and foreign
countries exporting more goods and services to the United States. But this
time, even though the dollar has gained about 25 percent against the euro
and the British pound since early August, few analysts said they expect to
see that happening anytime soon.

As Americans face recession and rising joblessness, fewer are tempted to
take overseas vacations or buy more imported goods. "In an ideal world, the
soaring dollar sounds wonderful" for British exports, "but quite frankly no
one is buying anything from anyone," said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist
at BGC Partners in London.

At the same time, the speed of the climb has brought debt problems almost
overnight to many struggling countries. Foreign governments and individuals
who borrowed in dollars are finding that the corresponding rapid decline of
their currencies against the dollar has made it harder, and in some cases
impossible, to buy enough dollars to keep up loan payments.

The International Monetary fund's emergency talks, including those with
Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine, have largely involved nations whose banks are
facing huge amounts of unpaid debts that are driven in part by the mismatch
of local currency income and foreign currency debt. Also, the euro has risen
against Eastern European currencies.

In Ukraine, where the hryvna has fallen to its lowest value since coming
into use in 1996, so many people have rushed to convert their savings into
dollars that many exchange offices ran out. About $3 billion worth of local
currency has been turned into dollars and euros, according to Sergiy
Kruglyk, a spokesman for the National Bank of Ukraine.

The dollar has strengthened significantly against the Indian rupee, the
Polish zloty -- nearly every currency except the Japanese yen.

While it may not make U.S. consumers rush out and buy cheaper imports,
analysts said it may make U.S. exports even harder to sell, because the
strong dollar tends to make them more expensive to foreigners. Also,
tourists may be less tempted to visit the United States -- already there are
signs that Canadians who frequently shopped in U.S. border cities are
staying home because goods are suddenly far pricier for them.

Like gyrations in world stock markets, the speed and unpredictability of
currency fluctuations have caught many by surprise. "We have really not seen
volatility of this magnitude -- it's jaw-dropping," said George Davis, chief
foreign exchange analyst for RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

Analysts attribute the rise of the dollar to a combination of factors,
including that investors in hard-hit emerging markets are increasingly
selling local shares and retreating into dollars, which are still widely
seen as safer than most currencies.

Alex Dunn, senior account manager at Caxton FX, a foreign exchange firm that
has seen a 400 percent surge in transactions, attributed the rush to the
dollar to the idea that while "America led us into the global recession,
they will lead us out."

Wheeldon offered a similar view. "When people think, 'Where should I put my
money?' and they see things like Iceland's currency falling off the cliff,
they say, 'Well, you have to put your money somewhere, why not the U.S.
dollar?' "

In India, another country seeing its currency's value dwindle against the
greenback, Rajesh Jain, vice president of Indian brokerage firm SMC Global
Securities, said that the new rates are throwing out textbook concepts that
the health of a currency generally reflects the health of its economy.

"Today's stronger dollar runs counter to all the widely held economic
theories. There is so much volatility, everything is in a state of flux.
What we are seeing is not related to reality."

Thomas Huene, economist for the Federation of German Industries, said that
even though the euro falling against the dollar should bring good news for
German cars and other exports, that may not happen. With the U.S. economy
contracting, he said, "the new exchange rate may prove to be just one drop
in the ocean."

China's yuan is pegged to the dollar, so Chinese companies are protected
against rapid currency swings in their dealings with the huge U.S. market.
Though the dollar's appreciation can undermine their goods' competitiveness
in non-dollar markets, it helps them import supplies from such places for
manufacturing. In sum, most exporters, settling their contracts in the U.S.
currency, have welcomed the dollar's rise.

But some are not counting on the dollar's bounce to last long and are trying
to get their clients to shift their payments over to other currencies. "The
rise of the exchange rate is temporary, like a momentary recovery of
consciousness just before death," said He Fan, an international finance
researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In Argentina, the peso's fall is contributing to fears of another national
debt default; when Comercial Mexicana, a retailing company that operates the
Costco chain in Mexico, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, it cited
$2 billion in losses related to the fall of the Mexican peso.

Simon Bradley, an executive vice president of Visit Britain who is based in
New York, said, the pound's drop against the dollar "has been so sudden,
consumers are waiting to see if this is real."

If the pound stays at around $1.60 to dollar, rather than the long-time
range of over $2, he said, the national tourist agency will incorporate the
favorable exchange rate into its January advertising campaign to try to lure
Americans to Britain.

Many Americans living abroad, including Carl Wheeling, 68, who spent 30
years in the U.S. Navy, are already enjoying the sudden heft of the dollar.
His pension check arrives in dollars in Soham, a town north of Cambridge,
England, and it's now "kind of a relief" to cash it into pounds. "It's
significant, no doubt about it."

When the pound peaked against the dollar in November 2007, it took $2.11 of
his pension money to buy a single pound. Thursday it required just $1.63.

In Paris, analysts said the rise of the dollar is so far too recent and
tenuous to have a substantial effect on tourism and exports. But they agreed
that whatever stimulation the rate change might provide has thus far been
eclipsed by the financial crisis and its effect on consumer psychology.

Philippe Marion, marketing director for the Barton and Guestier
wine-exporting firm in the Bordeaux region, said that most wine export
contracts are drawn up with an exchange rate fixed over an agreed time, such
as three months or a year. As a result, the recent shift in the euro-dollar
rate has not taken hold in wine sales.

In any case, Marion explained, the overriding factor for Bordeaux-region
wine exporters is that economic worries in the United States have for the
past several months already cut deeply into high-end exports.

Paul Roll, general director of the Paris Tourism and Convention Office, said
tourism has not yet seen an impact. "The real question is for the year
2009," he said.

For the time being, however, tourists seem few and far between. A
double-decker tourist bus pulling into Place Saint Michel on the Left Bank
on Tuesday, for instance, had only four passengers. But those American
tourists who did show up expressed satisfaction at seeing their dollars go a
little further to underwrite the traditionally high prices of Paris.

"It's wonderful," said a New Jersey woman at the entrance to the Sainte
Chapelle, the tiny 13th-century church famous for its stained glass windows.

Correspondents Edward Cody in Paris, Ariana Eunjung Cha in Shanghai and Rama
Lakshmi in New Delhi and special correspondent Shannon Smiley in Berlin
contributed to this report



From jonathan.flanders at verizon.net  Sat Nov  1 19:43:45 2008
From: jonathan.flanders at verizon.net (Jon Flanders)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:43:45 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] We Matter. You Don't!
Message-ID: <1225590225.5933.20.camel@localhost>

Or Why Who the F... Cares Who You Vote for if you don't live in Ohio. US
elections are in the final analysis a rigged game in a farcical circus.
The whole country holds its breath waiting on the collective wisdom
of a few rust bucket hamlets in rural Ohio.

I rather hope Obama wins the popular vote while McCain ekes out an
electoral college win. That would really make things interesting! 

In the absence of a mass workers party, we probably might just as well
throw darts at the ballot to pick a candidate.

Here's a question for the list. How long would you wait in line to cast
a ballot? Would you stand out there for eight hours like some folks
evidently are? 

Personally I just want this over with so we can figure out what to do
next given the lay of whatever land is left.

Jon Flanders


PERSPECTIVE | BOSTON UNCOMMON
We Matter. You Don't!
THIS WAS A HISTORIC CAMPAIGN IN SO MANY WAYS. TOO BAD FOR YOU WE HAD ALL
THE FUN HERE IN OHIO.

By CONNIE SCHULTZ  |  November 2, 2008

Every four years, Ohio becomes the center of the political universe. Oh
sure, there was a lot of chatter about Florida in 2000, but how many
times did you hear people complain that Florida wouldn't have mattered
if Al Gore hadn't pulled out of, you guessed it, Ohio?

All this attention on my home state is flattering, but its fickle nature
is a teeny bit insulting. We're a fascinating people all the time, not
just in presidential election years. Only in Ohio, for example, can you
find a giant Jesus rising out of the ground on Interstate-75 and then
drive less than one hour south to visit the birthplace for modern Reform
Judaism. That's serious diversity, but that's not what most people think
of when they hear "Ohio." Someone says "Ohio" and a lot of folks
immediately think "battleground state." Then again, some people hear
"Ohio" and think "Iowa." Must be all those vowels.

Here we are, though, on the brink of electing a new president and, once
again, we're a national obsession. We can't hiccup without someone
taking another poll here. Happens during every presidential race, and
we're a little hurt that most of the time you just fl y right over us,
but we welcome the renewed interest. We've had four years to grow lots
of opinions that we're just dying to share with the media.

Last month, Ohio was the hand-wringing center of attention in lengthy
stories in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and this newspaper. The
state hosted two days of NPR's Talk of the Nation, and our state capital
was the choice for CNN's focus group of independent voters who were
asked to weigh in on the second presidential debate. The majority of the
group said Obama won, but when asked who they would pick if they had to
cast their vote that night, a slight majority said McCain. Can't explain
it, and I was born here. We're just full of mystery.

Ohio is also the butt of a joke in a new episode of The Simpsons. On
Election Day, Homer tries desperately to cast his vote in Ohio for
Obama, but every time he presses the button the machine tells him he
just cast another vote for McCain. Homer, acting like your typical Ohio
State football fan, begins wrestling with the machine, which swallows
him up and spits him out like a wasted wad of tobacco. That scene would
be a lot funnier if I could only forget the bumper sticker I saw on a
car in Manhattan shortly after the 2004 election: Have you hit an Ohioan
lately? That hurt.

Speaking of New Yorkers, there are a lot of them volunteering in Ohio
right now, so this is a great time to find a parking space near that
Broadway show you've been aching to see. In fact, you can't walk 6 feet
without meeting someone from another state who's dropped everything to
work on the race here. I've noticed that Boston folks have a habit of
canvassing Cleveland neighborhoods in their Red Sox caps. Talk about
poking the bear. Most of the time, though, Midwestern manners prevail,
if you don't count the nasty exchange outside Obama headquarters in
Cleveland's Shaker Square. Only three people saw it, though, and I, for
one, will take that memory to my grave.

As always, Ohio is one of the top states for the number of political
ads. In one recent week alone, the candidates combined spent at a rate
of nearly $24,000 every hour on TV ads. Most of them are pretty negative
in a state where the unofficial motto is "God don't like ugly." This may
explain why so few people are making way for oncoming traffic lately.
It's also why you can't stand in line for five minutes at the local
pharmacy before total strangers start complaining about the negative
ads, quoting them from beginning to end with descriptions of every last
graphic. But nobody grouses that this is no place to be talking about
politics, because no such place exists in Ohio.

We are a battleground state, but we are also called the heartland, which
probably explains why my neighbors and I are still speaking. Six
households nearby put the same candidate's signs in their yards on the
same day. They know there's no way anyone in our house is supporting
their guy or their judgment, but they also know we won't let that get in
the way of the curbside chats and all-hands-on-deck chases when one of
the dogs gets loose.

We're neighbors before the election, and we'll be neighbors after it.
Life will go on here in Ohio, even if we're the only ones who will
notice.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain
Dealer in Cleveland. Send comments to magazine at globe.com. 



From mqduck at sonic.net  Sat Nov  1 10:48:19 2008
From: mqduck at sonic.net (Jeffrey Thomas Piercy)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:48:19 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] We Matter. You Don't!
In-Reply-To: <1225590225.5933.20.camel@localhost>
References: <1225590225.5933.20.camel@localhost>
Message-ID: <490C8853.6010400@sonic.net>

Jon Flanders wrote:
> Here's a question for the list. How long would you wait in line to cast
> a ballot? Would you stand out there for eight hours like some folks
> evidently are? 

I think it's somewhat important to"exercise your right" to vote. Not 
because our democracy isn't bullshit, but because it's a right the 
ruling class would rather do without. If they ever tried to take it 
away, we should be its first, strongest defenders.


-- 
Human: An animal so lost in loathing contemplation of what it thinks it 
is as to overlook what it ought to be.


From mqduck at sonic.net  Sat Nov  1 11:16:17 2008
From: mqduck at sonic.net (Jeffrey Thomas Piercy)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:16:17 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] Obama/Biden's statements against same sex marriage
 used	by right
In-Reply-To: <144521.802.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <144521.802.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <490C8EE1.3080108@sonic.net>

Adam Richmond wrote:
> I just received a mailing from the reactionary "Yes on 8" targeting African American voters.  It prominently features a photo of Barack Obama with one of his many quotes against gay marriage (I'm not in favor of gay marriage...) with Biden's on the back (Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.  We do not support that.)
> 
> Obama has come out against Prop 8, but this position is in contradiction to his overall policies opposing same sex marriage. 

I'm thinking the reason is not so much to point out Obama's sort-of 
opposition to gay marriage, as it is to frame the debate in terms of 
"redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage" in order to 
allow gay marriage, whereas this proposition is actually to *redefine* 
it to not include gay marriage. Or maybe they're just clutching at straws.


-- 
Human: An animal so lost in loathing contemplation of what it thinks it 
is as to overlook what it ought to be.


From jacdon at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 21:23:05 2008
From: jacdon at earthlink.net (JacDon)
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:23:05 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Activist Newsletter
Message-ID: <C5329559.9997%jacdon@earthlink.net>

The Nov. 1, 2008 edition of the Activist Newsletter
Is available at http://activistnewsletter.blogspot.com
 
1. Editorial: OBAMA THE SOCIALIST! ? The McCain/Palin red-baiting and
ultra-nationalism is a last refuge for these two scoundrels. And Obama is no
more a socialist than McCain.
 
2. Editorial: OBAMA AND THE ELECTION ? Most of the progressive and left
forces will vote for Obama but they are dreaming if they expect centrism to
really address the problems besetting our society and the world.
 
3. Editorial: OUR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT ?  Obama's obviously better than
McCain and we hope he wins, but there are alternatives on the left.
 
4. RECESSION AND CHANGE IN AMERICA ? This article attempts to tell the whole
story of the capitalist contretemps from a left perspective, and there's
even a semi-hopeful conclusion.
 
5. THE NEWS IN BRIEF ?Marijuana arrests; Many mammals face extinction;
Inequality kills; Mumia's appeal is rejected; Combat force deployed back
home for civil strife.
 
6. THE UN BACKS CUBA ONCE AGAIN ? Imperial hubris gets trounced for the 17th
time.
 
7. THE COST OF BOOTS ON THE GROUND ? It takes half a million dollars per
year to maintain each U.S. Army sergeant in combat in Iraq
 
8. CHECK IT OUT ?  Three short videos including Jackson Browne's new song
about Cuba.
 
 




From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 22:30:05 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 00:30:05 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Marxist hip hop
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0810012354k35830c4u2d9c820529b81dbc@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C4BE8DA0.7893%n.fredman.11@scu.edu.au>
	<908b689f0810012354k35830c4u2d9c820529b81dbc@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811012130s68a0654cj1623f3fcf3fe99cd@mail.gmail.com>

On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 2:54 AM, Ruthless Critic of All that Exists
<ok.president+marxml at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 9:07 AM, Nick Fredman <n.fredman.11 at scu.edu.au> wrote:
.
>>
>> Marxman was a group (of men) rather than a man, around in the early 90s.
>
>
>
> I recently came across the film "Cuban Hip Hop", which features many
> socialist-leaning Cuban hip hop artistes who support the Cuban
> revolution (while at times being sharply critical of Cuban social
> reality).
>
> A review of this film is at:
>
> <http://www3.arts.umich.edu/lounge/viewtopic.php?p=875#875>


On a related note:

The review of an autobiographical  performance by the Cuban-born
rapper  Julio Cardenas, who now lives in the Bronx (he moved to the
USA from Cuba in 2002), is here:

<http://www3.arts.umich.edu/lounge/viewtopic.php?p=946#946>

Really amazing. You should see him perform if you get a chance.


From johnaimani at earthlink.net  Sat Nov  1 22:37:50 2008
From: johnaimani at earthlink.net (johnaimani)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 21:37:50 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
Message-ID: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>

Ask any 'Marxist' how is it that class is determined and she/he will no doubt aver "Class is determined by ones relationship to the means of production".  Ask them what that means and they can't tell you.  These is a scientific analysis of class and that is that class is determined by the value-composition of the product one sells.

The constituents of value are c + v + s.  

Now c + v, in the hands of the capitalist, equal C (for Capital that can be used to purchase constant  (c) and varariable (v) capitals).

And v + s, when controlled by the worker, equal l (for the full value of the labor of the worker.). 

We are then led to this formulation of the classes:

Working Classes

    Wage-worker - v (the wage worker has only hir's labor-power (v)  to sell)

    Independent worker - c + l (the IW must have hir's own means of production (c) and owns the full value of hir's labor (l)

    Petit-Bourgeois - (c + l) + (v + s) (the PB owns the constant capital hir uses (c) and hir's own labor (l) + purchase the labor-power of hir's workers (v) and             owns the surplus produced by the worker (s))

Capitalist Classes

    Petit-Bourgeois - (c + l) + (v + s) (the PB owns the constant capital hir uses (c) and hir's own labor (l) + purchase the labor-power of hir's workers (v)                 and owns the surplus produced by the worker (s))

    Capitalist - C

        Industrial - (Cp) where p stands for enterprise profit
        Rent - (Cg) where g stands for ground-rent
        Financial - (Ci) where i stands for interest

It will be noted above that the PB lies in both classes, or rather is a hybrid of both classes.  This is so because hir's own labor (l) is necessary  to maintain hir (i.e. hir can neither maintain hir's position solely by hir's own work (in that case hir would be an IW); nor can hir maintain that position solely by exploiting wage-labor (in that case hir would be a capitalist).

From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 23:10:27 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 01:10:27 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] NYC judge blocks transfer of Argentine funds
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811012210y339cf62ambc112af73fd49bda@mail.gmail.com>

NYC judge blocks transfer of Argentine funds
Larry Neumeister. Associated Press. October 30, 2008
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--argentina-pension1030oct30,0,4610675.story

NEW YORK - A judge has blocked Argentina from transferring any of its
pension fund investments out of the United States until he hears next
week the complaints of bondholders who have a $553 million judgment
against the republic.

U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa signed an order directing the
U.S. Marshals Service to await his instructions before serving any
legal papers that would result in the transfer of funds.

Bondholders attorney Barry R. Ostrager said Thursday that his law
firm, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, sought the freeze order after
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez announced plans on Oct. 21 to
nationalize $23 billion in private pension fund assets to protect
retirement money from the global financial crisis.

"We're fairly confident some meaningful portion of those funds would
be in the United States," he said.

Ostrager said he was optimistic that the judge will continue the
freeze order after the hearing. He said it was likely the judge would
set a schedule for both sides to submit written arguments.

Ostrager said the freeze order does not prevent financial companies
from making their usual investment decisions related to the pension
funds assets as long as they are not moved out of the United States.

In court papers dated Wednesday, Ostrager said the freeze order was
necessary because "the republic is already taking steps to cause
nominally independent private pension fund managers to repatriate FJP
(10 private pension funds) overseas investments back to Argentina,
even prior to the nationalization legislation taking effect."

He added: "There is every reason to believe that the Republic will
orchestrate its plan to nationalize the investments or private pension
funds in a manner that serves to elude and frustrate this court's
judgments."

According to the court papers, the private pension funds own about $26
million in assets.

A lawyer for Argentina, Carmine D. Boccuzzi Jr., did not immediately
return a telephone message seeking comment Thursday.

Most Argentine political parties support Fernandez's plan because
across Latin America people are questioning the benefits of a 1990s
wave of privatizations advocated by Washington, which were seen to
benefit rich people with political connections who often ended up
buying companies on the cheap.

"The financial crisis has laid bare the frailty of the private
system," Labor Minister Carlos Tomada told lawmakers Tuesday.

Argentina's Social Security administrator said Tuesday that the funds
to be nationalized total $23 billion, not $30 billion as previously
announced by the government. He explained the $7 billion discrepancy
resulted from an initial overestimation of the funds held by the
private pension funds _ their nominal value was higher than their
market value


From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 23:26:10 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 01:26:10 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Chavez: Biz related to scandal may be expropriated
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811012226u5f54055fxd5cdc03cf0d0b926@mail.gmail.com>

Chavez: Biz related to scandal may be expropriated

By RACHEL JONES ? 5 hours ago

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? President Hugo Chavez on Saturday threatened
to expropriate a major Venezuelan company because of its owners' ties
to a scandal involving the seizure of a suitcase stuffed with $800,000
in cash.

A Miami jury is deliberating the case of Franklin Duran, a wealthy
businessman who was a partner in Industrias Venoco, CA, a company that
makes lubricants and other petroleum-based products in Venezuela's
central Carabobo state.

"The owners of this business, Venoco, are lending themselves to an
action against the fatherland in the United States," Chavez said.
"This business needs to be expropriated."

Telephone calls to Venoco's headquarters were not returned Saturday.

Duran has been accused of acting as an illegal foreign agent in the
U.S. to cover up the source and destination of the cash-filled
suitcase, which authorities seized last year in Argentina.

Prosecutors say Venezuela sent the cash as a gift to fund Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez's presidential election campaign. Both
Chavez and Fernandez have denied the allegation.

Duran's former Venoco business partner, Carlos Kauffmann, has
testified that he and Duran were tapped by the Venezuelan government
to quell the scandal by persuading Miami-based businessman and dual
Venezuelan-U.S. citizen Guido Antonini Wilson ? the man caught with
the suitcase ? to cover up the origins of the money. Duran claims he
was set up by the FBI and was not acting as Venezuela's agent.

The two men were equal partners in the petrochemical company but it's
unclear how many assets they now hold. Earlier this month, Kauffmann
testified that Venezuela had frozen his assets and bank accounts, but
was prevented from answering whether the same was true of Duran.

Speaking at an election event in Venezuela's oil-rich Zulia state
Saturday, Chavez suggested other oil-related businesses will also have
to clean up their act.

"Companies that lend services to PDVSA and have machinery, assets ?
no," he said, referring to the state oil company Petroleos de
Venezuela, SA. "They are full of corruption. They contaminate the
environment. Violate the laws."

He did not threaten any other companies with expropriation, but said
the building of socialism requires the "construction of a material
base."

"We've advanced a little, but only a little," he said.

Under Chavez, Venezuela has nationalized major players in the steel,
electricity and cement sectors ? and has taken majority control of
four major oil projects ? in the past two years.


From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Sat Nov  1 23:33:09 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 01:33:09 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Bolivia: Compromise agreement allows progress
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811012233q5f109368ke9cff3c6c20fcf7e@mail.gmail.com>

Bolivia: Compromise agreement allows progress

Herve Do Alto, La Paz
31 October 2008
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/773/39855

There is no doubt that October 21, 2008, will go down as a historic
day for the Bolivian people.

Around midday, as parliamentarians were sealing an agreement for a
referendum on the new draft constitution ? set for January 25 ?
emotions swept through Plaza Murillo, the site of the parliament and
presidential palace, and where indigenous and peasant organisations
had gathered following their week-long march on La Paz.

On the platform, various leaders, among them Fidel Surco, president of
the National Coalition for Change (CONALCAM), and Pedro Montes,
executive secretary of the Bolivian Workers' Central (COB), hugged
Bolivian President Evo Morales, who had participated for all of the
previous night in the vigil in front of Congress ? together with
thousands of gathered peasants.

Far from being triumphalist following Morales's crushing victory in
the August 10 recall referendum with 67.4% of the vote, the governing
Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) sought to solve the nation's
political crisis, which had brought the constituent process to a halt,
via a political pact with the opposition.

This was not without its costs. Various concessions were necessary
over a wide range of issues.

Among them, over departmental autonomy ? the banner of the Santa Cruz
elites. These departments will now have greater powers, compared to
those provided in the original draft of the New Political Constitution
of the State (NCPE).

Another conflictive issue was land. A specific referendum has been
approved to be held alongside the main constitution vote on January 25
has been approved, and the vote will define whether the maximum legal
extension of land in Bolivia will be 5000 or 10,000 hectares, the law
will not be retrospective.

In other words, the currently existing large landowners will not be
affected, providing they can prove they use the land for a useful
"social and economic function".

Perhaps, however, the biggest concession does not directly have to do
with the text as such, but rather the agreement that Morales will not
stand for a second term if he wins the scheduled December 2009
elections.

Betrayal? Excessive concessions? Mere realpolitiks?

What's true is that among the most radical Morales supporters ? and
his opponents from the left ? some feelings of deception have
potentially emerged after seeing important modifications introduced to
the constitutional text adopted on December 14, 2007 by the elected
constituent assembly.

They now see the year-and-a-half long work of this assembly being
de-legitimised by a Congress capable of reaching a consensus that was
never possible in the constitutional assembly sessions.

Yet, despite the rewriting of more than 140 articles, some key
elements, such as state control over natural resources, suffered
nearly no changes. With the approval of the text, together with the
epic march that accompanied it, a feeling of having won a popular
victory permeates the social organisations.

Moreover, the government also achieved something fundamental: the
opposition has come out of the last two months of struggle totally
worn down.

The tensions that built up over the last few months, between (part of)
the parliamentary right inclined towards playing the democratic game
and violent autonomist groups bunkered down in the east, has led to a
clear fracture.

The parliamentarians of the right-wing Podemos party, who participated
in the signing of the agreement, have been declared traitors to the
Santa Cruz autonomist cause.

And it is very probable that part of the opposition will now campaign
for a text that, only months ago, they had no qualms in denouncing as
"a constitution stained in blood".

Today, more than ever, the MAS faces a divided right, devoid of any
project for the country and whose radical factions seemed to be
temporarily neutralised.

Within this panorama, the government's strategy has the appearance of
a wager ? one surely much more sensible than the wager that the
constituent assembly would offer a "government-opposition pact"
solution to the crisis back in 2006.

Without rivals, and having won hegemony over the popular camp, the
path seems completely open for Morales, whose victory in 2009 appears
to all to be self-evident.

Out of next year's elections, a parliamentary majority could emerge
capable of supporting a plan of radical reforms ? reforms until now
held back by the opposition-controlled Senate.

The history of Latin American constitutions is fundamentally one of
ambitious texts whose application was almost always determined by the
relationship of forces.

While the constitution has provisionally left some of the demands of
the popular movement unsatisfied, perhaps it is Bolivia's turn to
demonstrate in the next few years that radical and efficient public
policies can be more decisive in a process of change than a magna
carter potentially confined to a piece of paper.

For now, this is the hope of those who continue believing in the
capacity of this government to carry out the ambitions of social
transformation expressed by the social movements since the Cochabamba
"water wars" in 2000 ? the first mass resistance by the Bolivian
people to the neoliberal order.

[Herve Do Alto is a member of the French Revolutionary Communist
League (LCR), currently living in Bolivia and studying the MAS.]


From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 00:30:15 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 08:30:15 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811012330y76b26db9n675f892c474cdd26@mail.gmail.com>

Louis wrote:.







But, Yossi, there are major differences among us about what parties
are "kosher". You think that both Nader and Obama are pork, but I do not.



Well Louis



First of all the debate was on Osama and you justify your line  by the fact
we have a disagreement about other less central  imperialist parties like
the Green party. In the court this unacceptable tactic is called change the
front.

 Speaking of those lesser parties . I do not know who is your Rabi who told
you that a piglet is  not a pig but kindof a chicken and Kosher, but I take
my ideas from Trotsky on this question. I know it was than, and he is death
and many shredded his ideas to dast  to find their way under the sun of the
imperialists, but for people like me who take the idea of working class
revolution very seriously, his ideas on this question and many others are
priceless.



Millions of oppressed people around the world that hate US imperialism,
watch whether there is any opposition to the imperialist system. Since their
skin is dark, and their immediate corrupted local rulers' skin is dark, they
are not impressed by the fact that Osama or any one else skin is dark. Nor
are they impressed by  the fact the white Liberals are calling to vote for
an imperialist with a dark skin.

They prefer whites the kind of John Brown.



Nor would the American black and Latin American mass would be impressed  with
their  white "Friends" who called  to vote  for an imperialist  candidate
once he will be in power and his politics will crash their misplaced hopes.

From jordanlmartinez at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 01:59:56 2008
From: jordanlmartinez at gmail.com (Jordan M)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 00:59:56 -0700
Subject: [Marxism]  US Elections And Effective Strategies
Message-ID: <ecca4ca90811020059qb6dfb99pc025defed4fb35c@mail.gmail.com>

Hi, this is my first post so I hope it's efficient in bringing about good
dialogue rather than sectarianism- but here goes.
Recently many posts have been sent out over the issue of the working class
and the popular front, mainly these topics have centered around the upcoming
elections.

What I wondered was some of the votes that were coming out of the mail list,
McKinney, Nader, Obama, Ron Paul, other, none?

I for one am not eligible to vote but am campaigning for a Nader vote out of
the belief that it is the most effective way to bring a section of the
working class to the left and to an indictment of the capitalist system. Are
there any other thoughts out there on this topic? I'm sure there are, either
way thanks for reading this.

From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 01:22:23 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:22:23 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Israel is to build a very impressive new museum for
	tolerance in Jerusalem
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811020122j4dcdd09dvd592df89e58d11b0@mail.gmail.com>

. The small problem is, that it is going to be built  in the parking lot  on
 Agron Street,that used to be a Moslem's cemetery. It was destroyed as a
Moslem cemetery in 1948 when the Zionist gangs expelled most of the
Palestinians from their homeland.  The Zionist mass media expressed great
surprise to the Moslem's  opposition to built a Museum for tolerance. "It
shows," thus the Zionist propaganda claims. " How intolerance is Islam". We
now expect that Germany will built in Auschwitz a museum for the  great
advance of Medicine and  the big surprise of the German capitalist  mass
media to the protests by Anti Nazis. The headline reading "The animals who
oppose medical advance".

From aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm  Sun Nov  2 01:32:32 2008
From: aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm (Aaron Aarons)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 01:32:32 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
 you have to decide what is a social class.
In-Reply-To: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>
References: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>
Message-ID: <20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>

There are a couple of problems with this.

1) Mathematically, adding c to v and/or s makes no sense, since c is a measure of value while v and s are measures of value per unit time. It's like adding miles and miles per hour.

2) More important is that, if value is measured by socially necessary labor time, it is sometimes the case that v, the value of the goods bought by the workers' wage, is greater than the total value of the product created by the worker's labor. This is due to unequal exchange, which is usually a reflection of imperialist exploitation but can also be the result of monopoly.

In other words, surplus value can be negative and the capitalist can still make a profit.

 - Aaron

>From: "johnaimani" <johnaimani at earthlink.net>
>Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 21:37:50 -0700
>
>Ask any 'Marxist' how is it that class is determined and she/he will no doubt aver "Class is determined by ones relationship to the means of production".  Ask them what that means and they can't tell you.  These is a scientific analysis of class and that is that class is determined by the value-composition of the product one sells.
>
>The constituents of value are c + v + s. 
>
>Now c + v, in the hands of the capitalist, equal C (for Capital that can be used to purchase constant  (c) and varariable (v) capitals).
>
>And v + s, when controlled by the worker, equal l (for the full value of the labor of the worker.).
>
>We are then led to this formulation of the classes:
>
>Working Classes
>
>    Wage-worker - v (the wage worker has only hir's labor-power (v)  to sell)
>
>    Independent worker - c + l (the IW must have hir's own means of production (c) and owns the full value of hir's labor (l)
>
>    Petit-Bourgeois - (c + l) + (v + s) (the PB owns the constant capital hir uses (c) and hir's own labor (l) + purchase the labor-power of hir's workers (v) and             owns the surplus produced by the worker (s))
>
>Capitalist Classes
>
>    Petit-Bourgeois - (c + l) + (v + s) (the PB owns the constant capital hir uses (c) and hir's own labor (l) + purchase the labor-power of hir's workers (v)                 and owns the surplus produced by the worker (s))
>
>    Capitalist - C
>
>        Industrial - (Cp) where p stands for enterprise profit
>        Rent - (Cg) where g stands for ground-rent
>        Financial - (Ci) where i stands for interest
>
>It will be noted above that the PB lies in both classes, or rather is a hybrid of both classes.  This is so because hir's own labor (l) is necessary  to maintain hir (i.e. hir can neither maintain hir's position solely by hir's own work (in that case hir would be an IW); nor can hir maintain that position solely by exploiting wage-labor (in that case hir would be a capitalist).



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 04:44:54 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 03:44:54 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
Subject: [Marxism] Bolivia: Compromise agreement allows progress
Message-ID: <1932107.1225626294455.JavaMail.root@mswamui-valley.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

In addition to the political arrangments which Latin America's
first indigenoug president has made, there are a few other items
of consequence on his table. First, the struggle against drought
and beyond that the struggle with cocaine. PL's report tells us
about the first, IKN's about the second. Washington's termination
of the trade prefernces with Bolivia, announced a month ago and
implemented a few days ago have gone largely remarked in the U.S. 
media. Perhaps it's because, when compared with the situation in
Colombia, as IKN reports, it's a difference they'd rather note 
have close public attention paid to. In addition, AFP presents
additional details on the struggle against cocaine in Bolivia.

In these struggles, Evo Morales deserves our fullest support.

ECONOMIST on Colombia: Not that hard, when any body will do.
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=12522940


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
===================================================================


Bolivia Declares Drought Emergency

La Paz, Nov 1(Prensa Latina) The municipal governments of 17 southern
Bolivian territories are taking measures Saturday as part of the
emergency state decreed due to an intense drought.

In accordance with Water Minister Rene Orellana, the executive has
assigned two million dollars to drill new wells and help with other
needs of the regions of Tarija, Chuquisaca and Santa Cruz.

Those resources, he said, would come from international cooperation
and would be administered through the Social Prevention Fund.

The government will intervene quickly in the region of Chaco to
cooperate with people affected in a combined action between the
Ministry of Defense and its Vice Ministry of Civil Defense, he added.

For his part, the director of Attention to Disasters and Emergencies,
General Freddy Blanco, stated that the Emergency Operation Center was
activated.

The last reports claimed that 7,000 families were affected by the
lack of water, said Blanco.

A report of the Direction of Emergencies and Aid of the Vice Ministry
of Civil Defense and Cooperation to Integral Development, pointed out
that during the months of September and October, there was a greater
incidence of drought, affecting cattle breeding and agriculture.

The weather report of the National Service of Meteorology and
Hydrology indicates that there is a deficit of precipitation in 70
percent of the highland, valleys and in Chaco.

iom tac ga

PL-3

11/1/08

The Government of Evo Morales and the Fight Against Cocaine

http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2008/11/government-of-evo-morales-and-fight.html

Today at Chimor?, Cochabamba, Evo inspected the troops that have
cleared 5000ha of coca plantations from Bolivian soil this year and
announced he was kicking out the DEA

The US government is trying to paint the Bolivia of Evo Morales as
some sort of friend to the Cocaine business and enemy of....well
everything, really. So riddle me this one:

Bolivia's Special Force to Fight Cocaine (FELCN) is the body in
charge of fighting drug trafficking. Here's a list of its cocaine
seizure tonnages for the first 10 months of the years 2005 to 2008:

2005: 11.3 metric tonnes (MT) of cocaine/coca paste seized by FELCN

2006: 14.0 metric tonnes (MT) of cocaine/coca paste seized by FELCN

2007: 14.8 metric tonnes (MT) of cocaine/coca paste seized by FELCN

2008: 25.5 metric tonnes (MT) of cocaine/coca paste seized by FELCN

This isn't some list of made-up numbers. We are talking documented
seizures by a bunch of brave police officers that are up against very
organized armed gangs.

Next productive acreage:

2000: 14,000 hectares

.

.

2004: 27,700 hectares

2005: 25,400 hectares

2006: 27,500 hectares

2007: 25,000 hectares

2008: 22,000 hectares

These are the official numbers, but it's widely assumed that in
Bolivia there are around 5,000 extra hectares to add to each year's
total. This means that, according to the International Crisis Group's
2008 report "Latin American Drugs I: Losing the Fight" (a copy
available from Otto on request) there is around 100MT of potential
cocaine production in Bolivia in 2008, if you subtract the 12,000
hectares of coca that is grown for traditional uses such as chewing,
infusions and ceremonies.

This means that, roughly, Bolivia is producing around 100MT of
cocaine and 25.5MT of it gets seized, which compares, for example,
with Peru's potential production of 300MT, its probable production of
196MT (according to the UN) and its 25MT of cocaine seizures this
year. Don't even get me started on the world's number one player
Colombia, responsible for over 60% of the world's cocaine (maybe 750
to 800MT right now, of which only a tiny fraction gets seized).

Ready for the big finale? Evo Morales became President of Bolivia on
January 22nd 2006. Yep, that's right; since Doctor Morales assumed
the presidency cocaine production acreage has dropped by 20% and
cocaine seizures have more than doubled. We do hear from the UN that
absolute cocaine production rose 5% in Bolivia last year, even though
hectares under cultivation dropped. This because the narcos are using
more intensive farming techniques and hybrids that produce more
alkaloids. However in the same period Colombia's cocaine production
rose by no less than 27%! And remember, this is the country that the
USA has donated U$6.7Bn to for its "Plan Colombia" war on drugs this
decade (Colombia now has 50% more area under cultivation since 2000).
But back to Bolivia, and if cocaine production goes up about 5MT in a
year and cocaine seizures go up by 10.7MT in the same period, doesn't
that mean Evo Morales is winning the war on drugs in his little
patch?

No wonder Evo is kicking out the DEA; wherever they go drug
production increases, and wherever they leave it goes down. For
another example, check out the enormous drop in heroin production in
the far eastern golden triangle in the brief period when the Taliban
had control, and look at the production figures since the DEA got
back into town.

I wonder why...........
===================================================================

Morales halts US anti-drug efforts in Bolivia 
14 hours ago

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hq_vqrJ3osGsMyOTY_m1t4_MvneA

LA PAZ (AFP) ? President Evo Morales has said he is suspending the
work of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Bolivia, accusing
it of having encouraged political unrest that killed 19 people in
September.

The US government rejected the accusations as "absurd" and warned
that an end to US-Bolivian cooperation would only result in increased
violence and drug trafficking.

"From today all the activities of the US DEA are suspended
indefinitely," the Bolivian leader said in the coca-growing region of
Chimore, in the central province of Chapare, where he was evaluating
efforts to combat drug trafficking.

"Personnel from the DEA supported activities of the unsuccessful coup
d'etat in Bolivia," Morales said, referring to fighting in five of
the country's nine departments in September that resulted in 19
deaths.

Morales said DEA agents had been "conducting political espionage to
fund criminal groups" who aimed at "attacks on the lives of
(government) officials, and the president himself."

He also directly accused DEA officials of disrupting government
activities during the unrest in September by "funding civic leaders
with the aim of sabotaging airports in eastern Bolivia ... to prevent
visits from (government) officials."

"We have the obligation to defend the dignity and sovereignty of the
Bolivian people," Morales said at the airport in Chimore, where an
anti-drug base funded in the 1990s by the United States is located.

Morales did not say whether he would order DEA staff to leave
Bolivia, as coca-growers have asked him to do. The growers had
already forced officials of the US Agency for International
Development to halt their operations in two provinces where the aid
agency was seeking to help growers find alternatives to raising coca.

"We reject the accusation that DEA or any other part of the US
government supported the opposition or conspired against the Bolivian
government," US State Department spokesman Karl Duckworth told AFP.

"These accusations are false and absurd and we deny them. We value
our relationship with the Bolivian security forces in combatting
narcotics production and trafficking," he said.

"Should US cooperation be ended, more narcotics will be produced and
shipped from Bolivia. The corrupting effects, violence and tragedy
which will result will mainly harm Bolivia as well as the principal
consumers of Bolivian cocaine in the neighboring Latin American
countries, Europe and West Africa."

The US embassy in Bolivia has also denied that DEA and USAID were
conducting political work in the country.

In Washington, the DEA reacted swiftly to the Morales announcement.

"It's an unfortunate situation and an unfortunate decision on his
part," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney told AFP.

He added that there had been dialogue for the past three months with
Bolivian officials over the future of the agency's work in the
country, and acknowledged that the DEA was initially asked to leave a
forward operating base.

Courtney would not be drawn on whether DEA believed Morales ordered
the suspension as a result of Washington placing Bolivia on a
blacklist of drug-transit or drug-producing countries in
mid-September for failing to live up to their obligations to battle
the narcotics trade.

"We have had a great working relationship with our counterparts there
for over 30 years," he said.

President George W. Bush had written in a finding released September
16 that Bolivia joined Myanmar and Venezuela, which were already on
the list in 2007, as countries that "failed demonstrably" in that
regard.

Just five days before Bush put Bolivia on the blacklist, Morales had
ordered the expulsion of the US ambassador, Philip Goldberg, after
accusing him of encouraging division in the country by backing
opposition figures.

In a briefing before leaving La Paz, Goldberg warned that Bolivia,
which receives 100 million dollars a year in US aid to anti-drug
efforts, could expect "serious consequences" for starting a
diplomatic row with the United States.

Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, has served as the
leader of the Bolivian coca-growers union. The coca plant, from which
cocaine is derived, has many uses in traditional Andean culture.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sun Nov  2 05:41:18 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:41:18 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] What does this election signify?
Message-ID: <2D1B5B8129354706BABB3356197056D1@office1pc>

I will be voting for McKinney and Clemente on the Green Party ticket this
Tuesday in New Jersey.

I also have said that I think the election of Obama is preferable not on a
"lesser evil" basis but as reflection of new setbacks to racism, and of
changing moods somewhat more in our direction in broad strata of youth and
working people. 

I feel strong solidarity with the drive among the Black people of the United
States, which is near universal and of high intensity, to get a Black
elected president this year. That fight is a legitimate one, and an
inevitable and just one.  And it is a good thing that large numbers of
Latinos, Asians, and whites, including millions of working people, have
rallied to it.

It remains important to fight any and all efforts to influence the outcome
through denial of the right to vote to Blacks and Latinos, and other
violations of voting rights. In the actual history of the class and social
struggles, in the United States, an Obama victory will be forward, not
backward, motion. 

But at the same time, it will resolve nothing.

Most fundamentally, what is being decided in this election is the same issue
decided in every election in the history of the United State -- which
representative of the class enemy will oppress working and oppressed people
for the next four years. Despite the progressive political motion that has
been reflected in support for the Obama campaign, he is the candidate of an
imperialist party to govern the United States in the interests of US
imperialism, which means against the oppressed and exploited people of the
United States, who constitute a sizable majority. 

This is indicated by such things as his support for the continued presence
of US troops in Iraq and his plan to intensify the war in Afghanistan, and
to get the US more involved in conflict in Pakistan.

It is shown by the hostility he has voiced to the regimes in Bolivia,
Venezuela and Cuba (despite his promises to ease aspects of the  economic
blockade of Cuba, a brutal act against the people of Cuba, and an act of
aggression that violates international law. 

It is also indicated by the indications he is dropping about the need for
"belt-tightening" to pay for the costs of the wars and for the enormous
gifts to the billionaires -- with more coming apparently for the auto
industry. 

There is no reason to doubt that we will be having to fight Obama, assuming
he is elected, as we have had to fight his predecessors in the office. And
this is an experience that the working people of the United States,
including the Black community, will have to go through as well.

We are undoubtedly going to have to resist powerful pressures that are going
to come down to convince us that we have to do "our share" to pay for their
"deficit." The rulers never care about the deficit when it comes to
organizing huge government expenditures on themselves, but which they choose
to get all upset about when it comes to our health care, wages, pensions,
education, environment, and so on.


We are in a sharply changing situation and firm predictions about exactly
what will happen next are on shaky ground. But one basic thing said by
Marxist list contributor Craig Bozefsky (a comrade on the Marxism List who
disagreed with my estimation of the motion around the Obama campaign) is
absolutely true: We will have to be fighting for what we have and need,
whoever is elected. And the poor and oppressed of this country will keep
nothing and gain nothing, especially in the context of economic fissures and
breakdowns in the system which are still deepening. without a struggle.
Fred Feldman



From jonflanders at jflan.net  Sun Nov  2 05:47:19 2008
From: jonflanders at jflan.net (Jon Flanders)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:47:19 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] US Elections And Effective Strategies
In-Reply-To: <ecca4ca90811020059qb6dfb99pc025defed4fb35c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <ecca4ca90811020059qb6dfb99pc025defed4fb35c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <1225630039.5203.6.camel@localhost>


On Sun, 2008-11-02 at 00:59 -0700, Jordan M wrote:

> 
> What I wondered was some of the votes that were coming out of the mail list,
> McKinney, Nader, Obama, Ron Paul, other, none?
> 
> I for one am not eligible to vote but am campaigning for a Nader vote out of
> the belief that it is the most effective way to bring a section of the
> working class to the left and to an indictment of the capitalist system. Are
> there any other thoughts out there on this topic? I'm sure there are, either
> way thanks for reading this.

Thanks for posting this question Jordan. You've hit on the most
important question by far. Who or what do you CAMPAIGN for? 

This is way more critical than who you cast an individual ballot for.

I think a lot of us on this list would agree that CAMPAIGNING and
ADVOCATING  a vote for Nader is a start towards the critical step of the
working class ending it's support for the corporate Democratic Party and
establishing it's own party to represent the class interest of the
workers.

Jon Flanders






From brandelune at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 05:54:24 2008
From: brandelune at gmail.com (JC Helary)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 21:54:24 +0900
Subject: [Marxism] What does this election signify?
In-Reply-To: <2D1B5B8129354706BABB3356197056D1@office1pc>
References: <2D1B5B8129354706BABB3356197056D1@office1pc>
Message-ID: <291DF86E-92D5-4096-837D-420505515503@gmail.com>


On dimanche 02 nov. 08, at 21:41, Fred Feldman wrote:

> This is indicated by such things as his support for the continued  
> presence
> of US troops in Iraq and his plan to intensify the war in  
> Afghanistan, and
> to get the US more involved in conflict in Pakistan.


I've always found his support for the action in Afghanistan a little  
bit phony.

It sounds like he needs to say "yes" to Afghanistan to sound  
legitimate in saying "no" (a relative "no") to Irak.

For me it is all gesticulations to appease the military maniacs while  
he focuses on the economic issues that are more likely to seat him at  
the White House.

I mean, it is not like he based his campaign on military/foreign  
issues did he ?

Jean-Christophe Helary



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 06:08:05 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 08:08:05 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
References: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>
	<20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <2D8D2DA76BE9431794782C893A60A0E2@dmsthinkpad>

In reference to 1:  Marx uses  "c+v+s" extensively.  That is in fact how he 
defines the value of a commodity, is it not?   c,v,s are in fact all made 
equivalent through their expression in money terms, in their exchange, with 
the s hidden by the wage form.

2. Can you provide an example of this negative surplus yielding a capitalist 
profit?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aaron Aarons" <aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 3:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class, you have to 
decide what is a social class.




From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 06:12:10 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:12:10 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811012330y76b26db9n675f892c474cdd26@mail.gmail.co
 m>
References: <685ad9b30811012330y76b26db9n675f892c474cdd26@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20081102131213.BA488D6BC@mailbackend.panix.com>

Yossi wrote:
>  Speaking of those lesser parties . I do not know who is your Rabi who told
>you that a piglet is  not a pig but kindof a chicken and Kosher, but I take
>my ideas from Trotsky on this question.

I wasn't aware that Trotsky ever had anything to say about Ralph Nader. 



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 06:25:18 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:25:18 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Lenin's Tomb on the Congo
Message-ID: <20081102132543.65C95DBD5@mailbackend.panix.com>

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2008/10/congo-whitey-to-rescue.html



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 06:46:55 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 08:46:55 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] What does this election signify?
Message-ID: <26224934.1225633615422.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

If Obama is elected, and can't be assume by now, it would
resolve the question of whether or not a Black person could
be elected president of the United States of America, quite
a matter indeed, and a hell of a lot more than "nothing".

Obama's task, the one he's chosen to conduct, and the one
whom his wealthy backers want him to carry out, is a modest
but important change in the style and tone of capitalist 
rule in the United States, with various implications for
the world. 

Should the United States of American continue to be feared,
hated and reviled by masses of people throughout the planet,
and is that good or bad for U.S. capitalist business in the
world today? Or should a slightly lower and somewhat less
combative profile serve the interests of US capitalism in 
a better way? That's the difference as I see it. And that's
what at stake, a lot more than nothing, certainly from the
viewpoint of smaller less powerful states and peoples. Not
socialism, not which class shall rule. That's settled and
it already was settled before the campaign began.

It would be nice if there were decent protest votes for
McKinney and Nader in other places, though not enough to 
prevent Obama from willing, and thus cause liberals after
the election to blame McKinney or Nader for their loss as
they did in 2000. But this is all vague and uncertain from
my perspective here in Los Angeles. Support for McKinney
and Nader would indicate a layer who would be able to open
up protests sooner than those who'd supported Obama, and
whose whose expectations Obama is now trying to dampen.

And wouldn't it be nice of one or more of those three
Cuban exile militants in Florida got knocked out, and also
if Cindy Sheehan got a surprisingly large turnout?

Anyway, that's enough of my thinking out loud this morning.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

Fidel Castro wrote earlier in the campaign:

In his speech, Obama portrays the Cuban revolution as anti-democratic 
and lacking in respect for freedom and human rights. It is the exact 
same argument which, almost without exception, U.S. administrations 
have used again and again to justify their crimes against our country. 
The blockade, in and of itself, is an act of genocide. I don?t want 
to see U.S. children inculcated with those shameful values.

An armed revolution in our country might not have been needed without 
the military interventions, Platt Amendment and economic colonialism 
visited upon Cuba.
------------------------------
I am not questioning Obama?s great intelligence, his debate skills or
his work ethic. He is a talented orator and is ahead of his rivals in
the electoral race. I feel sympathy for his wife and little girls,
who accompany him and give him encouragement every Tuesday. It is
indeed a touching human spectacle. Nevertheless, I am obliged to
raise a number of delicate questions. I do not expect answers; I wish
only to raise them for the record.

The only form of cooperation the United States can offer other nations 
consist in the sending of military professionals to those countries. 
It cannot offer anything else, for it lacks a sufficient number of 
people willing to sacrifice themselves for others and offer substantial 
aid to a country in need (though Cuba has known and relied on the 
cooperation of excellent U.S. doctors). They are not to blame for this, 
for society does not inculcate such values in them on a massive scale. 

We have never subordinated cooperation with other countries to 
ideological requirements. We offered the United States our help when 
hurricane Katrina lashed the city of New Orleans. Our internationalist 
medical brigade bears the glorious name of Henry Reeve, a young man, 
born in the United States, who fought and died for Cuba?s sovereignty 
in our first war of independence.

http://www.walterlippmann.com/fc-05-25-2008.html
=========================================================
FRED FELDMAN writes:
I also have said that I think the election of Obama is preferable not on a
"lesser evil" basis but as reflection of new setbacks to racism, and of
changing moods somewhat more in our direction in broad strata of youth and
working people. 
-----------------------------------------------
But at the same time, it will resolve nothing.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 06:57:55 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:57:55 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] How did we get suckered into this?
Message-ID: <20081102135800.61D35D236@mailbackend.panix.com>

NY Times, November 2, 2008
The Reckoning
 From Midwest to M.T.A., Pain From Global Gamble
By CHARLES DUHIGG and CARTER DOUGHERTY

"People come up to me in the grocery store and say, 'How did we get 
suckered into this?' "

? Marc Hujik, of the Kenosha, Wis., school board

On a snowy day two years ago, the school board in Whitefish Bay, 
Wis., gathered to discuss a looming problem: how to plug a gaping 
hole in the teachers' retirement plan.

It turned to David W. Noack, a trusted local investment banker, who 
proposed that the district borrow from overseas and use the money for 
a complex investment that offered big profits.

"Every three months you're going to get a payment," he promised, 
according to a tape of the meeting. But would it be risky? "There 
would need to be 15 Enrons" for the district to lose money, he said.

The board and four other nearby districts ultimately invested $200 
million in the deal, most of it borrowed from an Irish bank. Without 
realizing it, the schools were imitating hedge funds.

Half a continent away, New York subway officials were also being 
wooed by bankers. Officials were told that just as home buyers had 
embraced adjustable-rate loans, New York could save money by 
borrowing at lower interest rates that changed every day.

For some of the deals, the officials were encouraged to rely on the 
same Irish bank as the Wisconsin schools.

During the go-go investing years, school districts, transit agencies 
and other government entities were quick to jump into the global 
economy, hoping for fast gains to cover growing pension costs and 
budgets without raising taxes. Deals were arranged by armies of 
persuasive financiers who received big paydays.

But now, hundreds of cities and government agencies are facing 
economic turmoil. Far from being isolated examples, the Wisconsin 
schools and New York's transportation system are among the many 
players in a financial fiasco that has ricocheted globally.

The Wisconsin schools are on the brink of losing their money, 
confronting educators with possible budget cuts. Interest rates for 
New York's subways are skyrocketing and contributing to budget woes 
that have transportation officials considering higher fares and 
delaying long-planned track repairs.

And the bank at the center of the saga, named Depfa, is now in 
trouble, threatening the stability of its parent company in Munich 
and forcing German officials to intervene with a multibillion-dollar 
bailout to stop a chain reaction that could freeze Germany's economic system.

"I am really worried," said Becky Velvikis, a first-grade teacher at 
Grewenow Elementary in Kenosha, Wis., one of the districts that 
invested in Mr. Noack's deal. "If millions of dollars are gone, what 
happens to my retirement? Or the construction paper and pencils and 
supplies we need to teach?"

The trail through Wisconsin, New York and Europe illustrates how this 
financial crisis has moved around the world so fast, why it is so 
hard to tame, and why cities, schools and many other institutions 
will probably struggle for years.

"The local papers and radio shows call us idiots, and now when I go 
home, my kids ask me, 'Dad, did you do something wrong?' " said Shawn 
Yde, the director of business services in the Whitefish Bay district. 
"This is something I'll regret until the day I die."

Selling Risk

Whitefish Bay's school district did not intend to become a hedge 
fund. It and four nearby districts were just trying to finance 
retirement obligations that were growing as health care costs rose.

Mr. Noack, the local representative of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, a 
St. Louis investment bank, had been advising Wisconsin school boards 
for two decades, helping them borrow for new gymnasiums and 
classrooms. His father had taught at an area high school for 47 
years. All six of his children attended Milwaukee schools.

Mr. Noack told the Whitefish Bay board that investing in the global 
economy carried few risks, according to the tape.

"What's the best investment? It's called a collateralized debt 
obligation," or a C.D.O., Mr. Noack said. He described it as a 
collection of bonds from 105 of the most reputable companies that 
would pay the school board a small return every quarter.

"We're being very conservative," Mr. Noack told the board, composed 
of lawyers, salesmen and a homemaker who lived in the affluent 
Milwaukee suburb.

Soon, Whitefish Bay and the four other districts borrowed $165 
million from Depfa and contributed $35 million of their own money to 
purchase three C.D.O.'s sold by the Royal Bank of Canada, which had a 
relationship with Mr. Noack's company.

But Mr. Noack's explanation of a C.D.O. was very wrong. Mr. Noack, 
who through his lawyer declined to comment, had attended only a 
two-hour training session on C.D.O.'s, he told a friend.

The schools' $200 million was actually used as collateral for a 
complicated form of insurance guaranteeing about $20 billion of 
corporate bonds. That investment ? known as a synthetic C.D.O. ? 
committed the boards to paying off other bondholders if corporations 
failed to honor their debts.

If just 6 percent of the bonds insured went bad, the Wisconsin 
educators could lose all their money. If none of the bonds defaulted, 
the schools would receive about $1.8 million a year after paying off 
their own debt. By comparison, the C.D.O.'s offered only a modestly 
better return than a $35 million investment in ultra-safe Treasury 
bonds, which would have paid about $1.5 million a year, with virtually no risk.

The boards, as part of their deal, received thick packets of documents.

"I've never read the prospectus," said Marc Hujik, a local financial 
adviser and a member of the Kenosha school board who spent 13 years 
on Wall Street. "We had all our questions answered satisfactorily by 
Dave Noack, so I wasn't worried."

Wisconsin schools were not the only ones to jump into such 
complicated financial products. More than $1.2 trillion of C.D.O.'s 
have been sold to buyers of all kinds since 2005 ? including many 
cities and government agencies ? an increase of 270 percent from the 
four previous years combined, according to Thomson Reuters.

"Selling these products to municipalities was pretty widespread," 
said Janet Tavakoli, a finance industry consultant in Chicago. "They 
tend to be less sophisticated. So bankers sell them products stuffed 
with junk."

 From the Wisconsin deal, the Royal Bank of Canada received promises 
of payments totaling about $11.2 million, according to documents. 
Stifel Nicolaus made about $1.2 million. Mr. Noack's total salary was 
about $300,000 a year, according to someone with knowledge of his 
finances. And Depfa received interest on its loans.

In separate statements, the Royal Bank of Canada and Stifel Nicolaus 
said board members signed documents indicating they understood the 
investments' risks. Both companies said they were not financial 
advisers to the boards but merely sold them products or services. 
Stifel Nicolaus said its relationship with the boards ended in 2007. 
Mr. Noack now works for a rival firm.

"Everyone knew New York guys were making tons of money on these kinds 
of deals," said Mr. Hujik, of the school board. "It wasn't 
implausible that we could make money, too."

A Bank Goes Global

By the time Depfa financed the Wisconsin schools' investment, it had 
already become an emblem of the new global economy. It was founded 86 
years ago as a sleepy German lender, and for most of its history had 
focused on its home market.

But in 2002 a new chief executive, Gerhard Bruckermann, moved Depfa 
to the freewheeling financial center of Dublin to take advantage of 
low corporate taxes. He soon pushed the company into S?o Paulo, 
Mumbai, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Dallas, New York, Tokyo and elsewhere. 
Depfa became one of Europe's most profitable banks and was famous for 
lavish events and large paychecks. In 2006, top executives took home 
the equivalent of $33 million at today's exchange rates.

Mr. Bruckermann was a gregarious leader who joked that he hoped to 
make all employees into millionaires. He divided his time between a 
London home and a vast farm in Spain, where he grew exotic medicinal 
plants. And his success fueled an arrogance, former colleagues say.

Mr. Bruckermann once told a trade publication that Depfa, unlike 
German banks, understood how to benefit from the global economy. 
"With our efforts, we are like the one-eyed man who becomes king in 
the land of the blind," he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Bruckermann, who left the bank earlier this year, did not respond 
to requests for an interview.

But as Depfa grew, other European banks began competing with the 
firm. So executives stretched into riskier deals ? the sort that 
would eventually send shockwaves across Europe and the United States.

Some of Mr. Bruckermann's employees grew concerned about deals like 
one struck in 2005 with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of 
New York, the agency overseeing the city and suburban subways, buses 
and trains.

For years, municipal agencies like the M.T.A. had raised money by 
issuing plain-vanilla bonds with fixed interest rates. But then 
bankers began telling officials that there was a way to get cheaper financing.

Bankers said that cities, like home buyers, could save money with 
adjustable-rate loans, where the payments started low and changed 
over time. What they did not emphasize was that such payments could 
eventually skyrocket. Such borrowing ? known as variable-rate bonds ? 
also carried big fees for Wall Street.

The pitches were very successful. Municipalities issued twice as many 
variable-rate bonds last year as they did a decade earlier.

But variable-rate bonds had a hitch: many investors would purchase 
them only if a bank like Depfa was hired as a buyer of last resort, 
ready to acquire bonds from investors who could find no other buyers. 
Depfa collected fees for serving that role, but expected it would 
rarely have to honor such pledges.

Mr. Bruckermann's salespeople traveled the world encouraging 
officials to sign up for variable-rate loans. And bureaucrats and 
politicians, including some in New York, jumped in.

By 2006 Depfa was the largest buyer of last resort in the world, 
standing behind $2.9 billion of bonds issued that year alone. It 
backed a $200 million bond issued by the M.T.A.

But as Depfa grew, it became more reliant on enormous short-term 
loans to finance its operations. Those loans cost less, and thus 
helped the bank achieve higher profits, but only when times were 
good. Indeed, some employees were worried about that debt.

But Mr. Bruckermann plowed ahead, and it paid off. In 2007, even as 
the global economy was softening, Mr. Bruckermann persuaded one of 
Germany's biggest lenders, Hypo Real Estate, to purchase Depfa for 
$7.8 billion. Mr. Bruckermann's cut was more than $150 million. He 
left the company to grow oranges on his Spanish estate.

The Risks Turn Bad

Last March the delicate web tying Wisconsin, Dublin and Manhattan 
became an anchor dragging everyone down.

Mr. Yde, the director of business services for the Whitefish Bay 
district, began receiving troubling messages indicating the 
district's investments were declining. Worried, he started coming 
into his office at dawn, before the hallways of Whitefish Bay High 
School filled with students.

As the sun rose, Mr. Yde searched for explanations by the light of 
his computer screen. He Googled "C.D.O.'s." He called bankers in 
London and New York. Each person referred him to someone else.

Then notices arrived saying that the bonds insured by Whitefish Bay's 
C.D.O.'s were defaulting. It became increasingly likely that the 
district's money would be seized to pay off other bondholders. Most, 
if not all, of the $200 million would probably be lost.

As other districts received similar notices, panic grew. For some 
boards, interest payments on borrowed money were now larger than 
revenue from the investments. Officials began quietly warning that 
they might have to dip into school funds.

"This is going to have a tremendous financial impact," said Robert F. 
Kitchen, a member of the West Allis-West Milwaukee school board. 
Officials say some districts may have to cut courses like art and 
drama, curtail gym and classroom maintenance, or forgo replacing 
teachers who retire.

Problems were emerging elsewhere, as well.

Depfa's executives were realizing that their loans to the Wisconsin 
schools were unlikely to be repaid. Additionally, bonds all over the 
world were declining in value, exposing the company to the 
possibility they would have to make good on their pledges as a buyer 
of last resort. And Depfa was still borrowing billions each month to 
cover its short-term loans. By autumn, the short-term debt of the 
bank and its parent company, Hypo, totaled $81 billion.

Then, in mid-September, the American investment bank Lehman Brothers 
went bankrupt. Short-term lending markets froze up. Ratings agencies, 
including Standard & Poor's, downgraded Depfa, citing the company's 
difficulties borrowing at affordable rates.

That set off a crisis in Germany, where officials worried that 
Depfa's sudden need for cash would drag down its parent company and 
set off a chain reaction at other banks. The German government and 
private banks extended $64 billion in credit to Hypo to stop it from imploding.

"We will not allow the distress of one financial institution to 
endanger the entire system," Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, 
said at the time.

That crisis spread almost immediately to the M.T.A.

The transportation authority, guided by Gary Dellaverson, a rumpled, 
cigarillo-smoking chief financial officer, had $3.75 billion of 
variable-rate debt outstanding.

About $200 million of that debt was backed by Depfa. When the bank 
was downgraded, investors dumped those transportation bonds, because 
of worries they would get stuck with them if Depfa's problems 
worsened. Depfa was forced to buy $150 million of them, and bonds 
worth billions of dollars issued by other municipalities.

Then came the twist: Depfa's contracts said that if it bought back 
bonds, the municipalities had to pay a higher-than-average interest 
rate. The New York transportation authority's repayment obligation 
could eventually balloon by about $12 million a year on the Depfa loans alone.

On its own, that cost could be absorbed by the agency. But, as the 
economy declined, the M.T.A. had lost hundreds of millions because 
tax receipts ? which finance part of its budget ? were falling. And 
its ability to renew its variable-rate bonds at low interest rates 
was hurt by the trouble at Depfa and other banks. The transportation 
authority now faces a $900 million shortfall, according to officials. 
It is "fairly breathtaking," Mr. Dellaverson told the M.T.A.'s 
finance committee. "This is not a tolerable long-term position for us 
to be in."

In a recent interview, Mr. Dellaverson defended New York's use of 
variable bonds.

"Variable-rate debt has helped M.T.A. save millions of dollars, and 
we've been conservative in issuing it," he said. "But there are 
risks, which we work hard to mitigate. Usually it works. But what's 
happening today is a total lack of marketplace rationality."

In a statement, the transportation authority said that it was 
exploring options to reduce the cost of the Depfa-backed bonds, that 
its variable-rate bonds had delivered savings even during the current 
turmoil and that the agency had remained within its budget on debt 
payments this year.

However, the transportation authority has already announced it will 
raise subway and train fares next year because of various fiscal 
problems, and may be forced to shrink the work force and reduce some 
bus routes. Some analysts say fares will probably rise again in 2010.

The Depfa fallout doesn't end there. Rating agencies have downgraded 
the bonds of more than 75 municipal agencies backed by Depfa, 
including in California, Connecticut, Illinois and South Dakota. 
Officials in Florida, Massachusetts and Montana have cut budgets 
because of C.D.O.'s or similar risky bets.

And Hypo, the German company that bought Depfa, last week asked the 
German government for financial help for the third time. Depfa has 
frozen much of its business, according to Wall Street bankers, and 
though it continues to honor its commitments, some wonder for how long.

The Wisconsin school districts have filed suit against the Royal Bank 
of Canada and Stifel Nicolaus alleging misrepresentations. Board 
members hope they will prevail and schools and retirement plans will 
emerge unscathed. The companies dispute the lawsuit's claims. Mr. 
Noack is not named as a defendant and is cooperating with the school boards.

In Mrs. Velvikis's classroom at Grewenow Elementary in Kenosha, 
students have recently completed a lesson in which each first grader 
contributed a vegetable to a common vat of "stone soup." The project 
? based on a children's book ? teaches the benefits of working 
together. The schools have learned that when everyone works together, 
they can also all starve.

"Our funding is already so limited," Mrs. Velvikis said. "We rely on 
parent donations for some supplies. You hear about all these millions 
of dollars that have been lost, and you think, that's got to come out 
of somewhere."



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 06:59:49 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:59:49 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] What does this election signify?
In-Reply-To: <2D1B5B8129354706BABB3356197056D1@office1pc>
References: <2D1B5B8129354706BABB3356197056D1@office1pc>
Message-ID: <20081102135952.B209DD493@mailbackend.panix.com>

Fred Feldman wrote:
>I also have said that I think the election of Obama is preferable not on a
>"lesser evil" basis but as reflection of new setbacks to racism, and of
>changing moods somewhat more in our direction in broad strata of youth and
>working people.

This is what I would call passive voice politics. 



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 07:08:29 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 09:08:29 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] How did we get suckered into this?
Message-ID: <8356648.1225634909258.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

So many people think they can get something for nothing.

They think they can go to a gambling casino and somehow
be more "lucky" than someone else, even if they know - 
"rationally" - that the deck is stacked against them, 
the idea that one can win something for nothing is one
deeply rooted in U.S. culture. Lots of this is based on
thinking individually instead of socially and societally.

It's still going to be a long time before the people of
the United States will learn to think socially, to act
politically, and to see themselves as part of something
broader than each against all, and blaming other people
(immigrants, gays, blacks, welfare-recipients, and etc.),
rather than finding ways to unite WITH other people in
common movements and struggles to make things better.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sun Nov  2 07:11:21 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:11:21 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] what does this election signify?
Message-ID: <57F8B86BF1894584A40482FF0CD97189@office1pc>

Walter Lippmann wrote:
If Obama is elected, and can't be assume by now, it would
resolve the question of whether or not a Black person could
be elected president of the United States of America, quite
a matter indeed, and a hell of a lot more than "nothing".

Fred comments:
Walter is right, as is often the case. I should have said "nothing else" but
that. And settling that in favor of democracy will actually put the working
and oppressed people in a stronger position to stand up for our interests in
whatever comes down the line, no matter what Obama does at present.

Just trying to position for the future. I still think Bozefsky was right in
that whoever wins (and I think it will be Obama, if majority rule is even
minimally respected), the oppressed and exploited of this country will have
to fight to defend their interests against the system that both Obama and
McCain represent.  It was his comment (plus a little concern about Dave
McDonald's, though he has a perfect right to act as his conscience and
judgment dictate in the voting) that led me to try to formulate my view more
precisely. It is, of course, mine alone. 

If Obama continues on the course of escalating Afghanistan and Pakistan, and
hostility toward Venezuela and Bolivia that he has followed so far, the
changed "image" for the United States won't go very far. Words and
appearances (including a Black man in the White House) will have to be
backed by deeds if hostility to the US regime is to be ameliorated for long.
And I see no sign yet that those kinds of deeds are in the offing.

These facts have played a part all along in my backing of McKinney.

The Cuban leaders, who clearly also prefer Obama, are right to warn people
not to expect much from him, and, in fact, to prepare for continued problems
and rely on their own strength to contain or defeat them. I fear that is the
best advice to the oppressed and exploited, including the Black nationality
which is justifiably excited and mobilized for completing the task they
undertook when Obama became a serious candidate.
Fred Feldman



From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 07:52:08 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 16:52:08 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811020652xa78ba62k9cb0b9a6e7d4980a@mail.gmail.com>

Louis


Trotsky did not know Bush, according to your method it is possible Trotsky
would not oppose him as the president of an imperialist state.  I  have
argued many times with reformists who always try the same sticky  trick. You
point to them the elementary positions of revolutionary Marxism. For example
the class nature of a state, by quoting from State and revolution. Their
reply is always the same: It was true when Lenin wrote it. The same is true
about imperialist parties. Pro imperialist positions are pro imperialist
positions in the 1920- 1930s , or today. Try to build  a working class
international with  your method. Supporting imperialist parties that in
power oppress the masses in third world countries.

From david at miradoiro.com  Sun Nov  2 07:54:25 2008
From: david at miradoiro.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?David_Pic=F3n_=C1lvarez?=)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:54:25 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] How did we get suckered into this?
References: <20081102135800.61D35D236@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <51412B050B294D439FBE4F6477EA0AA3@Nautilus>

Personally what I find the most surprising here is the level of autonomy 
that lets individual schools play this dangerous game. Here (Spain) schools 
depend on the ministry of education, and while they have certain level of 
functional autonomy, things like pay and hiring of teachers, and the like, 
are centralized. I am not quite sure what the advantage is in having 
individual schools pretending to be profit-maximizers.

--David.



From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 08:02:25 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:02:25 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811020652xa78ba62k9cb0b9a6e7d4980a@mail.gmail.com
 >
References: <685ad9b30811020652xa78ba62k9cb0b9a6e7d4980a@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20081102150229.0B070DA31@mailbackend.panix.com>


>Louis
>
>
>Trotsky did not know Bush, according to your method it is possible Trotsky
>would not oppose him as the president of an imperialist state.

I didn't advocate a vote for Bush. I advocated a vote for Ralph Nader.

>I  have argued many times with reformists who always try the same 
>sticky  trick. You
>point to them the elementary positions of revolutionary Marxism.

Are you calling me a reformist? Is advocating a vote for Nader reformist?





From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 08:09:09 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:09:09 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Federal Reserve Statistical Supplement
References: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41><20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
	<2D8D2DA76BE9431794782C893A60A0E2@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <693DE47BCA16449EA27E5C5ADC8D9C78@dmsthinkpad>

Available at: 
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/supplement/2008/10/default.htm 



From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sun Nov  2 08:24:04 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:24:04 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
Message-ID: <EA7749984ADE44AE9908B3E18BA0091C@office1pc>

Yossi wrote:
I have argued many times with reformists who always try the same sticky
trick. You point to them the elementary positions of revolutionary Marxism. 

Louis responded:
Are you calling me a reformist? Is advocating a vote for Nader reformist?

Fred comments:
Yossi, as your attorney, I urge you not to answer these questions. 

In fact, I urge you to contribute no further to the elections debate and
shift to other threads, where you can participate without getting thrown off
the list for violating the list rules on civil exchange.

Your opinions have been expressed clearly and everyone has understood them.
Move on now.




From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 08:40:55 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:40:55 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <EA7749984ADE44AE9908B3E18BA0091C@office1pc>
References: <EA7749984ADE44AE9908B3E18BA0091C@office1pc>
Message-ID: <20081102154058.48C51D5C1@mailbackend.panix.com>


>Fred comments:
>Yossi, as your attorney, I urge you not to answer these questions.
>
>In fact, I urge you to contribute no further to the elections debate and
>shift to other threads, where you can participate without getting thrown off
>the list for violating the list rules on civil exchange.
>
>Your opinions have been expressed clearly and everyone has understood them.
>Move on now.

For new subscribers puzzled by this, let me clarify.

This is from the subscription page of www.marxmail.org:

 >>MODERATION PRINCIPLES: The Marxism mailing list is extremely 
permissive. There are a couple of things that are frowned upon 
strongly. If you come to the list with the attitude that you are a 
true Bolshevik, who needs to convert 'Mensheviks' to your beliefs, 
you will be unsubbed. Members of self-declared vanguard parties who 
can adjust to the tolerant atmosphere of the list are more than 
welcome, since they usually bring with them years of Marxist study 
and political experience. We also welcome non-Marxists who come to 
the list in a respectful attitude, desiring to learn more. However, 
if you have decided for yourself that Marxism is wrong and that your 
purpose on the list is to struggle to convince others of that, you 
should not subscribe. The Internet has many forums where Marxists and 
anti-Marxists can debate. This is not one of them.<<

Yossi has violated these instructions numerous times and I have 
overlooked it. But he should follow Fred's advice and not make a 
habit out of Menshevik hunting. 



From farmelantj at juno.com  Sun Nov  2 09:03:05 2008
From: farmelantj at juno.com (Jim Farmelant)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:03:05 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
Message-ID: <20081102.110306.3172.0.farmelantj@juno.com>

 
On Sat, 1 Nov 2008 21:37:50 -0700 "johnaimani" <johnaimani at earthlink.net>
writes:
> Ask any 'Marxist' how is it that class is determined and she/he will 
> no doubt aver "Class is determined by ones relationship to the means 
> of production".  Ask them what that means and they can't tell you.  
> These is a scientific analysis of class and that is that class is 
> determined by the value-composition of the product one sells.
> 
> The constituents of value are c + v + s.  
> 
> Now c + v, in the hands of the capitalist, equal C (for Capital that 
> can be used to purchase constant  (c) and varariable (v) capitals).
> 
> And v + s, when controlled by the worker, equal l (for the full 
> value of the labor of the worker.). 
> 
> We are then led to this formulation of the classes:
> 
> Working Classes
> 
>     Wage-worker - v (the wage worker has only hir's labor-power (v)  
> to sell)
> 
>     Independent worker - c + l (the IW must have hir's own means of 
> production (c) and owns the full value of hir's labor (l)
> 
>     Petit-Bourgeois - (c + l) + (v + s) (the PB owns the constant 
> capital hir uses (c) and hir's own labor (l) + purchase the 
> labor-power of hir's workers (v) and             owns the surplus 
> produced by the worker (s))
> 

Where do so-called "unproductive" workers fit in this scheme
(for example retail workers, workers in finance, advertising etc?
As I understand it, their labor does not add to the value produced,
so they are in effect paid out of surplus value.  But they are certainly
not capitalists.

> Capitalist Classes
> 
>     Petit-Bourgeois - (c + l) + (v + s) (the PB owns the constant 
> capital hir uses (c) and hir's own labor (l) + purchase the 
> labor-power of hir's workers (v)                 and owns the 
> surplus produced by the worker (s))
> 
>     Capitalist - C
> 
>         Industrial - (Cp) where p stands for enterprise profit
>         Rent - (Cg) where g stands for ground-rent
>         Financial - (Ci) where i stands for interest
> 
> It will be noted above that the PB lies in both classes, or rather 
> is a hybrid of both classes.  This is so because hir's own labor (l) 
> is necessary  to maintain hir (i.e. hir can neither maintain hir's 
> position solely by hir's own work (in that case hir would be an IW); 
> nor can hir maintain that position solely by exploiting wage-labor 
> (in that case hir would be a capitalist).
>> 
 
____________________________________________________________
Are you safe? Click for quotes on a home security system. 
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3ni3cplg4jppllcH8wgdhQPmnkTzq9prcChFci1FO3Sypiaj/


From Dbachmozart at aol.com  Sun Nov  2 09:19:21 2008
From: Dbachmozart at aol.com (Dbachmozart at aol.com)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:19:21 EST
Subject: [Marxism] The single worst expression in American politics
Message-ID: <cb0.304340aa.363f2d09@aol.com>


 
Glenn Greenwald - 
 
Sunday Nov. 2, 2008 06:54 EST
 
clip -- 
Joe Biden, _speaking yesterday_ 
(http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/biden-come-tues.html)  at a rally in  Ohio (h/t _Jonathan Schwarz_ 
(http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/002669.html) ): 
Over the past week, Republicans have gone way over the top in my view,  
calling Barack Obama every name in the book, and it probably will get worse in  the 
next three and a half to four days . . . . After next Tuesday, the  very 
critics he has now and the rest of America will be calling him something  else - 
they will be calling him the 44th president of the United States of  America, 
our commander in chief Barack Obama!
As I _wrote a couple of weeks ago_ 
(http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/17/mccain/)  (see the last few  paragraphs):  if I could be granted one 
small political wish, it would  be the permanent elimination of this 
_widespread_ 
(http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/01/public-servant-v-military-commander.html) , execrable Orwellian  fetish of reverently referring to the 
President as "our commander in  chief."  And Biden's formulation here is a 
particularly creepy rendition,  since he's taunting opponents of  Obama that, come 
Tuesday, they will be  forced to refer to him as "our commander in chief Barack 
Obama" (Sarah  Palin, in the _very first speech she delivered_ 
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94118910)   after being unveiled as the 
Vice Presidential candidate, said of John  McCain:  "that's the kind of man I 
want as our commander in chief,"  and she's been delivering that same line in 
her stump speech ever since). 
This is much more than a semantic irritant.  It's a perversion of the  
Constitution, under which American civilians simply do not have a "commander in  
chief"; only those in the military -- when it's called into service -- have one  
(_Art. II, Sec. 2_ 
(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article02/) ). 
full -- 
<_http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/02/biden/index.html_ 
(http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/02/biden/index.html) >

**************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel.  Check out Today's Hot 
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From markalause at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 09:45:29 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:45:29 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] US Elections And Effective Strategies
In-Reply-To: <1225630039.5203.6.camel@localhost>
References: <ecca4ca90811020059qb6dfb99pc025defed4fb35c@mail.gmail.com>
	<1225630039.5203.6.camel@localhost>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811020845h425b1c3fn4185d5b814defb8c@mail.gmail.com>

I gave serious consideration to McKinney early on, depending on how
that campaign would shape up, but have gone strongly for Nader.  In a
nutshell....

1. Nader is well within the range of supportable politics in terms of
what he advocates.  Most of what he says is on the money in terms of
class politics, while he advocates absolutely nothing beyond the pale
of our principles.  On this basis, many of us supported his earlier
efforts and I don't think anything's changed.

2. As to the scale of the impact, Nader-Gonzales is far beyond what
any of the other third party and independent candidates can do.
Setting aside those that seem to have no reason to run for president
other than to boost the profile of their particular group (or, to be
fair, use the magic word "socialism"), you have left Nader and
McKinney.  Simply put, the former's mounted an organized, coherent,
serious national campaign that's established organizations in all but
a few states.

3. The Nader campaign is also most likely to leave much more in its
wake.  McKinney's own Power to the People coalition doesn't seem to be
much more than a name, while the GPUS, running McKinney, has imploded
by stages to where many of the state organizations are simply run by
Progressive Democrats; as predicted, the state officers so eager to
foster the McKinney nomination in Ohio are now openly defending Obama
and the entire Democratic ticket.  Meanwhile, the Reconstruction
Party, friendly to McKinney, declined to launch itself nationally
while Obama was running and the Peace and Freedom Party of California
(having endorsed Nader) did decide to go national in the course of the
campaign.

We are not talking about establish yet another nominal "third party"
but laying the foundations for such a movement in establishing
serious, independent watchdog organizations in the states and
Congressional districts.  Not chat shops but organizations engaged
directly with larger numbers of people than radicals have mobilized in
a generation.  In this economic climate, such ongoing efforts have
tremendous potential.

ML


From markalause at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 09:48:35 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:48:35 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Last minute stab by rightist Dobson against Obama
In-Reply-To: <20081102131213.BA488D6BC@mailbackend.panix.com>
References: <685ad9b30811012330y76b26db9n675f892c474cdd26@mail.gmail.com>
	<20081102131213.BA488D6BC@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811020848m31d6a9day20ecaeaa61008eda@mail.gmail.com>

It wasn't Trotsky that said anything but Nostratrotsky who prophecized
everything.

Ml


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Sun Nov  2 10:48:47 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:48:47 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] How did we get suckered into this?
Message-ID: <490DE7FF.2040006@comcast.net>

Picon wrote:

"Personally what I find the most surprising here is the level of autonomy
that lets individual schools play this dangerous game. Here (Spain) schools
depend on the ministry of education, and while they have certain level of
functional autonomy, things like pay and hiring of teachers, and the like,
are centralized."

A lot of people find this surprising. In fact, I'm surprised this 
doesn't come up in conversation more. The US is organized, if compared 
to a typical non-North American state, as a "Confederation".

Schools: There are over 36,000 autonomous school boards in the US. They 
are regulated, at most, by the 50 States legislatures and depts of 
education in those states. Some states, Texas most notably, has 
something approaching a 'centralized' scheme for education when it comes 
to financing and curriculum. All moves in the recent past to centralize 
this comes from the right-wing seeking to impose socially conservative 
mandates from the Federal gov't like the "No child left behind" act.

States: Each state has it's own set of tax laws and can, and often do, 
impose things like a 'state income tax'. All property taxes, 
additionally, are determined at the state level. Some states grant 
counties their own methods of taxation so that if you drive from one 
county to another you have different rates of sales tax (limited by each 
state but often given county autonomy on how high or low it can go). 
States also determine things like highway speed limits, environmental 
limits that can be placed over Federal regulations, etc etc.

The existence of the States comes out of the original compact of the 13 
original colonies under the British. View originally, kind of, as 
separate nations, this form of confederation was carried up to this day. 
It skews, highly the concept of democracy in the bourgeois state in the 
US because States are given an inordinate amount of power *within* the 
Federal gov't. Up until the early 20th Century, in fact, Senators (two 
from each state) were *appointed* by the Governor of that state or the 
State legislature. States get two Sentator *regardless* of their size. 
It is truly insane. Alaska has a population LESS than the city of San 
Francisco where I live.  California itself has 38,000,000 people!!!! But 
we both get "Two Senators".

This comes from the confederal idea that we are a "nation of states, not 
of people".

I have noted here in the past that a progressive demand would be the 
outright elimination of the Senate from the US Constitution or election 
of a "Senate" based on 1 Senator to, say, 12 Senators, based on an 
averaging from the state with the smallest population (Wyoming in this 
case, with only 500,000 residents).

David


From markalause at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 11:21:54 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 13:21:54 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] How did we get suckered into this?
In-Reply-To: <490DE7FF.2040006@comcast.net>
References: <490DE7FF.2040006@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811021021u72a59e87kdb2f1bb532a40c1@mail.gmail.com>

To clarify this description of school boards as autonomous, I would
suggest that they are really about as autonomous as centralized
standards permit.

For example, a school board that would permit a book in the school
library or a course or a teacher objectionable to the reactionaries
might well find itself facing a ruthless and ongoing onslaught from
above.  A friend of mine was on a local school board that had Kurt
Vonnegut's books in the school library and a relentless right wing
attempt to remove them.  The reactionaries argued for autonomy when it
suited them, but, when the board decided against them, went at the
problem through the state authorities.  In the end, they simply went
into the school library and removed them without the fig leaf of any
legality.

What I'm suggesting here is that the problem is fundamentally
political rather than institutional.

ML


From hunterbadbear at hunterbear.org  Sun Nov  2 11:48:07 2008
From: hunterbadbear at hunterbear.org (Hunter Gray)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:48:07 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] Don't forget Lupus in the voting booth
Message-ID: <002101c93d1b$a31c1df0$0400a8c0@computer>

NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR: 11/02/08

[Lupus has a preference for both men and women in certain "minority" categories -- Native, Chicano, Black -- and for Anglo women. Doesn't seem to care much for Anglo men.]  

A lady near us -- an ISU professor who recently moved into the neighborhood and who often takes Maria to St Joseph's Catholic Church -- has just called, unable to drive this morning. Although they are still testing her, it is likely she has Lupus. Down the road a short piece lives another very good neighbor, a young woman, LDS, close to Josie's age, who has been battling Lupus for years. [Unusual to have three cases of this close by in unrelated people.] I can only say that, in addition to all of the other reasons to vote Democratic, there is the fact that research monies into these relatively rare "orphan diseases" and other serious threats should increase substantially. At the very least, critical stem cell research should be greatly facilitated. Lupus is, of course, politically non-partisan: I understand that [Utah] Republican Senator Robert Bennett's daughter has it. He's been active in the Cause, supports the Utah/Idaho chaper of Lupus Foundation of America, to which we belong. H.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 12:01:30 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:01:30 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
Message-ID: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com>

Goldner, by his own admission, is an ultraleftist in the classical 
Bordigist mode but his economic analysis is always useful:

http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner/october.html



From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sun Nov  2 12:16:06 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:16:06 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] How did we get suckered into this?
References: <490DE7FF.2040006@comcast.net>
	<b16d8daf0811021021u72a59e87kdb2f1bb532a40c1@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <490DFC76.29D016B0@ilstu.edu>



Mark Lause wrote:
> 
> 
> What I'm suggesting here is that the problem is fundamentally
> political rather than institutional.

Mark is "fundamentally" (his word) correct, of course. But as Mark
probably knows in more detail than any of us, the whole U.S. system is
constructed to distribute political activity in various fractured
domains. The example he gives depends (a) on the nominal (and usual)
autonomy of local boards, the actual centering of authority in the
States (which existe independently while local areas are (nominally)
creations of the state, except when the state constitution itself ......
It's a fucking jungle institutionally.

Carrol



From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sun Nov  2 12:25:05 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:25:05 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
References: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu>



Louis Proyect wrote:
> 
> Goldner, by his own admission, is an ultraleftist in the classical
> Bordigist mode 

"Classical Bordigist mode" is not all that clear a designation for me at
least.

And in any case, I don't think such a (classical) mode exists!
Ultra-leftism can appear in almost any number of guises.

I myself prefer to describe Ultra-Leftism (or Left Opportunism) as any
political practice that is grounded in an overestimation of the strength
of capital, an underestimation of the strength of the working class. It
is quite apt to take organizational and/or cultural forms. One
'classical' form is the belief that any political development of
individuals that takes place 'outside' the careful guidance of a
vanguard party will inevitably be right opportunist (reformist). That, I
have always assumed, was what was behind the "Single Issue" line of the
SWP in the anti-war effort, which remains for me the "classical" form of
ultra-leftism. The assumption was that in a ulti-issue movement a wide
variety of political perspectives would develop outside the 'reach' of
the party, and because of the enormous power of capitalist ideology all
those developments would be forms of petty-bourgeois opportunism. On the
other hand, a single-issue movement would not give room for such
independent political thought, and all development beyond the single
issue would tak placee under the careful guidance of the One True Party.

Carrol



From johnaimani at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 13:14:51 2008
From: johnaimani at earthlink.net (johnaimani)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 12:14:51 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Subject: Re:  If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
Message-ID: <027f01c93d27$a9fcddb0$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>

<<Message: 13
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:03:05 -0500
From: Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com>
Subject: Re: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class, you
have to decide what is a social class.

Where do so-called "unproductive" workers fit in this scheme
(for example retail workers, workers in finance, advertising etc?
As I understand it, their labor does not add to the value produced,
so they are in effect paid out of surplus value.  But they are certainly
not capitalists.>>

Depends.   As a rule they are wage workers who sell their labor-power 
for 'v' as with any other wage worker.  They may however be independant
contractors who fashion a product (sold into this sector) using their own means 
of production and their own labor (in which case they would be "independent workers") 
and/or the labor(s) of others alongside their own labor (in which case they 
would be 'petit-bourgeois'.

The fact that they work within "unproductive' sectors has nothing whatsoever 
to do with where they fit into the class spectrum.  And, though their labor
makes no contribution to thesocial wealth, they are indeed "paid out of surplus-value" 
as capitalists, rent-receivers and finaciers.  They are paid 
by deductions from the surplus-value pool created by the labor of workers
in the productive sectors. 

JAI


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 13:19:09 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:19:09 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
References: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <877EBA44651547E3AD1170379859AD5D@dmsthinkpad>

None of that applies to Bordiga.

"Bordigaism" is generally characterized as eschewing all electoral and 
parliamentary efforts and agitation; as rejecting the united front as a 
viable tactic within the class.  It is also associated, although these links 
are more sympathetc, IMO, than concrete, with council communism.

Unlike Gramsci, who led the nominal Stalinist wing of the PCI, Bordiga 
defended Trotsky, and is reported to have called Stalin "gravedigger of the 
revolution"  to his face.  Talk about cojones.

Bordiga analyzed the USSR, after the triumph of Stalin, as capitalist.

And none of  Carrol's description applies to Goldner, with whom I have had 
extensive exchanges.  His analysis is based on an argument that  capital 
"peaked" as a social system, i.e. able to reproduce a social capital, a 
'developmental' social organization, in 1968, and that since that point, 
capitalism has kept itself afloat by functioning essentially as one big 
bubble, or a series of consecutive, and linked, bubbles.  Since then, the 
accumulation of capital has required social retrogression.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis




From schaffer at optonline.net  Sun Nov  2 13:57:48 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:57:48 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] (fwd) Film recommendation for Marxmailers
Message-ID: <490E144C.9060506@optonline.net>

[ forwarded for a marxmailer lurker ]


Subject: 11/04, 1:00 pm, NYC, Brilliant Wajda film on nationalities 
(Germans, Poles, Jews), industrial rev, etc in Lodz ca. 1895

OK, the scheduling is inconvenient, but the film ? The Promised Land -- 
is extraordinary. Polish director Andrzej Wajda (remember ?Man of Iron,? 
?? Marble,? even better ?Ashes and Diamonds?) brings his political and 
artistic sensibilities to capitalist dealings at the turn of the last 
century in a costume drama, sui generis. Definitely timely, as ?our? big 
fish work out their feeding strategies . See filmlinc.com for details. 
(Note film is 168 min long, and there is a punch line at the end you 
won?t want to miss, so develop your story for the boss accordingly, 
e..g., participating in electoral cretinism.)




From russo.matthew9 at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 14:17:07 2008
From: russo.matthew9 at gmail.com (Matthew Russo)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 13:17:07 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] What does this election signify?
Message-ID: <1b7033e60811021317m1d92a5f2tb90676f325fd3b76@mail.gmail.com>

? wrote:
>It would be nice if there were decent protest votes for
>McKinney and Nader in other places, though not enough to
>prevent Obama from willing, and thus cause liberals after
>the election to blame McKinney or Nader for their loss as
>they did in 2000.

With the active voice left to Democratic Party liberal/progressive
displeasure at any attempt to focus and lead these changing moods in an
independent political direction, but couched again in the
"passive-causative" in order to disguise the many actions of the Democrats
to squelch any possibility of independent left activity that may threaten
their political monopoly.  The Democrats have always been militantly
proactive in this regard.  In reality "blame" has already been allocated
beforehand, it is not "caused" by the independent left.

In this manner also, blame is deflected from the Democrats onto independent
leftists.

But it is the exclusive responsibility of the Democrats, and only the
Democrats, to win their own elections.  That is not the responsibility of
independent leftists, progressives or socialists.

-Matt

Fred Feldman wrote:
>I also have said that I think the election of Obama is preferable not on a
>"lesser evil" basis but as reflection of new setbacks to racism, and of
>changing moods somewhat more in our direction in broad strata of youth and
>working people.

This is what I would call passive voice politics.

From holmoff10 at hotmail.com  Sun Nov  2 15:13:54 2008
From: holmoff10 at hotmail.com (Leonardo Kosloff)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 22:13:54 +0000
Subject: [Marxism]
	=?windows-1256?q?Obama=27s_economic_advisers_=28Bolchej?=
	=?windows-1256?b?byn+?=
In-Reply-To: <mailman.31684.1225631536.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
References: <mailman.31684.1225631536.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Message-ID: <BLU136-W24480AC4A40CC60E174C3AA7220@phx.gbl>


Louis, Robert Rubin is also in the Obama economic team, I'm not exactly sure of what he does there though. It looks like for now he's staying on the fringes, overlooking the disasters he cooked up himself and that now his figurehead is presumably out to amend. But who knows what that kind of Clintonite spawn is really out to? You might want to expand on him, regards.
 
p.s. Sorry for not clipping the previous message, I was kind of in a rush.
_________________________________________________________________
Store, manage and share up to 5GB with Windows Live SkyDrive.
http://skydrive.live.com/welcome.aspx?provision=1?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_skydrive_102008

From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au  Sun Nov  2 15:22:44 2008
From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:22:44 +1100
Subject: [Marxism] What's new at Links: Bolivia; climate; Obama; Cuban Five;
 Marx; Africa; Dennis Brutus poems; Venezuela; Malaysia; Tamils
Message-ID: <490E2834.3010009@greenleft.org.au>

Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - 
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed 
(http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to
consider an article, please send it to links at dsp.org.au

*Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links./*/
/
* * *


    Bolivia: Unprecedented alliance defeats right-wing assault (now with
    audio) <http://links.org.au/node/710>

  *Now with audio*: *Federico Fuentes'* assessment after just returning 
from Bolivia. Morales seems to have outmanouevred the ultra-right's 
attempts to unseat him and to have made his position stronger, while his 
enemies are in disarray. He is so confident of his support in the 
popular social movements now that he is holding another referendum next 
month.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/710>


    John Bellamy Foster on climate change: `Demand solutions based on
    necessity, not wealth and profits' <http://links.org.au/node/704>

*John Bellamy Foster*: We need to go down to 350 parts per million [of 
carbon dioxide], which means very big social transformations on a scale 
that would be considered revolutionary by anybody in society today -- 
transformation of our whole society quite fundamentally. We have to aim 
at that, and we have to demand that of our society.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/704>


    Will Obama end Bush's `war on terror'? <http://links.org.au/node/720>

By *Simon Butler*

October 31, 2008 -- In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, bombings 
of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, US President George Bush 
declared an open-ended, apparently indefinite "war on terror". Using the 
terrorist attacks as an excuse, the "war on terror" has meant a war 
drive to extend US global domination. The threats were free flowing --- 
at one point as many as seven nations were part of the "axis of evil" 
and therefore potential military targets as Bush threatened "pre-emptive 
strikes" against US "enemies".Facing sustained resistance from the Iraqi 
people, and increasingly unpopular at home, the failure of the Iraqi 
occupation has contributed to making the Bush presidency one of the 
least popular in history.
Campaigning for the White House, Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama 
has made much of his initial vote against the war in 2003.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/720>


    Overwhelming UN General Assembly vote against US blockade of Cuba
    <http://links.org.au/node/716>

New York --- The UN General Assembly on October 29 approved by an 
overwhelming majority the resolution demanding an end of the US blockade 
of Cuba, a vote passed by the assembly for the 17th consecutive year, 
news agencies report.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/716>


    David Harvey: Reading Karl Marx's Capital <http://links.org.au/node/714>

David Harvey has been teaching Karl Marx's /Capital/, Volume I for 
nearly 40 years, and his video lectures are now available at /Links/.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/714>


    Meanwhile, in Africa ... a tale of two `bailouts'
    <http://links.org.au/node/713>

By *Jean-Paul Pi?rot*
While Africa needs US$72 billion a year in aid, hundreds of billions are 
being freed up to pay Western banks for the consequences of speculation.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/713>


    Sister of Cuban hero jailed in US demands `Free the Cuban Five!'
    <http://links.org.au/node/712>

*Maria Eugenia* is the sister of *Tony Guerrero*, one of the ``Cuban 
Five'' political prisoners held for 10 years in US prisons on 
``conspiracy to commit espionage'' charges for reporting on the 
Miami-based, Washington-backed terrorist groups operating against Cuba. 
Eugenia recently toured Australia to build support for the campaign to 
free the five. Below is the three-part video of her Sydney public meeting.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/712>


    Two poems by Dennis Brutus in Caracas <http://links.org.au/node/711>

Below are two poems presented by veteran anti-apartheid and global 
social justice activist *Dennis Brutus*, in Venezuela for the eighth 
meeting of the Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defence of 
Humanity and the World Forum for Alternatives, October 18, 2008.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/711>


    Venezuela: Between assassination plots and abstention
    <http://links.org.au/node/709>

By *Federico Fuentes*, Caracas

October 25, 2008 -- Talk of assassination plots and rising concerns 
about a high abstention rate have marked the beginning of the November 
23 regional elections race here in Venezuela. Formally at stake are 23 
governorships, more than 300 mayorships and hundreds of representatives 
on the state legislative councils. However, the result of these 
elections could also have an important impact on the future of the 
Bolivarian Revolution led by the Chavez government. During the November 
2004 regional elections, the pro-Chavez forces, on the back of the 
thumping victory in the August 2004 recall referendum on Chavez's 
mandate, painted the electoral map red as they swept into 21 of the 23 
governorships up for election (they later rewon the governership of 
Amazonas to make it 22 out of 24 all up).

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/709>


    Malaysian opposition stands up to racialism and intimidation
    <http://links.org.au/node/708>

By *Peter Boyle *

October 25, 2008 -- Some parties in Malaysia's ruling National Front 
(BN) government are trying to intimidate opposition parties and social 
activists, Socialist Party Malaysia (PSM) secretary general 
S.Arutchelvan told Green Left Weekly, a few days after the PSM's sole 
federal MP, Dr D. Jeyakumar, had his car torched by thugs on October 17.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/708>


    New African resistance from below to global finance
    <http://links.org.au/node/707>

By *Patrick Bond *

October 25, 2008 -- A far-reaching strategic debate is underway about 
how to respond to the global financial crisis, and indeed how the 
North's problems can be tied into a broader critique of capitalism. The 
2008 world financial meltdown has its roots in the neoliberal 
export-model (dominant in Africa since the 1981 World Bank Berg Report 
and onset of structural adjustment during the early 1980s) and even more 
deeply, in 35 years of world capitalist stagnation/volatility. Africa 
has always suffered a disproportionate share of pressure from the world 
economy, especially in the sphere of debt and financial outflows. But 
for those African countries which made themselves excessively vulnerable 
to global financial flows during the neoliberal era, the meltdown had a 
severe, adverse impact.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/707>


    Stop the war in Sri Lanka! The Tamil national question in demands a
    political solution! <http://links.org.au/node/706>

*Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation* central 
committee statement on developments in Sri Lanka.

October 27, 2008 -- The Sri Lankan government's ongoing military 
campaign to corner and crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
has led to a terrible humanitarian crisis in the country. Reports 
emanating from the island indicate that the Sri Lankan state is on the 
verge of wresting military control over large parts of LTTE territory 
including the administrative headquarters in Killinochi. While the 
number of people killed so far in the crossfire between the advancing 
Sri Lankan armed forces is anybody's guess, some 500,000 people are 
estimated to have been displaced and rendered homeless in their own 
land. With the Sri Lankan government not allowing any relief to reach 
the people in refugee camps, international humanitarian organisations 
have been forced to leave the battle zones and recently even UN food 
convoys have had to return, leaving a vast population in the battle 
zones on the brink of starvation.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/706>

* * *

Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, 
experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political 
strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for 
open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from 
different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the 
international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social 
policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in 
the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing 
socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
*
ATTENTION: Sign up for regular ``what's new'' announcement emails at 
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373


From Paula_cerni at msn.com  Sun Nov  2 15:37:59 2008
From: Paula_cerni at msn.com (Paula)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 14:37:59 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Capital Vol 1 word cloud
Message-ID: <BAY122-DS5E6D8D18631E822840F4080220@phx.gbl>

This Capital Vol 1 'word cloud' is wonderful:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/manolakos291008.html

Paula

From absynthe at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 15:47:15 2008
From: absynthe at gmail.com (chegitz guevara)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 17:47:15 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Capital Vol 1 word cloud
In-Reply-To: <BAY122-DS5E6D8D18631E822840F4080220@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY122-DS5E6D8D18631E822840F4080220@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <e1d1857b0811021447t6db6f7aw5a88c4d7311924dc@mail.gmail.com>

That is so cool.

On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 5:37 PM, Paula <Paula_cerni at msn.com> wrote:
> This Capital Vol 1 'word cloud' is wonderful:
> http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/manolakos291008.html
>
> Paula


From cpiml_elo at yahoo.com  Sun Nov  2 12:21:27 2008
From: cpiml_elo at yahoo.com (CPI (ML) Intl Liaison Office)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:21:27 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] MLIN [Nov.-Dec.08] Financial Crisis | Orissa Pogrom | Sri
	Lanka | and More
Message-ID: <20421.64392.qm@web35501.mail.mud.yahoo.com>






 ? 

ML International Newsletter 

November-December 2008 

 ? 

***********************************************************************
 

An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India .  

Produced by: Communist Party of India 
(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation international team  



***********************************************************************
 



Websites: [mlint.wordpress.com] and [www.cpiml.org] 



Emails: [cpiml_elo at yahoo.com]
and [cpimllib at gmail.com] 



 ? 

Table of Contents 

 ? 

1)?????? Impact of US
Meltdown on Indian Economy 

2)?????? Nuke Deal Is a
Conduit to Import US Crisis into India 

3)?????? Campaign against
Communalism and Terrorism 

4)??????
Fact-Finding Report
on Kandhamal Situation 

5)??????
South Orissa Bandh
by CPI (ML) and Other Parties 

6)??????
Students Revolt
Against MNS-Shiv Sena Goons 

7)??????
The Tamil National
Question in Sri Lanka Demands a Political Solution 

8)??????
Fighting Caste
Oppression and Untouchability: A Sri Lankan Experience 

9)??????
Thank Ye for Thy
Baton Comrade Shukla 



 ? 



World Financial Crisis 

 ? 

Impact
of US Meltdown on Indian Economy:  

A
Quick Assessment 

 ? 

- B Sivaraman.  

 ? 

The
Spreading Economic Contagion: A Reluctant Recognition 

Indian economy is insulated
from the crisis?The global financial crisis will not affect us much?First
Chidambaram went on in this vein until both he and his boss Manmohan had to
reluctantly admit that no developing economy could possibly remain immune to
the global crisis. Still, it was projected primarily as a financial crisis or
at best a precursor to a mild recession. But no financial crisis is ever a mere
crisis of the world of high finance alone. Just as the gloom on the trading
floors soon spread to the shopfloors in the factories, financial turbulence is
just a symptom of the turmoil in the real economy. 

? 

In a global crisis of such
historic proportion where the total bailout packages by all countries work out
to some 3 trillion dollars but where there is still uncertainty whether the
system can be salvaged, it is stupid to pretend that India would be immune to the
systemic crisis. A finance minister?s (FM) job is not to give false hopes.
Panic at the stock markets cannot be prevented for long with pep words from the
FM. Till October 14, the Bush administration alone has announced bailout
packages to the tune of over $ 990 billion apart from injecting fresh
investment worth $ 200 billion in banks and private financial institutions to
shore up their financial position.  

 ? 

The contagion is truly global
in a globalised world. How can the high priests of globalisation in India expect to
insulate the country from this all-pervasive crisis?! Already the financial
crunch is having its impact on the foreign institutional investors? (FII) hot
money in India .
Just wait for the impact on trade, foreign direct investments (FDI), exchange
rates, remittances, balance of payments (BoP), forex reserves and, above all,
on the macro-economy in India. Goodbye to the rosy stories of double-digit
?growth miracle?, it is now an impending debacle that stares economic analysts
in the face. 

? 

The possible social impact is
mindboggling. The new middle class in India is witnessing its first
financial meltdown and a possible deep recession. The information technology ?
business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) myth would soon be blown. The possible
BPO gains could hardly make up for the IT sector losses inflicted by
recessionary economies in the developed world. Anyway, if the job losses are
already running into lakhs (100,000s) in the US , one can well imagine how much
political pressure will build up there against outsourcing. If such leading
names like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Lehman
Brothers start biting dust and their brightest kids are given unceremonious
marching orders, Indian B-school products are surely in for a bad patch.
Pre-election political pressure may have forced Jet Airways to take back its
decision to terminate 1900 employees, but the job scenario in the so-called
high-growth high-wage sectors has already turned gloomy.  

 ? 

All booms in India , based
primarily on foreign money, will soon go bust. The recession-ridden US consumer/industry can hardly sustain the
growth miracles of China and
 India .
The surpluses of the Indian bourgeoisie would find a greener pastures in
greater and greater acquisitions abroad than investing anew in a dwindling
economy at home. Didn?t the Swiss bankers? association point out a few months
back that Indians were holding $1.4 trillion in Swiss banks? A sum about 40%
larger than the gross domestic product (GDP)! The only breed that will thrive
is the breed of speculators ? in stock markets, currency trade and possibly in
the real estate, gold and art pieces where the desperate wealth would flow.  

 ? 

In US, if it was first the
speculative housing market bubble/subprime and then the financial bubble, in India it has
just begun with the stock market bubble and possibly the real estate bubble.
When it extends to the investment bubble (what with the special economic zones
(SEZs) and other fabulous concessions, the telecom bubble, the IT-BPO bubble
and so on), all claims of India 
having weathered the storm would wither. India perhaps might go under late
and might take longer than the rest of the world to come out. All over the
world there are 77 tax havens like St. Kitts and Cayman
 Islands . But in India 
there are 580 SEZs!  

 ? 

The
Immediate Impact on Indian Stock Markets 

The festival season in India 
was seldom so gloomy for the share market. Investor wealth worth Rs. 250, 000
crore (1 crore = 10 million) was wiped out on the bourses on a single day, on
10 October. The Sensex fell by 1000 points before recovering some 200 points,
an intra-day drop of some 800 points. The lachrymal wave washed away the
festive mood. 

 ? 

At the first sign of stock
market crash and FII funds stampede, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Government has once again permitted P-notes (participatory notes) paving the
way for enhanced speculation. The present convulsion in the Indian bourses
would look mild before any possible explosion in future as a result of this
heightened speculation. Despite the government itself acknowledging that the
P-notes were being abused/misused at the time of banning them, no safeguard has
been put in place. Anyway, how can there be any safeguard within the realm of
speculations? It is absurd. 

 ? 

Impact
on Indian Banks 

?Indian banks are safe,?
reassured Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Subbarao repeatedly. Indian
banks' exposure to international markets is relatively small at 6 percent of
their total assets, the rating agency Crisil said, adding that even lenders
with large international operations have less than 11 percent of their assets
overseas. But a mini-version Indian bailout was in the making simultaneously in
the first week of October with the government virtually shoring up two mutual
funds and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) coming to the urgent rescue of three
more which landed into liquidity crisis in the backdrop of a steep crash in the
stock markets.  

 ? 

At a time when the big names
in Western banking industry are queuing up for bailouts, there may be a sudden
leap in non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits in Indian banks as these funds would
look for a safe haven back home. We can hence expect a big clamour from the NRI
lobby for greater concessions for their deposits. Chidambaram would only be too
willing to oblige. The RBI recently increased the credit cost on term
borrowings (with more than 7-year maturity) to Libor+4.5% and even then the big
Indian corporate names are finding it difficult to raise funds amidst the
present turmoil. Indian borrowers will end up paying more for the foreign
lenders and Indian banks might be forced to pay more for the NRIs ? all in the
backdrop of a creeping recession and falling rate of profits. 

 ? 

Even when Chidambaram was
preparing to pass some 66 reforms-related pending Bills in possibly the last
session of the parliament and a committee had prepared a blueprint for major
financial sector reforms, the US 
financial crisis fell like a bombshell. No doubt, the UPA ideologues would also
use the global meltdown as a pretext to push the same risky reforms. In the
years to come, as the new investment projects go under one after the other and
investors and insurance companies and hedge funds go under trading in credit
default swaps and all such devices, the financial crisis here in India might be
the denouement rather than the beginning as in US. ICICI, the symbol of new
breed of unscrupulous financial manipulators, is already in doldrums. 

 ? 

Increasing
Liquidity 

Liquidity position in India 
is comfortable, said RBI Governor Subbarao after a slew of measures. But he
avoided hinting at any possible reduction in prime lending rates. The liquidity
position may be comfortable, the banks and financial institutions might be
slush with funds once again but with interest rates ruling high there is no
pick up in the credit offtake by SMEs (small and medium enterprises). As they
are the main employment providers in the industrial sector, the employment in
this sector has already taken a heavy toll. A deep and prolonged recession in
the West might result in unemployment for millions of these workers.  

 ? 

The RBI hurried to cut Cash
Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 150 basis points to 7.5 per cent, releasing more than
$12 billion fresh liquidity into the Indian banking system. But if mere money
supply alone can drive the economy and industrial growth forward
uninterruptedly, then no economy will ever face any recession and there cannot
be a meltdown of this nature. However, amidst all-round alarmism and panic
reactions, confidence building itself has become the main plank of economic
policy! 

 ? 

The government has once again
liberalized ECB (external commercial borrowings by corporates). It is a different
matter that in the light of the meltdown nobody would bother to take a second
look at dollar bonds issued by Indian banks despite all their backing by the
Indian government and hence they are abandoning the idea raising external
funds/borrowings. While RBI might come forward to infuse liquidity liberally in
the short-term, wait for the booming NPA figures in the medium and long term. 

 ? 

Exchange
Rate: Rupee Depreciation 

When the western economies are
going into a tailspin one after the other, the appreciation of dollar and euro
looks somewhat paradoxical. From unprecedented appreciation earlier a few
months back, the rupee fell to record low ? reaching Rs.49 per dollar at some
point. The dollar is gaining vis-?-vis rupee because of the outflow of the FII funds
and since the worst is yet to come in the US /global
meltdown, a repeat of the East Asian crisis in India is very much a possibility.
During the preceding period, if the rupee appreciated by around 18%, now it has
depreciated by around 19% during this Jan-Sept.  

 ? 

The exporters who were crying
earlier are happy but it is now the turn of importers to come to grief. Not
many people know or remember that manufacturing imports had overtaken total
domestic manufacturing production in the domestic organised industrial sector
this year. Apart from cost escalation and consequent reduction in profit
margins, just wait for the impact of the rupee depreciation on inflation. The
confident prediction of possible fall in inflation rate to single digit by
January sounds hollow in the backdrop of this as well as the cut in CRR rates
and other measures by the RBI aimed at increasing the liquidity.  

 ? 

Impact
on Trade 

The trade deficit is reaching
alarming proportions. If exports are growing, imports are growing even more.
Thanks to workers? remittances, NRI deposits, FII investments and so on, the
current account deficit at around $10 billion doesn?t look so threatening. But
for some reasons if the remittances dry up and FIIs funds take flight, it will
be a repetition of 1991 after a few years if forex reserves get depleted and
trade deficits keep increasing at the present rate. Even as the country?s
exports and imports registered a substantial growth of 35.1 per cent and 37.7
per cent in dollar terms, respectively, during the first five months of the
current fiscal (April to August), the trade deficit during the period has shot
up. The trade deficit was around $14 billion for a single month of August 2008,
a record level. Even Goldman Sachs? prediction that India ?s forex reserves would
decline to $271 billion by year end from $310 billion in March 2008 looks a
very conservative estimate.?  

 ? 

Unprecedentedly high forex
reserves were becoming a burden. As most of these funds were in dollars, the
government had parked most of them in US treasury bonds or invested them in
securities and bonds in foreign banks. With the meltdown and consequent poor
returns following rate reduction, these treasury investments have taken a
beating. The government had its fingers burnt with the earlier dollar
depreciation. A part of these funds could have been used to clear some of the
external borrowings. Now with the recovery of the dollar, repayment costs in
rupee terms have also shot up. A golden opportunity was missed. The government
was toying with the idea of establishing a wealth fund/SPV (Special Purpose
Vehicle) with these reserves to finance private parties taking up
infrastructure projects through PPP. But, despite all the hype, the PPP has
been a total flop so far.  

 ? 

An
Indian Recession? 

It might be just a slowdown in
 India 
till now. But a recession cannot be ruled out in the medium term. Chidambaram
is claiming 7.5 - 8% growth this year. ADB has predicted 7% growth. Many rating
agencies estimate industrial growth between 6.5% and 5.2% from around 11-12% in
2006-07. It is hoped that agriculture would be the saving grace this year
thanks to a good monsoon. But just recall that Chidambaram was boasting about a
possible 10% growth early this year after the budget and the situation has
changed! 

 ? 

True, there is a boom in FDI
this year. The total FDI between April and August this fiscal stood at $14.6
billion. A record figure. Average monthly FDI inflow is above $2 billion
whereas a few years back that was the annual figure. Kamal Nath was confidently
asserting that the target of $35 billion for this year would be achieved. But a
closer look reveals that a sizable chunk of this FDI going into mining loot,
services, financial services in particular, entertainment industry including
luxury hotels and so on and also on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) not
mainly to fresh investments in the core productive sectors alone. The long-term
sustainability of such a pattern of FDI flow is anybody?s guess. Especially, in
the midst of the global liquidity crunch. Inflows into already committed
projects might give a false impression and it remains to be seen how long this
boom will continue. To sustain it, Chidambaram is bound to come up with a slew
of fresh liberalisation measures. FDI caps in insurance, banking and financial
services are already being hiked. There might be 100% FDI in single-brand
retail. There will be more and more sellouts to attract foreign capital. Chidambaram
keeps repeating ad nauseam that India ,
like China ,
will continue high growth despite recession in the developed countries.  

 ? 

Well, if high growth is to be
driven primarily by foreign capital assisted by government landgrab, tax
waivers, assured returns guarantees for infrastructure investments and fabulous
BOT terms and so on, in short, by making the whole of India into a
tax haven, the structural distortions this Manmohan gamble would lead to is
mindboggling. Leaving a handful of big business houses and Indian MNCs, nothing
Indian would be left in the ?Indian? economy. And even the ? India ? MNCs
have started looking outward. India Inc spent $26 billion in mergers and
acquisitions abroad this year. The global meltdown would, if anything, only
accelerate this trend and the scarce capital resources would be channelized for
overseas spending. If this is the story of overseas M&As by ?Indian?
companies, M&As in India 
by foreign companies is even more breathtaking. In power sector alone, the
merger and acquisitions worked out to $5 billion out of a total M&A value
of $55 billion in the infrastructure sector alone. This is the secret behind
the high FDI. But overseas M&A is not a rosy path. Tatas teamed up with AIG
which was one of the first to go under. TCS, Infosys and WIPRO?all were on an
acquisition spree abroad but at home they are the leading ones in issuing pink
slips.  

 ? 

The nation would soon realize
the real cost of the N-deal. N-deal was also a sort of bailout for the US industry.
Kakodkar has once again made it clear that 20 nuclear reactors would be set up!
How in the given situation the governments would foot the bill in the next ten
years?  

 ? 

The
Deflating Growth Bubble 

And what about the growth
story? Well, the ratio of savings and investment to the GDP reportedly remains
high at 35 per cent. So far so good. Still, there is a slowdown in the Indian
economy. The core sector growth is down to less than 4 per cent. All vital
productive sectors are on a slowdown. With such a structural background, if and
when the Indian economy slips into a recession, the recession will be
protracted and there will be no a quick revival. Crude oil prices have declined
to $80 a barrel. The monsoon has been good in most parts of the country. For a
couple of years it is not difficult to continue with the growth story. But
infusion of liquidity, i.e., increasing the velocity of circulation alone in
other words, can hardly sustain production. The basic structural flaws are
bound to come back to the fore and haunt.  

 ? 

The problem might be made to
look minor ? as that of liquidity ? at present but if there is a severe constraint
in demand then no amount of infusion of money into the system and supply side
magic would be able to save it. And given the fiscal scenario, the government
would not be able to go for any fresh neo-Keynesian binge either, leave alone
any major corporate bailout as in the US . Pay commissions and loan
waivers might sustain aggregate demand for a couple of years but signs of
slowdown are already on the wall. Despite repeated promptings of Chidambaram,
the bankers are not ready to reduce even the home loan rates and not just the
prime lending rate for the businesses. After all, they are hardnosed
businessmen and they will continue to be top executives in their banks while
Chidambaram and his party might go out of power. 

 ? 

The 11th Plan estimates that
to maintain an average annual growth rate of 9%, the investment in
infrastructure would have to rise from Rs. 259, 839 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 574,096
crore in 2011-12 at constant 2006-07 prices, aggregating to Rs. 2,011,521 crore
over five years. In the terminal year, this works out to be 9 per cent of the
GDP, up from 5 per cent of the GDP in 2006-07. The Plan document itself says
that the government cannot manage this much money and a substantial part of it
has to come from the private sector. PPP is supposed to pave the way. But what
is the record so far? The Government of India's Committee on Infrastructure
which monitors PPPs notes that 244 PPP projects are ongoing and another 76 are
in the pipeline in the country. The total capital outlay in the ongoing projects
amount to a minor fraction of the total projection by the Planning Commission.
To finance infrastructure projects, the GoI established an India Infrastructure
Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), a wholly Government-owned company to provide
long term finance for infrastructure projects. According to the IIFCL website,
it would provide loans upto 20 per cent of the project cost and projects
"awarded to a private sector company ... [a company established] through
Public Private Partnership (PPP) shall have overriding priority". And how
big is this IIFCL? The GoI has successfully persuaded the World Bank to give it
a loan of a meagre Rs.2700 crore to finance projects worth Rs. 2,011,521 crore!
Making bogus projections to justify pro-private sector policy changes is the
thriving industry in India .
In such a situation, can any sizable fund flow into the risky infrastructure
sector of a developing country amidst tottering private banks and investment
funds? 

 ? 

Many approved SEZs are in
doldrums as they are not getting any units and this whole thing is a massive
real estate speculation of gigantic proportions. Even though the real estate
speculation in India is
taking a different trajectory and is not as reckless as credit instruments
without any backing by collaterals as in the US subprime, the real estate bubble
centering around SEZs landgrab is no less serious. Despite RBI?s reservations,
the banks were competing to lend to SEZ promoters and even the nationalized
public sector banks accumulating huge NPAs would be lined up for private
takeover. SEZs might finally achieve what Narasimham?s two reports could not
achieve. If millions of home loan borrowers are defaulters, the banks can take
back their houses. Even they can takeover the SEZs. But if they themselves go deep
into the red irretrievably, they themselves would be taken over. Companies
incurring loss too would be taken over by stronger sharks. After a wave of
takeovers, if the economy doesn?t revive, this would only amount to taking over
the losses. A massive collapse in asset prices is the ultimate eventuality. 

 ? 

Social
Impact 

?Suicides after market crash
is an urban trend? ?screamed the headlines in a pink paper. Beneath that was
the sob story of an entire family committing suicide after heavy loss in the
stock market. ?Whether it is a seemingly well-to-do US-resident of Indian
origin wiping out his entire family or middle-aged brother-sister duo killing
their parents and then committing suicide, the financial crisis has hit
everyone, and has hit them hard?, the report added. At least, the desperate
farmers go alone leaving their family members in the lurch. But the scorched
middle class investors take their entire families along and that is the level
of urban investing middle class insecurity. This explains the golden age for
gold as investment in yellow metal is considered safer. Just think of the
hundreds of new scrips by companies with ambitious investment plans counting on
these investible surpluses of the middle classes and also the market
opportunities opened up by their wealth. All these plans for new scrips will be
scrapped. The middle class boom might be glamorous but the depression in
incomes and losses in the markets are far more agonizing. Pink slips are
painful indeed and joblosses are not limited to the West alone. Those who are
hoping that jobs in the West would shift across to the cheaper shores of the India are missing the point that domestic job
losses due to recession in the West as well as a slowdown in India would far
outweigh such outsourcing gains. Even the real estate boom is going bust in Bangalore , the Indian El
Dorado.??  

 ? 

The Indian BPO sector derives
40 per cent of its revenues from the financial sector of the developed
countries and exactly as they mushroomed fast they will wilt with the same
speed. IT-BPO sector in India 
accounts for 5.5% of the GDP but 30% of exports and a very high share of
service sector employment in cities like Bangalore .
 El Dorado is
poised to turn into a hell!?  

 ? 

Take the case of garments and
textiles. Hardly a few months back, tens of thousands of workers, mostly women,
were out of jobs in Chennai and Bangalore 
and towns like Tiruppur and Karur. The villain was the rupee appreciation,
leading to some 18% reduction in incomes in rupee terms. After the loot by
layers and layers of intermediaries, the factory producer was left with nothing
and hence closed down the unit. Now dollar has appreciated, smile returned to
the faces of garment owners but the smile soon vanished. The current exchange
rate offers handsome returns but the orders are drying up due to impending
recession. No margin then?no orders now! No jobs in both the scenarios. 

 ? 

The impact on the working
class by means of wage compression and workloads, illegal retrenchment and
worsening of job security and working conditions etc., would be onerous.
Already this has started happening. For reasons of space, we are not
elaborating. But we can only say there will be many more NOIDAs.  

 ? 

The employment in organised
industrial sector ? both public and private ? was 8.98 million in 1997 but it
was down to 7.62 million by 2005, i.e., precisely during the growth miracle if
we leave out the disastrous year of 2001-02 for the industry when the growth
was very low. If the growth miracle turns into a debacle what will happen to
organised sector employment? Formal sector will be informalised and permanent
workers will be booted out. 

 ? 

Bailouts for the bankrupt and
boot-out for the workers. The same logic of capital! Total blackout of the
possible social impact of the meltdown and almost virtual absence of any
discourse on safety measures/nets is one of the characteristic features of the
current crisis of capital, across the globe as well as in India . 



 ? 



Politics in India 

 ? 

Nuke Deal Is a Conduit to Import US Crisis into
 India 

 ? 

- ?Liberation, November, 2008. 

 ? 

The United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government has finally sealed the nuclear deal with the US . For the
Congress and the coalition of Unashamed Partners of America headed by it, the
nuclear deal is the supreme achievement of the government. On the eve of
signing the deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated India ?s commercial commitment to the US nuclear
energy industry: ?We look forward to working with US companies on the
commercial steps that will follow to implement this landmark Agreement.? In a
second statement issued after the Agreement?s signing he also reiterated
India?s commitment to implement the Agreement in good faith even though no such
reciprocal assurance was made by the US to confirm New Delhi?s claim regarding
the so-called US ?guarantee? on uninterrupted fuel supply.  

 ? 

On India ?s part, faithful
implementation of the commitments, whether declared or undeclared, has long
been underway. From the vote against Iran 
at IAEA to the continuing prevarication and procrastination on the issue of the
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline proposal, India 
has been complying with the Hyde Act, which requires India ?s foreign policy to be
congruent with American priorities and objectives, in letter and spirit. And now
Pranab Mukherjee?s explicit assurance reaffirms the commercial component of India ?s commitment, which can only be music to
American ears at a time when the US economy is passing through its
worst crisis in some eighty years. The dilapidated atomic reactor industry in
the US is awaiting hefty
orders from India 
even as massive military purchases are in the pipeline. 

 ? 

The day Pranab Mukherjee and
Condoleezza Rice inked the nuke deal, George Bush met the finance ministers and
central bankers of the Group of 7 (G7) countries ? the US, Germany, Japan,
France, Britain, Italy and Canada ? and leading officials of the IMF in a
desperate bid to check the growing financial panic that has now begun to spread
beyond the American horizons to overshadow the G7 sky.? The meeting of the G7 finance chiefs called
for ?urgent and exceptional action? and the use of ?all available tools to
support systematically important financial institutions and prevent their
failure.? In a separate statement US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson admitted
?never has it been more essential to find collective solutions to ensure stable
and efficient financial markets and restore the health of the world economy.? 

 ? 

History is replete with
examples showing what the US 
really means by finding ?collective solutions?. It desperately tries to pass on
its crisis to other countries and refuel its military-industrial complex to
underwrite its economy, and in the process steps up politico-military
intervention across the world. And it is precisely at this juncture that the
Indian ruling classes have pushed India into a tight strategic
embrace with the crisis-ridden US ? a country that is hated by most nations of
the world for its imperialist arrogance and aggression and whose economy is now
emitting waves of financial instability and panic across the global economy.
Strategic partnership with the US 
can only prove to be a conduit for importing the entire gamut of crises facing
the US into India .  

 ? 

Manmohan Singh and his ilk
epitomise the typical Indian comprador mindset that considers the US to be the
pinnacle of capitalist success and would do everything to bask in the American
sun. But the much-trumpeted great American dream is now fast turning sour. Just
a couple of days before Pranab Mukherjee signed the deal, almost every
newspaper in India carried the shocking story of an MBA degree-holder from
India killing his entire family as well as himself as all his fortunes
collapsed in the ongoing financial meltdown. The nuke deal and Indo-US
strategic partnership is not a passport to US-sponsored prosperity and power,
it is an invitation to greater crisis and vulnerability to US blackmailing and
arm-twisting. All right-thinking Indians must reject this sordid comprador
capitulation with the contempt it deserves. 



 ? 



Politics in India 

 ? 

Campaign against Communalism and Terrorism:  

Beyond the National Integration Council (NIC)
Deliberations 

 ? 

- Liberation, November, 2008. 



 ? 

After a lapse of more than three years the NIC met last week against a
backdrop of raging communal violence in several parts of the country punctuated
by periodic bomb-blasts in major cities. The response of the state to such a
situation conforms to a by now familiar, almost predictable pattern. The NIC
deliberations only reflected and reaffirmed this pattern. 

? 

In the face of communal violence unleashed by the Sangh Parivar, the
state withdraws into a shell of inaction, or openly stands by the perpetrators
and protagonists of such violence, depending upon whether the reins of the
state are in the hands of the Congress/United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)/National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the wake of
a terrorist incident, the same state however becomes hyperactive. The police
swings into action, arrests and encounters follow suit, and we are treated to
an official propaganda blitzkrieg with sensational stories as to how the state
has just busted some ?terror modules? or killed or arrested some dreaded
?terrorist masterminds?.  

 ? 

While the police establishment reduces the whole question of tackling
terrorism to a no-holds-barred battle between ?terrorist masterminds? and
?encounter specialists? in which the courts and constitution must not play
spoilsport, the political establishment launches a competitive chorus for a hard
state and tough anti-terror laws. The BJP demands re-enactment of Prevention of
Terrorist Act (POTA), the Congress rules out bringing back any law that has
already been exposed and discredited in public experience, promising to
introduce even tougher new laws. 

 ? 

In his speech at the NIC, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delivered all the
customary ?secular? and ?democratic? shibboleths that we often hear these days
even from his ?counterpart-in-waiting? Mr. LK Advani who however refused to
attend the NIC meeting, reportedly peeved that his name figured at the 137th
position in the list of invitees! The PM called for avoiding any ?impression
that any community, or sections amongst them, are being targeted, or that some
kind of profiling is being attempted?. He also reiterated his commitment to the
Constitution and the principles of civil liberties and democratic rights: ?We
should not be provoked to suspend or subvert a democratic process in the search
for solutions. A democracy has a special onus in that it has to ensure
protection of civil liberties even as it seeks to enforce law and order.? 

? 

Perhaps all this talk about not subverting the democratic process was
meant to justify the UPA government?s refusal to take any action against Sangh
outfits like the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the Hindu Yuva
Vahini. In Delhi ,
the police versions regarding the Jamia Nagar encounter have raised precisely
the kind of questions that Manmohan Singh says should be avoided, but the UPA
government has refused to set up a judicial enquiry headed by a sitting Supreme
Court judge to resolve the issue on the plea that such a step would demoralise
the police!  

 ? 

With the government limiting its role to empty phrases and deliberate
inaction against the perpetrators of communal violence, NDA constituents were
emboldened to offer all kinds of arguments in their own support. Orissa Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik attributed the Kandhamal attacks on Christians to
?conflict of interests? between scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs),
leaving it to the Centre to decide if Bajrang Dal should be banned. Sushma
Swaraj of the BJP accused the UPA of failing to distinguish between extremism,
which is linked to ?home-grown sentiment?, and terrorism, which according to
her, is all about secession! 

? 

While the NDA speakers boldly advocated their point of view, the CPI (M)
said little except reiterating the party?s unstinted support to any official
campaign against terrorism. The party refrained from demanding a ban on the
Sangh outfits; and instead of explaining the context in which India is
increasingly internalising the threat of terrorism, Yechury only harped on the
anti-national argument to denounce terrorism.  

 ? 

By equating terrorism with secessionism, the propagandists and ideologues
of the Sangh brigade are trying to pitch their variety of ?nationalism? as the
most powerful anti-terrorist antidote. And this, like most Sangh claims, is
based on complete lies. If secessionist sentiment prevails in any part of the
country, that too is very much a home-grown sentiment and this recognition is
central to any quest for a political solution to secessionist campaigns.
Moreover, the terrorist incidents now taking place across the country have
little to do with any secessionist sentiment brewing in any part of the
country. These incidents are rather a reflection of, and reaction to, the
combination of the following three factors: the relentless Sangh campaign of
communal violence, the growing involvement of India in the US-led global war, and
the increasingly unmistakable communal bias of the Indian state in most of its
affairs and actions.  

 ? 

At a time when communalism and terrorism are growing in a dangerous
spiral, the campaign against communalism and terrorism must be firmly anchored
in the secular, democratic, anti-imperialist agenda of the Indian people. 

 ? 



Orissa Pogrom 

 ? 

Fact-Finding Report on Kandhamal Situation 

 ? 

- Liberation, November, 2008. 

 ? 

A Communist Party of India
[CPI (ML)] fact-finding team visited Orissa?s Kandhamal District on 15-16
October, 2008. The team visited affected villages and relief camps, after
facing interrogation by the Orissa Police and the Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF). The team also met District Magistrate (DM) and various police officials
of Kandhamal district. Below is a report by team member J P Minz.  

? 

1. The District Magistrate?s (DM)
Statement: The DM told us that Kandhamal had been peaceful for the preceding
ten days. Whereas there used to be fifteen relief camps, now only seven were
operational, having 12,641 people. According to him, breakfast, meals,
supplementary food meant for children, and iron and calcium tablets for
pregnant women are available in these camps; a doctor is available round the
clock; books are available for children and there are regular reading sessions.
Blankets, sarees, buckets and mugs and similar essentials have also been
provided. 

 ? 

2. Conditions at the Relief
Camps: Our team visited Phulbani, Tikabali, Ji Udaygiri and Rakiya relief camps
and found that the inmates of the camp are living in extremely bad conditions.
In the name of breakfast they get only fifty grams of chura (beaten rice) and
rice-dal for meals, which is not enough to satisfy the needs of hunger and
nutrition. In the name of supplementary food, the children are occasionally
given biscuits. Bathing soaps have been distributed just once in the camps. The
doctors do visit but patients are told that there is no medicine. There is no
arrangement for pregnant women. The camp inmates sleep on plastic mats on the
ground. They have to defecate in the open, which apart from being unhygienic
also puts them in danger. One inmate of Ji Udaygiri camp, we were told, was
killed when he had gone to defecate. 

 ? 

3. Role of the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal: The victims in all the relief camps unanimously
told the fact finding team that it is the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres who have
sowed the seeds of communal division in the villages. They used to organize
meetings of the Kandha tribals and incite them to attack the Christian hamlets
and also provided funds for doing this. 

 ? 

4. Role of the Police and
Administration: The anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal started on the day of the
bandh called by VHP after the murder of Swami Lakshmananad, and these riots
continued for over a month. In the communal fire two hundred Christian villages
and 127 Church and prayer halls were either destroyed or burnt. Apart from
this, schools, hospitals, hostels and convents also have been damaged. The
incidents of killings, rape and loot also were carried out in addition to
former incidents. The shocking fact is that all these incidents took place in
full view of police and the police remained mute spectators. The official
figure for deaths has been reported to be 31, however, a senior government official
on the condition of anonymity informed that he himself consigned two hundred
dead bodies - found from the jungle - to flames after getting them collected in
a tractor. As per his estimates based on the intensity and pace of killings the
number of those killed is over five hundred. 

 ? 

5. Atmosphere of Terror: The
Christians continue to experience great terror. The Sangh outfits are
campaigning for sending back the CRPF and the Nikhil Utkal Kui community is
threatening to launch an armed movement. Riot-victims are frightened to go back
to their villages because they have been threatened that if they return they
will be hacked into pieces. The rioters are also proclaiming that only Hindu
converts will be allowed to return. On the other hand, those in charge of the
relief camps are pressurizing the riot victims to return to their villages
saying that the life has returned to normalcy and peace has returned. 

 ? 

Conclusions: 

 ? 

1. This violence was a
pre-planned anti-Christian communal assault, and in no way was it a ?clash?
between adivasi (tribals) and dalits. 

2. This violence which had
full support from the Biju Janta Dal Government was planned and executed by VHP
and Bajrang Dal. 

3. The Sangh?s propaganda
about ?indiscriminate religious conversion? is a far cry from facts, as the
Christian population of Orissa is only 2.5 per cent of the total population. It
is to be noted that Christian missionaries began working in Orissa 150 years
back. 

4. Dalits have far less
proportion of land in comparison to the Kandha tribals. In Kandhamal 90 per
cent land is government land, 5.5 percent belongs to tribals and rest 4.5 per
cent belongs to Dalits, OBC and Oriya (businessmen). There is not much
difference in the economic conditions of the tribals and the dalits. The dalits
are very slightly better off as they engage in small businesses. 

 ? 

Our Demands: 

1. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP) and Bajrang Dal (BD) should be banned. 

2. Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik responsible for the violence should tender his resignation immediately 

3. The accused for the riots
be immediately arrested.  

4. The Orissa Govt. must
reconstruct all houses, churches, schools, hostels, hospitals and other
social-religious structures demolished during the violence and for other
damages adequate compensation be granted after a proper survey 

5. The relief camps be run for
another six months and proper civic arrangements for food, medicine and
sanitation be made in these camps.  

6. Arrangements be made for
registering First Information Reports (FIRs) related to the communal violence
at all police stations.  

7. Peace process be initiated
and guarantees be made for reopening and running of schools, hospitals and
other institutes run by the Christian missionaries. 



 ? 



Orissa Pogrom 

 ? 

United Protests: South Orissa Bandh by CPI (ML)
and Other Parties 

 ? 

- Liberation, November, 2008.  

 ? 

On 13th October CPI (ML)
Liberation along with four other parties ? CPI (ML) New Democracy (ND),
Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI (ML)], Socialist Unity Center
of India (SUCI) and Samajwadi Jan Parishad held a successful bandh in five
districts of South Orissa - Kandhamal, Rayagada, Gajapati, Koraput and Ganjam ?
against the carnage in Kandhamal, the complicity of the Navin Patnaik
Government and the criminal inaction of the Congress-led UPA Government at the
Centre. The bandh was total in the five districts and marked by the spontaneous
participation of people. Around 10, 000 people actively participated in
Liberation?s initiatives to make the bandh a success in Rayagada; 1200 in
Gajapati. 

 ? 

Holding that the ruling BJD as
well as Congress which is in power at the Centre too have blood on their hands
because of their hands-off approach towards the Sangh Parivar mobs, the CPI
(ML) had declined to join a joint protest announced by Communist Party of India
(CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] with Biju Janata Dal
(BJD) and the Congress party in the state. 

? 

In Bhubaneswar , trains were stopped and the National Highway 
blocked by 200 Liberation activists. Comrade Tirupati Gomango held a rally of
around 8000 people at Gunupur. The bandh sent out a stern political message
rejecting the communal violence against thousands of Christians by the Sangh
outfits and condemning the forces in power which are allowing the violence to
take place unhindered.  

???  

CPI
(ML) Liberation?s Nation Wide Protests 

On October 3, CPI (ML) held
nation-wide protests demanding prosecution of Chief Ministers of Orissa and
Karnataka for allowing saffron mobs to indulge in an anti-Christian pogrom;
demanding a ban on the Sangh outfits guilty of communal violence and protesting
against the UPA Government?s refusal to take stern action against the communal
killers. A memorandum to the President of India was submitted from all over the
country. The memorandum, raising all the above issues and demands, also noted
that the Sangh?s accusations of ?forced conversion? was actually serving to
cover up their own acts of forcing adivasis and Christians to convert to
Hinduism. Conversion from Hinduism has largely been an act of rebellion by the
oppressed castes against the caste-ridden Hindu fold, noted the memo, and ?the
current wave of violence is therefore also an attempt to terrorise the Dalits
and other oppressed social groups for their rebellion ? and is therefore a
continuation of social oppression in another form.? The acts of humiliation of
Christians that have come to light ? raping, parading naked, and forcing to eat
excreta as ?purification? ritual ? are all reminiscent of the atrocities against
Dalits.  

????  

The party also noted the
increasing incidents of communal violence in Dhule ( Maharashtra )
and Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh), in which the minority community bore the brunt
of the attacks. Also, it condemned the Tarun Gogoi Government for allowing the
Bodo-Muslim clashes to take place, which had resulted in thousands of people
being driven into refugee camps.  

???  

In Delhi , activists of CPI (ML) gathered at Parliament Street 
and burnt an effigy of Navin Patnaik and Yeddyurappa, and submitted a
memorandum to the President. 

? 

In Karnataka, another major
centre of the ongoing communal violence, protest demonstrations were held in
various places in the state, and the memorandum to the President was sent
through the tahsildars in the taluks. More than hundred people protested in
front of taluk office at Harapanahalli. The demo evoked much expectation in the
town as a church near Harapanahalli was also attacked sometime back. Our
comrades had helped in getting bail for the Christian priests, on whom false
cases had been foisted in addition to the attack on their church. The demo at
Gangavati was also impressive and demonstrators shouted slogans against BJP
that is coming out with its true colours after assuming power in the state. The
demo at HD Kote near Mysore 
protestors included construction labourers and All India Central Coordination
of Trade Unions (AICCTU) activists. 

? 

In Jharkhand, hundreds of
people marched in the capital of Ranchi .
The March against Communalism, in the Sainik Bazaar campus, was led by CPI (ML)
General Secretary Comrade Dipankar. The March culminated in a mass meeting at
Albert Ekka Chowk, addressed by many leaders. Protest processions, effigy
burning, dharnas and mass meetings were also held at various district headquarters
(HQs) in Jharkhand; Bihar; Assam and Karbi Anglong; UP; W. Bengal, Tamilnadu,
Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Durg.  

 ? 

All India Progressive Womens
Association (AIPWA) between 10-14 October, held protests and submitted a
memorandum to the President of India demanding ban on the Sangh outfits Bajrang
Dal and VHP responsible for assaults on Christians, and a Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) probe into the rape of a nun in Orissa. 



 ? 



Politics in India 

 ? 

Students Revolt in Bihar 
Against Inaction on MNS-Shiv Sena Goons 

 ? 

- ML Update, 28 October - 03 November
2008. 

 ? 

Bihar
Bandh called by All India 
Students? Association (AISA) is a Success 

The
scale and level of
students' anger and outburst against attack on North Indians in Mumbai
and Maharashtra was historic on the day of Bihar Bandh called
by All India Students' Association. The whole State machinery was out
to stop
the agitating students from expressing their anger and shock at the
state of
inaction by Maharashtra and Central UPA governments, but the students
and youth,
despite severe police crackdown on bandh and protests on 25th October
overcame
all suppression and made the bandh a success. The news agencies and
media
houses under instruction from Bihar Government tried to play down the
news,
however the scale of the actions on the streets were just too intense
to be
suppressed. 

 ? 

The non Maharashtrian students
who had gone to Mumbai for appearing in an examination conducted by the
Railways were brutally and severely attacked on Sunday 19 October by the
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) goons and were forced to return from Mumbai.
The students from Bihar upon their arrival at Patna Junction Station next day
and learning the tragic death of Pawan (examinee from Nalanda) virtually seized
the Patna Railway Station and even firing in air by the police did not stop
them. The Station was literally in the hands of the agitating students. The
students wanted Bihar 's chief minister (CM)
Nitish Kumar and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad both to come to the Patna Station
and meet them. The students' heightened anger was not just due to attacks only
on them, but the fact that prior to the examination they had requested Mr. Lalu
Prasad to change the centre and venue of the examinations from Mumbai citing
the recent attacks on people and students from Bihar and other north Indian
states. This request of theirs had fallen on deaf ears of CM and Railway
Minister and students' apprehension turned into reality. When the students had
gone to Mr. Lalu Prasad prior to the examination for change in venue, he did
not meet them and the reports of the same were carried in the news papers prior
to the incident of attacks. The students gradually spilled over on the streets
and vented their anger by smashing glass-panes of vehicles and breaking
anything coming their way. The students in other districts of Bihar 
took similar action. 

 ? 

To orient the struggle towards
the just demand of trying Raj Thackeray for murder and sedition and putting a
ban on MNS and Shiv Sena, the AISA called for a meeting of all students'
organizations at Patna University on 21st October which was attended by State
leadership of the student wings of the ruling Jananta Dal (United) [JD (U)], as
well as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and National
Student?s Union of India (NSUI), and also the student wing of Sharad Pawar's National
Congress Party (NCP); in fact most student organizations except Akhil Bhartiya
Vidhayarthi Parishad (ABVP) which was not invited for the all party meet. At
the meeting the joint decisions of all the student organizations was to call
for arresting and prosecuting Raj Thackeray on charges of murder and sedition,
calling on the forty members of parliament (MPs) from Bihar to initiate
immediate action in Parliament to demand that the UPA Government rein in the
MNS and Shiv Sena or else resign. It was decided to hold a protest march on the
following day (22nd October) to voice their urgent demands, followed by
Students' Assembly 

 ? 

On 22nd morning, however, due
to news of police firing on agitating students at Sasaram the AISA leadership
of Bihar felt that Students' Assembly was not enough in voicing the urge for
urgent action for justice and decided to call for a Bihar 
bandh and it was accordingly communicated to all the students? organizations
that attended the meeting. AISA also asked the organizations to declare the
bandh call from the podium during the protest meeting and on the following day
all the newspapers carried it. Later while a press conference of the student
organizations was on, an all-party meet called by Bihar CM Mr. Nitish Kumar was
also going on that was boycotted by the CPI (ML). The meeting was not called so
much as to discuss the growing attacks on the north Indians and people from
Bihar, rather the agenda of the meeting was the situation in Bihar 
after the attacks ? clearly indicating the Government's mood to suppress the
students and youth protests. While parties like JD (U), RJD, LJP and Congress
were just paying lip service to the whole situation and then we saw a coming
together of all arch rivals while meeting the Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh
only to tell him that they have kept the angry youth under control and unless
the UPA acts against MNS and Maharashtra Govt. the student-youth anger may
become difficult to control. 

 ? 

Along with AISA, however, the
students? organizations of all these ruling parties (except ABVP) had declared
the support for Bihar bandh on 25th October.
The same evening as the all-Party meet ended and they came to know of their
students' wing's declaration, the parties pressurized their students'
organization to pull out from the bandh. The Chhatra-RJD, was the first to
pressure its members to stay away. Many of these ruling parties' students'
organizations published their declaration of pulling out from the bandh and by
24th morning it was clear that no students' organization was with bandh except
AISA and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) which also declared full support
for the bandh. At this development the Patna University unit of almost all the
organizations (except ABVP) terming this pull-out a betrayal of the student
community, declared their intention to defy their State leadership and go with
AISA to support the bandh, and eventually they did rebel (including the ruling
Party's Chattra?JD (U)) and implemented the bandh call in Patna on 25th
October. The bourgeois parties could not suppress their students urge for
justice as promised to the PM. There are also confirmed reports of students
from organizations of ruling parties defying their Party's order and coming out
in full support of the Bandh. At some places even some sections of ABVP ranks
defied their organisation's order and supported the bandh. This trend is
reflective of the spirit of unity among common students against criminal and corrupt
politics of all mainstream parties. 

 ? 

The bandh was hugely
successful in Patna and several districts of
Bihar incuding Ara, Buxar, Arwal, Jehanabad, Gaya , Nalanda, Bhojpur, Siwan, Jamui,
Lakhisarai, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Sasaram, Sheikhpura, Narkatiagunj,
Samastipur etc. The AISA and rebel students from other organizations stopped
trains and road traffic at several places in Bihar .
The effigies of MNS president Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena's Bal Thackeray were
burnt at various places despite security forces trying to stop them. At some
places even the effigy of railway minister Mr. Lalu Prasad was also burnt. The
students everywhere demanded that both these leaders be booked for murder and
sedition. ''If Union Ministers from Bihar fail to ensure the institution of
cases against both the Thackerays under IPC sections relating to offences of
murder and sedition, we would move ahead to intensify the agitation for their
en masse resignation,'' warned Abhyuday, State Secretary of AISA. Abhyuday also
took exception to the silence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Union Steel
and Fertilisers Minister Ramvilas Paswan on the issue of taking constitutional
action against the Vilasrao Deshmukh government for its failure in ensuring
safety and security of Biharis in Maharashtra . 

 ? 

Two thousand students
throughout the State were arrested. Police lathicharged the agitating students
in several districts and the irony above all is that those now in jails were
threatened by the police to be charged with sedition. There are hundreds of
students and youth still in jails. The outburst of the student has been massive
and entire police and administrative setup simply could not contain the
protesting students except lathicharging and threatening to book them with
sedition. Also, what was seen is the students' unity as against the unity of
all the ruling parties in suppressing the anger and urge for immediate action
for justice to the families of Pawan and the other student who eventually lost
their life at the hands of MNS goons, mute spectator Maharashtra government and
an insensitive Lalu Prasad who did not heed to students' requests for changing
the venue of examinations. 

 ? 

Meanwhile,
another incident of
another cold blooded murder has taken place in Mumbai in which one
youth Rahul
Raj from Patna was shot dead in a so-called ?encounter? by the
Maharashtra
Police led by the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Mumbai. His
dead
body is being brought to Bihar on 29th
October. After the bandh, CPI (ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar
Bhattacharya
and AISA State leaders visited Pawan's family in
Nalanda to share their grief and assure the family of justice for
Pawan. It
came out that Pawan's father was an employee and a trade union activist
in Maharashtra 's textile mills before being thrown out of
the job in 90's. A son is killed in the State where his father toiled
in mills
to bring prosperity to that state. Couple of days before the Bihar
bandh a day long Nalanda bandh was also called by AISA and RYA to
protest
Pawan?s death. Nalanda happens to be home constituency of Bihar CM Mr.
Nitish
Kumar. He was also slated to hold some kind of meeting in Nalanda,
however, the
enraged students uprooted all the arrangements being made for his
meeting and
the bandh was a huge success in Nalanda. 



 ? 



South Asia 

 ? 

Stop
the War!  

The
Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka Demands a Political Solution! 

 ? 

[Text of CPI (ML) Central
Committee Statement on developments in Sri Lanka .] 

 ? 

The Sri Lankan government?s
ongoing military campaign to corner and crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Ealam (LTTE) has led to a terrible humanitarian crisis in the country. Reports
emanating from the island indicate that the Sri Lankan state is on the verge of
wresting military control over large parts of LTTE territory including the
administrative headquarters in Killinochi. While the number of people killed so
far in the crossfire between the advancing Sri Lankan armed forces is anybody?s
guess, some 500,000 people are estimated to have been displaced and rendered
homeless in their own land. With the Sri Lankan government not allowing any
relief to reach the people in refugee camps, international humanitarian
organisations have been forced to leave the battle zones and recently even UN
food convoys have had to return, leaving a vast population in the battle zones
on the brink of starvation.  

 ? 

Over the last two years the
military balance has steadily tilted against the LTTE. Following the collapse
of peace talks and withdrawal of Norway from the peace process, the
Mahinda Rajapaksha government seized the opportunity to go for an all-out fight
to the finish. In the post 9/11 international situation, the LTTE has already
suffered considerable international isolation with the entire Western and
developed world declaring it a banned terrorist organisation. The December 2004
tsunami had also delivered a crucial blow to the economy and general life in
the LTTE areas. The magnitude of the disaster was compounded manifold with the
forces of Sinhala chauvinism disrupting the relief and resettlement plans drawn
up under the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). A split in
LTTE following the desertion of the organisation?s eastern commander Colonel
Karuna must have also prompted Colombo ?s
decision to push for a final military solution.  

 ? 

Even as the Sri Lankan armed
forces intensify the war on LTTE, and the death toll keeps mounting, President
Mahinda Rajapaksha waxed eloquent in the 63rd session of the UN General
Assembly in September 2008 on the goals of peace, resettlement and development.
Quoting Isaac Newton, he lamented that the world was building too many walls
and not enough bridges! He would like the world to believe that his government
was employing military means only against those who were engaged in armed
struggle. If it were really so, why has his government forced international
relief organisations and humanitarian agencies from the battle zones?  

 ? 

The Sri Lankan government must
understand that there can be no military solution to the Tamil national
question. Even if the LTTE is militarily defeated, the national question will
continue to haunt Sri Lanka .
It must also understand that its attempt to impose Sinhala chauvinism as the
exclusive Sri Lankan identity is doomed to fail. It is a political problem
which modern Sri Lanka 
inherited from the British colonial days, and can only be resolved politically.
Following the 1983 pogrom in which Sinhala chauvinists had killed thousands of
Tamils, the LTTE had emerged as the predominant representative of Tamil
nationalism in Sri Lanka .
In spite of its overwhelming emphasis on armed struggle and the demand for a
separate Tamil Eelam, in the course of the peace talks the LTTE had agreed to
the notion of ?internal? self-determination of Tamils within the framework of a
federal Sri Lanka .
The Sri Lankan government must resume this process and stop the war on Sri
Lankan Tamils. 

 ? 

The
Government of India must
take urgent bilateral and multilateral initiative to stop the ongoing
civil war
in Sri Lanka ,
bring about an immediate cease-fire and ensure relief and
rehabilitation
measures for the displaced Tamil people in the battle zones. In recent
times
several Indian fishermen have also been killed by the Sri Lankan naval
forces. India has lacked a consistent policy regarding Sri Lanka ?
initially India was believed to be
patronising LTTE while later the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) got
embroiled in a disastrous war with the LTTE itself. Many political
forces in
Sri Lanka, both among Sinhala and Tamil circles, found the Indian
intervention
in the 1980s objectionable and smacking of regional hegemonic ambitions
of the
Indian ruling classes. Since then and especially following the
assassination of
Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, India has failed to evolve any effective
diplomatic response to the civil war in Sri Lanka . The
current phase of the war in Sri Lanka does call for an urgent and
appropriate Indian response to bring about an
immediate cessation of the war and facilitate a negotiated political
settlement
of the question of Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka .  



 ? 



South Asia 

 ? 

Fighting Caste Oppression and Untouchability: A
Sri Lankan Experience 

 ? 

- S. Sivasegaram. 

 ? 

The system of caste persists
as an integral part of Hindu society. Colonial rulers let it be and where
useful encouraged it. Modernisation made an impact, but did not eliminate it.
Although the Hindu Varna system is the reference point for its justification,
caste structure and hierarchy vary from region to region. In Sri Lanka ,
caste is an integral aspect of Sinhala and Tamil societies, and matters in
social interactions. Even the Muslims, with claims to a distinct ethnic
identity, are tainted by caste, but to a less degree. Untouchability was
strictly practiced among the Tamils of the North and less strictly in the East.
The Hill Country Tamils of Indian origin are mostly from depressed caste groups
and despite caste differences open discrimination has been less prevalent than
in the North and East.  

 ? 

This article is on the
struggle against caste oppression in the North, the Jaffna peninsula mainly, where discrimination
and oppression had been strong from pre-colonial times. The caste system in Sri Lanka differs from that in India in some
ways. While the Brahminist ideology holds, the Brahmins play no serious role in
caste society; and there are no Kshatriya or Vysya caste groups. Thus, unlike
in South India , the caste at the peak of the
caste hierarchy is the Vellala (cultivator) caste among Tamils and the
Govigama, its equivalent, among Sinhalese. The Vellala are around 40% of the population
of the Jaffna 
peninsula. The depressed caste groups deemed as ?untouchables? form around 30%.
The rest belong to middle level caste groups bound by the caste hierarchy. 

 ? 

Although colonial intervention
did not dent the caste system, early in the 20th Century missionary schools
allowed access to modern education to a few members of the oppressed castes.
But the depressed communities remained backward since even primary education
was denied to their vast majority. Protests against caste oppression and
demands for the right to education and better living conditions started in the
early 20th Century with the formation of workers? associations and campaigns
for equal treatment. Notably, the Jaffna Youth Congress, a progressive group
formed in 1920 and inspired by the Indian independence movement, was supportive
of struggles against discrimination. 

? 

Social reforms, including the
introduction of free education, in the run up to independence from colonial
rule in 1948 failed to meet the needs of the depressed castes, especially in
the North, since the Vellala elite dominated the social institutions. The
initiation of the left movement in Jaffna 
in 1937 and the founding of the Communist Party there in 1945 gave fresh
impetus to struggles against caste oppression. The Minority Tamils Association
founded in 1943 that organisationally united the depressed castes was a
reformist outfit controlled by moderates. Efforts by communists to make the
Association take a more militant stand were frustrated by the moderates. Thus,
despite some degree of success of various campaigns, the oppressive caste
system and the practice of untouchability remained intact. 

? 

The coalition government led
by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that came to power in 1956, despite
aggravating the national question by making Sinhala the sole official language,
introduced significant social reforms. The election in 1956 of P. Kandiah, the
only Tamil communist to be elected MP, helped the oppressed castes of the North
in a number of issues. He was instrumental in the passage of the Prevention of
Social Disabilities Act in 1957 that made it punishable to deny anyone access
to public places by reason of caste. The nationalisation of the schools in 1960
by the SLFP government elected that year loosened the grip of the Vellala elite
on schools which were earlier under their control. Yet collaboration of the
state machinery with the Vellala elite let the law turn a blind eye to
continuing acts of systematic oppression, exploitation and humiliation based on
caste.  

 ? 

Social disabilities suffered
collectively by the depressed by caste persisted. The Communist Party (CP) successfully
led local struggles against oppression in some issues. The reactionary feudal
elite resented it and directed thugs to attack communists and militant members
of the oppressed community. In response, some leaders of the depressed
community prescribed conversion to Buddhism, a move rejected by the CP, failed
to win popular support. 

? 

The return to power of the
United National Party in 1965 in alliance with the Tamil nationalist Federal
Party and the Tamil Congress emboldened the upper caste elite to uphold casteism.
Earlier pledges to open public wells, eating places and temples to all irrespective
of caste were breached, the affected communities had no choice but launch a
militant struggle. 

? 

The split in the CP in 1964
led to opposed approaches to caste oppression. While the revisionists retreated
to a passive approach, the Marxist Leninists took the initiative to launch a
mass demonstration against untouchability on 21st October 1967 against a
background of oppression by the reactionary elite backed by the police. The
demonstration with a sizeable participation by members of the ?uppers castes?
was brutally attacked by the police. The Marxist Leninists broadened the
campaign to mobilise the masses and lead them under the banner of the Mass
Movement to Eliminate Untouchability, an organisation to fight caste oppression
that, unlike earlier caste-based organisations, was open to all progressive
people. 

 ? 

Mass mobilisation and militant
campaigns were launched to win access to public places and facilities that were
denied to depressed communities. Expectedly, the reactionary elite took to
criminal violence in the form of arson, murder and assault. And for the first
time in the history of the island, oppressed masses resorted to armed action
against the combined forces of reaction and the state apparatus. Not only the
elitist Tamil nationalist parliamentary leaders but also the revisionists
denounced the armed action. But support grew even among the ?upper? castes, for
the campaign which also gained rising sympathy and support from a wide section
of progressive forces across the country, including other nationalities. 

 ? 

Attempts by the upper caste
elite to keep the oppressed castes outside public places, especially temples,
and to continue with blatant discriminatory practices such as the denial of
access to public wells, crematoria etc. were soundly defeated by the campaign
that continued into the 1970s. The SLFP-led alliance that came to power
consequently amended the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of 1957 to make
it more effective. 

The success of the struggle
meant that the socio-economic basis for caste oppression and open discrimination
and humiliation by caste has been destroyed, and that is no mean achievement.
What is particularly important is that a struggle against oppression of a
section of a community enjoyed the support of a sizeable section of the
community associated with oppression. Thus it has lessons for struggles against
other forms of oppression in Sri
  Lanka and elsewhere on matters of the united
front strategy, political mobilisation of the masses, and focussed application
of armed action in a way that isolates the main enemy. 

This does not mean that caste
prejudices and discrimination are over. They are strong among the Tamil
Diaspora and exist even in regions under the control of the LTTE. The campaign
therefore needs to go on undeterred, not as armed conflict but as social and
political activities to isolate the reactionaries defending casteism. The
Dalitists who preach caste hatred have no answers nor do the Tamil
nationalists. The initiative is still with the Marxist Leninists. 

 ? 

The struggle also has useful
messages for those misled by Dalitist movements as well as for the left in India , the most
important of which is that there can be no separation between class struggle
and struggle against any form of social oppression, and it is harmful to seek
such separation. 



 ? 



South Asian Diaspora 

 ? 

Thank
Ye for Thy Baton Comrade Shukla 

 ? 

- Soumitra Bose. 

 ? 

Comrade IKS, or Professor
Indra Kumar Shukla, passed away on September 17th at 3:00PM PST on a hospital
near Long Island, Los Angeles 
after an innings he started on the 26th of May 1928. A long innings of 80
steeled him as a national compatriot of the Indian proletariat and a true
internationalist.  

 ? 

Professor Shukla a scholar of
Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bangla and a professor of English in Allahabad University 
was a symbol of English writings in protest journalism. He grew younger with
every passing year in his life. A never failing activist, a highly erudite
intellectual, a compassionate comrade and a life long fighter for the cause of
the people and the proletariat, Professor Shukla was an ardent supporter of CPI
(ML) and the naxalbari movement. He raised his sole voice of protest against
the repression of the peasants in Nandigram and Singur and in all recent
repressions in India ,
Prof. Shukla?s pen never ceased to roar. He was a keen observer of CPI (ML)?s
activities and still had his reservations against Stalin and even some of the
communist big wigs. He however was very steadfast in supporting Comrade Charu
Mazumdar. Prof Shukla followed from abroad very keenly the proceedings of the
8th Party Congress of CPIML-Liberation. He wrote in many left Indian journals
and sent his comments against every kind of repression in the ever amazing
linguistic style that he always had.  

 ? 

He chose to live among the
workers of Long Island near Los
  Angeles and always shared his life with those inner
city dwellings where normal Indian compatriots would never dare. He stuck
himself there, raised his family and grand parents and involved them in workers?
struggles. A relentless fighter against every kind of obscurantism, racism,
communalism and for rational thought he dedicated his 80 years of struggling
life for the cause of Indian and world revolution.  

 ? 

We honor and respect with
every fiber of our consciousness the duty and responsibility handed down by
Comrade Shukla to us on the international basis! We learnt from him how to make
the whole world his country and abode and how to belong to the people of the
world! Prof Shukla lives on as he would ever in our works, in our struggles and
in our consciousness toward the common objective of all the people of the world
? A world for the workers and toilers! 



? 
 






      

From cpiml_elo at yahoo.com  Sun Nov  2 12:26:25 2008
From: cpiml_elo at yahoo.com (CPI (ML) Intl Liaison Office)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 11:26:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] MLIN [Nov.-Dec.08] Financial Crisis | Orissa Pogrom | Sri
	Lanka | and More
Message-ID: <275495.98565.qm@web35506.mail.mud.yahoo.com>


ML International Newsletter
November-December 2008

*********************************************************************** 
An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India. 
Produced by: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation international team 
*********************************************************************** 
Websites: [mlint.wordpress.com] and [www.cpiml.org]
Emails: [cpiml_elo at yahoo.com] and [cpimllib at gmail.com]

Table of Contents

1)	Impact of US Meltdown on Indian Economy
2)	Nuke Deal Is a Conduit to Import US Crisis into India
3)	Campaign against Communalism and Terrorism
4)	Fact-Finding Report on Kandhamal Situation
5)	South Orissa Bandh by CPI (ML) and Other Parties
6)	Students Revolt Against MNS-Shiv Sena Goons
7)	The Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka Demands a Political Solution
8)	Fighting Caste Oppression and Untouchability: A Sri Lankan Experience
9)	Thank Ye for Thy Baton Comrade Shukla

World Financial Crisis

Impact of US Meltdown on Indian Economy: 
A Quick Assessment

- B Sivaraman. 

The Spreading Economic Contagion: A Reluctant Recognition
Indian economy is insulated from the crisis?The global financial crisis will not affect us much?First Chidambaram went on in this vein until both he and his boss Manmohan had to reluctantly admit that no developing economy could possibly remain immune to the global crisis. Still, it was projected primarily as a financial crisis or at best a precursor to a mild recession. But no financial crisis is ever a mere crisis of the world of high finance alone. Just as the gloom on the trading floors soon spread to the shopfloors in the factories, financial turbulence is just a symptom of the turmoil in the real economy.
 
In a global crisis of such historic proportion where the total bailout packages by all countries work out to some 3 trillion dollars but where there is still uncertainty whether the system can be salvaged, it is stupid to pretend that India would be immune to the systemic crisis. A finance minister?s (FM) job is not to give false hopes. Panic at the stock markets cannot be prevented for long with pep words from the FM. Till October 14, the Bush administration alone has announced bailout packages to the tune of over $ 990 billion apart from injecting fresh investment worth $ 200 billion in banks and private financial institutions to shore up their financial position. 

The contagion is truly global in a globalised world. How can the high priests of globalisation in India expect to insulate the country from this all-pervasive crisis?! Already the financial crunch is having its impact on the foreign institutional investors? (FII) hot money in India. Just wait for the impact on trade, foreign direct investments (FDI), exchange rates, remittances, balance of payments (BoP), forex reserves and, above all, on the macro-economy in India. Goodbye to the rosy stories of double-digit ?growth miracle?, it is now an impending debacle that stares economic analysts in the face.
 
The possible social impact is mindboggling. The new middle class in India is witnessing its first financial meltdown and a possible deep recession. The information technology ? business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) myth would soon be blown. The possible BPO gains could hardly make up for the IT sector losses inflicted by recessionary economies in the developed world. Anyway, if the job losses are already running into lakhs (100,000s) in the US, one can well imagine how much political pressure will build up there against outsourcing. If such leading names like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers start biting dust and their brightest kids are given unceremonious marching orders, Indian B-school products are surely in for a bad patch. Pre-election political pressure may have forced Jet Airways to take back its decision to terminate 1900 employees, but the job scenario in the so-called high-growth high-wage sectors
 has already turned gloomy. 

All booms in India, based primarily on foreign money, will soon go bust. The recession-ridden US consumer/industry can hardly sustain the growth miracles of China and India. The surpluses of the Indian bourgeoisie would find a greener pastures in greater and greater acquisitions abroad than investing anew in a dwindling economy at home. Didn?t the Swiss bankers? association point out a few months back that Indians were holding $1.4 trillion in Swiss banks? A sum about 40% larger than the gross domestic product (GDP)! The only breed that will thrive is the breed of speculators ? in stock markets, currency trade and possibly in the real estate, gold and art pieces where the desperate wealth would flow. 

In US, if it was first the speculative housing market bubble/subprime and then the financial bubble, in India it has just begun with the stock market bubble and possibly the real estate bubble. When it extends to the investment bubble (what with the special economic zones (SEZs) and other fabulous concessions, the telecom bubble, the IT-BPO bubble and so on), all claims of India having weathered the storm would wither. India perhaps might go under late and might take longer than the rest of the world to come out. All over the world there are 77 tax havens like St. Kitts and Cayman Islands. But in India there are 580 SEZs! 

The Immediate Impact on Indian Stock Markets
The festival season in India was seldom so gloomy for the share market. Investor wealth worth Rs. 250, 000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) was wiped out on the bourses on a single day, on 10 October. The Sensex fell by 1000 points before recovering some 200 points, an intra-day drop of some 800 points. The lachrymal wave washed away the festive mood.

At the first sign of stock market crash and FII funds stampede, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government has once again permitted P-notes (participatory notes) paving the way for enhanced speculation. The present convulsion in the Indian bourses would look mild before any possible explosion in future as a result of this heightened speculation. Despite the government itself acknowledging that the P-notes were being abused/misused at the time of banning them, no safeguard has been put in place. Anyway, how can there be any safeguard within the realm of speculations? It is absurd.

Impact on Indian Banks
?Indian banks are safe,? reassured Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Subbarao repeatedly. Indian banks' exposure to international markets is relatively small at 6 percent of their total assets, the rating agency Crisil said, adding that even lenders with large international operations have less than 11 percent of their assets overseas. But a mini-version Indian bailout was in the making simultaneously in the first week of October with the government virtually shoring up two mutual funds and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) coming to the urgent rescue of three more which landed into liquidity crisis in the backdrop of a steep crash in the stock markets. 

At a time when the big names in Western banking industry are queuing up for bailouts, there may be a sudden leap in non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits in Indian banks as these funds would look for a safe haven back home. We can hence expect a big clamour from the NRI lobby for greater concessions for their deposits. Chidambaram would only be too willing to oblige. The RBI recently increased the credit cost on term borrowings (with more than 7-year maturity) to Libor+4.5% and even then the big Indian corporate names are finding it difficult to raise funds amidst the present turmoil. Indian borrowers will end up paying more for the foreign lenders and Indian banks might be forced to pay more for the NRIs ? all in the backdrop of a creeping recession and falling rate of profits.

Even when Chidambaram was preparing to pass some 66 reforms-related pending Bills in possibly the last session of the parliament and a committee had prepared a blueprint for major financial sector reforms, the US financial crisis fell like a bombshell. No doubt, the UPA ideologues would also use the global meltdown as a pretext to push the same risky reforms. In the years to come, as the new investment projects go under one after the other and investors and insurance companies and hedge funds go under trading in credit default swaps and all such devices, the financial crisis here in India might be the denouement rather than the beginning as in US. ICICI, the symbol of new breed of unscrupulous financial manipulators, is already in doldrums.

Increasing Liquidity
Liquidity position in India is comfortable, said RBI Governor Subbarao after a slew of measures. But he avoided hinting at any possible reduction in prime lending rates. The liquidity position may be comfortable, the banks and financial institutions might be slush with funds once again but with interest rates ruling high there is no pick up in the credit offtake by SMEs (small and medium enterprises). As they are the main employment providers in the industrial sector, the employment in this sector has already taken a heavy toll. A deep and prolonged recession in the West might result in unemployment for millions of these workers. 

The RBI hurried to cut Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 150 basis points to 7.5 per cent, releasing more than $12 billion fresh liquidity into the Indian banking system. But if mere money supply alone can drive the economy and industrial growth forward uninterruptedly, then no economy will ever face any recession and there cannot be a meltdown of this nature. However, amidst all-round alarmism and panic reactions, confidence building itself has become the main plank of economic policy!

The government has once again liberalized ECB (external commercial borrowings by corporates). It is a different matter that in the light of the meltdown nobody would bother to take a second look at dollar bonds issued by Indian banks despite all their backing by the Indian government and hence they are abandoning the idea raising external funds/borrowings. While RBI might come forward to infuse liquidity liberally in the short-term, wait for the booming NPA figures in the medium and long term.

Exchange Rate: Rupee Depreciation
When the western economies are going into a tailspin one after the other, the appreciation of dollar and euro looks somewhat paradoxical. From unprecedented appreciation earlier a few months back, the rupee fell to record low ? reaching Rs.49 per dollar at some point. The dollar is gaining vis-?-vis rupee because of the outflow of the FII funds and since the worst is yet to come in the US/global meltdown, a repeat of the East Asian crisis in India is very much a possibility. During the preceding period, if the rupee appreciated by around 18%, now it has depreciated by around 19% during this Jan-Sept. 

The exporters who were crying earlier are happy but it is now the turn of importers to come to grief. Not many people know or remember that manufacturing imports had overtaken total domestic manufacturing production in the domestic organised industrial sector this year. Apart from cost escalation and consequent reduction in profit margins, just wait for the impact of the rupee depreciation on inflation. The confident prediction of possible fall in inflation rate to single digit by January sounds hollow in the backdrop of this as well as the cut in CRR rates and other measures by the RBI aimed at increasing the liquidity. 

Impact on Trade
The trade deficit is reaching alarming proportions. If exports are growing, imports are growing even more. Thanks to workers? remittances, NRI deposits, FII investments and so on, the current account deficit at around $10 billion doesn?t look so threatening. But for some reasons if the remittances dry up and FIIs funds take flight, it will be a repetition of 1991 after a few years if forex reserves get depleted and trade deficits keep increasing at the present rate. Even as the country?s exports and imports registered a substantial growth of 35.1 per cent and 37.7 per cent in dollar terms, respectively, during the first five months of the current fiscal (April to August), the trade deficit during the period has shot up. The trade deficit was around $14 billion for a single month of August 2008, a record level. Even Goldman Sachs? prediction that India?s forex reserves would decline to $271 billion by year end from $310 billion in March 2008
 looks a very conservative estimate.  

Unprecedentedly high forex reserves were becoming a burden. As most of these funds were in dollars, the government had parked most of them in US treasury bonds or invested them in securities and bonds in foreign banks. With the meltdown and consequent poor returns following rate reduction, these treasury investments have taken a beating. The government had its fingers burnt with the earlier dollar depreciation. A part of these funds could have been used to clear some of the external borrowings. Now with the recovery of the dollar, repayment costs in rupee terms have also shot up. A golden opportunity was missed. The government was toying with the idea of establishing a wealth fund/SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) with these reserves to finance private parties taking up infrastructure projects through PPP. But, despite all the hype, the PPP has been a total flop so far. 

An Indian Recession?
It might be just a slowdown in India till now. But a recession cannot be ruled out in the medium term. Chidambaram is claiming 7.5 - 8% growth this year. ADB has predicted 7% growth. Many rating agencies estimate industrial growth between 6.5% and 5.2% from around 11-12% in 2006-07. It is hoped that agriculture would be the saving grace this year thanks to a good monsoon. But just recall that Chidambaram was boasting about a possible 10% growth early this year after the budget and the situation has changed!

True, there is a boom in FDI this year. The total FDI between April and August this fiscal stood at $14.6 billion. A record figure. Average monthly FDI inflow is above $2 billion whereas a few years back that was the annual figure. Kamal Nath was confidently asserting that the target of $35 billion for this year would be achieved. But a closer look reveals that a sizable chunk of this FDI going into mining loot, services, financial services in particular, entertainment industry including luxury hotels and so on and also on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) not mainly to fresh investments in the core productive sectors alone. The long-term sustainability of such a pattern of FDI flow is anybody?s guess. Especially, in the midst of the global liquidity crunch. Inflows into already committed projects might give a false impression and it remains to be seen how long this boom will continue. To sustain it, Chidambaram is bound to come up with a slew of fresh
 liberalisation measures. FDI caps in insurance, banking and financial services are already being hiked. There might be 100% FDI in single-brand retail. There will be more and more sellouts to attract foreign capital. Chidambaram keeps repeating ad nauseam that India, like China, will continue high growth despite recession in the developed countries. 

Well, if high growth is to be driven primarily by foreign capital assisted by government landgrab, tax waivers, assured returns guarantees for infrastructure investments and fabulous BOT terms and so on, in short, by making the whole of India into a tax haven, the structural distortions this Manmohan gamble would lead to is mindboggling. Leaving a handful of big business houses and Indian MNCs, nothing Indian would be left in the ?Indian? economy. And even the ?India? MNCs have started looking outward. India Inc spent $26 billion in mergers and acquisitions abroad this year. The global meltdown would, if anything, only accelerate this trend and the scarce capital resources would be channelized for overseas spending. If this is the story of overseas M&As by ?Indian? companies, M&As in India by foreign companies is even more breathtaking. In power sector alone, the merger and acquisitions worked out to $5 billion out of a total M&A value of $55
 billion in the infrastructure sector alone. This is the secret behind the high FDI. But overseas M&A is not a rosy path. Tatas teamed up with AIG which was one of the first to go under. TCS, Infosys and WIPRO?all were on an acquisition spree abroad but at home they are the leading ones in issuing pink slips. 

The nation would soon realize the real cost of the N-deal. N-deal was also a sort of bailout for the US industry. Kakodkar has once again made it clear that 20 nuclear reactors would be set up! How in the given situation the governments would foot the bill in the next ten years? 

The Deflating Growth Bubble
And what about the growth story? Well, the ratio of savings and investment to the GDP reportedly remains high at 35 per cent. So far so good. Still, there is a slowdown in the Indian economy. The core sector growth is down to less than 4 per cent. All vital productive sectors are on a slowdown. With such a structural background, if and when the Indian economy slips into a recession, the recession will be protracted and there will be no a quick revival. Crude oil prices have declined to $80 a barrel. The monsoon has been good in most parts of the country. For a couple of years it is not difficult to continue with the growth story. But infusion of liquidity, i.e., increasing the velocity of circulation alone in other words, can hardly sustain production. The basic structural flaws are bound to come back to the fore and haunt. 

The problem might be made to look minor ? as that of liquidity ? at present but if there is a severe constraint in demand then no amount of infusion of money into the system and supply side magic would be able to save it. And given the fiscal scenario, the government would not be able to go for any fresh neo-Keynesian binge either, leave alone any major corporate bailout as in the US. Pay commissions and loan waivers might sustain aggregate demand for a couple of years but signs of slowdown are already on the wall. Despite repeated promptings of Chidambaram, the bankers are not ready to reduce even the home loan rates and not just the prime lending rate for the businesses. After all, they are hardnosed businessmen and they will continue to be top executives in their banks while Chidambaram and his party might go out of power.

The 11th Plan estimates that to maintain an average annual growth rate of 9%, the investment in infrastructure would have to rise from Rs. 259, 839 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 574,096 crore in 2011-12 at constant 2006-07 prices, aggregating to Rs. 2,011,521 crore over five years. In the terminal year, this works out to be 9 per cent of the GDP, up from 5 per cent of the GDP in 2006-07. The Plan document itself says that the government cannot manage this much money and a substantial part of it has to come from the private sector. PPP is supposed to pave the way. But what is the record so far? The Government of India's Committee on Infrastructure which monitors PPPs notes that 244 PPP projects are ongoing and another 76 are in the pipeline in the country. The total capital outlay in the ongoing projects amount to a minor fraction of the total projection by the Planning Commission. To finance infrastructure projects, the GoI established an India Infrastructure
 Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), a wholly Government-owned company to provide long term finance for infrastructure projects. According to the IIFCL website, it would provide loans upto 20 per cent of the project cost and projects "awarded to a private sector company ... [a company established] through Public Private Partnership (PPP) shall have overriding priority". And how big is this IIFCL? The GoI has successfully persuaded the World Bank to give it a loan of a meagre Rs.2700 crore to finance projects worth Rs. 2,011,521 crore! Making bogus projections to justify pro-private sector policy changes is the thriving industry in India. In such a situation, can any sizable fund flow into the risky infrastructure sector of a developing country amidst tottering private banks and investment funds?

Many approved SEZs are in doldrums as they are not getting any units and this whole thing is a massive real estate speculation of gigantic proportions. Even though the real estate speculation in India is taking a different trajectory and is not as reckless as credit instruments without any backing by collaterals as in the US subprime, the real estate bubble centering around SEZs landgrab is no less serious. Despite RBI?s reservations, the banks were competing to lend to SEZ promoters and even the nationalized public sector banks accumulating huge NPAs would be lined up for private takeover. SEZs might finally achieve what Narasimham?s two reports could not achieve. If millions of home loan borrowers are defaulters, the banks can take back their houses. Even they can takeover the SEZs. But if they themselves go deep into the red irretrievably, they themselves would be taken over. Companies incurring loss too would be taken over by stronger sharks.
 After a wave of takeovers, if the economy doesn?t revive, this would only amount to taking over the losses. A massive collapse in asset prices is the ultimate eventuality.

Social Impact
?Suicides after market crash is an urban trend? ?screamed the headlines in a pink paper. Beneath that was the sob story of an entire family committing suicide after heavy loss in the stock market. ?Whether it is a seemingly well-to-do US-resident of Indian origin wiping out his entire family or middle-aged brother-sister duo killing their parents and then committing suicide, the financial crisis has hit everyone, and has hit them hard?, the report added. At least, the desperate farmers go alone leaving their family members in the lurch. But the scorched middle class investors take their entire families along and that is the level of urban investing middle class insecurity. This explains the golden age for gold as investment in yellow metal is considered safer. Just think of the hundreds of new scrips by companies with ambitious investment plans counting on these investible surpluses of the middle classes and also the market opportunities opened
 up by their wealth. All these plans for new scrips will be scrapped. The middle class boom might be glamorous but the depression in incomes and losses in the markets are far more agonizing. Pink slips are painful indeed and joblosses are not limited to the West alone. Those who are hoping that jobs in the West would shift across to the cheaper shores of the India are missing the point that domestic job losses due to recession in the West as well as a slowdown in India would far outweigh such outsourcing gains. Even the real estate boom is going bust in Bangalore, the Indian El Dorado.   

The Indian BPO sector derives 40 per cent of its revenues from the financial sector of the developed countries and exactly as they mushroomed fast they will wilt with the same speed. IT-BPO sector in India accounts for 5.5% of the GDP but 30% of exports and a very high share of service sector employment in cities like Bangalore. El Dorado is poised to turn into a hell!  

Take the case of garments and textiles. Hardly a few months back, tens of thousands of workers, mostly women, were out of jobs in Chennai and Bangalore and towns like Tiruppur and Karur. The villain was the rupee appreciation, leading to some 18% reduction in incomes in rupee terms. After the loot by layers and layers of intermediaries, the factory producer was left with nothing and hence closed down the unit. Now dollar has appreciated, smile returned to the faces of garment owners but the smile soon vanished. The current exchange rate offers handsome returns but the orders are drying up due to impending recession. No margin then?no orders now! No jobs in both the scenarios.

The impact on the working class by means of wage compression and workloads, illegal retrenchment and worsening of job security and working conditions etc., would be onerous. Already this has started happening. For reasons of space, we are not elaborating. But we can only say there will be many more NOIDAs. 

The employment in organised industrial sector ? both public and private ? was 8.98 million in 1997 but it was down to 7.62 million by 2005, i.e., precisely during the growth miracle if we leave out the disastrous year of 2001-02 for the industry when the growth was very low. If the growth miracle turns into a debacle what will happen to organised sector employment? Formal sector will be informalised and permanent workers will be booted out.

Bailouts for the bankrupt and boot-out for the workers. The same logic of capital! Total blackout of the possible social impact of the meltdown and almost virtual absence of any discourse on safety measures/nets is one of the characteristic features of the current crisis of capital, across the globe as well as in India.

Politics in India

Nuke Deal Is a Conduit to Import US Crisis into India

-  Liberation, November, 2008.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has finally sealed the nuclear deal with the US. For the Congress and the coalition of Unashamed Partners of America headed by it, the nuclear deal is the supreme achievement of the government. On the eve of signing the deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated India?s commercial commitment to the US nuclear energy industry: ?We look forward to working with US companies on the commercial steps that will follow to implement this landmark Agreement.? In a second statement issued after the Agreement?s signing he also reiterated India?s commitment to implement the Agreement in good faith even though no such reciprocal assurance was made by the US to confirm New Delhi?s claim regarding the so-called US ?guarantee? on uninterrupted fuel supply. 

On India?s part, faithful implementation of the commitments, whether declared or undeclared, has long been underway. From the vote against Iran at IAEA to the continuing prevarication and procrastination on the issue of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline proposal, India has been complying with the Hyde Act, which requires India?s foreign policy to be congruent with American priorities and objectives, in letter and spirit. And now Pranab Mukherjee?s explicit assurance reaffirms the commercial component of India?s commitment, which can only be music to American ears at a time when the US economy is passing through its worst crisis in some eighty years. The dilapidated atomic reactor industry in the US is awaiting hefty orders from India even as massive military purchases are in the pipeline.

The day Pranab Mukherjee and Condoleezza Rice inked the nuke deal, George Bush met the finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 7 (G7) countries ? the US, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy and Canada ? and leading officials of the IMF in a desperate bid to check the growing financial panic that has now begun to spread beyond the American horizons to overshadow the G7 sky.  The meeting of the G7 finance chiefs called for ?urgent and exceptional action? and the use of ?all available tools to support systematically important financial institutions and prevent their failure.? In a separate statement US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson admitted ?never has it been more essential to find collective solutions to ensure stable and efficient financial markets and restore the health of the world economy.?

History is replete with examples showing what the US really means by finding ?collective solutions?. It desperately tries to pass on its crisis to other countries and refuel its military-industrial complex to underwrite its economy, and in the process steps up politico-military intervention across the world. And it is precisely at this juncture that the Indian ruling classes have pushed India into a tight strategic embrace with the crisis-ridden US ? a country that is hated by most nations of the world for its imperialist arrogance and aggression and whose economy is now emitting waves of financial instability and panic across the global economy. Strategic partnership with the US can only prove to be a conduit for importing the entire gamut of crises facing the US into India. 

Manmohan Singh and his ilk epitomise the typical Indian comprador mindset that considers the US to be the pinnacle of capitalist success and would do everything to bask in the American sun. But the much-trumpeted great American dream is now fast turning sour. Just a couple of days before Pranab Mukherjee signed the deal, almost every newspaper in India carried the shocking story of an MBA degree-holder from India killing his entire family as well as himself as all his fortunes collapsed in the ongoing financial meltdown. The nuke deal and Indo-US strategic partnership is not a passport to US-sponsored prosperity and power, it is an invitation to greater crisis and vulnerability to US blackmailing and arm-twisting. All right-thinking Indians must reject this sordid comprador capitulation with the contempt it deserves.

Politics in India

Campaign against Communalism and Terrorism: 
Beyond the National Integration Council (NIC) Deliberations

- Liberation, November, 2008.

After a lapse of more than three years the NIC met last week against a backdrop of raging communal violence in several parts of the country punctuated by periodic bomb-blasts in major cities. The response of the state to such a situation conforms to a by now familiar, almost predictable pattern. The NIC deliberations only reflected and reaffirmed this pattern.
 
In the face of communal violence unleashed by the Sangh Parivar, the state withdraws into a shell of inaction, or openly stands by the perpetrators and protagonists of such violence, depending upon whether the reins of the state are in the hands of the Congress/United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)/National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the wake of a terrorist incident, the same state however becomes hyperactive. The police swings into action, arrests and encounters follow suit, and we are treated to an official propaganda blitzkrieg with sensational stories as to how the state has just busted some ?terror modules? or killed or arrested some dreaded ?terrorist masterminds?. 

While the police establishment reduces the whole question of tackling terrorism to a no-holds-barred battle between ?terrorist masterminds? and ?encounter specialists? in which the courts and constitution must not play spoilsport, the political establishment launches a competitive chorus for a hard state and tough anti-terror laws. The BJP demands re-enactment of Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA), the Congress rules out bringing back any law that has already been exposed and discredited in public experience, promising to introduce even tougher new laws.

In his speech at the NIC, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delivered all the customary ?secular? and ?democratic? shibboleths that we often hear these days even from his ?counterpart-in-waiting? Mr. LK Advani who however refused to attend the NIC meeting, reportedly peeved that his name figured at the 137th position in the list of invitees! The PM called for avoiding any ?impression that any community, or sections amongst them, are being targeted, or that some kind of profiling is being attempted?. He also reiterated his commitment to the Constitution and the principles of civil liberties and democratic rights: ?We should not be provoked to suspend or subvert a democratic process in the search for solutions. A democracy has a special onus in that it has to ensure protection of civil liberties even as it seeks to enforce law and order.?
 
Perhaps all this talk about not subverting the democratic process was meant to justify the UPA government?s refusal to take any action against Sangh outfits like the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the Hindu Yuva Vahini. In Delhi, the police versions regarding the Jamia Nagar encounter have raised precisely the kind of questions that Manmohan Singh says should be avoided, but the UPA government has refused to set up a judicial enquiry headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge to resolve the issue on the plea that such a step would demoralise the police! 

With the government limiting its role to empty phrases and deliberate inaction against the perpetrators of communal violence, NDA constituents were emboldened to offer all kinds of arguments in their own support. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attributed the Kandhamal attacks on Christians to ?conflict of interests? between scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs), leaving it to the Centre to decide if Bajrang Dal should be banned. Sushma Swaraj of the BJP accused the UPA of failing to distinguish between extremism, which is linked to ?home-grown sentiment?, and terrorism, which according to her, is all about secession!
 
While the NDA speakers boldly advocated their point of view, the CPI (M) said little except reiterating the party?s unstinted support to any official campaign against terrorism. The party refrained from demanding a ban on the Sangh outfits; and instead of explaining the context in which India is increasingly internalising the threat of terrorism, Yechury only harped on the anti-national argument to denounce terrorism. 

By equating terrorism with secessionism, the propagandists and ideologues of the Sangh brigade are trying to pitch their variety of ?nationalism? as the most powerful anti-terrorist antidote. And this, like most Sangh claims, is based on complete lies. If secessionist sentiment prevails in any part of the country, that too is very much a home-grown sentiment and this recognition is central to any quest for a political solution to secessionist campaigns. Moreover, the terrorist incidents now taking place across the country have little to do with any secessionist sentiment brewing in any part of the country. These incidents are rather a reflection of, and reaction to, the combination of the following three factors: the relentless Sangh campaign of communal violence, the growing involvement of India in the US-led global war, and the increasingly unmistakable communal bias of the Indian state in most of its affairs and actions. 

At a time when communalism and terrorism are growing in a dangerous spiral, the campaign against communalism and terrorism must be firmly anchored in the secular, democratic, anti-imperialist agenda of the Indian people.

Orissa Pogrom

Fact-Finding Report on Kandhamal Situation

- Liberation, November, 2008.

A Communist Party of India [CPI (ML)] fact-finding team visited Orissa?s Kandhamal District on 15-16 October, 2008. The team visited affected villages and relief camps, after facing interrogation by the Orissa Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The team also met District Magistrate (DM) and various police officials of Kandhamal district. Below is a report by team member J P Minz. 
 
1. The District Magistrate?s (DM) Statement: The DM told us that Kandhamal had been peaceful for the preceding ten days. Whereas there used to be fifteen relief camps, now only seven were operational, having 12,641 people. According to him, breakfast, meals, supplementary food meant for children, and iron and calcium tablets for pregnant women are available in these camps; a doctor is available round the clock; books are available for children and there are regular reading sessions. Blankets, sarees, buckets and mugs and similar essentials have also been provided.

2. Conditions at the Relief Camps: Our team visited Phulbani, Tikabali, Ji Udaygiri and Rakiya relief camps and found that the inmates of the camp are living in extremely bad conditions. In the name of breakfast they get only fifty grams of chura (beaten rice) and rice-dal for meals, which is not enough to satisfy the needs of hunger and nutrition. In the name of supplementary food, the children are occasionally given biscuits. Bathing soaps have been distributed just once in the camps. The doctors do visit but patients are told that there is no medicine. There is no arrangement for pregnant women. The camp inmates sleep on plastic mats on the ground. They have to defecate in the open, which apart from being unhygienic also puts them in danger. One inmate of Ji Udaygiri camp, we were told, was killed when he had gone to defecate.

3. Role of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal: The victims in all the relief camps unanimously told the fact finding team that it is the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres who have sowed the seeds of communal division in the villages. They used to organize meetings of the Kandha tribals and incite them to attack the Christian hamlets and also provided funds for doing this.

4. Role of the Police and Administration: The anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal started on the day of the bandh called by VHP after the murder of Swami Lakshmananad, and these riots continued for over a month. In the communal fire two hundred Christian villages and 127 Church and prayer halls were either destroyed or burnt. Apart from this, schools, hospitals, hostels and convents also have been damaged. The incidents of killings, rape and loot also were carried out in addition to former incidents. The shocking fact is that all these incidents took place in full view of police and the police remained mute spectators. The official figure for deaths has been reported to be 31, however, a senior government official on the condition of anonymity informed that he himself consigned two hundred dead bodies - found from the jungle - to flames after getting them collected in a tractor. As per his estimates based on the intensity and pace of killings the number of
 those killed is over five hundred.

5. Atmosphere of Terror: The Christians continue to experience great terror. The Sangh outfits are campaigning for sending back the CRPF and the Nikhil Utkal Kui community is threatening to launch an armed movement. Riot-victims are frightened to go back to their villages because they have been threatened that if they return they will be hacked into pieces. The rioters are also proclaiming that only Hindu converts will be allowed to return. On the other hand, those in charge of the relief camps are pressurizing the riot victims to return to their villages saying that the life has returned to normalcy and peace has returned.

Conclusions:

1. This violence was a pre-planned anti-Christian communal assault, and in no way was it a ?clash? between adivasi (tribals) and dalits.
2. This violence which had full support from the Biju Janta Dal Government was planned and executed by VHP and Bajrang Dal.
3. The Sangh?s propaganda about ?indiscriminate religious conversion? is a far cry from facts, as the Christian population of Orissa is only 2.5 per cent of the total population. It is to be noted that Christian missionaries began working in Orissa 150 years back.
4. Dalits have far less proportion of land in comparison to the Kandha tribals. In Kandhamal 90 per cent land is government land, 5.5 percent belongs to tribals and rest 4.5 per cent belongs to Dalits, OBC and Oriya (businessmen). There is not much difference in the economic conditions of the tribals and the dalits. The dalits are very slightly better off as they engage in small businesses.

Our Demands:
1. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal (BD) should be banned.
2. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik responsible for the violence should tender his resignation immediately
3. The accused for the riots be immediately arrested. 
4. The Orissa Govt. must reconstruct all houses, churches, schools, hostels, hospitals and other social-religious structures demolished during the violence and for other damages adequate compensation be granted after a proper survey
5. The relief camps be run for another six months and proper civic arrangements for food, medicine and sanitation be made in these camps. 
6. Arrangements be made for registering First Information Reports (FIRs) related to the communal violence at all police stations. 
7. Peace process be initiated and guarantees be made for reopening and running of schools, hospitals and other institutes run by the Christian missionaries.

Orissa Pogrom

United Protests: South Orissa Bandh by CPI (ML) and Other Parties

- Liberation, November, 2008. 

On 13th October CPI (ML) Liberation along with four other parties ? CPI (ML) New Democracy (ND), Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI (ML)], Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI) and Samajwadi Jan Parishad held a successful bandh in five districts of South Orissa - Kandhamal, Rayagada, Gajapati, Koraput and Ganjam ? against the carnage in Kandhamal, the complicity of the Navin Patnaik Government and the criminal inaction of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. The bandh was total in the five districts and marked by the spontaneous participation of people. Around 10, 000 people actively participated in Liberation?s initiatives to make the bandh a success in Rayagada; 1200 in Gajapati.

Holding that the ruling BJD as well as Congress which is in power at the Centre too have blood on their hands because of their hands-off approach towards the Sangh Parivar mobs, the CPI (ML) had declined to join a joint protest announced by Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Congress party in the state.
 
In Bhubaneswar, trains were stopped and the National Highway blocked by 200 Liberation activists. Comrade Tirupati Gomango held a rally of around 8000 people at Gunupur. The bandh sent out a stern political message rejecting the communal violence against thousands of Christians by the Sangh outfits and condemning the forces in power which are allowing the violence to take place unhindered. 
    
CPI (ML) Liberation?s Nation Wide Protests
On October 3, CPI (ML) held nation-wide protests demanding prosecution of Chief Ministers of Orissa and Karnataka for allowing saffron mobs to indulge in an anti-Christian pogrom; demanding a ban on the Sangh outfits guilty of communal violence and protesting against the UPA Government?s refusal to take stern action against the communal killers. A memorandum to the President of India was submitted from all over the country. The memorandum, raising all the above issues and demands, also noted that the Sangh?s accusations of ?forced conversion? was actually serving to cover up their own acts of forcing adivasis and Christians to convert to Hinduism. Conversion from Hinduism has largely been an act of rebellion by the oppressed castes against the caste-ridden Hindu fold, noted the memo, and ?the current wave of violence is therefore also an attempt to terrorise the Dalits and other oppressed social groups for their rebellion ? and is therefore a
 continuation of social oppression in another form.? The acts of humiliation of Christians that have come to light ? raping, parading naked, and forcing to eat excreta as ?purification? ritual ? are all reminiscent of the atrocities against Dalits. 
     
The party also noted the increasing incidents of communal violence in Dhule (Maharashtra) and Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh), in which the minority community bore the brunt of the attacks. Also, it condemned the Tarun Gogoi Government for allowing the Bodo-Muslim clashes to take place, which had resulted in thousands of people being driven into refugee camps. 
    
In Delhi, activists of CPI (ML) gathered at Parliament Street and burnt an effigy of Navin Patnaik and Yeddyurappa, and submitted a memorandum to the President.
 
In Karnataka, another major centre of the ongoing communal violence, protest demonstrations were held in various places in the state, and the memorandum to the President was sent through the tahsildars in the taluks. More than hundred people protested in front of taluk office at Harapanahalli. The demo evoked much expectation in the town as a church near Harapanahalli was also attacked sometime back. Our comrades had helped in getting bail for the Christian priests, on whom false cases had been foisted in addition to the attack on their church. The demo at Gangavati was also impressive and demonstrators shouted slogans against BJP that is coming out with its true colours after assuming power in the state. The demo at HD Kote near Mysore protestors included construction labourers and All India Central Coordination of Trade Unions (AICCTU) activists.
 
In Jharkhand, hundreds of people marched in the capital of Ranchi. The March against Communalism, in the Sainik Bazaar campus, was led by CPI (ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar. The March culminated in a mass meeting at Albert Ekka Chowk, addressed by many leaders. Protest processions, effigy burning, dharnas and mass meetings were also held at various district headquarters (HQs) in Jharkhand; Bihar; Assam and Karbi Anglong; UP; W. Bengal, Tamilnadu, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Durg. 

All India Progressive Womens Association (AIPWA) between 10-14 October, held protests and submitted a memorandum to the President of India demanding ban on the Sangh outfits Bajrang Dal and VHP responsible for assaults on Christians, and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the rape of a nun in Orissa.

Politics in India

Students Revolt in Bihar Against Inaction on MNS-Shiv Sena Goons

- ML Update, 28 October - 03 November 2008.

Bihar Bandh called by All India Students? Association (AISA) is a Success
The scale and level of students' anger and outburst against attack on North Indians in Mumbai and Maharashtra was historic on the day of Bihar Bandh called by All India Students' Association. The whole State machinery was out to stop the agitating students from expressing their anger and shock at the state of inaction by Maharashtra and Central UPA governments, but the students and youth, despite severe police crackdown on bandh and protests on 25th October overcame all suppression and made the bandh a success. The news agencies and media houses under instruction from Bihar Government tried to play down the news, however the scale of the actions on the streets were just too intense to be suppressed.

The non Maharashtrian students who had gone to Mumbai for appearing in an examination conducted by the Railways were brutally and severely attacked on Sunday 19 October by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) goons and were forced to return from Mumbai. The students from Bihar upon their arrival at Patna Junction Station next day and learning the tragic death of Pawan (examinee from Nalanda) virtually seized the Patna Railway Station and even firing in air by the police did not stop them. The Station was literally in the hands of the agitating students. The students wanted Bihar's chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad both to come to the Patna Station and meet them. The students' heightened anger was not just due to attacks only on them, but the fact that prior to the examination they had requested Mr. Lalu Prasad to change the centre and venue of the examinations from Mumbai citing the recent attacks on people and students
 from Bihar and other north Indian states. This request of theirs had fallen on deaf ears of CM and Railway Minister and students' apprehension turned into reality. When the students had gone to Mr. Lalu Prasad prior to the examination for change in venue, he did not meet them and the reports of the same were carried in the news papers prior to the incident of attacks. The students gradually spilled over on the streets and vented their anger by smashing glass-panes of vehicles and breaking anything coming their way. The students in other districts of Bihar took similar action.

To orient the struggle towards the just demand of trying Raj Thackeray for murder and sedition and putting a ban on MNS and Shiv Sena, the AISA called for a meeting of all students' organizations at Patna University on 21st October which was attended by State leadership of the student wings of the ruling Jananta Dal (United) [JD (U)], as well as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and National Student?s Union of India (NSUI), and also the student wing of Sharad Pawar's National Congress Party (NCP); in fact most student organizations except Akhil Bhartiya Vidhayarthi Parishad (ABVP) which was not invited for the all party meet. At the meeting the joint decisions of all the student organizations was to call for arresting and prosecuting Raj Thackeray on charges of murder and sedition, calling on the forty members of parliament (MPs) from Bihar to initiate immediate action in Parliament to demand that the UPA Government rein in the MNS
 and Shiv Sena or else resign. It was decided to hold a protest march on the following day (22nd October) to voice their urgent demands, followed by Students' Assembly

On 22nd morning, however, due to news of police firing on agitating students at Sasaram the AISA leadership of Bihar felt that Students' Assembly was not enough in voicing the urge for urgent action for justice and decided to call for a Bihar bandh and it was accordingly communicated to all the students? organizations that attended the meeting. AISA also asked the organizations to declare the bandh call from the podium during the protest meeting and on the following day all the newspapers carried it. Later while a press conference of the student organizations was on, an all-party meet called by Bihar CM Mr. Nitish Kumar was also going on that was boycotted by the CPI (ML). The meeting was not called so much as to discuss the growing attacks on the north Indians and people from Bihar, rather the agenda of the meeting was the situation in Bihar after the attacks ? clearly indicating the Government's mood to suppress the students and youth protests.
 While parties like JD (U), RJD, LJP and Congress were just paying lip service to the whole situation and then we saw a coming together of all arch rivals while meeting the Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh only to tell him that they have kept the angry youth under control and unless the UPA acts against MNS and Maharashtra Govt. the student-youth anger may become difficult to control.

Along with AISA, however, the students? organizations of all these ruling parties (except ABVP) had declared the support for Bihar bandh on 25th October. The same evening as the all-Party meet ended and they came to know of their students' wing's declaration, the parties pressurized their students' organization to pull out from the bandh. The Chhatra-RJD, was the first to pressure its members to stay away. Many of these ruling parties' students' organizations published their declaration of pulling out from the bandh and by 24th morning it was clear that no students' organization was with bandh except AISA and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) which also declared full support for the bandh. At this development the Patna University unit of almost all the organizations (except ABVP) terming this pull-out a betrayal of the student community, declared their intention to defy their State leadership and go with AISA to support the bandh, and eventually
 they did rebel (including the ruling Party's Chattra?JD (U)) and implemented the bandh call in Patna on 25th October. The bourgeois parties could not suppress their students urge for justice as promised to the PM. There are also confirmed reports of students from organizations of ruling parties defying their Party's order and coming out in full support of the Bandh. At some places even some sections of ABVP ranks defied their organisation's order and supported the bandh. This trend is reflective of the spirit of unity among common students against criminal and corrupt politics of all mainstream parties.

The bandh was hugely successful in Patna and several districts of Bihar incuding Ara, Buxar, Arwal, Jehanabad, Gaya, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Siwan, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Sasaram, Sheikhpura, Narkatiagunj, Samastipur etc. The AISA and rebel students from other organizations stopped trains and road traffic at several places in Bihar. The effigies of MNS president Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena's Bal Thackeray were burnt at various places despite security forces trying to stop them. At some places even the effigy of railway minister Mr. Lalu Prasad was also burnt. The students everywhere demanded that both these leaders be booked for murder and sedition. ''If Union Ministers from Bihar fail to ensure the institution of cases against both the Thackerays under IPC sections relating to offences of murder and sedition, we would move ahead to intensify the agitation for their en masse resignation,'' warned Abhyuday, State Secretary of AISA. Abhyuday
 also took exception to the silence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Union Steel and Fertilisers Minister Ramvilas Paswan on the issue of taking constitutional action against the Vilasrao Deshmukh government for its failure in ensuring safety and security of Biharis in Maharashtra.

Two thousand students throughout the State were arrested. Police lathicharged the agitating students in several districts and the irony above all is that those now in jails were threatened by the police to be charged with sedition. There are hundreds of students and youth still in jails. The outburst of the student has been massive and entire police and administrative setup simply could not contain the protesting students except lathicharging and threatening to book them with sedition. Also, what was seen is the students' unity as against the unity of all the ruling parties in suppressing the anger and urge for immediate action for justice to the families of Pawan and the other student who eventually lost their life at the hands of MNS goons, mute spectator Maharashtra government and an insensitive Lalu Prasad who did not heed to students' requests for changing the venue of examinations.

Meanwhile, another incident of another cold blooded murder has taken place in Mumbai in which one youth Rahul Raj from Patna was shot dead in a so-called ?encounter? by the Maharashtra Police led by the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Mumbai. His dead body is being brought to Bihar on 29th October. After the bandh, CPI (ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya and AISA State leaders visited Pawan's family in Nalanda to share their grief and assure the family of justice for Pawan. It came out that Pawan's father was an employee and a trade union activist in Maharashtra's textile mills before being thrown out of the job in 90's. A son is killed in the State where his father toiled in mills to bring prosperity to that state. Couple of days before the Bihar bandh a day long Nalanda bandh was also called by AISA and RYA to protest Pawan?s death. Nalanda happens to be home constituency of Bihar CM Mr. Nitish Kumar. He was also slated to
 hold some kind of meeting in Nalanda, however, the enraged students uprooted all the arrangements being made for his meeting and the bandh was a huge success in Nalanda.

South Asia

Stop the War! 
The Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka Demands a Political Solution!

[Text of CPI (ML) Central Committee Statement on developments in Sri Lanka.]

The Sri Lankan government?s ongoing military campaign to corner and crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) has led to a terrible humanitarian crisis in the country. Reports emanating from the island indicate that the Sri Lankan state is on the verge of wresting military control over large parts of LTTE territory including the administrative headquarters in Killinochi. While the number of people killed so far in the crossfire between the advancing Sri Lankan armed forces is anybody?s guess, some 500,000 people are estimated to have been displaced and rendered homeless in their own land. With the Sri Lankan government not allowing any relief to reach the people in refugee camps, international humanitarian organisations have been forced to leave the battle zones and recently even UN food convoys have had to return, leaving a vast population in the battle zones on the brink of starvation. 

Over the last two years the military balance has steadily tilted against the LTTE. Following the collapse of peace talks and withdrawal of Norway from the peace process, the Mahinda Rajapaksha government seized the opportunity to go for an all-out fight to the finish. In the post 9/11 international situation, the LTTE has already suffered considerable international isolation with the entire Western and developed world declaring it a banned terrorist organisation. The December 2004 tsunami had also delivered a crucial blow to the economy and general life in the LTTE areas. The magnitude of the disaster was compounded manifold with the forces of Sinhala chauvinism disrupting the relief and resettlement plans drawn up under the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). A split in LTTE following the desertion of the organisation?s eastern commander Colonel Karuna must have also prompted Colombo?s decision to push for a final military
 solution. 

Even as the Sri Lankan armed forces intensify the war on LTTE, and the death toll keeps mounting, President Mahinda Rajapaksha waxed eloquent in the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in September 2008 on the goals of peace, resettlement and development. Quoting Isaac Newton, he lamented that the world was building too many walls and not enough bridges! He would like the world to believe that his government was employing military means only against those who were engaged in armed struggle. If it were really so, why has his government forced international relief organisations and humanitarian agencies from the battle zones? 

The Sri Lankan government must understand that there can be no military solution to the Tamil national question. Even if the LTTE is militarily defeated, the national question will continue to haunt Sri Lanka. It must also understand that its attempt to impose Sinhala chauvinism as the exclusive Sri Lankan identity is doomed to fail. It is a political problem which modern Sri Lanka inherited from the British colonial days, and can only be resolved politically. Following the 1983 pogrom in which Sinhala chauvinists had killed thousands of Tamils, the LTTE had emerged as the predominant representative of Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka. In spite of its overwhelming emphasis on armed struggle and the demand for a separate Tamil Eelam, in the course of the peace talks the LTTE had agreed to the notion of ?internal? self-determination of Tamils within the framework of a federal Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government must resume this process and stop the war
 on Sri Lankan Tamils.

The Government of India must take urgent bilateral and multilateral initiative to stop the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka, bring about an immediate cease-fire and ensure relief and rehabilitation measures for the displaced Tamil people in the battle zones. In recent times several Indian fishermen have also been killed by the Sri Lankan naval forces. India has lacked a consistent policy regarding Sri Lanka ? initially India was believed to be patronising LTTE while later the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) got embroiled in a disastrous war with the LTTE itself. Many political forces in Sri Lanka, both among Sinhala and Tamil circles, found the Indian intervention in the 1980s objectionable and smacking of regional hegemonic ambitions of the Indian ruling classes. Since then and especially following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, India has failed to evolve any effective diplomatic response to the civil war in Sri Lanka. The current phase of
 the war in Sri Lanka does call for an urgent and appropriate Indian response to bring about an immediate cessation of the war and facilitate a negotiated political settlement of the question of Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka. 

South Asia

Fighting Caste Oppression and Untouchability: A Sri Lankan Experience

- S. Sivasegaram.

The system of caste persists as an integral part of Hindu society. Colonial rulers let it be and where useful encouraged it. Modernisation made an impact, but did not eliminate it. Although the Hindu Varna system is the reference point for its justification, caste structure and hierarchy vary from region to region. In Sri Lanka, caste is an integral aspect of Sinhala and Tamil societies, and matters in social interactions. Even the Muslims, with claims to a distinct ethnic identity, are tainted by caste, but to a less degree. Untouchability was strictly practiced among the Tamils of the North and less strictly in the East. The Hill Country Tamils of Indian origin are mostly from depressed caste groups and despite caste differences open discrimination has been less prevalent than in the North and East. 

This article is on the struggle against caste oppression in the North, the Jaffna peninsula mainly, where discrimination and oppression had been strong from pre-colonial times. The caste system in Sri Lanka differs from that in India in some ways. While the Brahminist ideology holds, the Brahmins play no serious role in caste society; and there are no Kshatriya or Vysya caste groups. Thus, unlike in South India, the caste at the peak of the caste hierarchy is the Vellala (cultivator) caste among Tamils and the Govigama, its equivalent, among Sinhalese. The Vellala are around 40% of the population of the Jaffna peninsula. The depressed caste groups deemed as ?untouchables? form around 30%. The rest belong to middle level caste groups bound by the caste hierarchy.

Although colonial intervention did not dent the caste system, early in the 20th Century missionary schools allowed access to modern education to a few members of the oppressed castes. But the depressed communities remained backward since even primary education was denied to their vast majority. Protests against caste oppression and demands for the right to education and better living conditions started in the early 20th Century with the formation of workers? associations and campaigns for equal treatment. Notably, the Jaffna Youth Congress, a progressive group formed in 1920 and inspired by the Indian independence movement, was supportive of struggles against discrimination.
 
Social reforms, including the introduction of free education, in the run up to independence from colonial rule in 1948 failed to meet the needs of the depressed castes, especially in the North, since the Vellala elite dominated the social institutions. The initiation of the left movement in Jaffna in 1937 and the founding of the Communist Party there in 1945 gave fresh impetus to struggles against caste oppression. The Minority Tamils Association founded in 1943 that organisationally united the depressed castes was a reformist outfit controlled by moderates. Efforts by communists to make the Association take a more militant stand were frustrated by the moderates. Thus, despite some degree of success of various campaigns, the oppressive caste system and the practice of untouchability remained intact.
 
The coalition government led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that came to power in 1956, despite aggravating the national question by making Sinhala the sole official language, introduced significant social reforms. The election in 1956 of P. Kandiah, the only Tamil communist to be elected MP, helped the oppressed castes of the North in a number of issues. He was instrumental in the passage of the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act in 1957 that made it punishable to deny anyone access to public places by reason of caste. The nationalisation of the schools in 1960 by the SLFP government elected that year loosened the grip of the Vellala elite on schools which were earlier under their control. Yet collaboration of the state machinery with the Vellala elite let the law turn a blind eye to continuing acts of systematic oppression, exploitation and humiliation based on caste. 

Social disabilities suffered collectively by the depressed by caste persisted. The Communist Party (CP) successfully led local struggles against oppression in some issues. The reactionary feudal elite resented it and directed thugs to attack communists and militant members of the oppressed community. In response, some leaders of the depressed community prescribed conversion to Buddhism, a move rejected by the CP, failed to win popular support.
 
The return to power of the United National Party in 1965 in alliance with the Tamil nationalist Federal Party and the Tamil Congress emboldened the upper caste elite to uphold casteism. Earlier pledges to open public wells, eating places and temples to all irrespective of caste were breached, the affected communities had no choice but launch a militant struggle.
 
The split in the CP in 1964 led to opposed approaches to caste oppression. While the revisionists retreated to a passive approach, the Marxist Leninists took the initiative to launch a mass demonstration against untouchability on 21st October 1967 against a background of oppression by the reactionary elite backed by the police. The demonstration with a sizeable participation by members of the ?uppers castes? was brutally attacked by the police. The Marxist Leninists broadened the campaign to mobilise the masses and lead them under the banner of the Mass Movement to Eliminate Untouchability, an organisation to fight caste oppression that, unlike earlier caste-based organisations, was open to all progressive people.

Mass mobilisation and militant campaigns were launched to win access to public places and facilities that were denied to depressed communities. Expectedly, the reactionary elite took to criminal violence in the form of arson, murder and assault. And for the first time in the history of the island, oppressed masses resorted to armed action against the combined forces of reaction and the state apparatus. Not only the elitist Tamil nationalist parliamentary leaders but also the revisionists denounced the armed action. But support grew even among the ?upper? castes, for the campaign which also gained rising sympathy and support from a wide section of progressive forces across the country, including other nationalities.

Attempts by the upper caste elite to keep the oppressed castes outside public places, especially temples, and to continue with blatant discriminatory practices such as the denial of access to public wells, crematoria etc. were soundly defeated by the campaign that continued into the 1970s. The SLFP-led alliance that came to power consequently amended the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of 1957 to make it more effective.
The success of the struggle meant that the socio-economic basis for caste oppression and open discrimination and humiliation by caste has been destroyed, and that is no mean achievement. What is particularly important is that a struggle against oppression of a section of a community enjoyed the support of a sizeable section of the community associated with oppression. Thus it has lessons for struggles against other forms of oppression in Sri Lanka and elsewhere on matters of the united front strategy, political mobilisation of the masses, and focussed application of armed action in a way that isolates the main enemy.
This does not mean that caste prejudices and discrimination are over. They are strong among the Tamil Diaspora and exist even in regions under the control of the LTTE. The campaign therefore needs to go on undeterred, not as armed conflict but as social and political activities to isolate the reactionaries defending casteism. The Dalitists who preach caste hatred have no answers nor do the Tamil nationalists. The initiative is still with the Marxist Leninists.

The struggle also has useful messages for those misled by Dalitist movements as well as for the left in India, the most important of which is that there can be no separation between class struggle and struggle against any form of social oppression, and it is harmful to seek such separation.

South Asian Diaspora

Thank Ye for Thy Baton Comrade Shukla

- Soumitra Bose.

Comrade IKS, or Professor Indra Kumar Shukla, passed away on September 17th at 3:00PM PST on a hospital near Long Island, Los Angeles after an innings he started on the 26th of May 1928. A long innings of 80 steeled him as a national compatriot of the Indian proletariat and a true internationalist. 

Professor Shukla a scholar of Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bangla and a professor of English in Allahabad University was a symbol of English writings in protest journalism. He grew younger with every passing year in his life. A never failing activist, a highly erudite intellectual, a compassionate comrade and a life long fighter for the cause of the people and the proletariat, Professor Shukla was an ardent supporter of CPI (ML) and the naxalbari movement. He raised his sole voice of protest against the repression of the peasants in Nandigram and Singur and in all recent repressions in India, Prof. Shukla?s pen never ceased to roar. He was a keen observer of CPI (ML)?s activities and still had his reservations against Stalin and even some of the communist big wigs. He however was very steadfast in supporting Comrade Charu Mazumdar. Prof Shukla followed from abroad very keenly the proceedings of the 8th Party Congress of CPIML-Liberation. He wrote in many
 left Indian journals and sent his comments against every kind of repression in the ever amazing linguistic style that he always had. 

He chose to live among the workers of Long Island near Los Angeles and always shared his life with those inner city dwellings where normal Indian compatriots would never dare. He stuck himself there, raised his family and grand parents and involved them in workers? struggles. A relentless fighter against every kind of obscurantism, racism, communalism and for rational thought he dedicated his 80 years of struggling life for the cause of Indian and world revolution. 

We honor and respect with every fiber of our consciousness the duty and responsibility handed down by Comrade Shukla to us on the international basis! We learnt from him how to make the whole world his country and abode and how to belong to the people of the world! Prof Shukla lives on as he would ever in our works, in our struggles and in our consciousness toward the common objective of all the people of the world ? A world for the workers and toilers!




      


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 16:05:06 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 18:05:06 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] BLOOMBERG: Venezuela's Chavez Calls for Obama to End U.S.
 Embargo on Cuba
Message-ID: <15214712.1225667106588.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Venezuela's Chavez Calls for Obama to End U.S. Embargo on Cuba
By Steven Bodzin

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for
U.S. Senator Barack Obama, favored in opinion polls to win the
presidential election on Nov. 4, to end his country's trade embargo
of Cuba.

``A black man may become president of the U.S., and we can say that's
no small thing,'' Chavez said in a speech on state television.
``Hopefully, the next government of the U.S. will listen to the
mandate, not just of morals, ethics and the times, but also the
mandate of the UN that days ago voted, once more, asking the U.S. to
eliminate its savage blockade of Cuba.''

The U.S. declared a trade embargo on Cuba almost 50 years ago and has
maintained it in the face of criticism from around the world. In a
United Nations vote Oct. 29, 185 nations pressed the U.S. to drop the
embargo, with only the U.S., Israel and Palau voting against the
resolution.

Venezuela is one of Cuba's closest allies. Chavez referred to Cuba's
government during the broadcast as having a common government with
Venezuela, and he offered his customary greeting to Fidel Castro, the
former Cuban president, by saying ``How are you, Fidel?'' in English.

Chavez also called on the U.S. to end ``threats'' against Venezuela
and Iran, without elaborating.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Bodzin in Caracas at
sbodzin at bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 2, 2008 17:05 EST


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm  Sun Nov  2 15:11:15 2008
From: aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm (Aaron Aarons)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:11:15 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
 you have to decide what is a social class.
In-Reply-To: <20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
References: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>
	<20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <20081102231139.7B6FB244B7@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>

At 01:32 -0700 2008/11/02, Aaron Aarons wrote:
>1) Mathematically, adding c to v and/or s makes no sense, since c is a measure of value while v and s are measures of value per unit time. It's like adding miles and miles per hour.

At 08:08 -0500 2008/11/02, S. Artesian wrote:
>In reference to 1:  Marx uses  "c+v+s" extensively.  That is in fact how he
>defines the value of a commodity, is it not?   c,v,s are in fact all made
>equivalent through their expression in money terms, in their exchange, with
>the s hidden by the wage form.

Expressing c, v and s in money terms doesn't change the fact -- if it is, in fact, a fact -- that c is a quantity independent of the unit of time used while s and v depend on the choice of that unit. Thus, e.g., if you change the time unit from a day to a week, s and v will each be multiplied by 5 (or 6 or 7), while c will remain unchanged.

If I'm wrong about the meaning of c, i.e., if "constant capital" is not in fact constant but something else, I'd appreciate an explanation. I've raised this before and never gotten one.

 - Aaron

P.S. I'll deal with the response to my point (2) in a later post.


From ecosocialism at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 16:27:42 2008
From: ecosocialism at gmail.com (Ian Angus)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 18:27:42 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Manifesto of the First Pan-Canadian Young Feminist
	Gathering
Message-ID: <733b65360811021527q28e087d4g1a8dcc54a995dde9@mail.gmail.com>

SOCIALIST VOICE
Marxist Perspectives for the 21st Century
www.socialistvoice.ca

November 2, 2008

MANIFESTO OF THE FIRST PAN-CANADIAN YOUNG FEMINIST GATHERING
For all those who think feminism is dead: the young feminists are far from
silent!

The first pan-Canadian young feminist gathering, "Waves of Resistance," was
held October 10-13 in Montreal. More than 500 young women who invaded the
classrooms of UQAM for 3 days to reaffirm the relevance of feminism and to
act collectively on issues including the feminization of poverty,
hypersexualization and racism. The meeting concluded with the adoption of a
pan-Canadian young feminists' manifesto, a document that will be a political
tool for all the young feminists in their communities.

Read the manifesto ... http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=342

From aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm  Sun Nov  2 15:55:36 2008
From: aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm (Aaron Aarons)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:55:36 -0700
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu>
References: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <20081102235553.3DC004A95@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>

In response to:
>Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:25:05 -0600
>From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>

CC: << I myself prefer to describe Ultra-Leftism (or Left Opportunism) as any political practice that is grounded in an overestimation of the strength of capital, an underestimation of the strength of the working class. >>

AA: Huh? If you want to justify equating the terms "Ultra-Leftism" and "Left Opportunism", you need better arguments than a pair of parentheses. Also, to describe Ultra-Leftism as you do, the burden is on you to show that those you allege to be "Ultra-Left" in any particular case have a "political practice that is grounded in an overestimation of the strength of capital, an underestimation of the strength of the working class."

CC: << It is quite apt to take organizational and/or cultural forms. One 'classical' form is the belief that any political development of individuals that takes place 'outside' the careful guidance of a vanguard party will inevitably be right opportunist (reformist). >>

AA: So you're arguing that only believers in the centrality of a vanguard party can be "Ultra-Left"? At least it's a relief to know that I can't be called "Ultra-Left(tm)", although I presume that others will still call me ultra-left!

CC: << That, I have always assumed, was what was behind the "Single Issue" line of the SWP in the anti-war effort, which remains for me the "classical" form of ultra-leftism. >>

AA: As one who was involved in the anti-war movement in those days, I never heard anybody, except perhaps the CP milieu and other reformists whose demand was for negotiations to end the war, refer to the SWP line as "ultra-left"! Virtually every group that claimed to be revolutionary regarded the SWPs line as right-opportunist.

CC: << The assumption was that in a ulti-issue movement a wide variety of political perspectives would develop outside the 'reach' of the party, and because of the enormous power of capitalist ideology all those developments would be forms of petty-bourgeois opportunism. On the other hand, a single-issue movement would not give room for such independent political thought, and all development beyond the single issue would tak placee under the careful guidance of the One True Party. >>

AA: I'm curious if there is any evidence for this, perhaps in SWP internal bulletins? If so, it would be sectarianism, not "ultra-leftism", although it might be Ultra-Leftism(tm).


From lnp3 at panix.com  Sun Nov  2 17:11:03 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:11:03 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Swans Release: November 3, 2008
Message-ID: <20081103001104.D6C5AD602@mailbackend.panix.com>

Swans Commentary
http://www.swans.com/
November 3, 2008


                                    @ @ @ @ @


Come on, good people: We need financial support. Please do your part. Thanks!
http://www.swans.com/about/donate.html


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Note from the Editors:  Two. More. Days. Finally, the longest and most
expensive US presidential campaign in history will be behind us... But no
matter the outcome, the victor will once again be corporate America. Will we
ever reject its overt control of our lives? As our wages shrink and the
income disparity (wealth redistribution, as it's called in some circles)
widens, as our power of the vote becomes increasingly deflated, it becomes
evident that money is in fact power. Thus we're further manipulated into
feeling good about changing the world by giving our discretionary dollars
away to a charitable cause. Yet, in an excellent and eye-opening expos?,
Michael Barker demonstrates how corporate elites and liberal philanthropic
foundations such as the World Wildlife Fund co-opted the environmental
movement to shape public policy and protect corporations. Jan Baughman will
certainly think twice before making a contribution to such a foundation to
save the polar bears. As she illustrates, laws are already in place requiring
that their habitat be protected given their status as "threatened," and the
next White House resident ought to read the Endangered Species Act before
sending out invitations to the oil-drilling orgy.


The 24/7 election watch is certain to be replaced by economy gazing, and as
the statistics grow more frightening so too does the reactionary rhetoric.
Aleksandar Jokic responds to Professors Radhika Balakrishnan and Diane
Elson's spurious allegation that the US economic crisis is a human rights
violation and asks, where has their outrage been all this time? Michael
Doliner reaches back to his studies with Hannah Arendt and proposes a
Socratic solution to the current crisis in authority that just might save
what remains of the American foundation, and Gilles d'Aymery has already
moved on to 2012 and the next-generation president who will address the real
issues with integrity. The new president will be relieved not to have a
Shakespearean playwright draft his legislation, but just in case, Charles
Marowitz offers his sardonic and ever-creative crimes and punishments for the
first 100 days that will atone for the last eight-plus years.


 From the culture club, Peter Byrne bids a fond farewell to fellow Chicagoan
and much-admired writer Studs Terkel; Raju Peddada shares his travels to
Morocco, where American brands reign supreme; and Byrne also reviews The Fire
This Time, an homage to writer James Baldwin. R. Scott Porter recommends that
people become part of the solution somewhere in the muddy middle, while Guido
Monte and Alison Phipps seek a new way of world comedy through blending of
words. Finally, in response to one of your letters and more, we're
republishing a July 2002 article in which Swans economist warned us that the
S & L crisis was child's play compared to what was in store for the economy.


As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know
about Swans. It's your voice that makes ours grow.


                                        # # # # #


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/barker07.html
The Philanthropic Roots Of Corporate Environmentalism - Michael Barker


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/jeb200.html
Threatened But Not Protected - Cartoon by Jan Baughman


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/ajokic04.html
The Alleged Relevance Of Human Rights For The US Economic Crisis
  - Aleksandar Jokic


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/mdolin39.html
What Is Authority? - Michael Doliner


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/ga260.html
The Charade Is Finally Over - Gilles d'Aymery


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/cmarow120.html
The First Hundred Days - Charles Marowitz


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/pbyrne85.html
R.I.P. Louis "Studs" Terkel - Peter Byrne


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/rajup03.html
Travels In Morocco: Our Brands are our Goodwill Ambassadors - Raju Peddada


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/pbyrne84.html
A Slow Burn - Book Review by Peter Byrne


http://www.swans.com/library/art8/ga133.html
The Tribulations Of The Toads - Gilles d'Aymery
(Note: Written over 6 years ago (July 2002) this piece is a tangible proof
that the author had a clear analysis of the financial and economic crises
that have finally, and as predicted, hit us. Swans thanks the reader who
reminded us of that little gem.)


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/porter08.html
The Middle Ground - R. Scott Porter


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/gmonte54.html
Mondana Commedia n.6: "Bayta" (Home) - Poem by Guido Monte & Alison Phipps


http://www.swans.com/library/art14/letter151.html
Letters to the Editor


                                              # # # # #


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"Hungry man, reach for the book: It is a weapon."  B. Brecht



From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Sun Nov  2 17:19:11 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:19:11 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] British Chancellor's use of "terror" label worsened
 damage to Iceland economy
Message-ID: <4C815808B9BB490C8931628273E82FE0@office1pc>

A country which has built up an imperialist-type economic structure as part
of imperialist "Europe," but which remains nonetheless extremely dependent
on the kindness of strangers, seems to be getting lessons in how the "Third
World" lives.
Fred Feldman

November 2, 2008
Iceland, Mired in Debt, Blames Britain for Woes 
By SARAH LYALL
LONDON - No one disputes that Iceland's economic troubles are largely the
country's own fault. But there may be more to the story, at least in the
view of Iceland's government, its citizens and even some outsiders. As grave
as their situation already was, they say, Britain - their old friend, NATO
ally and trading partner - made it immeasurably worse. 

The troubles between the countries began three weeks ago when Britain took
the extraordinary step of using its 2001 antiterrorism laws to freeze the
British assets of a failing Icelandic bank. That appeared to brand Iceland a
terrorist state. 

"I must admit that I was absolutely appalled," the Icelandic foreign
minister, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, said in an interview, describing her
horror at opening the British treasury department's home page at the time
and finding Iceland on a list of terrorist entities with Al Qaeda, Sudan and
North Korea, among others. 

In a volatile economic climate, in which appearance matters almost as much
as reality, being associated with terrorism is not a good thing. 

"The immediate effect was to trigger an almost complete freeze on any
banking transactions between Iceland and abroad," said Jon Danielsson, an
economist at the London School of Economics. "When you're labeled a
terrorist, nobody does business with you."

The Icelandic prime minister, Geir H. Haarde, accused Britain of "bullying a
small neighbor" and said the action was "very out of proportion." In a
recent speech in Beijing, Sir Howard Davies, a former deputy governor of the
Bank of England and now the director of the London School of Economics, said
that Britain had used a "beggar thy neighbor" approach to Iceland. 

And an online petition signed so far by more than 20 percent of Iceland's
population said the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, had sacrificed
Iceland "for his own short-term political gain," thereby turning "a grave
situation into a national disaster." 

Iceland's financial problems had been brewing for some time. This past
spring, the country's banks, bloated with foreign deposits and debts, began
to falter. This fall, as the financial crisis deepened, the government took
over two of the country's three largest banks.

Britain's government, alarmed about the tens of thousands of accounts held
by its citizens, companies, local governments and charities, froze the
British assets of one of the failed banks, Landsbanki. It also seized the
assets of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, the British subsidiary of another
Icelandic bank, Kaupthing. 

"The Icelandic government, believe it or not, told me yesterday that they
have no intention of honoring their obligations here," Alistair Darling, the
chancellor of the Exchequer, declared the day Britain seized the assets. 

The Icelandic government disputed that, saying it was merely asking for time
to make good on its obligations. 

Whatever the case, reaction was immediate and severe, particularly when Mr.
Brown said the following day - inaccurately - that "we are freezing the
assets of Icelandic companies in the U.K. where we can."

Iceland's ambassador to Britain, Sverrir H. Gunnlaugsson, said in an
interview that this statement was particularly damaging. "There was a
perception in the U.K. press and among suppliers that everything Icelandic
had been frozen," he said. "The word was put out belatedly that this was not
the case."

Icelanders say that it is now nearly impossible to get foreign currency into
or out of the country. Many banks have refused even to transfer money to
Iceland. Importers are having difficulty paying their foreign bills, and
exporters are having trouble getting paid by their foreign customers. 

Many people in Iceland are also furious about what happened to Kaupthing
Singer & Friedlander. The British government's seizure of its assets
precipitated the immediate collapse of its parent bank, Kaupthing, which the
Icelandic government had been propping up and had hoped would survive. 

"Kaupthing was the last, best hope of the Icelandic banking system, and it
was killed there and then," Andres Magnusson, an editorial writer for
Icelandic Financial News, said in an interview. "This really was the last
straw. A lot of Icelanders are asking, 'Excuse me: who's the terrorist
here?' "

The bank's collapse had repercussions beyond Iceland and Britain. More than
8,000 depositors, individuals and businesses, hold Kaupthing Singer &
Friedlander accounts worth about $1.34 billion on the Isle of Man, money
they cannot get their hands on now - and may never. 

Iceland is in line to receive a $2 billion loan from the International
Monetary Fund and is talking to other Scandinavian countries. It is not
entirely friendless: it was recently offered a loan of about $52 million
from the tiny Faroe Islands, for which it is very grateful, Mr. Gunnlaugsson
said. 

The Icelandic government has pledged to make good on domestic bank accounts.
But it is still fighting with Britain over how much it is obliged to pay -
and how much it can afford to pay - to compensate customers with accounts in
Icesave, Landsbanki's British branch. 

Under European regulations, Iceland is obliged to pay 20,000 euros (about
$25,000) to each individual account holder in Icesave. But the total, Ms.
Gisladottir, the foreign minister, said, would amount to about 600 billion
Icelandic kronur - only about $5 billion at today's collapsed exchange rate
but fully 60 percent of Iceland's gross domestic product. 

"The compensation that we would give would be twice as much per head as the
reparations Germany faced in the Treaty of Versailles after the First World
War," she said. "That is something we cannot afford." 

The British government has guaranteed that individual British account
holders will be compensated fully, which is why it is seeking to wrest as
much money as possible from Iceland. But no such guarantees have been made
to the British companies, local governments, charities and universities -
including Oxford and Cambridge - that had Icesave accounts. That figure
alone is well over a billion dollars. 

Iceland's key interest rate now stands at 18 percent. The currency, the
krona, has declined 44 percent in the last year. Mr. Danielsson, the
economist, visited the country recently and found the situation grave.

"Salaries are frozen, food prices are shooting up and they are laying off
people left, right and center," he said. "Companies are going bankrupt all
over the place. It's unimaginable how bad it is." 

Ms. Gisladottir said Britain's decision had sent Iceland back some 30 or 40
years, to a time when it was an isolated, poor country, dependent mostly on
its fishing trade. 

"This is a major crisis," she said. "We haven't been in this situation for,
probably, ever. We cannot solve it alone. We need solidarity from partners,
from friendly countries, and we thought the U.K. was one of them." 





From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sun Nov  2 17:27:54 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:27:54 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
References: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu>
	<20081102235553.3DC004A95@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <490E458A.C9FDAA4@ilstu.edu>



Aaron Aarons wrote:
> 
> In response to:
> >Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:25:05 -0600
> >From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
> 
> CC: << I myself prefer to describe Ultra-Leftism (or Left Opportunism) as any political practice that is grounded in an overestimation of the strength of capital, an underestimation of the strength of the working class. >>
> 
> AA: Huh? If you want to justify equating the terms "Ultra-Leftism" and "Left Opportunism", you need better arguments

Why argue? The English language belongs to all of us. If you want to use
the terms differently, be my guess. Just make clear how you use them, as
I make clear in my post. Defintions are only descriptions of usage -- my
usage is not universal, but neither is it uncommon.

In any case, to avoid the stupid moralism that gets attached to the term
"opportunism" it's probably best to speak of Left and right "errors," to
make clear that it is _error_, not moral turpitude that is in question.

Carrol



From markalause at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 18:56:35 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 20:56:35 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] From Alex Briscoe: the Campaign in Chicago
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811021756kb3b3b6dy88029e8f10a0313d@mail.gmail.com>

My own experience in Cincinnati echoes that of Alex in Chicago.  The
black community, particularly the older generation, wants Obama but
not really that intensely, excepting the middle class political
leaders.

The Obama boom there threatens a very serious initiative locally by
the NAACP to secure proportional representation and runoff voting.
(That's our local Issue 8.)  This was almost exclusively the issue of
the NAACP and the skeletal Green Party here.  The former had the
troops to petition and get it on the ballot, but the black politicians
here are opposing it, claiming that Issue 8 threatens to take away the
community's representatives.  A big scam.  But everywhere we see the
"Vote No on Issue 8" lawn signs in this neighborhood, you see the
Obama signs.

Aside from the union hall around the corner, the only "Vote Yes on
Issue 8" sign is parked on my lawn next to the Nader-Gonzales sign.
This is distressing, given that this predominantly black neighborhood
seems to be following the Obama party into voting directly against the
NAACP proposal and its own interests.

ML

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Briscoe" <obeynow20001 at yahoo.com>
To: "Mark L" <mlause at cinci.rr.com>
Cc: "GreenPartyWorkingGroup Solidarity"
<solidaritygp at yahoogroups.com>; "NewParty NaderSupporters"
<new-party-nader-supporters at lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 8:00 PM
Subject: What Does This Election Signify?

Mark, could you forward this for me?  Yahoo isn't interacting with
marxmail for some reason...

A couple of notes:

Driving through the residential areas of the west side Chicago ghetto
last week on a detour from my usual route, I don't think I saw one
Obama sign or bumpersticker.   I went for about a mile. Pro-Obama
workmates responded that the campaign wasn't distributing window
signs, and "all those Blacks would be voting Obama anyway", but all
the same, their doesn't seem to be a huge enthusiasm for Obama here.
Perhaps it's less so here, given the memory of Obama's run against
Bobby Rush, the old Black Panther congressman, at the behest of the
Mayor Daley....

Also, I was up on the north side of Chicago in the liberal/left Rogers
Park at the Morse el stop, if any of you are familiar with Chicago's
social geography.    I was passing out brochures for Nader/Gonzalez.
North side of the stop, is the Heartland Cafe, with mostly left libs
going to lunch.  Cafe is owned by a couple that were old 60s radicals,
have ties with Ayers/Dohrn, now Mike, a cafe co-owner is the chair of
the Rogers Park? Dems.  Anyhow, the younger, often less affluent left
libs were more positive, but the median age of the crowd coming in was
about 45+, most had early voted for Obama.  Above the cafe's entrance
reads "Heartland For Obama".  Across the street, lives one hippie deep
Green Party member with his McKinney For President sign in the window.
 Truly a metaphor of symbiosis.

On the south side of the el stop, you had more of the proletarians and
students- younger, poorer, darker.  I was pleasantly suprised that
most  of the AfrAmers were friendly to my pitch- the lower and middle
working class ones were generally positive and the more middle class
AfrAmers usually politely declined to take the brochure.

Peter L of the Chicago Nader office said that they had had a similar
experience, most notably with the local Black community.

Of the more critical reactions:  why haven't we heard from Nader before?

Response: there's a media blackout b/c the rulers hate and fear him/us.

He has no chance of winning.

Response:  In 1840, the Liberty Party got 7,000 votes nationally on a
militant anti-slavery platform versus millions of votes for the Dems
and Whigs on their conciliationist platforms.  However, the LP sparked
militant abolitionists, northern industrialists and socialists into
founding the Republican Party which won national office in 1860? with
Lincoln, destroyed slavery, crushed the slavocracy and refounded a
unified capitalist industrial nation.  So those measly 7,000 votes had
more value than those wasted millions of votes for the Dems and Whigs.
 (I'm sure Mark L can correct me on the particulars here).

This argument had a significant impact for at least one AfrAmer worker.

All forces aiming at independent political action definitely need to
have a conference after the election.

Alex


***************************
***************************
http://www.votenader.org
http://www.ilgp.org
http://www.northsidegreenparty.org
http://www.greenallianceusa.org
http://www.labornotes.org
http://www.solidarity-us.org
http://www.internationalviewpoint.org


From Dbachmozart at aol.com  Sun Nov  2 19:15:52 2008
From: Dbachmozart at aol.com (Dbachmozart at aol.com)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 21:15:52 EST
Subject: [Marxism] The Prank: The "Fake Sarkozy"- Sarah Palin Telephone
	Conversation
Message-ID: <d11.3c1efaf3.363fb8d8@aol.com>


 
     
The True Face of Sarah Palin 
The Prank: The "Fake Sarkozy"- Sarah Palin  Telephone Conversation 

By Michel Chossudovsky
 
_Global Research_ 
(http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001ae471T1qkt1MJBRM7PWdr7Q2BEbfeScWC9tlvdDe8nGK-8cNar--62EceVYwwPBiHhmS7E5ODe03s4CXOfphzVhDr6cf-5qw1B9fK97CviU62d
EVaUOE3g==) , November 2, 2008


The renowned Montreal pranksters Marc Antoine Audette and  S?bastian Trudel, 
known as Les Justiciers Masqu?s (The  ?Masked Avengers?) got through by 
telephone to Governor Sarah Palin's  office on Saturday November 1st, calling from 
the office of  France's President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Palais de L'Elys?e. 
<_www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10786_ 
(http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10786) >




**************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel.  Check out Today's Hot 
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(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)

From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 19:17:56 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 21:17:56 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
References: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41><20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
	<20081102231139.7B6FB244B7@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <3ADBD556E63F421EBAD275A12296BBA0@dmsthinkpad>

C is not a quantity independent of unit time-- c is the constant capital 
consumed in production-- it has a definite value, the socially necessary 
time for its reproduction.

Look at Capital Vol 1, Chapter 8, Constant Capital and Variable Capital:

"The labourer does nto perform two operations at once, one in order to add 
value to the cotton, the other in order to preserve the value of the means 
of production.... But, by the very act of adding new value, he preserves the 
former values."

And later--

"It is thus strikingly clear that the means of production never transfer 
more value to the product than they themselves lose during the labor process 
by the destruction of their own use-value.  If such an instrument has no 
value to lost, if, in other words, it is not the product of human labour, it 
transfers no value to the product... In this class are included all means of 
production supplied by nature without human assistance....."

Bottom line-- it it contributes to value, if it gives up its use-value in 
the production process, it gives it up by becoming part of the exchange 
value of the commodity.  As the product then of human labor, it assumes an 
equivalent basis for exchange with all other commodities, that basis being 
the necessary unit time for reproduction.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aaron Aarons" <aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class, you have to 
decide what is a social class.


> At 01:32 -0700 2008/11/02, Aaron Aarons wrote:
>>1) Mathematically, adding c to v and/or s makes no sense, since c is a 
>>measure of value while v and s are measures of value per unit time. It's 
>>like adding miles and miles per hour.
>
> At 08:08 -0500 2008/11/02, S. Artesian wrote:
>>In reference to 1:  Marx uses  "c+v+s" extensively.  That is in fact how 
>>he
>>defines the value of a commodity, is it not?   c,v,s are in fact all made
>>equivalent through their expression in money terms, in their exchange, 
>>with
>>the s hidden by the wage form.
>
> Expressing c, v and s in money terms doesn't change the fact -- if it is, 
> in fact, a fact -- that c is a quantity independent of the unit of time 
> used while s and v depend on the choice of that unit. Thus, e.g., if you 
> change the time unit from a day to a week, s and v will each be multiplied 
> by 5 (or 6 or 7), while c will remain unchanged.
>
> If I'm wrong about the meaning of c, i.e., if "constant capital" is not in 
> fact constant but something else, I'd appreciate an explanation. I've 
> raised this before and never gotten one.
>
> - Aaron
>
> P.S. I'll deal with the response to my point (2) in a later post.
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: 
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sartesian%40earthlink.net 



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Sun Nov  2 19:29:49 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 21:29:49 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class,
	you have to decide what is a social class.
References: <022f01c93ca4$c4206410$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41><20081102093304.44A5E2D7A8@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com><20081102231139.7B6FB244B7@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>
	<3ADBD556E63F421EBAD275A12296BBA0@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <054AE6E138474B48922CD5276FC87B34@dmsthinkpad>

More on this:

Marx uses the term constant to describe the means of production, the 
machinery, and the materials used in production, not because there value was 
always the same no matter the period of production, but because their value 
was preserved in the commodity.

Variable capital was variable not based on the period of production, but on 
the basis that it adds fresh value to the process, AND because the ratio 
within that labor process of/between  two components--between the equivalent 
value of its own reproduction and the surplus value, varies with the length 
of the working day, the technical development of production, etc. 



From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 19:51:11 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 22:51:11 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Chavez to seize banks in crisis
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811021851w740feb3cub1f6efa5bc485c5c@mail.gmail.com>

Nov 3, 2008

CARACAS - PRESIDENT Hugo Chavez on Sunday said he would 'expropriate'
Venezuela's banks if they are hit by a finance crisis like the one
that has rocked the world economic system.

'If something similar comes to pass in Venezuela, you should not have
the slightest doubt that I won't give a penny to the banks - I'll
expropriate them,' said Mr Chavez, speaking on Sunday in the
southeastern state of Barinas.

The Venezuelan leader said he found it 'strange' that rich countries
which have said 'that they have no money to fight poverty, from one
day to the come up with billions of dollars (to bail out the banks).

They remain unable, he chided, to finance 'the production of food and
medicine or to support education, but can help out the bankrupt
bankers.'

He added however, that so far the global banking crisis has not
affected Venezuela's economy 'thanks to the revolution, which has
strengthened it'. -- AFP


From philip.ferguson at canterbury.ac.nz  Sun Nov  2 21:19:47 2008
From: philip.ferguson at canterbury.ac.nz (Philip Ferguson)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:19:47 +1300
Subject: [Marxism] Take the Message to Your Masters
Message-ID: <6939483EA0E7574D9BE975D31D3E593777A2BF@ucexchange2.canterbury.ac.nz>


eirigi press release:


Take the Message to Your Masters

?ir?g? spokesperson Brian Leeson today (Sunday) commended all those who came
onto the streets of Belfast in defiance of the threats and lies of the PSNI,
unionist politicians and others.

At least 400 republicans gathered at Divis Tower before marching to the PSNI
barricade at the bottom of the Falls Road.

There they were addressed by ?ir?g? chairperson Brian Leeson and Brenda Downes,
whose husband John was murdered by the RUC in 1984.  A statement was also read
out on behalf of Relatives for Justice - the organisation that campaigns on
behalf of the victims of British state violence - by Alex Mc Crory, an e?r?g?
activist, former political prisoner and blanketman.

Addressing the crowd, Brian commended those who attended and defied British law
to do so.

"We will not ask the permission of our oppressors to march on our streets.  If
we are to take this country back we must take these streets back and break the
mentality that we must ask the British state nicely to allow us to do so.

"The people of Vietnam did not seek permission from the United States to fight
back; the people of South Africa did not ask the permission of the apartheid
regime to fight for their rights.  We, Irish republicans, will not seek
permission from the Six County Parades Commission or any other British
appointed body to protest the occupation of Ireland."

Earlier in the morning, an ?ir?g? activist was arrested in the north Armagh area
while he was attempting to make his way to Belfast.

Brian said: "Throughout the last number of weeks, the PSNI, unionist politicians
and some who should know better raised the spectre of violence in response to
?ir?g? calling people onto the streets.  Today, ?ir?g? did exactly what it said
it was going to do and held a peaceful, disciplined, dignified protest in
opposition to the British military tramping through the streets of Belfast.

"Today, the unionist politicians, the unionist paramilitaries who encouraged the
pro-British rabble into the city centre, the PSNI and the Six County Parades
Commission were all proven conclusively wrong.  All the threats and lies failed
to intimidate the republicans of Belfast and further afield from making a
forceful point."

Brian continued: "More importantly, the British government's normalisation
agenda, of which this parade was an integral part, was today proven to be an
agenda that is doomed to fail.

"To facilitate an offensive spectacle that was a celebration of death and
destruction, thousands of PSNI personnel, helicopters, armoured landrovers and
water cannons all had to be deployed.  The city of Belfast was locked down and
all in a failed attempt to make the point that Belfast is 'as British as
Finchley'.

"Belfast is not a British city.  It is an Irish city that is under British
military and political occupation.  As long as the British government continues
planning stunts that will portray their presence in Ireland as somehow normal
and acceptable, they will have to deal with large numbers of Irish republicans
opposing them.

"In the time ahead, ?ir?g? will be redoubling its efforts to rejuvenate the
national independence struggle.  All those who gathered at Divis Tower today
have a part to play in that struggle, as do people the length the breadth of
this country who have an interest in attaining their rights as Irish citizens."
ENDS.

Note to editor: ?ir?g? is an Ireland-wide, socialist republican political party,
formed in 2006 to provide a vehicle for the national, social and economic
liberation of the people of Ireland.


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Sun Nov  2 21:10:21 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:10:21 -0800
Subject: [Marxism]  Chavez to seize banks in crisis
Message-ID: <490E79AD.4060203@comcast.net>

I've always wondered how effective this truly is. The banks, now 
notified, would start moving assets off shore, thus leaving any such 
nationalization rather a rump one, wouldn't you think? The banks actual 
investments are spread all over the world as are probably much of it's 
reserves. I'm not against, politically, such a move, of course, I just 
wonder what difference it would make.

dAvid


From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Sun Nov  2 22:00:01 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:00:01 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
References: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu>
	<877EBA44651547E3AD1170379859AD5D@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <490E8551.7422E493@ilstu.edu>

"S. Artesian" wrote:
> 
> None of that applies to Bordiga.

The _cases_ of course have different details. But the central point, in
fact, quite clearly does: a tendency towards stressing the strength of
capitalism and doubting the strength of the working-class.  (Note: Those
who believe in a position of course can't help but believe it's right on
the dot: It is always through the eyes of _critics_ that it appears to
be a left or right error. But for making the general point here let's
assume for argument's sake that Bordiga was indeed "ultraleft.")

 
> "Bordigaism" is generally characterized as eschewing all electoral and
> parliamentary efforts and agitation; as rejecting the united front as a
> viable tactic within the class. 

That is, one must avoid any degree of "capitalist" taint: it is
irrresistible if one gives into it an inch. 

 It is also associated, although these links
> are more sympathetc, IMO, than concrete, with council communism.

Only total isolation from all "bourgeois" institutions (like leftover
agencies of the capitalist state) must be avoided. We must stick to a
really pure communism or we will helplessly slide down a slippery slope
to the capitalist road.
> 
> Unlike Gramsci, who led the nominal Stalinist wing of the PCI, Bordiga
> defended Trotsky, and is reported to have called Stalin "gravedigger of the
> revolution"  to his face.  Talk about cojones.

Yup.

> 
> Bordiga analyzed the USSR, after the triumph of Stalin, as capitalist.

If it isn't pure communist, it's pure capitalist.

I'm not interested in reaching a judgment of Bordiga or Goldner here,
but merely in defining a abstract point: the way in which estimation of
relative strength of working class & capital affects political judgment
- and does so in ways that are not reducible to a list of "left" tactics
and "right" tactics. The same tactic may be "left" or "right" depending
on a complex set of relations.

One might remember Marx's warning that there would be no need for
science if appearances coincided with reality.  We are not in the realm
of scientific theory here, but still some of the same priciples apply.

Carrol
>



From srobin21 at comcast.net  Sun Nov  2 22:17:46 2008
From: srobin21 at comcast.net (Steven L. Robinson)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 21:17:46 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Chinese Manufacturing takes big hit
Message-ID: <037501c93d73$8222c560$54f2fea9@noir>

China manufacturing conditions at record low: CLSA survey

By Chris Oliver
 MarketWatch
November 2, 2009

Hong Kong  -- Business condition in China's manufacturing sector
deteriorated at a record pace in October during a sharp decline in orders
from overseas customers, according to a brokerage survey Monday. CLSA
Asia-Pacific Markets said its China Manufacturing PMI fell to 45.2 from 47.7
in September, marking its third straight monthly decline and the fastest in
the survey's history. The level of new orders received by manufacturers was
down at a record pace. The survey also found sharply deteriorating
employment conditions as businesses laid off workers in response to falling
demand. Input costs also fell sharply after rising at a survey record rate
in July. "Chinese manufacturers are seeing their order books cut, both at
home and abroad, as the world economy falls into recession," wrote Eric
Fishwick, head of economic research at CLSA in a research note Monday.
"Costs are falling but so are output prices. The coming 12 months will be
difficult ones for manufacturers, China included."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/China-manufacturing-conditions-
record-low/story.aspx?guid=%7BE5691552-D60A-4237-A2F1-D1451
DC35FF4%7D

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm



From stuartmunckton at gmail.com  Sun Nov  2 22:50:28 2008
From: stuartmunckton at gmail.com (Stuart Munckton)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 16:50:28 +1100
Subject: [Marxism] "Our votes are for Chavez and the revolution"
Message-ID: <2c6145850811022150t42c5689es16d37bb7be667633@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/773/39856

Venezuela: 'Our votes are for Chavez and the revolution'
Federico Fuentes, Caracas
31 October 2008


*"On November 23, we will not just be voting for this or that governorship,
we will be deciding the destiny of this revolutionary process", Stalin Perez
Borges, a national coordinator of the National Union of Workers (UNT) and
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) militant, told Green Left Weekly.
*

 On that day, regional elections for 23 governorships, more than 300 mayors
and hundreds of state legislative assembly members will occur ? a crucial
contest between the revolutionary forces lead by President Hugo Chavez
(mainly grouped in the PSUV) and the US-backed right-wing opposition.

Perez Borges and militants from the different union currents that are also
in the PSUV have been organising in their unions and workplaces to ensure a
strong victory in these elections.

"Our position is that, despite some of the problems that exist, we as
revolutionaries will be participating not just on voting day, but in the
campaign. This is the best way to strengthen and deepen the process."

Asked about the possible outcome, Perez Borges stated that the situation
today is "contradictory". These elections provide "an enormous opportunity
to deal a big blow to the right and imperialism", particularly given that
the opposition candidates look bad.

"Yet, despite the high approval rating for Chavez, in the factories and in
some neighbourhoods there is a strong sense of malaise, discontent against
the government and apathy towards participating in the elections."

The reason, according to Perez Borges, is that "among some of those in the
PSUV and functionaries in the government, important errors are being
committed".

Perez Borges said that while one of the problems is that the some of the
candidates do not want to work with all the different forces within the
mass-based PSUV, provoking discontent in the ranks, "what is most grave is
that there are problems that are not being resolved when they could be,
creating conflict".

"Take the example of the contract workers in Sidor [steel factory,
nationalised by Chavez in April]: for three months, the government, [basic
industry minister] Rodolfo Sanz, the governor and the company president have
been breaking promises in regards to resolving the problems of the 8000
contract workers."

Angered by the lack of government response, the contract workers ? whose
conditions are far worse than the smaller number of permanent workers ? went
on strike for 90 hours on October 17, as tensions rose to the point of
exploding.

The situation further escalated after Sanz called two meetings for October
29 and 30 with the contract workers ? and then failed to show. Fed up with
the lack of government response, the workers set up roadblocks and began
burning tyres.

"This is just one of many examples. There are similar situations in
[aluminium plant] ALCASA, in the electrical sector, the car industry, and
that is without talking about the problems of the local communities.

"All this is a problem not just from an electoral point of view, but is a
political problem because it weakens the worker and popular base of the
revolution, which is what sustains Chavez", Perez Borges commented.

"The people are not going to go against this process, and if Chavez was the
candidate, everyone would turn out to vote, but many of the candidates are
doing little to raise enthusiasm.

"Instead, Chavez ? together with some good candidates and the revolutionary
bases ? has once again had to mount the campaign on his shoulders.

"There is no excuse for not winning. The crisis that capitalism is facing
today demonstrates that it is no alternative. We have time to win
everything, so that not a single governorship falls into the hands of the
enemy.

"But these candidates should also be clear: our votes are for Chavez and the
deepening of the revolutionary process", insisted Perez Borges.

"And if because of their actions and state functionaries who don't listen to
the people, the result are not as favourable as they should be, they have no
excuse for turning around and saying that the people are not prepared to
push forward.

"Everyone will have to assume their share of the responsibility for the
result."

[Federico Fuentes is part of the* Green Left Weekly* Caracas bureau. *GLW *is
the only Australian media outlet with a journalist based in Latin America.
To keep up to date with the ongoing coverage of the Latin American
revolutions, subscribe at subscribe
now<http://www.greenleft.org.au/subscribe.php>.]


From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue
#773<http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2008/773>5 November 2008.


-- 
"The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?" - Jarvis Cocker

"Our demands are moderate ? we only want the Earth" - James Connolly

From Jscotlive at aol.com  Mon Nov  3 01:28:22 2008
From: Jscotlive at aol.com (Jscotlive at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 03:28:22 EST
Subject: [Marxism] Hunger
Message-ID: <ce6.3c417a0f.36401026@aol.com>

 
To coincide with the release of Steve McQueen?s film,  Hunger, about Bobby 
Sands and the Hunger Strikes, I?m posting  a piece I wrote in commemoration of 
the 27th anniversary of Sands? death  which originally appeared in the Morning 
Star back in May. I haven?t seen  McQueen?s film yet, but by all accounts it?
s well worth  seeing.    
Anyway, here?s the piece.  
_http://www.socialistunity.com/_ (http://www.socialistunity.com/)  


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Mon Nov  3 02:27:19 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:27:19 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Student voting challenged in Va.
Message-ID: <D06046A139F645D3A1E1FB24695EE933@office1pc>

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/379334/print
Student Voting Challenged in VA 
posted by Cora Currier on 11/02/2008 @ 3:48pm

Students at Radford University in Virginia got some bad news recently-- the
local county registrar's office informed them that they were ineligible to
vote because they listed their dormitory addresses on their voter
registration application. 

The county registrar, Tracy Howard, told a local newspaper in October that
"a dorm is generally--and I say generally--the same thing as a long-term
motel stay." Some students who had registered using their school address had
been sent postcards asking them to re-state their "home" address, and those
that replied with dormitory addresses again were disqualified. Other
students received no requests for clarification, and though they submitted
applications more than a month in advance of the deadline, were notified of
their ineligibility a week after it had passed. 

The Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that students may register to vote where
they attend school, and the Virginia state board of elections explicitly
states that a dormitory may constitute a valid address. What's more, the
additional paperwork sent to students violates the constitutional
requirements against discrimination against particular groups of voters,
according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The center, along with the ACLU
of Virginia, sent a letter detailing these complaints last week, and
threatening legal action if the students applications are not cleared. The
ACLU has also set up a service through their website that allows voters to
report problems they experience. 

This is just one of several instances of this type of behavior by Virginia
registrars in countys with large college populations-- Montgomery County
told Virginia Tech students that they could lose scholarships by changing
their registration, and in Lynchburg county the registrar informed students
he would check if their cars were locally registered and fine those who
weren't. 

In 2006, the FBI started an investigation in Virginia after widespread voter
suppression attempts, mainly through mailings and phonecalls providing false
information, were reported almost exclusively in Democratic-leaning and
minority communities. This year, with more than 40% of new registrants in
Virginia under the age of 25, young people are the biggest threat to
Virginia's red-state status. It seems no coincidence that students' rights
are the ones being questioned this election.




From walterlx at earthlink.net  Mon Nov  3 04:23:16 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 06:23:16 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Revenge of the Left across the world
Message-ID: <12836377.1225711396047.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Revenge of the Left across the world

Whatever the exact result of the US elections tomorrow, we must
assume that the whole governing machinery of Washington and the state
capitols will soon be hostile to laissez-faire thinking.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Last Updated: 5:35AM GMT 03 Nov 2008

Comments 34 | Comment on this article


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3366575/Revenge-of-the-Left-across-the-world.html

It is not just that the Democrats will win a crushing victory in both
houses of Congress, perhaps reaching the 60-seat Senate threshold
that lets them steam-roll legislation. It is also that the incoming
class of 2008 is of a new creed. Many no longer believe ? or actively
reject ? the free trade and free market catechisms.

As commentator Markos Moulitsas put it in Newsweek: "The big question
is, will Democrats nationwide simply 'win' the night?or will they
deliver an electoral drubbing so thorough that it signals the utter
rejection of conservative ideology and kills the notion that America
is a 'center-right' country?" he said.

No matter that statist policies were responsible for this global
crisis in the first place. It was Western governments that set
interest rates too low for too long, encouraging us all to abuse
credit.

It was Eastern governments that held down their currencies to pursue
mercantilist trade advantage, thereby accumulating vast foreign
reserves that had to be recycled. Hence the bond bubble. This is the
deformed creature known as Bretton Woods II. Protectionist Democrats
are right to complain that the game is rigged. Free trade? Laugh on.

But at this point I have given up hoping that we will draw the right
conclusions from this crisis. The universal verdict is that
capitalism has run amok.

In any case the damage caused as credit retrenchment squeezes real
industry is likely to be so great that Barack Obama may have to
pursue unthinkable policies, just as Franklin Roosevelt had to ditch
campaign orthodoxies and go truly radical after his landslide victory
in 1932. Indeed, Mr Obama ? if he wins ? may have to start by
nationalizing the US car industry.

For those who missed it, I recommend Edward Stourton's BBC interview
with Eric Hobsbawm, the doyen of Marxist history.

"This is the dramatic equivalent of the collapse of the Soviet Union:
we now know that an era has ended," said Mr Hobsbawm, still lucid at
91.

"It is certainly greatest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s. As
Marx and Schumpeter foresaw, globalization not only destroys
heritage, but is incredibly unstable. It operates through a series of
crises.

"There'll be a much greater role for the state, one way or another.
We've already got the state as lender of last resort, we might well
return to idea of the state as employer of last resort, which is what
it was under FDR. It'll be something which orients, and even directs
the private economy," he said.

Dismiss this as the wishful thinking of an old Marxist if you want,
but I suspect his views may be closer to the truth than the
complacent assumptions so prevalent in the City.

To those who still think that business can go on as normal now that
EU taxpayers have had to rescue the financial system, I can only say:
what will happen to London if EU exchange controls are imposed, or if
leverage is restricted by draconian laws ? as demanded by the German,
Dutch, and Nordic Left?

Does the UK still have a blocking minority under EU voting rules to
stop a blitz of directives that could shut down half the activities
of the City ? or the 'Casino' as they say in Brussels? I doubt it.

Who thinks that the three key Commission posts ? single market,
competition, and trade ? will still be held by free marketeers when
the new team comes in next year?

In Germany, Oskar Lafontaine's Linke party now has 23pc support in
Saarland on a Marxist pledge to nationalize banks and utilities.
Needless to say, the Social Democrats (SPD) are shifting hard Left to
protect their flank.

"The rule of the radical market ideology that began with Margaret
Thatcher and Ronald Reagan has ended with a loud bang," said
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister and SPD candidate
for chancellor next year.

"We need a comprehensive new start, so we can reestablish our society
on fresh foundations. People create value, not locusts," he said.

France has its own Gaullist version on this, seizing on the crisis to
launch the most far-reaching strategy of state intervention since the
1970s.

"Laissez-faire, c'est fini," said President Nicolas Sarkozy. "We will
intervene massively whenever a strategic enterprise needs our money."

Such language can now be heard daily across Europe. It can only
intensify as the fall-out from the EU's ?1.8bn trillion (?1.4
trillion) bank rescue becomes clearer, and as Europe's elites
discover that their own banks are the most leveraged in the world and
have played their own Wagnerian part in Gotterdammerung.

European and UK banks are five times more exposed to emerging markets
than US banks. They alone hold the collective time-bomb of $1.6
trillion (?990bn) in hard currency loans to Eastern Europe ? now
starting to detonate in Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, and even Russia.

At some point, Europe's political class will face the awful truth
that their own credit bubbles are just as bad ? and perhaps worse ?
than the excesses of US sub-prime property. As that occurs, the shock
will move by degrees from revulsion to political rage.

Professor Hobsbawm, who spent his youth watching Hitler's rise in
Berlin, has a warning for those who think this will help the Left in
any recognizable form. "In the 1930s, the net political effect of the
Depression was to enormously strengthen the Right," he said.

America was the great exception, as it may prove to be again. I for
one will take the enlightened "socialism" of Barack Obama any day
over the Hegelian broth nearing the boil in Europe.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From skeyesvogt at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 06:11:40 2008
From: skeyesvogt at gmail.com (Sky Keyes-Vogt)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 08:11:40 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Body-count scandal mars Colombian victories
Message-ID: <de3b89110811030511h4715427ek93d7f5b1a05bd8dc@mail.gmail.com>

Body-count scandal mars Colombian victories
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/6089243.html

L A MACARENA, COLOMBIA ? It should have been a glorious day for the
Colombian military when a combined air and land assault killed a
high-ranking guerrilla leader.

But rather than celebrating their latest war trophy, front-line troops at
this hilltop base 30 miles east of the battlefield appeared shell-shocked.

Watching the TV news over a lunch of rice and beans, they learned that 27
army officers and enlisted men had been fired over a scandal in which 11
young men from a Bogota slum were lured into the countryside, then executed
and presented by the military as enemy combatants.

The killings, known as "false positives," were apparently just the tip of
the iceberg. Colombian investigators are looking into more than 700 cases
from around the country in which young men were allegedly executed then
registered by army officers ? who were looking to impress their superiors ?
as guerrillas or paramilitaries killed in action.

"If we end up proving that (illegal executions) are a systematic and
generalized practice, then it would constitute a crime against humanity,"
Attorney General Mario Iguaran said Friday.

A victim of own success

The scandal broke amid the most triumphant year in the history of the
Colombian armed forces.

After 44 years of war, the army finally seems to have the FARC ? or the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest guerrilla
force ? on the ropes. This year alone, troops have killed or captured about
30 high-ranking or midlevel FARC leaders, including Felipe Rincon, an
influential rebel ideologue who was slain in last week's firefight near La
Macarena.

In March, the FARC's maximum leader, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, died of a
heart attack. And in July, army intelligence officers pulled off a
spectacular Entebbe-style operation that freed 15 hostages, including three
U.S. military contractors and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid
Betancourt.

But in some ways, military analysts say, the Colombian army has become a
victim of its own success.

Since 2002, the number of Colombian troops has nearly doubled to about
263,000. As the army expanded, oversight lapsed. Yet accusations of human
rights abuses were often dismissed by officials as rebel-inspired campaigns
to demoralize the soldiers.

"There was such a strong push to defeat the FARC that the government put too
much faith in the military and exercised too little control," said Cesar
Restrepo of the Security and Democracy Foundation, a Bogota think tank.
"Everyone looked the other way."

Promotions, rewardsAnother problem was the habit, prevalent among U.S.
commanders in Vietnam, of measuring progress through body counts. The top
brass offered promotions, cash rewards and days off to troops for killing
guerrillas or paramilitaries, illegal right-wing fighters who ran drugs and
targeted the rebels.

Officers, in turn, have come under fierce pressure from President Alvaro
Uribe, who views the conflict not as a civil war, but as a fight against
terrorists who must be eliminated. Last week, Uribe scolded his troops based
in southern Meta state for failing to bring in a notorious drug trafficker
and a paramilitary chieftain.

"Uribe is calling officers on their cell phones at 11 o'clock at night,"
said Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy in Washington.
"What's a colonel going to tell him? The only quantitative results he can
show are people killed or captured."

Under Uribe, about 30,000 paramilitaries have disarmed. But a new generation
of militias have sprung up and moved into the power vacuum.

Sen. Gustavo Petro, an opposition lawmaker, claimed that in some cases of
"false positives" army officers agreed to ignore paramilitary drug
trafficking and other crimes in exchange for the bodies of young men who
could be paraded before their commanding officers.

[clip]

From sartesian at earthlink.net  Mon Nov  3 06:53:22 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 08:53:22 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis
References: <20081102190133.EAA4DD654@mailbackend.panix.com><490DFE91.8732B05F@ilstu.edu><877EBA44651547E3AD1170379859AD5D@dmsthinkpad>
	<490E8551.7422E493@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <73F84BE22148422D9EC23C997D3B9D4C@dmsthinkpad>

Your definition might have some validity in the  abstract, but it doesn't 
have much to do with Bordiga's work.

Bordiga was hardly one to doubt the capacity of the working class.

His analysis of the USSR was not based on any notion of "purity,"  but 
rather his analysis of agriculture and the appropriation of the surplus 
agricultural product.  I think would  help to actually identify the concrete 
areas of disagreement rather than set up a schematic that, concretely, 
exhibits all the "errors" and "rigidity" assigned to Bordiga.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 12:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Loren Goldner on the crisis




From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 07:17:16 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:17:16 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Chris Hedges: Only Nader Is Right on the Issues
Message-ID: <490F07EC.1060402@panix.com>

Only Nader Is Right on the Issues
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081103_only_nader_is_right_on_the_issues/
Posted on Nov 3, 2008

By Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who has covered many 
wars around the world. His column appears Mondays on Truthdig.

Tomorrow I will go to a polling station in Princeton, N.J., and vote for 
Ralph Nader. I know the tired arguments against a Nader vote. He can?t 
win. A vote for Nader is a vote for McCain. He threw the election to 
George W. Bush in 2000. He is an egomaniac.

There is little disagreement among liberals and progressives about the 
Nader and Obama campaign issues. Nader would win among us in a landslide 
if this was based on issues. Sen. Barack Obama?s vote to renew the 
Patriot Act, his votes to continue to fund the Iraq war, his backing of 
the FISA Reform Act, his craven courting of the Israeli lobby, his 
support of the death penalty, his refusal to champion universal, 
single-payer not-for-profit health care for all Americans, his call to 
increase troop levels and expand the war in Afghanistan, his failure to 
call for a reduction in the bloated and wasteful defense spending and 
his lobbying for the huge taxpayer swindle known as the bailout are 
repugnant to most of us on the left. Nader stands on the other side of 
all those issues.

So if the argument is not about issues what is it about?

Those on the left who back Obama, although they disagree with much of 
what he promotes, believe they are choosing the practical over the 
moral. They see themselves as political realists. They fear John McCain 
and the Republicans. They believe Obama is better for the country. They 
are right. Obama is better. He is not John McCain. There will be under 
Obama marginal improvements for some Americans although the corporate 
state, as Obama knows, will remain our shadow government and the working 
class will continue to descend into poverty. Democratic administrations 
have, at least until Bill Clinton, been more receptive to social 
programs that provide benefits, better working conditions and higher 
wages. An Obama presidency, however, will make no difference to those in 
the Middle East.

I can?t join the practical. I spent two decades of my life witnessing 
the suffering of those on the receiving end of American power. I have 
stood over the rows of bodies, including women and children, butchered 
by Ronald Reagan?s Contra forces in Nicaragua. I have inspected the 
mutilated corpses dumped in pits outside San Salvador by the death 
squads. I have crouched in a concrete hovel as American-made F-16 
fighter jets, piloted by Israelis, dropped 500- and 1,000-pound 
iron-fragmentation bombs on Gaza City.

I can?t join the practical because I do not see myself exclusively as an 
American.  The narrow, provincial and national lines that divide 
cultures and races blurred and evaporated during the years I spent in 
Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Balkans. I built 
friendships around a shared morality, not a common language, religion, 
history or tradition. I cannot support any candidate who does not call 
for immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to Israeli 
abuse of Palestinians. We have no moral or legal right to debate the 
terms of the occupation. And we will recover our sanity as a nation only 
when our troops have left Iraq and our president flies to Baghdad, 
kneels before a monument to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi war dead 
and asks for forgiveness.

We dismiss the suffering of others because it is not our suffering. 
There are between 600,000 and perhaps a million dead in Iraq. They died 
because we invaded and occupied their country. At least three Afghan 
civilians have died at the hands of the occupation forces for every 
foreign soldier killed this year. The dead Afghans include the 95 
people, 60 of them children, killed by an air assault in Azizabad in 
August and the 47 wedding guests butchered in July during a bombardment 
in Nangarhar. The Palestinians are forgotten. Obama and McCain, courting 
the Israeli lobby, do not mention them. The 1.5 million Palestinians in 
Gaza live in a vast open-air prison. Supplies and food dribble through 
the Israeli blockade. Ninety-five percent of local industries have shut 
down. Unemployment is rampant. Childhood malnutrition has skyrocketed. A 
staggering 80 percent of families in Gaza are dependent on international 
food aid to survive.

It is bad enough that I pay taxes, although I will stop paying taxes if 
we go to war with Iran. It is bad enough that I have retreated into a 
safe, privileged corner of the globe, a product of industrialized wealth 
and militarism. These are enough moral concessions, indeed moral 
failings. I will not accept that the unlawful use of American military 
power be politely debated among us like the subtle pros and cons of tort 
law.

George Bush has shredded, violated or absented America from its 
obligations under international law. He has refused to sign the Kyoto 
Protocol, backed out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, tried to kill 
the International Criminal Court, walked out on negotiations on chemical 
and biological weapons and defied the Geneva Conventions and human 
rights law in the treatment of detainees in our offshore penal colonies. 
Most egregiously, he launched an illegal war in Iraq based on fabricated 
evidence we now know had been discredited even before it was made 
public. The president is guilty, in short, of what in legal circles is 
known as the ?crime of aggression.?

The legacy of the Bush administration may be the codification of a world 
without treaties, statutes and laws. Bush may have bequeathed to us a 
world where any nation, from a rogue nuclear state to a great imperial 
power, will be able to invoke its domestic laws to annul its obligations 
to others. This new order will undo five decades of international 
cooperation?largely put in place by the United States?and thrust us into 
a Hobbesian nightmare. The exercise of power without law is tyranny.

If we demolish the fragile and delicate international order, if we do 
not restore a world where diplomacy, broad cooperation and the law are 
respected, we will see our moral and political authority disintegrate. 
We will erode the possibility of cooperation between nation-states, 
including our closest allies, and see visited upon us the evils we visit 
on others. Obama, like McCain, may tinker with this new world, but 
neither says they will dismantle it. Nader would.

Practical men and women do not stand up against injustice. The practical 
remain silent. A voice, even one voice, which speaks the truth and 
denounces injustice is never useless. It is not impractical. It reminds 
us of what we should strive to become. It defies moral concession after 
moral concession that leaves us chanting empty slogans.

When I sat on the summit of Mount Igman in my armored jeep, the engine 
idling, before nervously running the gantlet of Serb gunfire that raked 
the dirt road into the besieged city of Sarajevo, I never asked myself 
if what I was doing was practical. Forty-five foreign correspondents 
died in the city along with some 12,000 Bosnians, including 2,000 
children. Some 50,000 people were wounded. Of the dead and wounded 85 
percent were civilians. I drove down the slope into Sarajevo, which was 
being hit by 2,000 shells a day and under constant sniper fire, because 
what was happening there was a crime. I drove down because I had friends 
in the city. I did not want them to be alone. Their stories had become mine.

War, with all its euphemisms about surges and the escalation of troops 
and collateral damage, is not an abstraction to me. I am haunted by 
hundreds of memories of violence and trauma. I have abandoned, because I 
no longer cover these conflicts, many I care about. They live in Gaza, 
Baghdad, Jerusalem, Beirut, Kabul and Tehran. They cannot vote in our 
election. They will, however, bear the consequences of our decision. 
Some, if the wars continue, may be injured or killed. The quest for 
justice is not about being practical. It is required by the bonds we 
share. They would do no less for me.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 07:21:04 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:21:04 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Precarious Financial Lives
Message-ID: <490F08D0.3020600@panix.com>

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22080
Volume 55, Number 18 ? November 20, 2008
Trapped in the New 'You're on Your Own' World
By Robert M. Solow

High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families
by Peter Gosselin
Basic Books, 374 pp., $26.95


When the Bush-Cheney administration proposed to replace Social Security 
with a system of individually accumulated, individually owned, and 
individually invested accounts, my first thought was that its goal was 
to take the Social out of Social Security. It took a few minutes longer 
to realize that it also intended to take the Security out of Social 
Security.

That attempt failed. In recent years, however, a mixture of public and 
private policy decisions and impersonal market developments has had the 
broad effect of shifting many financial risks from established 
institutions, including even society at large, to individuals who are 
unable to cope with them in an adequate way. Information may be 
impossibly difficult for citizens to process; or else the basic 
information may not be available to individuals or private groups. 
Sometimes the scale of the possible bad outcomes may be overwhelming. 
Sometimes the appropriate insurance market cannot function or just does 
not exist. The result is that individuals and families can be the 
casualties of situations that once would have been handled by a more 
centralized and more bearable allocation of risks.

The current turmoil in credit markets and the recession that is sure to 
follow are likely to drive this trend further. Banks, insurance 
companies, and other financial institutions have seen too many risks go 
sour. They will be more determined than ever to push further risks onto 
those needy borrowers who are too weak and too ignorant to bargain hard. 
Families, small businesses, and other borrowers of last resort will be 
under great pressure.

Peter Gosselin's excellent and thoughtful book, High Wire: The 
Precarious Financial Lives of American Families, is not the first to 
explore this territory. Two others that come to mind are Louis 
Uchitelle's The Disposable American[1] and Jacob Hacker's The Great Risk 
Shift.[2] Gosselin is like Uchitelle in combining social criticism with 
substantial stories of recognizable people who have been trapped by bad 
luck or bad judgment in this new you're-on-your-own world; he differs in 
covering a much broader variety of risks and risk-bearers than 
Uchitelle's focus on workers and job-related risks. Hacker's book also 
ranges over many issues, but does not have Gosselin's expert 
journalistic use of recognizable cases. (Professor Hacker is currently 
engaged in a Rockefeller Foundation?sponsored effort to construct a 
general "Index of Economic Security"?to show empirically how economic 
security varies over time and across social groups.)

Gosselin, who works in the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times, 
does a fine job of connecting the stories he tells to general ideas and 
to economy- wide statistical markers, some developed for his particular 
purpose. He has produced a readable and valuable book. In this 
connection it cheers me up to see how he has profited from a stay at the 
Urban Institute, a leading non- ideological research center in 
Washington. (I am on the board of the Urban Institute, but our paths 
never crossed there, though we are acquainted.)

(clip)


From skeyesvogt at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 07:29:54 2008
From: skeyesvogt at gmail.com (Sky Keyes-Vogt)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:29:54 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Rikers Island guard made me fight thug, ex-inmate says
Message-ID: <de3b89110811030629r5a9b65b2ldd82dba9fcce6ffc@mail.gmail.com>

http://www.malcolm-che.com/?p=354

For corrections officers at penitentiaries across the country and the world,
inmates are a form of entertainment.  Tasked with the difficult job of being
the overseer to modern-day slaves, these CO's often become criminals
themselves outright or through neglect.  But since the CO's gang is more
powerful than any other gang in the prison walls, they can operate with near
impunity while still avoiding the wide brush that paints everyone else
inside prison walls as 'animals' and 'beasts'.  The following story is
indicative of a pattern of behavior and should not be looked at as an
isolated case (e.g. the CO's that bet on fights in the California system
that they forced the inmates to participate in).  For more on the brutality
of life inside Rikers Island be sure to see the excellent documentary
"Scarface 4 Life" one of the greatest prison documentaries ever made (one of
the first to directly compare the slave trade to the prison industrial
complex).


Rikers Island guard made me fight thug, ex-inmate says

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/11/02/2008-11-02_rikers_island_guard_made_me_fight_thug_e.html


A former inmate says a Rikers Island guard with a twisted sense of justice
forced him to fight a prisoner who had been tormenting him.
Jeffrey Treffy of Sunnyside, Queens, was in Rikers for two weeks on a
misdemeanor assault charge, but ended up in the hospital after he was beaten
for 10 minutes for the correction officer's entertainment, he alleges.

[clip]

From ssschwartz8 at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 07:49:01 2008
From: ssschwartz8 at gmail.com (yossi schwartz)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 16:49:01 +0200
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
Message-ID: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>

Some so called Left wing activist and academics tell us that Nader is right
on all issues. Others like the IMT tell us that it is necessary to build a
reformist labor party but mean time to vote for Naders or the Greens.

Nader politics on Palestine is:



"Nader/Gonzalez will continue to speak out about this humanitarian crisis
and side with the strong and courageous Israeli/Palestinian peace movements
who are working for a peaceful two-state solution".





In simple words his politics is a pro imperialist and pro Zionist. A program
that denies the right of self  determination for the Palestinians in their
entire country and instead supports a Bantustan in 20 % of their stolen
country. It denies the right of  return of the Palestinian refugees.

Vote for Nader is vote for Zionist racism.



Nader/Gonzalez propose a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

A target of withdrawing troops in six months will be set.

In other words Nader not only is not interested in a revolutionary defeat or
the US and revolutionary victory of the Iraqi masses, but he is not
even  committed
for immidate withdrawal of US imperialist army from Iraq.
A vote for Nader is a vote or US imperialism

From markalause at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 07:52:54 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:52:54 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
References: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811030652u5f262d80x29ed0d4515c70f5c@mail.gmail.com>

Louis,

Would I be thrown off the list if I pointed out that, based on the
consistency of his posts, Yossi is either a moron or, for some reason,
constitutionally incapable of being honest?

Because if I would be thrown off the list for saying that, I want to
go on record saying that I wouldn't say it.

ML


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 07:58:37 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:58:37 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
References: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <490F119D.2020706@panix.com>

yossi schwartz wrote:
blah-blah-blah. Revolution Now. Down with capitalism...

Yossi, I have warned you repeatedly against this kind of stupidity. You 
have been unsubbed.


From ecosocialism at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 08:00:44 2008
From: ecosocialism at gmail.com (Ian Angus)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 10:00:44 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Once Again: The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons
Message-ID: <733b65360811030700p5b1286b8v7a3ef8579f35178b@mail.gmail.com>

The response to my recent article, "The Myth of the Tragedy of the
Commons," has been very encouraging. It prompted a small flood of
emails to my inbox, was reposted on many websites and blogs around the
world, and has been discussed in a variety of online forums. The
majority of the comments were positive, but many readers challenged my
arguments.

I've written a reply to the most common questions and criticisms. It's
posted on Climate and Capitalism:
http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=576

Ian Angus


From ecosocialism at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 07:53:51 2008
From: ecosocialism at gmail.com (Ian Angus)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:53:51 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Once Again: The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons
Message-ID: <733b65360811030653s7d56277r1a831f9985fe04ad@mail.gmail.com>

The response to my recent article, "The Myth of the Tragedy of the
Commons," has been very encouraging. It prompted a small flood of
emails to my inbox, was reposted on many websites and blogs around the
world, and has been discussed in a variety of online forums. The
majority of the comments were positive, but many readers challenged my
arguments.

I've written a reply to the most common questions and criticisms. It's
posted on Climate and Capitalism:
http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=576

Ian Angus


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Mon Nov  3 09:53:15 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 11:53:15 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Lula: Black US president would be 'extraordinary'
Message-ID: <16862539.1225731195262.JavaMail.root@elwamui-milano.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Silva: Black US president would be 'extraordinary'
The Associated Press
November 1, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/31/news/CB-Cuba-Brazil-Obama.php

HAVANA: Brazil's president said Friday that the prospect of a black
U.S. president "would be an extraordinary thing," but stopped short
of endorsing Democrat Barack Obama by name.

"I'm just giving a personal opinion because it's obviously up to the
American people and is a sovereign decision," Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva said. "But I think that, in all the world, there is a little
bit of happiness. In the silent minds of each one of us, how good it
will be if a black is elected president of the United States."

Silva spoke to reporters while in Havana to celebrate a deal allowing
Brazil's state-run oil company to explore for oil in deep Cuban
waters.

Silva, who heads Latin America's largest economy, had said previously
he thought Obama would likely win Tuesday's U.S. presidential
election against Republican John McCain. But he had abstained from
publicly expressing a preference.

The Brazilian leader, a working-class labor leader who became head of
state, suggested that an Obama win would continue a trend of unlikely
victories across the American hemisphere.

"Just as Brazil elected a metal worker, Bolivia elected an Indian,
Venezuela elected (socialist leader Hugo) Chavez and Paraguay a
bishop, I think that it would be an extraordinary thing if, in the
largest economy in the world, a black were elected president of the
United States," he said.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From adambrichmond at yahoo.com  Mon Nov  3 10:34:23 2008
From: adambrichmond at yahoo.com (Adam Richmond)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:34:23 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <500281.60489.qm@web54601.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Yossi has misstated the IMT position on the US elections.? The IMT does not support Nader, and its position on the Greens is more complex.? 

I do not support Nader's politics, nor do I view him or his movement as anything other than a left liberal, pro-capitalist reformer.? He is not a revolutionary nor even a social democrat.? He deserves the criticism of Marxists for his positions that fall far short of providing real solutions to the immediate political challenges facing working people in the United States.
I view it as a dead end and their campaign as not supportable by
socialists (unlike many on this list). But I labeling a vote for Nader
in the way Yossi does (Vote for Nader is vote for Zionist racism)
obscures rather than clarifies the Nader campaign. 

But the role of Israel is not central to why progressive-minded people in the US they would vote for him.? It is not a vote for Zionism, but a vote against Wall Street and the Status Quo, but from a left liberal perspective.? 

The IMT's US Section, the Workers International League, their position on the elections is to vote not for Ralph Nader, but to support Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente's Power to the People campaign.? It is true that McKinney/Clemente won the Green Party's endorsement, but that is not the end of the story.

The majority of the Green Party leadership are completely hostile to McKinney/Clemente and are supporting Nader who has stood outside of the Green Party for the second election in a row.? 

I, along with many others in the Workers International League, resigned nearly a month ago to form Workers Action in San Francisco and Portland. Our website is www.workerscompass.org.? The IMT can be criticized, but the criticism has to be based on facts.

We in Workers Action support the Power to the People campaign of McKinney/Clemente.? We believe this campaign could be the first step in creating new national party, initiated by the Reconstruction Party founded in New Orleans over a year ago.? We believe this political movement will give a long needed voice for African Americans, and working people in general.? 

Adam Richmond
San Francisco



--- On Mon, 11/3/08, yossi schwartz <ssschwartz8 at gmail.com> wrote:
From: yossi schwartz <ssschwartz8 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
To: "Adam Richmond" <adambrichmond at yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, November 3, 2008, 6:49 AM

Some so called Left wing activist and academics tell us that Nader is right
on all issues. Others like the IMT tell us that it is necessary to build a
reformist labor party but mean time to vote for Naders or the Greens.

Nader politics on Palestine is:



"Nader/Gonzalez will continue to speak out about this humanitarian crisis
and side with the strong and courageous Israeli/Palestinian peace movements
who are working for a peaceful two-state solution".





In simple words his politics is a pro imperialist and pro Zionist. A program
that denies the right of self  determination for the Palestinians in their
entire country and instead supports a Bantustan in 20 % of their stolen
country. It denies the right of  return of the Palestinian refugees.

Vote for Nader is vote for Zionist racism.



Nader/Gonzalez propose a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

A target of withdrawing troops in six months will be set.

In other words Nader not only is not interested in a revolutionary defeat or
the US and revolutionary victory of the Iraqi masses, but he is not
even  committed
for immidate withdrawal of US imperialist army from Iraq.
A vote for Nader is a vote or US imperialism
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
Set your options at:
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From dave.walters at comcast.net  Mon Nov  3 11:13:42 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:13:42 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
Message-ID: <490F3F56.2020109@comcast.net>

Actually, Adam makes a mistake in his assessment of the leadership of 
the Green Party. The GP leaders as such, are NOT supporting Nader...they 
are supporting Obama if anyone. It's essentially the same leadership as 
the last time around: the Cobb leadership that adapted to the ABB 
(Anybody but Bush) and turned the GP into a "Demo-Green" Party. This 
same leadership is very unhappy that McKinney has decided to run on 
*her* platform...the Power to the People campaign, and not the Green 
Party's program.

Nothing has really changed except a large section of the Greens on the 
left voted with their feet to support Nader/Gonzales. There is a smaller 
section of dedicated GP members who really do support McKinney. But 
basically the GP can now only be spoken of in the past-tense.

I would agree that Nader's "zionism" (in Yossi's POV)  is totally 
irrelevant to the US presidential campaign or to the body politic in 
general (unfortunately).

David


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 11:23:36 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:23:36 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Worse case scenario about to unfold
Message-ID: <490F41A8.5050101@panix.com>

NY Times, November 3, 2008
Debt Linked to Buyouts Tightens the Economic Vise
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

Private equity firms embarked on one of the biggest spending sprees in 
corporate history for nearly three years, using borrowed money to gobble 
up huge swaths of industries and some of the biggest names ? Neiman 
Marcus, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Toys ?R? Us.

The new owners then saddled the companies with the billions of dollars 
of debt used to buy them. But now many of the loans and bonds sold to 
finance the deals are about to come due at the worst possible time.

So, like homeowners with an adjustable rate mortgage that just went up, 
some of private equity?s titans are facing a huge squeeze. And that is 
coming at the same time consumers are staying home with their wallets 
closed.

Already this year, big retailers backed by private equity, like Linens 
?n Things, Mervyn?s and Steve & Barry?s, have filed for bankruptcy.

Analysts expect an even broader array of companies backed by private 
equity ? including resorts like Harrah?s Entertainment and lenders like 
GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors ? to face even more pressure 
as profits shrivel and creditors come knocking.

?There?s absolutely going to be a lot of pain to go around,? said Josh 
Lerner, a professor of investment banking at Harvard Business School. 
?The big question is how apocalyptic it will be.?

Private equity firms, which are lightly regulated, use investors? money 
to buy undervalued public companies and take them private. The 
difficulty of companies that have been acquired by private equity firms 
to get new credit could have enormous implications for the economy.

People who work for companies owned by private equity firms could lose 
their jobs as firms cut costs to meet their debt obligations. And 
private equity firms like Apollo Management, which owns Harrah?s and 
Linens ?n Things, face deep markdowns on the value of their holdings.

Pension funds and college endowments that invested their money into in 
these funds in recent years hoping for big returns are likely to suffer 
as well, and many of those investors could face a cash squeeze, as they 
are forced to hold onto their investments for years until the economy 
recovers.

?The dangling other shoe is now about to drop,? said Jeffrey A. 
Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of the Yale School of Management.

When the economy was booming, the firms made huge profits by cutting 
costs at their new acquisitions, improving operations and then turning 
around and selling them. In 2007, at the height of the bubble, such 
deals totaled $796 billion, or more than 16 percent of the $4.83 
trillion in all the deals made globally that year, according to data 
from Dealogic.

Firms like the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, 
faced an image problem at the height of the bubble for excessive 
compensation and beneficial tax treatment, but their returns were so 
high that even investors like pension funds were drawn in. Now these 
firms, built on enormous amounts of debt, are being forced to go back to 
the financial markets just as those markets have nearly frozen up.

If history is any guide, the worst may be yet to come. Steven N. Kaplan, 
a professor at University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, found 
that nearly 30 percent of all big public-to-private deals made from 1986 
to 1989 defaulted. Afterward, private equity players were called to 
testify before Congress, and movies like ?Wall Street? and ?Other 
People?s Money? depicted financiers as greedy criminals.

To be sure, many companies that were not purchased by private equity 
firms are also struggling. Circuit City, the longtime seller of consumer 
electronics, is trying to avoid filing for bankruptcy. And publicly 
traded automakers like General Motors are troubled, too. (G.M. wants to 
merge with Chrysler, which is owned by a private equity firm.)

Many industry insiders and analysts contend that companies backed by 
private equity will not suffer nearly as much as those in the late 1980s 
because the firms pushed for better financing conditions that allow them 
to keep operating even if they cannot make their debt payments.

For example, in an effort to save cash, six of Apollo?s portfolio 
companies, including Claire?s Stores, Harrah?s and Realogy, have 
announced this year that they will pay some of their bonds? interest by 
issuing more debt.

Mr. Kaplan said he believed that while ?it isn?t going to be pretty,? 
today?s deals ?are much less fragile and used less leverage.? He 
contended that ?on a relative basis to investment banks and hedge funds, 
private equity may be in a better place? because of its long-term focus.

Stephen A. Schwarzman, chairman of Blackstone Group, remains committed 
to the future of private equity. ?The people rooting for the collapse of 
private equity are going to be disappointed,? he said. While some 
companies may find themselves in trouble, he said, many more will be 
able to ride out a downturn in the economy because of the less 
restrictive financing conditions that banks agreed to earlier.

He added that he believed that now may be the best time for private 
equity because of the investment opportunities amid the crisis. 
?Historically, downturns are when the most money gets made,? he said. 
Shares of Blackstone are hovering at around $10, down from the $31 they 
were at when Blackstone went public in June 2007. (Fortress Investment 
Group, another big firm, is trading at $4.90 a share, down from its 
initial price of $35 in February 2007.)

Mr. Lerner, of the Harvard Business School, said that trouble among 
private equity firms would probably ?precipitate hard questions about 
the compensation and fee structure? in the industry. The firms generally 
take fees of 2 percent of all money managed and 20 percent of profits. 
?I would not be surprised if they try to head off the criticism by 
returning capital,? he said.

The problem for the past deals is that many firms waded into 
economically sensitive sectors like retailing and restaurants. Firms 
like Apollo, Cerberus Capital Management and Sun Capital Partners 
purchased several troubled companies to turn around from 2004 through 
the first half of 2007.

In the case of Linens ?n Things, a longtime also-ran to Bed, Bath & 
Beyond, Apollo knew that it had a tough job ahead of it, yet it still 
added heavy debt. Two months before Linens ?n Things was acquired, it 
reported $2.1 million in long-term debt; by Dec. 31, 2007, that amount 
had exploded to $855 million.

At the time, private equity firms assumed that they could refinance 
their portfolio companies? debt cheaply. But many appear to have been 
blindsided by the size and severity of the credit market meltdown, which 
has left lenders unable or unwilling to provide more money.

In what seems a worrisome trend, many bonds of private equity-backed 
companies have recently plummeted in value, signaling worries about 
their solvency. These include Michaels, the crafts store co-owned by 
Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group; Dollar General, a low-price 
retailer taken private by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts; and Realogy, the 
parent company of the real estate brokerage firms Coldwell Banker and 
Century 21 that is owned by Apollo Management.

The bonds issued by Harrah?s Entertainment, for example, were trading at 
16.5 cents on the dollar, indicating investors? belief that the company 
was drawing closer to a potential default. Harrah?s, too, was saddled 
with a lot of debt when it was taken private. A month before the 
completion of the Harrah?s takeover, the company reported $12.4 billion 
in long-term debt. By June 30, that figure had swollen to $23.9 billion. 
Harrah?s has already begun making selective staff cuts and has begun 
scaling back costs, even cutting back hours in its V.I.P. lounge and the 
complimentary rooms and meals for its best customers.

?Unfortunately, the worst-case scenario is now looking like the best 
case scenario,? analysts from CreditSights, a research firm, wrote in a 
research note on Oct. 17 about Harrah?s. ?While the company could be 
able to pull through unscathed, the market is giving little credit to do 
so.?


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 11:32:15 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:32:15 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Nader's open letter to Obama
Message-ID: <490F43AF.4060604@panix.com>

An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Between Hope and Reality

By RALPH NADER

Dear Senator Obama:

In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and 
change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet 
there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political 
character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope 
and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo.

Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented 
contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most 
interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a 
Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his 
Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the 
$700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests 
investing so much in Senator Obama? Could it be that in your state 
Senate record, your U.S. Senate record and your presidential campaign 
record (favoring nuclear power, coal plants, offshore oil drilling, 
corporate subsidies including the 1872 Mining Act and avoiding any 
comprehensive program to crack down on the corporate crime wave and the 
bloated, wasteful military budget, for example) you have shown that you 
are their man?

To advance change and hope, the presidential persona requires character, 
courage, integrity-- not expediency, accommodation and short-range 
opportunism. Take, for example, your transformation from an articulate 
defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. 
Senate to an acolyte, a dittoman for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which 
bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization 
and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and 
their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Eric Alterman 
summarized numerous polls in a December 2007 issue of The Nation 
magazine showing that AIPAC policies are opposed by a majority of 
Jewish-Americans.

You know quite well that only when the U.S. Government supports the 
Israeli and Palestinian peace movements, that years ago worked out a 
detailed two-state solution (which is supported by a majority of 
Israelis and Palestinians), will there be a chance for a peaceful 
resolution of this 60-year plus conflict. Yet you align yourself with 
the hard-liners, so much so that in your infamous, demeaning speech to 
the AIPAC convention right after you gained the nomination of the 
Democratic Party, you supported an "undivided Jerusalem," and opposed 
negotiations with Hamas-- the elected government in Gaza. Once again, 
you ignored the will of the Israeli people who, in a March 1, 2008 poll 
by the respected newspaper Haaretz, showed that 64% of Israelis favored 
"direct negotiations with Hamas." Siding with the AIPAC hard-liners is 
what one of the many leading Palestinians advocating dialogue and peace 
with the Israeli people was describing when he wrote "Anti-semitism 
today is the persecution of Palestinian society by the Israeli state."

During your visit to Israel this summer, you scheduled a mere 45 minutes 
of your time for Palestinians with no news conference, and no visit to 
Palestinian refugee camps that would have focused the media on the 
brutalization of the Palestinians. Your trip supported the illegal, 
cruel blockade of Gaza in defiance of international law and the United 
Nations charter. You focused on southern Israeli casualties which during 
the past year have totaled one civilian casualty to every 400 
Palestinian casualties on the Gaza side. Instead of a statesmanship that 
decried all violence and its replacement with acceptance of the Arab 
League's 2002 proposal to permit a viable Palestinian state within the 
1967 borders in return for full economic and diplomatic relations 
between Arab countries and Israel, you played the role of a cheap 
politician, leaving the area and Palestinians with the feeling of much 
shock and little awe.

David Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, described your trip 
succinctly: "There was almost a willful display of indifference to the 
fact that there are two narratives here. This could serve him well as a 
candidate, but not as a President."

Palestinian American commentator, Ali Abunimah, noted that Obama did not 
utter a single criticism of Israel, "of its relentless settlement and 
wall construction, of the closures that make life unlivable for millions 
of Palestinians. ...Even the Bush administration recently criticized 
Israeli's use of cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians [see 
www.atfl.org for elaboration]. But Obama defended Israeli's assault on 
Lebanon as an exercise of its 'legitimate right to defend itself.'"

In numerous columns Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, strongly criticized 
the Israeli government's assault on civilians in Gaza, including attacks 
on "the heart of a crowded refugee camp... with horrible bloodshed" in 
early 2008.

Israeli writer and peace advocate-- Uri Avnery-- described Obama's 
appearance before AIPAC as one that "broke all records for 
obsequiousness and fawning, adding that Obama "is prepared to sacrifice 
the most basic American interests. After all, the US has a vital 
interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will allow it to 
find ways to the hearts of the Arab masses from Iraq to Morocco. Obama 
has harmed his image in the Muslim world and mortgaged his future-- if 
and when he is elected president.," he said, adding, "Of one thing I am 
certain: Obama's declarations at the AIPAC conference are very, very bad 
for peace. And what is bad for peace is bad for Israel, bad for the 
world and bad for the Palestinian people."

A further illustration of your deficiency of character is the way you 
turned your back on the Muslim-Americans in this country. You refused to 
send surrogates to speak to voters at their events. Having visited 
numerous churches and synagogues, you refused to visit a single Mosque 
in America. Even George W. Bush visited the Grand Mosque in Washington 
D.C. after 9/11 to express proper sentiments of tolerance before a 
frightened major religious group of innocents.

Although the New York Times published a major article on June 24, 2008 
titled "Muslim Voters Detect a Snub from Obama" (by Andrea Elliott), 
citing examples of your aversion to these Americans who come from all 
walks of life, who serve in the armed forces and who work to live the 
American dream. Three days earlier the International Herald Tribune 
published an article by Roger Cohen titled "Why Obama Should Visit a 
Mosque." None of these comments and reports change your political 
bigotry against Muslim-Americans-- even though your father was a Muslim 
from Kenya.

Perhaps nothing illustrated your utter lack of political courage or even 
the mildest version of this trait than your surrendering to demands of 
the hard-liners to prohibit former president Jimmy Carter from speaking 
at the Democratic National Convention. This is a tradition for former 
presidents and one accorded in prime time to Bill Clinton this year.

Here was a President who negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, but 
his recent book pressing the dominant Israeli superpower to avoid 
Apartheid of the Palestinians and make peace was all that it took to 
sideline him. Instead of an important address to the nation by Jimmy 
Carter on this critical international problem, he was relegated to a 
stroll across the stage to "tumultuous applause," following a showing of 
a film about the Carter Center's post-Katrina work. Shame on you, Barack 
Obama!

But then your shameful behavior has extended to many other areas of 
American life. (See the factual analysis by my running mate, Matt 
Gonzalez, on www.votenader.org). You have turned your back on the 
100-million poor Americans composed of poor whites, African-Americans, 
and Latinos. You always mention helping the "middle class" but you omit, 
repeatedly, mention of the "poor" in America.

Should you be elected President, it must be more than an unprecedented 
upward career move following a brilliantly unprincipled campaign that 
spoke "change" yet demonstrated actual obeisance to the concentration 
power of the "corporate supremacists." It must be about shifting the 
power from the few to the many. It must be a White House presided over 
by a black man who does not turn his back on the downtrodden here and 
abroad but challenges the forces of greed, dictatorial control of labor, 
consumers and taxpayers, and the militarization of foreign policy. It 
must be a White House that is transforming of American politics-- 
opening it up to the public funding of elections (through voluntary 
approaches)-- and allowing smaller candidates to have a chance to be 
heard on debates and in the fullness of their now restricted civil 
liberties. Call it a competitive democracy.

Your presidential campaign again and again has demonstrated cowardly 
stands. "Hope" some say springs eternal." But not when "reality" 
consumes it daily.

Sincerely,
Ralph Nader


From aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm  Mon Nov  3 11:42:14 2008
From: aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm (Aaron Aarons)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 10:42:14 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <490F119D.2020706@panix.com>
References: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
	<490F119D.2020706@panix.com>
Message-ID: <20081103184230.A67E11D098@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>

>Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:58:37 -0500
>From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
>
>yossi schwartz wrote:
>blah-blah-blah. Revolution Now. Down with capitalism...
>
>Yossi, I have warned you repeatedly against this kind of stupidity. You have been unsubbed.

But, in his most recent post, dated 16:49 +0200 2008/11/03, yossi wrote:

>Some so called Left wing activist and academics tell us that Nader is right on all issues. Others like the IMT tell us that it is necessary to build a reformist labor party but mean time to vote for Naders or the Greens.
>
>Nader politics on Palestine is:
>
>"Nader/Gonzalez will continue to speak out about this humanitarian crisis and side with the strong and courageous Israeli/Palestinian peace movements who are working for a peaceful two-state solution".
>
>In simple words his politics is a pro imperialist and pro Zionist. A program that denies the right of self determination for the Palestinians in their entire country and instead supports a Bantustan in 20 % of their stolen country. It denies the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.
>
>Vote for Nader is vote for Zionist racism.

Whether or not a vote for someone who supports the Bantustan "solution" is a vote for that "solution" and therefore objectively a vote for Zionist racism, Yossi makes a serious point. He would probably sound less dogmatic if he were more fluent in English, but he certainly didn't say "Revolution Now. Down with capitalism...".

Maybe Louis should unsub himself for grossly misrepresenting what Yossi wrote.

 - Aaron


From Dbachmozart at aol.com  Mon Nov  3 11:43:12 2008
From: Dbachmozart at aol.com (Dbachmozart at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 13:43:12 EST
Subject: [Marxism] The Five Most Wanted Rip-off Artists from Wall Street and
	Washington
Message-ID: <c9f.3e418b22.3640a040@aol.com>


 
clip - 
You don't have to be in Who's Who to know What's What, do you? The  
fundamentals are NOT sound. 
Wall Street and Washington (excuse the redundancy there) want us commoners to 
 believe that this viral spread of economic grief was caused by those  
lower-income homeowners who couldn't pay their subprime loans--merely an  
unforeseeable glitch in a complex and otherwise healthy financial system.  Hogwash. The 
source of today's pain is the same as it was in America's previous  financial 
collapses: the unbridled greed of economic elites, enabled by their  political 
courtesans in Washington. 
This unbridling has been the long-sought goal of a cabal of deregulation  
ideologues who dwell in laissez-fairyland. During the past two decades, they  
have relentlessly pushed their economic fantasies into law. Their theory was  
that (to use Ronald Reagan's simple construct) "the magic of the marketplace"  
would create an eternal rainbow of prosperity through financial "innovation"--if 
 only the market was unshackled from any pesky public regulations. What the 
dereg  theorists missed, however, is that magicians don't perform magic. They 
perform  illusions. 
Let's meet some of the illusionists who are directly responsible for hurling  
you, me, America, and most of the world into this dark and as-yet unplumbed  
economic hole.
full  -
 
 
_http://www.alternet.org/workplace/105828/_ 
(http://www.alternet.org/workplace/105828/)  

 
 
?The  great appear great to us only because we are on our knees. Let us  rise.
?

James Connolly
**************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel.  Check out Today's Hot 
5 Travel Deals! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)

From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 11:46:09 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:09 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <20081103184230.A67E11D098@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>
References: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>	<490F119D.2020706@panix.com>
	<20081103184230.A67E11D098@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <490F46F1.3040804@panix.com>

Aaron Aarons wrote:
> 
> Whether or not a vote for someone who supports the Bantustan "solution" is a vote for that "solution" and therefore objectively a vote for Zionist racism, Yossi makes a serious point. He would probably sound less dogmatic if he were more fluent in English, but he certainly didn't say "Revolution Now. Down with capitalism...".
> 

Unfortunately I cannot comment on this post because as I have pointed 
out to comrade Aarons in the past, it contains the dreaded "long-line" 
malformation. Too bad, I would have loved to debate the question of 
Bantustan "solutions" with him but my deep aversion to malformed 
messages prevented me from engaging with him.


From adambrichmond at yahoo.com  Mon Nov  3 11:46:27 2008
From: adambrichmond at yahoo.com (Adam Richmond)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 10:46:27 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <490F3F56.2020109@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <234147.47939.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Thanks for the clarification.  

--- On Mon, 11/3/08, David Walters <dave.walters at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: David Walters <dave.walters at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
> To: "Adam Richmond" <adambrichmond at yahoo.com>
> Date: Monday, November 3, 2008, 10:13 AM
> Actually, Adam makes a mistake in his assessment of the
> leadership of 
> the Green Party. The GP leaders as such, are NOT supporting
> Nader...they 
> are supporting Obama if anyone. It's essentially the
> same leadership as 
> the last time around: the Cobb leadership that adapted to
> the ABB 
> (Anybody but Bush) and turned the GP into a
> "Demo-Green" Party. This 
> same leadership is very unhappy that McKinney has decided
> to run on 
> *her* platform...the Power to the People campaign, and not
> the Green 
> Party's program.
> 
> Nothing has really changed except a large section of the
> Greens on the 
> left voted with their feet to support Nader/Gonzales. There
> is a smaller 
> section of dedicated GP members who really do support
> McKinney. But 
> basically the GP can now only be spoken of in the
> past-tense.
> 
> I would agree that Nader's "zionism" (in
> Yossi's POV)  is totally 
> irrelevant to the US presidential campaign or to the body
> politic in 
> general (unfortunately).
> 
> David
> 
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a
> message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at:
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/adambrichmond%40yahoo.com


      


From sebastian at amadeobordiga.u-net.com  Mon Nov  3 11:49:59 2008
From: sebastian at amadeobordiga.u-net.com (Sebastian Budgen)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 19:49:59 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] CRISIS! MARXISM & MIDWIFERY! CRISIS! GLOBAL SOUTH!
	VIOLENCE & BARBARISM! ALTHUSSER TO ZIZEK! - ONLINE
	REGISTRATION TO HM CONFERENCE ABOUT TO CLOSE!!!
Message-ID: <DFB46274-A9F3-4581-BCDE-D5E15E9E0EF8@amadeobordiga.u-net.com>

Dear all,

online registration for this weekend's fifth annual Historical  
Materialism
conference, "Many Marxisms" is about to close.

With around 70 panels and 200 speakers, the conference promises to  
provide
a vibrant forum for the discussion of Marxist theory and contemporary
politics.

Highlights include:

- Robert Brenner, G?rard Dum?nil, Costas Lapavistas, Rick Kuhn and  
others
on the current financial crisis
- Peter Linebaugh (author of The Magna Carta Manifesto) on Marx,  
midwifery
and emancipation
- sessions on Marxism in India, Latin America, North East Asia and
Southern Africa
- Socialist Register sessions on gender, violence and capitalist  
barbarism
- panels and launch of the International Initiative for the Promotion of
Political Economy
- discussions of art, Bolshevism, cinema, history, Italian workerist
Marxism, literature, and time
- papers on Althusser, Badiou, Bourdieu, Lefevbre, Zizek and many other
radical thinkers

Register now!

http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/conference2008.htm

From pance at rogers.com  Mon Nov  3 11:58:17 2008
From: pance at rogers.com (Pance Stojkovski)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 10:58:17 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] CRISIS! MARXISM & MIDWIFERY! CRISIS! GLOBAL SOUTH!
	VIOLENCE & BARBARISM! ALTHUSSER TO ZIZEK! - ONLINE
	REGISTRATION TO HM CONFERENCE ABOUT TO CLOSE!!!
In-Reply-To: <DFB46274-A9F3-4581-BCDE-D5E15E9E0EF8@amadeobordiga.u-net.com>
Message-ID: <343343.33216.qm@web88005.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

will any of the proceedings be recorded and posted on the net?

pance



From pieinsky at igc.org  Mon Nov  3 12:02:01 2008
From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:02:01 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] For the "Let's Hope So" Category
Message-ID: <490F4AA9.1070705@igc.org>

"Revenge of the Left across the world: Whatever the exact result of the 
US elections tomorrow, we must assume that the whole governing machinery 
of Washington and the state capitols will soon be hostile to 
laissez-faire thinking."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3366575/Revenge-of-the-Left-across-the-world.html


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 11:58:26 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 13:58:26 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <20081103184230.A67E11D098@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>
References: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
	<490F119D.2020706@panix.com>
	<20081103184230.A67E11D098@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811031058q3469ce1dk9ed3a970ec2cff0a@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 1:42 PM, Aaron Aarons <aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm> wrote:

>
> Maybe Louis should unsub himself for grossly misrepresenting what Yossi wrote.
>
>  - Aaron

The moderator's decision is always final. Otherwise a list cannot
function. Louis has unsubscribed me in the past, and I accepted it.
That's the way lists work.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 12:08:53 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:08:53 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] CRISIS! MARXISM & MIDWIFERY! CRISIS! GLOBAL SOUTH!
 VIOLENCE & BARBARISM! ALTHUSSER TO ZIZEK! - ONLINE	REGISTRATION TO HM
 CONFERENCE ABOUT TO CLOSE!!!
In-Reply-To: <343343.33216.qm@web88005.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <343343.33216.qm@web88005.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <490F4C45.30609@panix.com>

Pance Stojkovski wrote:
> will any of the proceedings be recorded and posted on the net?
> 

Lots of luck. They never got around to putting up papers from last 
year's conference on their website:

http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/conf2007papers.htm


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 12:10:28 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 14:10:28 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] For the "Let's Hope So" Category
In-Reply-To: <490F4AA9.1070705@igc.org>
References: <490F4AA9.1070705@igc.org>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811031110p6e0c9905rc30eb344ae030b42@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Jay Moore <pieinsky at igc.org> wrote:

> "Revenge of the Left across the world: Whatever the exact result of the
> US elections tomorrow, we must assume that the whole governing machinery
> of Washington and the state capitols will soon be hostile to
> laissez-faire thinking."
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3366575/Revenge-of-the-Left-across-the-world.html
>

This article has already been posted to the list by Walter Lippmann.


From nmgoro at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 12:27:43 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 16:27:43 -0300
Subject: [Marxism] For the "Let's Hope So" Category
In-Reply-To: <490F4AA9.1070705@igc.org>
References: <490F4AA9.1070705@igc.org>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811031127y2a0b8c2ch5fdbed3681be3bf8@mail.gmail.com>

If this is the "revenge of the Left", then we are in deep trouble.

Wasn?t Herr Adolf Hitler an enemy of laissez-faire? Ditto Mussolini?
Ditto, ahem, the British War Office when it came to confronting a
serious threat to British supremacy?

Let us rejoice for what we should rejoice: our enemies are in trouble.

But let us not assume that one of the solutions our enemies resort to
from time to time are _ours_. Mr. Milton Friedman may have believed
that Keynes was a dangerous Commie.

We shouldn?t.

2008/11/3, Jay Moore <pieinsky en igc.org>:
> "Revenge of the Left across the world: Whatever the exact result of the
> US elections tomorrow, we must assume that the whole governing machinery
> of Washington and the state capitols will soon be hostile to
> laissez-faire thinking."
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3366575/Revenge-of-the-Left-across-the-world.html
>

-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From pieinsky at igc.org  Mon Nov  3 12:38:18 2008
From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:38:18 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] For the "Let's Hope So" Category
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811031110p6e0c9905rc30eb344ae030b42@mail.gmail.com>
References: <490F4AA9.1070705@igc.org>
	<908b689f0811031110p6e0c9905rc30eb344ae030b42@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <490F532A.4000805@igc.org>

Oops.  Sorry, I should have checked.
jay

Ruthless Critic of All that Exists wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Jay Moore <pieinsky at igc.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> "Revenge of the Left across the world: Whatever the exact result of the
>> US elections tomorrow, we must assume that the whole governing machinery
>> of Washington and the state capitols will soon be hostile to
>> laissez-faire thinking."
>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3366575/Revenge-of-the-Left-across-the-world.html
>>
>>     
>
> This article has already been posted to the list by Walter Lippmann.
>
>
>
>   


From markalause at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 13:32:41 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 15:32:41 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <234147.47939.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <490F3F56.2020109@comcast.net>
	<234147.47939.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811031232h2c826bay778602a01cde813b@mail.gmail.com>

Not knowing the difference between Nader and the Greens probably
provides a solid measure of how valuable and rooted-in-reality those
comments were.

So, too, David simply could not be more mistaken on the GPUS from
where I sit (which is still within the party).  GO BACK AND CHECK THE
ARCHIVES OF THIS LIST.  The leaders of the Green Party WANTED McKinney
and USED McKinney as a means of not nominating Nader, who was favored
by most of the Green membership.  McKinney had her own plans, but
these jibed nicely with those of the GPUS leadership.

Frankly, I think this pathetic attempt to misrepresent the GPUS on
McKinney reflects the wishful thinking of those Trotskyish grouplets
that touted her campaign as the biggest thing since Malcolm X and
talked, at the time, about how they were going to build the GPUS and
the Reconstruction Party around that campaign.

Again, just go check the archives on this list.

ML


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 14:12:27 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:12:27 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Diamond on tribal warfare in New Guinea
Message-ID: <490F693B.4030206@panix.com>

Recently somebody who shares my distaste for Jared Diamond alerted me to 
an article that appeared in the April 21, 2008 ?New Yorker?. Titled 
?Vengeance is Ours: What can tribal societies tell us about our need to 
get even??, it is focused on so-called tribal wars in the highlands of 
Papua New Guinea, where Diamond has conducted many field trips studying 
the flora and fauna, as well as the bestial tribesmen apparently.

Using interviews with an ostensibly self-confessed killer named Daniel 
Wemp, who is a member of the Handa clan, the innocent reader is led to 
believe that the highlands of Papua are a kind of a Rosetta stone for 
understanding wars and ethnic cleansing. The feuding in the highlands, 
which usually involve slights such as a pig belonging to one clan 
ruining the garden of another clan, leads to a steady escalation of 
Hatfield-McCoy type confrontations that remind Diamond of the worst 
crimes of the 20th century:

Indeed, Daniel Wemp?s bloodlust triggers memories of Diamond?s late 
father-in-law Jozef Nabel (a Jew) who refused at the list minute to 
wreak vengeance on Polish villagers who had killed his wife, sister and 
niece in pursuit of loot. Nabel, who served in a Polish division 
attached to the Red Army, eventually caught up with the perpetrators but 
decided at the last minute not to wreak vengeance since the new Polish 
government would be expected to carry out justice. But by relinquishing 
control to a higher body, a kind of primitive, almost animal-like 
satisfaction is lost as Diamond puts it:

"My conversations with Daniel made me understand what we have given up 
by leaving justice to the state. In order to induce us to do so, state 
societies and their associated religions and moral codes teach us that 
seeking revenge is bad. But, while acting on vengeful feelings clearly 
needs to be discouraged, acknowledging them should be not merely 
permitted but encouraged. To a close relative or friend of someone who 
has been killed or seriously wronged, and to the victims of harm 
themselves, those feelings are natural and powerful. Many state 
governments do attempt to grant the relatives of crime victims some 
personal satisfaction, by allowing them to be present at the trial of 
the accused, and, in some cases, to address the judge or jury, or even 
to watch the execution of their loved one?s murderer."

The first thing that leapt out at me when reading Diamond?s article is 
how devoid of social or economic context it is. You feel that you are 
reading something out of the Old Testament-but without the deity 
instructing the Israelis to punish the Egyptians, etc. Diamond makes it 
clear that such considerations do not interest him. He writes:

"Anthropologists debate whether the wars really arise from some deeper 
underlying ultimate cause, such as land or population pressure, but the 
participants, when they are asked to name a cause, usually point to a 
woman or a pig."

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/jared-diamond-on-tribal-warfare-in-new-guinea/


From schaffer at optonline.net  Mon Nov  3 14:33:37 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:33:37 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Moderator's note
In-Reply-To: <490F46F1.3040804@panix.com>
References: <685ad9b30811030649k42c0fea8i6ec3191091617c88@mail.gmail.com>
	<490F119D.2020706@panix.com>
	<20081103184230.A67E11D098@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com>
	<490F46F1.3040804@panix.com>
Message-ID: <490F6E31.6060106@optonline.net>

Louis Proyect wrote:
> Unfortunately I cannot comment on this post because as I have pointed 
> out to comrade Aarons in the past, it contains the dreaded "long-line" 
> malformation.


interesting. Lou, like myself, uses Thunderbird. In my Thunderbird, 
Aaron's posts wrap just fine, no matter what View settings i choose.

one of the reasons i took Aaron off moderation for formatting is 
because, now that we have the one-long-line problem solved in the 
archives, i figured normal subscribers could always switch to 
Thunderbird to solve the issue. i will talk to Lou tmw (Lou, i can call 
in the morning if you are free) and see if we can find a simple 
solution, so Thunderbird is the answer to all our problems.

Les


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Mon Nov  3 14:38:49 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 16:38:49 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Diamond on tribal warfare in New Guinea
References: <490F693B.4030206@panix.com>
Message-ID: <4BC4F4E00A6C4C3E9B6DAA9DEA1E9344@dmsthinkpad>

I guess I must be in a different world than Jared, because I see no shortage 
of vengeance violence, particularly against women, and I see very little 
discouraging the expression of vengeful feelings.

Like all "state of nature" arguments, Diamond's is ideological not 
scientific.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3 at panix.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net> 



From johnaimani at earthlink.net  Mon Nov  3 14:57:35 2008
From: johnaimani at earthlink.net (johnaimani)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 13:57:35 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Change in URL for Marxist Internet Archive???
Message-ID: <03d701c93dff$32dfc390$6600a8c0@D4PKYZ41>

Comrades,

Was looking for a quotation regarding a description of 
a petit-bourgeois ("Morton illustrates with an example in which clearly 
the wage of the tenant himself, and even more surely that of his labourers, 
suffers a deduction for ground-rent. This takes place in the case of leaseholds 
with less than 70 to 80 acres (30-34 ha.) where a two-horse plough cannot 
be maintained. "Unless the tenant works with his own hands as laboriously 
as any labourer, his farm will not keep him. If he entrusts the performance 
of his work to workmen while he continues merely to observe them, the 
chances are, that at no distant period, he will find he is unable to pay his rent")
and so googled the first few words ("Morton illustrates with an example in which clearly")
and was led to the MIA but with this url:

http://trotsky.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ch37.htm

as opposed to the, for me, norm:

http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ch37.htm

What,  if anything, gives?  Both work, by the way, leading to the same selection.

JAI

From dave.walters at comcast.net  Mon Nov  3 14:19:32 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:19:32 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
Message-ID: <490F6AE4.2060500@comcast.net>

Mark you are wrong. I never challenged the view that the leadership of 
the GPUS wanted McKinney's NOMINATION. What I was challenging was Adam's 
mistaken view that the LEADERSHIP of the GPUS wanted Nader. Read what I 
wrote.

Secondly, the fact that they wanted to use McKinney as a foil against 
Nader is hardly important or worth challenging. Big Deal? That's how the 
Demo-Green leaderhsip wanted to play their game of seek-and-revenge 
against Nader. I "couldn't care less", Mark. What I wrote was that NONE 
of the leaders actually *support* her campaign. They supported her 
*nomination* but not McKinney herself, not her desire to build the Power 
the People Campaign. And why the Trotskyist-baiting Mark? Should we do 
that with Nader? Should we look for the extremely small number of 
Trots-under-the-bed and compare notes?

David


From christopher.hutch at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 15:04:35 2008
From: christopher.hutch at gmail.com (Christopher Hutchinson)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 17:04:35 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] General Strike: Plunder in the Jungle
Message-ID: <c81bf1a60811031404l77dda86eh214a6aa6995de59c@mail.gmail.com>

SONY PlayStation, Natural Resources, Civil War, Arms Smuggling, Rape, and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

www.GeneralStrikecomicstrip.blogspot.com<http://www.generalstrikecomicstrip.blogspot.com/>


Keep well,

christopher

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 15:55:22 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 17:55:22 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811031232h2c826bay778602a01cde813b@mail.gmail.com>
References: <490F3F56.2020109@comcast.net>
	<234147.47939.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
	<b16d8daf0811031232h2c826bay778602a01cde813b@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811031455n34b90b2cm562e9b44cceb6b45@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 3:32 PM, Mark Lause <markalause at gmail.com> wrote:

> those Trotskyish grouplets
> that touted her campaign as the biggest thing since Malcolm X and
> talked, at the time, about how they were going to build the GPUS and
> the Reconstruction Party around that campaign.


Which grouplets were these (other than Solidarity)?


From meisner at xs4all.nl  Mon Nov  3 15:55:26 2008
From: meisner at xs4all.nl (Jeff)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:55:26 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation & David Thorstad
In-Reply-To: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>

Since David Thorstad (14:55 1 Nov. 2008  "Moderator's note") brought up a 
previous post of mine criticizing his opposition to hate crimes laws, I'd 
like to answer his attempt to ridicule my objection. Since he quoted only 
part of a paragraph I had written, I copied my previous answer below for 
reference. Right now I wish to answer:
1) What I was actually trying to say, which was NOT an "attempt to link 
[Thorstad] to racism".
2) The issue of name-calling and what I did or didn't say/imply about David 
Thorstad.

Thorstad:
>    Another rather bizarre attempt to link me to racism (!) and the 
>right came from Jeff (Oct. 27) in his comments on "Why Gay Marriage 
>Sucks," in which, reacting to my opposition to "hate-crimes" 
>legislation, he stated:
>
>>    "So to summarize, you are AGAINST legislation which is AGAINST 
>>racist violence. 
>[huh? This was about Wyoming antigay "hate crimes" 
>legislation, and had nothing to do with racist violence] 

Slight misunderstanding here, then. I can see he was concentrating on 
anti-gay violence which may have figured prominently in the Wyoming hate 
crime legislation in view of the Matthew Shepard atrocity. But so-called 
hate crimes laws have traditionally addressed racist violence, with some 
(but hardly all) of these laws also applying to anti-gay/gender based 
violence. I take these issues as essentially the same, but responded in 
reference to racist hate crimes.

These laws typically increase the sentence for any other offense when a hate 
crime is involved. I never claimed that such laws were THE way to prevent 
racist (or homophobic, etc.) violence. At best I see them as a statement by 
society deploring such violence (exactly the reason why racists oppose 
them!). But I was disgusted to see a Marxist finding common cause with the 
reactionaries who attack such laws (and apparently prevented its passage in 
Wyoming).

I was further disturbed that David Thorstad justified his opposition using 
an identical argument used by the right-wing to oppose passage of these 
laws. That is the specious argument that hate-crimes laws are "unfair" 
because they punish a person for "what he is thinking" rather than just the 
physical act of violence, thereby interfering in ones "freedom of thought." 
I expressed my objection to this line of reasoning and gave examples of 
other laws which depend on what someone is thinking when they carry out an 
action.

But more disturbing to me is that Thorstad was so inclined to borrow 
arguments from the right wing. I guess it's possible he came to this 
conclusion himself, and it happened to be the same argument as advanced by 
the right. But I suspect otherwise. Especially given that elsewhere in his 
post he pointed to "libertarian" (= right wing) support for his views.

He brought up my previous response to his position on hate crimes 
legislation as an example of "name-calling" on this list, but I absolutely 
deny that. In my entire post I didn't CALL him anything; rather I argued 
against the logic of his position, in a practical sense. His reply quoted me 
somewhat out of context (my original text is below) so it may not have been 
clear. But of course I was NOT implying that he actually WOULD go out 
canvassing with the Klan. I stated, and still maintain, that his opposition 
to passing hate crimes legislation, using arguments no different than those 
of the right wing, would make him appear as part of that right-wing campaign 
to a casual observer. Every bit as much as him supporting the anti-gay 
Proposition 8 in California would give someone the wrong impression. In both 
cases his sectarian position places him on the wrong side of the barricades, 
despite the fact that he knows better.

Thorstad:
>    Addressing the arguments of those one does not see eye to eye with, 
>rather than labeling them with loaded terms that turn them into the 
>Other, would seem advisable. 

Well I think I have done that. Now I'd like to hear how David Thorstad (or 
anyone else) expects to oppose hate-crimes legislation or the right to gay 
marriage, without winding up in league with the right-wing!
- Jeff




From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 16:12:20 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 18:12:20 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation & David Thorstad
In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
	<3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Jeff <meisner at xs4all.nl> wrote:


> Well I think I have done that. Now I'd like to hear how David Thorstad (or
> anyone else) expects to oppose hate-crimes legislation or the right to gay
> marriage, without winding up in league with the right-wing!

This "winding up in league with the right-wing" is a red-herring.
There are lot of areas in which Marxist positions can be similar to
right-wing positions, but for completely different reasons. For
example, both Marxists and the hard right oppose liberalism (but for
different reasons obviously).

A good Marxist case can be made for opposing purely race-based
affirmative action, to take another example -- but right-wingers also
oppose it.

Etc.


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Mon Nov  3 16:24:46 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 18:24:46 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation & David Thorstad
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com><3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
	<908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>

Yeah really?  Love to hear a good Marxist analysis for opposing affirmative 
action in the US.  I personally don't think there is one, but I'm the 
open-minded type.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 6:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation & David Thorstad


> On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Jeff <meisner at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
>
>> Well I think I have done that. Now I'd like to hear how David Thorstad 
>> (or
>> anyone else) expects to oppose hate-crimes legislation or the right to 
>> gay
>> marriage, without winding up in league with the right-wing!
>
> This "winding up in league with the right-wing" is a red-herring.
> There are lot of areas in which Marxist positions can be similar to
> right-wing positions, but for completely different reasons. For
> example, both Marxists and the hard right oppose liberalism (but for
> different reasons obviously).
>
> A good Marxist case can be made for opposing purely race-based
> affirmative action, to take another example -- but right-wingers also
> oppose it.
>
> Etc.
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: 
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sartesian%40earthlink.net 



From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au  Mon Nov  3 16:29:25 2008
From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:29:25 +1100
Subject: [Marxism] WFMU's Electile Dysfunction '08
Message-ID: <490F8955.1070508@greenleft.org.au>

Why listen to the pundits when you can spend election day listening to 
WFMU's uncensored and totally unprofessional election coverage?! Join us 
for *WFMU's Electile Dysfunction '08* <http://www.wfmu.org/ed-08.html>, 
a separate webcast of political music, commentary, comedy, and audio 
collage, available at wfmu.org <http://wfmu.org/> from early 'til late 
on Tuesday, Nov 4. Check out the schedule 
<http://www.wfmu.org/ed-08.html> of DJs and political mayhem.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Mon Nov  3 16:31:24 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:31:24 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation
In-Reply-To: <4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
	<3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
	<908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.com>
	<4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <20081103233123.0D004DB06@mailbackend.panix.com>

Just a reminder. We don't put subscriber's names in the subject--I 
just removed David Thorstad's name. If you reply to this thread, 
please follow suit. We adopted this practice since there was a 
tendency for the inclusion of somebody's name to generate bad vibes 
and there's plenty of that to go around without introducing it artificially.



From meisner at xs4all.nl  Mon Nov  3 16:41:09 2008
From: meisner at xs4all.nl (Jeff)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:41:09 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.co
 m>
References: <3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
	<490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
	<3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.20081104004109.02c26c30@pop.xs4all.nl>

At 18:12 03/11/08 -0500, you wrote:
>
>This "winding up in league with the right-wing" is a red-herring.
>There are lot of areas in which Marxist positions can be similar to
>right-wing positions, but for completely different reasons.
Absolutely. But the question is whether you then go into ACTION along with those rightists! Whether you build a SEPARATE movement which, as you say, has a level of similarity. Or whether you JOIN with them in a campaign.

There is an electoral campaign in California in which Thorstad JOINS with the right-wing vote. A vote whose only purpose is to take away an existing right.

Then there is a proposed legislation for Wyoming (one of only 5 US states which does not have hate-crimes legislation). If it had been a ballot issue, then Thorstad would also have joined the "no" campaign. That is clear from what he said.

If he had written a post about a "better" way of advancing gay rights or fighting racist violence, then I would have likely agreed with him. And we'd be fighting together behind a common banner. But by going out of his way to take a position on a yes-no issue which appears to place him in the wrong camp, he is doing a real disservice. 

>A good Marxist case can be made for opposing purely race-based
>affirmative action, to take another example
And perhaps you can remember where focusing not on the problem of racism, but on their opposition to the liberal solution to racism, brought the RCP. Around 1980 they found themselves on the side of the racists who were mounting a violent campaign against school desegregation in Boston. An embarrassing position which I believe they later recanted (but after the damage was done).

It wasn't my intention to oversimplify issues by pointing out "similarities" in anyone's position to the right wing. I was asking what they would do in PRACTICE that does not play into the hands of the right! I don't think that has been answered in Thorstad's case. At all.

- Jeff


>
>
>Just a reminder. We don't put subscriber's names in the subject--
Sorry! I didn't know that. 



From schaffer at optonline.net  Mon Nov  3 16:42:54 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:42:54 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] List rules (was:  Hate crimes legislation & XXX XXX)
In-Reply-To: <4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
	<3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
	<908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.com>
	<4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <490F8C7E.2030704@optonline.net>

two reminders on list rules:

1. clip all quoted text from a reply except what you need for clarity of 
exposition.

2. do NOT use a subscriber's name in the Subject: line.

Les


From markalause at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 16:48:15 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 18:48:15 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <490F6AE4.2060500@comcast.net>
References: <490F6AE4.2060500@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811031548v5d5ed58fme967a8ae89cc3863@mail.gmail.com>

Apologies to David insofar as I misunderstood him.

However, I read his post as saying that the GPUS leadership didn't
support her campaign.  The fact is that they did and do, albeit not
the way David would want.  Or the way I would want.  I warned that the
GPUS would NOT put resources into the campaign and characterized this
repeatedly as the same kind of support the CP would have given its
candidates in the 1930s as a backhanded way of supporting the
Democrats.

David said then--and repeats--that he didn't care.

When others on this list insisted that socialists should support for
McKinney as a means of transforming and building the GPUS, David
remained dead silent.  One would think that any attempt to make
something viable out of the campaign would at least involve some
dialogue among the socialists supporting it, even if not between the
Greens and the socialists or any of the other various components of
the campaign.

I am not Trotskyist-baiting, but noting that these grouplings never
offered a position that could stand or fall on its own merits but
claimed some special consideration for it by calling themselves
Trotskyist.

They decided to formulate a position on this election without having
an open dialogue with the rest of the left and then extended the
mantle of "Trotskyist" over their position.  As though that means
anything to any serious numbers of people who aren't in "the club."
Not only do I could really give a good damn as how many people who
call themselves Trotskyists in this or that campaign but I attribute
absolutely ZERO importance to what what they do or don't do under that
label.

Let their position stand or fall on the merits.

ML


From davidw at marxists.org  Mon Nov  3 16:57:25 2008
From: davidw at marxists.org (David Walters)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:57:25 -0800
Subject: [Marxism]  Change in URL for Marxist Internet Archive???
Message-ID: <490F8FE5.7040901@marxists.org>

Hi.

The Marxists Internet Archive has tried to get a hold of various URLs 
over it's history. We currently maintain the following:

marxists.org (the original)
marx.org (the old MEIA's URL)
trotsky.org
and
trotskyism.org which only brings the user to the ETOL.

We have tried to get lenin.org from the IMT, which holds onto it for no 
apparent reason.

In the past we have also had marxists.info but we let that one fall by 
the way side.

Basically, the first 3 above will all work. Hope this clears up the mystery.

David Walters
Marxists Internet Archive.


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Mon Nov  3 17:12:50 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:12:50 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
Message-ID: <490F9382.3070903@comcast.net>

OK, we cleared a little of that up.

First, you can't lump all these Trotskyist groupsicles together as if 
they all support McKinney for the same reasons.

Socialist Organizer has supported her (and not the Green Party, per se) 
because of the Power to the People Campaign *perspective* with the focus 
on the Reconstruction movement. You can go to their web site to read 
their reasons (socialistorganizer.org).

Workers International League is similar but somewhat less detailed about 
why they support her. You can go to their web site to read their reasons 
(socialistappeal.org).

Solidarity has been active in the Green Party and while not necessarily 
contradicting the other two, they do have, or had, this perspective of 
GP support in the past and so their support, *in part* flows from this. 
And, given the nature of Solidarity, there are probably some 
contradictory, overlapping or maybe even confusing reasons. I don't know 
for sure.

MOST Trotskyist groupings other than the three above (and I know 
Solidarity isn't "Trotskyist" per se) do NOT support McKinney OR the 
Green Party.

I'm closest to SO's pov on this. Ergo, the reason I remained "dead 
silent" on this question when some here...one here... "...insisted that 
socialists should support for McKinney as a means of transforming and 
building the GPUS" I thought "OK, that's cool. Go for it. I choose not 
to do it for this reason. Nor, to my knowledge, is the GP even 
*mentioned* on the WIL website as a reason. So, the "silence" is 
deafening since no one, or maybe one, socialist raised this as a reason 
to support McKinney.

No one, I mean no one I know of argued that this is "THE Trotskyist" 
position, period. I may of blinked, but I would stand by this. Thus, 
even raising the issue in this way as you do Mark "...but noting that 
these grouplings never
offered a position that could stand or fall on its own merits but 
claimed some special consideration for it by calling themselves
Trotskyist...." is mixing metaphors at best. They've ALL offered 
positions on why THEY support McKinney...in the exact same way as other 
Trotskyist (and Maoist on socialist) groups have supported Nader. There 
really is no difference why one group supports one candidate over 
another or, more than one candidate as the case may be.

Mark, this is precious: "They decided to formulate a position on this 
election without having
an open dialogue with the rest of the left and then extended the mantle 
of "Trotskyist" over their position. As though that means anything to 
any serious numbers of people who aren't in "the club." Not only do I 
could really give a good damn as how many people who call themselves 
Trotskyists in this or that campaign but I attribute
absolutely ZERO importance to what what they do or don't do under that
label."

I go back to what I said. YOU are the only person who gives a shit about 
this label of Trotskyism on this list around this question; YOU are the 
ONLY one who raised it and YOU are the only one who considers who is or 
isn't a Trotskyist...this whole paragraph of yours relates to NO ONE on 
this list, no comment, no thread EXCEPT the one you yourself raised. 
It's like Walter Lippmann (who, like me, is voting for McKinney!) 
attacking Trotskyist groups about their supposed sectarianism when no 
one here even raised it in the first place!

David


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 18:55:27 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 20:55:27 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation & David Thorstad
In-Reply-To: <4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com>
	<3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
	<908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.com>
	<4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811031755ubf55c99j741e78c597ace1fd@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 6:24 PM, S. Artesian <sartesian at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Yeah really?  Love to hear a good Marxist analysis for opposing affirmative
> action in the US.  I personally don't think there is one, but I'm the
> open-minded type.

See Walter Benn Michaels's essay "Diversity's False Solace" in the
April 11, 2004 issue of the New York Times magazine.

And (on a related note)  his "Against Diversity" in the New Left Review.


From mqduck at sonic.net  Mon Nov  3 20:17:39 2008
From: mqduck at sonic.net (Jeffrey Thomas Piercy)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:17:39 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Change in URL for Marxist Internet Archive???
In-Reply-To: <490F8FE5.7040901@marxists.org>
References: <490F8FE5.7040901@marxists.org>
Message-ID: <490FBED3.1010700@sonic.net>

Question: Is there any particular reason the MIA feels it needs to 
monopolize the world of communist domain names? Just curious.

Also, the link on the ETOL to an MP3 of The Internationale points to a 
non-existent file.


-Jeff

-- 
Human: An animal so lost in loathing contemplation of what it thinks it 
is as to overlook what it ought to be.


From davidw at marxists.org  Mon Nov  3 21:03:27 2008
From: davidw at marxists.org (David Walters)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:03:27 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Change in URL for Marxist Internet Archive???
Message-ID: <490FC98F.3010506@marxists.org>

We originally were going to ditch "marxists.org" and keep marx.org, 
trotsky.org and lenin.org. That's three, not the "whole world of 
communist domain names". We couldn't get marx.org or lenin.org 
originally, but we got marxists.org, then marx.org. So now we got four. 
No one is raising the red flag and battering down our door to get them.

David


From markalause at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 21:47:43 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 23:47:43 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <490F9382.3070903@comcast.net>
References: <490F9382.3070903@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811032047h2258fc00u2dca3f35fd2c8fe2@mail.gmail.com>

For someone who disclaims knowledge and responsibility for anything
but his own corner of this clusterbunch, he is astonishingly
comfortable with the innane assertion that I'm the only one
associating "Trotskyist" with these positions.

Still, I'm sure he's right.

I must have just been hallucinating all those comrades talking about
the revolutionary proletarian struggle for Trotskyist factional
clarity.

After all, we all know that they never do that.  : - )

ML


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 21:51:11 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 23:51:11 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811032047h2258fc00u2dca3f35fd2c8fe2@mail.gmail.com>
References: <490F9382.3070903@comcast.net>
	<b16d8daf0811032047h2258fc00u2dca3f35fd2c8fe2@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811032051g1f7494b9qfd22b671eac968af@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 11:47 PM, Mark Lause <markalause at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I must have just been hallucinating all those comrades talking about
> the revolutionary proletarian struggle for Trotskyist factional
> clarity.

Why not post a citation or reference? A URL, perhaps?


From markalause at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 22:03:48 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 00:03:48 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811032051g1f7494b9qfd22b671eac968af@mail.gmail.com>
References: <490F9382.3070903@comcast.net>
	<b16d8daf0811032047h2258fc00u2dca3f35fd2c8fe2@mail.gmail.com>
	<908b689f0811032051g1f7494b9qfd22b671eac968af@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811032103j60cbd18aq29cf002ed1b6b627@mail.gmail.com>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml at gmail.com>
To: "Mark A. Lause" <MLause at cinci.rr.com>; "Les Schaffer"
<schaffer at optonline.net>; "Louis Proyect" <lnp3 at panix.com>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 11:49 PM
Subject: Attn moderators, Re: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!


> Dear moderators,
>
> This type of uncomradely language should not be accepted on Marxmail.
>
> RC
>


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Mon Nov  3 22:20:20 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:20:20 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!,
Message-ID: <490FDB94.8050501@comcast.net>

Mark, look, you seem obsessed with all this. Maybe you are talking about
  *another* list? The elections are tomorrow. The votes will be counted.
People will be assessing the results, meanings, etc. Everyone will be
part of that.

Point 1: This includes the left and the very-left, on this list and
others. My suggestion would be to move on. The election will have an
impact on everyone. You are a valuable resources on this list for what
goes on in the GP and the ex-Greens now around the Nader campaign. The
Peace and Freedom party, which I'm in and which because of Nader
everyone it seems is now taking a lot more seriously, is having it's
State Central Committee meeting on November 15th. I'm trying to get down
to Fresno to attend. I'll let people here know what's going on. Why?
Because there is a move by the P&F to expand nationally as *the* left
electoral party in the US. Rumor has it...really...rumors, that the
Nader/Gonzalez people are working with the P&F to do this (they are most
definitely doing this in California).  I haven't a clue about what the
character of this new "thing" is going to be. But it certainly will be
important, and interesting.

Point 2: Cindy Sheehan and her close supporters are talking about a new
"1st Party" ("First" in the sense of representing the interests of the
great majority of Americans and jot a small-"Third" party). Will they be
part of this "thing" coming out of Fresno and/or the N/G campaign?

Point 3: The Black liberation movement, or a wing of it, often called
the "Black Left", is going to assess, I suspect, how Cynthia McKinney
got side-swiped by the GP. They will also being looking toward other
venues, I suspect not in any sort of united way.

In my very humble opinion, the hard-left groups will also have to assess
how to move forward with just these smaller factors above hanging over
their heads. Since no "ism" group of groups
(Socialists/Communists/Trotskyists/Maoists) have a common position on
anything, only their own as small groups, they will not act
collectively, for the most part, although I'm sure FRSO and Solidarity
will have some discussions, as they always do. But there is no
imperative outside of any pressure described above to come to a common
agreement. THAT will be decided by outside events, including the ones
above. That will be the discussion. But I for one am NOT going to try to
say "hey, you are supposed to stand for 'this' but you are doing 'that':
explain yourself!". Nope. Not worth it and it doesn't really clarify a
thing. I think that's what you were trying to do.

Moving on...

David


From markalause at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 22:58:45 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 00:58:45 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!,
In-Reply-To: <490FDB94.8050501@comcast.net>
References: <490FDB94.8050501@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811032158x758addddj88464f58e2dd8efe@mail.gmail.com>

The question of electoral politics is rather basic, something like the
political equivalent of the swallow reflex.  And most of what I've
heard from progressives this cycle is the sound of choking.  So, you
might say that I'm "obsessed with all this."

We're agreed on where we need to go from here and that counts for much.  .

I'm retaining my membership in the GPUS affiliate here because it
doesn't demand anything.  The PFP is a possibility, as its setting up
organizing committees in different states...at least that's what I've
been told.  I've been hesitant largely because I'm waiting to see what
the Reconstruction Party does after this election.

Those of us who don't have a more-the-merrier approach and want
radical efforts focused as broadly as we can within the framework of
our principles might want to avoid rushing into a new attempt at a
national party for the sake of having one without taking clear
measures to avoid what derailed the GPUS,  The Greens thought they
could do this with very little more than California and New York with
pretty much paper organizations or the most bare bones structures
elsewhere.  We shouldn't be in a race on these things and should aim
at building surely and well.

At the same time, the slower we go, the broader we can cast the net.
The most deplorable feature of this election was the scattering of
radical efforts who should have been on the same page and moving
towards the same goal.  That's where we have to go after tomorrow.

ML


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 23:24:29 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 01:24:29 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Only Nader is right on all issues!!!!,
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811032158x758addddj88464f58e2dd8efe@mail.gmail.com>
References: <490FDB94.8050501@comcast.net>
	<b16d8daf0811032158x758addddj88464f58e2dd8efe@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811032224p1dce3c15pbe3601a99046211f@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 12:58 AM, Mark Lause <markalause at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Those of us who don't have a more-the-merrier approach and want
> radical efforts focused as broadly as we can within the framework of
> our principles might want to avoid rushing into a new attempt at a
> national party for the sake of having one without taking clear
> measures to avoid what derailed the GPUS,  The Greens thought they
> could do this with very little more than California and New York with
> pretty much paper organizations or the most bare bones structures
> elsewhere.  We shouldn't be in a race on these things and should aim
> at building surely and well.

This book may be of interest:

The Formation of National Party Systems: Federalism and Party ... by
Pradeep K. Chhibber, Ken Kollman,  Princeton University Press (2004)

"The authors discover a surprising level of voting for minor parties
in the United States before the 1930s. This calls into question the
widespread notion that the United States has always had a two-party
system. In fact, only recently has the two-party system become
predominant."


From jbustelo at gmail.com  Mon Nov  3 23:33:00 2008
From: jbustelo at gmail.com (Joaquin Bustelo)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 01:33:00 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The night before
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811031755ubf55c99j741e78c597ace1fd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <490CB417.3040104@gvtel.com><3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl><908b689f0811031512y74be4457na79eb43ab7c61578@mail.gmail.com><4BB344DA4A6A435EAFCF915CE548DC7E@dmsthinkpad>
	<908b689f0811031755ubf55c99j741e78c597ace1fd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <10F1BFEF3ACB46C7B85BFF422C9F40BD@albanta>

My read the night before:

There is such a flood of polls and spin, it is difficult to make heads or
tails of it. But my impressionistic read of the data is that Obama appears
headed for a very substantial victory, perhaps even bigger than the most
lopsided polls predict.

In the latest polls, all calculated on a "Likely Voter" basis,  Obama's lead
varies from 5% to 11%, with most in the lower half of this range. The CNN
Poll of Polls, an average of a half dozen or so surveys, gives Obama a 7%
advantage, and the realclearpolitics.com RCP average, which includes a
larger number of surveys, in the case of tonight's figures, 14, a 7.3% lead.

The advantage of an average of various polls is that in theory you reduce
sampling error: some are a little low, some a little high, and chances are,
they cancel each other out. The DISadvantage is that tonight's "poll of
polls" or "average" isn't really comparable with last night's or even this
morning's, because the polls included in each successive edition of these
averages aren't the same. The "likely voter" models lead to different
results as well as how hard a given polling group presses those who
initially say they're undecided to reveal which way they're leaning. 

The only poll that has Obama's lead above 10% is Gallup's final tracking
poll, which gives him an 11% lead in both its traditional and expanded
likely voter models, and 13% among all registered voters. Obama's numbers in
the Gallup survey have been surging in the final days of the campaign.

Rasmussen, another large tracking poll also shows Obama increasing his
support, as do various other polls when compared to the numbers the same
poll reported only days ago. Quite notable is the Fox News poll, which had
Obama at +3% in the middle of last week but reported him at +7% based on
weekend polling. 

The great unknown are the undecided voters, and the few percent of each
side's voters who say they still might change their mind. In recent election
years, 10-15% of the voters have said on exit polls that they made up their
minds only in the last couple of days before the elections or on election
day itself. 

Sometimes these voters divide pretty much the same as the rest of the
electorate; at other times, they tilt heavily to one side or the other.
There is, quite simply, not much reliable data on who these people may be.
The best hints come from Gallup's weekly demographic roundup based on its
very large (1000 person a night) exit poll. 

Based on this data, three groups stand out among the undecided: "pure
independents," older voters and Latinos. Who the Gallup poll considers to be
"Pure independents" is something of a mystery. About a third of voters
normally describe themselves as independents, but that would suggest a
sample size of about 2,000 in the weekly demographic roundup and therefore a
small margin of error. But Obama and McCain's "pure independent" numbers
bounce around so much it suggests the actual sample is perhaps 200, or 3% of
the electorate. In the last month, Obama's number have ranged from 24% to
34%; McCain's from 25% to 34%. Depending on the week, 35%-45% of this group
is undecided. 

The older voters are not good news for Obama. Those 64 and over are the only
age group where Obama now trails McCain, and moreover, this after being tied
or only one point apart for several weeks. If the exit polls confirm this
trend, as I think likely, what happened is simply that voting for Obama
proved to be too much for older white voters who came of age in the 50's or
earlier, when Jim Crow still reigned supreme and the only black face you
could see on TV was in a baseball game or perhaps on the product label for
Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. It's not a question of conscious racists --all
those have been solidly against Obama all along-- but unconscious prejudices
and value judgments. It is also true they may identify more with the
septuagenarian McCain than with forty-something Obama. 

But turning to Latinos, the news is decidedly different. 

There is a clear trend, with Latino support for Obama increasing over the
past month, from 60, to 61, to 65 to 74 in the final week of polling.
McCain's trend has been 31, 29, 27 and 20. This last week's change is so
dramatic one wonders whether this is a statistical fluke. But if one
discounts part of the jump as being due to that, the increase is so big, and
backed by an established rising Obama trend, that it is almost certainly
true that uncommitted Latinos "breaking" for Obama, and previous McCain
supporters switching, is a big part in the endgame of this campaign.

Corroborating evidence comes from state polls with large Latino voting
populations. States like Colorado have been moving into the Obama columns in
many projections, while in some, Arizona has moved from McCain to toss-up.
And this is the kind of trend that would be missed in many or most national
polls of the 600-1200 people range. Typically, these are done in English
only, which pollsters with greater cultural sensitivity have found is not
the preferred language of half of all Latino household responders, and often
is not an accessible language at all. Gallup, like Pew, conducts surveys in
English and Spanish. The significance of this is that in last year's
congressional election, the Latino shift to supporting Democrats was most
pronounced among those who said in the exit poll they were born abroad,
i.e., precisely those who are Spanish dominant.

A big factor in this shift against McCain is the immigration issue. Most
Anglos imagine it has gone entirely unmentioned in the campaign. Not true.
In the campaign in Spanish, immigration has been a prominent issue, and here
McCain has been hurt badly by his retreat away from a comprehensive
immigration reform that would claim to legalize many of the undocumented to
the "enforcement first" nativist stand of the right wing of his party. On
Saturday, while Anglos were watching McCain clowning on Saturday Night Live,
Latinos were watching both McCain and Obama on "Sabado Gigante," an
execrable show reminiscent of the worst of television from the 1960's. But
the last hour of the show was dedicated to interviews with the two
candidates. And although very respectfully and non-confrontationally, "Don
Francisco," the show's host, drew out McCain's current (real) position on
the issue, and also gave Obama the time he needed to nail McCain on it.

It is true that those who can vote are citizens and have no immigration
problems themselves. But they have brothers, sisters, friends, lovers,
spouses and neighbors who are vulnerable to the sharp increase in raids by
la migra. Even the Cuban community, which as a whole has no immigration
problems due to a special anticommunist immigration law from the 1960's that
applies only to Cubans, is sharply against the nativist Republican jihad.

Ironically, even the leak about Obama's aunt being undocumented may have
played to Obama's favor in the community, increasing the perception that he
is more likely to be in touch with people like us.

Intimately intertwined with this issue is the economy. Latino communities
across the United States have been in a sharp recession for more than a year
due to the collapse of the housing bubble and with it construction work. A
Pew survey showing a sharp decline in incomes for households headed by
immigrants confirms this. Obama's populist rhetoric is much more in tune
with the community's real situation than McCain's stunts and free market
preaching. 

So I think, yes, there is a real surge towards Obama among Latinos as the
campaign closes.

But I believe there is also a surge among Blacks. You may think, with
numbers like 3, 4 and 5% for McCain on the Gallup demographics among Blacks,
how could Obama surge? And I would say, the surge is in the turnout.

Virtually all my friends and coworkers who have gone to vote early are
talking about the massive, crushing Black turnout in Georgia. Some have
moving stories, one, of a Black man who appeared to be in his 60's who was
accompanied by a white woman to act as his aid because he couldn't read and
it was his first time voting. Some of these stories have made it into the
media, like that of 106-year-old Atlanta resident Ann Nixon Cooper, who was
unable to vote because she was Black before she reached retirement age and
told reporters she had no time for dying because she had to see a Black man
become president. News reports from the Carolinas, Florida and other states
report the same thing. The usual pattern in early voting is a trickle that
slowly builds up. This year it was like opening the sluice gates at the
bottom of an overfilled dam -- a torrent of voters that just wouldn't stop.
Black voters. 

Some speculate this massive tide of Black voters was just a time shift, from
voting on election day to voting early. I believe, on the contrary, it is
just a reflection of the massive determination that is absolutely pervasive
in the Black community to put Obama in the White House, and which will lead
to an extraordinary Black turnout. I would be very surprised if the vote
counts did not show that the pre-election polls in states like Georgia and
North Carolina did not significantly understate Obama's results, just as the
pre-primary polls did, and basically for the same reason: the polls are
weighted to reflect Black turnout in previous elections, and this year it
will be much greater.

On the other side, I see little sign of enthusiasm in the McCain campaign.
By and large their key supporters, activists and workers all see the writing
on the wall. They might have been competitive, but a financial panic that
broke out just at the worst possible time, with less than two months to go
before the voting, did them in. By their own admission the economy was their
weakest point, and circumstances conspired to make it not just the central
issue, but a dramatic, overriding one.

Also, a Democrat finally had the guts to break with the "public financing"
charade. In elections past, "both" parties would agree to public financing
and its spending limits, and then Republicans would rake in "soft" money by
the truckload for convention organizing, the senate and house campaign
committees, the party's national committee, supposedly "unaffiliated" groups
like the notorious Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, etc. etc. etc.

The Democrats, who did not have quite as much access to corporate and fat
cat largesse as the Republicans, would find the public financing funds too
limited to effectively counter the multisided onslaught, and especially
because responding to attacks like the Swift Boat Veterans smear, by its
nature, HAS to be closely coordinated with the campaign and the candidate.
An "independent" group can launch the smear, but it is the candidate and the
centralized campaign that has to respond.

It was McCain's bad fortune that Obama decided to forego public financing,
and the spending limits it brings, precisely in a year when even among Wall
Street flunkeys and even many in ruling class circles, the sheer, massive
incompetence, corruption and irresponsibility of the outgoing Republican
administration had people fleeing to the Democrats for relief. And that
Obama was such a gifted candidate he inspired contributions not from
hundreds of thousands of people, but millions.

And those same gifts allowed Obama to reap hundreds of millions of dollars
or more in the form of the unpaid labor time of tens of thousands of
volunteers throughout the country.

Talking about this today to a highly respected political analyst, one of the
professor types (some) networks trot out on election nights to put a
high-brow gloss on what is otherwise an exercise in glitzy graphics at the
service of very pedestrian grade school arithmetic, the professor asked a
very revealing question: how big would Obama's lead be if he had been a
white man with similar extraordinary political gifts, both to inspire people
and to pull together a campaign team and keep it focused and on message? His
estimate was that it would be one of the great landslides you get from time
to time in U.S. politics, like Johnson versus Goldwater, or Nixon against
McGovern, or at least Reagan's re-election trouncing or Mondale in 1984, or
to translate, a 20% difference in the popular vote, give or take a few
percent.

I can't imagine how Obama could get anywhere near there, but I think he
could do half that, 10% over McCain. Perhaps the undecided geezer vote will
take him lower -- there are a lot more of them than there are Latinos who
are allowed to vote -- but for now I'll stick with predicting Obama will win
with a 10% lead in the popular vote, +/- 2%. 

As for the Electoral College, I expect something in the 350-375 range.

"Down ticket" -- the Congress -- what everyone will focus on is whether the
Democrats can get to the magic 60-seat majority in the Senate that
supposedly would allow them to ride roughshod over the Republicans by being
able to win a cloture vote (i.e., end debate and bring a measure to a vote)
on a straight party-line division in the Senate. This is pure fantasy, not
because the Democrats won't get 60 Senators (unlikely, but they might) but
because party legislative caucuses in the United States never --or only very
rarely and exceptionally-- have that kind of cohesion. 

If my various hunches and guesses are right, the presidential outcome will
be suggested by the very first exit polls we see from states like Georgia,
and with a high degree of certainty after the 9:00 PM poll closing, although
the formal "call" may have to wait for California, whose polls close at 11
(all times Eastern). During those hours waiting for California to finish and
for enough votes to come in from California to verify the exit poll figures
and formally call it there, expect all kinds of nonsense about "Key House"
and "Key Senate" races during the down time. 

My prediction for the Senate? I don't have one in numbers, just that the new
one is likely to be as bad or worse than the one that came before.

Joaquin



From lueko.willms at t-online.de  Tue Nov  4 03:16:33 2008
From: lueko.willms at t-online.de (Lueko Willms)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:16:33 +0100 (MEZ)
Subject: [Marxism] East Congo rebel opposed to Congo - China deal on mining
	and infrastructure
Message-ID: <100-00211049-10281.630@t-online.de>


  While the armed movement of Laurent Nkunda, whose advance on Goma,
the capital city of the Kivu province bordering with Uganda, Ruanda,
and Burundi,  made headlines in the recent days and weeks, says that
they have to defend the Tutsi in Congo against the Hutu supported by
the Congolese central government, he has also demands going beyond
that. 

  "Nkunda also wanted to discuss his objections to a $9
billion-dollar deal that gives China access to vast mineral riches in
exchange for a railway and highway." writes the German daily "Die
Welt" in its english language online edition
> <http://www.welt.de/english-news/article2653605/Congo-rebel-leader-wants-direct-talks-with-govt.html>

  CNN differs in the total value of the China - Congo deal:
 
  "The rebel general besieging Congo's eastern provincial capital
said Thursday that he wants direct talks with the government about
security and his objections to a $5 billion deal that gives China
access to the region's mineral resources."
> <http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/10/30/congo.fighting.ap/index.html>

  The difference might result from summing different deals agreed
between China and the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC). There is not
one single deal, but several. 

  A special report by "The Economist" subtitled "Congo has something
China wants, and vice versa" tells us: 

  "Congolese are constantly pointing out that their country should be
one of the richest in the world. It has huge mineral wealth,
including the world's biggest reserves of cobalt and tantalum, a rare
metal used in the circuitry of mobile phones and laptops. It also has
rich seams of copper, diamonds, gold, manganese, uranium and zinc.
And much of the country is covered with virtually intact tropical
forests, thick with valuable hardwoods." 
> <http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10795773>

  Tantalum is mined as Coltan ore, and this mainly in the East of
Congo, in the Kivi province, where the armed movement lead by Laurent
Nkunda is active. According to the German language Wikipedia article
on Coltan, this ore is mined by individual mines, similar to some
gold mining in e.g. Brazil, who have to sell it to middlemen for
export. This transport, an article in the German daily "Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ) writes, is done by air. 
> <http://www.faz.net/s/RubDDBDABB9457A437BAA85A49C26FB23A0/Doc~ECF7FB8BF5A3643458DCEE5701A16EF7B~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html>
  
  That article, as also e.g. this piece in the English language
Wikipedia
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan#Coltan_in_the_Congo>
suggest that the Coltan trade is financing the armed movement of
Lauren Nkunda, as the diamond trade was financing the UNITA movement
of Jonas Savimbi in Angola. 

  No wonder then, that this movement would oppose to develop Coltan
mining as an industrial process, building a railway for a faster link
to central Congo and the countries capital. 

  One has to wonder now, what role this mining and probable mining
robbery played for the EU delgation which rushed to Congo and Ruanda
during the recent fighting. This delegation was composed by foreign
ministers like France's Kouchner, Britain's Miliband and Louis
Michel, EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, and
former foreign minister of Belgium, the former colonial master of
Congo. 


Comradely, 
L?ko Willms 
Frankfurt/Main 
/ Lueko.Willms at T-Online.de 




From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Tue Nov  4 05:49:56 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:49:56 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Economic crisis hits China -- workers' protest impels
 govt to bail THEM out
Message-ID: <5F7D01E7E3FF47F787E7CC8D7B94B804@office1pc>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110303
486_pf.html

As China's Losses Mount, Confidence Turns to Fear
Officials Use Bailouts to Forestall Unrest

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 4, 2008; A01



SHENZHEN, China -- When Chong Yik Toy Co. went bankrupt, the bosses fled
without meeting their payroll and angry workers took to the streets in
protest. Less than 72 hours later, the local government came to the rescue.

Armed with bags full of cash totaling half a million dollars, accountants
began distributing the money so the 900 former employees would have
something to get by on. The Chinese officials who made the emergency
payments on Oct. 21 called it an "advance," part of a "back-pay insurance
fund."

But the reality was obvious to everyone: It was a government bailout.

In the initial weeks of the global financial crisis, Chinese officials
resolutely declared that they were not significantly affected. But now, as
factory closings, dire corporate earnings reports and stock market losses
continue to mount, the Communist Party's confidence has changed to another
feeling entirely: fear.

For the first time in the 30 years since China began its capitalist
transformation, there is a perception that the economy is in real trouble.
And for the Communist Party, the crisis is not just an economic one, but a
political one. The government's response offers a glimpse into its still
ambiguous relationship with capitalism -- relatively hands-off in good
times, but quick to intervene directly at the first signs of a downturn in
order to prevent popular unrest.

In recent weeks, local governments have set up special loans for ailing
companies and initiated severance payments for workers who have already lost
their jobs. Officials are candid in acknowledging the efforts are needed to
head off what they call "mass incidents" -- the Communist Party euphemism
for protests.

The economic devastation has been worst in the industrial centers of
southern China, areas that had thrived in recent decades by producing the
electronics, clothing, toys and furniture that fill retail stores in the
United States.

With export orders falling because of the global slowdown and rising raw
material and labor costs, more than 68,000 small companies nationwide
collapsed in the first half of 2008 and about 2.5 million jobs in the Pearl
River Delta region may be lost by the end of the year, according to
government and industry estimates.

As the economy has soured, dissatisfaction has grown: Since mid-October,
there have been dozens of labor protests involving thousands of workers at
major exporters, including several publicly listed companies.

Meanwhile, government figures released last month show that the gross
domestic product grew by 9 percent in the third quarter -- robust by almost
any standard, but not in China. Here, the figure represented the slowest
growth in five years, and was dangerously close to 8 percent. That's the
level at which economists say China needs to grow in order to keep
generating enough factory jobs to maintain stability in the labor market, as
millions of peasants continue to pour into Chinese cities in search of work.

At the same time, some of China's most revered companies, whose growth once
seemed limitless, have reported surprising losses in the past few days. Air
China, the nation's biggest international carrier, posted its first loss in
seven quarters because of declining passenger numbers and wrong-way bets on
fuel prices. Bank of China, the nation's largest foreign-exchange lender,
said that as credit-market losses went up, its profit growth went down to
its slowest in two years.

China's leaders have made a variety of moves to try to stabilize the economy
-- three interest rate cuts in six weeks, new export tax rebates, reduced
costs for home buyers, and billions spent on infrastructure. But any hope
that a strong Chinese economy -- the single largest contributor to global
growth -- would offset the slowdown elsewhere is gone.

The government's efforts to prop up individual companies are a radical move
for a country that in recent years has tried to move away from its "iron
rice bowl" philosophy, in which jobs and wages are guaranteed for life, and
transition to a more sink-or-swim-style capitalism.

In the coastal province of Zhejiang, the local government is setting up a
special $9.5 million loan fund to help companies such as the deeply indebted
Feiyue Group, which exports sewing machines and suitcases. In Jiangsu
province, the government extended unemployment benefits to migrant workers
laid off from ailing factories; these workers had previously been shut out
of public services because they don't have residency cards.

The Guangdong provincial government in the south is scrambling to set up a
special fund to compensate laid-off workers in order to "protect against
some of the financial and social problems caused by such closures."

Eddie Leung, chairman of the Dailywin Group, which makes Movado and Anne
Klein watches, said Guangdong officials also seem to be backing down from
efforts to transform the area from a manufacturing hub into a high-tech and
services center. In recent years, the government had been content to see
polluting factories and sweatshops go out of business to make room for
companies higher in the value chain. Now the government seems inclined to
help them survive.

Chong Yik Toy is but one of a number of bankrupt companies whose employees
have received payoffs from the government.

In the eastern city of Wujiang, nearly 1,000 workers from bankrupt Chunyu
Textile Co. received four months' salary on Oct. 27 after they swarmed the
area's four main roads to draw attention to their cause. After more than
1,000 workers for home appliance maker BEP International Holdings gathered
outside the factory to protest, district officials gave them $44 each late
last month. The employees were also allowed to continue living in the
defunct factory's dormitories for free. The same week, the government
offered three months' back pay to the 900 workers at Gangsheng, an
electronics supplier, after they staged a protest at a shop near their
factory.

In the neighboring city of Dongguan, the local government handed out about
$3.5 million on Oct. 21 to the employees of Smart Union -- which sold its
toys to Mattel, Disney and Hasbro -- after the 7,000 workers staged a
strike.

Hu Weicai, 38, who worked with the plastic molds used to make electronic
toys, said employees became nervous when the owners slipped three months
behind on salary payments. The workers occupied the factory and the
surrounding streets until government officials promised them they would be
paid.

"The government was very afraid when they saw what was happening. What the
government fears most is workers making trouble. They paid us to stabilize
our moods," Hu said.

But employees said a one-time payment will provide only a temporary reprieve
from the unrest if the workers are unable to find new jobs.

Jia Yingge's husband, a guard, received a little less than his monthly
salary of $300. With no employment prospects in sight, she worries about how
the couple will support their newborn son.

"If you mention this company's name, no one wants to hire you because they
know about the blockade and now we have a bad reputation," Jia said.

When Liu Fangping, 38, was paid, the government took his fingerprints with
red ink -- presumably to make sure the right person was receiving the
payment. But Liu noted that the prints could also be used to pinpoint
troublemakers who continue to protest despite the handouts.

"I don't think the government is doing its best to protect the rights of
workers," Liu said, adding that officials seemed more interested in
controlling unrest than helping individual workers.

Indeed, signs posted at the gates of closed factories did not direct former
workers to places where they could get help, but instead displayed a
warning. In large black characters, they reminded workers that they could be
detained for stirring up unrest, for disobeying security officials or even
for "unlawful gathering."

Researchers Crissie Ding and Liu Liu contributed to this report.




From lnp3 at panix.com  Tue Nov  4 06:02:43 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:02:43 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Hubert Harrison
Message-ID: <20081104130242.4DA4AD330@mailbackend.panix.com>

Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918
by Jeffrey B. Perry
Just Published (November 3) From Columbia University Press
For a Brief Description of the Book --
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13910-6/hubert-harrison
For a Longer Description of the Book - See BlackPast.org
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=perspectives/hubert-harrison-voice-early-20th-ce
ntury-harlem-radicalism
For Reviewer Comments -- by Cornel West, Amiri Baraka, Arnold Rampersad,
David Levering Lewis, Manning Marable, Winston James, Joyce Moore Turner,
David Roediger, Komozi Woodard, Bill Fletcher Jr., Christopher Phelps,
Peniel Joseph, Gary Okihiro, Portia James, and Gene Bruskin -- See
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13910-6/hubert-harrison/reviews
Jeffrey B. Perry



From lnp3 at panix.com  Tue Nov  4 06:06:13 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:06:13 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Debating Turkish history
Message-ID: <20081104130612.EE0ABDC8E@mailbackend.panix.com>

Better Late Than Never:
Modern Turkey Remembers Its Past
by Leyla Neyzi

     Esra ?zy?rek, ed.  The Politics of Public Memory in 
Turkey.   Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2006.  x + 225 pp. 
$24.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8156-3131-6.

The Politics of Public Memory in Turkey, edited by Esra ?zy?rek, an 
associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the 
University of California San Diego, has its origins in a book in 
Turkish edited by ?zy?rek in 2001.   Another related book, Nostalgia 
for the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey, 
based on ?zy?rek's dissertation, was published in 2006.  Taken 
together, these books make an important contribution to the 
previously scant literature on memory in Turkey.  Until the 1980s, 
there was little interest in the public sphere in history and memory 
in Turkey, where history was understood to stand for 
national/official history, and personal and communal memory, in so 
far as they diverged from history with a capital H, were relegated to 
the relative safety of the home or were even silenced 
therein.1  Rejecting the Ottoman past, despite the fact that most of 
its cadres emerged from among the Committee of Union and Progress 
that turned everyday life in Anatolia into tragedy during World War 
I, the new Turkish Republic focused on the future in its attempts to 
achieve modernity.2  The interdisciplinary literature on memory was 
only recently discovered by young critical scholars studying abroad 
in the last decades.  This coincided with a slow but gradual 
democratization of Turkish society and the beginnings of a debate on 
history and memory in the public sphere.3

full: http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/neyzi031108.html



From lnp3 at panix.com  Tue Nov  4 06:13:06 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:13:06 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Gott ist tot
Message-ID: <20081104131304.5F98CDFDD@mailbackend.panix.com>

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/04/nietzsche
College Bans Nietzsche Quote on Prof's Door

"God is dead." That phrase, from Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay 
Science, is among the philosopher's most well known ? and most hotly debated.

At Temple College, a community college in Texas, the words in the 
original German ? Gott ist tot ? have been barred from a professor's 
office door. While the college says that to leave the phrase up would 
offend others and constitute and endorsement of the phrase, the 
professor and others see a double standard in place, and a violation 
of academic freedom.

Kerry Laird, a literature and composition professor who does not have 
tenure, is in his first year at Temple. He said that, as a student 
and instructor, he always enjoyed the way professors use their office 
doors to reveal bits of their personality and to challenge students 
with cartoons, artwork, and various phrases. So when he started at 
Temple, he put a cartoon up showing Smokey the Bear, a girl scout and 
a boy scout and the tag line: "Kids ? don't fuck with God or bears 
will eat you." He received a complaint and decided that he understood 
why the college "might not want the f-word" in the hallway, and so he 
decided to put up something else.

This time he turned to Nietzsche and, striving to challenge while 
being more subtle, he only used the German version of the quote, not 
the English translation. "I didn't want to be too blunt," he said.

But he was quickly told that Mark A. Smith, interim vice president of 
educational services, had ordered the saying removed. And Laird said 
he had no choice in the matter.

Smith outlined his views in an e-mail message he sent to a student 
who complained about the quote's removal. "Temple College as a public 
institution cannot be represented as showing preference toward any 
religious philosophy/perspective or toward the opposite, being 
atheism. The same practice goes for politics. The decision to have 
the quote removed was that the quote can be considered very 
controversial and offensive to others. In fact, other people have 
already expressed that the wording is offensive!" he wrote.

In a classroom setting, a professor would have the right to discuss 
such a quote, Smith said.

The student maintains that the college permits numerous professors to 
have "pro-religion" statements or images on their doors.

That argument doesn't fly with Misti Kennai, an agnostic student who 
wrote Smith to say she was "inundated daily with biblical quotes" in 
offices around the college. "Why is it that when a quote that 
contradicts the beliefs of the administration of Temple College is 
posted, it is forcibly removed? Are the Christians on campus that 
insecure in their religious beliefs? Although the majority of people 
on campus are Christian, it is not the only religion present on this 
campus. If this quote is removed by this administration, then I 
propose all quotes promoting Christianity on campus also be forcibly 
removed. I do not personally believe that 'with God all things are 
possible.' On the contrary, I believe God is indeed dead, or she may 
have never existed at all."

Smith, the interim vice president who made the decision, says that 
pro-Christian statements would be treated the same way as the 
Nietzsche quote. But he clarified to Inside Higher Ed that this means 
if someone complains about a specific quote ? as someone did about 
the Nietzsche quote ? the person would be asked to remove it.

Generally, public colleges and universities get in trouble when they 
try to censor professors' doors or office displays. The Foundation 
for Individual Rights in Education has taken up the case of a 
professor at Lake Superior State University who was threatened with a 
reprimand over various right-leaning images on his door. The 
University of Minnesota at Duluth spent much of the 1990s defending 
itself with limited success against suits by two historians who said 
that their rights were violated when photos of one in a coonskin cap 
and the other in ancient Roman attire ? both holding period weapons ? 
were removed from a departmental display case. The university 
eventually agreed to pay the professors to settle their suits.

Laird, the Nietzsche fan at Temple College, said that he believes 
religious professors and non-religious professors should have equal 
rights to display images that reflect their views, regardless of 
whether someone is offended. "To me, this is a blatant disregard of 
freedom of speech and freedom of religion."

Cary Nelson, national president of the American Association of 
University Professors, agreed. "There is simply no justification for 
ordering the removal of a Nietzsche quote from a faculty member's 
door," he said. "The quote constitutes an intellectual challenge. 
That's why colleges and universities exist. This is a clear violation 
of academic freedom."

Laird and others have said that it is particularly troubling that a 
college administrator cited as reason to order the quote's removal 
that some found it "offensive." If quotes that some find offensive 
can't be displayed, how many philosophers would be safe to quote on a 
door at Temple?

William O. Stephens, a philosopher at Creighton University and chair 
of the American Philosophical Association Committee for the Defense 
of the Professional Rights of Philosophers, said that from ancient 
times on, great philosophers have caused offense. "That's why they 
put Socrates to death," he said. "He expressed non-traditional views."

Added Stephens: "Fortunately philosophers aren't being executed in 
the United States for articulating non-traditional views on religion, 
but this should still be embarrassing to that college. You should be 
able to express your academic and intellectual views without reprisal."

? Scott Jaschik



From lnp3 at panix.com  Tue Nov  4 06:42:34 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:42:34 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Mice cloning
Message-ID: <20081104134232.44556DEE4@mailbackend.panix.com>

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1082776/Cloning-grave-Scientists-create-new-life-mouse-frozen-16-YEARS.html

Cloning from the grave: Scientists create new life from a mouse that 
has been frozen for 16 YEARS
By David Derbyshire

Scientists have created clones of a mouse that had been dead and 
frozen for 16 years.

It is the first time they have been able to clone a frozen animal.

The Japanese researchers say their work will benefit mankind - and 
could be used to bring back extinct animals such as the woolly 
mammoth or sabre tooth tiger.

But ethical watchdogs branded the experiment disturbing.

Critics say it brings the world closer to the day when people try to 
clone long- dead relatives stored in cryopreservation clinics.

It could even lead to a macabre new industry - in which people leave 
behind 'relics' of their bodies in freezers in the hope that they 
could one day be cloned.

(clip)

---

Do androids dream of anything?

By Mark Jones

A genetic engineer has created a mouse with ears that glow in the 
dark, by splicing firefly genes into mouse DNA. More practically, 
transgenic pigs that freeze to death if left in the open because the 
human genes they've got don't let them accumulate fat, already make 
our bacon. Coming soon: bespoke pig heart transplants in case the 
fat-free pig didn't help us avoid coronaries. I have been reading up 
on genes and transgenic science, and how the media handle it all.

The stories and images arrive by stealth in our unconscious from 
inside the labs where evolution is being undone. They ought to make 
your hair stand on end (when the journal Nature broke the story of 
Dolly the cloned sheep -- 'More important than Darwin, Einstein and 
Copernicus together!' -- its graphic designers airbrushed one leg 
black, to make the thing look more cuddly. They forgot a cloned sheep 
whose 'parent' has four white legs can itself only have four white legs).

These images of biotech at work are mostly like that: not stark 
tekno, but homely flesh-tones: a bowl of rice, an ear of wheat, 
cheerful rodents made literally anthropomorphic, like the mouse with 
a human ear growing on its back. Oh, cute!

These images condition us to accept something more terrible than 
anything Himmler, Pol Pot or Mengele did. None of them managed to rob 
their victims of their humanity. We can feel pity and terror for the 
hollow-eyed, numbered prisoners of Tuol Sleng, but a mouse with 
luminous ears? You cannot pity the loss of something that was never 
there in the first place. This not a living thing, it is quasi-alive, 
it is just an agglomeration of high-spec cells which happens to move 
around and stare vacantly. Now, just as the first slaves were 
modelled on the first domesticated animals (hunter-gatherers do not 
enslave) so the first not-human humans, or bits of humans, will be 
modelled on the mice with the ears. Headless humans grown from our 
own nail parings for our own transplants. Androids like in Dick's 
60's classic, the basis of Blade Runner.

They have no rights _by design_. That's different from just *saying* 
to someone: 'You have no rights,' as the Nazis did.

Sometimes they will just be bits of protein-computer embedded in 
domestic appliances but sometimes they will be just like us. Then 
Scientology will rule the world, because how will we imagine 
ourselves, distinguish ourselves from the Wogs, except as 
trillion-year old Thetans inhabiting living corpses, as 
Scientologists think they are (everyone else is a 'Wog', in L. Ron 
Hubbard-speak. Andrei Kiriyenko, the new Russian prime 
minister-designate with the robotic voice, is said to be a 
Scientologist, so his was an inspired choice of Yeltsin's, now all 
Russians are Wogs).

The Nazis were a colourful, queer flop. Denying the humanity of 
victims ludicrously achieved nothing except a lurid posterity and 
fashions for patent knee boots and black jodhpurs. You could not 
actually efface a Jew's humanity (of course, people can get used to 
anything: During WW2, a popular brand of soap in Polish shops was 
labelled 'RJF', meaning 'Pure Jewish Fat').

On the contrary; the camps affirmed the value of life. E P Thompson 
said the Prussian goose-step always made him think of a boot 
descending on a face. The face becomes our own kin, the boot makes 
the victim the centre of our world. If only they'd figured a way to 
make Jewish ears flash like diodes in the night.

All a mouse wants is the right to BE a mouse. You can kill it in a 
trap but at least you know it was a mouse. With ears that glow in the 
dark, this is not-mouse, nothing more, an aberration, a pathological 
joke at nature's and our expense.

The joke won't stop there. It started long ago, during the LAST 
global warming when the seas rose, the ice melted and the present 
interglacial began. Tides flooded the land bridges, the permafrost 
turned to impassable sludge and made our free- roaming ancestors into 
miserable, arthritic swamp-dwellers who had to cultivate grain and 
domesticate animals to survive (check out Jared Diamond's 'Guns, 
Germs, and Steel'). That was when the comedy started.

Peter Dickens in his 1992 book 'Society And Nature: Towards A Green 
Social Theory', describes the moral universe of the Yanomani, with 
its spirit-world that is coterminous with the tribe, with its rites 
and shamans, its two-hour working day, its playfulness.

Anyone who has consulted the literature on shamanism sees the same 
themes everywhere where humans lived immersed within nature, not 
trying to domesticate it and themselves. The hunter apologises to the 
animal he kills, propitiates the anger of its departing soul, 
promising it will return stronger and more beautiful next time 
around. The shaman dresses in the animal's skin, becomes it and 
forgives the tribe. The webs that connect all living things are 
rendered whole and seamless. The anger of the ancestors is 
propitiated and the spirits of each tree, river, rock, of the night 
stars and the seasons, greeted.

Once you start to domesticate animals the process of desacralising 
nature is set in motion, and the only thing that might stop it is to 
abandon settled, surplus-gathering culture and revert to hunting and 
gathering. So the fate of our world was decided with the first woman 
(it was certainly a woman) to plant the first row of seeds in one 
furrow, and the first man who turned a wolf into a dog and a boar into a pig.

The prophanisation of nature has obviously now been consummated and 
Nature capital N, as Bill McKibben says, has been abolished and will 
never come back, except in our guilty dreams. This gives me the 
ultimate answer to Euroecentric notions about science. As Joseph 
Needham points out in 'Moulds of Understanding', Christianity was 
always more primtive than its rivals: Islam, Taoism, Buddhism -- 
because these world-religions were humanist at the core, and were 
about reconnecting the human with the world, and resacralising Nature 
(a particularly strong theme in Islam and in Indian religions).

Not so Christianity, which never rose out of its primitive origins in 
superstition and magic (or perhaps its Judaic nomothetic basis 
clashed so violently with the pantheistic paganism of the northern 
tribes that the result was a bastard, pastiche religion, a barbaric 
pageant incapable of any gnostic self-transcendence: shamanism 
without nature (does not the Bishop were a skin?), God without Reason.

The Christian act of faith in the Resurrection is not required of the 
Muslim. This bit of obscurantism (resurrection from death) creates a 
schism between the material world and its Creator. Functionally, the 
policing of such beliefs also explained the rigid orthodocy and 
murderous intolerance of the early medieval latin church; this 
monotheism created a monolithic European culture quite unlike the 
thriving communities of the Arabo-Persian world, where Jews, Muslims 
and Christians lived cheerfully side by said (along with 
Zoroastrians, and even Confucianists).

When Bacon imported Chinese and Islamic science, one of two things 
became historically inevitable: either the Church would destroy 
science, which after Copernicus' heliocentrism was confirmed by 
Galileo, became an obvious enemy to orthodoxy; or a mutually-agreed 
divorce between church and science would happen. Both processes were 
evident, but we know which won out. And the church's divorce from 
science was not so hard to effect, really: that obscurantism at the 
heart of latin christianity concealed what soon became the well-known 
materialism of Counter-Reformation theology: since God created the 
world, it must exist, be material, and obey the physical laws God 
imbued in it. This quite dubious speculation soon assumed a dogmatic, 
positivist certainty which underlay science until Einstein. No other 
historic culture shared it.

Alternative Christianities were possible but they always lacked the 
totalising zeal of the Latins even when they had the wealth and power 
to assert themselves. Thus the millions of Nestorians in their 
communities strung out along the Silk Roads from Damascus to Beijing 
were the wealthiest Christians in the world. Their bishops advised 
Genghis-khan and converted most of his family, but they never pressed 
home their advantage and when the Mongols chose a state religion it 
was Islam. The Nestorians shared the Muslims easy-going humanism - 
they did not believe in the Holy Trinity, without which of course, 
the notion of a Risen Christ becomes both impossible and unnecessary.

The moral, philosophical and theological caesurae in the latin church 
explain why (according to Needham) science was possible in the 
Christian west but not in China or Islam, which were incapable of 
prophanising Nature. The Chinese remained prescientific but in 
Europe, descralising Nature allowed the sciences to be launched in 
their Baconian, faustian form. The reduction of human nature too, was 
just a matter of time.

Nothing is really new. Victor Hugo wrote a famous novel about the 
child-procurers for medieval kings, men who understood which glands 
to cut and organs to remove in order to create different functional 
dwarves (for service at table, sexual service, espionage), or eunuchs 
(tall, gangly, intellectual mandarins, wrathful soldiers: the Chinese 
navy had fleets whose entire complements from admiral to rating, were 
castrates); eunuchs had no family ambitions, were greedy on the 
king's behalf etc.

Nevertheless, despite all the anticipations and prefigurings history 
offers -- barbarism, mutilation, the denial of fellowship, the 
effacing of the humanity of the weak and the poor by the powerful and 
rich, I think it is clear that we stand on the threshold of something 
qualitatively new. It is not just that our senses have become so 
brutalised that the image of a mouse with a human ear growing on its 
back or with luminous ears, only makes us laugh, just as Germans once 
laughed at Jews, no, it's worse. With great eagerness to explore what 
lies behind it, we have forced open the door of hell and rushed inside.

It is not just inevitable, it is presumably already happening, 
somewhere, in some terrible place: the creation of beings devoid of 
purpose, sense of self or destiny, wich, unlike mice, may be 
conscious of all that (this is torture worse than domesticated 
animals feel, because at least a never suspects it's anything else 
whatever it's circumstances). Hard to imagine the despair an entity 
might experience if its only consciousness of self is that it has none.

How will we interface with this highly productive, profitable, 
beneficial, useful, desirable world of black biology and terminal 
moral squalor which is already upon us? How will we save ourselves 
from being unselved by it?

Food shortage, disease, eco-collapse, and social disintegration will 
conjoin with the mindless egotism of wealthy transplant and brain 
enhancement clients, and while the planet cooks the talk will all be 
of downloading ourselves (BT, the British comms provider, actually 
has an R&D unit called 'SoulCapture'). Converging in the general 
onrush will be systems that interconnect protein-based computers 
which have all, some or none of the attributes of their remote 
(human) DNA-ancestors, with systems, anthropoid or other, conscious 
or not, connecting DNA to electro-mechanical and nano-scale hardware, 
to semi-liveware, to the faustian/Mary Shelley dreamworld. The greed 
of the North, the cataclysms of the South, and the need to save 
something, somehow, will fuel the whole lurching thing, and none of 
us will think it matters, any more than it mattered when someone made 
a pink mouse with luminous ears.



From nmgoro at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 04:58:35 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 08:58:35 -0300
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
Message-ID: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>

[Hope this did not get into the list before, have not been following
my mail seriously these weeks. If it has, sorry. If it hasn?t, please
pay attention to it. It is worth reading, every bit of it]

Source: http://www.herramienta.com.ar/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=629

The unfolding crisis and the relevance of Marx

Autor: Istv?n M?sz?ros*


Some of you may have been present at our meeting in May this year in
this building, when I recalled what I said to Lucien Goldman in Paris
a few months before the French historic may 1968. In contrast to the
then prevailing perspective of "organized capitalism", which was
supposed to have successfully left behind the stage of "crisis
capitalism" ?a view prominently asserted by Marcuse and shared also by
my dear friend Lucien Goldmann- I insisted that, compared to the
crisis we are actually heading for, "the Great World Economic Crisis
of 1929-1933" would look like "the Vicar's tea party".


In the last few weeks you had a foretaste of what I had in mind. But
no more than a foretaste, because the structural crisis of the capital
system as a whole, which we are experiencing in our time on an epochal
scale, is bound to get considerably worse. It will become in due
course much deeper, in the sense of invading not only the world of
more or less parasitic global finance but every single domain of our
social, economic and cultural life.


The obvious question we must now address concerns the nature of the
globally unfolding crisis and the conditions required for its feasible
resolution.


If you try to remember what you heard in the last two weeks endlessly
repeated about the current crisis, one word stands out, overshadowing
all of the other claimed diagnoses and corresponding remedies. That
word is confidence. If we could get a ten pound note for every
occasion when that magic word has been offered for public consumption
in the last two weeks all over the world, not to mention its continued
reassertion ever since, we would be all millionaires. Our only problem
would then be what to do with our suddenly acquired millions. For none
of our banks, not even our recently nationalized banks - nationalized
to the tune of no less than two thirds of their capital assets - could
supply the legendary "confidence" required for safe deposit or
investment.


Even our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, presented us in this respect
last week with the memorable phrase: "Confidence is the most precious
thing." I know the song -and probably most of us do- which tells us
that: "Love is the most precious thing". But confidence in capitalist
banking being the most precious thing?! That suggestion is utterly
perverse!

Nevertheless, the advocacy of this magic remedy now seems to be
universal. It is repeated with such conviction as if "confidence"
could simply rain out of the sky or grow in great abundance on
capitalistically well manured financial trees.

Three days ago (on the 18th of October) the BBC's flagship Sunday
morning interview programme -the Andrew Marr programme- wheeled out a
very distinguished elderly gentleman, Sir Brian Pitman, who was
introduced as the former Head of Lloyd's banking business. They did
not say when he headed that organization, but the way he spoke made it
amply clear soon enough. For it transpired through his respectfully
received answers that he might have been the Head of Lloyd's Bank well
before the World Economic Crisis of 1929-33. Accordingly, to encourage
the viewers, he introduced a great conceptual innovation into the
confidence discourse by saying that our troubles were all due to some
Over-confidence. And he immediately also demonstrated the meaning of
"Over-confidence" by saying, more than once in a short interview, that
there can be no serious problem today, because the market always took
care of everything, even if sometimes it went unexpectedly far down.
Later it always went up again. So it will do so also this time, and it
will unfailingly go up again and again also in the future. The present
crisis should not be exaggerated, he said, because it is much less
serious today than what we experienced way back in 1974. For in 1974
we had a 3 days working week in Britain [even if nowhere else], and
now we do not have it. Do we? And who could argue with that
irrefutable fact?

Thus, we now have the magic explanatory word of all our troubles not
standing like an unhappy orphan, alone, but as part of something like
a Fukuyamized pseudo-Hegelian triad: confidence / lack of confidence /
over-confidence. The only constituent missing from this magic
explanatory discourse is now the real foundation of our perilous
banking and insurance system which operates on the ground of
self-serving confidence tricks that sooner or later are bound to be
(and from time to time actually have been) found out.

In any case, all this talk about the absolute virtues of confidence in
capitalist economic management is much like the explanation offered in
Indian Mythology about the supporting ground of the universe. For in
that ancient vision of the world it is said that the universe is
carried, most reassuringly, on the back of the elephant. And the
self-evid?ently powerful elephant? you might well ask. No one should
think of that as a difficulty. For the elephant is, even more
reassuringly, supported on the back of the cosmic tortoise. But what
about the cosmic tortoise itself? Don't you presume to ask such
question, lest you might be fed to the tigers of Bengal, before they
are extinguished.

Luckily, perhaps (?), The Economist is a little bit more realistic in
its assessment of the situation.

In the context of our painful subject, the now acknowledged worsening
economic crisis, I am going to give you exact quotations, including
some damning figures of no longer deniable capitalist failures, taken
mainly from such well established and unashameadly class conscious
bourgeois newspapers as The Economist and The Sunday Times. Quoting
them meticulously word by word not only because they are prominent in
their field but also in order to avoid that they should accuse us of
"left-wing bias and distortion".

Marx used to say that on the pages of The Economist the ruling class
is "talking to itself". Things have somewhat changed since those days.
For now even in the specialized field of "economic expertise" the
ruling class needs a mass circulation propaganda organ, for the
purpose of general mystification. In Marx's lifetime the ruling class
had plenty of "confidence", and also a great deal of unchallenged
"over-confidence", for needing that. Thus, under the present less
cocky circumstances, the London based mass distribution weekly paper,
The Economist, - the self-righteous mouthpiece of the U.S. dominated
annual "Davos Jamboree" - is well advised to concede that the crisis
we are facing today is concerned with the difficulties of "Saving the
system", according to the full title page of its October 11, 2008
issue.

We can grant, of course, that nothing less than "saving the system"
(or not) is what happens to be at stake in our time, even if The
Economist's discussion of this problem is rather strange and
contradictory. For in its usual way of trying to present its highly
partisan position as an objectively "balanced view", by using the
formula of "on the one hand and on the other hand", The Economist
always succeeds in reaching its desired conclusion in favour of the
established order. Thus, also on this occasion, The Economist asserts
in its pricipal leader article of the 11th of October that "This week
saw the first glimmer of a comprehensive global answer to the
confidence gap." Now, thankfully, the "confidence gap", although
reprehensible in itself, is expected to be remedied thanks to a
somewhat mysterious "comprehensive global answer".

At the same time, on the more realistic side, the London weekly also
acknowledges in the same Editorial article that

"The damage to the real economy is becoming apparent. In America
consumer credit is now shrinking, and around 150,000 Americans lost
their jobs in September, the most since 2003. Some industries are
hurting badly: car sales are at their lowest level for 16 years as
would-be buyers are unable to get credit. General Motors has
temporarily shut some of its factories in Europe. Across the globe
forward-looking indicators, such as surveys of purchasing managers,
are horribly gloomy."

They do not say, though, that "the confidence gap" may have something
to do with such facts.

Of course, the apology of the system must prevail in every article,
even if it must be presented as the unquestionable word of pragmatic
wisdom. In this sense, "saving the system" for The Economist amounts
to the journal's totally uncritical identification with, and the
uncontestable advocacy of, unlimited economic rescue-opera?tion - to
be accomplished by no means out of the customarily most dogmatically
glorified "market resources" - in favour of the troubled capitalist
system. Thus, even the most cherished and well tried propaganda tenets
(of a not only non-existent but never in reality existed free market)
can be now thrown overboard for the noble cause of "Saving the
system". Accordingly, we are told by The Economist that

"The world economy is plainly in a poor shape, but it could get a lot
worse. This is the time to put dogma and politics to one side and
concentrate on pragmatic answers. That means more government
intervention and co-operation in the short term than taxpayers,
politicians or indeed free-market newspapers would normally like",[1]

We have been treated to similar sermons by President George W. Bush
before. He told his television audience two weeks ago that normally
and instinctively he is the believer in, and the passionate supporter
of, the free market, but under the present exceptional circumstances
he must think of other ways. He must begin to think under these
difficult circumstances, full stop. You cannot say that you have not
been warned.

The sums involved in the recommended "pragmatic" solution, which
advocates sweeping aside the "normal likings" of the "taxpayers and
free market newspapers" (that is, the now advocated solution which
means, in truth, the necessary submission of the great masses of the
people to increasing tax-burdens sooner or later) are literally
astronomical. To quote The Economist again: "in little more than three
weeks America's government, all told, expanded its gross liabilities
by more than $1 trillion - almost twice as much as the cost so far of
the Iraq war."[2] "American and European banks will shed some $10
trillions of dollars."[3] "But history teaches an important lesson:
that big banking crises are ultimately solved by throwing in large
dollops of public money".[4]

Tens of trillions of dollars of public money "thrown in", and
justified in the name of the claimed "important lesson of history",
and of course in the service of the unchallengeable good cause of
saving the system, that is certainly quite a dollop. No High Street
icecream wendor could ever even dream about such dollops. And if we
add to that magnitude the fact quoted on the same page of the London
paper, that in the course of last year alone "The Economist's food
price index jumped by nearly 55%",[5] and "The food-price spike in
late 2007 and early 2008 caused riots in some 30 countries",[6] in
that case the dollop in question becomes even more revealing about the
nature of the system which now finds itself in ever deepening crisis.

Can you think of a greater indictment for a pretendedly unsurpassable
system of econproduction and societal reproduction than the one which
- at the height of its productive power - is producing a global food
crisis, and the suffering of countless millions inseparable from it
all over the world? That is the nature of the system which is expected
to be saved now at all cost, including the currently "dished out"
astronomical economic cost.

HOW can one make some tangible sense at all of the wasted trillions?
Since we are talking about astronomical magnitudes, I addressed this
question to a close friend who is Professor of Astrophysics at London
Univesity. His answer was that I should point out that one trillion
alone is roughly one hundred times the age of our universe. Now, on
the scale of the same magnitude the regularly understated official
figure of the American debt, on its own, amounts in our days to more
than 10 trillion. That is, one thousand times the age of our universe.

But let me quote you a short passage from a Japanese publication. It
reads like this:

"How much speculative money is moving around the world? According to a
Mitsubishi UFJ Securities analysis, the size of the global 'real
economy', in which goods and services are produced and traded, is
estimated at $48.1 trillion... On the other hand, the size of the
global 'financial economy', the total amount of stocks, securities and
deposits, adds up to $151.8 trillion. The financial economy thus has
swollen to more than three times the size of the real economy, growing
especially rapidly during the past two decades. The gap is as large as
$100 trillion. An analyst involved in this estimation said that about
half the amount, $50 trillion is scarcely necessary for the real
economy. Fifty trillion dollars are worth well over 5,000 trillion
yen, too big a number for me to actually comprehend."[7]

It is indeed very difficult even to comprehend, not to mention to
justify, as our capital-apologetic politicians and bankers do, the
astronomical sums of parasitic speculation accumulated to the
magnitude corresponding to 500,000 times the age of our universe. If
you wish to have another measure about the magnitude involved, just
imagine an unlucky accountant from Roman times, who is asked nothing
more than simply to chalk up on his blackboard the figure of 5,000
trillion yen, in Roman numbers. He would be in total despair. He
simply could not do it. And even if he had at his disposal Arab
numbers, which he could not have had, even in that case he would need
as many as 17 zeros after the number 5 in order to write down the
cifre in question.

The trouble is, though, that our well heeled politicians and bankers
seem to think only of the zeros, and not of their substantive
linkages, when they present these problems for public consumption. And
that approach cannot possibly work indefinitely. For one needs much
more than zeros for getting out of the bottomless hole of the global
indebtedness to which we are condemned by the system which they now
want to save at all cost.

AS a matter of fact, Gordon Brown's newfound popularity has a great
deal to do with zeros in more ways than one. His astonishing new
popularity - which, on second thought, might well turn out to be
rather ephemeral - was illustrated last week by the front-page
newspaper headline: "From Zero to Hero". The article in question
suggested that our Prime Minister actually succeeded in "saving the
system". That is how he earned the high acclaim.

The reason why he was hailed in that way, as a hero, was because he
invented a new variety of nationalizing capitalist bankruptcy, to be
adopted with untroubled "free market conscience" by other contries as
well. That made even George W. Bush feel less guilty about acting
against his own proclaimed "passionate instinct" when he nationalized
a huge "dollop" of U.S. capitalist bankruptcy of which one single item
- the liabilities of the giant mortgage companies of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac - amounted to 5.4 trillion dollars (that is to say, the
sum required for 54 years of running the Iraq war).

The "pragmatic novelty" - as opposed to "dogma and politics" in the
words of The Economist - of the recent nationalization of capitalist
bankruptcy by "New Labour" is that the taxpayers get absolutely
nothing (in other words, zero-zero-zero as many times as you like to
write it down, even seventeen times) for the immense sums of money
invested in failed capitalist assets, including our two thirds
nationalized British banks. This kind of nationalization of capitalist
bankruptcy is somewhat different from the earlier versions, instituted
after the Second World War when the Labour Party's "Clause 4" -
advocating the public control of the means of production - was still
part of its Constitution. For in 1945 the nationalized bankrupt
sectors of the capitalist economy were transferred to state control,
for the duration of being generously fattened up again from general
taxation for the purpose of proper "privatization" in due course.

Even Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath's 1971 nationalization
of the bankrupt Rolls Royce Company followed the same embarrassing
pattern of state controlled and openly admitted nationalization. In
our own days, however, the beauty of Gordon Brown's solution is that
it removes the embarrassment while multiplying manifold the wasted
billions invested in capitalist bankruptcy. Surely that fully deserves
his promotion "From Zero to Hero" as well as the highest accolade of
"Saviour of the World" conferred upon him by some other newspapers, on
account of his great modesty of being satisfied with absolute zero in
exchange for our - not his - generously dispensed billions. But can
this kind of governmental remedy be considered a lasting solution to
our problems even on a short-term basis, not to mention its required
long-term sustainability? Only the fool could believe that.

In truth, the recent measures adopted by our political and financial
authorities only attended to one single aspect of the current crisis:
the liquidity of the banks, mortgage, and insurance companies. And
even that only to a very limited extent. In reality the huge "dollops
thrown in" represent no more than paying the deposit only, so to
speak. Much more will be required also in that respect in the future,
as even the still unfolding disturbances on the world's
stock-exchanges continue to underline it.

However. well beyond the problem of liquidity, another dimension of
just the financial crisis concerns the near catastrophic insolvency of
banks and insurance companies. This fact becomes clear once their
speculatively and irresponsibly assumed, but none the less existing,
liabilities are actually taken into account. To give you just one
example: two of our big banks in Britain have liabilities amounting to
$2.4 trillion each, acquired on the adventurist assumption that they
will never have to be met. Can the capitalist state successfully bail
them out of that size of liability? Where could the state possibly
borrow the money of such magnitude for the rescue-operation required
for the purpose? And what would be the necessary inflationary
consequences of "dishing out such dollops" of truly gigantic
rescue-operation by simply printing the money called for in the
absence of other solutions?

Moreover, the problems are by no means exhausted by the perilous state
of the financial sector. For even more intractably, also the
productive sectors of capitalist industry are in serious trouble, no
matter how highly developed and favoured they might appear to be by
their competitively advantageous position in the global pecking order
of transnational capital. Due to our limited time, I must confine
myself again to one, but one very significant, example. It concerns
the United States' motor car industry, greatly humbled in the last few
years, despite all of the subsidies received from the most powerful
capitalist state in the past, counted in many billions of U.S.
dollars.

Let me quote from an article published on Ford Corporation and its
globalizing fantasies way back in 1994, published in The Sunday Times.
This is how our distinguished financial journalists painted in those
days their rosy picture:

"Full globalization is being attempted by multinationals ... 'This is
definitely Trotman's baby', said one American source. 'He has a vision
of the future which says that, to be a global winner, Ford must be a
truly global corporation.' According to Trotman, who told The Sunday
Times in October 1993, 'As automotive competition becomes more global
as we get into the next century, the pressure to find scale economies
will become greater and greater. If, instead of making two engines of
500,000 units each, you can make 1 million units, then the costs are
much lower. Ultimately there will be a handful of global players and
the rest will either not be there or they will be struggling along.'
Trotman and his colleagues concluded that full globalization is the
way to beat competitors such as the Japanese and, in Europe, Ford's
arch-rival General Motors, which retains a cost-advantage over Ford.
Ford also believes it needs globalization to capitalise on
fast-emerging markets in the Far East and in Latin America."[8]

Thus, the "only" thing Alex Trotman - the British born Chairman of
Ford Corporation at the time - forgot to consider, despite his
impeccable arithmetical skills of knowing the difference between
500,000 and 1 million, was this: what happens when they cannot sell
the 1 million (and many times more) motor cars, despite the company's
strategically envisaged and enjoyed cost-advantage. In the case of
Ford Corporation, even the massive differential rate of exploitation
which the company could impose worldwide as a huge transnational
company - that is: paying for exactly the same work 25 times less to
the workers of "Ford Philippines Corporation", for instance, than to
their workforce in the United States of America - even this
unquestionable advantage could not be considered sufficient for
securing a way out of this fundamental contradition.

This is where we stand today, not only in the case of the badly
humbled Ford Corporation but also in that of General Motors,
irrespective of its cost-advantage once deeply envied even by the Ford
Corporation of the United States.

Talking about a recently instituted deal which provides major
subsidies by the American state to the country's giant motor car
companies, this is how the unhappy current situation of the U.S.
automotive industry is described in one of the last issues of The
Economist: "the deal [in question] means that car companies - blessed
with the government guarantee - should get loans with an interest rate
of around 5% rather than 15% they would face on the open market in
today's conditions."[9]

However, no amount of subsidy of any kind can be considered
satisfactory enough, because the "Big Three" companies - General
Motors, Ford, and Chryslers - are on the brink of bankruptcy, despite
the fact that Trotsman's dream baby is by now a fully grown teenager.
Thus The Economist must admit that

"Once industrial subsidies like this begin to flow, it is difficult to
stop them. A recent study by the Cato Institute, a rightwing
think-tank, found that the federal government spent some $92 billion
subsidising business in 2006 alone. Only $21 billion of that went to
farmers: much of the rest went to firms such as Boeing, IBM and
General Electric in the form of export-credit support and various
research subsidies.

The Big Three are already complaining that it will take too long to
dish out the [state] money, and they want the process speeded up. They
also want a further 25 billion, possibly attached to the second
version of the Wall Street rescue bill. The logic of bailing out Wall
Street is that finance underpins everything. Detroit cannot begin to
make that claim. But, given its successful lobbying, can it be long
before ailing airlines and failing retailers join the queue?"[10]

The immense speculative expansion of financial adventurism, especially
in the last three or four decades, is of course inseparable from the
deepening crisis of the productive branches of industry and the
ensuing troubles arising from the utterly sluggish capital
accumulation (and indeed failed accumulation) in that productive field
of economic activity. Now, inevitably, also in the domain of
industrial production the crisis is getting much worse.

Naturally, the necessary consequence of the ever deepening crisis in
the productive branches of the "real economy", as they are now
beginning to call it and contrast the productive economy with
speculative financial adventurism, is the growth of unemployment
everywhere on a frightening scale, and the human misery associated
with it. To expect a happy solution to these problems from the
capitalist state's rescue-opera?tions would be a great illusion.

This is the context where our politicians should really begin to pay
attention to the claimed "important lesson of history", instead of
"dishing out large dollops of public money" under the pretence of "the
lesson of history". For as a result of historical development under
the rule of capital in its structural crisis, in our own time we have
reached the point where we must be subjected to the destructive impact
of an ever worsening symbiosis between the state legislative framework
of our society and the material productive as well as the financial
dimension of the established societal reproductive order.

Understandably, that symbiotic relationship can be, and frequently it
also happens to be, managed with utterly corrupt practices by the
privileged personifications of capital, in business as much as in
politics. For, no matter how corrupt such practices might be, they are
fully in tune with the institutionalized counter-values of the
established order. And - within the framework of the symbiosis
prevailing between the economic field and the dominant political
practices - they are legally quite permissible, thanks to the most
dubious and often even clearly anti-democratic facilitating role of
the impenetrable legislative jungle provided in this respect by the
state also in the financial domain.

Fraud?ulence, in a great variety of its practicable forms, is the
nor?mality of capital. Its extremely destructive manifestations are by
no means confined to the operation of the military-industrial complex.
By now the direct role of the capitalist state in the parasitic world
of finance is not only fundamentally important, in view of its
all-pervasive magnitude, as we had to find out with shocking clarity
during the last few weeks, but also potentially ca?tastrophic.

The embarrassing fact of the matter is that the giant U.S. mortgage
companies, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were corruptly supported
and generously supplied with highly profitable but totally undeserved
guarantees by the American State's legislative jungle in the first
place, as well as through the personal services of unpunished
political corruption. Indeed, the capitalist state's ever more dense
legislative jungle happens to be the "democratic" legitimator of
institutionalized fraudulence in our societies. The editors and
journalists of The Economist are in fact perfectly well acquainted
with the corrupt practices whereby, in the case of the giant American
mortgage companies, receiving from their state outrageously
preferential treatment [here I quote The Economist]

"allowed Fannie and Freddie to operate with tiny amounts of capital.
The two groups had core capital (as defined by their regulator) of
$83.2 billion at the end of 2007; this supported $5.2 trillion of debt
and guarantees, a gearing ratio of 65 to one. [ !!! ] According to
CreditSights, a research group, Fannie and Freddie were counterparties
in $2.3 trillion-worth of derivative transactions, related to their
hedging activities. There is no way a private bank would be allowed to
have such a highly geared balance sheet,[11] nor would it qualify for
the highest AAA credit rating. ? They used their cheap financing to
buy higher-yielding assets.[12]

[Moreover,] With so much at stake, no wonder the companies built a
formidable lobbying machine. Ex-politicians were given jobs. Critics
could expect a rough ride. The companies were not afraid to bite the
hands that fed them."[13]

Not being afraid "to bite the hands that fed them" refers, of course,
to the American state legislative body. But why should they be afraid?
For such giant companies constitute a total symbiosis with the
capitalist state. This is a relationship corruptly asserting itself
also in terms of the personnel involved, through the act of hiring
politicians who could serve them preferentially, with a mind-boggling
"gearing ratio of 65 to one" and the associated AAA credit rating,
even according to the reluctant confession of The Economist.

The gravity of the present situation is underlined in a characteristic
way by the circumstance, reported in these words by The Economist:
"traders in the credit-default swaps market have recently made bets on
the unthinkable: that America may default on its debt."[14] Naturally,
such traders react even to events of such character and gravity that
we experience today the only possible way they can: by squeezing
profit out of it.

The big trouble for the global capital system is, though, that the
default of Am?erica is not unthinkable at all. On the contrary, it is
- and it has been for a very long time - a coming certainty. This is
why I wrote many years ago (in 1995, to be precise) that:

"In a world of financial insecurity nothing suits better the practice
of gambling with astronomical and criminally unsecured sums on the
world's stock exchan?ges - foreshadowing an earthquake of magnitude 9
or 10 on the Financial 'Richter Scale' - than to call the enterprises
which engage in such gambling 'Securities Management'; ? When exactly
and in what form - of which there can be several, more or less brutal,
varieties - the U.S. will default on its astronomical debt, cannot be
seen at this point in time. There can be only two certainties in this
regard. The first is that the inevitability of the American default
will deeply affect everyone on this planet. And the second, that the
preponderant hegemonic power position of the U.S. will continue to be
asserted in every way, so as to make the rest of the world pay for the
American debt for as long as it is capable of doing."[15]

Of course, the aggravating condition today is that the rest of the
world - even with the historically most ironical massive Chinese
contribution to the balance sheet of the American Treasury - is less
and less capable of filling the "black hole" produced on an ever
growing scale by America's insatiable appetite for debt financing, as
demonstrated by the global reverberations of the recent U.S. mortgage
and bank crisis. This circumstance brings the necessary default of
America, in one of its "more or less brutal varieties", that much
nearer.

The truth of this disturbing matter is that there can be no way out of
these ultimately suicidal contradictions, which are inseparable from
the imperative of endless capital-expansion, irrespective of the
consequences - arbitrarily and mystifyingly confounded with growth as
such - without radically changing our mode of social metabolic
reproduction by adopting the much needed responsible and rational
practices of the only viable eco?nomy,[16] oriented by human need,
instead of alienating, dehumanizing and degrading profit.

This is where the overwhelming impediment of capital's self-serving
interdeterminations must be confronted, no matter how difficult it
must be under the prevailing conditions. For the absolutely necessary
adoption and the appropriate future development of the only viable
economy is inconceivable without the radical transformation of the
established socioeconomic and political order itself.

Gordon Brown recently voiced his displeasure about "unfettered
capi?talism", in the name of totally unspecified "regulation". You may
remember that Gorbachev, too, wanted a kind of regulated capitalism,
under the name of "market socialism", and you must also know what
happened to him and to his grotesque daydream. On the other hand,
British Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath's expression, a very
long time ago, for the same sin of "unfettered capitalism" was "the
unacceptable face of capitalism". And yet, "unfettered capitalism",
despite its "unacceptable face", remained all these de?cades not only
"acceptable" but - in the course of its further development - it had
become much worse. For the causal foundation of our ever more serious
problems is not the "unacceptable face of unregulated capitalism" but
its dest?ructive substance. It is that over?powering substance that
must resist and nullify all efforts aimed at restrain?ing the capital
system even minimally - as, indeed, it actually succeeded in doing so
also in the form of metamorphosing socialdemocratic "Old Labour" in
Britain into neoliberal "New Labour". Accordingly, the periodically
renewed fantasy of regulating capitalism in a structurally significant
way can only amount to trying to tie knots on winds.

But the last thing we need today is to continue to tie knots on winds,
when we have to face the gravity of capital's structural crisis, which
calls for the institution of radical systemic change. It is most
revealing about the incorrigible character of the capital system that
even at a time like this, when the immense magnitude of the unfolding
crisis cannot be denied any longer even by the system's most devoted
ex officio apologists - a crisis described a few days ago by no less a
figure than the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England as the greatest
economic crisis in all human history - nothing can be contemplated,
not to mention actually done, for changing the fundamental defects of
an ever more destructive societal reproductive order by those who
control the economic and political levers of our society.

In contrast to the recent illumination by his own Deputy, the Governor
of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, had no reservations at all about
the soundness of the cherished capital system, nor did he have the
faintest anticipation of a coming crisis, when he praised to the sky
Martin Wolf's capital-apologetic book, with its self-com?placent
peremptorily assertive title: Why Globalization Works. He called that
book "a devastating intellectual critique of the opponents of
globalization" and a "civilized, wise and optimistic view of our
economic and political future".[17] Now, however, everybody is forced
to have at least some concern about the real nature and the necessary
destructive consequences of dogmatically hailed capitalist
globalization.

Naturally, my own attitude to Wolf's book was very different from that
of Mervyn King and others who share the same vested interests. I
commented at the time of its publication that

"the author, who is the Chief Economics Commentator of the London
Financial Times, forgets to ask the really important question: For
whom does it work?, if it does. It certainly works, for the time
being, and by no means that well, for the decision makers of
transnational capital, but not for the overwhelming majority of
humankind who must suffer the consequences. And no amount of
"jurisdictional integration" advocated by the author - that is, in
plain English, the tighter direct control of the deplored "too many
states" by a handful of imperialist powers, especially the biggest one
of them - is going to remedy the situation. Capitalist globalization
in reality does not work and cannot work. For it cannot overcome the
irreconcilable contradictions and antagonisms manifest through the
global structural crisis of the system. Capitalist globalization
itself is the contradictory manifestation of that crisis, trying to
overturn the cause/effect relationship in a vain attempt to cure some
negative effects by other wishfully projected effects, because it is
structurally incapable of addressing their causes."[18]

In this sense, the recent attempts to counter the intensifying crisis
symptoms, by the cynically camouflaged nationalization of astronomic
magnitudes of capitalist bankruptcy, out of the yet to be invented
state resources, could only highlight the deep-seated antagonistic
causal determinations of the capital system's destructiveness. For
what is fundamentally at stake today is not simply a massive financial
crisis but humanity's potential self-dest?ruction at this juncture of
historical development, both militarily and through the ongoing
destruction of nature.

Despite the concerted mani?pulation of interest rates and the recent
vacuous Summits of the dominant capitalist countries, nothing has been
lastingly achieved by "throwing in gigantic dollops of money" into the
bottomless hole of the "crunched" global financial market. The
"comprehensive global answer to the confidence gap", as wishfully
projected by The Economist and its masters, belongs to the world of
(not so pure) fantasy. For one of the greatest historic failures of
capital, as the long established mode of social metabolic control, is
the continued dominance of potentially most aggressive nation states,
and the impossibility of instituting the state of the capital system
as such on the basis of the structurally entrenched antagonisms of the
capital system.

To imagine that within the framework of such antagonistic causal
determinations a harmonious permanent solution could be found to the
deepening structural crisis of a most iniquitous production and
exchange system - which is now actively engaged in producing even a
global food crisis, on top of all of its other crying contradictions,
including the ever more pervasive destruction of nature -, without
even attempting to remedy its grievous iniquities, is the worst kind
of wishful thinking, bordering on total irrationality. For,
self-contradictorily, it wants to retain the existing order despite
its necessarily explosive iniquities and antagonisms. And the
so-called "jurisdictional integration of the too many states" under a
self-appointed few, or one, as advocated by some capital-apologists,
can only suggest the - equally self-contradictory - permanence of
potentially suicidal global imperialist domination.

This is why Marx is more relevant today than ever before. For only a
radical systemic change can offer the historically sustainable hope
and solution for the future.

N O T A S

* Lecture written for a meeting held in Conway Hall, London, on 21st
October 2008. Este art?culo fue enviado por el autor para su difusi?n
en Herramienta a fines de octubre de 2008. Una vez traducido,
subiremos a la p?gina tambi?n la versi?n en castellano.

[1] All these quotations are taken from the same Editorial article of
The Economist, 11 October 2008, p. 13.

[2] The Economist, 11 October 2008, special section, p. 3.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., p. 4.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., p. 6.

[7] Shii Kazuo in Japan Press Weekly, Special Issue, October 2008, p. 20.

[8] "Ford prepares for global revolution", by Andrew Lorenz and Jeff
Randall. The Sunday Times, 27 March 1994, Section 3, p. 1.

[9] "A bail-out that passed. In the slipstream of Wall'street's woes,
the Big Three land a huge subsidy." The Economist, October 4th, 2008,
p. 82.

[10] Ibid., p. 83.

[11] Lehman Brothers, one of the principal private merchant banks, had
a gearing ratio of 30 to 1. That is bad enough!

[12] "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: End of illusions", The Economist,
July 19-25, 2008, p. 84.

[13] "A brief family history: Toxic fudge", The Economist, July 19-25,
2008, p. 84.

[14] "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: End of illusions", The Economist,
July 19-25, 2008, p. 85.

[15] "The Present Crisis", quoted from Part IV. of Beyond Capital
(published in London in 1995), pp.962-3. (In Spanish in M?s all? del
capital, Vadell Hermanos Editores, Caracas, 2001, pp. 1111-12.)

[16] See in this respect: "Qualitative Growth in Utilization: The Only
Viable Eco?nomy", Section 9.5 of my book, The Challenge and Burden of
Historical Time, Monthly Review Press, New York, 2008, pp. 272-93.
(Published in Herramienta, Numbers 36 and 37.)

[17] Mervyn King's endorsement, on the back cover of Martin Wolf's
book, Why Globalization Works, Yale University Press, 2004.

[18] In "Education - Beyond Capital", Opening Lecture delivered at the
F?rum Mundial de Educa??o, Porto Allegre, July 28, 2004. In Spanish
reprinted in La educaci?n m?s all? del capital, Siglo Veintiuno
Editores / Clacso Coediciones, Rio de Janeiro, 2008. See also the
chapter: "Why Capitalist Globalization Cannot Work?" in my book, The
Challenge and Burden of Historical Time, Monthly Review Press, New
York, 2008, pp. 380-398; Spanish edition: El desaf?o y la carga del
tiempo hist?rico, Vadell Hermanos Editores / Clacso Coedici?nes,
Caracas, 2008, pp. 371-389.





-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From perjef at optonline.net  Tue Nov  4 07:03:53 2008
From: perjef at optonline.net (Jeffrey B. Perry)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:03:53 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Book Announcement: "Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem
 Radicalism, 1883-1918"
Message-ID: <00c301c93e86$2cae25c0$860a7140$@net>

Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918
by Jeffrey B. Perry
Just Published (November 3) From Columbia University Press
For a Brief Description of the Book --
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13910-6/hubert-harrison
For a Longer Description of the Book - See BlackPast.org
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=perspectives/hubert-harrison-voice-early-20th-ce
ntury-harlem-radicalism
For Reviewer Comments -- by Cornel West, Amiri Baraka, Arnold Rampersad,
David Levering Lewis, Manning Marable, Winston James, Joyce Moore Turner,
David Roediger, Komozi Woodard, Bill Fletcher Jr., Christopher Phelps,
Peniel Joseph, Gary Okihiro, Portia James, and Gene Bruskin -- See
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13910-6/hubert-harrison/reviews
Jeffrey B. Perry


From binesi at gvtel.com  Tue Nov  4 08:49:09 2008
From: binesi at gvtel.com (David Thorstad)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:49:09 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crimes legislation and libertarianism
In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
References: <3.0.3.32.20081103235526.03e6aee8@pop.xs4all.nl>
Message-ID: <49106EF5.5070104@gvtel.com>

Jeff wrote:
>
>  But I was disgusted to see a Marxist finding common cause with the 
> reactionaries who attack such laws (and apparently prevented its passage in 
> Wyoming).
>
> I was further disturbed that David Thorstad justified his opposition using 
> an identical argument used by the right-wing to oppose passage of these 
> laws. That is the specious argument that hate-crimes laws are "unfair" 
> because they punish a person for "what he is thinking" rather than just the 
> physical act of violence, thereby interfering in ones "freedom of thought." 
>   
I don't think I have ever used quite this kind of formulation. I regard 
hate-crimes legislation as wrong and wrongheaded because it punishes 
what is allegedly in someone's head (or bad words spoken, whether in 
execution of a crime or not, as on some college campuses, where merely 
calling someone a "fag" or a "honky" or similar epithets is verboten) 
rather than (or in addition to) the actual crime. In this, it seems to 
me to be a tool for punishing "thought crimes," which additionally 
increases the powers of the police and the state in a way that strikes 
me as misguided. (In that, it is similar to making illegal the 
possession of pornography, something for which many feminists pushed.) 
Such legislation resembles Nazi legislation. For example, Paragraph 175, 
which in Germany punished certain homosexual acts between males (but not 
females), was extended by the Nazis in 1935 (as Paragraph 175a) "to 
include kisses, embraces, and even homosexual fantasies. The utterly 
irrational nature of Nazi philosophy is perfectly illustrated by their 
being as concerned with what was allegedly in someone's head--with his 
'intent'--as with practice in the real world. This mystical nonsense was 
justified by a Nazi theory of 'phenomenlogical justice' that purported 
to evaluate a person's character rather than his actions" (from John 
Lauritsen and David Thorstad, /The Early Homosexual Rights Movement 
[1864-1935]/, p. 44). In one case, a man was convicted under this 
statute because he admitted that while watching a hetero couple fuck in 
a public park, he had looked only at the man. I do not believe bad words 
or bad thoughts should be punished. The murder of Matthew Sheppard 
called for severe punishment, but the fact he was gay should not have 
made it any more severe.
>
> But more disturbing to me is that Thorstad was so inclined to borrow 
> arguments from the right wing. I guess it's possible he came to this 
> conclusion himself, and it happened to be the same argument as advanced by 
> the right. But I suspect otherwise. Especially given that elsewhere in his 
> post he pointed to "libertarian" (= right wing) support for his views.
>   
I do not believe anyone on the list, including Jeff, actually engaged 
any of the arguments that Justin Raimundo made in his piece. Jeff 
appears to merely dismiss him because he's a libertarian. To this kind 
of argumentation, I would respond as follows:
    1. There are both left and right libertarians. I do not know which 
Raimundo considers himself to be. It doesn't matter. Sometimes, 
libertarian views--particularly those that express hostility to state 
intervention in the private lives of citizens, above all in areas of 
morality--are superior to those of some leftists, who seem to have 
forgotten that their ultimate goal is to eliminate the state. (The same 
could be said of some anarchists or utopian socialists, such as Fourier, 
who pithily said that "Laws against morality are designed to catch the 
little fish and let the big fish through." Fourier's views on sexuality 
and morality were miles ahead of most leftists, whether of the Stalinist 
or the Trotskyist variety.)
    2. I wonder how Jeff arrives at his "suspicion" that I may not have 
"come to this conclusion" by my own self, rather than borrowing from 
right wingers. Maybe he's a mind reader. Had he read any number of 
articles I have written over the past few years, both about the left and 
homosexuality and in opposition to same-sex marriage (I posted a link to 
some more than once), it would have been clear, I think, that I have 
subscribed to a general libertarian outlook for a long time. I disagree 
with right-wing libertarians on many things (private medical industry, 
private fire departments...), but their hostility to state involvement 
in private and moral affairs is not one of them. I can allay his 
peculiar suspicions and confirm that I have arrived at my views on my own.
    3. There is also a strain of left-wing libertarianism, which I find 
congenial. My good friend Daniel Gu?rin, for instance, called himself a 
"libertarian communist." That earned him some hostility from mostly 
American anarchists, who attacked him, for example, at an anarchist 
conference at Hunter College in the 1970s for supporting the NLF against 
the U.S. imperialists and the Palestinians against the Zionists. Many 
leftists, in my experience, look upon the state with a too benevolent 
gaze (perhaps from decades of defending the Soviet "workers' state" and 
the Cuban regime). I believe it was Engels who said "The existence of 
the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery." Unfortunately, 
many people today still enjoy being slaves more than being free individuals.
    4. "Hate-crimes" legislation is, as I noted earlier, one of the 
three central demands of the currently degenerated American gay/lez 
movement. The other two are marriage and getting into the imperialist 
military (to kill third world babies for Wall Street). I regard all 
three as misguided and a sign of how far that movement has strayed from 
the Stonewall vision of liberation, replacing it with assimilation to 
the status quo, conventionality, and conservatism. I don't think such a 
bourgeois agenda augurs well for the future of that movement.
David



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 08:54:12 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 10:54:12 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] New Orders
References: <20081104130242.4DA4AD330@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <98717D1502E844A89B89D38E95C36C7D@dmsthinkpad>

Capital Goods Industries

Nondefense

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in September increased $0.6 billion 
or 0.8 percent to $69.3 billion.

Defense

Defense new orders for capital goods in September increased $1.9 billion or 
19.6 percent to $11.8 billion.

Full:   http://www.census.gov:80/indicator/www/m3/index.htm





From lnp3 at panix.com  Tue Nov  4 09:13:54 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:13:54 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Barack Obama and the American void
Message-ID: <20081104161351.834B8DB69@mailbackend.panix.com>

http://fora.tv/2008/09/18/Branding_Democracy_Barack_Obama_and_the_American_Void



From wquimby at embarqmail.com  Tue Nov  4 21:23:57 2008
From: wquimby at embarqmail.com (Bill Quimby)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:23:57 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] [A-List] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on
	the crisis
In-Reply-To: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <49111FDD.8060805@embarqmail.com>

Nestor - this looks like a great site, by the way (the herramienta.com from
which you forwarded the article). My Spanish is "nada" but I can struggle
through a political text somewhat.

However I am unable to see (at this early point) what the political tendency
of herramienta is ... do you have any background info?

- Bill

N?stor Gorojovsky wrote:
> [Hope this did not get into the list before, have not been following
> my mail seriously these weeks. If it has, sorry. If it hasn??t, please
> pay attention to it. It is worth reading, every bit of it]
> 
> Source: http://www.herramienta.com.ar/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=629
> 
> The unfolding crisis and the relevance of Marx
> 
> Autor: Istv??n M??sz??ros*


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 09:34:27 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 11:34:27 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] New Orders II--China
References: <20081104130242.4DA4AD330@mailbackend.panix.com>
	<98717D1502E844A89B89D38E95C36C7D@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <13035FDDEC024239BA6A4000C2346331@dmsthinkpad>

There are some who think China will escape political and social upheaval 
from the fallout of the  recession and financial meltdown.

Apparently, Wen Jiabao, China's prime minister, is not among them

According to today's Financial Times, Wen wrote in a CCP magazine that 2008 
"was the most difficult in recent years" and maintaining high growth was a 
priority. Wen is quoted:

"We must be crystal-clear that without a certain pace of economic growth, 
there will be difficulties with employment, fiscal revenues, social 
development...and factors damagine social stability will grow."

Says the FT:  "Slowdown fears in China were exacerbated by two surveys of 
the manufacturing sector which showed a sharp decline.

The China purchasing managers' index compiled by the brokerage CLSA fell 
from 47.7 points to 45.2 points [if this index is run like that in the US 
and EU, below 50 indicates contraction in the manufacturing sector] in 
October--the steepest monthly fall and the lowest point since the index 
started in 2004.  Meanwhile, a government-backed survey of manufacturers 
dropped 6.6 points to 44.6 in October, also a record fall."



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 10:51:26 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:51:26 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Fidel Castro: Reflections on the November 4th elections
Message-ID: <6169041.1225821086560.JavaMail.root@mswamui-thinleaf.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

For some context, including the hopes of many people
internationally, Cuban political scientist Manuel Yepe
makes some cogent points. He adds that while many people
see in Obama their hopes for a more peaceful, and less
violent world, others have less savory motivations in
supporting the Illinois Senator, and they are extremely
powerful, he emphasizes in wrapping this up.

Fidel's comment was completed last night.

OBAMA'S GOOD FORTUNE
by Manuel E. Yepe
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2209.html
======================================================

Reflections by comrade Fidel

http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/ing/f031108i.html

THE NOVEMBER 4TH ELECTIONS

Tomorrow will be a significant day. The world public will be
following the United States elections there. It is the most powerful
nation on Earth. Actually, with less than 5% of the world population
it swallows every year great amounts of oil and gas, minerals, raw
materials, consumer goods and sophisticated products brought from
overseas. Many of these, particularly the fuels and those extracted
from mines, are non renewable.

It is the largest arms producer and exporter. Its industrial military
complex also has an insatiable domestic market. Its naval and air
forces are deployed in scores of military basis located in the
territory of other nations. The United States strategic
warhead-carrying missiles can reach any place in the world with
absolute precision.

A great number of the cleverest minds in the world are uprooted from
their original countries and placed at the service of the system. 
It is a parasitical and plundering empire.

It is a known fact that the black population introduced in the US
territory throughout centuries of slavery is the victim of a marked
racial discrimination.

The Democratic candidate Obama is partly black; the dark skin and
features of that race are predominant in him. He was able to study at
a higher education center where he graduated with outstanding
results. He is surely more clever, better educated and calm than his
Republican adversary.

I?m analyzing tomorrow?s elections when the world is enduring a
serious financial crisis ?the worst since the 1930s? among many
others which have seriously affected the economy of many nations in
the course of over three fourths of a century.

The international media, the political analysts and commentators are
using part of their time to discuss the issue. Obama is considered
the best political speaker of the United States in the past decades.
His compatriot Toni Morrison, a 1993 Nobel Prize Laureate in
Literature, and the first one from her ethnic group born in the
United States who has been awarded such prize --an excellent author--
has called him the future President and poet of that nation.

I have been watching the struggle between the contenders. The black
candidate caused much amazement with his nomination in the face of
strong adversaries. He has well articulated ideas which he hammers
once and again into the voters? minds. He does not hesitate to claim
that more than Republicans or Democrats they are all Americans, the
citizens he qualifies as the most productive in the world. He says he
will reduce taxes for the middle class, where he includes practically
everybody, while he will completely remove them for the poorest and
raise them for the wealthiest. The revenues, he claims, will not the
used to bailout banks.

He insists repeatedly that the ruinous spending on Bush?s war in Iraq
will not be paid by the American taxpayers. He will put an end to it
and bring the US troops back home. Perhaps he is mindful of the fact
that that country had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001. However, the blood has been shed of thousands of
US troops, injured or killed in battle, and the lives taken of over a
million people in that Muslim nation. It was a war of conquest
imposed by the empire seeking for oil.

In light of the current financial crisis and its consequences, the
American people are more concerned over the economy than the war in
Iraq. They are anguishing over their jobs, the safety of their bank
deposits and their retirement funds, and the fear of loosing the
purchasing power of their money and the houses where they live with
their families. They wish to have the certainty that whatever the
circumstances they will receive adequate medical care and that their
children will accede to higher education.

Obama is challenging and I think he has taken and will still take
great risks in a country where any extremist can legally purchase a
sophisticated modern weapon anywhere, as it was the case in the first
half of the 18th century in the west of the United States. He
supports his system and he will be get support from it. The pressing
problems of the world are not really a major source of concern to
Obama, much less to the candidate who as a war pilot dropped tens of
tons of bombs on Hanoi City, that is, more than 9,375 miles away from
Washington, ad this with no remorse.

When last Thursday I addressed a letter to Lula, in addition to what
I already mentioned in my Reflections of October 31, I literally
wrote: ?Racism and discrimination have been present in the American
society ever since its birth, over two centuries ago. Latin Americans
and blacks have always been discriminated against there. Its citizens
have been brought up under consumerism. Humanity is objectively
threatened by its mass extermination weapons.?

?The American people are more concerned over the economy that the
Iraq war. McCain is an old, bellicose and uneducated man; he is not
very smart and he is in poor health.?

Finally, I said: ?If my estimates were wrong and racism prevailed: if
the Republican candidate won the Presidency, the danger of a war
would increase and the peoples? opportunities to progress would be
reduced. Nevertheless, we need to fight and to build awareness about
this, whoever it is who wins this election.?

When these views that I sustain are published tomorrow, nobody will
have time to say that I wrote something that could be used by any
candidate to advance his campaign. I had to be, and I have been,
neutral in this electoral competition. It is not ?interference in the
internal affairs of the United States?, as the State Department would
put it, as respectful as it is of other countries? sovereignty.

Fidel Castro Ruz

November 3, 2008

4:10 p.m.














.

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From jeffrubard at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 12:37:09 2008
From: jeffrubard at gmail.com (Jeff Rubard)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 11:37:09 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Blog post: "If You Don't Vote, You Can Complain"
Message-ID: <2d7b09a00811041137q4246140h91b8f8ba220af734@mail.gmail.com>

I don't usually direct list readers to my blog, since one of the main points
of the blog is to talk about things *other* than Marxism. However, I thought
my Election day post might help reassure that "soft leftists" who have
supported Obama in the election cycle aren't all cretins when it comes
to the total social environment:

http://jeffrubard.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/if-you-dont-vote-you-can-complain/

Text:

It's Election Day and I'm excited, but although I've supported Barack
Obama since I first heard of him and done a fair amount of whooping and
hollering for him in leftist milieux previously inclining towards Clinton or
Edwards I won't be giving the usual GOTV spiel; since Oregon votes by mail
almost all the ballots are already filled out, and there's a nasty undercurrent
to the civic-mindedism "If you don't vote, you can't complain" that I'd like
to address on behalf of all the nonvoters I know. "If you don't vote, you
can't complain" really means you can't complain: either your candidate
got in and everybody is suffering the ill effects, or the will of the people
rejected them, or you're feeble-minded scum lacking the basic
prerequisites for active citizenship. Of course you can complain about
US politics: you can even complain if you're not a citizen, or if you don't
live here.

However, "nonvoters" as normally construed are bonafide American
citizens who choose not to vote for a variety of reasons ranging from
the fact they are "experiencing homelessness" to a distaste for all
candidates involved. Choosing to abstain from an election does not
compromise your rights as citizen one bit: you're not required to sign
up for either the Democratic or Republican "total mobilization" efforts
(though expecting those mountains to come to Mohammed a la
supporters of Oregon's Ballot Measure 65, an "open primary" measure
designed to make sure the Sensible Center rules the unruly left and
right by destroying party politics as we know it, might really be a bit
much). Citizenship is about following the spirit of the laws and
keeping your country in mind, and if the choices seem bad the right
thing to do might really be to do nothing.


From mikedf at amnh.org  Tue Nov  4 14:23:40 2008
From: mikedf at amnh.org (Mike Friedman)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:23:40 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
In-Reply-To: <mailman.31503.1225517877.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
References: <mailman.31503.1225517877.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Message-ID: <49231.24.190.156.120.1225833820.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>

Why I will vote for Obama


I haven?t voted, yet, but when I do, in a short while, it will be for
Barack Obama.

I?ve read, re-read and re-re-read the recent articles by Matt Gonzalez and
Chris Hedges and the open letter to Obama by Ralph Nader. I?m currently
reading the Selfa book on the Democrats. They are all on target as far as
their analyses of Obama and the current spate of Democrats are concerned.
I?d never imagined that I would even consider the option


All of these writers, however, have erected a straw man, at least as far
as my decision goes. Matt Gonzalez asks: ?At what point will there be
intellectual honesty about what is happening? People are voting for Obama
because they find him to be an engaging public speaker and like his
message, regardless of his history of being a part of the very problem he
professes to want to fix. Most people don?t want the actual facts to
interfere with the desperate hope that he is everything they want him to
be.?

Matt could well have been answering Hazel Dukes, the head of the NYC
NAACP, who this morning ingenuously or disingenuously announced on WBAI
that Obama will provide a humane policy for undocumented immigrants and a
path to citizenship.

But, he wasn?t on my wavelength.

I will vote for Obama for one reason.

I believe Joaquin called it "sticking it to the racists."

I find that I agree with the main thrust of what Fred, Joaquin and others
have been saying. Racism is THE roadblock to the emergence of a working
class political consciousness and politique in the U.S. Transcending the
question of the class program of the candidates at this moment, is the
concrete significance of this election as the opportunity to deliver an
historical blow to racism in this country. I have heard no convincing
arguments to the contrary. For me, that simple fact alone justifies
choosing Obama, all else being equal. However, that simple fact also opens
up the possibility of much more, in spite of Obama and his program.

As many of us have repeated ad nauseum, both for and against voting for
Obama, *as far as policy is concerned*, it really doesn?t matter which of
the major candidates is elected. There are many who do indulge in this
fantasy, as Matt Gonzalez pointed out. However, the only force capable of
imposing the type of social and economic program we see as essential is a
broad social movement, based on all of the oppressed and exploited. Even
the types of piecemeal reform that would at least ameliorate life for
millions of people will not appear on the horizon without movement. Of
course, a Nader-Gonzalez, or a McKinney-Clemente electoral victory *would*
make a difference, because that would be a direct manifestation of such
social movement. But, at that point...

In that sense, the bourgeois elections are almost irrelevant. Not totally,
because we?ve always seen them as an adjunct to movement building.

It seems that some of us, in a strange way, have our own illusions in
bourgeois electoralism. Mark Lause wrote, "the ballot is a mandate to rule
from the governed to the governing. As I tell my liberal friends,
regardless of what progressive notions you have in your mind or your heart
when you cast your ballot, it is objectively vote of confidence in his
agenda.  That's how it's going
to be seen and understood socially, and the rest is a matter between you
and the Holy Ghost." This is wrong. The part about a "vote of confidence
in his agenda" is a meaningless abstraction. While it is true that I've
heard Democrats and Republicans say, "well you voted for him..." But, it
hardly puts a geas on the "governed" to abide the "governing's" program
and decisions. To refrain from organizing and mobilizing against the war
in Iraq, global warming, attacks on immigrants, etc. Moreover, how much
does such a "mandate" matter, when the Democrats so blithely ignore it
whenever they choose? The current Democratic Congress had a "mandate" to
end the occupation of Iraq. What happened to that?

And now, the fact of an African American presidential candidacy, itself,
becomes an adjunct to movement building. And the election of such a
candidate *could* be a further adjunct, not depending on his actions, but,
broadly, ours. As always, there will be a tug of war: Obama the Democrat
trying to use his political capital to further an imperialist agenda; we
trying to use the momentum of popular aspirations to broaden and deepen
opposition to that agenda. Nothing is set in stone. But, the aspirations
that have been awakened, the level of political discussion, the
participation, even within the circumscribed scope of U.S. electoral
politics: at the risk of hyperbole, the mass political gestalt is almost
poised to flow over the dam. Disillusionment with Obama?s performance (or
a miraculous change in Obama?s orientation) could tip the balance. Will it
be channeled by right-wing populism or by the social transformative agenda
of the majority?






From binesi at gvtel.com  Tue Nov  4 14:24:28 2008
From: binesi at gvtel.com (David Thorstad)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:24:28 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Hate crime laws are dangerous and unnecessary: history
 and perspective from Alexander Cockburn
Message-ID: <4910BD8C.50307@gvtel.com>

Here's some history and perspective on how misguided "hate-crimes" laws are.
David
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
CounterPunch

www.counterpunch.org 
June 19, 2000 

New York Press [New York, NY] 
June 21, 2000 

Gays and the "Hate Crimes" Madness 

By Alexander Cockburn 

We're just about 31 years away from the great Stonewall riot, which set the 
tone for years of defiant gay insurgency. Stonewall was about defiance. It 
was a Fuck You to the forces of repression, to the forces of the state. So 
where's this spirit of defiance today? 

Here's a clue. In early June, we were able to read in our national 
newspapers that about 60 gay employees of the C.I.A. were joined by a 
busload of intelligence workers from the National Security Agency for a 
event designed to evince gay pride. Present were top officials, including 
George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence. Addressing the gay 
spooks was Barney Frank, the noted gay rep from Massachusetts. 

Taste the ironies. The gay spooks, albeit proud, were still unidentifiable, 
and then returned to their tasks of planning the sabotage of the Cuban 
economy, the undermining of Libya and other staples of the agency's daily 
fare. How would the Stonewall rioters of the late 60s have reacted to that? 
Wouldn't they have said that "liberation" should mean not only the 
assertion of a gay identity, but also the sloughing off of the sort of 
false consciousness that allows a person to work equably for a secret 
agency with the blood of millions on its hands? 

Gays have always had an uneasy relationship with the state and with the 
authorities, for sound reasons. Down the decades they've been hunted, 
entrapped, arrested, sentenced, persecuted. With increasing vigor and 
effect since Stonewall they've fought back. But now we have the repugnant 
spectacle of many prominent gays and gay groups oblivious to this long 
history. Take the death penalty. There's no more glaring expression of the 
inequities of race and class than the manner in which the death penalty is 
operated in our society, yet some gay organizations--including the richest 
and biggest of them all, the Human Rights Campaign--are silent on capital 
punishment. They're mute as the state hauls off the poor and the black to 
die, and save their lungs for "hate crimes" laws, for longer prison terms, 
for more repression by the state. 

Listen to Richard Haymes, of the New York City Gay and Lesbian 
Anti-Violence Project: "Hate crimes legislation would remove the decision 
making process regarding plea bargaining and reduced or dismissed sentences 
out of the judges' hands because they set a benchmark of punishment for 
each offense which cannot be pleaded, bargained away or dismissed." In 
other words, the zeal to deal with antigay violence now leads to advocacy 
of laws that threaten justice, due process and civil liberties. 

Listen to how Winnie Stachelberg, of the Human Rights Campaign, borrows 
from the hysterical idiom of the cold war, when she proclaims that "In our 
multi-cultural nation, hate crimes are a form of domestic terrorism and act 
as atomic bombs to national unity." And just as civil liberties and 
constitutional protections were trashed in the name of the crusade against 
Communism, the "hate crimes" legislators are now installing thought crimes 
in the American penal code. 

This week the U.S. Senate is once again debating a hate crimes law. The 
likelihood is that the whole stupid folly will die in committee, but such 
is not the case in New York state, where the only question is, which 
version will become law. Under the Governor's bill, a convicted person 
could draw an extra three to ten years if bias was proved. 

How would those Stonewall demonstrators have felt about the spectacle in 
Albany, where gay groups across the state are cheering on Gov. Pataki, the 
man who reintroduced the death penalty? 

There are more than two dozen gay antiviolence groups across the country 
that form the NCAVP, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Some 
of the work they do on behalf of crime victims is laudable. However, there 
are only four groups in the coalition that oppose capital punishment--yet 
surely the death penalty is one of state-sanctioned violence. These group 
tally elaborate statistics about "hate crimes" and annually issue them to 
pump up their calls for tougher criminal laws. 

There was a 1999 case in Douglas, WY, that's a good illustration of how 
some of this crime-victim advocacy work can run aground. Here how the NCAVP 
press release reported the case: "In an apparent case of irresponsible and 
anti-gay police investigation and prosecution, the alleged assailant in the 
near-fatal beating and sexual assault of a Wyoming gay man has been 
undercharged and allowed to roam free in the community, according to 
activists familiar with the incident. In spite of the fact that he 
allegedly nearly killed a man in the vicious baseball bat beating, the 
attacker faces only simple assault charges. 

As reported in the Saturday, October 16 edition of the Casper Star Tribune, 
Lester Shuler, of Douglas, Wyoming, suffered the beating and assault on 
October 9. The suspect, Jody Hoving, allegedly sexually assaulted Shuler 
after harassing and taunting him in a local bar and pursuing Shuler to his 
home where the assault and beating occurred. Shuler required 36 stitches to 
close head wounds received in the attack. Doctors say that the blows came 
within a quarter inch of being fatal. News of the attack has surfaced 
against the backdrop of the first phase of the murder trial of Aaron 
McKinney in the beating death of gay University of Wyoming student, Matthew 
Shepard." 

The reality was somewhat different. Although the NCAVP release says "the 
attacker faces only simple assault charges," he had been charged with 
felony assault and has since been convicted and is facing up to 10 years in 
prison. Facing 10 years isn't so "simple" if you're on the receiving end. 
More alarmingly, the release says the attacker was "allowed to roam free in 
the community." He was released on bail. Would the NCAVP have us do away 
with bail or use bail for pretrial detention? Meanwhile, these gay 
antiviolence groups pay little attention to the ongoing targeting, hunting 
down and arrest of men who deign to practice homosexuality. 

The push for "hate crimes" laws really got going in the mid-1980s, with the 
Anti-Defamation League, one of the prime promoters. Credit for coining the 
term "hate crime" apparently belongs collectively to Reps. John Conyers 
(D-MI), Barbara Kennelly (D-CT), and Mario Biaggi (D-NY). In 1985 they 
cosponsored a bill in the House of Representatives entitled, "Hate Crime 
Statistics Act." The bill sought to require the Department of Justice to 
collect and publish statistics on the nature and number of crimes motivated 
by racial, religious, and ethnic prejudice. In 1985, 11 hate-crime articles 
appeared in newspapers nationwide. In 1990, there were 511 stories about 
hate crimes, and three years later, more than 1000. 

The murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie gave a huge push to the "hate 
crimes" lobby. But it also gave gay opponents of this same lobby a dramatic 
opportunity to make their case. Bill Dobbs and Michael Petrelis of Queer 
Watch opened up a telling campaign that allowed the defense attorneys for 
Henderson and McKinney, Shepard's killers, to win some breathing room and 
to save their clients from death row. 

"The criminal laws cover every kind of victim," Dobbs points out, "no 
matter how beloved or reviled, from the white-haired grandmother that 
garners sympathy from all to the seediest low-life that many might say 
'deserved it'--with gradations for intent. The real challenge is to get the 
law applied in such a fashion as to give justice. Twisting the law out of 
shape is not a cure for cases that the criminal justice system will not 
reckon with in an even-handed manner. In the end, changing the attitudes of 
police, prosecutors, and most important the public will give much better 
justice. Pushing for such laws is causing us to lose perspective on crime 
and punishment. The law and order climate that we are in demands more 
criminal laws, longer sentences. And the push for tougher laws--hate crime 
laws--helps to keep diverting people from very serious issues of criminal 
justice like the fight against capital punishment." 

Indeed. Why feed the law and order monster? The arguments that are 
constantly made to justify tougher laws--that a whole community is 
attacked--are creative but don't hold water. "Somebody was mugged in the 
lobby of the building next door to me," Dobbs continues, "You better 
believe that everybody living near that crime was alarmed. Why pit groups 
of people against each other to argue about getting into a bill when the 
existing criminal law is plenty tough. Indeed, those laws often do some 
real damage, as death row populations grow ever greater." 

Why do prosecutors need more power? So they can overcharge and get another 
undeserved and unjust pound of flesh? 

The politicians love hate crime bills because they let them off the hook so 
easily. Why not go after something that would actually give some gays in 
Wyoming, for example, some rights--some antidiscrimination legislation? How 
many cower in fear that they will lose their jobs or housing as 
same-sexers? In 2000, 31 years after Stonewall, there is still no state law 
in New York that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual 
orientation. For all the statistics about hate crimes, there is little talk 
of cases where the prosecutors and police and judges looked the other 
way--a dramatic change from fifteen years ago when it was one slap on the 
wrist after another. 

Dobbs again: "Look at the feminist pressure to address sexual assault--men 
raping women. By protesting and publicizing and screaming the system 
responds much better. But this is not good enough for some who say that 
rapists target their victims based on their gender--therefore such assaults 
are hate crimes--therefore we need hate crime laws. This is too convoluted 
for me. If someone wants to make the argument that penalties for rape are 
not adequate, do so--the endless riffs about hate are pointless. And they 
don't get to the underlying issue of sexual assault. The mantra of hate 
crime requires the solution of hate crime laws." 

The bitter truth is that liberals, progressive and leftists (to the extent 
any or all of these groups or even individuals currently exist) have been 
co-opted into a traditional conservative response to crime: law and order. 
The reflexive answer to antigay violence is tougher laws. So where is the 
radical, or even progressive analysis? Collective amnesia has wiped out a 
critique of the criminal justice system. 

There are some sane voices and groups. On June 14, Carolina Cordero Dyer, a 
board member of the Audre Lorde Project, a people of color/gay center in 
New York City, published an important op-ed in Newsday. "I read with 
concern about the 'victory' last Wednesday when the State Senate finally 
approved a hate-crimes bill virtually assuring that the measure will become 
law this year." Dyer went on to write that as a Latina lesbian she is well 
aware that "Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color are 
doubly vulnerable to hate crimes. We experience violence in our families 
and our communities, from our police force and in prison. Some of this 
violence is documented while some is invisible: young people who face 
routine violence in schools and foster care; homophobic violence in 
juvenile detention centers and prison; and police abuse of the 
transgendered, including unwarranted arrests and police harassment." 

Dyer then reviewed the fierce new sanctions envisaged in the various 
versions passed by the Senate and Assembly. "There is no evidence that 
enhanced penalties will prevent hate crime. We can look at examples of 
other criminal penalties and their effect on crime. New York State has some 
of the harshest drug laws in the country--the Rockefeller drug laws. 
Adopted in 1973, these laws have resulted in a prison explosion. In 1973, 
when the laws were adopted, 12,500 people were behind bars. That number has 
climbed to more than 71,000 today. Yet, drug usage and sales have continued 
to rise in spite of this tough 'message' about the evils of drugs. Those 
convicted of first-degree murder in New York now face the death penalty. It 
is clearly documented that the death penalty has no impact on murder rates 
except for increasing state-sanctioned death. Yet we have adopted the death 
penalty because of the 'message' it sends to society. And there is no 
evidence that hate crimes have been reduced in the states and localities 
that have enacted laws requiring enhanced criminal penalties. Finally, 
supporting enhanced criminalization of hate crimes drives a wedge between 
the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender movement and social justice-prison 
reform movements working toward reduced reliance on incarceration to solve 
complicated social problems." 

Here's another example of wedge-driving. 

Some months after the Shepard murder, another town in Wyoming had a 
resolution before its city council for "equal treatment". It was defeated. 
The most emotional moment of the night came when Ellie Simonson rose to 
speak on behalf of crime victims. While holding aloft a photo of her sister 
and her three small nieces and nephews, all of whom were murdered, Simonson 
said it was difficult for her to speak in favor of victims and against the 
resolution. "Don't tell me people who commit crimes against people based on 
someone's sexual orientation should be prosecuted to a fuller extent than 
the killers of my sister and her three children," she said. "All should be 
prosecuted to the fullest extent." 

Years ago a great criminal court judge in Detroit--Justin Ravitz--explained 
the criminal justice system as America's "only working railroad." And now 
many gays are toiling to make sure that the railroad runs on time, even on 
overtime. No fewer than 22 states now have hate crimes laws that include 
language on sexual bias. Not a word in any of those laws in any of those 
states will stop a gay person being attacked, not a word will reduce 
discrimination in our society, not a word will erode the repression against 
which those Stonewallers fought 31 years ago. 



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 14:34:48 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:34:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
Message-ID: <27098672.1225834488285.JavaMail.root@mswamui-thinleaf.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Mike's impulse is an understandable
and a healthy one. Many people feel
quite the same way. See more below.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
==================================
Mike Friedman explains:
"Why I will vote for Obama"
==================================

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-whitevote3-2008nov03,0,6390602.story

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 14:37:33 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:37:33 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
In-Reply-To: <49231.24.190.156.120.1225833820.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
References: <mailman.31503.1225517877.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
	<49231.24.190.156.120.1225833820.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811041337r37f476d7x40fe5e70eb0ca7c2@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 4:23 PM, Mike Friedman <mikedf at amnh.org> wrote:

>Racism is THE roadblock to the emergence of a working
> class political consciousness and politique in the U.S.

I don't think racism is "the" roadblock to the emergence of a working
class political consciousness in the US.

The main roadblock to the emergence of a working class political
consciousness in the US is that US workers are too "bought off" -- the
spoils of imperialism trickle down enough so that US workers see an
interest in soidarizing with the ruling class. (This may well change
with the economic downturn, though.)


From lnp3 at panix.com  Tue Nov  4 14:43:19 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:43:19 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Voting rights issues
Message-ID: <20081104214324.25EB4DF40@mailbackend.panix.com>

BLOCK THE VOTE: College-aged voters are 40% of new voters in 
Virginia, but students have faced big hurdles. The polling site for 
Virginia Tech has twice as many voters as it's legally authorized to 
accommodate, and a hacker at George Mason University sent bogus 
emails to students telling them to vote on Wednesday, Nov. 5. The 
Republican Party has also threatened to challenge several hundred 
student votes.

OVERWHELMED PRECINCTS: As voting rights advocates had feared, 
Virginia has been overwhelmed by high turnout; as of this morning, 
the national Election Protection hotline had received 200 calls from 
VA voters about polling site problems and 120 about machine 
malfunctions. Election Protection has called for extending voting 
hours to ensure everyone still gets a chance to vote.

DIRTY TRICKS: Not just students have been targeted with deceptive 
tactics. VA voters have reported receiving anonymous robo-calls that 
give the wrong precinct for voting and fliers distributed in the 
Hampton Roads area informed Democrats they should vote on Nov. 5. The 
state decided against prosecuting those responsible, calling it an 
"office joke."

full: http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/



From mikedf at amnh.org  Tue Nov  4 14:48:27 2008
From: mikedf at amnh.org (Mike Friedman)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:48:27 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism]  Mice cloning
In-Reply-To: <mailman.32099.1225806609.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
References: <mailman.32099.1225806609.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Message-ID: <49294.24.190.156.120.1225835307.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>

Improbable in the extreme, for the same reason that Jurassic Park was just
a fantasy... As I know all too well from my research, DNA degrades over
time, even when frozen. The longer, the greater the degradation. A sixteen
year-dead mouse is possible. A ten-thousand year-dead animal that hasn't
been stored in liquid nitrogen isn't.

This is also *one* of the problems with cloning long-dead people. Even a
minor change in the nucleotide sequence as a result of degradation will
probably be disastrous to the cloned individual, if s/he survives long
enough to know about it.


> Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:42:34 -0500
> From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
> Subject: [Marxism] Mice cloning
> To: activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
> 	<marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>, 	Science for the People Discussion List
> 	<SCIENCE-FOR-THE-PEOPLE at list.uvm.edu>
> Message-ID: <20081104134232.44556DEE4 at mailbackend.panix.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>

> could be used to bring back extinct animals such as the woolly
> mammoth or sabre tooth tiger.
>




From sartesian at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 15:09:19 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 17:09:19 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
References: <mailman.31503.1225517877.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu><49231.24.190.156.120.1225833820.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
	<908b689f0811041337r37f476d7x40fe5e70eb0ca7c2@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4F53FED0E83E47278A3E931C97D58E6C@dmsthinkpad>

Well, I do-- think racism is the stumbling block, but I'm not voting for 
Obama, no more than I voted for Dinkins.

I don't buy for a second the "bribery" theory of imperialism's "benefits" 
trickling down to the working class.  A closer look at the economic history 
of the US, shows that even "pre-imperialism,"  US workers had relatively 
higher wages.  It will also show that during the post WW2, pre-OPEC era, 
when wages experienced real growth,  rates of return on domestic investment 
for US manufacturers were growing, and that it was that growth that allowed 
for increased wages.

Racism has, at every critical juncture, not just hindered white workers, it 
has prevented an understanding of the burden imposed on workers to maintain 
that impoverishment, discrimination, inferior social services inflicted upon 
African-Americans, and how that burden has expanded to include larger 
sectors of the working class regardless of color.

I understand Mike's feelings, toyed with some of that myself, and not so 
much because of Barack, but because of Michelle.  I personally would  love 
to see her in the White House, just for the sheer relief at not having 
another hyper-attenuated amp up/doped down rich white woman there. 
Absolutely.  But then, it is for me somewhat like rooting for the Williams 
sisters.  I loved and love the way they play. I loved how they demolished 
the racist resentment that followed in the wake of their tandem victories. 
And despite all that, doesn't amount to anything in the real battle against 
racism.

And where did Dinkins get us?  Giuliani.  QED.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama


> 



From michael at ecst.csuchico.edu  Tue Nov  4 15:17:42 2008
From: michael at ecst.csuchico.edu (Michael Perelman)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 14:17:42 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
In-Reply-To: <4F53FED0E83E47278A3E931C97D58E6C@dmsthinkpad>
References: <908b689f0811041337r37f476d7x40fe5e70eb0ca7c2@mail.gmail.com>
	<4F53FED0E83E47278A3E931C97D58E6C@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <20081104221742.GA16506@tiglon.ecst.csuchico.edu>


But then when Clinton invited them to the White House, they used the occasion to 
bitch about their taxes.

On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 05:09:19PM -0500, S. Artesian wrote:
> Absolutely.  
>But then, it is for me somewhat like rooting for the Williams 
> sisters.  I loved and love the way they play. I loved how they demolished 
> the racist resentment that followed in the wake of their tandem victories. 
> And despite all that, doesn't amount to anything in the real battle against 
> racism.
> 

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com


From glparramatta at greenleft.org.au  Tue Nov  4 15:18:02 2008
From: glparramatta at greenleft.org.au (glparramatta)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:18:02 +1100
Subject: [Marxism] Realities of China today | Links
Message-ID: <4910CA1A.2060900@greenleft.org.au>

By *Martin Hart-Landsberg*

// <http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/1940> Interest in the post-1978 
Chinese market reform experience remains high and for an obvious reason: 
China is widely considered to be one of the most successful developing 
countries in modern times. The Chinese economy has recorded record rates 
of growth over an extended time period, in concert with a massive 
industrial transformation. Adding to the interest is the Chinese 
government's claim that this success demonstrates both the workability 
and superiority of "market socialism."

There are those on the left who share this celebratory view of the 
Chinese experience, believing that it stands as an effective rebuttal to 
the neoliberal mantra that still dominates economic thinking. Therefore, 
they encourage other countries to learn from China's gradual, state 
controlled process of marketization, privatization, and deregulation of 
economic activity. A small but significant number share the Chinese 
government's view that China has indeed pioneered a new type of socialism.

Many on the left also believe that China may soon be capable of 
anchoring an alternative international economic system, thereby offering 
other countries the opportunity to reduce their dependence on the 
current U.S. dominated system and pursue their own independent 
development strategies.

Full article at http://links.org.au/node/730

Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373


From billyoc at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 15:30:35 2008
From: billyoc at gmail.com (Billy O'Connor)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 17:30:35 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
In-Reply-To: <49231.24.190.156.120.1225833820.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
References: <mailman.31503.1225517877.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
	<49231.24.190.156.120.1225833820.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
Message-ID: <20081104223034.GC20256@t22.Belkin>

On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 04:23:40PM -0500, Mike Friedman wrote:
> 
> I will vote for Obama for one reason.
> 
> I believe Joaquin called it "sticking it to the racists."

Quite understandable.  I voted in NYC, Obama will win NY handily.

I voted for McKinney.


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Tue Nov  4 16:11:06 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:11:06 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
Message-ID: <4910D68A.8000008@comcast.net>

I share Walter's sentiments of Mike's pov on this too. In a similar vein 
as S. Artesian, for me it was the idea of two cute little black girls 
having pajama parties with their friends in the White House that did 
make me smile, to be honest.

I cast my vote for McKinney today at about 7:30 am.

David


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 16:22:30 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 18:22:30 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
Message-ID: <13530382.1225840950758.JavaMail.root@mswamui-thinleaf.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

There was no difficulty at my polling place of any kind.
Got there around 2PM. The poll workers said that the place
was completely mobbed in the morning when they opened up.

No line, and several of the polling booths in the station
were empty when I got there. I voted for McKinney but can
say I appreciate the spirit of people who voted for Obama
as a sort of social protest vote. That's what Greg Palast
called it in a commentary he sent out yesterday. I guess 
of the California races, the anti-gay initiative is most
important. Lots of out-of-state money been thrown into 
the bigots' campaign.

Any news? Any hopes or whatever, on Cindy Sheehan?


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
about to take a nap
=======================================================

Vote for him - because he's Black 
by Greg Palast

http://www.gregpalast.com/vote-for-him-because-hes-black/

No question, Mr. Bruce was my favorite teacher in junior high.

I went to this Loser-ville school in the San Fernando Valley. It was
all Chicano kids and working class white losers like me. Everyone had
to take 'metal shop' so we could work the bottom-end jobs in the
Chevy plant.

My brain was dying - until Mr. Bruce showed up, the new science
teacher. DOCTOR Bruce, actually - the only Ph.d teacher in the place.

At lunch hour, instead of hanging out in the teachers' lunchroom, Mr.
Bruce would invite me and my friends into his classroom. Over coffee
made on a Bunsen burner, he would talk about topics from Einstein to
Buddha while munching on this strange stuff called "organic" food.

He was simply like no adult I'd ever met - an exceptional guy who
could make us dull-brained students sizzle.

My parents had him over for Sunday brunch and he talked about his
work as a 'honey-dipper' in the Deep South where he grew up. The
honey-dipper was the guy who hunted for lost glasses and whatever
else was dropped in outhouse cesspools. Dr. Bruce said he enjoyed the
work because it taught him pleasures of quiet grace, of dignified
acceptance.

The kids were crazy about him, but not all the parents. Some called
to complain about the school hiring him.

So he left. Months later, Mr. Bruce mailed me a letter from Japan
where he'd taken a university post. It's odd, but it was only this
year that I put it all together: his exclusion by the other teachers,
his job as a honey-dipper, his need to escape America.

Dr. Bruce, of course, is Black.

So, I'm going to do something that Dr. Bruce would think little of.
I'm going to vote for the Black man.

Because he's Black.

The truth is, I'm wary of Barack Obama. His cozy relations with the
sub-prime loan sharks who funded his early campaign; his vote, at the
behest of his big donor ADM corporation, for the horrific Bush energy
bill.

But there's one thing that overshadows policy positions, one thing he
cannot change once in office: the color of his skin. The same as Mr.
Bruce's.

I'm going to say something that I know the Obama campaign will just
hate; but that many others are feeling but won't say out loud. We
must vote for Barack Obama because he's Black.

For four centuries, our nation has poisoned itself with the corrosive
venom of racism. From the slave trade, to our still-segregated
schools, to the Bush family stealing the White House by cynically,
and sinfully, calling Florida Black voters felons; to the exile of a
brilliant science teacher four decades ago.

The time has come to cleanse the wound that will not heal.

********

Greg Palast's investigative reports appear on BBC Television and in
Rolling Stone Magazine. Palast is the co-author, with Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., of "Steal Back Your Vote," the investigative comic book
available for no charge at StealBackYourVote.org and
www.GregPalast.com

Palast is a Nation Institute/Puffin Foundation Fellow for
investigative reporting.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 16:23:48 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 18:23:48 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Socialist Pres. Candidate Moore Names Prospective Cabinet
	Members
Message-ID: <908b689f0811041523ue98c942t87aa31cb61a2fb30@mail.gmail.com>

Brian Moore Names Prospective Cabinet Members

Jeremiah Wright Tapped for UN Ambassador





SPRING HILL, FLORIDA, November 2 ? Responding to recent speculation
regarding potential Cabinet members in an Obama Administration, Brian
P. Moore, the Socialist Party's candidate for President, announced his
own "Shadow Cabinet" in a statement released early Sunday.  Among
other individuals that Moore said he would approach about serving in
his administration in the unlikely event that he is swept into office
on Tuesday, the little-known Socialist nominee said he would ask the
Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Democratic candidate Barack Obama's former
minister and mentor, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations.



Moore said that his ideal administration would also include
individuals such as former California congressman Paul N. McCloskey as
Secretary of State and former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, a longtime
critic of the military-industrial complex, as Secretary of Defense.
The former Alaska lawmaker, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic
and Libertarian Party presidential nominations earlier this year,
recently co-authored A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American
Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It, published by Seven Stories
Press.  The Socialist candidate said that he would also ask retired
U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski to serve as Under
Secretary of Defense for Policy.



The Socialist standard-bearer said that he would also ask David
McReynolds, the Socialist Party's presidential candidate in 1980 and
2000, to serve as Secretary of the newly-created Department of Peace.
McReynolds, who recently turned 79, is a retired staff member of the
New York-based War Resisters League.  Deron Mikal of Florida, a
service officer for the Disabled American Veterans, would be asked to
head the Department of Veterans Affairs, the federal government's
second largest department.  The department has enjoyed Cabinet-level
status since 1989.



Meredith Whitney, a managing director of Oppenheimer & Co., would be
approached about serving as Secretary of the Treasury.  "I have no
idea if she would be willing to serve in my administration," admitted
Moore, "but she was alone among the Wall Street analysts in accurately
predicting the current financial and banking crisis.  She has the
ability to see around corners ? a quality seemingly in short supply on
Wall Street."  Moore has been highly critical of the recent $750
billion bailout of the country's financial institutions.  Longtime
Socialist activist and former economics instructor Eric Chester would
be tapped as Moore's Secretary of Commerce.  "As a member of the
Cabinet, Mr. Chester would play a critical role in the transition to a
socialist economy," said Moore.



The 65-year-old Moore, a semi-retired executive health care recruiter
from Spring Hill, Florida, indicated that he would like to see the
Justice Department headed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
Clark, a position that the 86-year-old radical lawyer held during
LBJ's presidency.



Moore, who is on the ballot in eight states and an official write-in
candidate in twenty-one others, said that he would ask historian and
social activist Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the
United States, to serve as Secretary of Labor.  Walter F. Brown, a
former state senator from Oregon and the Socialist Party's candidate
for president four years ago, would be named Secretary of the
Interior.  A lifelong member of the Sierra Club, the 82-year-old Brown
authored the first legislation in the United States outlawing
dangerous chlorofluorocarbons in aerosol cans in 1975 - a full year
before the National Academy of Sciences issued its ominous warning
about the harmful effects of CFC's on the ozone layer.  C. T. Weber, a
longtime activist in the California Peace & Freedom Party, would be
asked to serve as Secretary of Energy, according to Moore.



In his statement, the Socialist candidate said that Chicago physician
Quentin Young, a longtime advocate for single-payer health care in the
United States, would be approached about heading the Department of
Health & Human Services.  William McGaughey, a political maverick from
Minneapolis who once co-authored a book on a shorter workweek with the
late Senator Eugene J. McCarthy, will be asked to serve as Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.  Consumer advocate and presidential
rival Ralph Nader would be an ideal choice for Secretary of
Transportation and Marsha Feinland, a longtime public school teacher
who is currently running for a seat in the California State Senate,
would be his first choice to head the Department of Education, said
Moore.  Veteran newspaper reporter Jim Cullen, editor of the
Progressive Populist, would be asked to serve as Secretary of
Agriculture.



Jerry Levy of Vermont, national co-chair of the Socialist Party-USA,
would be named as Secretary of Culture & Arts, a new Cabinet-level
post that will be created shortly after Moore's inauguration.  A
sociology professor at Marlboro College, Levy is currently running for
state auditor on the Liberty Union Party ticket.  He's probably best
known as the actor in Howard Zinn's one-man play, "Marx in Soho."



Moore, who said that he would abolish the Department of Homeland
Security as one of his first acts as America's 44th chief executive,
also named several other individuals that he would like to see in his
administration, including Jay Jurie, a University of Central Florida
professor of public administration who would be asked to head the
Office of Management and Budget.  A sixties activist, Jurie is
currently a faculty advisor to UCF's Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) chapter.  According to Moore, Bill Callison, a veteran antiwar
and environmental activist, would be asked to serve as administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency that reports
directly to the President.  A graduate of Stanford and the University
of California at Berkeley, Callison is currently running for Congress
on the Peace & Freedom ticket in California's seventh congressional
district.


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 16:27:35 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 18:27:35 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] LA Times: Socialist Pres. Candidate Moore More Popular
	than Ever
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811041527i6a92aad6q1b4bef93a478f951@mail.gmail.com>
References: <908b689f0811041527i6a92aad6q1b4bef93a478f951@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811041527n57d7fd7al7d7f2d26684fc04c@mail.gmail.com>

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/11/campaign-2008-h.html

Brian Moore, the Socialist candidate for president, is more popular than ever

Brian Moore, the Socialist candidate for president of the United
States of America and the latest to bask in the media glow, has seen
his 15 minutes stretch on for a couple of weeks. And he's hoping for
quite a bit more.

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when the Republican ticket began
to paint Barack Obama as a "socialist" and the "redistributor in
chief," after the Democrat made his now famous remark to Joe "the
Plumber" Wurzelbacher about "spreading the wealth around."

That created an opening for Moore of Spring Hill, Fla., who finds the
Republicans lacking in credibility and Obama badly wanting when it
comes the true collectivist spirit. The former HMO executive and
Socialist Party USA presidential nominee has been in nearly constant
demand in recent days.

On Monday, he was giving yet another radio interview, this one to a
station in St. Louis. He earlier had been featured by the Chicago
Tribune, Fox News, St. Petersburg Times, the Nation and the New
Republic, to name just a few.

The 65-year-old physical fitness fanatic's biggest splash came last
week on "The Colbert Report." Host Stephen Colbert greeted him as
"Comrade Moore," and when the obscure candidate insisted Obama was not
a socialist, Colbert retorted, "What do you mean, he wants to
redistribute the wealth. That makes him a pinko, right?"

Moore . . . . chuckled.

He explained in an interview with The Times that true socialism would
require a more dramatic change, one that would not require big
government but would put workers in charge of the nation's wealth.

"Citizens can then share in the profits and redistribute the profits
from a military economy into a social service and infrastructure
economy," Moore said.

The Socialists -- Moore and running mate Stewart Alexander, a
Riverside car dealer -- said they will appear on the ballot in eight
states, including Florida and Ohio, but not California.

Moore dropped out of seminary as a young man. He joined the Peace
Corps. After working in the health industry he said he helped
nonprofits bring healthcare to Latin America.

He said he regularly swims and plays pickup basketball and has never
smoked, leading him to speculate that he is "healthier than Obama is."

Moore described the Republicans and Democrats as being inextricably
linked to corporate America, like "tweedledee and tweedledum," and
predicted that the economic crisis would finally open Americans to
another way.

"To me it's a watershed," Moore said. "It's opened up the eyes of
America of the weaknesses of capitalism. There has never been so much
publicity about socialism in the last 70 years."

-- James Rainey


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Tue Nov  4 16:29:46 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:29:46 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
Message-ID: <4910DAEA.2000806@comcast.net>

No, no news about Cindy's campaign yet. I'll be taking off from where I 
live to go the headquarters in SF for the big bash tonight. Cynthia 
McKinney will also be there, I'm told. Should be lot's of fun. 
Nader/Gonzales are having a bash at their headquarters in Berkeley 
tonight with people going between both.

We had ridiculous lines today, had to wait an hour. They combined 
precincts so getting your name signed off was  a pain. I suspect 
California voting will be relatively uneventful. Polls in the State 
close at 8pm, PST, 11pm, EST.

David


From markalause at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 20:06:01 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 22:06:01 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Why I will vote for Obama
In-Reply-To: <4910DAEA.2000806@comcast.net>
References: <4910DAEA.2000806@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811041906g4b35c00eh80cb446bf89457c7@mail.gmail.com>

Mike offers the only reason I could think of to vote for Obama.  It
would have made me feel all warm and pleased with myself to have done
so.  Hard liquor does that to me, but I'm too old not to regret it in
the morning. I'm sure an Obama vote would have the same effect.

If there's one rational lesson of this campaign it's that the kind of
racism hooting at the edges of the McCain-Palin rallies is where it
is, on the margins.  It's still dangerous, always despicable, and
certainly numerous enough to be usable by politicians in a close
election.  But they're not much in point of numbers, can't get a lot
of traction for overt statements of white supremacism, and--most
importantly--they are not defeatable by voting for the opposite of
what they want.

If they were, I'd be all for a united secular humanist Muslim Jewish
flag-burning, Bible-bashing bloc.

I'd suggest that the real beating heart of racism today is rooted
among the often-self-perceived liberal voters of the lilly white
suburbs who are quite happy to keep the focus on Goober in Alabama in
order to avoid the scrutiny that should be aimed at them and the
institutions that sustain them.

This has been a wonderful day for me and my neighbors, btw.  I had a
Nader-Gonzales sign in the yard unmolested the entire campaign and it
gave me many opportunities to talk to the legions of Obama voters.  At
no point did anybody misunderstand what I was doing and why.

My wife and I went in to vote at 6:30 this morning when the polls
opened.  They were simply jam packed and it was almost a party
atmosphere.  We all sensed that we're doing something important.

ML


From Dbachmozart at aol.com  Tue Nov  4 20:42:09 2008
From: Dbachmozart at aol.com (Dbachmozart at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 22:42:09 EST
Subject: [Marxism] Where is the Occupation of Iraq Heading?
Message-ID: <d31.41108050.36427011@aol.com>


_http://counterpunch.org/smith11042008.html_ 
(http://counterpunch.org/smith11042008.html) 
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From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 21:32:27 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 23:32:27 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <13382664.1225859547833.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

THE NEW YORK TIMES
November 5, 2008
Obama Wins Election
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United
States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American
politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief
executive.

Mr. Obama?s election amounted to a national catharsis ? a repudiation
of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and
foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama?s call for a change in
the direction and the tone of the country. But it was just as much a
strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation?s fraught
racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable
just two years ago.

Mr. Obama, 47, a first-term Democratic senator from Illinois,
defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, a former prisoner of war
who was making his second bid for the presidency. To the very end,
Mr. McCain?s campaign was eclipsed by an opponent who was nothing
short of a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of
thousands of people who turned out to hear Mr. Obama?s victory speech
in Grant Park in Chicago.

Mr. McCain also fought the headwinds of a relentlessly hostile
political environment, weighted down with the baggage left to him by
President Bush and an economic collapse that took place in the middle
of the general election campaign.

The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dark
? hours before polls opened ? to take part in the culmination of a
campaign that, over the course of two years, commanded an
extraordinary amount of attention from the American public.

As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after
milestone, winning Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New
Mexico ? many Americans rolled into the streets to celebrate what
many described, with perhaps overstated if understandable
exhilaration, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Mr.
Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave.

For Republicans, especially the conservatives who have dominated the
party for nearly three decades, the night represented a bitter
setback and left them contemplating where they now stand in American
politics.

Mr. Obama led his party in a decisive sweep of Congress, putting
Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate ? by
overwhelming numbers ? and the White House for the first time since
1995, when Bill Clinton was president. The president-elect and his
expanded Democratic majority now faces the task of governing the
country through a difficult period: the likelihood of a deep and
prolonged recession.

The roster of defeated Republicans included some notable party
moderates ? including Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire and Rep.
Chris Shays of Connecticut? signaling that the Republican conference
that convenes in Washington next January will not only be smaller,
but more conservative.

Mr. Obama will come into office after an election in which he laid
out a number of clear promises: to cut taxes for most Americans, to
get the United States out of Iraq in a fast ifand? orderly fashion,
and to expand health care. In a recognition of the difficult
transition he faces, given the economic crisis, Mr. Obama is expected
to begin filling White House jobs as early as this week.

The Democratic sweep took down some well-known Republican senators,
including Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and John E. Sununu of New
Hampshire. But Democrats failed to achieve the 60-seat majority
required to prevent Republican filibusters.

Mr. Obama defeated Mr. McCain in Ohio, a central battleground in
American politics, despite a huge effort that brought Mr. McCain and
his running-mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, back there repeatedly.
Ohio was a state Mr. Obama lost decisively to Senator Hillary Rodham
Clinton of New York in the Democratic primary.

Mr. McCain failed to take from Mr. Obama the two Democratic states
that were at the top of his target list: New Hampshire and
Pennsylvania. And in addition to Ohio, Democrats captured two other
Republican states, Iowa and New Mexico.

Mr. Obama comes into office with Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.,
Democrat of Delaware, his vice-presidential running mate. Even before
the final results were called, there were indications that Mr.
McCain?s advisers were in fact unhappy with their vice-presidential
candidate, Ms. Palin, who was announced by Mr. McCain to an explosion
of enthusiasm and interest by conservatives and since caused a series
of embarrassments for Mr. McCain.

Mr. McCain?s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt, demurred when asked
whether he thought in was happy with Ms. Palin?s performance. ?I?m
not going to go there,? Mr. Schmidt said. ?There?ll be time for the
post-mortems in the race.?

Initial signs were that Mr. Obama benefited from a huge turnout of
voters, but particularly among blacks. That group of voters made up
13 percent of the electorate on Tuesday, according to surveys of
people leaving the polls, compared with 11 percent in 2006. In North
Carolina, Republicans said that the huge surge of African-Americans
was one of the big factors that lead to Mrs. Dole?s loss.

Mr. Obama also did strikingly well among Hispanic voters, beating Mr.
McCain did far less better among those voters than Mr. Bush did in
2004, suggesting the damage the Republican Party has suffered among
those voters over four years in which Republicans have been at the
forefront on the effort to crack down on illegal immigrants

As thousands of people gathered in downtown Chicago to celebrate
their hometown candidate, the audience erupted in bursts of applause
each time a state was called for Mr. Obama. The party took on the air
of a drive-in movie theater, with his supporters remaining eerily
quiet until a new development flashed across giant television
screens. A thundering roar sounded when the roll call of projected
Democratic victories suddenly included Ohio.

Senator Barack Obama stood on the brink of an historic victory
Tuesday after he appeared to have won enough electoral votes to
defeat Senator John McCain for president and to become the first
African-American to serve as the nation?s chief executive.

Mr. Obama won Ohio, a key battleground in American presidential
politics, and held off assaults by Mr. McCain in New Hampshire and
Pennsylvania, the top two states that Democrats won in 2004 that Mr.
McCain had fought to take back.

The exit polls found that a broad majority of voters considered the
economy to be the most important issue facing the nation. And Mr.
Obama was viewed as much more qualified than Mr.McCain to deal with
that issue.

Blacks made up 13 percent of the total electorate, up from 11 percent
last time, the polls showed. More than 95 percent of them said they
had voted for Mr. Obama, an African-American.

Mr. Obama was also winning overwhelmingly among Latino voters. Mr.
McCain was faring much poorer among those voters compared with how
President Bush performed in 2004, suggesting a long-term problem for
the Republican Party with a rapidly growing demographic group.

Mr. Obama held on to the two top Democratic states that Mr. McCain
had targeted to win back, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain were in their home states late Tuesday,
awaiting final results. Tens of thousands of Mr. Obama?s supporters
gathered in Grant Park in his hometown, Chicago, to greet him. Mr.
McCain was planning to address supporters at a ballroom in the
elegant Biltmore Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Phoenix.

In what was shaping up as a good night for the Democratic Party, its
candidates knocked off Republican senators in New Hampshire and North
Carolina, while picking up an open Senate seat in Virginia with the
victory of Mark R. Warner, a former governor, to succeed John W.
Warner, a Republican who is retiring.

Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire was ousted by former Gov.
Jeanne Shaheen, while Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina was
beaten by a Democratic state lawmaker, Kay R. Hagan.

Reflecting Mr. Obama?s ability to draw new voters to his side, 70
percent of people voting for the first time said they had backed him.
A similar percentage of voters under 30 years old also supported him.

The only age group that went for Mr. McCain, who is 72, were voters
65 and older, according to the exit polls conducted by
Edison/Mitofsky.

One in eight respondents said that age was an important factor in
their vote; of those, three quarters voted for Mr. Obama.

The election ended what by any definition was one of the most
remarkable contests in American political history, drawing what was
by every appearance unparalleled public interest. Throughout the day,
people lined up at the polls for hours ? some showing up before dawn
? to cast their votes. Aides to both campaigns said that anecdotal
evidence suggested record-high voter turnout.

Reflecting the intensity of the two candidates, Mr. McCain and Mr.
Obama took a page from what Mr. Bushfull first reference to President
Bush did in 2004 and continued to campaign after the polls opened.

Mr. McCain left his home in Arizona after voting early Tuesday to fly
to Colorado and New Mexico, two states where Mr. Bush won four years
ago but where Mr. Obama waged a spirited battle. These were
symbolically appropriate final campaign stops for Mr. McCain,
reflecting the imperative he felt of trying to defend Republican
states against a challenge from Mr. Obama.

?Get out there and vote,? Mr. McCain said in Grand Junction, Colo. ?I
need your help. Volunteer, knock on doors, get your neighbors to the
polls, drag ?em there if you need to.?

By contrast, Mr. Obama flew from his home in Chicago to Indiana, a
state that in many ways came to epitomize the audacity of his effort
this year. Indiana //has not voted//update?// for a Democrat since
President Lyndon B. Johnson?s landslide victory in 1964, and Mr.
Obama made an intense bid for support there. He later returned home
to Chicago play basketball, his election-day ritual.

Mr. Obama cast his ballot at 7:36 a.m., Central time, at the Beulah
Shoesmith Elementary School in Chicago, accompanied by his wife,
Michelle. ?I noticed that Michelle took a long time though,? he said
afterwards. ?I had to check to see who she was voting for.?

Mr. McCain voted later, at 9:08 a.m., Mountain time, at the Albright
United Methodist Church in Phoenix. He and his wife, Cindy, were
greeted there by supporters with cheers of ?Senator McCain? and
?Thank you, senator.?

The nation?s faltering economy seemed to weigh in voters? minds: A
survey of voters leaving polling places found that 6 in 10 said this
was their dominant concern, a reflection of the economic collapse
that provided the backdrop for the general election contest.

Six in 10 voters said the economy was their top concern. In a sign of
how much the terrain of this election changed since Mr. Obama and Mr.
McCain started campaigning in their party caucuses and primaries more
than a year ago, only 1 in 10 cited the war in Iraq.

The first exit polls suggested a spike in voting among blacks that
had been a source of concern among Republicans: 13 percent of the
electorate, compared with 11 percent in 2004.

Across the country ? in Florida, Georgia, New York and North
Carolina, to name a few places ? polling stations reported overflow
crowds, with long waits and packed parking lots. Mr. McCain?s
advisers had predicted that 130 million people would vote, compared
with 123.5 million who cast ballots four years ago, reflecting the
intense interest in the race.

Mr. Obama waged in many ways an improbable campaign. He is a
first-term United States senator from Illinois who just five years
ago was serving as a state senator. It was because of that r?sum?
that his main opponent in the battle for the Democratic nomination,
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, thought that he would not
last.

But Mr. Obama proved to be a phenomenal campaigner, drawing huge and
excited crowds and defeating Mrs. Clinton in Iowa, an overwhelmingly
white state. That outcome, more than any other single vote, signaled
to Democratic leaders the potency of the Obama appeal. But the two
candidates battled through the very last primary battle in June
before Mrs. Clinton, bowing to the inevitable, pulled out of the
race.

Mr. McCain also won his party?s nomination improbably after he had, a
year ago, appeared doomed when his campaign ran out of money. He
persevered through a combination of scrappiness and a field of
primary opponents who each had problems with the fractured Republican
electorate.

In his campaign, Mr. Obama offered some fairly ambitious promises,
including tax cuts for most Americans, a withdrawal of American
troops from Iraq and an expansion of health care coverage. Mr. McCain
pledged not to leave Iraq without a victory and promised to continue
Mr. Bush?s tax cuts for the wealthy.

Early exit polls suggested that Mr. Obama was receiving the support
of half of men. If that continued, he would be the first Democratic
candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to do so. Seven in 10 voters
under 30 backed Mr. Obama, and voters over 65 supported Mr. McCain.

Julie Bosman, John M. Broder, Jack Healy, Dalia Sussman, Ian Urbina
and Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 21:37:04 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 23:37:04 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] MH: Obama presidency likely to bring changes to U.S.-Cuba
	policy
Message-ID: <5615163.1225859824454.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

MIAMI HERALD
Obama presidency likely to bring changes to U.S.-Cuba policy
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles at MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/breaking-news/story/757149.html

Washington State National Guard Sgt. Carlos Lazo -- the Iraq veteran who gained 
fame when he couldn't visit his kids in Cuba -- last traveled to the island 
in January 2007. As things stand now, he can't go back until 2010.

But with Barack Obama's White House win, Lazo is hopeful that will change --
soon.

''If Obama lifts family travel restrictions on the 22nd of January, I'm
sure that in February I will be in Cuba visiting my family -- and celebrating the
new Cuba policies,'' Lazo said.

Lazo, 43, became a cause celebre for some when the stricter family reunification
travel restrictions put in place by President Bush in 2004 kept Lazo from visiting
his children in Cuba. The kids eventually settled in Washington, and Lazo became
an Obama campaign volunteer. He personifies one of the clearest examples of how 
U.S. Cuba policy could change under an Obama presidency.

On the campaign trail, Obama vowed not just to lift family travel restrictions that
force Cuban-Americans to wait three years to visit immediate relatives on the island,
but also said he would lift the cap on how much money Cuban-Americans can send to
the island. He also indicated he would be willing to meet with Cuban leader Ra?l
Castro, drawing fire from critics who accused Obama of being naive and weak on foreign
policy issues.

''Obama will take away restrictions and establish low-level contacts with
Cuba, extending a peace branch,'' Lazo said. ``It will be a change from 
policies that have given the worst results for 50 years.''

People on both sides of the Cuba policy issue wonder if those measured moves will
become the first steps to bigger changes, including the eventual lifting of the 
U.S. trade embargo. Obama has said he supports the embargo, and lifting it would
require an act of Congress.

''Obama is willing to sit down with Castro without preconditions -- that
will lead to the lifting sanctions and the embargo,'' said conservative 
Cuban-American commentator Ninoska P?rez, who supported McCain, referring to a position
Obama has since slightly modified. He now says there would be preparations for any
meeting.

''Obama says he supports the embargo, but obviously he doesn't. He said
he supported it to get a certain number of Cuban votes,'' P?rez added. She
predicts Obama will lift all travel restrictions, handing a ''victory to
the Cuban regime,'' and boosting its government-run travel industry.

''Obama thinks he can sit down with a dictator and convince him to be a 
democrat,'' she said.

Obama's Latin America foreign policy advisor, Frank Sanchez, said asd president
the candidate will move quickly ''within [the] possible and practical bounds
of his authority'' to lift the family travel and remittances restrictions.
Anything more than that, Sanchez told The Miami Herald, will have to wait.

''Just like Barack has said, it took us 50 years to get where we are, we're
not going to undo that in five days,'' Sanchez said. ``We want to see some
concrete steps from the Cuban government. If we saw all the political prisoners 
freed, if we saw something like that, a strong sign, we could begin considering 
other things.''

Vicki Huddleston, a former chief of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, said 
Obama's moves would lead to brisk business in Miami, creating jobs in the travel
industry as more flights take off for the island and businesses pop up to handle
the flow of care packages.

More importantly, she said, the stream of Cuban-Americans and their cash in their
relatives' pockets will boost the independence of people on the island who are
now heavily dependent on the Cuban government for their livelihood.

''They will be able to buy TVs, computers, medicine and food. They'll
be able to read The Miami Herald online,'' she said. ''Allowing 
families to travel between Miami and Cuba begins to give Cubans a voice, because
right now the Cuban government holds all the strings.'' The University of
Miami's Andy Gomez, of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said
a migration crisis could be triggered when more Cuban Americans begin to see for
themselves the reality their relatives are living in, and start trying to help their
families get out.

The Cuban government, Huddleston said, might have preferred Sen. John McCain.

''They might fear Obama more. The Cuban government is not dumb,''
she said. ``More people and more openness is a bigger threat than isolating them.''




=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From markalause at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 21:48:40 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 23:48:40 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <13382664.1225859547833.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <13382664.1225859547833.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811042048lda4266cs507092cac38b81d@mail.gmail.com>

Suprisingly few posts tonight.  I'm sure that most of the Americans on
this list are sharing the same sensibilities as so many of our
countrymen.

To state the obvious, we should share in this celebration, not because
the election itself has changed anything, though it remains to be seen
what an Obama administration will mean.  Rather, celebration is
appropriate because the outcome does mark the cumulative changes for
which we have contended for decades.  We also owe it to the many
comrades and fellow workers who are not here to celebrate this
landmark with us.

ML


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 22:16:25 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:16:25 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

The election has registered a gigantic positive political change.
For the first time in the history of the United States of America,
their will be a Black president in the White House, an event of
tremendous and deeply symbolic significance. For a country whose
very beginning as a politically-independent entity were rooted in
the maintenance of chattel slavery as a constitutionally-accepted
institution, the importance of tonight's election neither could
nor should be underestimated.

Everyone can and should celebrate this momentous political fact.
Other struggles will continue under altered circumstances which
reflect this momentous symbolic transformation. I'm sure people
all across the world are breathing a bit easier right now, even
as they know that their struggles for a better life have a long
way to go before they can be successful.

The bitter resentment of the rightist-exile militants in Miami,
which shows just how far out of step they were with the moods
and the thinking of the people of the United States and indeed
of the world, is indeed an exceptionally-auspicious indicator
of positive changes which we can begin to look forward to.

MH: Obama presidency likely to bring changes to U.S.-Cuba policy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/94444


Walter Lippmann 
Los Angeles, California
==========================================================================
Israel launches deadly airstrike in Gaza

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel launched an airstrike Tuesday night on
southern Gaza after clashing with Hamas militants in central Gaza,
Palestinian sources and Israel Defense Forces said.

Four were killed in the airstrike, which occurred east of Khan
Younis, Palestinian sources said. They said a drone and an apache
helicopter could be seen.

Earlier fighting between Hamas militants and Israel Defense Forces
killed one militant and injured three, bringing the total death toll
to 5.

The fighting occurred after dark when Israeli troops entered the
eastern part of the Dir Albalah refugee camp in central Gaza,
Palestinian sources said.

IDF said it launched a small operation Tuesday evening after its
forces uncovered a "ready-to-be-used tunnel" several meters from a
security fence. The IDF said the tunnel -- dug from a civilian home
-- was meant for abducting Israeli soldiers.

The IDF said it exchanged fire with militants during the operation,
which it said lasted a few hours.

Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/04/gaza.violence

==========================================================================
Colombia's Army Chief Steps Down
Subordinates Implicated in Killings of Civilians

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; A03


SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov. 4 -- The top commander of Colombia's
U.S.-backed army resigned Tuesday after an investigation implicated
three generals and other officers under his command in the killings
of civilians who were later presented as enemy combatants killed in
battle.

Gen. Mario Montoya was a favorite of American officials, who saw him
as an able caretaker of the U.S. war against Marxist rebels and
cocaine cartels. But Montoya had long been dogged by allegations that
he was linked to right-wing death squads. A paramilitary fighter
testified in court in August that Montoya had funneled arms to
paramilitary groups, and human rights groups said he encouraged
policies that led some army units to kill peasants and count them as
rebels killed in combat to win favor with commanders.

Then last week, Colombian President ?lvaro Uribe announced that 27
army officers and soldiers had been dismissed amid an investigation
by a special military commission into the disappearances of 11 poor
young men who were lured from a slum outside Bogota this year and
allegedly killed by troops deep in the countryside. The bodies were
found in unmarked graves days after the men were reported missing.
Military commanders initially said the young men had been members of
rebel groups and criminal bands.

"The pressure, after the results of the commission, left him little
space to maneuver," a senior government official in Bogota, speaking
on the condition of anonymity, said of Montoya. "He's obviously been
under fire for a long time, from all sides, but I think it was only
when there was an internal investigation done by the military itself
that he made his decision."

Uribe's government has been under pressure to come down hard on
rights abusers in an army that has benefited from $5.5 billion in
U.S. aid provided to Colombia during the Bush administration. That
aid has helped rebuild Colombia's once-incompetent military into a
potent force that has pushed back rebel groups and made much of the
country safer.

The Colombian government has been especially cognizant of the new
political realities in the United States, with Uribe recently
suggesting that he believed Barack Obama would probably win the
presidency. Obama, as well as Democratic congressional leaders, have
said Colombia needs to improve its human rights record if it expects
the United States to approve a free-trade agreement.

One critic of the army, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), called
Montoya's departure "a long overdue and positive step."

"He shares responsibility for widespread and systematic abuses by the
Colombian military," said Leahy, who chairs the Senate subcommittee
that oversees funding for the Colombian army. "For years, our
concerns about these crimes, and General Montoya's role, have been
ignored."

A soldier for 39 years, Montoya has been celebrated in Colombia as
relentless in his pursuit of guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC. U.S. officials credit him with important
battlefield successes. Even detractors acknowledge the central role
he played in the daring operation in July that rescued three
Americans and 12 others held by the rebels in Colombia's southern
jungles.

But in a series of recent interviews, residents of the Comuna 13
neighborhood in the city of Medellin described how the army's 4th
Brigade, under Montoya's command, teamed with paramilitary fighters
to wrest control of the slum from rebels in 2002. The allegations
were also contained in a CIA report disclosed by the Los Angeles
Times in 2007.

Montoya commanded troops along the country's northeastern coast and
in the far south when paramilitary death squads expanded their
campaign of terror, in many cases while collaborating closely with
army units. Then this year, the number of extrajudicial executions,
as the killings of civilians at the hands of soldiers are called,
increased to the point that the attorney general's office is now
handling 550 cases involving as many as 1,000 victims.

The dismissal of the officers last Wednesday signaled a dramatic step
for an administration that has resisted large-scale reforms in the
past.

The firings came after a military commission, investigating the
deaths of the 11 men, found serious command-and-control problems in
the army.

"The decision that was made by the government was not just about
removing a large number of officers for their failure to exercise
adequate command and control of their troops," said Sergio Jaramillo,
a vice minister of defense. "It was about fixing problems that were
found by the commission and launching a process of review and
strengthening of the army at the lowest levels in terms of control,
supervision, evaluation."

Montoya, a strong supporter of using the body count to measure
success, had long been seen as an obstacle to reform. In an interview
with The Washington Post this year, Montoya explained that he
expected underlings to compile combat kills.

"Are there dead? Yes, they are dead because we're attacking," he
said.

Rafael Pardo, a former defense minister, said it was clear that
Montoya had lost support in the government after the latest scandal.

Pardo noted that Montoya did not participate in the commission
investigating the recent deaths. "That was a sign of a lack of
confidence in him," Pardo said. "And on top of that, all these deaths
happened on his watch."

In Washington, Jos? Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director of Human
Rights Watch, said in a phone interview that the incoming U.S.
government needs to be more vigilant about rights concerns.

"It is absolutely essential," he said, "that the U.S. government that
is providing military aid to Colombia take full advantage of this
momentum to press the military and the government of President
Uribe."

==========================================================================
MARK LAUSE wrote:
To state the obvious, we should share in this celebration, not because
the election itself has changed anything, though it remains to be seen
what an Obama administration will mean.  Rather, celebration is
appropriate because the outcome does mark the cumulative changes for
which we have contended for decades.  We also owe it to the many
comrades and fellow workers who are not here to celebrate this
landmark with us.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 22:22:08 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:22:08 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <8A71FA3BE94B49AF86851FBA9202DA42@dmsthinkpad>

Or... we can look at this a little bit more realistically and say--

George Bush, you must have really fucked up for American to elect a black 
man. 



From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 22:28:09 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:28:09 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811042128mabfc12dhc6ab196d6ce16f43@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 12:16 AM, Walter Lippmann <walterlx at earthlink.net> wrote:

>
> The bitter resentment of the rightist-exile militants in Miami,
> which shows just how far out of step they were with the moods
> and the thinking of the people of the United States and indeed
> of the world, is indeed an exceptionally-auspicious indicator
> of positive changes which we can begin to look forward to.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart defeats Democratic challenger

By JENNIFER KAY
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI -- Republican U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart won his ninth term
to Congress, while his younger brother held a slim edge over a
Democratic challenger late Tuesday in his fight for a neighboring
South Florida district.

Diaz-Balart defeated Democrat Raul Martinez, the former mayor of
Hialeah. With 73 percent of the expected vote counted, Diaz-Balart had
57.6 percent, while Martinez had 42.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Diaz-Balart's brother Mario, also a Republican, held a
narrow edge over Democratic challenger Joe Garcia in District 25. With
68 percent of the expected vote counted, Mario Diaz-Balart had 51.4
percent while Garcia had 48.6 percent.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart "is honored to have received the overwhelming
support of the community," Diaz-Balart's campaign spokesman Carlos
Curbelo said. "The Cuban-American vote solidly supported Congressman
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and is more united than ever behind this
congressman."

The Diaz-Balarts have embodied the most prominent characteristics of
Florida's Cuban-American exile community - staunchly Republican and
fiercely anti-Castro. For the first time, they faced serious
Democratic challengers who said it's time to focus more on the U.S.
economy and the war in Iraq than on Cuba.


From markalause at gmail.com  Tue Nov  4 22:37:51 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:37:51 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811042128mabfc12dhc6ab196d6ce16f43@mail.gmail.com>
References: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<908b689f0811042128mabfc12dhc6ab196d6ce16f43@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811042137i75cd977am15992aac56b4a300@mail.gmail.com>

This is a wonderfully exciting night....

McCain demonstrated that he was only pretending to be a rabid beast.

I listened to Obama's victory speech there, I kept thinking of
Ginsberg's poem about asking when America would look at itself through
the grave. Obama sounded downright Lincolnesque

THIS is going to be a very interesting presidency....

ML


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Tue Nov  4 22:46:36 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:46:36 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <29349609.1225863996543.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Bush, McCain and Pailin, and all of the forces allied with them,
represented a fear- and nostalgia-driven hope to resist the many
changes which the world has undergone in recent decades, starting
here in the United States of America, which is no longer the white
country of Bush and others of his ilk.

The challenges facing Obama and his administration are daunting,
but the hopes of many and the illusions of others can be a fulcrum
for struggles to change many things for the better. 

Racism remains a powerful and negative influence in the U.S. today,
but it has suffered a substantial defeat tonight. That's good news.
White is no longer the limit of, nor the definition of, what can be
accomplished in this increasingly multi-colored country. All good.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
==================================================================
Or... we can look at this a little bit more realistically and say--
George Bush, you must have really fucked up for American to elect a black 
man. 


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Tue Nov  4 22:51:47 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 21:51:47 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
Message-ID: <COL110-W187D487FE3B024F054915CD71F0@phx.gbl>


URL: http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10315

A revolutionary, working-class perspective

The election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States is an occasion of historic significance. Over four centuries, African Americans have suffered enslavement, Jim Crow segregation, lynch mob terror and racist discrimination manifested in countless ways. Racism against African Americans and other oppressed nationalities has in reality been far more integral to "the American way" than has anything truly resembling democracy.

While millions of people are yearning for real change, for an end to war, unemployment, foreclosures, and more, the Democratic Party is as much a party of the bankers and bosses as is the Republican Party. McCain and Obama shared a common list of corporate and banking sponsors. The only difference is that, in the 2008 election, the Democratic candidate received more of the big money donations than the Republican did.

The fact that an African American has at long last been elected to the highest office in the United States is being greeted with euphoric celebrations in communities across the country. Obama?s election has broken the 220-year streak of white male presidents, spanning 43 administrations. Even "white male" does not adequately define how narrowly restricted access to the office has been. With one exception?John F. Kennedy, a Catholic?every U.S. president has been a Protestant. No eastern or southern European has ever been elected to the office.

Adding to the jubilation is the fact that Obama?s assumption of the presidency on Jan. 20, 2009, will terminate one of the most despised and reviled administrations in U.S. history. The vast majority of humankind worldwide is also celebrating the departure of the hated Bush regime.

Obama?s victory, on the one hand, shows how much progress the Black Liberation struggle and its legacy has made in eroding white supremacy. That so many backward white people overcame their own racism to vote for Obama is a sign that the economic crisis is providing the material basis for multinational unity. Class unity, based on mutual interests and opposition to racism, can be achieved in the struggles that are sure to come.

Obama and the Democratic Party ran his campaign, however, by distancing himself from affirmative action, the struggle against police brutality, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other issues and images historically associated with the struggle of the Black community. This was a requirement of support for Obama by the racist ruling class and its media. The struggle against racism will continue as a primary task for the progressive workers? movement.

The euphoria and high expectations surrounding Obama?s victory will likely last through his inauguration and beyond. There will be a honeymoon phase between the progressive sectors of society and the new capitalist administration.

There are widespread hopes that the Obama presidency will reverse the generally reactionary direction of the past three decades; that the war in Iraq will end, and that there will be a shift in the direction of greater economic and social justice.

The president?s role

It?s safe to say that a majority of people view the presidential election as selecting the next leader of the country, and "the country" includes all of us. But the president is not the leader of the country. The president, regardless of which party or individual holds the office, is the Chief Executive Office of the capitalist state machine. This machine enforces a system of extreme and growing poverty among the working class, and extreme wealth for the capitalists, who accumulate their fortunes from the labor of working people. The capitalist state perpetuates racism, police repression, mass incarceration and endless war.

The function of that state is to protect the common interests, not of "the people," but of the imperialist ruling class. The army, police, courts, and prisons are the pillars of the state and the capitalist social order, as are the Federal Reserve System, Treasury and other federal government departments.

The real role of the capitalist state as protector of the interests of the capitalist class has been dramatically highlighted in recent weeks by the $2.25 trillion bailout of the biggest banks and investors. While those responsible for the financial and economic crisis are receiving trillions of dollars, the millions who are losing their homes and jobs have so far gotten nothing.

Obama and McCain, along with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, have backed and defended the bailout plans in the face of widespread popular anger. Obama, along with McCain, opposed inclusion of a provision in the bailout bill that could have made it possible for millions of people facing foreclosure to remain in their homes. Why? Because the big banks were against it.

The rejected provision would have allowed bankruptcy judges to reduce the inflated price of mortgages, high interest rates and monthly mortgage payments. At least 600,000 families could have avoided foreclosure. The bankers opposed it because it would lower their profits. Obama sided with the bankers.

The new contradiction and overcoming it

The bailout illustrates the new contradiction that has come into being with the Obama election. The capitalist class is intensifying their war against the working class to force the workers to bear the burden of the economic crisis that the capitalists created. This, in turn, will inevitably require the workers to intensify their struggle against the capitalists. Yet, the progressive sectors of the working class will be supportive?at least in the first period?of the very president whose job is to help the class that is attacking workers.

The new situation presents great challenges and opportunities for a revolutionary party and the progressive movement as a whole. As the crisis deepens, more and more workers, students, and others will be open to a socialist critique, not only of policies, but of the system itself. The crisis creates the possibility for the emergence of a truly mass, working-class movement. To take full advantage of these opportunities requires tactics and slogans that address the unfolding crisis of capitalism at a time when many progressive sectors will be generally supportive of the incoming president.

What is needed is a clear program focused on what the new administration should do to meet the needs of the working people; to fulfill the expectations its campaign has created. The PSL?s La Riva/Puryear Presidential Campaign put forward such demands, not just as words on paper, but as a fighting program, starting with the following:

    * Declare a State of Housing Emergency  and an immediate moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and rent hikes. There are more than 19 million empty housing units in the U.S. today. No one should be homeless.
    * No layoffs?jobs for all. Create and fund a public works jobs program to provide employment for millions.
    * Extend unemployment benefits at full pay for everyone without a job.
    * Provide health care to all, regardless of ability to pay.
    * Pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that every worker can have union representation.
    * Open the books of the banks for public inspection.
    * A sales tax on stock market transactions (there is none now).
    * Criminal prosecution of banking, finance, insurance and all other executives whose companies have benefited from the foreclosure crisis.
    * An end to racist police brutality and mass imprisonment.
    * Hurricane, flood and other victims of natural disasters must have a government guarantee that they will receive all necessary assistance.
    * End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, close down the 800+ U.S. military bases around the world and use the billions spent everyday on the Pentagon to fund people?s need.

It will be the failure of the new administration to carry through this program that will expose it before the eyes of the people as another agent of the capitalist system.

A revolutionary party can not skip over this stage of the political process. It cannot function as a "radical substitute" for the masses.

Real changes in consciousness on a mass scale can only come about by large numbers of people going through their own experiences in the struggle. The tactics of the coming period must be created with that essential fact in mind.

_________________________________________________________________
Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live.
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From dave.walters at comcast.net  Tue Nov  4 23:03:23 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:03:23 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Cindy Sheehan bash/results
Message-ID: <4911372B.7060302@comcast.net>

As of now...it's 2200 hours...with 17% of the vote in for San Francisco, 
Cindy has garnered 13% of the vote (2 a head of the Republican).

The headquarters was jammed as national results poured in and displayed 
on a flatscreen TV on the wall. Various reaction of the dozens of 
campaigners at the headquarters to Obama's victory. More and more people 
started pouring in around 8pm when polls closed (we were all doing 
intersection/polling place sign waving until then). At 9pm, Cynthia 
McKinney had showed up as did Gloria La Riva and other PSL folks. News 
crews were their with everyone bumping into their equipment. Too many 
people were there and more pouring in. I left at 9:15 as no votes were 
in yet. Supporters of McKinney, Nader and Obama mingled at this party. 
People were also concerned about various state propositions winning or 
loosing.

More tomorrow...

David


From suklasenp at yahoo.co.uk  Tue Nov  4 23:06:52 2008
From: suklasenp at yahoo.co.uk (Sukla Sen)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 06:06:52 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Marxism] US Presidential Election: Look, Who Has Come to Dinner!
Message-ID: <291621.48798.qm@web23003.mail.ird.yahoo.com>

[It was around 9 45 in the morning in India. Obama has
just crossed the 270 mark. The TV screen, on BBC
channel reporting on the election results, fleetingly
shows a teen-aged Black girl, obviously an Obama
supporter, quietly drying the corners of her eyes.
Moments after, prehaps a minute or two, I see Jesse
Jackson streams of tears rolling down his eyes. No, he
is makes no effort to wipe it out. He just keeps
lightly chewing his index finger with the customary
intent look on his face. What he tried but couldn't
achieve (was it ages back?) has now been achieved. At
least almost. No, he does not appear to be cribbing.
When at about 10 30 (IST), Obama, the lanky one with
fairly booming voice, announces before a huge crowd in
Grant park, Chicago, "Change has come to America!",
Jackson's intent face is again on the screen.
Obama tells that the road is long, the climb is steep,
but Yes We Can! Many young, and not so young,
regardless of colour of the skin breaks into the
chant: Yes We Can!
Obama tells that the power of America is not in its
armed might or scale of wealth but in its ideals. The
crowd, estimated to some 125,000 cannot agree more.

Today's event, is by all means, is at least as
momentous as the fall of the Berlin Wall.
No, the history cruel slavery, the history of world's
arguably the ugliest racist oppression just does not
vanish into thin air with wave of this magic wand -
the result of the presidential election today.
But it constitutes a sharp turn, opens up enormous
possibilities to rewrite history on a new page.
Tears in the eyes of the teen aged black girl, tears
in the eyes of Jesse Jackson, tears in the eyes of so
many others - both black and white -are testimonies to
those possibilities and constitute a watershed in
modern history.]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/?hpid=topnews

Posted at 11:10 PM ET, 11/ 4/2008
Obama Rides 'Change' Message To The Presidency



Barack Obama becomes the first African American to
wwin the presidency, changing the political map in the
process.

Barack Obama's victory tonight affirms a fundamental
re-shaping of the electoral map that has dominated
American politics for the better part of the last
decade. The Illinois senator capitalized on a strong
desire for a shakeup in the status quo and a deep
dissatisfaction with the current president and
direction of the country to score a historic win
across the political landscape.

Obama's victory was both broad and deep; he won hotly
contested states in every corner of the country from
New Hampshire in the Northeast, and likely Virginia in
the South to Ohio in the Midwest and New Mexico in the
West.

The win also marked a re-ordering of the political map
as Obama ran surprisingly well in a series of states
-- Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana to name three
-- long considered to be Republican strongholds at the
presidential level.

In broadening the electoral map, Obama made good on a
pledge from early in his campaign to break the
traditional red state/blue state divide into which the
country had been split since the closely contested
presidential election of 2000.

Early indications were that the senator from Illinois
would enjoy significantly larger margins in the House
and Senate as well.

Senate Democrats picked up four seats early in the
night -- North Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and
New Mexico -- and seemed likely to claim victories in
Colorado and Oregon as well. Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) narrowly held on in a tough
race against Democrat Bruce Lunsford while appointed
Sen. Roger Wicker (R) appeared likely to hold his seat
in Mississippi. Those two Republicans wins are likely
to keep Democrats from winning the 60 seats in the
Senate that would allow them to break Republican
filibusters.

On the House side, Florida was an early center of
action with three incumbents -- two Republicans and
one Democrat -- losing. The Democratic domination in
the Northeast was furthered by Jim Himes' victory over
Republican Rep. Chris Shays, and two easy open seat
victories in New York.

But the story of the night was clearly Obama, the
first African American nominee of either party and now
the first black man to be elected president of the
United States.

The keys to Obama's victory are myriad but two factors
stand out: the remarkable unpopularity of President
George W. Bush and the Democratic nominee's massive
fundraising edge.

In the national exit poll, just 27 percent of those
surveys approved of the job Bush had done as president
while roughly three times that number disapproved.

While McCain did his best to separate himself from the
tarnished Bush brand, exit polling in key states
showed he had not done enough. In Pennsylvania, more
than half of all voters said McCain would be a
continuation of Bush policies and that bloc went for
Obama by a 90 percent to 10 percent margin.

Obama's massive financial edge is the other critical
factor that stands out when analyzing his victory.
Obama opted out of the public financing system early
in the summer and by September and October it was
clear he had made the right political choice --
outspending McCain on television at a three- and
four-to-one clip in key battleground states. Obama's
financial edge also guaranteed him a large and
effective ground operation, a turnout effort that
proved crucial to his narrow margins in some of these
swing states.

Much will be said and written of this race in the
days, weeks, months and years to come. But, what is
clear tonight is that the man and the moment have met.
Barack Obama is the next president of the United States.


      


From gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 01:04:43 2008
From: gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com (Gary MacLennan)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:04:43 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811042048lda4266cs507092cac38b81d@mail.gmail.com>
References: <13382664.1225859547833.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<b16d8daf0811042048lda4266cs507092cac38b81d@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b77157fa0811050004m7b1b6beflf04096dad6228f21@mail.gmail.com>

Mark Lause wrote:

> Suprisingly few posts tonight.  I'm sure that most of the Americans on
> this list are sharing the same sensibilities as so many of our
> countrymen.
>
> To state the obvious, we should share in this celebration, not because
> the election itself has changed anything, though it remains to be seen
> what an Obama administration will mean.  Rather, celebration is
> appropriate because the outcome does mark the cumulative changes for
> which we have contended for decades.  We also owe it to the many
> comrades and fellow workers who are not here to celebrate this
> landmark with us.
>
> Hi Mark,




> I have no desire to hit a sour note here.  Of course it is good to see Bush
> & co repudiated and to have McCain and Palin sent packing off to the dust
> bin of history. Good riddance to them.  It is also very good to have lived
> to see an Afro-American in the White House.




> But I think there should be no doubt about the character of an Obama
> administraiton. Volcker - the Prince of Darkness is one of his key economic
> advoisors.  Rubin is the other.


Surely we know by now what any Democratic Adminstration means.  I myself
have been specualting where the Obama war wll be.   For war there will be.
We will get nothing but betrayal and disilusionment from Obama's
administration. That's the truth, however unpopular, that should prevail
admidst all the hype.

regards

Gary

Domestically he may move to some elements of state capitalism - but I
personaly doubt it with Volcker and Rubin as economic advisors.

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 01:09:24 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 03:09:24 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <b77157fa0811050004m7b1b6beflf04096dad6228f21@mail.gmail.com>
References: <13382664.1225859547833.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<b16d8daf0811042048lda4266cs507092cac38b81d@mail.gmail.com>
	<b77157fa0811050004m7b1b6beflf04096dad6228f21@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811050009m26089780u40b2de588a54b8bb@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 3:04 AM, Gary MacLennan
<gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>> But I think there should be no doubt about the character of an Obama
>> administraiton. Volcker - the Prince of Darkness is one of his key economic
>> advoisors.


The Battle for Obama's Economic Soul
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081021_the_battle_for_obamas_economic_soul/
Posted on Oct 21, 2008

By Robert Scheer

[...]

It would be encouraging if the Democratic presidential candidate did
indeed attempt to learn something from Europe's democratic, and barely
socialist, governing left concerning the welfare of those who are not
super-rich, i.e., how to provide quality health care and education for
all?but that is not what is happening. Instead, Obama has turned to the
same American "free market" elite that views government as merely a
corporate subsidiary. Even within that crowd, however, there are serious
splits, and the more enlightened side seems to be winning.

Key among the good guys is former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,
who consistently challenged the radical anti-deregulatory crusade of
Alan Greenspan, his immediate successor at the Fed.  [...]


From alanb1000 at yahoo.com  Wed Nov  5 02:10:37 2008
From: alanb1000 at yahoo.com (Alan Bradley)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 01:10:37 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <381221.32013.qm@web53610.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

> This is a wonderfully exciting night....

The attitude expressed in an Australian pub:
(not literally, but this is a legitimate summary...)
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thewizardofoz/dingdongthewitchisdead.ht
m
---
Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! 
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the 
bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know 
The Wicked Witch is dead!
...
---
Seriously, this was felt to be a good thing in an imperialist state 
allied to the US. This included military veterans, although no 
serving military people were present.

Alan B


      


From absynthe at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 02:22:15 2008
From: absynthe at gmail.com (chegitz guevara)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 04:22:15 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <8A71FA3BE94B49AF86851FBA9202DA42@dmsthinkpad>
References: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<8A71FA3BE94B49AF86851FBA9202DA42@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <e1d1857b0811050122k37cfcffasd356e714d98ed54@mail.gmail.com>

I see someone else watches T.L. Hughly's Breaking the News.

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 12:22 AM, S. Artesian <sartesian at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Or... we can look at this a little bit more realistically and say--
>
> George Bush, you must have really fucked up for American to elect a black
> man.


From Jscotlive at aol.com  Wed Nov  5 02:51:03 2008
From: Jscotlive at aol.com (Jscotlive at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 04:51:03 EST
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
Message-ID: <d10.3bacf44e.3642c687@aol.com>

This is a terrible statement from the PSL, one which illustrates why they  
are completely out of touch. To ascribe the massive support for Obama as nothing 
 more than 'backward white people overcoming their racism' is too crude for  
words.
 
The campaigns run by Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and the PSL were futile and  
out of sync with mass consciousness in this election. The historical importance  
of having a black elected president (and one without a slave name) cannot be  
underestimated exactly because it united people of all races, which in itself 
 signifies a rejection of the deep polarisation caused by the fundamentalist  
policies of Bush and the neocons.
 
The current financial crisis, which has hit the US harder than anywhere else, 
 was undoubtedly responsible for the overwhelming support for Obama. It was a 
 shift in consciousness which transcended the false divisions of race and 
fear of  the other which the Republicans had relied on to win both in 2000 and 
2004.  Obama was successful in separating himself from the militarism and 
reactionary  policies of Bush and the extreme right in the US, in a perfect example 
of cometh  the time cometh the man.  
Now he will have to either try to put a brake on the huge wave of expectation 
 he?s unleashed amongst the poor and the disenfranchised in the US, or else 
allow  himself to be moved further left than he originally intended to go. 
What he won?t be able to do is stand still.
J

From Midhurst14 at aol.com  Wed Nov  5 03:36:02 2008
From: Midhurst14 at aol.com (Midhurst14 at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 05:36:02 EST
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
Message-ID: <ce5.4177f1ad.3642d112@aol.com>

 
 
 
The whole world breathed a sigh of relief on November 5th
We owe a great deal to the era of Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes for creating  
the necessary catharsis for change
The price we have paid is the loss of 40 years of our lives and the deaths  
of so many, noble like Martin Luther King and the  ordinary soldier  dying in  
Iraq                           
To prompt the American voter, 70% who have never read a book, to overcome  
the racism endemic in their society
Obama's speech was superb, and in his effort to match the occasion,  provided 
many hostages to fortune 
Let us hope that he lives to provide an alternative to the previous horrors  
and as exemplified in his quotes from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
George  Anthony 






From versomail at verso.co.uk  Wed Nov  5 03:47:25 2008
From: versomail at verso.co.uk (Verso Mail)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 10:47:25 -0000
Subject: [Marxism] New from Verso: ADDING INSULT TO INJURY by NANCY FRASER
Message-ID: <A8EC603BE258E44680633A63466ACA40465C76@versonlrserver.VersoNLR.local>

NEW FROM VERSO

 

Adding Insult to Injury: Nancy Fraser Debates Her Critics

 

By Nancy Fraser

Edited by Kevin Olson

 

November 2008 / 360 pages

ISBN 978 1 85984 223 2 / ?16.99 / $29.95 / Paperback

ISBN 978 1 85984 728 2 / ?60 / $110 / Hardcover             

 

The collapse of Communism, the rise of identity politics, and struggles over global governance have combined to create new challenges for the Left: How to do justice to legitimate claims for multiculturalism and democratization without abandoning the Left's historic--and still indispensable--commitment to economic equality? How to broaden the understanding of injustice by adding cultural and political insutl to economic injury?

 

Adding Insult to Injury tracks the debate sparked by Nancy Fraser's controversial effort to combine redistribution, recognition, and representation in a new understanding of social justice. The volume showcases Fraser's critical exchanges with leading thinkers, including Judith Butler, Richard Rorty, Iris Marion Young, Anne Phillips, and Rainer Forst. The result is a wide-ranging and at times contentious exploration of varied approaches to rebuilding the Left.

 

Praise for Adding Insult to Injury:

 

"For more than a decade, Nancy Fraser's thought has helped to reframe the agenda of critical theory. Today, when egalitarian hopes flicker and shine against the background of pervasive repression, 'Adding Insult to Injury' provides a singular stimulation." --Etienne Balibar

 

"Even those of us who disagree with Nancy Fraser on substantive questions recognize her ability to illuminate the conflicting demands, hopes and sufferings of our time. With the capacity to learn by dialogue, an analytically sharp mind and a stunning synthetic ability, she is among the very few thinkers in the tradition of critical theory who are capable of redeeming its legacy in the twenty-first century." --Axel Honneth 

 

Praise for Scales of Justice: 

 

"Nancy Fraser breaks new ground in rethinking the meaning and consequences of justice in a globalized world...As always, her essays are vigorous, fresh, lucid, and provocative. A must for anyone interested in the cutting edge of a critical theory of justice." 

--Richard Bernstein, New School for Social Research

 

"Lucid and tightly argued...A serious engagement with questions of this kind should be at the top of the agenda of anyone concerned with social justice, regardless of whether we agree or not with Fraser's thoughtful answers."

--Giovanni Arrighi, The Johns Hopkins University

 

"Combining conceptual clarity with political imagination, Nancy Fraser breaks new ground for a critical theory of justice...A much needed guide to the largely unknown territory of a just global order." 

--Rainer Frost, Goethe-Universit?t, Frankfurt am Main

 

Nancy Fraser is Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research and holder of a Chaire Blaise Pascal at the ?cole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales in Paris. Her books include Redistribution or Recognition: A Political-Philosophical Exchange (with Axel Honneth), Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the "Postsocialist" Condition, and Unruly Practices: Power, Discourse and Gender in Contemporary Social Theory.

 

More information from the Verso website:

 

http://www.versobooks.com/books/cdef/ef-titles/fraser_n_adding_insult_to_injury.shtml

 

Available from all good bookshops or from Amazon:

 

(UK)

Paperback:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adding-Insult-Injury-Redistribution-Representation/dp/1859842232/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223899605&sr=1-15

Hardcover: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adding-Insult-Injury-Politics-Recognition/dp/1859847285/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223899643&sr=1-16

 

(US)

Paperback:

http://www.amazon.com/Adding-Insult-Injury-Redistribution-Representation/dp/1859842232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225207301&sr=1-1

 

 

 

Contact: 

davids at verso.co.uk

www.versobooks.com


From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 04:49:36 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 06:49:36 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
In-Reply-To: <ce5.4177f1ad.3642d112@aol.com>
References: <ce5.4177f1ad.3642d112@aol.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811050349u29c6b58cx558eef0b7a8d3e65@mail.gmail.com>

Among the other things celebrated in this victory was the power of the
well-spent campaign dollar.  Obama looked and sounded more appealing
than ever.  The media and pundits were all wallowing in it, offering
not so much news and commentary as an infomercial for America's image
in the world.  But certainly, Obama's rhetoric was Lincolnesque...

Lincolnesque, but not Lincoln.  No American president ever took the
White House on a thinner margin than Lincoln, elected by a plurality
in a four-way race, but no president was every able to do more, partly
because Lincoln clearly stated what he planned to do and what his
priorities were.  And when those policies and priorities changed--as
with the adoption of emancipation as a war goal--he took it back to
the voters to renew that mandate.

Obama has a much more sweeping mandate but not to do anything
specific...other than not to be Dubya and to look presidential.  (Mind
you, I can't recall anyone since JFK coming close to him.)  Even for
this aging old warhorse who sees history as driven by social conflict,
Obama's this-is-our-time talk about bringing us together as a nation
has a lovely appeal.  It almost sounds like he might mean using his
office to compel power and wealth to accommodate the needs of the
people and the demands of equality.

In practical terms, it means more "hands-across-the-aisle" Democratic
partnering with the Republicans, more turning of a blind eye to crimes
under the Bush administration, more progressive impulses compromising
with the neocons, more tightening of the belt to pay for corporate
bailouts, etc.  Obama's in the unenviable situation of having to
deliver on any of that while keeping his support.

It's a contradiction of major proportions, but one we've not had in
high office in the U.S. for many, many years.  Radicals could
contribute little, in the end, to a resolution of that contradiction
by registering a consumer statement of satisfaction for a black
president.

As a case in point, our local NAACP initiatives...Issues 7 and
8...were opposed by the local politicians and the media.  The latter
has dutifully reported the results on Issues 1 through 6, but--when it
became apparent that we were carrying the popular vote on our
issues--stopped reporting on the results.  The sources I've checked
this morning seem to be pretending that our two iniatives were never
on the ballot.  So I'm betting that we won and won big!

We don't do what we do based on the media's priorities.  As with the
NAACP initiatives locally, being out of synch with the media and its
priorities doesn't mean being out of synch with the people.  The media
exclusion of information about alternative campaigns has even extended
to reporting on voter returns by outfits like CNN.  It looks as though
the campaigns of the Left may have gotten around a million votes.  To
state the bleeding obvious, it's importance for us to see that, for
those who voted for those alternatives to see that they have company,
and it's certainly important for the incoming Obama administration to
see that. It contributed as great a push as we could muster to the
resolution of that contradiction.

Based on largely anecdotal evidence, I've found a much deeper
understanding of this contradiction in the black neighborhood where I
live, than among the white "progressives" where I work who voted for
Obama.  I had my Nader-Gonzales yard sign outside where it remained
unmolested through the course of the campaign, wore a political
button, and never made any secret of my not supporting Obama.  This
permitted me to discuss issues like the war, health care, and the
criminality of the Bush-Cheney administration with all sorts of
people.  The only people who ever denounced me as a "racist" or said I
was out of sync for insisting that these were the key issues were the
perennially all-knowing white "progressives" where I work.

The issues raised by Nader, McKinney and the independents were the
right issues and are understood to be such, at least by the black
voters who went for Obama, people who expect more than having a black
president.  That expectation nourishes me this morning.

And, for us, I think, that's the real source of celebration.

Solidarity!
Mark L.


From christopher.hutch at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 05:22:45 2008
From: christopher.hutch at gmail.com (Christopher Hutchinson)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 07:22:45 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] General Strike: The Vote Changes Nothing
Message-ID: <c81bf1a60811050422i3f7b1bdexa9a36bbd426dcd36@mail.gmail.com>

As the whole world is swept up in Obamania we can not let our fellow workers
forget OUR historic duty...to bring an end to capitalism.

www.GeneralStrikecomicstrip.blogspot.com<http://www.generalstrikecomicstrip.blogspot.com/>


keep well,

christopher

From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 05:46:26 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 07:46:26 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net><8A71FA3BE94B49AF86851FBA9202DA42@dmsthinkpad>
	<e1d1857b0811050122k37cfcffasd356e714d98ed54@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <70733CCEA07144788828F7699C5FC173@dmsthinkpad>

Thought it was DL Hughly, and no I don't watch it.  If he said the same 
thing, well great minds think alike.

I would like to ask, however, for a halt to all this hallelujah 
sentimentality re the Obama victory.

I half expect somebody on the list to break into a  chorus of  "We Shall 
Overcome," to be followed by "God Bless America."

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "chegitz guevara" <absynthe at gmail.com>


>I see someone else watches T.L. Hughly's Breaking the News.



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 06:04:50 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 08:04:50 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <19124033.1225890290430.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Lift Every Voice And Sing 

Lyrics

Countdown - Lift Every Voice And Sing Lyrics:
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.Lift Every Voice And Sing Lyrics

Countdown - Lift Every Voice And Sing Lyrics:
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From cultstud76 at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 06:24:29 2008
From: cultstud76 at gmail.com (Sean Andrews)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 07:24:29 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <8A71FA3BE94B49AF86851FBA9202DA42@dmsthinkpad>
References: <31634011.1225862185858.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<8A71FA3BE94B49AF86851FBA9202DA42@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <4715fc3a0811050524x39f6dbf3l566034e45d6852db@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 11:22 PM, S. Artesian <sartesian at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Or... we can look at this a little bit more realistically and say--
>
> George Bush, you must have really fucked up for American to elect a black
> man.
>

Chris Rock concurs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3erEqfFxTlE

[in the first minute]

s


From anthony.boynton at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 06:26:58 2008
From: anthony.boynton at gmail.com (Anthony Boynton)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 08:26:58 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] In other news: Colombian Army Commander Resigns in
	Scandal Over Killing of Civilians
Message-ID: <7b8a676d0811050526x4fc707ddh5fa3c1d438c24cbf@mail.gmail.com>

In other news, the government of Alvaro Uribe is getting ready for the
administration of President Obama.

* *

*Colombian Army Commander Resigns in Scandal Over Killing of Civilians*

NYT By SIMON ROMERO Published: November 4, 2008



CARACAS, Venezuela ? The commander of Colombia's army resigned Tuesday after
an investigation tied dozens of military personnel under his command to an
intensifying scandal over the killing of civilians by the armed forces in
what apparently were attempts to inflate the number of insurgents or
criminal gang members killed in combat by security forces.



The resignation of the commander, Gen. Mario Montoya, 59, an
American-trained officer who won acclaim for battlefield achievements during
his 39-year career, comes amid a broad shake-up in the Colombian military
even as it celebrates a string of victories in recent months against leftist
guerrillas.



The government of President ?lvaro Uribe fired 27 officers and soldiers last
week, including three generals, over reports that impoverished young men had
been lured from the slums around Bogot? and taken to a war zone in northern
Colombia, where they were killed by troops, classified as subversives and
later found in unmarked graves.



"These killings permeate the entire military hierarchy and their civilian
overseers," Senator Gustavo Petro, an outspoken opposition figure, said in a
telephone interview from Bogot?, the Colombian capital. "General Montoya's
resignation was necessary, but the administration must be held responsible
for allowing crimes like these to occur."



The scandal has focused scrutiny on Mr. Uribe's government and its top ally,
the United States, which is responsible for vetting Colombian military units
for human rights abuses before they can receive American aid. The United
States provides Colombia with about $500 million a year in assistance to
fight rebels and drug trafficking.



In addition to the recent deaths of 11 young men from the slums near Bogot?
that are at the heart of the scandal, prosecutors are investigating
accusations that 1,015 civilians had been killed outside combat since 2002,
when Mr. Uribe intensified the long war against two leftist insurgencies,
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National
Liberation Army, or E.L.N.



General Montoya was viewed as the most prominent figure among senior
officers who chafed at greater judicial scrutiny of their methods at a time
of major victories against the FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group,
including the daring rescue of 15 hostages in July.



He was also an outspoken military leader who enjoyed the support of Mr.
Uribe, dating from his command of combat forces earlier this decade in
Antioquia, the president's home department, or province, at a time of
conflict there with guerrillas. The general received training early in his
military career in the United States.



Political analysts in Colombia said the isolation of General Montoya from an
investigation in recent weeks into the latest claims involving civilian
killings signaled a move by Mr. Uribe's government to reduce its exposure to
him.



"Montoya was without doubt a man of the president," said Pedro Medell?n, a
political analyst and columnist for El Tiempo, a daily newspaper in Bogot?.
"In this sense, any decision affecting General Montoya would have come from
President Uribe's heart."



A C.I.A. memo obtained last year by The Los Angeles Times tied General
Montoya to collaborations with paramilitaries, right-wing militias that are
classified as terrorist groups by the United States, in joint operations
with security forces in 2002 to vanquish guerrillas from impoverished areas
of Medell?n, the capital of Antioquia.



And earlier this year, Parmenio de Jes?s Usme, a former paramilitary
combatant, testified that General Montoya was involved in a cover-up of an
alleged episode in March 2002 in which five civilians were killed in
Antioquia; they were later presented to the news media as rebels, their
bodies dressed in combat fatigues.



In an interview last month, Gen. Freddy Padilla de Le?n, the commander of
Colombia's armed forces, said preliminary investigations of the events were
under way.



Prosecutors and human rights researchers contend that patterns have emerged
in recent years in the killing of civilians; they say that in dozens of
cases, civilians were killed by the armed forces and then afterward their
bodies were dressed in guerrilla uniforms or weapons or rebel communications
equipment were placed nearby. The term for these cases in Colombia is "false
positives."



General Montoya did not refer to any of these cases by name in the statement
announcing his resignation, but he called on Colombians to allow officials
who have been implicated in the scandal the right to defend themselves.
Elvira V?squez, the mother of one of the men lured from Bogot? and then
killed in a distant combat zone, had a different view.



"If he resigned, he must have been involved in some way; what more is there
to say?" asked Ms. V?squez, whose son Joaqu?n Castro, a 28-year-old
steelworker, was discovered in an unmarked grave hundreds of miles north of
Bogot? in September. "It seems the government is finally paying attention to
this issue."

From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 06:42:36 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 08:42:36 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <19124033.1225890290430.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <227B2BC3AE0248AFA7D982467C7060E4@dmsthinkpad>

Can always count on Walter to provide evidence for the theory that history 
is a play acted by fools for the enjoyment of cynics, and vice-versa.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Walter Lippmann" <walterlx at earthlink.net>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election


> Lift Every Voice And Sing
> 



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 06:49:32 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 08:49:32 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
Message-ID: <16060721.1225892972184.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

How foolish it is for a handful of individuals to
sneer and dismiss the historic election outcome.
Such individuals completely miss the significance
of the moment.

Micheal Ratner and Micheal Moore saw it better,
citing the anti-racist significance of the vote
as the FIRST item as they looked at the election.

The blindness with which some individuals who call
themselves Marxist is an reflection of the racial
blindness which continues to play a powerful role
in the politics and culture of the United States.

Obama's victory speech, which celebrates "anything
can be done" under capitalism in the United States,
is precisely what you'd expect from a candidate of
one of the two dominant capitalist political parties.
That's what Obama and his promoters want the people
of the United States, and of the world, to believe.

The vote doesn't change the nature of society or the
need for profound transformation of human society.
But for the moment it changes some of the ideological
terrain under which some of these issues are argued.

Most people in the United States still don't think
beyond the idea that capitalism is the only way that
human society can or should be organized. Whether or
not that can change, and socialism can become an idea
with broad public traction in a country like this - 
rooted in individualism, consumerism, religiosity and
know-nothing bigotry, can't be assumed. It's a task
which needs to be taken up and conducted.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
======================================================
RATNER:
It is historic. A black family in the White House that slaves built. Yes,
slaves were used in the construction of the White House. When I was a
child this never could have happened. In the 50's when I visited Florida,
even after Brown v. Board of Education, there were separate drinking
fountains and bathrooms for Blacks. When Center for Constitutional Rights
was founded in the 60's there were only three elected Black officials in
the Black belt; today there are thousands. So we are seeing an amazing
moment in American history.

MOORE:
In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs
of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity:
Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to
Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The
racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth.
But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of
hate fizzle out in our lifetime.


=============================================
As the whole world is swept up in Obamania 
we can not let our fellow workers forget OUR 
historic duty...to bring an end to capitalism.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 07:06:32 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:06:32 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <381221.32013.qm@web53610.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <381221.32013.qm@web53610.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <4911A868.6060808@panix.com>

Alan Bradley wrote:
> Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! 
> Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

Odd how Obama's victory evokes references to Hollywood struggles between 
Good and Evil. Here's something else I received this morning from

Links and forum to comment on this and other columns at:
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog

Mordor Brightens; Obama's Challenge -- And Ours
By Robert Weissman
November 5, 2008

Good morning, America. Hello, world.

Yes, the skies over Mordor are now brightening.*

There is an almost palpable, physical sense of relief with the 
confirmation that the end of the Bush era is at hand.

And the election of an African American to the highest office in the 
land is an act of racial redemption that was almost unimaginable two 
years ago.

(clip)

* For those not familiar with the reference, Mordor is the realm of the 
evil Sauron in J.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

---

Here are some necessary correctives on L. Frank Baum and J.R. Tolkien:

http://www.counterpunch.org/stjohn06262004.html
L. Frank Baum: Racist
Indian-Hating in "The Wizard of Oz"

By THOMAS ST. JOHN

Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) advocated the extermination of the American 
Indian in his 1899 fantasy "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Baum was an 
Irish nationalist newspaper editor, a former resident of Aberdeen in the 
old Dakota Indian territory. His sympathies with the village pioneers 
caused him to invent the Oz fantasy to justify extermination. All of 
Baum's "innocent" symbols clearly represent easily recognizable frontier 
landmarks, political realities, and peoples. These symbols were 
presented to frontier children, to prepare them for their racially 
violent future.

(clip)

http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2006/11/against-tolkien.html
Against Tolkien

Here's a cleaned-up version of the comments I made - or rather excavated 
- during the debate I had with Richard Taylor about Lord of the Rings 
the other day.

As some of you no doubt realise already, I am not a big fan of JRR 
Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings circus. I agree with Michael Moorcock, 
who argues in his book Wizardry and Wild Romance that Tolkien's writing 
was driven by an obsessive fear that the south of England, aka the 
Shire, with its idealised countryside and countryfolk, was about to be 
over-run by rough northern blokes (orcs) led by nasty Bolshy 
intellectuals (evil wizards) and supported by ungrateful natives in 
other parts of the Empire.

The sad thing is that in the space of a few decades the writing of an 
embittered old Oxford Don - writing which could originally only be 
published by a crank religious outfit - has become a myth that thousands 
of people on the other side of the world have assimilated.

(clip)


From shmage at pipeline.com  Wed Nov  5 07:08:12 2008
From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 09:08:12 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Paradox in Black and White
In-Reply-To: <03EEA69F-04C8-4613-BDF0-0B2C3654E167@pipeline.com>
References: <909601.83883.qm@web30503.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
	<03EEA69F-04C8-4613-BDF0-0B2C3654E167@pipeline.com>
Message-ID: <9A3C301B-3923-4081-A922-0D460CC59E85@pipeline.com>

Last night, and in the weeks before, numerous celebrants in the media  
commented sagaciously how the president-elect would never have risen  
like a souffl? if He had not been Black.  Oddly, there was not a  
single voice to remark that He would not have had a chance if He had  
not been White.


Shane Mage

> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 07:09:00 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:09:00 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
In-Reply-To: <16060721.1225892972184.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <16060721.1225892972184.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4911A8FC.6070008@panix.com>

Walter Lippmann wrote:
> 
> MOORE:
> In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs
> of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity:
> Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to
> Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The
> racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth.
> But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of
> hate fizzle out in our lifetime.

Didn't Michael Moore lose all credibility some light years ago?


From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Wed Nov  5 07:12:19 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:12:19 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <19124033.1225890290430.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<227B2BC3AE0248AFA7D982467C7060E4@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <4911A9C3.47258D8E@ilstu.edu>



"S. Artesian" wrote:
> 
> Can always count on Walter to provide evidence for the theory that history
> is a play acted by fools for the enjoyment of cynics, and vice-versa.

Well, it was interesting that (at least in the order the posts came to
me) immediately after your "I half expect somebody on the list to break
into a  chorus of  "We Shall 
Overcome," to be followed by "God Bless America" we got Walter's "Lift
Every Voice And Sing." You may feel prophetic.

Carrol



From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 07:13:08 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:13:08 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Who Dennis Perrin voted for
Message-ID: <4911A9F4.9080901@panix.com>

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2008/11/that-thing-with-feathers.html


From obeynow20001 at yahoo.com  Wed Nov  5 07:16:59 2008
From: obeynow20001 at yahoo.com (Alex Briscoe)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 06:16:59 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] test
Message-ID: <126622.66818.qm@web81705.mail.mud.yahoo.com>



***************************
***************************
http://www.votenader.org
http://www.ilgp.org
http://www.northsidegreenparty.org
http://www.greenallianceusa.org
http://www.labornotes.org
http://www.solidarity-us.org
http://www.internationalviewpoint.org


      


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 07:17:21 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:17:21 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Meszaros on the crisis
Message-ID: <4911AAF1.3080807@panix.com>

http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/meszaros041108.html


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 07:43:43 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 09:43:43 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <21050273.1225896223948.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

My posting of the Negro National Anthem by James Weldon Johnson
was 100% deliberate and conscious, in response to the blindness
which had preceded it. That dismissive blindness has a political
meaning and significance

Even the Republican Party's John McCain had more understanding
of the political moment for Blacks in the United States than
some people who call themselves Marxists. The boorish ignorant
people in McCain's crowd who booed the mention of Obama's name,
the same elements who campaigned against gay marriage, etc, are
momentarily pushed back, their influence momentarily reduced.

Their success in putting across their anti-marriage initiative
in California is a reflection of the power of know-nothingism
and lots and lots of right-wing money here in California, much
mobilized from outside the state. As the item below indicates,
the situation is far from completely bleak as far as the gay
issues are concerned, though, of course, the same individuals
who think Obama's election means nothing, are presumably of 
the same opinion about this election, as well.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
==============================================================
Colorado sends openly gay man to Congress
by Rex Wockner

Openly gay Jared Polis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on 
Nov. 4 from Colorado's 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses areas 
north and west of Denver, including the city of Boulder.

Polis, a 33-year-old Democrat, is the first openly gay man elected to 
Congress who was out when elected for the first time. U.S. Rep. Tammy 
Baldwin, D-Wis., holds the female distinction in that regard.

"The voters of our district have spoken clearly that they want change 
brought to Washington," Polis told the Denver Post. "I look forward to
taking my out-of-the-box approach and creative ideas to help shake up 
Washington."

In his primary-election victory speech in August, Polis introduced his 
partner, made reference to being gay, and said, "I always worried that 
that would get in the way (of) giving back and contributing to our 
society."

A millionaire who made his money in online ventures, Polis spent $5.6 
million of his own funds in the campaign.

Polis becomes the sixth open gay to serve in the House of Representatives, 
following in the footsteps of Baldwin, current Rep. Barney Frank 
(D-Mass.), and former Reps. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.), who is deceased, Steve 
Gunderson (R-Wis.) and Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.).

Frank, 68, is now the powerful chairman of the House Financial Services 
Committee.

Frank told the Post in August, "We are reaching that point where among 
Democratic voters sexual orientation of a candidate is not a factor."

He also said that once he's no longer the only gay male congressman, he 
won't feel as much pressure to be a role model and plans to start smoking 
cigars in public again.

"I can start indulging some bad habits," Frank said. "Let the young
gay people find someone else to emulate."

-end-

====================================================================
Well, it was interesting that (at least in the order the posts came
to me) immediately after your "I half expect somebody on the list to
break into a chorus of "We Shall Overcome," to be followed by "God
Bless America" we got Walter's "Lift Every Voice And Sing." 

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 07:46:09 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:46:09 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Israel's latest shift to the right
Message-ID: <4911B1B1.8090505@panix.com>

I am not sure how many people remember Jared from his participation on 
this mailing list or are aware of his website Emperor's Clothes 
(http://www.emperors-clothes.com/) that was launched during the war in 
Kosovo. Jared was a leader of the Maoist wing of SDS in the 1960s and 
like lots of people from that era dropped completely out of politics 
after the radicalization ended. He reemerged in response to the 
propaganda offensive against Milosevic and played a fairly decent role 
even if he had the same hero-worshipping relationship to Milosevic that 
Yoshie Furuhashi has to Ahmadinejad.

Eventually he began to go off in strange directions, first of all 
joining the 9/11 conspiracy theory nuts which led to his self-removal 
from Marxmail. He then developed into a Likudist and spent all his time 
railing against Islamic radicals. It is of course possible that he was a 
Zionist all along.

Today as I was browsing through the alt.politics.socialism.trotsky 
newsgroup, which serves the same purpose for me that Peanuts or 
Doonesbury serves for most people, I discovered that he has gone on a 
Bill Ayers-Obama kick. Here's a snippet:

In defending himself from attack, Obama and his campaign have made 
statements to the media and in Obama?s own ?Fact Check on Obama and 
Ayers,? on his campaign website.  40% of Obama?s ?Fact Check? consists 
of media and various VIPs saying it is no big deal that Obama worked 
with Ayers.  These statements mean as much as the blurbs on the back of 
a mystery novel - obviously they wouldn?t be published unless they said 
what Obama wanted, so what do they prove?  In the remaining 60% of the 
?Fact Check,? Obama a) states his core defense for working with Ayers 
and b) defends Ayers by portraying him and the Weathermen as having been 
excessive ? even violent ? in pursuit of their ideals, but not 
murderous, and, at least in the case of Ayers, of having changed into 
model citizens. This is the interesting part, for I have found that a) 
Obama?s core defense for working with Ayers is based on a lie about the 
Weathermen in which Obama covers up for murder and b) the rest of 
Obama?s defense of Ayers and the Weathermen is rife with deception and 
deceit as well.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 07:49:13 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:49:13 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <21050273.1225896223948.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <21050273.1225896223948.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4911B269.1040602@panix.com>

Walter Lippmann wrote:
> Even the Republican Party's John McCain had more understanding
> of the political moment for Blacks in the United States than
> some people who call themselves Marxists. 

Walter, there really is no need for Marxmail to record that Obama's 
victory is historic. This is patently obvious. Our goal here is not to 
record the patently obvious but to dig beneath the surface of bourgeois 
society and expose the class contradictions that will inevitably lead to 
the next phase in the struggle.


From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 07:55:45 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 06:55:45 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
Message-ID: <COL110-W4087C8186B66A8BE8DDE53D71F0@phx.gbl>




JScotlive: "To ascribe the massive support for Obama as nothing 

 more than 'backward white people overcoming their racism' is too crude for  

words."

Distort much? The words "nothing more" are yours; the article hardly implies that. Even the implication that Obama's support was BECAUSE some people overcame their racism is absurd; the article clearly suggests they overcame their racism BECAUSE they were "yearning for real change, for an end to war, unemployment, foreclosures, and more" and believed Obama's promises that he was the agent for those things.

I would disagree with the same sentence JScot criticized, but for different reasons: "That so many backward white people overcame their own racism to vote
for Obama is a sign that the economic crisis is providing the material
basis for multinational unity." The second half of the sentence is fine, but the first half of the sentence remains to be seen. Did ANY "backward white people" overcome "their own racism" and vote for Obama? Until I see some convincing poll data, I neither believe nor disbelieve that ANY racists voted for Obama. Merely because Obama won states won by Bush doesn't prove it - to begin with, there was increased black turnout in many of those states (e.g., North Carolina), and clearly not all the whites who voted for Bush and who switched to Obama (17% of all people who voted for Bush according to one figure I heard) were racists.

Let's not forget that McCain won 46% of all votes. Clearly that leaves plenty of room for every "backward white person" in the country to have voted for McCain with a lot of room left over for just plain conservatives.

Racism did take a HUGE blow in the election yesterday, but, contrary to all the pronouncements I've already heard on TV from people who should know better, it's still standing. Just listening to the knuckle-draggers at McCain's concession speech boo every mention of Obama's name was proof enough of that, as if proof were needed.

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live Hotmail now works up to 70% faster.
http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_faster_112008

From menecraj at shaw.ca  Wed Nov  5 08:26:48 2008
From: menecraj at shaw.ca (Richard Menec)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 09:26:48 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
Message-ID: <A78BB602A35944BDB57C2E8C837D8988@agingCHS072729>

Mark Lause wrote:
"The issues raised by Nader, McKinney and the independents were the right 
issues and are understood to be such, at least by the black voters who went 
for Obama, people who expect more than having a black president.  That 
expectation nourishes me this morning."

*Agreed, and an important point that needs to be drilled into the old 
"Anyone but Bush" crowd, over and over again.

As someone north of the 49th, and after listening to Obama's speech, it's 
hard to hold back thinking about the role perceptions alone can play in 
social and working-class movements.  Will the Obama victory instill hope and 
imagination for a more just world?  It's already doing that, I believe. 
Will this cause a redoubling of efforts on the part of progressives 
throughout the world?  Very likely.  Do we now have a more progressive 
leader south of the border than our own, in PM Stephen Harper?  No doubt 
there in my mind!!  Conversely, could these perceptions cause conservatives 
and reactionary leaders in other parts of the world to be a little less 
zealous in applying strikes against working people?  Possibly.  All of which 
could be good news for the downtrodden.

in struggle,
Richard Menec
==============
Fresh Ink is an alternative news service
Join us! https://booksinternationale.info/mailman/listinfo/freshink
==============



From shmage at pipeline.com  Wed Nov  5 08:37:14 2008
From: shmage at pipeline.com (Shane Mage)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 10:37:14 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <21050273.1225896223948.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <21050273.1225896223948.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <05D8AE74-B128-40BD-A6EE-2CEE2290D3DB@pipeline.com>


On Nov 5, 2008, at 9:43 AM, Walter Lippmann wrote:
>
> ...the same elements who campaigned against gay marriage, etc, are
> momentarily pushed back, their influence momentarily reduced.
>
> Their success in putting across their anti-marriage initiative
> in California is a reflection of the power of know-nothingism
> and lots and lots of right-wing money here in California, much
> mobilized from outside the state...

With a powerful assist from Oblablabla who helped them "from outside  
the state" (which he visited only to raise "lots and lots of...  
money") by saying loud and clear that He was "against gay marriage"  
while mumbling indistinctly that Prop 8 was not such a good idea.  But  
in California, where His anti-marriage views were being broadcast  
wholesale from the pulpits of the "Black Churches," His demurral was  
nowhere to be seen or heard.  The Professor of Constitutional Law  
somehow made no speeches, no advertisements, no recorded phone calls  
to oppose a blatantly unconstitutional and sexist measure!

Shane Mage

> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos


From farmelantj at juno.com  Wed Nov  5 08:36:32 2008
From: farmelantj at juno.com (farmelantj at juno.com)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 15:36:32 GMT
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Israel's latest shift to the right
Message-ID: <20081105.103632.21854.0@webmail21.vgs.untd.com>


It's possible that Jared has been carrying a grudge againt
Bill Ayers all these years.  I get the impression that more
than a few people do, since the SDS splits were quite painful
for many people at the time.  The Weathermen were, rightly
or wrongly, blamed for many of the problems that faced the
radical left in the early 1970s.  Of course this also fists
in well with Jared Israel's penchant for conspiracy mongering.

Jim F.


-- Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> wrote:
I am not sure how many people remember Jared from his participation on 
this mailing list or are aware of his website Emperor's Clothes 
(http://www.emperors-clothes.com/) that was launched during the war in 
Kosovo. Jared was a leader of the Maoist wing of SDS in the 1960s and 
like lots of people from that era dropped completely out of politics 
after the radicalization ended. He reemerged in response to the 
propaganda offensive against Milosevic and played a fairly decent role 
even if he had the same hero-worshipping relationship to Milosevic that 
Yoshie Furuhashi has to Ahmadinejad.


_____________________________________________________________
All is not lost! Click now for professional data recovery.
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From pance at rogers.com  Wed Nov  5 08:39:42 2008
From: pance at rogers.com (Pance Stojkovski)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 07:39:42 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] Symbolism and Reality
Message-ID: <797635.5549.qm@web88002.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

I look forward to the new Obama Administration like everybody else around the world. There's obvious hope for change in the air - even here, "up in Canada". 

On my ride to work this morning I kept thinking of a cautionary tale - the tale of the optimism of an unknown new administration that turned sour. In Canada, the Liberal Party has a tradition of electing alternately English and French leaders. This morning I kept thinking that the closest example we had in Canada was the election of Pierre Trudeau as Prime Minister in the late 60s. Pierre Trudeau is a Francophone from the province of Quebec.

The naive optimism was swept away when Trudeau invoked the War Measures act in his home province of Quebec in 1970. And later in 1982 he repatriated the constitution even though Quebec was excluded from the final agreement.

Where English Prime Ministers tread softly on Quebec's rights, Francophone Prime Ministers have gladly stood up to Quebec's aspirations. 

This is not a prediction of what is to come with Obama's Administration - just a cautionary tale. The future is unwritten and hope springs eternal for a better future.

pance



From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 08:43:24 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:43:24 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] President Obama, Governor Paterson and Ayn Rand
Message-ID: <4911BF1C.4000209@panix.com>

Last night as I was listening (or trying to listen) to Obama?s vaporous 
victory speech, I heard a steady procession of young people walking up 
Third Avenue cheering and yelling ?Obama? over and over. For all 
practical purposes, it was just the kind of display that attends a World 
Series or Super Bowl victory by a New York team. This is understandable 
given the way that the presidential campaign is understood by the 
average person. Their candidate is like the home team and the primaries 
amount to playoffs leading up to the championship game.

I almost felt like putting on my clothes and going down to the street to 
ask people why they were celebrating. What does the average young person 
living on the Upper East Side think that they will get from an Obama 
presidency? Surely, they must believe that he can?t be anywhere as bad 
as McCain. On this they are certainly correct since that is a sine qua 
non for the continued functioning of the 2-party system. If after Obama 
took office, he named Alberto Gonzalez to the Supreme Court, the system 
will blow up in his face. Instead, he will probably nominate some 
corporate hack like Stephen Breyer.

Getting past the bottom line that he will be better than McCain, I 
wondered what else they would expect from him. Obviously the number one 
issue is the economy. Since many of these young New Yorkers probably 
work in FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate), they must fear for 
their jobs. But it is doubtful that Obama will be able to stave off 
unemployment even if he had the desire to do so, given his professed 
free market pieties. Even FDR found it impossible to break the back of 
the Great Depression. In the final analysis, it was war production 
rather than the Civil Conservation Corps that put people back to work.

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/president-obama-governor-paterson-and-ayn-rand/


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 09:01:09 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:01:09 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Meszaros on the crisis
References: <4911AAF1.3080807@panix.com>
Message-ID: <CACF946D802B4EF5AD59924741FCB19E@dmsthinkpad>

I think that a prediction, particularly based on Marxist analysis, needs to 
have some sort of time limits.

So if today, Meszaros looks back to 1968 and says, "See, that's what I 
meant.  I was right!" and then follows it up by resurrecting his prediction 
in 1995, when the US was turning towards budget surpluses and planning the 
retirement of the long bond, that a US default is inevitable, I think we can 
rightly discount his value as a prognosticator.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3 at panix.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net> 



From nmgoro at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 09:01:49 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 17:01:49 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] [A-List] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on
	the crisis
In-Reply-To: <49111FDD.8060805@embarqmail.com>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
	<49111FDD.8060805@embarqmail.com>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811050801y5a2af68cv60b42b3f814624d2@mail.gmail.com>

Not exactly. I agree in that Herramienta brings interesting things.

My drop of acid is that they are a "general Marxist" site. And, as you
may know, reality is always concrete...

Best to all.

2008/11/5 Bill Quimby <wquimby en embarqmail.com>:
> Nestor - this looks like a great site, by the way (the herramienta.com from
> which you forwarded the article). My Spanish is "nada" but I can struggle
> through a political text somewhat.
>
> However I am unable to see (at this early point) what the political tendency
> of herramienta is ... do you have any background info?
-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 09:02:07 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:02:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Cockburn and St. Clair on the elections
Message-ID: <4911C37F.20507@panix.com>

Seldom has economic catastrophe come so propitiously for a candidate. 
But though crisis helped him, Obama did not rise to the occasion. He 
actually got less inspiring as the weeks pass. On September 23, he 
stated on NBC that the crisis and prospect of a huge bailout required 
bipartisan action and meant he likely would have to delay expansive 
spending programs, outlined during his campaign for the White House. 
Thus did he surrender power even before he gained it. The next day, he 
told reporters in Clearwater, Florida, that ?issues like bankruptcy 
reform, which are very important to Democrats, is probably something 
that we shouldn?t try to do in this piece of legislation.? In addition, 
he said that his proposed economic stimulus program ?is not necessarily 
something that we should have in this package.? Then he worked the 
phone, hectoring recalcitrants in the Congressional Black Caucus to vote 
for the bailout, whose paramount importance was as a show of force, as 
dramatic as nineteenth-century cavalry cutting down demonstrators at 
Peterloo. As an instigator of beneficial change, the Clinton 
administration was over six months after election day 1992, when Clinton 
turned to Al Gore and said, ?You mean my re-election hinges on the 
Federal Reserve and some fucking bond traders?? Gore nodded, and Clinton 
promptly abandoned his economic plan to follow the dictates of Wall 
Street tycoons like Robert Rubin, now a top advisor to Obama. Obama beat 
the speed of Bill Clinton?s 1993 collapse by almost seven months.

In terms of political change one can invoke 1932 and 1964, but the 
strongest parallel here is really with 1960 and John Kennedy, 
respository of so many youthful hopes. Of course it wasn?t long before 
reality caught up with the hopes, and overtook them, with deepening 
involvement in Vietnam and the disaster of the Bay of Pigs. There will 
be similar bruising engagements with reality in the months ahead, and 
with America in a weaker condition. But for the moment of triumph for 
Obama and his supporters is unalloyed.

full: http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11052008.html


From nmgoro at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 09:17:24 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 17:17:24 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] Meszaros on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <CACF946D802B4EF5AD59924741FCB19E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <4911AAF1.3080807@panix.com>
	<CACF946D802B4EF5AD59924741FCB19E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811050817g1f52172t8a669a8f27015672@mail.gmail.com>

Only that he was not doing a prognosis.

The reference to Goldmann is clear.

Goldmann, and many in the "Frankfurt Marxism" school, had a clear
IMMEDIATE interest, which was to convince everybody that the age of
revolutions in the "advanced West" (that was their verbiage) was over,
for ever, that capitalism had found the way out of crises.

Meszar?sz insisted "Not".

In this sense he was proven right. If the European Left had followed
his own advice forty years ago, perhaps things would have turned out
to be different today.

2008/11/5 S. Artesian <sartesian en earthlink.net>:
> I think that a prediction, particularly based on Marxist analysis, needs to
> have some sort of time limits.
>
> So if today, Meszaros looks back to 1968 and says, "See, that's what I
> meant.  I was right!" and then follows it up by resurrecting his prediction
> in 1995, when the US was turning towards budget surpluses and planning the
> retirement of the long bond, that a US default is inevitable, I think we can
> rightly discount his value as a prognosticator.
>
>
>

-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From pance at rogers.com  Wed Nov  5 09:19:07 2008
From: pance at rogers.com (Pance Stojkovski)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 08:19:07 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] RNN: Ralph Nader
Message-ID: <25144.81958.qm@web88006.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

On election night, The Real News speaks with Independent Presidential candidate, Ralph Nader


http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=74&jumival=265



From nmgoro at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 09:23:25 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 17:23:25 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] In other news: Colombian Army Commander Resigns in
	Scandal Over Killing of Civilians
In-Reply-To: <7b8a676d0811050526x4fc707ddh5fa3c1d438c24cbf@mail.gmail.com>
References: <7b8a676d0811050526x4fc707ddh5fa3c1d438c24cbf@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811050823u72822c09r7e123df8215f0b27@mail.gmail.com>

A smart observation, indeed!

2008/11/5 Anthony Boynton <anthony.boynton en gmail.com>:
> In other news, the government of Alvaro Uribe is getting ready for the
> administration of President Obama.
>
> * *
>
> *Colombian Army Commander Resigns in Scandal Over Killing of Civilians*
>
> NYT By SIMON ROMERO Published: November 4, 2008
>
>
>
> CARACAS, Venezuela ? The commander of Colombia's army resigned Tuesday after
> an investigation tied dozens of military personnel under his command to an
> intensifying scandal over the killing of civilians by the armed forces in
> what apparently were atte

-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 09:26:05 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:26:05 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Nader to Obama
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811050826n1d33f092rc84aebb8fc913afe@mail.gmail.com>

Nader Congratulates Obama on Campaign Victory
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM Independent candidate for
President and Vice President, Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez,
congratulated Senator Barack Obama on his decisive victory today to
succeed the notorious regime of George W. Bush.
??

Senator Obama led a campaign of tactical brilliance that appears to be
bereft of specific mandates. It is up to an aroused citizenry to
organize behind these mandates which we were privileged to advance.
These progressive mandates (living wage, Medicare for all, and a just
foreign policy, and many more) reflect majority support and our long
overdue redirections and reforms in our country.

Senator Obama will be President-elect Obama soon to preside over what
our founders described as a representative government under our
Constitution. Thomas Jefferson once said that the function of
representative government is to "curb the excesses of the monied
interests." The corporate dominated government that Senator Obama
inherits includes what President Dwight Eisenhower cautioned the
nation against in his farewell address ? the military industrial
complex. It includes many other priorities entrenched by "the monied
interests," or global corporations, to drain and strip-mine the
necessities and deserved justice long denied to so many Americans in
their various roles.

Such challenges to apply available solutions to stagnant injustices
and deprivations require a transforming leader who speaks truth with
democratic power to falsehood and plutocratic power. This in turn
demands a deliberate, thoughtful and challenging personality.

The Nader/Gonzalez campaign joins other Americans in wishing you well
in the White House. We will remain alert to opportunities that advance
those final words of the pledge of allegiance ? "with liberty and
justice for all." \

http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/11/05/congratulations/


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 09:28:37 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:28:37 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Ch-ch-ch-Changes?
Message-ID: <4911C9B5.5080604@panix.com>

Changes
David Bowie

I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

---

http://www.alternet.org/story/106109/

The Obama Administration: Who Could Get Picked?
By Sam Stein, Huffington Post
Posted on November 5, 2008, Printed on November 5, 2008

Even before voting began, Washington was abuzz over what a Democratic 
White House might resemble.

In recent days an outline of an Obama administration has begun to emerge 
-- both in the rumor mill and in press reports. The campaign itself has 
specifically and repeatedly denied any efforts as such. But sources 
confirm that advisers to the Senator are already plotting out the 
staffing of key cabinet positions. And the picture presented is one of 
experience, talent and bipartisanship.

Chief of Staff

The key figure here is Rahm Emanuel, who is already rumored to be the 
front man for the job. The Associated Press has reported that the Obama 
transition team is making overtures to the Illinois congressman, reports 
which both sides have played down. People in the know, meanwhile, are 
saying the likelihood is Rahm will be offered the post and will likely 
say yes - he has experience in the White House, connections and respect 
on Capitol Hill, and the combative, competitive demeanor that might be 
an asset for the post.

If for some unforeseen reason Emanuel doesn't work out (sources say he's 
that much of a lock), the other names being bantered around are John 
Podesta, the current topper of the Center for American Progress and 
former chief of staff for Bill Clinton, and Tom Daschle, who has served 
as a key Obama adviser throughout the campaign and is formerly the 
Senate Majority Leader.

Attorney General

Janet Napolitano seems in line for this key-ranking position, which 
became a controversial post under the stewardship of Alberto Gonzales. 
The current Governor of Arizona is close with Obama, having endorsed his 
candidacy early on. And sources say that she wouldn't mind the move to 
D.C. What may end up deciding the appointment, however, is that Eric 
Holder - who served briefly as AG under Bill Clinton and headed Obama's 
vice presidential search committee - doesn't want to go through the 
rigors of a confirmation process and could take himself out of the running.

Secretary of State

This could be the big surprise. Sen. Dick Lugar, a Republican from 
Indiana may be, according to high-ranking Democrats, Obama's man for the 
job. The two have worked closely on several issues, none more so than 
securing loose nukes in former Soviet nations. But Democrats may not 
warm to the idea of an opposition party member getting an important 
foreign policy post (a complex to which liberals in particular are tired 
of being subjected). In light of that, Obama could consider -- and is 
rumored to be thinking about -- Sen. John Kerry, former U.N. Ambassador 
Dick Holbrooke, current foreign policy adviser Susan Rice and Greg 
Craig, another top Obama foreign policy adviser. Among cabinet 
positions, this seems to be one of the most wide open.

Treasury Secretary

For, perhaps, this most important position, Obama has a slew of options. 
The individual that sources say is rising closest to the top is former 
Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who has been a key endorser of 
the Obama candidacy in these tough economic times. At the same time, 
Obama could turn to Warren Buffet, though there is little indication 
that the Oracle of Omaha wants the job. Or he could look outside the box 
and tap Michael Bloomberg, though the New York City mayor is seeking a 
third term in office.

Defense Secretary

The consensus is emerging that, at least for the time being, Obama will 
keep current header Robert Gates in the cabinet. The job extension would 
provide the Illinois Democrat the cover he needs to reverse course in 
Iraq without risking charges of overt partisanship on the issue. Here 
too, however, there are a host of different names from which Obama can 
choose his own appointee. These include Republicans such as Sens. Chuck 
Hagel and Lugar, as well as Democrats like Sen. Jack Reed - a strong 
congressional voice on foreign policy - Holbrooke and Richard Danzig, 
former Secretary of the Navy and another key Obama endorser/adviser.

All of this, of course, is speculation. And the list above excludes a 
bevy of names that have been rumored to be in the running for respective 
positions. But, from conversations with Washington insiders and 
in-the-know Democrats, it seems clear that the process of dwindling down 
the long lists of potential cabinet members has already begun. And the 
names emerging represent the type of politics that Obama has preached: 
competent, non-rigid, and above partisanship.



From dave.walters at comcast.net  Wed Nov  5 09:44:06 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:44:06 -0800
Subject: [Marxism]  Cindy Sheehan results
Message-ID: <4911CD56.2080806@comcast.net>

Cindy received over 20,000 votes for 17% of the vote. I think this is 
still a huge symbolic victory.

David


From adambrichmond at yahoo.com  Wed Nov  5 09:47:37 2008
From: adambrichmond at yahoo.com (Adam Richmond)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 08:47:37 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] Cindy Sheehan bash/results
In-Reply-To: <4911372B.7060302@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <831860.91593.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

SF Ballot results a mixed bag.? With 100 of the precincts reporting, Cindy got about 17%.? I will be very interested to see what neighborhoods she did the best in.





DANA WALSH ? (Republican) ????? 16,149
??????????? 9.15 %

CINDY SHEEHAN ???????????????????? 29,951
??????????? 16.97 %

NANCY PELOSI ?? (Democrat) ?? 126,073
????????? 71.44 %

Presidential




CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
AND ROSA CLEMENTE  1,077 ? 0.46 %

RALPH NADER AND MATT GONZALEZ ? 2,453 ? 1.04 %
Proposition 8The state proposition to ban gay marriage is still on a razors edge and may take several days to count the vote.? The atmosphere in the Castro, the predominately lgbt neighorhood, is of anxiety.? If this initiative passes, it may take a decade to overturn. 
















Cynthia McKinney did not poll as well as she should have.? The Nader/Gonzalez ticket did much worse than I expected, as Matt G. is a well liked politician among progressives.

Por



      

From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 09:49:26 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:49:26 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] FYI: Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution
Message-ID: <4911CE96.3090407@panix.com>

(Attachment was stripped)

FYI: In my inbox this morning. Helen Yaffe is author of 'Ernesto 'Che' 
Guevara: a rebel against Soviet Political Economy':

http://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/yaffeh/che-critic.htm

Steve Palmer

-------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,

After many years of research and analysis, writing and rewriting - 
finally I can share the fruits of my labour. My book 'Che Guevara: The 
Economics of Revolution' will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 
February next year. It is the accumulation of my MSc, PhD and postdoc 
and to get there involved squatting in London, studying Spanish in 
Guatemala, doing presentations to neo-liberals at university in London, 
interviews in Havana, falling in love in Cuba, writing to deadlines by 
moonlight in Holloway... What a journey!

Be it out of curiousity, interest or personal solidarity - I hope that 
you will either click on the url below to pre-order a copy of the 
paperback, or print out a hard copy of the flyer attached. The first 
print run is limited, so I hope you follow your impulse and do this 
straight away. There is no guarantee that there will be a second 
edition. The book has been 'de-academised' for a public audience and the 
peer reviews have concluded that it is engaging, entertaining and 
accessible.

http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=307679


I would be grateful if you could circulate the flyer and take a copy to 
your local or college library and request that they order a copy too. If 
you can review the book request a free review copy.

We are on the eve of the most decisive US election for many years - the 
outcome will impact upon the world. The economy is in such a state of 
crisis that even the most ardent advocates of capitalism are questioning 
the survival of the capitalist system - Bush told news reporters from 
around the world "the market isn't working" - and has put US banks under 
state owership after we have been told for decades that only 
privatisation and the free market can generate wealth and efficiency 
through cut throat competition. What are we left with? What truths 
remain true? What is the alternative? There could be no better time to 
publishing a book about the economics of revolution!

Thanks and now that this project of mine is ending - I would love to 
catch up with you all ...

Helen.


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Wed Nov  5 09:52:17 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:52:17 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote in California
Message-ID: <4911CF41.9020305@comcast.net>

Alan Keyes
      29,641   0.2%

Cynthia McKinney
      27,775   0.2%

Bob Barr
      49,797   0.5%

Ralph Nader
      78,815   0.8%



From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 09:56:07 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:56:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Cindy Sheehan bash/results
In-Reply-To: <831860.91593.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <4911372B.7060302@comcast.net>
	<831860.91593.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811050856o6861cc3fw27c98acb39bbd9cd@mail.gmail.com>

The autopsy on these campaigns should be interesting.  The engineered
division between the Nader-Gonzales ticket and the Greens probably did
the most damage in places like California where the Greens were
relatively well organized but largely pro-Nader to start with.  My
understanding was that they were on the Peace and Freedom ballot line
there as well, where people used to seeing Gonzales as a Green might
not have been looking.

The polls indicated that something like 2/3 of the voters didn't even
know there were alternatives to McCain and Obama.  The media certainly
did nothing to educate them.  The result is that most of that 5% Nader
was showing in the polls was going to erode very quickly as the
election approached.  Had he gotten into the debates and the media
done even modest coverage of the campaign, the results in the polling
would have been double-digit and more of them would have carried their
ideas to the polls.

My impression was that the Sheehan effort was not very well organized.
 I think that there should have been more of a national focus by the
independent forces to assist her, including in the management of the
campaign and bringing in teams of volunteers.  I'd have loved it if
we'd have been able to send Pelosi packing and bring Cindy into the
Congress.

ML


From debs4prez at comcast.net  Wed Nov  5 09:55:53 2008
From: debs4prez at comcast.net (debs4prez at comcast.net)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:55:53 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <690549095.38721225904153984.JavaMail.root@sz0030a.emeryville.ca.mail.comcast.net>


Mark Lause is on the money with the big picture.  They should give him an AM radio show opposite Rush Limbaugh.  I'll be a left-wing dittohead.

Here in Chicago, I'd like to give a more local report, but one that has implications for our side nationally.

In the end I didn't vote.  Instead, I went to Pilsen, the Mexican neighborhood and campaigned for Nader/Gonzales and the Green ticket.  My reasoning was that since I was on a job yesterday in Pilsen and it would take me 40 mins to get home, some multiple of that to vote and then come back, I could multiply the vote or just raise more consciousness campaigning for our side and getting others to vote for our side or listen to our side's message.

So, I called up my fellow Green Dorian and he suggested I hand out lit at the Rudy Lozano branch of the public library in the middle of Pilsen.  Once there, I met up with Cauhtemoc Morfin, a past Green endorsed candidate for alderman who was handing out Green handbills, his buddy who was an election judge, ostensibly for the Dems, but would take breaks to come outside and chat.  We joined one mooky 50ish Mexican American clout worker, nicely shaved and haircutted in a blazer, who it turns out, voted for McCain but was handing out bills advocating a vote for Obama and the Dem ticket.  We all chatted as we handed out our lit.  One funny point of the conversation was the mook saying, "Man, if Obama wins, my taxes are going to go up- I think I'll move to Canada"  I'm like, "Dude, you're a reverse liberal".  Temoc appreciated that- plus, I pointed out, as the center of reaction in the western hemisphere which has just gone Democrat, mook doesn't have much
choice now in where to move.  Even Latin America is pink.  Very few death squad parties in power.

Anyway, voting traffic was very light in Pilsen and I'm pretty sure in Little Village.  One of us at work was joking that the Mexicans expect that the Blacks and the white liberals will turn out in record numbers, so they'll just go over to Grant Park and enjoy the festivities early.  Temoc pointed out that had this been a local aldermanic (city council) election, each candidate (last election there were seven!) would have had at least five poll workers fighting to get to voters in a Chicago-style rugby scrum.    Here in Pilsen, the over-riding concern is the personal and the parochial- jobs- can you get one by working for a candidate with clout?  The RL library had a total of approx 300 voters last night.  Temoc said that other precincts had similar turnout.

On a more postive note, Omar Lopez did have a modest yet dedicated campaign crew which plastered Pilsen with green Lopez signs- the machine didn't even rip them down- and our guys even improvised a Mexican-style sound truck playing banda and loudly advocating for Lopez.  Temoc had a light yet steady stream of supporters coming up to him to hug him and chat.  I got out a decent amount of lit out but many of the people were probably undocumented and couldn't vote.  But, it's good to raise consciousness about pro-worker American politics among workers who may be striking and marching or deported and rebelling at home, in the future.

To be continued:

next: election night at Cafe Catedral in Little Village; the campaigns of Omar Lopez, Paloma Andrade, Ante Marjian, Jeremy Karpen.  Black representation in the campaign of Andrade.  Fighting for the future, building on the gains of November 4, 2008.

Alex K
Chicago

From walterlx at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 09:59:37 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:59:37 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Pelosi defeats Cindy Sheehan to win 12th term
Message-ID: <16081494.1225904377482.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Seems we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the more complete 
national presidential popular vote totals. 

Outside of the national races, Cindy Sheehan's independent campaign
against Nancy Pelosi was perhaps the most nationally interesting as
she reflected sharp opposition to the war, coming from someone who
suffered a grievous blow, the loss of her son, due to the war.

Sheehan got 17% of the against Pelosi, a very strong showing for a
first-time candidate, a candidate with name recognition, but whom the
media went out of its way to bury, and whom Pelosi went out of her
way to avoid debating. Let's see and hope if something sustainable 
can or will be created in the aftermath of this important race.

And, obviously, you had to have been pretty political hardened and
committed to have voted for Obama, and then to vote against Pelosi in
a city as liberal as San Francisco. This is an indication of genuine
political ferment, yet of the distance which remains to build a truly
new kind of politics in the United States today.

Some people expected Sheehan would get a bigger vote than she finally
got, but it's a common tendency to confuse what people want from what
actually is out there. Sheehan did quite well and Pelosi will probably
take notice and make some political adaptation, hoping to prevent some
similar occurrence in the future. Anyway, Pelosi's position as speaker of
the House seems quite secure for now. She's part of the entire incoming
political-administrative apparatus.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
========================================================================

Pelosi defeats Cindy Sheehan to win 12th term
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) celebrates d... Activist
Cindy Sheehan, who ran as an independent for the...

(11-05) 00:10 PST LOS ANGELES, (AP) --

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was easily re-elected Tuesday, overcoming
a challenge from anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.

Pelosi was elected to a 12th House term representing San Francisco
with 71.56 percent of the vote, compared to 17.19 percent for
Sheehan, with 67 percent of precincts reporting.

"Thank you San Francisco. I am grateful for your support and honored
by your trust," she said in a statement after being declared the
winner. "Working together, our new president and our new Congress
will deliver a new direction for the American people."

Sheehan became famous for camping outside President Bush's Texas
ranch to demand an end to the war in Iraq after the death of her son,
Casey. She accused Pelosi of failing to end the war and not allowing
impeachment hearings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

In an interview after polls closed, Sheehan didn't concede defeat but
vowed to run again in 2010. She accused the media of ignoring her and
criticized Pelosi for not debating her.

"Just avoiding a debate shows a lot of disrespect for my campaign,"
she said.

"We tried very hard to get our message out, but it is very hard when
the media does not listen to your message."

Pelosi, who has easily fended off past challenges from the left, said
she respected Sheehan's right to run. But for the most part she
ignored her during the campaign.

Also on the ballot were Republican Dana Walsh and Libertarian Philip
Z. Berg.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/04/politics/p131414S82.DTL


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 10:01:55 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 12:01:55 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote in California
In-Reply-To: <4911CF41.9020305@comcast.net>
References: <4911CF41.9020305@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811050901m5cc560fataf9068004f6c724@mail.gmail.com>

The spiffy Fox interactive election map
http://elections.foxnews.com/states_map/index.html
is showing....

684,261 votes for Nader nationally.  Spot checking some of the state
totals indicate that he's done about half what he got in 2000, with
some states like California where there's been a real falling off.

ML


From dave.walters at comcast.net  Wed Nov  5 10:06:28 2008
From: dave.walters at comcast.net (David Walters)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:06:28 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Cindy Sheehan bash/results
Message-ID: <4911D294.2000703@comcast.net>

Just to respond to Mark's comments on Sheehan's campaign being not as 
well organized as it could of been.

I've never seen an independent left campaign as well organized as this 
one. This was top-notch, professional level campaigning, the likes of 
which probably matched, scaling it down, as any Democratic or Republican 
campaign. From polling to door hangers to door knocking to EVERY 
constituents in the District to phone banking.

There are two phases to the Sheehan campaign. The period leading up 
through, say, March of this year, and, the period since. The campaign 
was almost non-existent, it seems, prior to last Spring. But then with 
money flooding in, full time organizers, some of whom had been full time 
Democratic Party organizers (usually Kisinich supporters) the campaign 
overwhelmed and washed by the small groupings of Leftists that had been 
part of the campaign hitherto.

I think more money should of gone to advertising even though everyone 
*knew* who Cindy was. But I don't think there could of been anything 
else done from an organization point of view, in my very humble opinion.

Mark, can you give us a run down on 3rd party candidates nationally? Do 
you have the data yet?

David


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 10:08:14 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:08:14 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote in California
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811050901m5cc560fataf9068004f6c724@mail.gmail.com>
References: <4911CF41.9020305@comcast.net>
	<b16d8daf0811050901m5cc560fataf9068004f6c724@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4911D2FE.9090301@panix.com>

Mark Lause wrote:
> 
> 684,261 votes for Nader nationally.  Spot checking some of the state
> totals indicate that he's done about half what he got in 2000, with
> some states like California where there's been a real falling off.

It is clear that Nader's time has come and gone. His energies would have 
been better spent in trying to lay the groundwork for a viable 3rd party 
but that task will have to be taken up by other folks, whose job will be 
possibly eased by Obama's failure to deliver the goods.


From billyoc at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 10:08:27 2008
From: billyoc at gmail.com (Bill O'Connor)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:08:27 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote in California
In-Reply-To: <4911CF41.9020305@comcast.net> (David Walters's message of "Wed, 
	05 Nov 2008 08:52:17 -0800")
References: <4911CF41.9020305@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <87zlke14ok.fsf@t22.Belkin>

David Walters <dave.walters at comcast.net> writes:

> Alan Keyes
>       29,641   0.2%
>
> Cynthia McKinney
>       27,775   0.2%
>
> Bob Barr
>       49,797   0.5%
>
> Ralph Nader
>       78,815   0.8%
>

Any national totals yet?


From cbcox at ilstu.edu  Wed Nov  5 10:37:16 2008
From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:37:16 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Israel's latest shift to the right
References: <4911B1B1.8090505@panix.com>
Message-ID: <4911D9CC.8F5CCAD8@ilstu.edu>



Louis Proyect wrote:
> 
the same hero-worshipping relationship to Milosevic that
> Yoshie Furuhashi has to Ahmadinejad.

Lou, knock off thiss horseshit. This is simply a lie. You kicked her off
the list, do you have to keep pissing on her? It's unworthyt of you.

Carrol



From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 10:48:19 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 12:48:19 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Israel's latest shift to the right
References: <4911B1B1.8090505@panix.com> <4911D9CC.8F5CCAD8@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <4E24E637A58947C1928CDC06DEE7DDC0@dmsthinkpad>

Wait a minute.  Let's refer to the facts.  She was suspended, not barred. 
She was invited back.  She did not return.

And she certainly did have a "romance," at least in her own mind, with 
Ahmadinejad, referring to him, if I recall correctly, as a "dark prince."


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Jared Israel's latest shift to the right
>
> Lou, knock off thiss horseshit. This is simply a lie. You kicked her off
> the list, do you have to keep pissing on her? It's unworthyt of you.
>
> Carrol



From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 11:01:21 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:01:21 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Jared Israel's latest shift to the right
In-Reply-To: <4911D9CC.8F5CCAD8@ilstu.edu>
References: <4911B1B1.8090505@panix.com> <4911D9CC.8F5CCAD8@ilstu.edu>
Message-ID: <4911DF71.8040702@panix.com>

Carrol Cox wrote:
> 
> Lou, knock off thiss horseshit. This is simply a lie. You kicked her off
> the list, do you have to keep pissing on her? It's unworthyt of you.

I *did* not kick her off. She unsubbed after I called a moratorium on 
discussing the internal politics of Iran. She also unsubbed from Pen-L 
and LBO-Talk for pretty much the same reasons. And when I invited her 
back a month after she unsubbed, she did not respond to my email. Those 
are the facts.


From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 11:17:04 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 10:17:04 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote
Message-ID: <COL110-W666C08BEF80E269BB39575D71F0@phx.gbl>


San Jose Mercury News print edition (can't find it online, though no doubt it's there somewhere) reports the following, with 75% of precincts (nationally) reporting:

Obama: 51,386,333   51.3%
Mccain: 47,520,580   47.5%
Nader: 504,194  0.5%
Barr: 400,582  0.4%
Chuck Baldwin (Ind): 140,189: 0.1%
Cynthia McKinney (G): 115,819: 0.1%
Alan Keyes (AIP): 17,471
Ron Paul: 13,109
Roger Calero (SWP): 6,725
Glora La Riva (PSL): 6,605
Brian Moore (SPU): 5,409
James Harris (SWP): 2,168
and a variety of others with lesser totals

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From schaffer at optonline.net  Wed Nov  5 11:26:42 2008
From: schaffer at optonline.net (Les Schaffer)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:26:42 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote
In-Reply-To: <COL110-W666C08BEF80E269BB39575D71F0@phx.gbl>
References: <COL110-W666C08BEF80E269BB39575D71F0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4911E562.5080605@optonline.net>

Eli Stephens wrote:
> San Jose Mercury News print edition (can't find it online, though no doubt it's there somewhere) reports the following, with 75% of precincts (nationally) reporting:


how are these counts made for 3rd party candidates? i had to hand write 
in Cynthia McKinney, after blackening a dot for "Write-in". do the 
modern machines actually parse write-ins, or is this count done by hand???

Les


From walterlx at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 11:27:44 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 13:27:44 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <30279967.1225909664937.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Has someone on Marxmail suggested that the class contradictions of
this society have somehow been reduced, or maybe eliminated? 

I guess I missed those posts. For the first time in its history, the
United States elected a Black person as president. That along is a
sign of how profoundly racist the culture of this country is, but 
it demonstrates that such bigotry COULD also possibly be reversed.

Most people in the United States still believe that capitalism can be
reformed. They have had good reasons to wake up recently and ask some
profound questions, as the so-called "free market" has been shown to be
incapable of solving this society's profound economic problems. Those
who consider themselves to be Marxists or socialist can comfort them
selves with the notion that socialism is the "only answer", but that's
only going to prove possible if experience convinces the people of the
United States that another way is both necessary and POSSIBLE. 

It's going to require carrying out major struggles and demonstrating 
capacity to point the society in a new, sustainable manner. There is 
no reason to take for granted that it's going to be done. It remains
a task which remains very much to be accomplished. Exactly how it's
going to take place, I have no prescription, but the general thrust
of what's needed hasn't changed with the latest election outcome.

The struggle continues. Some of the rhetorical forms will change,
as Reed wryly points out. The political essence hasn't changed.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
COUNTERPUNCH
November 5, 2008
The Promised Land?
Morning in Obamerica [excerpt. terrific!]

By ISHMAEL REED 

What does this promise land look like? This Obamerica? Shortly after Obama is
sworn in, the police, instead of subjecting blacks and Hispanics to capricious
traffic stops, will only stop them to offer free tickets to the policeman?s
ball. Throughout the country, they will address blacks and Hispanics as sir and
ma'm. The overcrowding prison problem will end, because all of the blacks and
Hispanics who?ve been sent there as a result of prosecutorial and police
misconduct, -probably half- will be set free. And all of those police who have
murdered unarmed blacks only to be acquitted by all-white juries will be
retried. Blacks will have the freedom to shop in department stores without
being watched.

In the media, all of the black Hispanic and Native American and Asian American
journalists, who, according to the Maynard Institute?s media watcher, Richard
Prince, are being ?shown the door, ? will be rehired. The progressive media
will spend as much time on the torture of black suspects in Chicago, New York
and Los Angeles as they do torture at Gitmo. Blacks will be liberated from the
crime, entertainment and sports pages exclusively and appear in other sections.
More cerebral sections as scientists, engineers, astronomers. Jonathan Klein
and other cable producers will stop managing black opinion so that it doesn?t
alienate its white audience and voices other than those of black correspondents
from Rev. Moon?s church will be awarded air time. Global warming denier
Michelle Bernard will be replaced by Jill Nelson.

Jesse Jackson will be appointed lead editorial writer for The Wall Street
Journal. and Al Sharpton will assume duties at The National Review. Rush
Limbaugh will inaugurate a series called ?Great African American Inventors.?
Spike Lee will be invited to run Columbia Pictures and Amy Goodman will take
over at NBC. The Newspaper Society of America will apologize for the lynchings
and civil disturbances caused by an inflammatory media over the last one
hundred or so years. A choked up Rupert Murdoch will read the statement on
behalf of his colleagues. 
FULL
http://www.counterpunch.org/reed11052008.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 11:34:51 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 10:34:51 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote
Message-ID: <COL110-W698B22A7D68432B62E37D8D71F0@phx.gbl>


Les asks about write-ins. Although the Mercury News doesn't say, it's a safe guess that the numbers I just reported didn't include any write-ins. Remember that Gloria La Riva, just to pick one of the third-party names, was officially on the ballot in 12 states.

As far as write-ins, there are two kinds. There are "officially recognized" write-ins; to be an "official write-in candidate" you have to go through a process far less stringent than qualifying to be on the ballot, but a process nonetheless. Those votes are counted, although no doubt much more slowly and non-electronically than the people who are actually on the ballot. Then there are the "unofficial" writeins. You can write in "Mickey Mouse" if you like, but in general, such votes won't be counted at all. All of this varies from state to state, however, in typical American fashion.

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From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 11:35:00 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:35:00 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <30279967.1225909664937.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <30279967.1225909664937.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4911E754.6020401@panix.com>

Walter Lippmann wrote:
> For the first time in its history, the United States elected a Black person as president. 

Okay, Walter, we get it. Enough with the repetition of points you have 
already made. I feel like running down the road screaming like the 
figure in Edvard Munch's "The Scream".



From walterlx at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 11:47:23 2008
From: walterlx at earthlink.net (Walter Lippmann)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 13:47:23 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <30501231.1225910843186.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Lula salutes Obama, asks him to lift Cuba embargo
Posted on : 2008-11-05 | Author : DPA
News Category : America 	

Brasilia - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday described 
Democratic candidate Barack Obama's victory as an "extraordinary event"
and asked the US president-elect to lift the decades-old embargo on communist Cuba.
Lula said Obama's historic rise underlined the democratic aspects of US society.
"It could only happen in a democratic regime in which society expresses itself."

The Brazilian president also expressed a desire for the next US president to end
the US-imposed embargo on Cuba. "We await the end of the blockade on Cuba, 
because there is no explanation for that blockade."

Lula, however, also cautioned that there is "a very big difference between 
winning an election and governing a country like the United States ... Let us wait
until he is inaugurated to see what happens."

He urged Obama to have "a stronger and bolder relationship with Latin America
and Africa," and said that Obama could seal "a peace agreement with the
Middle East, where a deal has been sought for decades and decades and has not been
achieved."

Lula said it was "necessary for the United States to build a more active policy
with relation to Latin America," adding that he expects Obama to pursue policies
that stimulate "development and investment in the poorest countries."

------------------

Barack Obama Says He Faces Great Challenges as President

http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1105barackobama.htm

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 5 (acn) Barack Obama, who won the US Presidential elections
by a large majority, called for the unity of the American people and recognized
the challenges he will face as leader of his nation. 	

In his first speech to thousands in Chicago as President-elect, Obama recalled
that among the challenges ahead are two wars inherited from the mandate of
George W. Bush.

?Two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century (...)
there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of
Afghanistan to risk their lives for us... mothers and fathers who will lie
awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they?ll make the
mortgage, or pay their doctors bills, or save enough for college,? said the
first African-American to become US President.

In a clear message to republicans, Obama insisted on working together to
rebuild the nation. "There are many who won?t agree with every decision or
policy I make as President, and we know that government can?t solve every
problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face,? he
stated.

According to Obama, the November 4th victory is the opportunity to not go back
to the way things were in the past. During his campaign, Obama won Ohio, Iowa,
Virginia and Florida, states that could make a change on the election result
due to its long republican history.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para?so bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================


From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 11:50:40 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 10:50:40 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Presidential 3rd party vote
Message-ID: <COL110-W676BD893ABBE0E219D32D4D71F0@phx.gbl>


I posted this on my blog the other day, but considering it's relevance, I'll repost it here. It's a bit from a song from a satirical show put on last week by the Lamplighters, San Francisco's Gilbert & Sullivan group, who once a year put on a show written by them with original lyrics set to G&S tunes. This song was sung by three 3rd party candidates, running against major party candidates Mildred Fillmore and Taylor Zachary:

It's tough to get elected
When we're always disrespected,
When the media united
Thinks we are not there.
The experience is rotten
To be on the whole forgotten
It's a wrong that must be righted
'Cause it is not fair!
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From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 11:58:51 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 14:58:51 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] =?windows-1252?q?Bolivia=92s_Military=3A_It=92s_a_Diffi?=
	=?windows-1252?q?cult_Life=2C_but_Certainly_There_Is_No_Sign_of_a_?=
	=?windows-1252?q?Pending_Military_Coup?=
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811051058w79d17263we95de2ee35ea6b37@mail.gmail.com>

Bolivia's Military: It's a Difficult Life, but Certainly There Is No
Sign of a Pending Military Coup

Read the full article here
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/11/bolivias-military-its-difficult-life.html
.....

The President and the Military

Current Bolivian leader Evo Morales seems to have cannily asserted his
influence over a wary officer corps as he presses forward with efforts
to promote indigenous conscripts into the upper ranks of the Bolivian
armed forces, where a light-skinned, Europeanized elite have remained
dominant.

One of Morales's first moves as president was to purge a number of
senior generals and other officials from the army as a result of a
scandal in which they were accused of allowing U.S. military
technicians to dismantle more than two dozen antiquated Chinese-made
shoulder-fired missiles, considered Bolivia's sole antiaircraft
defense.

Some of the deposed officials have been explicitly critical of
Morales's ties to Ch?vez and to the Cuban government. General Marcelo
Antezana, who Morales had dismissed as army commander, said in
September that there was discontent in the armed forces over what was
viewed as subjugation to "Caribbean mulattos."

The question then arises regarding how much confidence the military's
high command has in affecting Morales's leadership capabilities. In
May, prior to a vote on Santa Cruz's autonomy, Bolivia's Supreme
National Defense Council issued a proclamation regarding what was
widely considered by Morales as an illegal and unconstitutional vote:
"We cannot dismiss that a serious danger exists as a threat to the
territorial integrity and we urgently demand a process of dialogue,"
the Defense Council's permanent secretary, Mario Ayala Ferrufino, told
reporters.

The Bolivian military's role in the country's growing crisis took a
decisive turn in mid-September, when soldiers arrested the provincial
governor of Pando (in the northern part of the country). Prefect
Leopoldo Fernandez is being accused of staging a "massacre" in the
village of Porvenir, when peasants and students were ambushed by hired
killers. Over 15 people were killed and more than 30 others injured.
The governor was flown in a military plane to La Paz, as the military
took control of Cobija (the province's capital) and arrested an
additional 12 individuals on charges of politically-motivated
violence. As a sign of the enlarging militarization of the situation,
and the growing role of the military as a domestic peacekeeper (if not
peace enforcer), Navy Rear Admiral Landelino Bandeiras was sworn in as
interim governor of Pando.

......As servants and protectors of the state, the Bolivian armed
forces have become a vehicle to maintain a fragile status quo, as well
as to carry out Morales' nationalist intent. For example, Bolivian
soldiers were sent to take over the oil and natural gas installations
of previously foreign-owned enterprises at his administration's outset
in 2006. The military continues to be used as an internal security
force as it is deployed to quell protests and guard sensitive
installations. In April 2007, around a thousand protesters seized the
control of the gas installations of Shell's subsidiary Transredes in
Yacuiba, near the country's border with Paraguay. Soldiers and police
were sent to retake control of the facilities; one protester died.

In October 2007, military units were sent to take control of Santa
Cruz's Viru Viru airport. Their mission was to block hundreds of
protesters from taking control of the airport, amid a dispute over
landing fees. About 220 air force troops and military police stormed
Viru Viru after airport workers detained an American Airlines plane on
the runway, demanding the carrier pay them landing fees in cash. The
plane was bound for Miami with 140 passengers aboard. The airport "has
been stolen by the government using army troops," insisted Omar
Mustafa, one of the Santa Cruz protesters.

On November 2007, soldiers clashed with students who were protesting
Bolivia's constitutional assembly. A university student was killed
during protests that took place in the southern city of Sucre. It was
never made clear who fired the shot, with government officials
insisting that neither the Bolivian police nor the military units sent
to quell the protest were using "deadly weapons."

This past September, a group of protesters went to the National
Service of Taxes in Trinidad, capital of Beni province, where they
attempted to seize the facilities of the Internal Taxes office.
However, the building was guarded by military police who quelshed the
effort. Military forces have since been reinforced in Trinidad.

Recently, troops were once again deployed to Pando, firing shots in
the air to disperse protesters. Morales has issued a state of siege
for the province, particularly the capital of Cobija. The move came at
the time when Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana, according to
reports, "denounce[d] before the entire world" that the U.S. had
"participated in the massacre" in Pando that ended with the arrest of
Governor Fernandez and the installation of Admiral Bandeiras.

.......The Soul of Bolivia's Armed Forces

Regarding the cadres that make up the rank and file of the Bolivian
armed forces, it is essentially the same old story that can be found
across the region. The foot soldiers are of Indian descent, poor young
men who do not have the connections or the money to escape mandatory
military service. "The armed forces remain the tool of the elite," as
Shultz explains, "the wealthy families of the country usually have
military connections, it's one of the few ways to advance and gain
social status and economic wealth in an otherwise poor country."


From christopher.hutch at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 12:19:59 2008
From: christopher.hutch at gmail.com (Christopher Hutchinson)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 14:19:59 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
In-Reply-To: <4911A8FC.6070008@panix.com>
References: <16060721.1225892972184.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<4911A8FC.6070008@panix.com>
Message-ID: <c81bf1a60811051119j7bf8482by793fd1cbd0de0b79@mail.gmail.com>

Walter Lippman: "Most people in the United States still don't think
beyond the idea that capitalism is the only way that
human society can or should be organized. Whether or
not that can change, and socialism can become an idea
with broad public traction in a country like this -
rooted in individualism, consumerism, religiosity and
know-nothing bigotry, can't be assumed. It's a task
which needs to be taken up and conducted."

Does this mean we should then blindly support the Democrats and leave our
criticisms for another day?   When should we conduct this task?  If it had
been Conservative African American Alan Keyes instead of a Liberal African
American Barack Obama would the Marxists who supported Obama still be so
excited to have supported Alan Keyes in his quest to break down racial
barriers?  As a friend of mine just said whether they are Black, White,
Mexican or Siberian they are still the administrators of Capitalism.

christopher

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:09 AM, Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> wrote:

> Walter Lippmann wrote:
> >
> > MOORE:
> > In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs
> > of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity:
> > Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to
> > Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The
> > racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth.
> > But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of
> > hate fizzle out in our lifetime.
>
> Didn't Michael Moore lose all credibility some light years ago?
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at:
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/christopher.hutch%40gmail.com
>

From mikedf at amnh.org  Wed Nov  5 12:53:34 2008
From: mikedf at amnh.org (Mike Friedman)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 14:53:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
In-Reply-To: <mailman.32308.1225902519.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
References: <mailman.32308.1225902519.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Message-ID: <49256.216.73.245.82.1225914814.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>

Unfortunately no... But, he should stick to movies. Amy Goodman
interviewed him about a week ago, pressing him on Obama's support for free
trade, FISA, and the wars, and all Moore could offer was his hope that
Obama will be a good politician and break his campaign promises.

> Message: 7
> Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:09:00 -0500
> From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
> To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
> 	<marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>
> Message-ID: <4911A8FC.6070008 at panix.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> Walter Lippmann wrote:
>>
>> MOORE:
>> In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs
>> of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity:
>> Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to
>> Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The
>> racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth.
>> But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of
>> hate fizzle out in our lifetime.
>
> Didn't Michael Moore lose all credibility some light years ago?




From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 13:29:36 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 15:29:36 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <30279967.1225909664937.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <9FBF70159A2140F3AE70B036A94ABBB1@dmsthinkpad>

Perhaps Walter should go back and reread his own posts.  He derides those 
who don't join in the the singing of the "national anthem" written by former 
leader of the NAACP, staunch opponent of racism, discrimination, and 
lynching, but also an emissary of Teddy Roosevelt, as suffering from "racial 
blindness"  (read racism).

He chastizes "so-called Marxists" who miss the meaning of this "historic 
election."   He states "White is no longer the limit of, nor the definition 
of, what can be accomplished in this increasingly multu-colored country. 
All good."

Sue me, but I think that is pretty close to pronouncing racism dead, drowned 
in the flood of votes for Obama.

Walter states that even McCain is more perspicacious than the "so-called 
Marxists" in his grasp of the "political moment."  Really?  And what is that 
political significance.  Well Walter tells us earlier the signifcance 
resides in that the election "changes some of the ideological terrain."

Let's deal with this.  First and foremost, the emotional, visceral impact of 
the election of Barack Obama on African-Americans cannot be overestimated. 
The pride, and increased self-esteem, is visible, actual, concrete.

Secondly, we have certainly had a lot of things of  "truly historical 
signifance" occur in the last ten years.

We had the geological pit and pendulum of "peak oil," signifying an end to 
not capitalism, but "advanced" "civilization"  as we know it.
We had the ascendancy of the euro/decline of the dollar, meaning the 
collapse of US hegemony, and the beginning of the long slide of the US from 
its place at the top of the heap.
We had "decoupling" of China, Brazil, India, Russia...etc. etc. meaning even 
more of the US slide.
We had China-- that was even touted to be the dawn of a new era-- China as 
the big engine that could, that would replace the US.  And how did we know 
this?  Because of all the US debt instruments China holds (which doesn't 
exactly mesh with decoupling, but hey details are for the small-minded).

And what has been the actual concrete impact of these things?  The 
"ideological terrain" has been changed?  Absolutely.  And has that 
ideological change facilitated?  1. Increased profits for the oil 
bourgeoisie.  2. Increased US capital equipment exports to Europe.  3. 
Greater, not lesser dependence of China, Brazil, India, Russia on 
international capital flows, world market commodity prices,  and investment 
inputs in an attempt to "outrun" the social impacts of uneven development, 
and reduced and declining agricultural productivity.  4.  And we have China, 
intimately linked with the US,  dependent on the US and  EU markets, with 
its dollar denominated holdings existing as an index of dependency not 
independence.

All these other "historic events" have served to what?  Change anything? 
Provide an ideological alternative while leaving the mechanisms of 
accumulation not just untouched, but reconstituted?  Exactly.

No doubt there is and great pride and joy (Marvin Gaye, Motown Records 1963) 
in the election of Obama.  But in changing the ideological terrain, all it 
does is reconstitute the mechanisms of accumulation.

I make no apologies for not lifting my voice and singing to that.


- Original Message ----- 
From: "Walter Lippmann" <walterlx at earthlink.net>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>

> Has someone on Marxmail suggested that the class contradictions of
> this society have somehow been reduced, or maybe eliminated?
>
> I guess I missed those posts. 



From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 13:21:34 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 15:21:34 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Cindy Sheehan bash/results
In-Reply-To: <4911D294.2000703@comcast.net>
References: <4911D294.2000703@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811051221if52ce42tf9c5a9d695c0a43f@mail.gmail.com>

The San Jose Mercury citation on another conversation have those
numbers, but they're apparently based on an older count.  Nader is at
653,108, but I can't find anything with returns for McKinney and the
others.  I'm still trying to find out how we did on our local NAACP
initiatives....

Right before the election, the Nader campaign sent out the URL for
this spiffy interactive election map on the Fox news site. Spiffy it
is, too.
http://elections.foxnews.com/states_map/index.html

That's the internet for you, though.

It's like a system of tubes....

And yeah, looks that Alaska Convict Stevens will be returned to the
Senate anyway....

ML


From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 14:06:57 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 13:06:57 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Complete 3rd party results
Message-ID: <COL110-W34D43EB96B87837344C80CD71F0@phx.gbl>




http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/allcandidates/


_________________________________________________________________
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From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us  Wed Nov  5 14:49:58 2008
From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:49:58 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The ruling class in the United States of America
	istheentire	capitalist class!
Message-ID: <4911CEB7.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>


Les Schaffer 




speaking of Warren Buffet ... i was in Border's Bookstore last night 
with an old friend, looking thru the Math and Science sections, finding 
nothing but Physics for Dummies, Quantum Mechanics Demystified, and so 
forth. directly behind this row of books was the economics and finance 
section. i was amazed how many serious, math-based books there were on 
hedge funds, derivatives, and all that stuff.

plus, an entire row on Buffet that rivaled the omnipresent Einstein row 
over in physics land.

Les

^^^^^
CB: On that old epistemological principle that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, Buffet has proved his finance and economics theories pretty well.





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From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 15:26:11 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:26:11 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Glen Ford on Obama victory
Message-ID: <20081105222613.94066D343@mailbackend.panix.com>

The Obama '08 Phenomenon: What We have Learned?

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

"This generation will have to learn from damn near scratch what a 
real social movement looks like."

Without question, the nation has experienced an election of 
historical significance, for reasons that go beyond the obvious 
"first Black" aspect of race. This has also been the most-hyped 
presidential campaign in U.S. history, if for no other reason than 
the simple fact that every presidential campaign is more hyped than 
the last, since hype is what corporate media sells. But what has the 
experience taught us?

We have learned that a large and decisive national minority of whites 
can be persuaded to vote for a certain kind of Black man for 
president if that Black man possesses the following characteristics:

A family history that includes no African American lineage, and is 
thereby untainted by the negative cultural baggage associated with 
North American slave descendants. (This is similar to the special 
white dispensation afforded in past generations to Afro-Caribbean 
baseball players.)

An eagerness to embrace racist political icons such as Ronald Reagan, 
while vociferously denying that white racism is and has been 
"endemic" to America. This man must also be willing to without 
hesitation denounce, repudiate and otherwise vilify other Black 
individuals - even those who have been personally dear to him - at 
the first sign of white displeasure with that person.

A compulsion to telegraph whites that he shares their disdain for 
Blacks as a group. This specially endowed individual must be prepared 
to castigate Blacks in every arena of life, from incompetent 
child-rearing (the cruelty of fried chicken breakfasts) to failures 
of Black manhood (acting like "boys" rather than responsible adults), 
the shame of Black female promiscuity (stopping black girls from 
having babies out of wedlock is "the single biggest thing that we 
could do to reduce inner-city poverty") and Blacks' collective lack 
of good hygiene ("You know what would be a good economic development 
plan for our community would be if we make sure folks weren't 
throwing their garbage out of their cars"). But the Black man who 
would woo white presidential votes must have the smarts and 
discipline to never, never, never subject whites to such egregious, 
blanket group criticisms.

full: 
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=873&Itemid=1



From sebastian at amadeobordiga.u-net.com  Wed Nov  5 15:29:11 2008
From: sebastian at amadeobordiga.u-net.com (Sebastian Budgen)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 23:29:11 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] Online registration for HM conference closes in 24 hours
Message-ID: <10D3DCD1-21ED-4467-9B73-0B594EA3B358@amadeobordiga.u-net.com>

http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/conference2008.htm


From charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us  Wed Nov  5 15:29:28 2008
From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us (Charles Brown)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:29:28 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <4911D7F9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>


S. Artesian 

Thought it was DL Hughly, and no I don't watch it.  If he said the same 
thing, well great minds think alike.

I would like to ask, however, for a halt to all this hallelujah 
sentimentality re the Obama victory.

I half expect somebody on the list to break into a  chorus of  "We Shall 
Overcome," to be followed by "God Bless America."

^^^^
CB:  Hey maybe you could sing a little of "Jim Crow" to put a damper on "Yes we can !"





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From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 15:55:39 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 17:55:39 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <4911D7F9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
Message-ID: <A3E5865A216E4D5495D21779D6AF76B4@dmsthinkpad>

Come on Charles.  I started out working in Chicago with the SCLC open 
housing drive.  Worked with SNCC.

You dare accuse me of Jim Crowism?

That's bullshit.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Brown" <charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 5:29 PM
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election


>
> S. Artesian
>
> Thought it was DL Hughly, and no I don't watch it.  If he said the same
> thing, well great minds think alike.
>
> I would like to ask, however, for a halt to all this hallelujah
> sentimentality re the Obama victory.
>
> I half expect somebody on the list to break into a  chorus of  "We Shall
> Overcome," to be followed by "God Bless America."
>
> ^^^^
> CB:  Hey maybe you could sing a little of "Jim Crow" to put a damper on 
> "Yes we can !"
>
>
>
>
>
> This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. 
> www.surfcontrol.com
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: 
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sartesian%40earthlink.net 



From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 16:04:23 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 19:04:23 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Evo, Lula, Call Obama to Lift Blockade on Cuba
In-Reply-To: <20081105223622.KXWI15831.nschwotgx01p.mx.bigpond.com@conscubaf7f967>
References: <20081105223622.KXWI15831.nschwotgx01p.mx.bigpond.com@conscubaf7f967>
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811051504k13c787f9k2816bb6c66cd02e5@mail.gmail.com>

Evo, Lula, Call Obama to Lift Blockade on Cuba

La Paz, Nov 5 (Prensa Latina) Bolivia's President Evo Morales and
Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva exhorted on Wednesday US
President-elect Barack Obama to eliminate the blockade against Cuba.

"I hope Obama could lift the Washington-imposed economic, trade and
financial blockade, as well as withdraw US troops from some
countries," Morales stated.

Lula and Peruvian opposition leader Ollanta Humala highlighted that
the policy of siege on Cuba "has no human explanation."

A release from the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry termed historic
the November 4 election results, and congratulated Obama for his
victory.

Mexico's Head of State Felipe Calderon, Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez, and
Chile's Michelle Bachelet, as well as Argentina's Foreign Minister
Jorge Taiana, and Brazil's Celso Amorim also highlighted the Illinois
senator's victory.

Several European leaders welcomed Obama's triumph with pleasure and
advocated for strengthening relations between the United States and
Europe.

The President of the Spanish Government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, his Ireland peer Brian
Cowen, German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner, congratulated the first US Afro-American
president.

The governments of Vietnam, India and China, as well as Chinese leader
Hu Jintao, Arab League General Secretary Amr Moussa, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak, Sultan of Oman Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said, and Qatar's
Emir Sheikh Hamed Ben Khalifa al-Thani also sent congratulations to
the next US president.

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 16:09:53 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:09:53 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Nader to Obama
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811050826n1d33f092rc84aebb8fc913afe@mail.gmail.com>
References: <b16d8daf0811050826n1d33f092rc84aebb8fc913afe@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811051509k166ea2c9x6a67332e1ebebc3f@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:26 AM, Mark Lause <markalause at gmail.com> wrote:

> Nader Congratulates Obama on Campaign Victory

Here is video of Fox News' Shepherd Smith confronting Ralph Nader for
saying on radio earlier today that Barack Obama now must choose
between being an "Uncle Sam" (who serves the neediest people of
America) or whether he will choose to be an "Uncle Tom" (for
corporations):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibsP6XN2dIo&eurl=http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2008/11/ralph-nader-confronted-for-saying-obama.html>


From lnp3 at panix.com  Wed Nov  5 16:24:47 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:24:47 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
Message-ID: <20081105232519.AD2B5DD5A@mailbackend.panix.com>

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2008/11/remember-me-obama-bashing-begins-here.html
Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Remember me: Obama bashing begins here. It was a noisy night in 
Washington, DC. Cars were parading the streets and honking their 
horns all night long. People around were very excited and people 
walked the streets and yelled and shouted in joy. AlJazeera offices: 
now that was a different story. The chaos there could not hide the 
festive atmosphere. People took bets and they had a sheet with staff 
names. I asked who was betting on McCain: no one, they said but they 
were betting on when the results would come in with news of Obama 
victory. People were excited and emotional. As I sat with the three 
anchors listening to Obama victory speech, I would make critical 
comments. I could tell that people did not enjoy that and there was a 
white technician who was very emotional got really mad at me because 
I was being critical of Obama. I ran into Lawrence Korb (former 
assistant secretary of defence under Ronald Regan) and I asked him if 
he had endorsed Obama. He said that he did not do that publicly but 
that he was advising him on defense and national security policies. 
He said that there is a move to appoint Richard Holbrooke as 
Secretary of State. I said: but the man (in addition to annoying the 
hell out of me) is the biggest self-promoter in the world. I woke up 
to day and put on Fox News: yesterday, at the GYM I turned to Fox and 
the people in the GYM were about to kill me. Not Fox, they yelled. I 
said: are you kidding. They are hilarious and I will derive a lot of 
pleasure watching them this week and in weeks to come. Fox mentioned 
the headline of Al-Akhbar newspaper which referred to Obma as "the 
black Jack Kennedy". I was not amused and I did not like that 
headline by Al-Akhbar at all. Why should the White Man always be a 
term of reference? He is not Jack Kennedy: and even though I don't 
support Obama but he is much more capable and effective than Kennedy, 
and he did not use his daddy's money to achieve victory, and Obama 
wrote his own words. The festive coverage of the Arab press is really 
bothering me and I tried to express that in my appearance on 
AlJazeera. I will write about that soon in Al-Akhbar. Those who 
supported Obama: you will be disappointed and you will remember my 
caution. Remember me when Obama will endorse an Israeli war on a 
refugee camp and on a Lebanese village, and he will call that 
justified self-defense. Remember me when Obama will mourn the deaths 
of Israelis and will celebrate the deaths of Arabs and Muslims. 
Remember me when he orders his first bombing campaign on some remote 
area of Pakistan. Remember me when he betrays the poor in favor of 
Wall Street. Remember me when he will betray the aspirations of black 
people in favor of the white middle class that is now the headline of 
the Democratic Party. Remember me when Obama will not fight for his 
health reform plan, and will he not deliver on many of his promises. 
Remember me when Obama will stick to his campaign promise of opposing 
gay marriage. Remember me when when Obama will continue to blame the 
failure of the American occupation of Iraq on the Iraqi people 
themselves. On Angry Arab: the Obama bashing has just begun and will 
continue unabated. 



From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 16:38:37 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:38:37 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <A3E5865A216E4D5495D21779D6AF76B4@dmsthinkpad>
References: <4911D7F9.84C9.00BF.0@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
	<A3E5865A216E4D5495D21779D6AF76B4@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811051538y28f3c278g338b77e719479b3@mail.gmail.com>

"Yes, we can" what?  Doesn't the meaning depend on how you finish that
statement?

ML


From markalause at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 16:51:47 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:51:47 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] towards a post-election united front....
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811051551n63f5b5f3u69c33b5c41f4f5d@mail.gmail.com>

http://november5.org/index.php?signup=success


From gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 17:12:30 2008
From: gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com (Gary MacLennan)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:12:30 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
In-Reply-To: <20081105232519.AD2B5DD5A@mailbackend.panix.com>
References: <20081105232519.AD2B5DD5A@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <b77157fa0811051612s9faa8fcka8cc1fc0d5df5b6@mail.gmail.com>

>
> Those who supported Obama: you will be disappointed and you will remember
> my
> caution. Remember me when Obama will endorse an Israeli war on a
> refugee camp and on a Lebanese village, and he will call that
> justified self-defense. Remember me when Obama will mourn the deaths
> of Israelis and will celebrate the deaths of Arabs and Muslims.
> Remember me when he orders his first bombing campaign on some remote
> area of Pakistan. Remember me when he betrays the poor in favor of
> Wall Street. Remember me when he will betray the aspirations of black
> people in favor of the white middle class that is now the headline of
> the Democratic Party. Remember me when Obama will not fight for his
> health reform plan, and will he not deliver on many of his promises.
> Remember me when Obama will stick to his campaign promise of opposing
> gay marriage. Remember me when when Obama will continue to blame the
> failure of the American occupation of Iraq on the Iraqi people
> themselves. On Angry Arab: the Obama bashing has just begun and will
> continue unabated.
>
> I thank Lou  for forwarding this to the list.  I have clipped the above
> because it needs to be said again and again. Last nite I read to my family
> my previous post criticising Obama and the reaction I got was extremely
> angry.  My nearest and dearest (as in like expensive) all attacked me for
> not seeing the historical significance of Obama's victory.  I then  got an
> email from my good friend the Aboriginal educator Chris Sarra expressing his
> deep joy at the result.


He would I know be deeply hurt that I have reservations about the Obama
victory.  But I did not take up Marxist and left poltics to be popular.  And
even though I respect Walter and was moved by the anthem he posted, I have
to say that Angry Arab has called it exactly right.  If any confirmation
were needed I looked at the photo in Al Jazeera this morning of  another
child victim of American bombing in the "good" war.

Is there anyone on this list who has any doubts that more Afghani children
will die because of Obama's desire to prosecute the "good" war?  Is there
anyone on this list who has any doubts that American workers will suffer
because Paul Volcker is a key member of the Obama team? Is there anyone on
this list who does not understand that Obama's calls for "sacrifice" and
"unity" mean that the entire American working class  (black & white) is
going to be attacked viciously?

I could go on and on with these questions and there would be no answer at
all. Last nite on the election special on the ABC  the renegade Higgins was
there in all his drunken glory.  Yet he was the only one who tried to
puncture the euphoria around Obama;s triumph.  True he did it from the
right, but he did point out that Obama did not have a clue about what to do
about the subprime mortage crisis. He could have added that Volcker will
tell him.

Let me finish by mentioning something that the great Noam Chomsky said.
Obama for him was a blank slate and on it people could write anything they
wanted. Well Chomsky seems to have forgotten that analysis but it was spot
on.  On the tabula rasa that is Barack Obama, millions have written their
dreams.  I respect all that and yes I was moved to tears at the spectacle of
so much Afro-American joy.  But let me say this and I am not afraid to say
it, Obama and the crooks he will appoint have little or no respect for these
same dreams and hopes.

regards

Gary

From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 17:24:38 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:24:38 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Obama win does not end racism, activists say
Message-ID: <COL110-W218E5EE73BD328007E9212D71E0@phx.gbl>


AP reports:
 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081105/pl_nm/us_usa_election_race

ATLANTA (Reuters) ? 
The election of Barack Obama as the first black U.S. president should help revive America's image abroad as a land of opportunity for all.
                        
But some analysts fear Obama's win could actually undermine efforts to
tackle inequality between blacks and whites in a country where racial segregation in the south prevented blacks from voting as recently as the 1960s.
                        
More than 55 million people voted for Obama, a U.S. senator whose father was Kenyan and whose white mother was from Kansas, and he won a majority in a slew of groups and demographic categories to deal a big defeat to Republican John McCain.
                        
Obama's strength among young voters of all races in a country in which
the proportion of young and nonwhite voters is increasing appeared to
suggest that race as a factor in U.S. politics could gradually
evaporate.
                        
"His (Obama's) election demonstrates America's extraordinary capacity
to renew itself and adapt to a changing world," said former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
                        
But several commentators said the election result will do nothing to challenge racial inequity.
                        
"There is an acceptance among wide segments of the population that a qualified African American (Obama) can be accepted in the highest office," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of a recent book on race and presidential politics.
                        
"But that does not magically make the problems go away for the average
person of color. Nothing has changed and for many the negative
stereotypes are still very much there," Hutchinson said.
                        
Chuck D, regarded
by many as the godfather of politically-conscious rap music, said
Obama's election could radically change the debate about race in the
United States but in some ways could be unhealthy.
                        
"People will say: 'You guys have got a black president so it's cool.
It's straight.' But it does not erase the discussion (about race) that
you need to have," said Chuck D, the main force behind the rap group Public Enemy.
                        
In an interview, he warned against the election of Obama being "a
weapon of mass distraction" from an attempt to tackle problems facing African Americans.
                        
DISPARITIES
                        
Experts differ over the cause of disparities between the majority
whites and black Americans, who represent around 13 percent of the
country's population of 300 million.
                        
On average African Americans earn less, are more likely to be unemployed and have higher rates of infant mortality and a lower life expectancy. They are more likely to be arrested and jailed and serve longer sentences than other racial groups.
                        
A black middle class has flourished in the United States since the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s ended a brutal system of racial segregation in the south and led to the passage of laws that enabled all African Americans to vote.
                        
But many middle class blacks say that, despite professional and
financial success, race remains a significant fact of life, still woven
into social and professional interactions.
                        
The election itself does not eliminate those disparities but it would
alter how they are viewed and that could make a difference, said
Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Cynthia Tucker.
                        
"An Obama presidency does not herald the end of racism in America.
Obama isn't 'post-racial.' He isn't the messiah whose coming ends
bigotry and inequality for all time," said Tucker, who writes for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.


"He'll just be the president," she said.


At the same time, Obama's election could alter the way African Americans view themselves.


"I don't know that this election changes any (social problems) right away," said Wendell Roberts, an attorney based in Virginia.
"But one thing it does change is a state of mind .... African
Americans have been citizens for ... (generations ) but there is a real
sense now that all things are possible," said Roberts.


_________________________________________________________________
Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/119462413/direct/01/

From elishastephens at hotmail.com  Wed Nov  5 17:30:36 2008
From: elishastephens at hotmail.com (Eli Stephens)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:30:36 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
Message-ID: <COL110-W6CD47BABD87CBA513A33BD71E0@phx.gbl>


Gary wrote (about Chomsky): Obama for him was a blank slate and on it people could write anything they

wanted. 

Actually the problem is worse than that. Obama was really NOT a "blank slate," his position on sending more troops to Afghanistan and enlarging the military just to name one of many quite concrete positions. But people were so desperate for new and competent leadership after 8 years of the Bush disaster that they closed their ears to any such realities and PRETENDED that Obama was something he was (and is) not. It's a long-term disease (the same has happened over and over with liberals and progressives view of Democrats), but it was particularly acute this time thanks to Bush (with a boost from the venality of McCain).

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live Hotmail now works up to 70% faster.
http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_faster_112008

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:02:57 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 21:02:57 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
In-Reply-To: <4911A8FC.6070008@panix.com>
References: <16060721.1225892972184.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<4911A8FC.6070008@panix.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811051802s35d68a9mfaf05826c8fab82b@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:09 AM, Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> wrote:

>
> Didn't Michael Moore lose all credibility some light years ago?

Light-year is a measure of distance, not time..  (the distance light
travels in one year)....


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:06:10 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 21:06:10 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Vote Changes Nothing
In-Reply-To: <c81bf1a60811051119j7bf8482by793fd1cbd0de0b79@mail.gmail.com>
References: <16060721.1225892972184.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
	<4911A8FC.6070008@panix.com>
	<c81bf1a60811051119j7bf8482by793fd1cbd0de0b79@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811051806k6960362s36f78eff1ecfbc23@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Christopher Hutchinson
<christopher.hutch at gmail.com> wrote:


>  As a friend of mine just said whether they are Black, White,
> Mexican or Siberian they are still the administrators of Capitalism.

I think the point is this: once people gets used to the idea of change
(e.g. a black instead of a white as president), other kinds of change
(such as socialism instead of capitalism) may become less difficult to
envision. So,  that people have come to view "change" as positive is
one good outcome of considerable importance.


From nmgoro at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:19:52 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 03:19:52 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] A question on booing
Message-ID: <2fa158550811051819k50ec67d5v3e15aaf24c029439@mail.gmail.com>

I was surprised at the high level of booing that greeted McCain?s
mentions of Obama during his own speech of acceptance of defeat.

Maybe I am wrong, but I had a sense that this was not usual.

Am I wrong?

From gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:20:13 2008
From: gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com (Gary MacLennan)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:20:13 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
In-Reply-To: <COL110-W6CD47BABD87CBA513A33BD71E0@phx.gbl>
References: <COL110-W6CD47BABD87CBA513A33BD71E0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <b77157fa0811051820x21f36f73p699fd56fc6a1dda3@mail.gmail.com>

Eli  wrote:

Actually the problem is worse than that. Obama was really NOT a "blank
slate," his position on sending more troops to Afghanistan and enlarging the
military just to name one of many quite concrete positions. But people were
so desperate for new and competent leadership after 8 years of the Bush
disaster that they closed their ears to any such realities and PRETENDED
that Obama was something he was (and is) not. It's a long-term disease (the
same has happened over and over with liberals and progressives view of
Democrats), but it was particularly acute this time thanks to Bush (with a
boost from the venality of McCain).

My response:  I agree.  Of course he *was not* a blank slate.  However he
became one for a host of conjunctural reasons some of which you mention.
The big quesiton is how will the dialectics of disillusionment play out.  My
own personal experience of disilusionment is that it leads to apathy and not
to an increase in desire and hence action to obtain a better world

But I could be wrong.  The millions that were activated and brought into the
"political process" might yet move beyond the bourgeois charade to true
liberatory politics.  I certanily hope so.

regards

Gary

From gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:24:38 2008
From: gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com (Gary MacLennan)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:24:38 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] A question on booing
In-Reply-To: <2fa158550811051819k50ec67d5v3e15aaf24c029439@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2fa158550811051819k50ec67d5v3e15aaf24c029439@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b77157fa0811051824w155d31eei17d1c05ccd0082a9@mail.gmail.com>

N?stor wrote:

> I was surprised at the high level of booing that greeted McCain?s
> mentions of Obama during his own speech of acceptance of defeat.
>
> My response:

Hi Nestor

I have no idea but what also interested me and perhaps more so was the muted
response to Obama's praise of McCain and his plans for a "bipartisan"
reign.  Just maybe the thought flashed across a few minds of "Same shit, new
flies".

regards

Gary

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:26:37 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 21:26:37 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
In-Reply-To: <b77157fa0811051820x21f36f73p699fd56fc6a1dda3@mail.gmail.com>
References: <COL110-W6CD47BABD87CBA513A33BD71E0@phx.gbl>
	<b77157fa0811051820x21f36f73p699fd56fc6a1dda3@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811051826n4b89b1bbg7e32e52fe797b3c6@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:20 PM, Gary MacLennan
<gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> My response:  I agree.  Of course he *was not* a blank slate.  However he
> became one for a host of conjunctural reasons some of which you mention.
> The big quesiton is how will the dialectics of disillusionment play out.  My
> own personal experience of disilusionment is that it leads to apathy and not
> to an increase in desire and hence action to obtain a better world
>
> But I could be wrong.  The millions that were activated and brought into the
> "political process" might yet move beyond the bourgeois charade to true
> liberatory politics.  I certanily hope so.

Well, Kerensky's election generated tremendous enthusiasm in Russia.
We could think of Obama as a Kerensky, perhaps?


From sartesian at earthlink.net  Wed Nov  5 19:44:53 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 21:44:53 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] A question on booing
References: <2fa158550811051819k50ec67d5v3e15aaf24c029439@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CB78B4626E1C46CBA1AE12392DD0D71E@dmsthinkpad>

It was not unusual.  Throughout the campain it was encouraged by 
McCain/Palin and the shills they employed.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "N?stor Gorojovsky" <nmgoro at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:19 PM
Subject: [Marxism] A question on booing




From nmgoro at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 19:54:40 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 03:54:40 +0100
Subject: [Marxism] A question on booing
In-Reply-To: <CB78B4626E1C46CBA1AE12392DD0D71E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <2fa158550811051819k50ec67d5v3e15aaf24c029439@mail.gmail.com>
	<CB78B4626E1C46CBA1AE12392DD0D71E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811051854ode40932pa756e19211c02156@mail.gmail.com>

I understand it was not unusual in THIS campaign.

What I would like to know is how it compares with PREVIOUS campaigns.

2008/11/6 S. Artesian <sartesian en earthlink.net>:
> It was not unusual.  Throughout the campain it was encouraged by
> McCain/Palin and the shills they employed.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "N?stor Gorojovsky" <nmgoro en gmail.com>
> To: <sartesian en earthlink.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:19 PM
> Subject: [Marxism] A question on booing
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism en lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/nmgoro%40gmail.com
>



-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From michael at ecst.csuchico.edu  Wed Nov  5 19:54:45 2008
From: michael at ecst.csuchico.edu (michael perelman)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:54:45 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] I will be giving a talk in San Francisco next Wed.
Message-ID: <49125C75.6050908@ecst.csuchico.edu>


It would be fun to meet the people that I encounter on lists.

San Francisco Peace and Freedom Party Presents:
A Forum

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with
Author
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522 Valencia St/16th St. 3rd Floor
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fax 530 898 5901


From ffeldman at bellatlantic.net  Wed Nov  5 20:15:57 2008
From: ffeldman at bellatlantic.net (Fred Feldman)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:15:57 -0500
Subject: [Marxism]  Obama win does not end racism, activists say
Message-ID: <D655EA427CD24A2BB428E81A91DA8EEA@office1pc>

At the same time, Obama's election could alter the way African Americans
view themselves.


"I don't know that this election changes any (social problems) right away,"
said Wendell Roberts, an attorney based in Virginia.
"But one thing it does change is a state of mind .... African
Americans have been citizens for ... (generations ) but there is a real
sense now that all things are possible," said Roberts.

In my opinion, this is the most unadulterated correct statement in the
article Eli submitted. All the others indicated a sectarian reaction against
what has been accomplished, from a basically administrative "movement" point
of view.

Contrary to Black Agenda and many others of that ilk, the Black movement
does not depend (and I might add must not depend) on the tradition excluding
Blacks from the presidency. And it does not in fact, because the Obama
election points toward greater assertiveness and confidence (especially
among youth), regardless of his record as a bourgeois president in office.

Yes, this is historic. Any perspective that is dependent on "this changes
nothing" to survive is doomed to destruction.
Fred Feldman



From russo.matthew9 at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 20:28:15 2008
From: russo.matthew9 at gmail.com (Matthew Russo)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 19:28:15 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <1b7033e60811051928x17c93c23i4dd6f220e8b98216@mail.gmail.com>

I'm celebrating the far right doubled over in agony after getting a
righteously swift kick in the huevos.  That is basically the immediate
consequence of this election.  This from a fairly consistent listening to
far right hate radio.  Lately it has been one of my favorite places as it
has become a veritable "Marxist word cloud": Obama, you see, is a "stealth
Marxist" who is going to set up Cuban style "neighborhood committees" that
will hunt down and root out the far right (or so they fear).  Then more
"theories" invoking dialectics, Gramsci, Adorno, socialism, means of
production, etc.

If only it were true!

-Matt

Suprisingly few posts tonight.  I'm sure that most of the Americans on
this list are sharing the same sensibilities as so many of our
countrymen.

To state the obvious, we should share in this celebration, not because
the election itself has changed anything, though it remains to be seen
what an Obama administration will mean.  Rather, celebration is
appropriate because the outcome does mark the cumulative changes for
which we have contended for decades.  We also owe it to the many
comrades and fellow workers who are not here to celebrate this
landmark with us.

ML

From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 21:24:42 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 23:24:42 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Glen Ford on Obama victory
In-Reply-To: <20081105222613.94066D343@mailbackend.panix.com>
References: <20081105222613.94066D343@mailbackend.panix.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811052024pa744e71n9c93fdcf88b2c00b@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 5:26 PM, Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> wrote:

> The Obama '08 Phenomenon: What We have Learned?
>
> by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

> and Blacks' collective lack
> of good hygiene ("You know what would be a good economic development
> plan for our community would be if we make sure folks weren't
> throwing their garbage out of their cars"). But the Black man who
> would woo white presidential votes must have the smarts and
> discipline to never, never, never subject whites to such egregious,
> blanket group criticisms.

The last part of this sentence (that Obama "never, never, never
subjects whites to such egregious, blanket group criticisms") is
simply not true.

For example, Obama has generalized about the "typical white person":

"In an interview with sports radio 610 WIP in Philly early this
morning, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said "the point I was making
was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't.
But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the
street that she doesn't know, well there's a reaction that's in our
experiences that won't go away and can sometimes come out in the wrong
way."

<http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/obama-talks-mor.html>


From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Wed Nov  5 21:42:25 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 23:42:25 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Obama's victory and the inevitable struggle ahead
In-Reply-To: <COL110-W187D487FE3B024F054915CD71F0@phx.gbl>
References: <COL110-W187D487FE3B024F054915CD71F0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811052042p5828cab6x66002082727ad985@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 12:51 AM, Eli Stephens
<elishastephens at hotmail.com> wrote:

> It will be the failure of the new administration to carry through this program that will expose it before the eyes of the people as another agent of the capitalist system.

An odd fact about who voted for Obama:

"In 1996, 9 percent of voters made more than $100,000 a year;
yesterday it was 26 percent, or about one in four voters. While those
making more than $100,000 split their votes almost evenly, voters
making more than $200,000 a year gave their support (52 percent) to
Mr. Obama."

<http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/a-new-coalition/?ref=opinion>


From Jscotlive at aol.com  Thu Nov  6 01:19:54 2008
From: Jscotlive at aol.com (Jscotlive at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 03:19:54 EST
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
Message-ID: <d33.42f8271b.364402aa@aol.com>

Gary:
 
But I could be wrong. The millions that were activated and brought into  the
"political process" might yet move beyond the bourgeois charade to  true
liberatory politics. I certanily hope so.

Reply:
 
Exactly. Down with determinism. Nobody knows what will happen yet. Of  
course, historically the Dems have been every bit as committed to vested  interests 
at home and US hegemony overseas. And already, judging by  the names being 
bandied around as contenders for jobs in the new  administration, the signs are 
not good. 
 
But the huge wave of expectation that Obama has unleashed among  the millions 
who supported him, in conjunction with the mess he's inherited,  make this 
less predictable than at any time since FDR came to power in 1932. 
 
People may very well be left apathetic and even more demoralised than  before 
if Obama turns his face to the rich and big business, as many predict he  
will. And back in 1932 there was a strong and cohesive Communist Party in the US  
able to place massive pressure on the administration through its influence  
within the Labor Movement and amongst the unemployed and the poor. No such  
organisation exists now.
 
But on the other hand, all those people working and campaigning together,  
many coming into politics for the first time and unburdened with the pessimism  
of having experienced defeats, who knows how they will respond  to having 
their hopes dashed and expectations thwarted?
 
It seems to me that never has there been a better time for the antiwar  
movement and a variety of local campaigns centred around issues like healthcare,  
home foreclosures, etc. 
 
It's all to play for. And as ever, in the end, it'll come down to the  
subjective factor.
 
J
 
 

From aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm  Thu Nov  6 01:30:22 2008
From: aaron at mylists.fastmail.fm (Aaron Aarons)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 00:30:22 -0800
Subject: [Marxism] Cindy Sheehan bash/results
In-Reply-To: <b16d8daf0811050856o6861cc3fw27c98acb39bbd9cd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <4911372B.7060302@comcast.net>
	<831860.91593.qm@web54604.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
	<b16d8daf0811050856o6861cc3fw27c98acb39bbd9cd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20081106083030.1E7F811209@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com>

At 11:56 -0500 2008/11/05, Mark Lause wrote:
<< The engineered division between the Nader-Gonzales ticket and the Greens probably did the most damage in places like California where the Greens were relatively well organized but largely pro-Nader to start with. My understanding was that they were on the Peace and Freedom ballot line there as well, where people used to seeing Gonzales as a Green might not have been looking.  >>

There are no ballot LINES in California. The candidates for each office are listed together in random order, with their party affiliation next to their name(s). (I presume that the order of listing varies from one electoral subdivision to another, but I'm not certain of this.) Where I live, Cynthia McKinney was listed first among the presidential candidates!

So, the fact that Nader and Gonzalez were listed as Peace and Freedom candidates rather than as Greens might have affected how many people chose them versus McKinney among people who like or hate either of those parties, I doubt it had much effect otherwise.

 - Aaron



From ok.president+marxml at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 01:59:20 2008
From: ok.president+marxml at gmail.com (Ruthless Critic of All that Exists)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 03:59:20 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 6:58 AM, N?stor Gorojovsky <nmgoro at gmail.com> wrote:
> [Hope this did not get into the list before, have not been following
> my mail seriously these weeks. If it has, sorry. If it hasn?t, please
> pay attention to it. It is worth reading, every bit of it]
>
> Source: http://www.herramienta.com.ar/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=629
>
> The unfolding crisis and the relevance of Marx
>
> Autor: Istv?n M?sz?ros*

I didn't understand the following passage in the article:

"The immense speculative expansion of financial adventurism,
especially in the last three or four decades, is of course inseparable
from the deepening crisis of the productive branches of industry and
the ensuing troubles arising from the utterly sluggish capital
accumulation (and indeed failed accumulation) in that productive field
of economic activity."

As far as I know, productivity has been high, and the marginal return
on investment has been high too, in the past few years, in the
non-financial ("productive") sectors.

In which case, why has "capital accumulation" been "sluggish" or
"failed", as he claims? What would be the reason for that?


From cpimllib at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 04:11:59 2008
From: cpimllib at gmail.com (CPIML Liberation)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 16:41:59 +0530
Subject: [Marxism] [India] CPI(ML) on Obama victory : UPA goverment's crisis
	management measures
Message-ID: <df738ddb0811060311u534ee278rff83796ac8d802f@mail.gmail.com>

* **(Handout issued at press conference addressed by CPI(ML) General
Secretary  **Dipankar Bhattacharya in Kolkata on 6 November 2008)***

*On the victory of Barack Obama:*

CPI(ML) welcomes the overwhelming victory scored by Barack Obama in US
Presidential election. The US still has a huge baggage of racism and the
first ever election of an African-American as the President certainly marks
a welcome change for the internal milieu of the country. With Obama in, Bush
is finally out, and the end of the most notorious and hated American
presidency is bound to be greeted with great appreciation and relief all
over the world.

Obama's election campaign revolved almost singularly around the promise of
change, and the whole world will now join the American people to see what
kind of change Obama can really deliver as the 44th US President. The forces
of peace, justice and progress the world over demand an immediate end to the
war in Iraq and Afghanistan, withdrawal of US troops and termination of US
military bases and notorious detention centres and torture camps, and
reversal of the US policies that have triggered worldwide economic crisis
and environmental destruction.* *

*On the UPA Government's Crisis-Management Measures*

After belatedly and reluctantly acknowledging the financial and economic
crisis brewing in the country, the UPA government has chosen to intensify
the very policies that are responsible for the current crisis. The
large-scale flight of FII away from India has greatly exacerbated the
dramatic decline in the share market and the depreciation of the rupee with
its disastrous manifold implications. We demand that the government
immediately withdraws its decision to raise the FDI cap in insurance
industry to 49%. CPI(ML) will resist any attempt to further liberalise
India's financial sector and continue to fight for a complete reversal of
the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation that lie at
the root of the present crisis.

From farmelantj at juno.com  Thu Nov  6 05:41:53 2008
From: farmelantj at juno.com (farmelantj at juno.com)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 12:41:53 GMT
Subject: [Marxism] Obama bashing begins here
Message-ID: <20081106.074153.17140.0@webmail06.vgs.untd.com>


Obama has made no secret of his intention to
govern as a centrist in the Bill Clinton mode.
He has certainly not hidden from the public
his views concerning a whole range of issues
both foreign and domestic.  

Liberals and progressives, it seems to me,
have managed to do a bang-up job of deceiving
themselves concerning Obama's true political
inclinations. It's as if they have bought into
the characterizations of Obama that the GOP
made during the campaign and put plus signs
where the Republicans had placed minu signs:
that Obaba is really
a "closet" socialist who intends to engage in
a massive redistribution of wealth and so forth.

So, I expect that after Obama has been
in office a while and he has managed
to make a few crucial decisions, and
perhaps bombed a country or two, that
maybe a certain level of disillusionment
will begin to set in.

The ascension of Obama into the White House
merits comparisons with JFK's ascension of
forty-eight years ago.  Like Obama, JFK's
ascension was greeted with very high expectations
from his supporters.  Eventually, a certain
level of disillusionment set in, and of course
his assassination would be the most disillusioning
event of all.  However, at that time there were
thriving social movements, most notably the
civil rights movement.  So when disillusionment
set in, for many people that would lead not to a
relapse back into apathy but to a radicalization
which would drive much of the politics of
the 1960s.

So, it will be interesting to see how things
play this time around.

Jim F. 

-- "Gary MacLennan" <gary.maclennan1 at gmail.com> wrote:


_____________________________________________________________
Find the right teaching school to meet your educational needs. Click to learn more. 
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3njBiX5ZRJUP7NJmQDpqx0L4St91XGj41uqoNUTztsWJzVd9/?count=1234567890




From skeyesvogt at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 06:29:01 2008
From: skeyesvogt at gmail.com (Sky Keyes-Vogt)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 08:29:01 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Notes On The Obama Euphoria
Message-ID: <de3b89110811060529y5ecab3cdhc533402b1edc361d@mail.gmail.com>

Some notes and thoughts:

---Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT is known as a seat of the
counterculture in the northeast, i.e. not a place you expect jingo
activity.  Well I was suprised to hear my close friends on that campus tell
me of the scene there election night.  When the election was called the
students gathered in an open hill and field and chanted - among other things
- "USA, USA, USA, USA" and in the student center they all spontaneously
joined in and sang the national anthem "oh say can you see".  This was very
suprising, u would never expect to hear such things at Wesleyan, they would
seem to be more common at a Mccain/Palin rally.  Here is a blog with pics of
the celebration  (
http://wesleying.blogspot.com/2008/11/last-nights-euphoria.html ), note the
two students draped in the american flag and other students hanging one from
a balcony, something that is again highly abnormal at this campus.  The way
they are partying is exactly like Spring Weekend or if The New York Yankees
won the world series as someone else pointed out.

---To me, the fact that such white uppper middle class students who are
normally known for being counterculture and 'against' the system and are now
running around like jingos with Amerikkkan flags and singing the national
anthem is indicative of the role that Obama is playing for U.S. imperialism,
bringing those into the fold who had felt left out in the cold.  Obama is
truly a kinder and gentler facade for capitalism, something these left
liberals can truly be proud of.

---Similar jubilation (as at Wesleyan) was reported at Trinity College in
Hartford, CT.  However in the main cities of CT all reports that came to me
expressed nothing of the sort taking place in working class neighborhoods
and "the hood" (areas dominated by minorities known for poverty and
violence).  As one close friend of mine who lives in "the hood" in Hartford
told me, "it was just another regular night here."  In CT at least, there
seemed to be a marked difference in celebration between the ascendent middle
class layers and solidly working class and poor urban areas.

---My little sister was at the only womens' prison yesterday doing
educational work and a woman there who was ecstatic that Obama was elected
pulled her to the side and said "hey when you get home can you check Obama's
website and tell me what he's going to do for 'long-termers' [people with
long jail sentences]"... my sister was destraught because there is nothing
for this prisoner from Obama, and she'll have to break the news to
this prisoner when she returns next week.

In Solidarity,

Sky Keyes

From nmgoro at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 06:43:16 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:43:16 -0300
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
	<908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811060543s325d43a6o7ec95d6c4b34b20f@mail.gmail.com>

2008/11/6, Ruthless Critic of All that Exists <ok.president+marxml en gmail.com>:
> >
> > The unfolding crisis and the relevance of Marx
> >
> > Autor: Istv?n M?sz?ros*
>
> I didn't understand the following passage in the article:
>
> "The immense speculative expansion of financial adventurism,
> especially in the last three or four decades, is of course inseparable
> from the deepening crisis of the productive branches of industry and
> the ensuing troubles arising from the utterly sluggish capital
> accumulation (and indeed failed accumulation) in that productive field
> of economic activity."
>
> As far as I know, productivity has been high, and the marginal return
> on investment has been high too, in the past few years, in the
> non-financial ("productive") sectors.
>
> In which case, why has "capital accumulation" been "sluggish" or
> "failed", as he claims? What would be the reason for that?

M?szar?s states the case as a Marxist. He observes that the amount of
value injected into speculation (that is, non-value creation, or
fictitious capital) section is at least three times larger than the
amount of value injected in production.

It is in this sense that sluggish and failed are, IMHO, faint and weak
descriptive words for the whole issue.


-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From sartesian at earthlink.net  Thu Nov  6 07:13:07 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 09:13:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com><908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>
	<2fa158550811060543s325d43a6o7ec95d6c4b34b20f@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>

The reason this is the overproduction of the means of production as capital, 
and the falling rate of profit.

Immodestly, check: 
http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com/2008/06/virtual-paper-3.html


----- Original Message ----- 

> 2008/11/6, Ruthless Critic of All that Exists 
> <ok.president+marxml at gmail.com>:

In which case, why has "capital accumulation" been "sluggish" or "failed", 
as he claims? What would be the reason for that?



From nmgoro at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 07:29:55 2008
From: nmgoro at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?N=C3=A9stor_Gorojovsky?=)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:29:55 -0300
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
	<908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>
	<2fa158550811060543s325d43a6o7ec95d6c4b34b20f@mail.gmail.com>
	<BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <2fa158550811060629h4dfbd89aud26c76deec3510ca@mail.gmail.com>

Well, I expected our Ruthless Critic to reach this conclusion on
his/her own skills.

2008/11/6, S. Artesian <sartesian en earthlink.net>:
> The reason this is the overproduction of the means of production as capital,
> and the falling rate of profit.
>
> Immodestly, check:
> http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com/2008/06/virtual-paper-3.html
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> > 2008/11/6, Ruthless Critic of All that Exists
> > <ok.president+marxml en gmail.com>:
>
> In which case, why has "capital accumulation" been "sluggish" or "failed",
> as he claims? What would be the reason for that?
>
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism en lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/nmgoro%40gmail.com
>


-- 

N?stor Gorojovsky
El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autor?a

From sartesian at earthlink.net  Thu Nov  6 07:39:02 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 09:39:02 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com><908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com><2fa158550811060543s325d43a6o7ec95d6c4b34b20f@mail.gmail.com><BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>
	<2fa158550811060629h4dfbd89aud26c76deec3510ca@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4FDAFB18DE644ED2B97188CE50A13C9B@dmsthinkpad>

Guy asked a question. "What is the reason for this?" Why not provide some of 
the information for his review so that he can reach his own conclusion?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "N?stor Gorojovsky" <nmgoro at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the 
crisis


> Well, I expected our Ruthless Critic to reach this conclusion on
> his/her own skills.
>



From skeyesvogt at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:12:08 2008
From: skeyesvogt at gmail.com (Sky Keyes-Vogt)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:12:08 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Glen Ford on Obama victory
Message-ID: <de3b89110811060712t43403bbaw7ea3c26452c527d1@mail.gmail.com>

Ruthless:
The last part of this sentence (that Obama "never, never, never
subjects whites to such egregious, blanket group criticisms") is
simply not true.  For example, Obama has generalized about the "typical
white person":

"In an interview with sports radio 610 WIP in Philly early this
morning, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said "the point I was making
was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't.
But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the
street that she doesn't know, well there's a reaction that's in our
experiences that won't go away and can sometimes come out in the wrong
way."



Me:
I disagree.  The quote that Ruthless cited doesn't count as "egregious,
blanket group criticism," it is something that almost anyone could freely
admit.  Ruthless cites the fact that Obama critized 'a typical white person'
without noting that Ford specifically said the criticism had to be
egregious.... the quote cited cannot IMO be considered egregious.  If you
look at how Obama talked about black families (which even his ardent
supporter Michael Eric Dyson was highly critical of and wrote as much in
Time magazine during the campaign) it is clear that he reserves a special
type of paternalistic criticism for black America in the Cosbyite
tradition.  If Dyson - a supporter - can admit it I don't think we're amiss
to agree with Ford here and say that yes Obama doesn't ever criticize whites
on the level that he does to blacks.

-Sky

From wsredden at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:20:07 2008
From: wsredden at gmail.com (Shawn Redden)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:20:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
	<908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>
	<2fa158550811060543s325d43a6o7ec95d6c4b34b20f@mail.gmail.com>
	<BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>
Message-ID: <a50797a90811060720k225caaddp6373985bb41935e9@mail.gmail.com>

Hadn't check out the site in a while.  The opening quote to your VP-1 entry
was prescient to say the least.  Keep up the good fight!
Solidarity,
Shawn

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 9:13 AM, S. Artesian <sartesian at earthlink.net> wrote:

> The reason this is the overproduction of the means of production as
> capital,
> and the falling rate of profit.
>
> Immodestly, check:
> http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com/2008/06/virtual-paper-3.html
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> > 2008/11/6, Ruthless Critic of All that Exists
> > <ok.president+marxml at gmail.com <ok.president%2Bmarxml at gmail.com>>:
>
> In which case, why has "capital accumulation" been "sluggish" or "failed",
> as he claims? What would be the reason for that?
>
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at:
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/wsredden%40gmail.com
>

From anthony.boynton at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:20:11 2008
From: anthony.boynton at gmail.com (Anthony Boynton)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:20:11 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Plan Colombia was never a war on drugs,
	nor a war against terrorism: it was always a war against the
	unarmed and armed left.
Message-ID: <7b8a676d0811060720s426b3629o676332836efbc25a@mail.gmail.com>

Plan Colombia was never a war on drugs, nor a war against terrorism: it was
always a war against the unarmed and armed left.



Anthony



*Colombia Aid Failed to Halve Drug Making, Report Finds*

* *

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 5, 2008



BOGOT? , Colombia (AP) ? The nearly $5 billion American aid package known as
Plan Colombia failed to meet its goal of halving illegal narcotics
production, says an American report released Wednesday.



The Government Accountability Office report does, however, find that the
mostly military assistance helped Colombia markedly improve security, with
kidnapping and murder rates falling and the armed forces greatly diminishing
the leftist rebel threat.



The report's release came as American officials were making clear that aid
for Colombia, about $660 million in the 2008 fiscal year, would be trimmed
because of the financial crisis.



In addition, a widening scandal over Colombian Army killings of civilians to
increase body counts could affect American aid.



President-elect Barack Obama is among Democrats who have expressed concern
over human rights violations in Colombia's long-running conflict.



Despite record aerial eradication, coca cultivation rose by 15 percent
during Plan Colombia's 2000-2006 run, the report said.



It added that cocaine production rose by less ? 4 percent ? because
eradication efforts forced growers to disperse their crops more widely,
contributing to lower yields.



Opium cultivation and heroin production did, however, decline by 50 percent
over the period.



"I think it's very, very important that a U.S. agency has now said that the
U.S. drug war has failed in Colombia," said Adam Isacson of the Center for
International Policy, a research group in Washington.



Colombia remains the source of 90 percent of the cocaine in the United
States.



The report was requested by Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations committee and now the vice president-elect. It
offers recommendations for aid cuts, including turning over to the
Colombians operation of vital military aviation units.



Its authors recommend that American and Colombian officials "develop a joint
plan for turning over operational and funding responsibilities for
U.S.-supported programs to Colombia."



The timeline remains unclear, and the report cautions that Colombia's
security gains are "not irreversible" as long as rebels remain a threat.



The ranks of Colombia's military and police rose to 415,000 from 279,000 in
2007, the report noted, while the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia diminished by half to about 8,000 fighters.

From wsredden at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:21:06 2008
From: wsredden at gmail.com (Shawn Redden)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:21:06 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The Great Marxist debate again: Meszaros on the crisis
In-Reply-To: <a50797a90811060720k225caaddp6373985bb41935e9@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2fa158550811040358t16257714n2725e069ec7a3cf2@mail.gmail.com>
	<908b689f0811060059t6476e402td5ed6c7d3d2598a5@mail.gmail.com>
	<2fa158550811060543s325d43a6o7ec95d6c4b34b20f@mail.gmail.com>
	<BE77DA388A1E4AF4BA8BBA23A2692F1E@dmsthinkpad>
	<a50797a90811060720k225caaddp6373985bb41935e9@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <a50797a90811060721s2b6e859av8664158e847681aa@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry, all, for the accidental post.

SR


From markalause at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:23:07 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:23:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Sign up online for the November 5 movement....
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811060723p60cd5e4bh5e6cbaae64481912@mail.gmail.com>

The question is what can we do to move things forward from there.  At
present, the largest numbers and the most open possibilities begin
with watchdog organizations aimed at Congressmen.

http://november5.org/index.php?signup=success

The sort of issues around which these groups are going to coallesce
are those around which the insurgent candidates of 2008
campaigned--and which, paradoxically, many Obama voters said that they
supported.
* the living wage initiatives
* socialized medicine
* alternative energy
* the war and militarism
* ballot access
* making corporate and government officers accountable, even
criminally accountable

Concretely, participants will be involved in large numbers with grass
roots effort to establish:
* the centrality of national politics through a focus on the Congress
* ongoing campaigns to publicize the donor base and class connections
of Congressman
* regular mobilizations for rallies or picket lines over specific issues

http://november5.org/index.php?signup=success

I would simply point out that, if you're serious about engaging the
ranks of the Obama voters and uniting the former supporters of Nader,
McKinney and others in an effort to lay the foundations of a real mass
third party movement, this is precisely the sort of thing we need to
do.

Signing up costs nothing.

Signing up doesn't restrict anything else you might want to do.

Solidarity!
Mark L.


From lnp3 at panix.com  Thu Nov  6 08:23:00 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:23:00 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] A New Day in DC?
Message-ID: <49130BD4.7090609@panix.com>

Counterpunch, November 6, 2008
A New Day in DC? Not So Fast...
Now What?

By FRANK J. MENETREZ

Fans of the HBO series The Wire are familiar with the saga of the 
fictional Tommy Carcetti, a white politician who beats the racial odds 
and gets elected mayor in majority black Baltimore.  Carcetti is an 
ambitious and sincerely well-meaning liberal who really wants to create 
a ?new day in Baltimore.?  But once in office, he puts personal 
ambition, party loyalty, and obedience to the powerful ahead of his 
ideals, and he consequently never achieves any genuine reform.

As the Obama administration unfolds over the next four years, life will 
probably imitate art in many ways.  Like Carcetti, Obama beat the racial 
odds, although unlike Carcetti, Obama comes from a racial group that has 
endured an appalling history of oppression in this country, which 
continues to this day.  Obama?s victory is consequently a watershed in 
American politics, and it should be enthusiastically celebrated for that 
reason alone.

Also like Carcetti, Obama appears to believe sincerely in some sort of 
liberal agenda.  But Obama?s legions of passionate supporters (as well 
as his wild-eyed detractors on the right) expect him to pursue, and not 
merely pay lip-service to, progressive policies.  That would include, 
but not be limited to, delivering on big-ticket items like getting US 
troops out of Iraq, enacting meaningful healthcare reform, pursuing a 
humane course in the Middle East conflict, and reregulating the 
financial markets to prevent a replay of this year?s crisis.

The grim reality, however, is that Obama (like Carcetti) will spend his 
first term campaigning for his second term, a campaign he actually began 
in his acceptance speech in Chicago on election night.   That means he 
will be busily cultivating the political ?center,? just as he did 
throughout this year?s campaign when he voted for the FISA bill, voted 
for continued funding of the occupation of Iraq, voted for the 
disgraceful bank bailout (which economists from left to right condemned 
as a largely useless giveaway of taxpayer money), and delivered to AIPAC 
one of the most obscenely fawning speeches it has ever heard.  If he 
wins a second term, he?ll spend it shoring up the prospects of both the 
Democrats in Congress and his aspiring Democratic successor to the 
throne--again, by cultivating the ?center.?

Obama will undoubtedly be better than Bush was and better than McCain 
would have been, and the differences matter.  But a realistic assessment 
of the scope of those differences is imperative.  Without it, people who 
really care about changing this country?s direction will end up counting 
on one man, Obama, instead of on themselves to bring about the change we 
need.  Those people will inevitably be disappointed.

The Differences Between Democrats and Republicans:  An Illustration

To appreciate the myriad ways in which the struggles between the haves 
and the have-nots play out in the workings of the federal government, 
and to see the limited range of differences between the Democratic and 
Republican approaches to many of those struggles, one needs to look at 
the details of federal statutes and regulations.  A single example will 
suffice.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law that provides for 
a minimum wage and a maximum workday and workweek.  As every wage worker 
knows, the maximum hours limits are enforced by the requirement of 
overtime pay:  An employer has to pay time-and-a-half for any hours 
worked beyond 8 per day or 40 per week.

Like most laws, the FLSA contains several exceptions.  In particular, 
?executive, administrative, and professional? employees are exempt from 
the wage and hour requirements.  The idea is that some white-collar 
workers are already sufficiently well-paid and/or sufficiently elevated 
in management that they don?t need the protection of a federal law.  If 
the CEO of a corporation ends up working 60-hour weeks, that?s his or 
her problem.  The federal government is not going to make the 
corporation pay time-and-a-half for those extra 20 hours.

But whom, exactly, does the exemption cover?  ?Executive? (e.g., 
corporate CEOs and presidents) and ?professional? (e.g., doctors and 
lawyers) are clear enough.  But who are ?administrative? employees?  The 
short answer seems to be that administrative employees are supposed to 
be people who are relatively high up but aren?t exactly ?executives,? 
such as the assistant to the CEO or maybe the head of human resources.

The longer answer is that ?administrative? (like ?executive? and 
?professional?) is defined by a complex set of regulations issued by the 
Secretary of Labor, who is a presidential appointee.  The relevant 
regulations were originally issued in the 1940s and remained essentially 
unchanged until the George W. Bush administration rewrote them.

Here?s how the regulatory definition of ?administrative? worked before 
Bush:  The regulations specified two salary benchmarks, one low and one 
high, and two different tests, one hard and one easy, for who counts as 
an administrative employee.  If you were below the low salary benchmark, 
then you didn?t count as an administrative employee, no matter what kind 
of work you did.  If you were above the high salary benchmark, then you 
counted as an administrative employee if you passed the easy test, which 
consisted of a couple of requirements concerning the kind of work you do 
(e.g., that your work requires ?the exercise of discretion and 
independent judgment?).  And if you were in between the two salary 
benchmarks, then you counted as an administrative employee if you passed 
the hard test, whose requirements were more numerous and demanding than 
the easy test?s.

That sounds like a mess, and it is, but the basic idea is:  If you?re on 
the low end of the pay scale, you?re definitely not an administrative 
employee (and you are entitled to overtime pay).  If you?re in the 
middle of the pay scale, you?re sort of presumed not to be an 
administrative employee (so you still get overtime pay); you?ll only be 
considered an administrative employee if your work meets all of the 
requirements of a very demanding test.  But if you?re on the high end of 
the pay scale, then you?re sort of presumed to be an administrative 
employee (and you don?t get overtime pay); you?ll be considered an 
administrative employee as long as your work meets a small number of 
more easily satisfied requirements.

The catch in this convoluted system is that the salary benchmarks must 
be updated periodically to account for inflation.  Otherwise, eventually 
every office worker will be above the high benchmark and will be 
presumptively treated as an administrative employee, not entitled to 
overtime pay.  Of course, not every white-collar employee will pass the 
easy test--someone who does nothing but word processing or filing, for 
example, will not.  But the big picture is that if more people are 
subject to the easy test instead of the hard test, then more people will 
lose their right to overtime pay.

When George W. Bush took office in January 2001, the salary benchmarks 
had not been updated since the early 1970s, before the Carter 
presidency.  In eight years in the White House, Bill Clinton never 
touched them.  So when Clinton left office, the ?high? benchmark that 
triggered the easy test was still $250 per week, just slightly above 
minimum wage.  ($250 per week is $6.25 per hour for 40 hours.  Minimum 
wage was $5.15 per hour at the end of Clinton?s second term.)  Again, 
what this means is that thanks to Clinton?s inaction, at the end of his 
presidency any white-collar worker making a little over minimum wage was 
treated, under the regulations, as the kind of big-shot administrator 
who is presumptively not entitled to overtime pay.

What did Bush do with all of this?  Made it worse, of course.  He 
eliminated the hard test altogether, but he kept the two-benchmark, 
two-test system.  The way it works now is:  Anyone below the low 
benchmark is not an administrative employee (same as before).  Anyone 
between the low benchmark and the high benchmark is subject to the easy 
test (this is new; the easy test used to apply only to people above the 
high benchmark).  And anyone above the high benchmark is subject to a 
new ultra-easy test.  Those are the basics, but Bush also threw in some 
other new regulations that look suspiciously like giveaways to his 
friends (e.g., special rules that make it easier for financial services 
and insurance companies to classify their employees as administrative, 
and thus to stiff them for overtime).

To show that he?s not completely insensitive to the plight of the 
working class, Bush also updated the salary benchmarks.  The new low 
benchmark is $455 per week, a huge jump from the Clinton-era low 
benchmark of $155 per week, and considerably higher than even the high 
benchmark under Clinton, which was $250 per week.  But just to put that 
in perspective:  At 50 weeks per year, the new low benchmark works out 
to $22,750 annually.  The official poverty line in the US for a family 
of four is $21,200.  So, putting it all together:  Under Bush, if you 
make a hair above poverty wages, then you?re subject to the easy test 
that was designed for (and 60 years ago was reserved for) the well-paid 
employees who presumptively don?t need the protection of federal wage 
and hour laws.

Was Bush worse than Clinton on this issue?  Yes--he eliminated the hard 
test altogether and devised a super-easy test for those above the high 
benchmark.  As inflation erodes those benchmarks over time, everyone 
will end up worse off.  But was Clinton good on this issue?  No, he was 
terrible.  He positively harmed workers by failing to update the 
benchmarks to keep pace with inflation.  In fact, under Clinton more 
workers were subjected to the easy test than under Bush, because 
Clinton?s high benchmark was lower the Bush?s low benchmark.

Finally, this is not an area in which Clinton?s defenders can argue that 
he failed to act because he was hamstrung by a Republican Congress.  The 
modification of the regulations is purely an executive matter; Congress 
isn?t involved.  In addition, no one can say this is just some arcane 
regulatory issue that wasn?t even on the Clinton administration?s radar, 
because it actually was.  When Clinton entered the White House, it had 
long been known that these regulations needed work.  The General 
Accounting Office prepared a report on the regulations, which was 
submitted to the Department of Labor in plenty of time for Clinton to 
act before leaving office.  Instead, he did nothing.

What Next?

Can we reasonably expect Obama to be better than Clinton was, on this or 
any other issue?  Probably not.

Will Obama get tough with Wall Street and reregulate the financial 
markets in the public interest?  Not likely.  Obama?s campaign got more 
money from banking and financial services than McCain?s (which ought to 
give those who call Obama a ?socialist? something to think about).  And 
one of Obama?s chief economic advisers during the campaign was Robert 
Rubin, who as treasury secretary under Clinton was a key supporter of 
financial market deregulation, including Clinton?s repeal of the 
Glass-Steagall Act.  Post-election reports indicate that Lawrence 
Summers, Rubin?s successor at treasury under Clinton, is a frontrunner 
for the same position under Obama.  A campaign bankrolled by Wall Street 
and advised by Rubin, and a Treasury Department headed by Summers, do 
not look like a promising recipe for ?change we need.?

Will Obama give us real healthcare reform?  Not likely.  Any meaningful 
reform of our healthcare system will require standing up to the 
insurance companies and other powerful industry players.  But Obama?s 
campaign got nearly twice as much money from the healthcare industry as 
McCain?s.  It is consequently unsurprising that Obama?s healthcare plan 
leaves our private health insurance system largely untouched, as 
analyses by organizations like Physicians for a National Health Program 
have shown.  Our private system costs far more and delivers far less 
than the public systems used in every other industrialized country, so 
the only reform that makes sense is to replace our private system with a 
public one.  Obama?s proposals don?t do that, and they don?t even 
constitute a significant step in that direction.  The best that can be 
said for Obama?s plan is that, unlike McCain?s, it probably won?t make 
things worse than they already are.  And here too, post-election reports 
are already saying that Obama?s purportedly ambitious healthcare agenda 
is ?likely to be downsized or delayed.?

Will Obama get US troops out of Iraq?  Not likely.  A lot of ink was 
spilled during the campaign analyzing Obama?s various pronouncements on 
this issue, and I have little to add except to highlight two of the more 
telling passages in the voluminous public record.  First, Samantha 
Power, who was one of Obama?s foreign policy advisers until she resigned 
for having called Hillary Clinton a ?monster,? stated in an interview 
with the BBC that Obama?s highly touted withdrawal plans were nothing 
more than a ?best-case scenario.?  She added that once in the White 
House, Obama ?will, of course, not rely on some plan that he?s crafted 
as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator.?

Second, in an interview last summer with Stars & Stripes, Obama was 
asked, ?You?ve talked about a drawdown.  I don?t know how you envision 
the long-term presence in Iraq.  When you talk drawdown, are you talking 
eventually no troops in Iraq, or are you thinking something like Germany 
and Korea??  Obama?s answer is worth quoting in full:

?What I?ve said is that we need a residual force to start with.  So, 
without putting a precise number or a precise time frame, I?ve set a 
series of missions that we?re going to have to continue to perform for a 
decent stretch of time.  We?re going to have to continue to provide 
logistical and intelligence support to the Iraqi military.  We?re going 
to have to continue to provide training to the Iraqi military.  We are 
going to have to continue to protect our diplomatic forces, our 
civilians on the ground in Iraq.  Our embassy, we?ve got to protect. 
And, I believe we?re going to have to continue to have a 
counter-terrorism strike force, if not directly inside of Iraq then 
certainly in the region, that can provide insurance against any 
resurgence of either Al Qaida activity inside of Iraq or serious, 
destabilizing violence inside of Iraq.  Those are all tasks that we?re 
still going to have to perform, and that means a certain number of 
troops.  What those troops would be to accomplish those missions, I 
would leave up to the commanders, or I would at least consult closely 
with commanders in order to achieve the goals.?

I realize that statements like these should not be taken too seriously. 
  Like any politician in the middle of a hard-fought campaign, Obama may 
have just been saying what he felt he needed to say to a particular 
constituency to pick up a few more votes, and it might prove nothing 
about what he will actually do in office.  But it does display the kind 
of rhetoric he knows is available to justify continuing the occupation 
under another name (?training,? ?logistical and intelligence support,? 
?counter-terrorism strike force,? etc.).  It?s not clear from his answer 
that he?s committed to bringing a single US soldier home from Iraq.

Will Obama follow a humane course in the Middle East conflict?  Again, 
not likely.  Putting aside the AIPAC speech, all indications are that 
Obama?s Middle East policy will be more of the same.  Bill Clinton was 
the most pro-Israel president in history until Bush Jr. outdid him, and 
Obama?s foreign policy team includes Clinton?s secretary of state 
Madeleine Albright and Clinton?s top Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross. 
  During Israel?s massive assault on the civilian population of southern 
Lebanon in the summer of 2006, Obama was one of 61 cosponsors (including 
Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and liberal icons like Barbara Boxer and Ted 
Kennedy) of a Senate resolution expressing ?steadfast support for the 
State of Israel? and supporting ?Israel?s right of self-defense.? 
Moreover, as a black man, an alleged Muslim, a known associate of former 
terrorists, and so on, Obama will presumably feel more than the average 
amount of political pressure to demonstrate unequivocally that he is a 
good ?friend of Israel,? just as Democratic politicians like Bill 
Clinton have so often supported reactionary ?law and order? policies 
(like Clinton?s so-called Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act) 
to try to prove they?re not ?soft on crime.?

All told, the outlook for a new day in America is poor.  The bottom line 
is this:  When you think Barack Obama, think Tommy Carcetti.  He 
probably has a good heart, but he is confronting a vast array of 
institutional forces aimed at preventing him or anyone else in power 
from doing the right thing.  To have any chance of getting the results 
we want out of his administration, we cannot just sit back and expect 
him to work his magic.  We must organize, agitate, and pursue 
independent initiatives (like ballot measures) to get what we want (like 
single-payer healthcare) at the state level.  And we must carefully 
scrutinize Obama?s every move and harass and harangue him relentlessly 
just as if he were John McCain or George Bush.  From the point of view 
of every American left of center, the principal advantage of Obama over 
McCain is that it is at least possible that he will listen to us.  We 
cannot let that advantage go to waste.

Frank J. Menetrez received his PhD in philosophy and JD from UCLA. He 
can be reached at frankmenetrez at yahoo.com.


From cpimllib at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:42:55 2008
From: cpimllib at gmail.com (CPIML Liberation)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 21:12:55 +0530
Subject: [Marxism] ML Update Vol. 11 No. 45 Oct 04 - Nov 10
In-Reply-To: <df738ddb0811060233k389397c7s66f90ab2697cb179@mail.gmail.com>
References: <df738ddb0811060233k389397c7s66f90ab2697cb179@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <df738ddb0811060742k256c7839vbb49d3bea32f830@mail.gmail.com>

ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol.  11    No. 45   04 - 10 NOVEMBER 2008



 *
To Weather the Crisis India Must Reverse Economic Policies*


The brave official rhetoric of India remaining insulated from the 'made in
USA' economic crisis has now officially given way to a measured discourse of
caution. On November 3, in a meeting with top corporate heads Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh described the crisis as 'unprecedented' and cautioned that
the global downturn triggered by the US financial crisis would prove to be
'more severe and prolonged' than expected earlier. He also talked about the
need to minimize the impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and
appealed to corporate heads to avoid any 'knee-jerk reaction'. A group of
ministers has been set up to monitor the 'abnormal situation' on a daily
basis and a former chief economist of the IMF, Raghuram G Rajan has been
named as a special economic adviser for the government.

The Prime Minister's appeal to avoid large-scale lay-offs came in the wake
of an ASSOCHAM assessment that the corporate survival strategy would entail
an across-the-board 25% layoff in India. On the eve of Diwali ? the much
celebrated festival of lights ? India's biggest private airline carrier Jet
Airways had in fact announced retrenchment of 1900 employees, a decision
which was withdrawn after two days following widespread protests. The public
sector aviation unit is also reportedly toying with the idea of a different
kind of lay-off, giving its staff an 'option' to go on leave-without-pay for
five years! The PM is obviously bothered only about the political fallout of
large-scale lay-offs, in the same breath he also emphasized the need to make
every effort 'to cut costs and raise productivity'.

One could compare Manmohan Singh's appeal to corporate honchos to avoid
'knee-jerk reaction' to his remark at the recent meeting of the National
Integration Council where he famously said, "Any impression that any
community, or sections amongst them, are being targeted, or that some kind
of profiling is being attempted should be avoided." Large-scale lay-offs
should be avoided because they might unleash 'a negative spiral', the
impression of anti-Muslim witch-hunt should be avoided for "it could lead to
a major polarization of society." For Manmohan Singh and company,
crisis-management is essentially an exercise in managing 'impression', while
continuing with the very policies that generate such 'impression'. Such an
approach is obviously no match for a crisis of 'unprecedented' proportions,
if anything it can only contribute to an exacerbation of the crisis.

In the homeland of the financial upheaval, realisation has started sinking
in that the present turmoil is not just a cyclical storm that can be
weathered by some routine corrective measures. The unprecedented economic
crisis is accompanied by a matching crisis of US foreign policy, with the
US-led global war having lost its way in the rough terrain of Iraq and
Afghanistan. Even an ardent ideologue of US supremacy like Francis Fukuyama
who had described the fall of USSR as the 'end of history' has characterized
the present juncture as the fall of America, Inc on both economic and
political planes. The Great Depression of 1929 had been limited to the
economic sphere while on the political plane the stars of America were
steadily rising. This time round, the crisis is much more comprehensive,
encompassing the very basis of US supremacy.

Manmohan Singh has already subjected India to a strategic partnership with
the US and would like us to believe that the present crisis can be weathered
just by administering heavier doses of American medicine. The appointment of
a former chief economist of IMF as honorary economic adviser is an
indication of this direction. Raghuram Raman has already presented a roadmap
for further liberalization of India's financial sector, and in his new
capacity as economic adviser to the Prime Minister, he will certainly try to
push the Indian economy in that direction. But it is precisely the
'incompleteness' of India's financial integration with the global network of
speculative finance which has to an extent saved Indian banks and other
financial institutions from the kind of crisis that has spelled the doom for
US banks and investment and insurance companies.

The economic model of the Indian ruling classes relies heavily on the
foreign factor while systematically undermining the potential for
self-reliant development and domestic economic growth. It is this foreign
factor which has now exposed India to such uncertainty and recession. The
flight of foreign capital has triggered a stampede in the share market, and
Sensex has nosedived from the peak of 20,000 to the 10,000 mark. Even as the
once dominant dollar has been badly bruised in the meltdown, the rupee has
depreciated sharply vis-?-vis dollar. Textbook economics tells us that such
a devaluation of the domestic currency can promote exports but Indian
exports are declining in the face of global recession! And export-oriented
employment whether in low-paid sectors like textile and gems and jewellery
or the 'lucrative' BPO backrooms of foreign corporations has already become
a direct casualty.

Yet the crisis-management measures of Team Manmohan revolve around boosting
external confidence ? FDI cap in insurance sector has been raised to 49% and
commerce minister Kamal Nath keeps talking of more sops for foreign capital.
This is the surest way of courting disaster and not saving the country from
the crisis. The 'Titanic' of neo-liberalism and US hegemony is sinking,
India must leave this sinking ship and seek safety on the shores of economic
self-reliance and foreign policy independence. That of course calls for
ousting the Indian compradors from the helm of economic and political power
in India.


*Statewide protests by CPI(ML) in UP Against Targeting of North Indians in
Maharashtra*

Statewide protests and effigy burning of Vilasrao Deshmukh Govt of
Maharashtra were held in Uttar Pradesh on 31st October. Party units of
various districts also sent memorandums to the President of India urging her
to ensure urgent steps to ban the MNS and Shiv Sena and immediately stop the
violence on North Indians in Maharashtra in which two doctor brothers from
Jaunpur, Ramdas from Bhadohi, Jaymangal of Bikapur (Faizabd), Dharmadeo Rai
of Sant Kabir Nagar and many innocent youths from Bihar have lost lives at
the murderous campaign of MNS-Shiv Sena being silently watched by the
Maharashtra Administration. Besides, thousands have had to flee to escape a
threat on their lives leaving behind their livelihood.

In Lucknow CPI(ML) members shouted slogans against the Centre's UPA and
Maharashtra's Congress-NCP Government and burnt the effigy of Vilashrao
Deshmukh Govt. in front of the UP State Assembly. The protestors held these
governments responsible of being silently supporting the acts of MNS and
Shiv Sena.

The protest demonstrations and effigy burning was also witnessed in Urai
(Jalaun), Akbarpur (Ambedkar Nagar), Sonbhadra, Gonda, Deoria, Ghazipur,
Mirzapur, Mradabad, apart from various other districts. In Mughalsarai
bicycle rally was taken out and in Allahabad a two minute silence was
observed in a protest meeting in the memory of those who lost lives in
Maharashtra in the attacks by MNS and Mumbai Police.

*
Targeting of Muslims and Human Rights Activists is Rampant In Mayawati's
Regime*



Nur-ul-Hasan, age 62, resident of Kashimabad block of Ghazipur in Uttar
Pradesh is a retired employee of UP State Roadways. He had gone to Lucknow
on 24th October for getting his documents updated required for going on a
Haj. As soon as he landed in Lucknow he was virtually kidnapped by the UP
Special Task Force (STF) from the bus stand itself and was taken to some
house where he was tied to a pole and tortured for two days. His beard was
pulled and tortured in various ways. After activists of People's Union for
Human Rights (PUHR) were picked up from Lucknow, he is one of the latest
victims of UP STF who hunt for signs of terrorists in anyone who sports a
beard and a white cap. The STF repeatedly asked him same nonsense question ?
"What is your relationship with Azamgarh, Sraimeer and Sanjarpur? Which
relatives of your stay there and what do they do?" Though he answered these
questions he's so terrified that he's now asking these questions to himself!

When, even after three days of bashing did not produce result as might have
been desired by the STF, he was thrown at a roadside with the warning that
he should not reveal his trail of horror to anyone. Later, a roadways
employee only who knew Nur-ul-Hasan got him admitted to Fatima Hospital of
Mau. But even the Hospital discharged him within two days and all of a
sudden. As of now he has filed a case in Ghazipur but apart from a few Urdu
dailies and Dainik Hindustan other media houses did not deem this incident
fit enough to be carried or publicised.

This is the third incident within a day ? October 24th ? of virtually
abducting people and torturing them. Shahnawaz Alam, Rajeev Yadav and
Lakshman Prasad associated with PUHR are still on the target of the STF.
Their phones are being tapped and in Mayawati's regime minority religious
communities and those who take the sides of truth are persecuted by the
security forces. Same day, the STF had tried to abduct two young boys from
Kaifiyat Express bound for Delhi from Azamgarh. These boys could be rescued
due to the intervention by PUHR activists. Gradually incidents related to
STF excesses are emerging as if coming out of a Pandora's box.

In a press statement released in Lucknow, the CPI(ML) has strongly condemned
these blatant incidents and the incident of picking up two young men of PUHR
from Utsarg Express. When the STF could not find anything incriminating
against them they were framed under false charges of forgery and sent to
jails in orders to hide STF's own incompetence and for face saving instead
of releasing them. Com. Sudhakar Yadav, UP Party Secretary said that by
terrifying innocent people through security forces acting in the name of
terrorism, the Mayawati Govt. is trying to establish a rule of terror, while
on the other hand those like VHP and Bajrang Dal whose hand in terror blasts
have been proved with concrete evidence are being let loose. The Party has
demanded a high level enquiry in the incident of framing the youth from
Azamgarh.



*Against Harassment of Workers in Uttarakhand*

 The CIMAP (Central Institute for Medicinal & Aromatic Plants) Theka Mazdoor
Union affiliated to the All India Central Councils of Trade Unions (AICCTU)
has declared that it is launching indefinite hunger strike beginning 5
November against the constant oppression and harassment of the workers. For
last two years the CIMAP management has constantly employed feudal methods
to oppress the contractual labourers in violation of all labour laws. After
the workers formed their Union the illegitimate forms of pressurising them
has increased so that they can be coerced into giving up their due and just
demands. However, all the workers are firmly united to face this. As a
consequence to this the Management did not take back all the workers when
they reported for work on 3rd November. The Management has threatened that
they will not be accepted till they backoff form conciliation proceedings
going on at Labour Office (Central ARLC). Although everyone knows that
uttering this openly amounts to blatant violation of the law but the
Management is doing it. AICCTU has made it clear that this is violation of
rule 33 and 9A of the ID Act and stern action must be initiated against the
Management for this violation.


* CPI(ML) in Assembly Elections*
;

CPI(ML) is fielding its candidates in about twenty five constituencies in
four states where polls are due in November-December. In Rajasthan Party has
fielded candidates in Surajgarh, Jhunjhunu, Jhotwara, Vidyadharnagar, Ajmer
North, Ajmer (SC), Udaipur, Salumber (ST), Pratapgarh (ST), and Dhariawat
(ST). While in Madhya Pradesh Party will contest in Ater (Bhind), Gwalior
(South), Dabra (SC) and Bhitarwar. In NCT of Delhi, it will contest on one
seat in Narela. In Chhattisgarh we are finally contesting six
constituencies: Bhilai Nagar, Vaishali Nagar and Durg Grameen (all in Durg),
Jagdalpur (Bastar), Masturi (Bilaspur) and Dharsiwa (Raipur}.



*Corrigendum*

In the last issue of ML update, in the piece titled, Sangh Link in Terror
Laid Bare, the following lines need to be deleted, since they mistakenly
suggest that the Sadhvi Pragya was arrested for the September 2006 blasts
and not the 2008 blasts in Malegaon.

"This said, it is also important to ask why the above facts were kept hidden
from u2s for the past two years... Now, we are told that the motorbike used
in the September 29 Malegaon bomb blasts was registered in Pragya's name,
and this led to her arrest. Are we to believe that the police took two years
to find out the registration details of a bike involved in the blasts? The
same police that just have to take one look at a bomb site to tell us
confidently the exact nationality and organisational affiliation of the
perpetrators?"

Also a subsequent sentence should read:

"Is it not possible that it was Bajrang Dal activists after all and not SIMI
men who were responsible for the Malegaon blasts of 2006? If so, who will
restore freedom, and apologise for character assassination and torture, to
those who for the past two years have been blamed for blasts they perhaps
did not do?"

We regret the mistake.


*Lie Detector Test is a Big Lie, Admit Experts*

Stop intrusive narco-analysis tests that amount to torture. If
narco-analysis is nothing but fantasy, why are people subjected to it,
though it violates the basic human right tenet that no one can be asked to
testify against him/herself?

In the face of several MPs demanding that Members of Parliament named in the
cash-for-votes scandal along with other characters be put through
narco-analysis, the Lok Sabha Committee, headed by Kishore Chandra Deo, has
submitted two notes on the subject along with its draft report. Their key
conclusion: it's by no means reliable evidence.

These form part of the voluminous annexures of the report, yet to be
circulated to members of the committee. The note on admissibility of
narco-analysis as legal evidence states that while inhibitions of people
undergoing the test are "generally reduced, people under the influence of
what is called the truth serum are still able to lie and even tend to
fantasize." The narco-analysis test conducted by the CBI on Krishna, a
suspect in the Arushi Talwar murder case, finds specific mention with a word
of caution that "the legality of such an intrusive test remains under
question, particularly in the absence of any specific provision under
existing law to regulate it."

The peer-review Committee, headed by D Nagaraja, Director of National
Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore has
stated that their review "suggests sub-optimal scientific basis for them
(brain-mapping tests) to be used as evidence in court of law. Hence, they
cannot be used in the court of law." He said that the report had been
submitted to the Home Ministry in May and that he had been approached by the
Lok Sabha Secretariat to give them a copy of his findings.

Narco analysis and brain mapping are unreliable and obsolete forms of
investigative aids, said P Chandra Sekharan, founder president of Forensics
Science Society of India. He said he would soon submit a report to the law
commission chairman in this regard. Some years ago, the Tamil Nadu
government had sanctioned funds to start a narco analysis facility in the
state. It was scrapped after he submitted a detailed report stating it was
not reliable. "The government had sanctioned nearly Rs three crore for the
project. Now the police is pressuring the forensic department to start the
tests," he said.

Sekharan said that though the tests were being used in some famous cases
including the Telgi stamp scam case, they were unscientific. In European
countries, such methods have been weeded out. In India, methods like lie
detection were introduced as late as in 2003. "I have taken the opinion of
world famous psychiatrists on the reliability of such tests. The report will
be submitted to the law commission chairman along with all these opinions.
Such tests are also a violation of human rights," he said.





MAKE

3rd National Conference of

All India Agricultural Labourers' Association (AIALA)

7-8 Nov, 2008

 Ballia, Uttar Pradesh

A GRAND SUCCESS



Implement thorough-going land reforms in favour of toiling peasants and
sharecroppers on the principle of land to the tiller, lower the land
ceiling, and provide as least 10 decimals of homestead land and 1 acre of
agricultural land to all landless poor families. Give all the poor a home
grant of 1 lakh rupees. Increase agricultural wages substantially in keeping
with the rate of inflation.

Announce 200 days of employment per year to two members of each family per
year and daily wages of Rs. 200 under NREGA. Guarantee work under NREGA or
make unemployment allowance mandatory. Introduce provisions to punish
officials and employees who violate NREGA. Decide the NREGA budgetary
allocation based on the number of job-card holders. Reduce the number of
work hours for women, provide all the mandated facilities at the worksite,
and end the faulty measurement-based proare paid less wages for the same
labour.

Ensure the names of all the poor in the BPL list and provide 50 kg grains
and 5 litres kerosene at the rate of Rs. 2 per kg/litre to all the poor.
Include the Right to Food as a legal right in the Indian Constitution. Make
provisions to hold the DM responsible for hunger deaths.

Provide free education on par with the best standards for the children of
all poor families and agricultural labourers, and provide mandatory
scholarships to all poor children. Stop the privatisation of health services
and guarantee health care for the poor.

Provide roads, electricity and water in all the poor villages and hamlets.
Free all the political prisoners who have jailed for struggling for the
social, economic and political rights of dalits, adivasis, workers and
peasants. Take stern action against the criminals, feudal forces, police and
army jawans who repress and oppress the poor, dalits, adivasis and women.

Make thoroughgoing improvements in the living conditions of the agricultural
labourers and rural poor of India, and enact a central law to protect their
economic, social and political rights.




________________________________

 Phone:22521067; fax: 22518248, e-mail: mlupdate at cpiml.org,
cpimllib at gmail.com  website: www.cpiml.org

________________________________

From cpimllib at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 08:56:42 2008
From: cpimllib at gmail.com (CPIML Liberation)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 21:26:42 +0530
Subject: [Marxism] ML Update Edtrial: To Weather the Crisis India Must
	Reverse Economic Policies
In-Reply-To: <df738ddb0811060755g72844f03n74eb794b71a223da@mail.gmail.com>
References: <df738ddb0811060755g72844f03n74eb794b71a223da@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <df738ddb0811060756r5dd58a9et21d91dc50c2a9b4f@mail.gmail.com>

Editorial
ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly Magazine
Vol. 11 , No. 45, Nov 04-10, 2008


 *To Weather the Crisis India Must Reverse Economic Policies *

The brave official rhetoric of India remaining insulated from the 'made in
USA' economic crisis has now officially given way to a measured discourse of
caution. On November 3, in a meeting with top corporate heads Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh described the crisis as 'unprecedented' and cautioned that
the global downturn triggered by the US financial crisis would prove to be
'more severe and prolonged' than expected earlier. He also talked about the
need to minimize the impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and
appealed to corporate heads to avoid any 'knee-jerk reaction'. A group of
ministers has been set up to monitor the 'abnormal situation' on a daily
basis and a former chief economist of the IMF, Raghuram G Rajan has been
named as a special economic adviser for the government.

The Prime Minister's appeal to avoid large-scale lay-offs came in the wake
of an ASSOCHAM assessment that the corporate survival strategy would entail
an across-the-board 25% layoff in India. On the eve of Diwali ? the much
celebrated festival of lights ? India's biggest private airline carrier Jet
Airways had in fact announced retrenchment of 1900 employees, a decision
which was withdrawn after two days following widespread protests. The public
sector aviation unit is also reportedly toying with the idea of a different
kind of lay-off, giving its staff an 'option' to go on leave-without-pay for
five years! The PM is obviously bothered only about the political fallout of
large-scale lay-offs, in the same breath he also emphasized the need to make
every effort 'to cut costs and raise productivity'.

One could compare Manmohan Singh's appeal to corporate honchos to avoid
'knee-jerk reaction' to his remark at the recent meeting of the National
Integration Council where he famously said, "Any impression that any
community, or sections amongst them, are being targeted, or that some kind
of profiling is being attempted should be avoided." Large-scale lay-offs
should be avoided because they might unleash 'a negative spiral', the
impression of anti-Muslim witch-hunt should be avoided for "it could lead to
a major polarization of society." For Manmohan Singh and company,
crisis-management is essentially an exercise in managing 'impression', while
continuing with the very policies that generate such 'impression'. Such an
approach is obviously no match for a crisis of 'unprecedented' proportions,
if anything it can only contribute to an exacerbation of the crisis.

In the homeland of the financial upheaval, realisation has started sinking
in that the present turmoil is not just a cyclical storm that can be
weathered by some routine corrective measures. The unprecedented economic
crisis is accompanied by a matching crisis of US foreign policy, with the
US-led global war having lost its way in the rough terrain of Iraq and
Afghanistan. Even an ardent ideologue of US supremacy like Francis Fukuyama
who had described the fall of USSR as the 'end of history' has characterized
the present juncture as the fall of America, Inc on both economic and
political planes. The Great Depression of 1929 had been limited to the
economic sphere while on the political plane the stars of America were
steadily rising. This time round, the crisis is much more comprehensive,
encompassing the very basis of US supremacy.

Manmohan Singh has already subjected India to a strategic partnership with
the US and would like us to believe that the present crisis can be weathered
just by administering heavier doses of American medicine. The appointment of
a former chief economist of IMF as honorary economic adviser is an
indication of this direction. Raghuram Raman has already presented a roadmap
for further liberalization of India's financial sector, and in his new
capacity as economic adviser to the Prime Minister, he will certainly try to
push the Indian economy in that direction. But it is precisely the
'incompleteness' of India's financial integration with the global network of
speculative finance which has to an extent saved Indian banks and other
financial institutions from the kind of crisis that has spelled the doom for
US banks and investment and insurance companies.

The economic model of the Indian ruling classes relies heavily on the
foreign factor while systematically undermining the potential for
self-reliant development and domestic economic growth. It is this foreign
factor which has now exposed India to such uncertainty and recession. The
flight of foreign capital has triggered a stampede in the share market, and
Sensex has nosedived from the peak of 20,000 to the 10,000 mark. Even as the
once dominant dollar has been badly bruised in the meltdown, the rupee has
depreciated sharply vis-?-vis dollar. Textbook economics tells us that such
a devaluation of the domestic currency can promote exports but Indian
exports are declining in the face of global recession! And export-oriented
employment whether in low-paid sectors like textile and gems and jewellery
or the 'lucrative' BPO backrooms of foreign corporations has already become
a direct casualty.

Yet the crisis-management measures of Team Manmohan revolve around boosting
external confidence ? FDI cap in insurance sector has been raised to 49% and
commerce minister Kamal Nath keeps talking of more sops for foreign capital.
This is the surest way of courting disaster and not saving the country from
the crisis. The 'Titanic' of neo-liberalism and US hegemony is sinking,
India must leave this sinking ship and seek safety on the shores of economic
self-reliance and foreign policy independence. That of course calls for
ousting the Indian compradors from the helm of economic and political power
in India.

From lnp3 at panix.com  Thu Nov  6 09:08:13 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:08:13 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] The American void
Message-ID: <4913166D.2090601@panix.com>

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/11/0082235

The American void
By Simon Critchley

(From remarks delivered at the American Political Science Association in 
Boston on August 30 and at the New School in New York City on September 
18. Critchley is the chair of philosophy at the New School. Critchley?s 
most recent work, The Book of Dead Philosophers, is forthcoming from 
Vintage.)

There is something desperately lonely about Barack Obama?s universe. One 
gets the overwhelming sense of someone yearning for connection, for 
something that binds human beings together, for community and 
commonality, for what he repeatedly calls ?the common good.? Of course, 
this is hardly news. We?ve known since his keynote speech at the 2004 
Democratic National Convention that ?there?s not a black America and a 
white America and Latino America and Asian America?there?s the United 
States of America.? Obama?s remedy to the widespread disillusion with 
politics in the U.S. is a reaffirmation of the act of union. This is 
possible only insofar as we restore a sense of community to the nation. 
That, in turn, requires a belief in the common good. In the face of 
grotesque inequality, governmental sleaze, and generalized anomie, we 
need ?to affirm our bonds with one another.? Belief in the common good 
is the sole basis for hope. Without belief, there is nothing to be done. 
Such is the avowedly improbable basis for Obama?s entire push for the 
presidency.

The obvious criticism one could make is that Obama?s politics is 
governed by an anti-political fantasy. It lies behind the appeal to the 
common good, that ?no one is exempt from the call to find common 
ground?; or ?not so far beneath the surface, I think, we are becoming 
more, not less, alike.? This, one might claim, is the familiar delusion 
of an end to politics, the postulation of a state where we can put aside 
our differences, overcome partisanship, and come together in order to 
heal the nation. The same longing for unity governs Obama?s discourse on 
race, with his call for a black-brown alliance and his appeasing remark 
that ?rightly or wrongly, white guilt has largely exhausted itself.? 
Obama dreams of a society without power relations, without the agonism 
that constitutes political life. Against such a position one might 
assert that justice is always an agon, a conflict, and to refuse this 
assertion is to consign human beings to wallow in some emotional, 
fusional balm. One might add that the source of this longing for union 
is its absence. We anxiously want to believe, because we don?t and we 
can?t. The yearning for the common good comes from the refusal to accept 
that perhaps Americans have very little in common apart from the 
elements of a sometimes successful civil religion based around a 
sentimental, indeed sometimes teary-eyed, attachment to the Constitution 
and a belief in the quasi-divine wisdom of the Founding Fathers.

In the face of George W. Bush?s ultra-political presidency?his massive 
extension of executive power and his prosecution of a politics of fear 
based on the identification of an enemy as morally evil?it is not 
difficult to understand the popularity of Obama?s anti-political vision. 
Against the messianic certainties of Bush II, Obama promises a return to 
a beatific liberalism whereby everything is seen sub specie consensus. 
This is a world where good old democratic deliberation replaces 
decisionism and where the to and fro of civil conversation replaces 
religious absolutism. Democracy is not a house to be built but ?a 
conversation to be had.? After eight disastrous years of gross 
mismanagement, secrecy, and lies, it sounds like an absolutely blissful 
prospect.

Of course, one might wonder how Obama?s evacuation of power relations in 
the political realm goes together with his faith in the agon of 
capitalism, competition, and the salutary effects of free markets. One 
might also wonder how such a political position might genuinely begin to 
deal with poverty. But I don?t want to go down the route of the classic 
critique of liberalism, according to which politics is evacuated in 
favor of the bifurcation of ethics, on the one hand, and economics, on 
the other, and the former is the veil of hypocrisy used to conceal the 
violence of the latter. I do not even want to propose a critique of 
Obama. Rather, I?d like to describe a puzzlement that I don?t think I am 
the only one to experience. What fascinates me is what we might call 
Obama?s subjectivity and how it forms his political vision and how this 
might begin to explain his extraordinary popular appeal.

After watching countless speeches and carefully reading his words, I 
have absolutely no sense of who Barack Obama is. It?s very odd. The more 
one listens and reads, the greater the sense of opacity. Take The 
Audacity of Hope: there is an easy, informal, and relaxed style to 
Obama?s prose. He talks about going to the gym, ordering a cheeseburger, 
planning his daughter?s birthday party, and all the rest. He mixes 
position statements and general policy outlines with autobiographical 
narrative in a compelling and fluent way. Yet I found myself repeatedly 
asking: Who is this man? I don?t mean anything sinister by this. It is 
just that I was overcome by a sense of distance in reading Obama, and 
the more sincere the prose, the greater distance I felt. He confesses 
early on that he is not someone who easily gets worked up about things. 
But sometimes I rather wish he would. Anger is the emotion that produces 
motion, the mood that moves the subject to act. Perhaps it is the first 
political emotion.

At the core of The Audacity of Hope is someone who lives at a distance, 
someone distanced from himself and from others and craving a bond, a 
commitment to bind him together with other Americans and to bind 
Americans together. There is a true horror vacui in Obama, a terror of 
loneliness and nothingness. He yearns for an unconditional commitment 
that will shape his subjectivity and fill the vacuum. He desires contact 
with some plenitude, an experience of fullness that might still his 
sense of loneliness, fill his isolation, silence his endless doubt, and 
assuage his feelings of abandonment. He seems to find this in 
Christianity, to which I will turn shortly.

But perhaps this opacity is Obama?s political genius: that it is 
precisely the enigmatic, inert character of Obama that seems to generate 
the desire to identify with him, indeed to love him. Perhaps it is that 
sense of internal distance that people see in him and in themselves. 
Obama recognizes this capacity in an intriguing and profound remark when 
he writes, ?I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly 
different political stripes project their own views.? He is a mirror 
that reflects back whatever the viewer wants to see. Somehow our 
loneliness and doubt become focused and fused with his. Obama?s desire 
for union with a common good becomes unified with ours. For that moment, 
and maybe only for that moment, we believe, we hope. It is a strangely 
restrained ecstasy, but an ecstasy nonetheless.

The occasional lyricism of Obama?s prose is possessed of a great beauty. 
His doubts about being a father and a husband in the final chapter of 
The Audacity of Hope are touching and honest. And when he finishes the 
book, like a young Rousseau, by saying that ?my heart is filled with 
love for this country,? I don?t detect any cynicism. Yet Obama writes 
and speaks with an anthropologist?s eye, with the sense that he is not a 
participant in the world with which he so wants to commune. Experience 
is always had and held at a distance.

The passage in The Audacity of Hope that both focuses this sense of 
distance and complicates the problem I want to address is the death of 
his mother from cancer at the age of fifty-two, when Obama was 
thirty-four. He writes, for once, in a flare of directly felt intensity:

"More than once I saw fear flash across her eyes. More than fear of pain 
or fear of the unknown, it was the sheer loneliness of death that 
frightened her, I think?the notion that on this final journey, on this 
last adventure, she would have no one to fully share her experiences 
with, no one who could marvel with her at the body?s capacity to inflict 
pain on itself, or laugh at the stark absurdity of life once one?s hair 
starts falling out and one?s salivary glands shut down."

His mother was an anthropologist. She died as an anthropologist, with a 
feeling of distance from others and an inability to commune with them 
and to communicate her pain. Perhaps this is the root of Obama?s horror 
vacui. But to understand this, we have to turn to his discussion of 
religion.

Why do we need religion? Obama recognizes that people turn to religion 
because they want ?a narrative arc to their lives, something that will 
relieve a chronic loneliness or lift them above the exhausting, 
relentless toil of daily life.? The alternative is clear: nihilism. The 
latter means ?to travel down a long highway toward nothingness.? 
Religion satisfies the need for a fullness to experience, a 
transcendence that fills the void. Obama?s path to Christianity plays 
out against the background of his anthropologist mother?s respectful 
distance from religion.

Like many of us, Obama initially looks to what he calls ?political 
philosophy? for help. He wants confirmation of the values he inherited 
from his mother (honesty, empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, 
and hard work) and a way to transform them into systems of action that 
?could help build community and make justice real.? Unsurprisingly, 
perhaps, also like many of us, he doesn?t find the answer in political 
philosophy but only by confronting a dilemma that his mother never 
resolved. He writes:

"The Christians with whom I worked recognized themselves in me; they saw 
that I knew their Book and shared their values and sang their songs. But 
they sensed that part of me remained removed, detached, an observer 
among them. I came to realize that without a vessel for my beliefs, 
without an unequivocal commitment to a particular community of faith, I 
would be consigned at some level to remain apart, free in the way that 
my mother was free, but also alone in the same ways that she was 
ultimately alone."

Freedom, for Obama, is the negative freedom from commitment that left 
his mother feeling detached and alone, a solitude that culminated in her 
death. Such is the freedom of the void. Being anthropologically 
respectful of all faiths means being committed to none and being left to 
drift without an anchor for one?s most deeply held beliefs. To have such 
an anchor means being committed to a specific community. The only way 
Obama can overcome his sense of detachment and resolve his mother?s 
dilemma is through a commitment to Christianity. More specifically, it 
is only through a commitment to the historically black church that Obama 
can find that sense of grounding and fullness. It culminates in his 
joining Trinity United Church of Christ under Pastor Jeremiah Wright on 
Chicago?s South Side. Whatever one makes of it, the absolute centrality 
of black American Christianity in the arc of Obama?s narrative is what 
makes his fractious relationship with Pastor Wright so important and 
intriguing. Ultimately, everything turns here on the relation between 
the prophetic word (Wright?s ?God damn America?) and the activity of 
government (?My heart is filled with love for this country?).

What is certain about Obama?s commitment to Christianity is that it is a 
choice, a clear-minded rational choice, and not a conversion experience 
based on any personal revelation. He insists that ?religious commitment 
did not require me to suspend critical thinking. . . . It came about as 
a choice and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically 
disappear.? Although he goes on to add that ?I felt God?s spirit 
beckoning me,? it is the coolest, most detached experience of religious 
commitment, without any trace of epiphanic transport and rapture. I 
can?t help but feel that Obama?s faith craves an experience of communion 
that is contradicted by the detachment and distance he is seeking to 
overcome. For example, when he is unsure what to tell his daughter about 
the question of death, he says, ?I wondered whether I should have told 
her the truth, that I wasn?t sure what happens when we die, any more 
than I was sure where the soul resides or what existed before the Big Bang.?

Such skepticism about matters metaphysical is understandable enough and 
has a fine philosophical ancestry. But where does it leave us and where 
does it leave the question of belief, the cornerstone of Obama?s entire 
presidential campaign? We come back to where we started, with the common 
good. Obama wants to believe in the common good as a way of providing a 
fullness to experience that avoids the slide into nihilism. But 
sometimes I don?t know if he knows what belief is and what it would be 
to hold such a belief. It all seems so distant and opaque. The 
persistent presence of the mother?s dilemma?the sense of loneliness, 
doubt, and abandonment?seems palpable and ineliminable. We must believe, 
but we can?t believe. Perhaps this is the tragedy that some of us see in 
Obama: a change we can believe in and the crushing realization that 
nothing will change.


From mikedf at amnh.org  Thu Nov  6 09:05:22 2008
From: mikedf at amnh.org (Mike Friedman)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:05:22 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism]  NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
In-Reply-To: <mailman.32406.1225945483.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
References: <mailman.32406.1225945483.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Message-ID: <49293.146.96.22.49.1225987522.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>

race baiting's got no place on this list

> Message: 9
> Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:29:28 -0500
> From: "Charles Brown" <charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
> Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
> To: <marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>
> Message-ID: <4911D7F9.84C9.00BF.0 at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
>
> S. Artesian
>
> Thought it was DL Hughly, and no I don't watch it.  If he said the same
> thing, well great minds think alike.
>
> I would like to ask, however, for a halt to all this hallelujah
> sentimentality re the Obama victory.
>
> I half expect somebody on the list to break into a  chorus of  "We Shall
> Overcome," to be followed by "God Bless America."
>
> ^^^^
> CB:  Hey maybe you could sing a little of "Jim Crow" to put a damper on
> "Yes we can !"




From mikedf at amnh.org  Thu Nov  6 09:14:26 2008
From: mikedf at amnh.org (Mike Friedman)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:14:26 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism] Forum on post election: What must we do with a new
 president in the White House?
In-Reply-To: <mailman.32486.1225986686.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
References: <mailman.32486.1225986686.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Message-ID: <49344.146.96.22.49.1225988066.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>

-----Original Message-----
From: brenda stokely [mailto:stokelybrenda at yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 9:35 AM

Post Election Forum

A New Era of Struggle

Saturday 8 November, 2008

9am to 5pm

--FREE to All--

At CUNY Murphy Labor Institute

25 W. 43rd Street --18th Floor

Manhattan (D, F, B Trains to 42nd St)

Barack Obama is the winner! And yet there is still a lot of work to do for
our communities.

We have entered a New Era of Struggle!
After an historical presidential election; The global Capitalist financial
crisis, riddled with ripoffs and Governmental Bailout; State & municipal
governmental budget cuts, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of
thousands of job layoffs; Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustave and other
signs of racist incompetency and Global Warming; The Jena 6 racist
attacks; hundreds of thousands of  housing foreclosures; rising Police
terror within Black & Latino communities; Our persistent Youth violence; a
 toxic profit-driven Health Care system; and a public mis-educational
system steering our children into prisons or low end jobs...

What must we do with a new president in the White House?
How can we bring change that will benefit our communities?

3:30-5PM NYC Peoples Convention2009 Planning Meeting
------------------------------ -------------

9am to 10am- Registration

10am to 3:30pm -- Introductory Remarks & Panels

Sista Suheir Hammad- Poetic Tribute to Our Continued struggle

10am -11:30am-- Local/Regional: Councilmember Charles Barron;
Assemblymember-elect Inez Barron; Nellie Bailey-Harlem Tenants Council;
Larry Hamm-Peoples Organization for Progress (NJ)
Moderator: David Greaves- Publisher, Our Times Press

11:30am -1pm-- National: Herb Boyd-Journalist, The Black World Today &
Amsterdam News; Brenda Stokely-Union activist and Katrina activist; Gary
Younge-Journalist, The Guardian (London) and the Nation
Moderator: Nayaba- Senior Editor, Amsterdam News

LUNCH- NETWORKING 1pm-2pm

2pm- 3:30pm-- International: Horace Campbell-Professor Africana Studies,
Syracuse University; BJ Matthews-Taxi Workers Alliance, economist.


3:30-5PM NYC Peoples Convention2009 Planning Meeting


------------------------------ ----------------

Coordinators of Forum: Sam Anderson-author, professor/activist & Jessica
Watson-Crosby, co-chair Black Radical Congress-NY & National Chair, Black
Radical Congress.
For more info: peoplesconvention2009 at yahoo. com

or Call --  917.573.5812

--FREE to All--





From sartesian at earthlink.net  Thu Nov  6 09:17:00 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:17:00 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <mailman.32406.1225945483.2559.marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu>
	<49293.146.96.22.49.1225987522.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
Message-ID: <C4F86CB5A96A4BBA970C0EDFB1672940@dmsthinkpad>

What part was race baiting?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Friedman" <mikedf at amnh.org>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 11:05 AM
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election


> race baiting's got no place on this list
>
>> Message: 9
>> Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:29:28 -0500
>> From: "Charles Brown" <charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
>> Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
>> To: <marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>
>> Message-ID: <4911D7F9.84C9.00BF.0 at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>>
>>
>> S. Artesian
>>
>> Thought it was DL Hughly, and no I don't watch it.  If he said the same
>> thing, well great minds think alike.
>>
>> I would like to ask, however, for a halt to all this hallelujah
>> sentimentality re the Obama victory.
>>
>> I half expect somebody on the list to break into a  chorus of  "We Shall
>> Overcome," to be followed by "God Bless America."
>>
>> ^^^^
>> CB:  Hey maybe you could sing a little of "Jim Crow" to put a damper on
>> "Yes we can !"
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
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From phantasmagorias at yahoo.com  Thu Nov  6 09:18:24 2008
From: phantasmagorias at yahoo.com (Debordagoria)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 08:18:24 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Marxism] Obama win does not end racism, activists say
In-Reply-To: <D655EA427CD24A2BB428E81A91DA8EEA@office1pc>
Message-ID: <219363.73384.qm@web30101.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

It is historic and it screams loudly that something has changed, but of itself it changes nothing. And of the many, many things that have not changed, they are not going to start changing because of Obama's election.

Michael Davidson


--- On Wed, 11/5/08, Fred Feldman <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> From: Fred Feldman <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net>
> Subject: [Marxism]  Obama win does not end racism, activists say
> To: phantasmagorias at yahoo.com
> Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 10:15 PM
> At the same time, Obama's election could alter the way
> African Americans
> view themselves.
> 
> 
> "I don't know that this election changes any
> (social problems) right away,"
> said Wendell Roberts, an attorney based in Virginia.
> "But one thing it does change is a state of mind ....
> African
> Americans have been citizens for ... (generations ) but
> there is a real
> sense now that all things are possible," said Roberts.
> 
> In my opinion, this is the most unadulterated correct
> statement in the
> article Eli submitted. All the others indicated a sectarian
> reaction against
> what has been accomplished, from a basically administrative
> "movement" point
> of view.
> 
> Contrary to Black Agenda and many others of that ilk, the
> Black movement
> does not depend (and I might add must not depend) on the
> tradition excluding
> Blacks from the presidency. And it does not in fact,
> because the Obama
> election points toward greater assertiveness and confidence
> (especially
> among youth), regardless of his record as a bourgeois
> president in office.
> 
> Yes, this is historic. Any perspective that is dependent on
> "this changes
> nothing" to survive is doomed to destruction.
> Fred Feldman



      


From mikedf at amnh.org  Thu Nov  6 09:19:04 2008
From: mikedf at amnh.org (Mike Friedman)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:19:04 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Marxism]  NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
Message-ID: <49369.146.96.22.49.1225988344.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>



> ^^^^
> CB:  Hey maybe you could sing a little of "Jim Crow" to put a damper on
"Yes we can !"





From sartesian at earthlink.net  Thu Nov  6 09:19:57 2008
From: sartesian at earthlink.net (S. Artesian)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:19:57 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election
References: <49369.146.96.22.49.1225988344.squirrel@webmail.amnh.org>
Message-ID: <EA4A9CD1AEB84AE2BF241E58708F7FBE@dmsthinkpad>

OK.  I thought you meant my comments were race baiting.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Friedman" <mikedf at amnh.org>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 11:19 AM
Subject: [Marxism] NY TIMES: Obama Wins Election


>
>
>> ^^^^
>> CB:  Hey maybe you could sing a little of "Jim Crow" to put a damper on
> "Yes we can !"
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: 
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sartesian%40earthlink.net 



From acpollack2 at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 10:44:07 2008
From: acpollack2 at gmail.com (Andrew Pollack)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 12:44:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] A Marx Revival Stirs in Britain
Message-ID: <2fa1449b0811060944v8051f6ta2e78eb58e815032@mail.gmail.com>

Wall Street Journal
LETTER FROM THE CITY NOVEMBER 6, 2008
A Marx Revival Stirs in Britain
As Capitalism Struggles, 'Das Kapital' Moves Units; A Boom in Red Flag
SalesBy ALISTAIR MACDONALD

The credit crunch that has sent Britain reeling is providing a boon
for supporters of the man who predicted the country's economic
collapse more than a century ago -- Karl Marx.
The Communist Party of Britain is trying to make the most of what it
sees as a vindication of Marxism, or, at the very least, a renewed
curiosity in Marx in the country where he made his home.

Photoshot
Capitalizing: Marx's grave site in northern London
After a decade of being largely ignored, copies of "Das Kapital" and
other Marxist tracts are starting to sell again, and Marxist academics
are back on the airwaves to revel in the misfortunes of capitalism.
In London, where Marx lived for the last 34 years of his life and
where he wrote his most famous works, the Communist Party is
struggling to keep up with demand for hammer-and-sickle enamel badges
at ?2.50 ($4) apiece, and ?7 red flags. The party, which has never had
much of a following in the U.K. compared with many other European
countries, has ordered 3,000 red flags so far in 2008, far more than
the 1,000 it normally needs in a year.
Party representatives also are finding themselves in demand.
Once, people would have crossed the road to avoid "some lefty wanting
to discuss the crisis," said Robert Griffiths, the general secretary
of the party. "Now people come up and ask, 'What about this crisis,
then?' " he said.
To capitalize on worries about capitalism, the party has two printers
constantly churning out leaflets, including a recent one titled "The
credit crisis: your questions answered."
Last week, a Halloween costume party titled "Dancing on the Grave of
Capitalism" was staged outside the former London headquarters of
failed investment bank Lehman Brothers.
"We wanted to celebrate. It is not the end of the world, it is just
the end of capitalism," said Chris Knight, a professor of anthropology
at the University of East London, who helped organize the event. Mr.
Knight, who describes himself as "hugely inspired" by Karl Marx, says
he and other like-minded academics had been ignored for the past 10
years. "But now the corpse is twitching," he said.
But both inside and outside the City, not everybody is greeting the
return of Marx with open arms.
Visitors to the German-born philosopher's grave site in northern
London sometimes protest the ?2 entry fee to the famous resting place.
It isn't what Marx would have wanted, they say.
"What absolute rubbish," responds Jean Pateman, the 87-year-old head
of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, a charity that operates the
burial ground. "He led the capitalist life," she said. "He even pawned
his wife's silver."
Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald at wsj.com
Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved


From lnp3 at panix.com  Thu Nov  6 10:45:36 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:45:36 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Overfished seas
Message-ID: <49132D40.6040506@panix.com>

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081117/biuso
Hooked: Bottomless Appetites and Overfished Seas
By Emily Biuso

Mark Kurlansky, The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and 
Survival in Gloucester

Richard Ellis, Tuna: A Love Story

Taras Grescoe, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of 
Vanishing Seafood

In The Odyssey, Homer depicts the cruel and vindictive nature of the sea 
through the figure of Poseidon. It's the sea god who prevents Odysseus 
from returning home, provoking a severe storm with his trident after 
Odysseus has blinded his son, Polyphemus. Homer called Poseidon the 
"shaker of the earth" and the sea, and not insignificantly he was also a 
fertility spirit who dealt in the ocean's barrenness.

If Poseidon was still a part of our climate, the depletion of the 
ocean's fish would surely have earned his wrath, and he would likely 
wonder how we came to be so blind to this tragedy. More than a decade 
ago, Mark Kurlansky wrote a book that meticulously traced the collapse 
of one fish population: the North Atlantic cod. After the explorer John 
Cabot made his transatlantic voyages to North America in 1497, he 
observed that the coast of Newfoundland was so thick with cod that 
schools of them could be scooped up from the sea with weighted baskets. 
By the mid-1990s, as Kurlansky explains in Cod, Gloucester, 
Massachusetts, had only about 400 working fishermen, down from 2,000 in 
the 1950s, when cod were more plentiful. In 1994, having estimated that 
the current fleet was about twice as large as what the fish stocks could 
sustain, the National Marine Fisheries Service levied harsh regulations 
and strict catch quotas on cod fishermen. Two years earlier, the 
Canadian government had issued a complete moratorium on fishing cod in 
Newfoundland and Labrador. There were barely any cod left. Since then, 
there have been stirrings of a slightly revitalized population: the head 
of the fish conservation group at a Newfoundland university recently 
returned from a scientific voyage to cautiously report some healthy, 
promising behavior among cod. Still, it is hard to imagine how the 
species could return to the level of ubiquity it used to enjoy 
generations ago, let alone in Cabot's day.

Tuna is another population blighted by overfishing. According to some 
estimates, commercial fishing of bluefin tuna has reduced populations by 
as much as 90 percent in the past thirty years. The insatiable sushi 
market in Japan and increasing popularity of the fish elsewhere is the 
main cause of the depletion; demand is so intense that a 350-pound 
bluefin will fetch $120 a pound at Japan's biggest and most famous fish 
market, Tsukiji. The World Wildlife Fund called for an immediate closure 
of all Mediterranean tuna fisheries in the eastern Atlantic a couple of 
years ago because "Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks risk imminent commercial 
collapse." The fishing industry, a business that employs 200 million 
people and brings in $71 billion a year, has ignored this plea. In 
today's global economy, international fishing conglomerates, modern 
trade policy and fish markets and restaurants willing to pay exorbitant 
prices form the trident that rules the sea.

Fish consumption worldwide is double what it was three decades ago, and 
while it's possible to track the volume of fish caught, sold and 
swallowed, it's still impossible to determine with a high degree of 
certainty how much is left swimming free, since there has never been a 
fish census. But it's hard to refute the fact that when the average 
catch dwindles to such a point as to put large sections of the industry 
out of business, fish populations are shrinking rapidly. As Kurlansky 
writes in his new book, The Last Fish Tale, "There is one certainty. 
Something huge--a massive shifting in the natural order of the 
planet--is occurring in the oceans, and with it will come tremendous 
biological and social changes." Yet the mystery of the ocean and the 
lack of hard data allow vested interests to continue to insist--whether 
out of sincerity or willful ignorance--that this shift is just a blip on 
the radar. "Most fishermen, based on centuries of anecdotal family 
experience, believe that fish are cyclical," Kurlansky writes. "They 
disappear for a time and then they come back." But many experts believe 
that overfishing has been so costly that stocks will never fully 
recover. The Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that 60 
percent of the fish species studied by the UN Food and Agriculture 
Organization are either fully exploited or depleted; one respected 
scientist estimates that most of the world's fish stocks will be 
severely depleted by 2048. And with so few fish for the taking, what 
will become of the fishermen?

In The Last Fish Tale, Kurlansky tries to fathom the mystery by limiting 
his focus to a single, beleaguered fishing town, Gloucester. The town 
has most recently attracted attention for the was-it-or-wasn't-it 
"pregnancy pact." But for many years Gloucester was known as an 
unofficial fishing capital of the Eastern Seaboard: the source of 
Gorton's fish sticks, the setting for Sebastian Junger's The Perfect 
Storm and the subsequent movie, and the home of a close-knit community 
of Portuguese and Sicilian immigrants. The Portuguese dominated the 
Gloucester fishing fleets for the first half of the twentieth century, 
and more than half of today's fishermen are Sicilian or descendants of 
Sicilians. The town was also a settlement for several artist colonies 
that drew on the ships and ocean for inspiration.

Kurlansky is fascinated by ships as well, tracing the evolution of the 
Gloucester fishing industry from dory fishing (sending men out in 
rowboats from a larger craft) to the eventual dominance of bottom 
trawlers (huge vessels that drag cone-shaped nets across the ocean floor 
and capture and destroy everything in their path). In the old days, 
Kurlansky tells us, "improved technology was usually directed at 
increasing catches and not at improving safety." Between 1830 and 1900, 
the "golden age of the Gloucester schooner," 3,800 Gloucester fishermen 
and 670 Gloucester boats were lost to the ocean; Kurlansky estimates 
that 10,000 Gloucester fishermen may have perished at sea since the 
early 1600s. Until the twenty-first century, the community was entirely 
fish-based; those who didn't go out on the boats worked on the docks as 
"lumpers" chopping ice, unloading boats and operating forklifts. 
Policemen and firefighters worked part-time as lumpers for supplementary 
income, and children earned pocket change by putting nets in boxes. 
Though Gloucester was by and large a community of Catholic immigrants 
(by 1900, 40 percent of the town's inhabitants were immigrants, a number 
that continued to swell), they did not look kindly on newcomers.

According to Kurlansky, the currents of the fishing crisis can be traced 
back to ancient fishing practices in the North Sea, when countries that 
bordered its waters engaged in cutthroat competition to haul in record 
catches. In England, where "dragging nets was an old idea," fishermen 
unsuccessfully petitioned Parliament to ban the practice because it 
swept up sea life indiscriminately--this in 1376, 300 years after 
Vikings were thought to have landed in the Gloucester area. Trawling was 
a major fishing technique in the North Sea by 1774, and it only got 
worse after that. Kurlansky tells us that bottom trawlers were 
presciently opposed by Gloucester fishermen in the 1880s because "it was 
a bad idea, that it took too many fish and would damage the ocean 
floor." Because of its astonishing efficiency--trawlers differ in size 
and capacity, but some are floating factories outfitted with engines of 
up to 5,000 horsepower and nets a mile long--trawling became the norm in 
the North Atlantic by the mid-1970s. The New England fishing industry 
united to support the passage of a law that banned international fishing 
boats. This cut down on trawling, since it was the foreign conglomerates 
that, by and large, could afford the huge rigs. But instead of 
initiating conservation programs at this point (as Iceland and Norway 
did after establishing exclusive fishing rights in their waters), 
American fishermen used the opportunity to loot the stocks more than 
ever. Domestic trawling still occurs, and in the end, as a Gloucester 
fisherman told Kurlansky, "The technology ruined it. It made fishermen 
too on-the-money. Fish don't have a chance." By "it," of course, he 
means the thrill of the hunt; but the technology simultaneously ruined 
the fish stocks. Capturing the local character is Kurlansky's strength, 
and it's what makes The Last Fish Tale a moving tribute to Gloucester's 
disappearing mores.

Richard Ellis's Tuna also pays homage to a fading idol: the Atlantic 
bluefin tuna. Though the book provides a comprehensive look at 
yellowfins, skipjack and albacore, it is the bluefin that holds Ellis's 
gaze. We quickly learn why: it is the largest, fastest and most 
threatened variety of the species, all because of the world's (and 
especially Japan's) ever increasing sushi diet. The cruel realities of 
economics make conservation a Sisyphean exercise: a two-ounce piece of 
bluefin can cost $75 in a Tokyo sushi restaurant.

The liveliest parts of Tuna cover the struggle between the public's 
expanding appetite for tuna and the looming reality of dwindling stocks. 
Bluefin caught on the coast of eastern Canada and New England went for 
pennies per pound in the 1960s. In the early '70s the Japanese 
discovered the huge bluefin there, and the market took off. As Ellis 
writes, "Fish that had brought forty dollars two years earlier were now 
worth a thousand. Soon the price of a single 'giant' shot up to tens of 
thousands of dollars. When Atlantic coast fishermen found that they 
could earn a year's pay in an afternoon, the uncontrolled slaughter of 
[what one scientist termed] 'the cocaine of the sea' began." Japan now 
imports about 60,000 tons of the fish, and the North Atlantic breeding 
populations are thought to have dwindled about 90 percent over the past 
two decades. In 1991 Sweden proposed listing the bluefin as endangered 
because of damage to the stocks; the measure was immediately vetoed by 
Japan and the United States, both of which have chosen immediate 
economic interest over the bluefin's survival.

Ellis introduces readers to one solution to this increasing 
disequilibrium between demand and supply: tuna ranches, where schools of 
young tuna are captured and fattened in huge pens before being wrestled 
onto a platform; then a metal spike is driven through their brains. 
(Alternatively, herds of the fish are corralled into the pen's corner, 
where they become the bull's-eye of a rifle shooter. Remarks Ellis: 
"'Shooting fish in a barrel' indeed.") Tuna is far more comprehensive 
than this, though: it also offers a complete summation of all the 
current scientific knowledge about tuna and a history of sport fishing 
by Ernest Hemingway and compatriots.

By turns elegiac and angry, Kurlansky and Ellis examine the recklessness 
of the fishing industry and how a combination of factors (among them 
industrialization, technology and fishing quotas) have inevitably harmed 
fish and the people who make their living from them. It's a point well 
taken, and I wish the authors--such obvious experts and fans of fish and 
fishermen--had pursued their subject into deeper waters. One impediment 
is that while neither Kurlansky nor Ellis is an industry apologist, both 
have such obvious love for fishermen that they hesitate to put the blame 
for dwindling catches too squarely on their shoulders, as if there 
weren't enough blame to go around. A second impediment is the choice of 
explaining the fishing crisis by examining one type of fish, and one 
specific town. It's so boring--and in light of current tastes in 
publishing, as predictable as the yarn about the big fish that got away. 
In an exasperated piece for The New York Times Book Review late last 
year, Joe Queenan eviscerated books that view history through a single, 
quotidian object, fuming that such works "argue that without cod, salt, 
booze or the penalty kick, we would not be where we are today. This is 
true, though the same could be said about tuna, cocaine, beavers, 
coriander, the infield-fly rule and the 'going out of business' sale. 
These books settle arguments no one is having. It's like writing a book 
called 'How Annoying Roommates Changed the World.' Yes, annoying 
roommates--Robespierre, Marlon Brando, Al Gore--have changed the world. 
So what?"

Kurlansky's Cod is a shining example of this genre, and it enjoyed 
critical accolades--the New York Times hailed its "history filtered 
through the gills of the fish trade"--and runaway sales. But considering 
that parts of The Last Fish Tale are warmed-over portions of Cod, it 
appears that there is no bigger fan of Kurlansky's work than Kurlansky 
himself. In some ways, the overlap was inevitable; Gloucester, after 
all, has made an industry of cod, so a book about the town can't not be 
a book about Kurlansky's own cash cow. But anecdotes made memorable in 
Cod lose their luster upon retelling (even with a bit more detail) in 
The Last Fish Tale. One example is the story of Howard Blackburn, a 
beloved fisherman who rows the corpse of his frozen dory mate 100 miles 
in a snowstorm, his hands frozen around the oars, positioned just so to 
be able to continue rowing after losing feeling in his fingers. It 
certainly is a sobering tale about the toughness of cod fishing and the 
resilience of the hearty Gloucester breed of fishermen. You can almost 
understand why Kurlansky recycled it. Except: Blackburn was from Nova 
Scotia, and he was fishing for halibut in Newfoundland.

As much as Kurlansky loves the traditional fisherman and mourns his 
downfall, Ellis seeks to memorialize the tuna. (Both men drew 
illustrations of their favored subjects to be included in their books.) 
Early on, Ellis explains that "when writing about tuna, it is almost 
impossible to control one's admiration for these marvelous creatures." 
Indeed, far too much of Ellis's book is ardent stenography of figures 
and facts about his favored fish, with compliments tucked in at every 
turn ("the word 'magnificent' is often applied to the bluefins, and it 
is exquisitely applicable"). Though everything you might ever want to 
know about a tuna is contained here (bluefin have the ability to raise 
the temperature of their eyes and brain?), the book suffers from a lack 
of firsthand reporting. Ellis does visit an Australian tuna farm and 
stops at the famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo (now a required 
destination for authors writing about tuna and sustainability issues in 
search of requisite local color). But far more typical of his reporting 
is this sentence: "A Google search for 'Japanese restaurants Sydney' on 
July 10, 2006, listed seventy-four in that city and its suburbs, so it 
is reasonable to assume that some of the tuna now being caught in 
Australian waters remains there." There's a lot of summarizing of 
newspaper articles and scientific reports, cushioned by bursts of 
adoration, where firsthand reporting would smell fresher.

If you set aside Kurlansky's romantic portrait of the fisherman, is it 
possible to plumb the mystery of the ocean's barrenness, or at least 
understand how to cope with it? This is the approach of Taras Grescoe in 
Bottomfeeder, a comprehensive, lively and illuminating guide on how "to 
eat ethically in a world of vanishing seafood." In ten chapters, Grescoe 
visits ten locations--from China to Canada--that are ground zero of a 
particular breed of threatened fish. Though he aims to provide an 
instruction manual for perplexed seafood lovers who worry that their 
menus will irrevocably harm the oceans, he does more than that, in fact 
making sense of ten complicated tales of endangered fish all around the 
globe.

Grescoe's search for an ethos of sustainable seafood yields a mixed bag 
of results: after visiting shrimp farms in India that he believes raise 
"all-you-can-eat antibiotics," he decides that cheap shrimp is "a meal I 
could no longer afford." In Brittany he buys a can of sardines that 
lists the boat that caught them, the date the catch occurred and the 
port where they were offloaded. A simple description on the can is, for 
Grescoe, "a revelation," and the easiest way to figure out if a can's 
contents have been harvested ethically--a simple Google search of the 
boat or the port can provide a wealth of information.

His roving reporting is entertaining and smart, and he has an eye for 
detail. Reading William Warner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Beautiful 
Swimmers, he finds a nugget that gets to the heart of the tragedy of 
fishermen and their dying industry. In a chapter about Chesapeake 
oysters, Grescoe quotes Warner on fishing in Maryland. As one of the 
besieged watermen told a government biologist preaching conservation, 
"There is something you don't understand.... These here communities on 
the shore, our little towns here on the island and over to the mainland, 
was all founded on the right of free plunder. If you follow the water, 
that's how it was and that's how it's got to be."

Though Kurlansky is a good anthropologist of fishing communities and 
Ellis a capable researcher, neither so bluntly captures the 
pervasiveness of this stubborn and dangerous truth. Nobody wants to 
change--not the fishermen, not the restaurants that make a killing off 
toro and not us, the fish-consuming public. Maybe that's why Grescoe's 
book stands a bit above Tuna and The Last Fish Tale: amid the changing 
climate, technology and trade regulations that have exacerbated the 
problem of overfishing, he illustrates how human attitudes toward fish 
have remained the same.

It shouldn't surprise us that the mythologizing of the ocean and 
fetishization of its mystery has led to a point where one takes it for 
granted. In seeing the sea for what it is--a malleable, fragile 
ecosystem and finite natural resource--one can form a new relationship 
with it, a connection that doesn't tilt the scales toward our insatiable 
appetites for more. And as Grescoe suggests, a good way to combat this 
mystery is with transparency of production and more informative labeling 
about where, exactly, our fish used to swim and how it was caught. And 
with so many popular fish populations nearly decimated, we must realize 
that some seafood is a luxury rather than a guarantee; we simply have to 
stop eating certain species if they are to recover. Admitting the real 
cost of our all-you-can-eat shrimp platters is the first step. Only then 
can we be assured an honest meal--one that just might be available for 
years to come.


From sabocat59 at mac.com  Thu Nov  6 11:03:39 2008
From: sabocat59 at mac.com (Greg McDonald)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:03:39 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Black church in Springfield Burns
Message-ID: <73CE2833-2D60-4230-B9C4-34355116425C@mac.com>

Black church in Springfield burns
Fire began hours after vote, prompting fears it was arson

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff  |  November 6, 2008

A predominantly black church under construction in Springfield was  
destroyed by fire early yesterday, just hours after Barack Obama's  
landmark victory, triggering concerns that the building was purposely  
set ablaze in a possible hate crime.

The blaze started at Macedonia Church of God in Christ at 3:10 and  
caused an estimated $2 million in damage.

Church officials pledged to rebuild, but the concerns that their  
building was targeted dampened a mood that had been so uplifted in  
the night of Obama's historic win to become the nation's first black  
president-elect.

"This was a special time in our nation's history, but I also know not  
everybody was happy and celebrating," said Bishop Bryant J. Robinson  
Jr., head of the church. "After 71 years of being an African- 
American, you know these things happen."

Located on King Street, the church was moving to the site at 215  
Tinkham Road, where the fire occurred.

Fire officials were quick to emphasize that the blaze remains under  
investigation, but the unknown nature of the fire triggered an  
inquiry that will involve local and state investigators and federal  
agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and  
Explosives. It is standard procedure for the ATF and local and state  
officials to investigate after a place of worship burns, and the FBI  
agreed to assist because of the unknown cause of the blaze.

"I want to caution people not to jump to conclusions and to allow the  
investigation to take its time and allow the investigation to follow  
the evidence trail," said state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.

He acknowledged that the congregation could be wary considering the  
fire's timing, but said investigators have not fully examined what  
happened. Coan said investigators will inspect the building today  
using accelerant-sniffing dogs, and detectives will also interview  
people in the neighborhood. He said the investigation could be a  
lengthy process.

"Clearly, a fire that occurs in a house of worship, with the close  
proximity to national events yesterday, is something in the mind of  
investigators, but it's most important we not reach any conclusions  
based on the circumstances of those events, but rather allow the  
evidence to lead us to the conclusion," Coan said.

Responding firefighters found the steel and wood-framed structure  
fully engulfed.

Firefighters worked to prevent the blaze from spreading to houses,  
said Dennis G. Leger, a Fire Department spokesman. He said two garden  
sheds had minor heat damage.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, Leger said.

The church, with a construction price tag of $2.5 million, had been  
more than 75 percent complete, Robinson said. But nothing inside  
could have sparked a fire on its own, he believes. The electrical  
system had not been installed.

No one had done anything inside that could have started the fire, he  
said. Instead, he fears the building was targeted, with the timing of  
the fire too coincidental to make it random.

"Somebody came in there with an agenda of their own, I believe,"  
Robinson said, recalling days of black churches being torched in the  
South.

"I've seen segregation. I've seen Jim Crowism," he said. "We've come  
quite a ways, but we're not that perfect union yet. There's obviously  
a remnant of that kind of behavior still being practiced, for  
whatever reason."

The congregation had seen some resistance from the suburban  
neighborhood when construction was proposed, but the opposition was  
centered on having such a building in a residential area, and was not  
related to its 250 members, neighbors said.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the fire, regardless of the cause, is  
heart-rending for the community. He said he met early yesterday with  
Robinson, an old friend of his family, and promised that the city  
would assist with the rebuilding while a task force conducts an  
extensive investigation.

"Obviously, it's a tragic event," said Sarno, who attended the  
groundbreaking for the church a year ago.

"It's a sensitive situation. Any house of worship would be a  
sensitive situation, and that's why it's imperative the experts do  
their investigation."

Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia at globe.com. 


From fred.fuentes at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 11:25:13 2008
From: fred.fuentes at gmail.com (Fred Fuentes)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 14:25:13 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Ralph Nader speaks on an Obama presidency
Message-ID: <b5a2a8180811061025w15d43f6fw3e2fc33c376f7413@mail.gmail.com>

As Obama prepared to deliver his acceptance speech, Presidential
candidate Ralph Nader joined The Real News in their DC Studio.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-bC7F7gD4g

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gaI-C0MfM&feature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak-lWu6Bvo0&feature=related


From lnp3 at panix.com  Thu Nov  6 11:55:02 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:55:02 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] "The whole idea of policy is bizarre"
Message-ID: <49133D86.8010504@panix.com>

http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/wolff061108.html
Policies to "Avoid" Economic Crises
by Rick Wolff

Recently, economist Joseph Stiglitz called the current crisis 
"avoidable."   He blamed it on "ideology, special-interest pressure, 
populist politics, and sheer incompetence."  In tune with the norms of 
his profession, he proposed "policies" to fix the problem.  Debates over 
the worsening economic crisis increasingly turn on which "policies" to 
use to stop, reverse and "avoid" them.  Conservatives and liberals again 
rehash their old debates over their different policies as McCain and 
Obama did.  The crisis will deepen some more, and then a compromise 
policy will emerge from the new President and Congress aimed to "solve 
the problem."  Instead, we ought to question the very idea of policy; 
that questioning would be a real change from past practice.

The problem is this: today's economic crisis was caused by an immense 
accumulation of factors, far too many for any policy to manage.  Here is 
a partial list.  Workers' wages stopped rising since the 1970s; 
thereafter, they accepted rising loans instead of rising wages as 
compensation for their greater work and productivity.  Corporate profits 
exploded because they got ever more output per worker (via 
computerization, etc.) while not paying their workers any more. 
Corporations deposited their rising profits in banks who then loaned 
part of them back to workers, another part to investors for stock and 
then real-estate speculations, and yet another part to businesses for 
mergers.  Other factors included low taxes, expensive wars, and 
resulting US government deficits.  Then, too, China's industrialization 
flooded the US with inexpensive products as that country accumulated our 
massive dollar payments for them.  China then lent those dollars back 
into the US to finance the government's deficit and further increase 
banks' loanable funds.  All these very different factors helped build up 
the house of credit that has now crashed the entire economy.

Still other factors also shaped the crisis.  New mortgage brokerage 
practices and credit card promotions induced more debt than borrowers 
could afford.  Competition among rating companies yielded incorrect 
assessments of financial risks of trillions in newly invented financial 
instruments (derivatives).  This led to staggering global misallocations 
of scarce resources.  Homebuilders' competition yielded excess 
construction.  The Federal Reserve increased the money supply and 
lowered interest rates to offset the dot.com bubble burst in 2000.

Nor is this list of factors even nearly complete.  No policy emerging 
from deals between conservative and liberal legislators beset by armies 
of lobbyists could ever begin to control or manage the immense diversity 
of the causes of the current crisis.  Indeed, no policy of any kind -- 
whether imposed by a dictator, produced by democratic consensus, or 
anything in between -- can "fix the problem."  No policy ever did. 
There are just far too many causes of crises that one can see and list 
-- and too many more not yet seen.

The whole idea of policy is bizarre.  The "right policy" represents an 
absurd claim that this or that law or regulation can somehow undo the 
many different factors that cumulatively produced this crisis.  Policies 
are "magic potions" offered to populations urgently demanding solutions 
to real problems.  Whether cynically advocated for ulterior motives or 
actually believed by the politicians, promoters, and professors 
themselves, policy is the secular cousin of religion.

These days, the conservative policy amounts, as usual, to "let the 
private economy solve the problems" and "minimize state intervention 
because it only makes matters worse."  Conservatives protect the 
freedoms of private enterprise, market transactions, and the wealthy 
from state regulations and controls and from taxes.  The liberals' 
policy, also as usual, wants the state to limit corporate behavior, 
control and shape market transactions, and tilt the tax system more 
toward benefiting middle and lower income groups.

Both policies can no more overcome this economic crisis than they 
overcame past crises.  Historically, both conservative and liberal 
policies fail at least as often as they succeed.  Which outcome happens 
depends on all the factors shaping them and not on the policy a 
government pursues.  Yet, both sides endlessly claim otherwise in 
desperate efforts at self-justification.  Each side trots out its basic 
philosophy -- dressed up as "a policy to achieve solutions." 
Conservatives and liberals keep debating.  Today's crisis simply 
provides an urgent sort of context for the old debate to continue.  Each 
side hopes to win converts by suggesting that its approach will "solve 
the economic crisis" while the other's approach will make it worse. 
Thus the liberals displaced the conservatives in the depths of the Great 
Depression, the reverse happened in the recession of the 1970s, and the 
liberals may now regain dominance.  In no instance were adopted policies 
successful in solving the crises in any enduring way.  The unevenness 
and instability of capitalism as a system soon brought another crisis 
crashing down on our economy and society.

The basic conservative message holds that the current economic crisis is 
NOT connected to the underlying economic system.  The crisis does NOT 
emerge from the structure of the corporate system of production.  It is 
NOT connected to the fact that corporate boards of directors, 
responsible to the minority that owns most of their shares, make all the 
key economic decisions while the enterprise's employees and the vast 
majority of the citizenry have to live with the consequences.  The very 
undemocratic nature of the capitalist system of production is NOT 
related to crisis in the conservative view.  The basic liberal message 
likewise disconnects today's crisis from the capitalist production 
system.  Rather, each side insists that all crises would have been and 
would now be "avoidable" if only the right policy were in place.

Conservatives and liberals share more than a careful avoidance of 
connecting the crisis to the underlying capitalist system.  They are 
also complicit in blocking those who do argue for that connection from 
making their case in politics, the media, or the schools.  While 
conservative and liberal policies do little to solve crises, the debate 
between them has largely succeeded in excluding anti-capitalist analyses 
of economic crises from public discussion.  Perhaps that exclusion -- 
rather than solving crises -- is the function of those endlessly 
rehashed policy debates between liberals and conservatives.


From jayroth6 at cox.net  Thu Nov  6 12:01:07 2008
From: jayroth6 at cox.net (J Rothermel)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:01:07 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Socialist Action blog
Message-ID: <49133EF3.7090104@cox.net>

http://socialistaction.blogspot.com/


From markalause at gmail.com  Thu Nov  6 12:35:20 2008
From: markalause at gmail.com (Mark Lause)
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 14:35:20 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Obama win does not end racism, activists say
In-Reply-To: <219363.73384.qm@web30101.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <D655EA427CD24A2BB428E81A91DA8EEA@office1pc>
	<219363.73384.qm@web30101.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <b16d8daf0811061135l21900adcnbe4411b6bde10cdd@mail.gmail.com>

Michael Davidson wrote of the election result that:
> it screams loudly that something has changed, but of itself it changes nothing.
>

Actually, any result would have changed things.  The question is what
has it changed and how?

It also seems rather clearly that it changes things in different ways
for different peoples.

\I heard an interesting discussion of exit polls on NPR earlier today.
 One of these asked voters whether they thought that the election of
Obama would improve race relations in America.  Apparfently, a very
small portion of whites said that it would, while something like 80%
of the African-Americans said that it would.  As I listened to them
mull this over, it struck me just how clueless the pundits and
commentators were about such things.

The interesting question is less how people would respond to such a
question than why they would respond the way they do.  I could think
of half a dozen major sets of reasons why blacks would respond
positively in larger proportions.

I think we should really look forward to an Obama presidency, because
it's going to place everything we've been trying to do on an entirely
different level.  On the most superficial level, such a response
offered whites an opportunity to do something for which the black
community could feel gratified and grateful.  However, it was clear to
me over the past weeks that the black voters who went Democratic in
such overwhelming numbers were taking a political wait-and-see
approach to whatever Obama does.

A progressive response to whatever disappointments the Obama
administration provides us is going to come largely from African
Americans.  And that's going to be unprecedented in itself.

ML


From lnp3 at panix.com  Thu Nov  6 12:57:27 2008
From: lnp3 at panix.com (Louis Proyect)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:57:27 -0500
Subject: [Marxism] Zombification of Obama supporters
Message-ID: <49134C27.8060404@panix.com>

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_win_causes_obsessive?utm_source=embedded_video


From binesi at gvtel.com  Thu Nov  6 13:06:36 2008
From: binesi at gvtel.com (David Thorstad)
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:06:36 -0600
Subject: [Marxism] Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage
Message-ID: <49134E4C.7000809@gvtel.com>

Now that gay marriage has gone down to defeat in the three states where 
it was on the ballot, based (in my view) not merely on alleged 
ineffectual organizing by its proponents, but a deeply flawed strategy 
altogether, it is a good time for marriage supporters to reexamine their 
support for a misguided goal of the bourgeois gay/lez