Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On Wed, July 22, 2015 17:56, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: Now I confess to being many things: obnoxious, sarcastic, narcissistic and cruel. But ex-Marxist? Really? I'll have more to say about that anon. Fine, but that wasn't an issue in my post, nor was it the point of Tony Greenstein's post, and Elise Hendrick's article properly put you among the left contributors to Counterpunch. Nor is you personally contributing to Counterpunch an issue (even though I had to mention it). And as I said, it is the broader issue of a left-right alliance that needs to be discussed, Counterpunch's exact role and statistics being a subsidiary matter. Could we please steer the discussion in that direction and ignore personal snipes and the like (after all, he never said you weren't a leftist or couldn't be part of a regroupment, etc.)? - Jeff P.S. And I don't care about the email subject line either, but now it's been changed, ok? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Also, this nonsense about Querfront/Third Positionism needs to stop. Again, a very quick search will reveal what Third Positionism actually is: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2000/winter/neither-left-nor-right/third-position Every group listed is an overt or not-very-covert white supremacist organization, i.e. the National Bolsheviks, etc. It does not mean anyone who is right-wing but shares left-wing priorities on the war, Zionism, etc. Hendrick and the others are purposely defining these terms as broadly as possible so that virtually anyone who is right of center can be written off as part of a Nazi infiltration campaign including some of the people mentioned in the article. - Amith On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:22 PM, A.R. G amithrgu...@gmail.com wrote: *Sorry, sent before finished. Here's the link: http://www.researchforprogress.us/sucker-punch/paul/why-not-paul.html If the issue is that we can't have evil righties with incoherent politics screwing up our left-wing country club of justice, then that's fine, but it's hardly limited to Ron Paulsters or people who rail against the Israel lobby (many of whom are not right-wingers at all). Such an analysis should also include the variety of problematic currents that seep into the left. My belief is that genuine support for Ron Paul's more palatable views is one of the least worrisome, compared to things like Zionism, Islamophobia, and other tendencies that have much longer and firmer histories on the left and won't go away. - Amith On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:20 PM, A.R. G amithrgu...@gmail.com wrote: Even Chip Berlet, who seems to be one of the citations about this right-wing-infiltration conspiracism (to say nothing of his other, awful positions on Palestine) concedes that it makes sense to have tactical alliances with right-wingers some of the time: - Amith On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:11 PM, Jeff via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On Wed, July 22, 2015 17:56, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: Now I confess to being many things: obnoxious, sarcastic, narcissistic and cruel. But ex-Marxist? Really? I'll have more to say about that anon. Fine, but that wasn't an issue in my post, nor was it the point of Tony Greenstein's post, and Elise Hendrick's article properly put you among the left contributors to Counterpunch. Nor is you personally contributing to Counterpunch an issue (even though I had to mention it). And as I said, it is the broader issue of a left-right alliance that needs to be discussed, Counterpunch's exact role and statistics being a subsidiary matter. Could we please steer the discussion in that direction and ignore personal snipes and the like (after all, he never said you weren't a leftist or couldn't be part of a regroupment, etc.)? - Jeff P.S. And I don't care about the email subject line either, but now it's been changed, ok? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * *Sorry, sent before finished. Here's the link: http://www.researchforprogress.us/sucker-punch/paul/why-not-paul.html If the issue is that we can't have evil righties with incoherent politics screwing up our left-wing country club of justice, then that's fine, but it's hardly limited to Ron Paulsters or people who rail against the Israel lobby (many of whom are not right-wingers at all). Such an analysis should also include the variety of problematic currents that seep into the left. My belief is that genuine support for Ron Paul's more palatable views is one of the least worrisome, compared to things like Zionism, Islamophobia, and other tendencies that have much longer and firmer histories on the left and won't go away. - Amith On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:20 PM, A.R. G amithrgu...@gmail.com wrote: Even Chip Berlet, who seems to be one of the citations about this right-wing-infiltration conspiracism (to say nothing of his other, awful positions on Palestine) concedes that it makes sense to have tactical alliances with right-wingers some of the time: - Amith On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:11 PM, Jeff via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On Wed, July 22, 2015 17:56, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: Now I confess to being many things: obnoxious, sarcastic, narcissistic and cruel. But ex-Marxist? Really? I'll have more to say about that anon. Fine, but that wasn't an issue in my post, nor was it the point of Tony Greenstein's post, and Elise Hendrick's article properly put you among the left contributors to Counterpunch. Nor is you personally contributing to Counterpunch an issue (even though I had to mention it). And as I said, it is the broader issue of a left-right alliance that needs to be discussed, Counterpunch's exact role and statistics being a subsidiary matter. Could we please steer the discussion in that direction and ignore personal snipes and the like (after all, he never said you weren't a leftist or couldn't be part of a regroupment, etc.)? - Jeff P.S. And I don't care about the email subject line either, but now it's been changed, ok? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * A fine old German Social Democrat, August Bebel, quipped, Anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools when confronted by efforts by several on the Left in his day to make common cause with Jew-hating grassroots reactionaries. The reason given for these attempts was that these bigots were deluded but had good hearts, and only needed to be persuaded that the true enemy was Big Capital, not the Rothschilds, The persuasion would come in the form of joint actions, during which time trust would 'seep' into the Archie Bunkers and they would eventually realize the error of their ways. Needless to say, these attempts ended up badly. Cockburn once wrote about the Left needing to go to rural fairs and engaging the Bunkers there in direct conversation about bankers, so as to divert them away from Trilateral/Rothschild conspiracies and toward Wall Street, Coors, etc. But, to paraphrase Exodus about a certain Pharaoh, he knew not Bebel. I speak only of forging deep ties with the far Right, not the only occasional one-off action like Alan Grayson and Ron Paul cosponsoring a bill in Congress on civil liberties. An occasional peep from the paleos in Counterpunch is harmless, as long as it doesn't get into our heads these people aren't hopeless. But what we have been witness to at CP is not a peep but a plethora. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 7/22/15 12:11 PM, Jeff via Marxism wrote: nor was it the point of Tony Greenstein's post I don't care what the point of his post was. An epithet of ex-Marxist is something I would have expected from James Creegan, not Tony Greenstein. Frankly I doubt if he'd be able to explain what he means by that but I'll let that go since there are bigger fish to fry. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Even Chip Berlet, who seems to be one of the citations about this right-wing-infiltration conspiracism (to say nothing of his other, awful positions on Palestine) concedes that it makes sense to have tactical alliances with right-wingers some of the time: - Amith On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:11 PM, Jeff via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On Wed, July 22, 2015 17:56, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: Now I confess to being many things: obnoxious, sarcastic, narcissistic and cruel. But ex-Marxist? Really? I'll have more to say about that anon. Fine, but that wasn't an issue in my post, nor was it the point of Tony Greenstein's post, and Elise Hendrick's article properly put you among the left contributors to Counterpunch. Nor is you personally contributing to Counterpunch an issue (even though I had to mention it). And as I said, it is the broader issue of a left-right alliance that needs to be discussed, Counterpunch's exact role and statistics being a subsidiary matter. Could we please steer the discussion in that direction and ignore personal snipes and the like (after all, he never said you weren't a leftist or couldn't be part of a regroupment, etc.)? - Jeff P.S. And I don't care about the email subject line either, but now it's been changed, ok? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 7/22/15 11:38 AM, Jeff via Marxism wrote: But the issue to me isn't Counterpunch magazine in particular, but the extremely dangerous effects of allowing far-right/racist/nationalist forces to infiltrate our discourse and our movements, as Counterpunch is more or less guilty of. And the numerous political errors affecting a greater or lesser part of the left which can be attributed to the loss of clarity thereby arising. I'd like to see this matter widely discussed and addressed by those of us who care about class struggle, rather than simply being anti-government, or in today's emerging parlance anti-imperialist. I'll be getting around to the Greenstein article that I have not read yet but only glanced at. But it will only be after I am finished writing a follow-up to my last piece on the technical IT issues related to a Grexit. Greenstein has a rather flattering photo of me from about 17 years ago taken by my old friend Fred Baker with this caption: the ex-Marxist Louis Proyect - excuses the reactionary politics of Counterpunch. Now I confess to being many things: obnoxious, sarcastic, narcissistic and cruel. But ex-Marxist? Really? I'll have more to say about that anon. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Once again on the IT challenges in converting to the drachma | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://louisproyect.org/2015/07/22/once-again-on-the-it-challenges-in-converting-to-the-drachma/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: The 10 Best Movies Influenced by Marxist Philosophy « Taste of Cinema
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Re: [Marxism] LOL
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I'm not exactly sure what you find laughable about Tony Greenstein's piece - I was not aware of the extent that Reagan's former Treasury Secretary published more times on CP than a bunch of well-known progressives combined. And, I suppose Greenstein could have included Gail Dines and Robert Jensen among the right-wing feminists who are given lots of CP space to espouse their anti-sex worker views. I have appreciated Louis' defense of CP, but if you don't think this deal with the devil won't hurt the Left down the road, think again. On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 10:43 PM, A.R. G via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://azvsas.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00Zupdated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00Zmax-results=50 -- - Amith _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/sranz18%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] What's new at Links: ISIS terrorism in Kurdistan; Greece solidarity; Cuba opens US embassy; Greece Europe; Greek Civil War
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * What's new at Links: ISIS terrorism in Kurdistan; Greece solidarity; Cuba opens US embassy; Greece Europe; Greek Civil War * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 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 linkssocial...@gmail.com mailto:linkssocial...@gmail.com *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. *Comments welcome on all articles *Return daily for new articles * * * Turkey: Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) condemns Suruç massacre; calls for international solidarity http://links.org.au/node/4520 By *Nazmi Gur* July 20, 2015 -- At least 30 people were killed and more than 100 injured on July 20, when a suicide bomber from the self-styled Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) group attacked a cultural centre in the Kurdish town of Suruç, on the Turkish side of the border from Kobane. The victims were members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) who were travelling to help with the reconstruction of Kobane that has been in the front line against ISIS. The following call for international solidarity was released on July 20 by *Nazmi Gur*, vice co-chair of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) in charge of foreign affairs. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4520 Socialist Alliance on Greece: 'This is a coup, cancel the debt!' http://links.org.au/node/4515 Statement of the *Socialist Alliance (Australia) national executive* July 16, 2015 -- Socialist Alliance condemns the effective imposition of colonial status on Greece by the ruling institutions of the European Union (EU), which represent the interests of the big banks whose speculative excesses contributed in great part to the accumulation of the “Greek debt” they are now seeking to recover. This is a coup and a brutal assault on democracy. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4515 Philippines solidarity with the Greek struggle against implementation of austerity http://links.org.au/node/4521 Statement by the *Partido Lakas ng Masa* (PLM, Party of the Labouring Masses), Philippines July 21, 2015 -- Under threat of economic collapse and a humanitarian catastrophe, after five months of negotiations, which have been described as “mental water-boarding”, the Greek government has accepted the punitive funding deal that represents the interests of the big banks and European finance capital and which imposes further austerity and debt on the people of Greece. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4521 United States/Cuba: Cuban embassy opens in Washington http://links.org.au/node/4519 *Robert Craven and Olivia Marple* July 20, 2015 -- Amid cheers of “/Cuba sí/, /bloqueo/ /no/” (Cuba yes, embargo no), hundreds gathered on Washington, DC’s busy 16th Street to bear witness to the symbolic close to one of the more misguided chapters of US foreign policy. Trumpeting fanfare sounded as Cuban honour guard soldiers raised their country’s flag above what is now Cuba’s embassy in the United States. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4519 'New Politics' on 'What next in the Greek crisis?' http://links.org.au/node/4518 [The Greece-EU “agreement” has set off debates on the left on why the SYRIZA government agreed to such harsh terms and what are the next steps for the left in Greece, and across Europe. /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ hopes to contribute to this by providing essential background information, thoughtful comment and presenting the positions of various left organisations.] By *Barry Finger* * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4518 Thermopylae or Versailles? Greece deal threatens to destroy European project http://links.org.au/node/4517 By *Duroyan Fertl* July 17, 2015 -- The promise of a peaceful integration of capitalist equals lies tattered on the floor of a negotiation room in Brussels. There, the SYRIZA-led Greek government finally succumbed to the blackmail, economic carpet-bombing and “mental water-boarding” of the institutions of European capitalism. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4517 Struggle and suffering: The 1946-49 Greek Civil War http://links.org.au/node/4514 By *Doug Enaa Greene* July 17, 2015 – /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ -- On March 24, 1945, the
[Marxism] What's new at Links: Resounding 'Oxi' to austerity; Solidarity with Greece from Asia-Pacific, Venezuela; Tsipras speech; Varis Yaroufakis; Georg Lukas; Turkey and HDP; Sinn Fein mayors; ISIS
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * What's new at Links: Resounding 'Oxi' to austerity; Solidarity with Greece from Asia-Pacific, Venezuela; Tsipras speech; Varis Yaroufakis; Georg Lukas; Turkey and HDP; Sinn Fein mayors; ISIS; banks are made of marble * * * Subscribe free to Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal - at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 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 linkssocial...@gmail.com mailto:linkssocial...@gmail.com *Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in Links. *Comments welcome on all articles *Return daily for new articles * * * Greece: Astonishing and resounding 'Oxi' (No) to EU austerity http://links.org.au/node/4496 By *Colin Fox* July 5, 2015 -- /Colin Fox/, posted at /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ -- So much for it being a close vote! The Greek people today delivered a resounding blow to the European Central Bank's plan to implement further hardship and austerity on the Greek people. More than 61.3% of Greeks voted No (38.69% voted Yes). This represents a huge success for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and an extraordinary vindication of the SYRIZA government and its record since January 25th. Despite falling living standards and increased hardship, epitomised by the enforced bank holiday this week which restricted customers to €60 per day, the Greek people have again resoundingly backed their radical left-wing government. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4496 Greece: Vote #OXI -- Alexis Tsipras' speech at the final rally before 'Greferendum' [English] http://links.org.au/node/4494 Athens -- Greece's Prime Minister *Alexis Tsipras* addressed tens of thousands of people late on July 3, 2015, in the final rally to call for a #OXI (No) vote in the July 5 referendum against the European Union's blackmail and austerity. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4494 'Your struggle is our struggle': Asia-Pacific left solidarity with the people of Greece and SYRIZA http://links.org.au/node/4493 July 3, 2015 -- Posted at /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the people of Greece and the SYRIZA-led government as they prepare for a referendum on July 5, 2015, on whether to accept the continuation of the program of neoliberal austerity or chart a new course free from the debilitating stranglehold of the “troika” — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission. We support the call of SYRIZA for a no vote as the only option for the people of Greece, especially the working classes, to assert sovereign control over the country's economy and their own future. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4493 Turkey: As Erdogan manoeuvres to retain power, country faces uncertain future http://links.org.au/node/4499 By *Dave Holmes* July 7, 2015 – /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ -- One month after Turkey’s June 7 parliamentary elections, the country still does not have a government. Ahmet Davutoglu of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) remains caretaker prime minister. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains the dominant figure in the AKP and is actively manoeuvring to retain his party’s leading position. The president is supposed to be an impartial figure above party politics but Erdogan pays scant regard to such constitutional niceties. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4499 Varis Yaroufakis: 'I wear the creditors’ loathing with pride'; New minister 'a change in style, not substance' http://links.org.au/node/4497 By *Varis Yaroufakis*, Greece's former minister of finance July 6, 2015 -- The referendum of July 5, 2015, will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt bondage. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4497 Ireland: Sinn Fein's mayor of Dublin joins those in Belfast, Derry and Cork http://links.org.au/node/4495 July 4, 2015 -- The election of a first-ever Sinn Fein mayor in Dublin has underlined the party’s progress in city councils across the island ahead of the centennial commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/4495 'US fuelled the rise of ISIS' conspiracy theories a back-handed attack on Syrian uprising http://links.org.au/node/4492 *Michael
[Marxism] [UCE] Police, Racism and Progressives
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Re: [Marxism] Alexis Tsipras Transforms Himself as He Sells Greek Bailout Terms
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On television recently, Mr. Tsipras said that some pension changes would have been necessary with or without the demands of the country’s creditors. “I do not think that it is progressive political policy to send someone into retirement at 45 or 50,” he said. What disgusting bullshit. When you lose a job in Greece at the age of 45 or 50, it is PERMANENT. The pension becomes the only source of income not only for the unemployed adult but for an entire family. The pensions have been cut by 50 percent typically so German demands to cut them even more have consequences of deepening the misery of such families. Tsipras is only repeating the talking points of the WSJ editorial page. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: In Defense of Greece’s Syriza
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * An article was written by members of a tiny Trotskyist sect that has most often written pro-Assad articles on CounterPunch. Go figure. http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/22/in-defense-of-greeces-syriza/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Guardian: Oligarchs nouveaux? Why some say Ukraine is still in thrall to an elite
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/21/ukraine-oligarchs-maidan-revolution Gazeta.ru reported yesterday on a poll showing waning support for the Ukrainian gov's econ policies: http://m.gazeta.ru/politics/news/2015/07/20/n_7393761.shtml Unfortunately the only one capitalizing on that is Tymoshenko... http://m.gazeta.ru/politics/2015/07/20_a_7650281.shtml _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] E. L. Doctorow, Literary Time Traveler Who Stirred the Past Into Fiction, Dies at 84
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * NY Times, July 22 2015 E. L. Doctorow, Literary Time Traveler Who Stirred the Past Into Fiction, Dies at 84 By BRUCE WEBER E. L. Doctorow, a leading figure in contemporary American letters whose popular, critically admired and award-winning novels — including “Ragtime,” “Billy Bathgate” and “The March” — situated fictional characters in recognizable historical contexts, among identifiable historical figures and often within unconventional narrative forms, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 84 and lived in Manhattan and Sag Harbor, N.Y. The cause was complications from lung cancer, his son, Richard, said. The author of a dozen novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama, as well as essays and commentary on literature and politics, Mr. Doctorow was widely lauded for the originality, versatility and audacity of his imagination. Subtly subversive in his fiction — less so in his left-wing political writing — he consistently upended expectations with a cocktail of fiction and fact, remixed in book after book; with clever and substantive manipulations of popular genres like the Western and the detective story; and with his myriad storytelling strategies. Deploying, in different books, the unreliable narrator, the stream-of-consciousness narrator, the omniscient narrator and multiple narrators, Mr. Doctorow was one of contemporary fiction’s most restless experimenters. In “World’s Fair” (1985), for example, a book that hews closely to Mr. Doctorow’s autobiography and that he once described as “a portrait of the artist as a very young boy” (but also as “the illusion of a memoir”), he depicts the experience of a Depression-era child of the Bronx and his awakening to the ideas of America and of a complicated world. Ending at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, the book tilts irresistibly toward the technological future of the country and the artistic future of the man. The narrator is looking back on his childhood, but the conventionality of the narration is undermined in two ways. For one thing, the man’s relatives get their own first-person chapters and inject their own memories, a strategy that adds depth and luster to the portrait of the time and place. For another, his own narration is offered in the present tense, as if the preadolescent character were telling an unfolding tale, though with the perspective and vocabulary of an adult. His opening recollection — or is it a contemporaneous report? — is of wetting the bed: “Startled awake by the ammoniated mists, I am roused in one instant from glutinous sleep to grieving awareness; I have done it again. My soaked thighs sting. I cry. I call Mama, knowing I must endure her harsh reaction, get through that, to be rescued. My crib is on the east wall of their room. Their bed is on the south wall. ‘Mama!’ From her bed she hushes me.” Beginning with his third novel, “The Book of Daniel” (1971), an ostensible memoir by the son of infamous accused traitors — their story mirrors that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed as Russian spies in 1953 — Mr. Doctorow turned out a stream of literary inventions. His protagonists lived in the seeming thrall of history but their tales, for the convenience — or, better, the purpose — of fiction, depicted alterations in accepted versions of the past. Not that he undermined the grand scheme of things; his interest was not of the what-if-things-had-gone-differently variety. Rather, a good part of Mr. Doctorow’s achievement was in illustrating how the past informs the present, and how the present has evolved from the past. Works With a ‘Double Vision’ In the book that made him famous, “Ragtime” (1975), set in and around New York as America hurtled toward involvement in World War I, the war arrives on schedule, but the actions of the many characters, both fictional and nonfictional (including the escape artist Harry Houdini, the anarchist philosopher Emma Goldman and the novelist Theodore Dreiser) were largely invented. Sometimes this was for droll effect — at one point Freud and Jung, visiting New York at the same time, take an amusement park boat ride together through the tunnel of love — and sometimes for the sake of narrative drama and thematic impact. Written in a declarative, confident voice with an often dryly arch tone mocking its presumed omniscience, the novel seemed to both lay claim to authoritative historical perspective and undermine it with winking commentary. Houdini, Mr. Doctorow writes, “was passionately in love with his ancient mother whom he had installed in his brownstone home on West 113th Street.”
[Marxism] Fwd: Statement of Palestinian groups and individuals in the occupied homeland, refugee camps and the diaspora about the global war on Syria | Syria Solidarity Movement
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Workers World Party corrals pro-Assad Palestinians to issue statement on behalf of barrel bombs. http://www.syriasolidaritymovement.org/2015/07/22/statement-of-palestinian-groups-and-individuals-in-the-occupied-homeland-refugee-camps-and-the-diaspora-about-the-global-war-on-syria/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Alexis Tsipras Transforms Himself as He Sells Greek Bailout Terms
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Speaking of WSJ, even they backed off some of their own fatuous claims about Greece's overly generous pension schemes: Via the BBC: Figures from the European Commission suggest Greeks do retire earlier on average than many others in the EU - but the margin is not quite so pronounced. In 2012 people in Greece received their first pension payment at the average age of 57.8, the data show. The country ranks just below Italy, where the average age is 58, while Germans took their first pension payment at 61.1. The EU's figures also put Greece's spending on pensions, as a percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP), as the highest in Europe in 2012. But last month the Wall Street Journal took the figures and divided them by the number of people over 65 in each country to come to a different conclusion. It found that spending per head in Greece was less than the EU average, and behind that of Germany, Ireland and Italy among others. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31803814 22 июля 2015 г., в 8:32, Louis Proyect via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu написал(а): POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On television recently, Mr. Tsipras said that some pension changes would have been necessary with or without the demands of the country’s creditors. “I do not think that it is progressive political policy to send someone into retirement at 45 or 50,” he said. What disgusting bullshit. When you lose a job in Greece at the age of 45 or 50, it is PERMANENT. The pension becomes the only source of income not only for the unemployed adult but for an entire family. The pensions have been cut by 50 percent typically so German demands to cut them even more have consequences of deepening the misery of such families. Tsipras is only repeating the talking points of the WSJ editorial page. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/shalva.eliava%40outlook.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * the case for cp being a white supremacist/fascist periodical is overstated by half and undermines mr. greenstein's credibility. the limits of such a quantitative analysis are obvious. i'd really hate to waste too much time on such bizarre argumentation. if i have to i'm willing to address some of the particulars but, really, isn't even a cursory look at the evidence enough? the weaker claim that cp is diluting its left credentials by providing a forum for the libertarian (that's what i'll call it) right seems worthy of consideration. - Original Message - From: Louis Proyect via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu To: Charles Faulkner lacena...@comcast.net Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 8:56:58 AM Subject: Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)? POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 7/22/15 11:38 AM, Jeff via Marxism wrote: But the issue to me isn't Counterpunch magazine in particular, but the extremely dangerous effects of allowing far-right/racist/nationalist forces to infiltrate our discourse and our movements, as Counterpunch is more or less guilty of. And the numerous political errors affecting a greater or lesser part of the left which can be attributed to the loss of clarity thereby arising. I'd like to see this matter widely discussed and addressed by those of us who care about class struggle, rather than simply being anti-government, or in today's emerging parlance anti-imperialist. I'll be getting around to the Greenstein article that I have not read yet but only glanced at. But it will only be after I am finished writing a follow-up to my last piece on the technical IT issues related to a Grexit. Greenstein has a rather flattering photo of me from about 17 years ago taken by my old friend Fred Baker with this caption: the ex-Marxist Louis Proyect - excuses the reactionary politics of Counterpunch. Now I confess to being many things: obnoxious, sarcastic, narcissistic and cruel. But ex-Marxist? Really? I'll have more to say about that anon. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/lacenaire%40comcast.net _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * sorry. extraneous text deleted. the case for cp being a white supremacist/fascist periodical is overstated by half and undermines mr. greenstein's credibility. the limits of such a quantitative analysis are obvious. i'd really hate to waste too much time on such bizarre argumentation. if i have to i'm willing to address some of the particulars but, really, isn't even a cursory look at the evidence enough? the weaker claim that cp is diluting its left credentials by providing a forum for the libertarian (that's what i'll call it) right seems worthy of consideration. I'll be getting around to the Greenstein article that I have not read yet but only glanced at. But it will only be after I am finished writing a follow-up to my last piece on the technical IT issues related to a Grexit. Greenstein has a rather flattering photo of me from about 17 years ago taken by my old friend Fred Baker with this caption: the ex-Marxist Louis Proyect - excuses the reactionary politics of Counterpunch. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Counterpunch promoting left-right alliance (aka Querfront)?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * CP co-editor Joshua Frank replies on my Facebook page - We publish 100 articles a week, she's singling out 3 writers at most, which we publish on occasion - of course not all of their stuff. For instance, we don't run PCR's crazy 9/11 truth theories. But I'm sure that the editorial collective (Jeff and myself) has an agenda to team up with the far-right. Very obvious. Talk about conspiracy theories. On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 9:43 PM, Charles Faulkner via Marxism the case for cp being a white supremacist/fascist periodical is overstated by half and undermines mr. greenstein's credibility. the limits of such a quantitative analysis are obvious. i'd really hate to waste too much time on such bizarre argumentation. if i have to i'm willing to address some of the particulars but, really, isn't even a cursory look at the evidence enough? the weaker claim that cp is diluting its left credentials by providing a forum for the libertarian (that's what i'll call it) right seems worthy of consideration. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] NYT: Greece's Costly Health Care Craze
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * My last post of the night (and probably my last one on Greece for a while). What boggles my mind is that indeed, Greece could change a lot of things for the better and Syriza could have spearheaded many useful, non-recession inducing reforms on its own, yet did precious little in this regard. Varoufakis claimed in his interview with New Statesman that the Troika forbid them from taking any prior actions (which he described as them laying a trap for later), but I think his claim is somewhat undercut by all the legislation Syriza continued to pass throughout the five months of bailout talks (hence why the Troika demanded that as part of the new agreement Syriza amend or rescind all laws impacting state expenditures and/or the reform actions stipulated in the previous bailout). Frankly, if Tsipras and co were going to accede to Troika demands for cuts and reforms they should have at least used it as an opportunity to take on the military, church, and shipping industry where there's lots of money and assets to be liquidated/redistributed. They could have been creative in other areas too, like by privatizing a lot of the highly coveted SOEs and utilities by simply converting them into Mondragon-style worker co-ops with a public mandate (guaranteed through a small government ownership stake perhaps). Certainly they could have done something to lay the basis for fixing their health care system (hell why not invite old school NHS administrators and Cuban health care system experts to serve on an international commission to revamp the whole rotten edifice?): Every stakeholder was benefiting from the system, except one: the patient. In addition to the official costs of care and drugs, there was another price people had to pay: a fee known as “the envelope.” Surgeons receiving meager government paychecks were and still are routinely paid a large supplement by the patient’s family. The government turns a blind eye to this illegal practice, preferring to avoid addressing the disparity between low doctor pay and high systemic spending. This is no surprise, since much of the money flowing into the system remains unaccounted for. A 2013 survey of Greek views on corruption in the health care system by the European Commission found that 75 percent believe bribery and the abuse of power for personal gain are widespread. The report concluded that limited transparency was a root cause. Public hospitals, poorly managed by ever-changing political appointees, rarely balance their budgets. The deficits are made up (with borrowed money) by the central government. ...Fear of default has forced Greece to slash health spending. The various bailout plans offered to Greece have overlooked a root cause of the country’s troubles: the urgent need for health care reform. Instead, austerity programs have set arbitrary spending restrictions that worsen already limited access, undermine patient safety, and are igniting a mass exodus of qualified doctors and other health care providers. Since the debt crisis hit, 850 clinics have closed, 30,000 health workers have been laid off, and 11 hospitals have shut down, according to union officials. The government needs to listen to the doctors and other experts demanding an end to waste and corruption. Dedicated medical professionals want to replace transient political leaders now running hospitals with qualified managers, and they want more stringent oversight of medical reimbursements. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/opinion/greeces-costly-health-care-craze.html?referrer= _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Black Lives Matter activists not so easy for Democrats to coopt
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-hillary-clinton-and-her-rivals-are-struggling-to-grasp-black-lives-matter/2015/07/22/8b5870e8-2f34-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Alexis Tsipras Transforms Himself as He Sells Greek Bailout Terms
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I may have to withdraw my previous statement about holding out some hope for Tsipras. I read some article today (although don't remember where now - perhaps FT) about how Tsipras has begun to claim the left detractors in his party are clearly Schaubleites given their calls for a Grexit. That certainly seems to mark a point of no return in my mind. I guess he will try to shed the party of these malcontents in September and turn Syriza into a milquetoast social democratic party implementing reforms that will further the country's peripheralization and dependent developmental status. Honestly why throw away a lifetime of commitments and hard-earned lessons/values simply to hold on to a leadership position in a lumpen state? He saddens me... 21 июля 2015 г., в 17:19, Louis Proyect via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu написал(а): POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * NY Times, July 21 2015 Alexis Tsipras Transforms Himself as He Sells Greek Bailout Terms By SUZANNE DALEY ATHENS — On the eve of his election in January, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece talked with pride about how his leftist Syriza party rejected “the mentality of establishment parties” and provided space for the diverse views of its members. But last week, Mr. Tsipras ousted members of his cabinet who had defied him by voting against the package of austerity measures that Greece’s European creditors had demanded as the price of new bailout negotiations. To Syriza members of Parliament who voted against that package and are threatening to oppose a second bill scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, Mr. Tsipras has made clear that he might call a new election and replace them with a slate of lawmakers loyal to him. If Mr. Tsipras was an idealistic young radical six months ago, dedicated to the overthrow of the Greek establishment and austerity policies, he is emerging from the showdown with the creditors as something else entirely: a popular, canny and pragmatic politician with a stake in the success of the very measures he came to power vowing to eradicate. Mr. Tsipras, 40, may still be refusing to wear a tie, but otherwise he has moved a long way toward the mainstream. In the process, he has defied what appeared to be European efforts to oust him, even as he has bowed to much of the agenda the creditors imposed on him. And now the question is whether he can create a new center of gravity in Greek politics, one focused not on ending austerity, but on carrying it out in a progressive way and restoring some sense of fairness and hope to a country that has been short on both. If he pulls it off, it will be a remarkable political transformation for himself and for Greece. Some Syriza supporters are shocked by the new Mr. Tsipras, who is conversant in the most minor details of the bailout he is negotiating and who argues on occasion that the deal might include some reforms that Greece badly needs. On television recently, Mr. Tsipras said that some pension changes would have been necessary with or without the demands of the country’s creditors. “I do not think that it is progressive political policy to send someone into retirement at 45 or 50,” he said. Aris Chatzistefanou, a left-wing journalist and documentarian who watched the hourlong televised interview with Mr. Tsipras and concluded that the prime minister, his face puffy from lack of sleep, had forgotten his youth. “That we can say for sure,” Mr. Chatzistefanou said. “The guy with the Che Guevara T-shirt, we lost him.” But others saw Mr. Tsipras becoming exactly what the country needs, a politician who will be able to build an even broader constituency now, pulling in more centrist voters, who are desperate to stay in the eurozone but sick of the country’s old political parties, which failed to prevent the burden of past austerity policies from falling on the poor and the salaried. “Tsipras is showing an incredible advantage as a politician,” said George Pleios, a media expert at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. “He is showing that he is able to speak the language of reform and the language of social justice. This is a formula that can turn him into a very important leader in Greece.” For now, Mr. Tsipras is fighting hard to prevent a wholesale
[Marxism] Independent: Greek charity head says hundreds of children's lives at risk as group struggles to continue care for abandoned kids
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * You know it's when I read articles like this that makes me think, Tsipras, what the f#%* are you thinking? More austerity? Really?... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/greek-charity-head-says-hundreds-of-childrens-lives-at-risk-as-group-struggles-to-continue-care-for-abandoned-kids-10406469.html Jenni Russell writing in The Times noted a similar scene in Athens' hospitals: In a city hospital 20 children aged from four months to 14 years are living on the same ward. All have been abandoned by parents who cannot feed or house them any more. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4485379.ece _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Alexis Tsipras Transforms Himself as He Sells Greek Bailout Terms
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 22/07/2015 03:31 μμ, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: On television recently, Mr. Tsipras said that some pension changes would have been necessary with or without the demands of the country’s creditors. “I do not think that it is progressive political policy to send someone into retirement at 45 or 50,” he said. What disgusting bullshit. When you lose a job in Greece at the age of 45 or 50, it is PERMANENT. The pension becomes the only source of income not only for the unemployed adult but for an entire family. The pensions have been cut by 50 percent typically so German demands to cut them even more have consequences of deepening the misery of such families. Tsipras is only repeating the talking points of the WSJ editorial page. It is also a huge hypocrisy. There are two big categories among these young pensioners in Greece. The first, and by far the largest, comes from the repressive apparatus of the state, military and police, a kind of reward for their services and loyalty to the bourgeoisie, while the second are the privatization victims. The state enterprises like OTE (telecommunications) had to be delivered to their private new owners without the burden of the relatively high wages of the their syndicated employees. So, instead of fire them and push their unions to war, they had been offered a premature retirement, thus transferring the burden of their wages to the seller, namely the state. Leaving aside the fact that the state assets have been given away for nothing if not in loss, the state, by its turn, tries now through the memoranda dictations to transfer once again that burden to the retirement funds, that is to the retirees, cutting off its own financial contribution to the funds. And it is a moral degeneration for any politician, leave alone left politician, to treat those retirees, the very victims of austerity policies, as crooks, as if they themselves had attributed their own pensions. JA _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Varoufakis interview on CNN
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * (MUSIC PLAYING) [14:00:00] CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight: in his first international television interview, the former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, joins the program live. He's sure the latest bailout will fail and I'll ask him if he takes any responsibility. Also ahead: helping Syrian Christians escape the horror of ISIS. The Jewish peer, Lord George Weidenfeld, on repaying a debt and why he was compelled to do something. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LORD GEORGE WEIDENFELD, FOUNDER, OPERATION SAFE HAVENS: There never has been in history -- perhaps in the history of the Stone Age, I don't know -- a cruelty that demonstrated so obviously as ISIS has. (END VIDEO CLIP) (MUSIC PLAYING) AMANPOUR: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour. For the first time in three weeks, today Greeks are able to walk into a bank. The doors may be open but they can still only withdraw 422 euros per week and they still can't send money abroad. And for the first time in a long time, Greece was declared not in default to the IMF. But implementing its creditors' demands, VAT soared today on foods like milk and meat and commuters are paying more for public transport. Plenty of Greeks are unhappy with the changes and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is now facing a revolt within his own party. Now to mollify his European creditors, Tsipras earlier this month had dismissed his flamboyant finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, whose leather jackets, casual style and motorcycle arrivals won him plaudits and fans and newspaper covers; his financial style rubbed his counterparts the wrong way, however. Now out of government but still an MP, Yanis Varoufakis joins me live for his first international television interview since stepping down. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) AMANPOUR: Mr. Varoufakis, welcome back to the program. YANIS VAROUFAKIS, GREEK FINANCE MINISTER: Thank you very much, Christiane. AMANPOUR: So after all that I just recounted there and after all that's happened, are you glad you're no longer in the firing line? VAROUFAKIS: Well, right from the outset, I stated for the record that I didn't want to be a politician. I sort of -- I was always a reluctant member of this cabal, which is the field of politics. I felt that I had a duty to be of assistance to the prime minister in a very difficult juncture and to contribute towards ending what has been an atrocious case of extending and pretending a state insolvency of over five years. AMANPOUR: Right now, as we've just said, there is a whole new bailout; there's -- you know, all of this is underway with its attendant reforms and demands on the Greek government. Is it solved? Is it sorted? We did just talk about a revolt within the party. What exactly is happening in the party headquarters? VAROUFAKIS: Well, let us separate what's happening in the party from what's happening to the country and to the economy and to the Eurozone economy as a whole. You asked whether things have been sorted out. Exactly the opposite. The problem, Christiane, over the last five years is, beginning with 2010, is that Greece became insolvent. And the powers that be in Europe -- and with the IMF, I have to add -- in their great, infinite wisdom decided to do what really bankers do when they face somebody with a bad debt, to give him another loan in order to extend the bankruptcy to the future while pretending that it's gone away. So what we've had now is yet another such case of extending and pretending and turning out the internal political scene here to our -- to a party, I think that the vast majority of my colleagues in Syriza, the governing party, are despondent and they're despondent because we were not elected in order to give that wheel of extending and pretending another twirl. AMANPOUR: And that's -- therein lies the whole conundrum. You're elected to do X; you had a referendum, where the people said they wanted you to do X. And now you're doing Y. Do you take any responsibility for how this whole thing has just turned almost full circle and you're back to practically worse off than you were in the beginning? VAROUFAKIS: Christiane, I would love to be able to say to you that I messed up and it's all my fault. [14:05:00] VAROUFAKIS: But let me actually correct something you said at the beginning. You said that I was dismissed by the prime minister; I wasn't. On the night of the referendum, I resigned. And I resigned precisely because of what you said, that the people voted no to this extending and pretending. But it became abundantly clear to me
