[PEN-L:5711] U.S. Mass Murder in El Salvador
The following may be of interest to some PENL readers. It was reported last week (I believe 6/19/95) in one of the major Seattle newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (PI) on Page 1, that a squad of U.S. Army Rangers flew into El Salvador in 1985 and murdered everybody at what was considered a guerilla base there. According to the story, the U.S. soldiers of this mission were told to kill every resident there, to make sure there were no survivors. They "succeeded" and killed 83 men and women. This mass murder was in reprisal, revenge, for the killing of four U.S. military advisors to the Salvadoran military, who were killed while eating at a cafe in San Salvador. According to the story in the Seattle PI, the U.S. hitmen, the squad of U.S. Rangers were flown into El Salvador from Ft. Lewis, they were not told where they were going, just that they were going to kill people who were enemies of the U.S. They followed orders. They wore civilian uniform while carrying out the murders and were led by three U.S. civilians. Supposedly the 83 Salvadorans killed were members of the group that had killed the four marines. After making sure all the Salvadorans was dead, the U.S. Rangers walked away and were then transported back to the United States. I assume the story is true. It came from a military reporter, Ed Offley, who interviewed some of the killers. It almost shocked me and little about U.S. policy does--the deliberately planned murder, the brutality, the direct U.S. military involvement in El Salvador when this was constantly denied by the U.S. government, and that this attack has been a secret at least in the United States. Also depressing was how this group of U.S. Rangers, according to the story, didn't even question their orders or ask why they were supposed to carry out this terrorist mission. Although this occurred 10 years ago, this outrageous, immoral behavior by the U.S. government and military, which violates any definition of human rights deserves attention. QUESTION--Has this story been picked up by the national media? I haven't seen anything in the New York Times. Has it been in your newspaper, on the TV news? Maybe you should ask them why? I hope somebody investigates and publicizes this further. Peter Bohmer
[PEN-L:5712] Re: comfort women
On Mon, 26 Jun 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The article, which appears in the current issue of the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (26:4) is the most comprehensive report available in English on the history of the Japanese government's wartime system of military sexual slavery, A very excellent journal! I recommend it highly. It's great for getting around North American media self-censorship... Too bad I haven't been able to subscribe for years... : -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jim Jaszewski [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW homepage: http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/~ab975/Profile.html -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[PEN-L:5714] Dawn Saunders' e-mail address
Would some one be kind enough to reply (to [EMAIL PROTECTED], to avoid pen-l clutter) with Dawn Saunders' e-mail address? Dawn is in charge of organizing the URPE Summer Conference program but I have deleted her earlier message which described the procedure for offering proposals. In fact a reply from Dawn would be great if she is still currently on the net! Thanks, Frank Thompson Department of Economics University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
[PEN-L:5715] rising profits, falling wages
This morning while taking my shower, I heard a story on NPR about the falling real wages in the US from March 1994 to March 1995 (that someone also reported on pen-l yesterday). From what I heard, Labor Secretary Reich stated facts but offered no explanation for this phenomenon. The only explanation that I heard (with water flowing past my ears) was from some right-winger named Mitchell. His explanation was amusing: it could be a statistical fluke, but if it wasn't then it's probably because the tax on profits is so high that property-owners _require_ a high pre-tax return. The high tax makes capital scarce, so a high pre-tax return results. Hmmm Let's see. The bolshevik administrations led by Presidents Reagan and Bush kept on jacking up the tax on capital income, as did the Pol Pot-led administration that followed. This increased the relative scarcity of capital goods, so the rate of return had to rise. It's as simple as supply and demand! Speaking of inanity, yesterday I glanced at a book titled THE ILLUMINATI that I saw at the grocery store (because conspiracy theories are fun). The little I read was disgusting. In the future, a US government "spokesman" with an Arab name announces that the US has launched a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Israel... The dumbness has reached its max. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
[PEN-L:5716] Re: pop density
On Mon, 26 Jun 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: To Tavis Barr, I would be curious what is your source that 40% of women in Puerto Rico have been sterilized. If this is the case, was it forced and what is the source for that? Needless to say I do not support forced sterilization or forced abortions of or by anybody. I got the statistic from a Puerto Rican feminist group at a repro rights conference a couple of years ago and I've heard it repeated. I'm afraid I don't have the source anymore. I can try and call around and dig it up if it's important, but it might take a couple of weeks. Did your article also note that secondary education has an effect independent of wages and job opportunities on birth rates, that is secondary education of women? No, like I said, I forgot to mention anything about education. I'd be interested in hearing cites you have. I'll be sure to include something if and I write another article. I really don't have any kind of expertise in the area, just an active curiousity, and I've written a couple of articles for "popular" audiences, one of which I happened to have on my computer still. I'm not actually sure I'll write anyhting again. But I may. Cheers, Tavis
[PEN-L:5718] June 29: Jim Hightower in Oakland (fwd)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 09:53:18 -0700 Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Nathan Newman" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: June 29: Jim Hightower in Oakland -- Forwarded message -- Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 09:18:36 -0700 From: Crossroads Magazine [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: request from maxie Don't miss CrossRoads Magazine's Fifth Anniversary Celebration this Thursday night June 29 featuring kickass populist JIM HIGHTOWER, coordinator of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico CECILIA RODGIGUEZ and civil rights activists EVA PATERSON with a special message on affirmative action. Thursday, June 29th 7:30 p.m. Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland (by the Oakland Museum and Lake Merritt BART) Tickets $10 at the door. Or meet the speakers in person at a fundrasing reception at 6 pm. $50 advance reservations only. Call 510.843.7495 to reserve your spot. "If Will Rogers and Mother Jones had a baby, Hightower would be that rambunctious child -- mad as hell, with a sense of humor. He speaks truth with a Texas twang. What next? Turn him on. Turn him loose. Sweet Jesus, this is gonna be good!" -- Molly Ivins. [
[PEN-L:5719] Miner's Trumka Hits Conservative Democrats and Old Labor (fwd)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 09:33:19 -0700 Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Nathan Newman" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Miner's Trumka Hits Conservative Democrats and Old Labor Leadership -- Forwarded message -- Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 19:26:12 -0400 From: Jonathan Prince [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: p0635_AM_Labor_Politics_06_24_0 This message was originally submitted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] to the LEFTNEWS list at CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU. If you simply forward it back to the list, using a mail command that generates "Resent-" fields (ask your local user support or consult the documentation of your mail program if in doubt), it will be distributed and the explanations you are now reading will be removed automatically. If on the other hand you edit the contributions you receive into a digest, you will have to remove this paragraph manually. Finally, you should be able to contact the author of this message by using the normal "reply" function of your mail program. - Message requiring your approval (87 lines) -- [IMAGE] A service of Trib.com the internet newspaper. All stories are copyrighted and are for the personal private use of Trib.com readers. _ 6/24/95 12:51 PM Inches: 13.1 REGULAR AM_Labor_Politics_06_24_0553 AM-Labor-Politics,0513 Trumka Hits Conservative Democrats; Says He's Not Seeking Accommodation By KEVIN GALVIN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Key players in the struggle for control of the AFL-CIO have discarded the possibility that accommodation could be reached to avoid a showdown, and one offered a hint Saturday of the opposition's new political tack. Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers and No. 2 on the slate led by Service Employees International Union President John Sweeney, said the candidates would make their first public appearance Wednesday. "The labor movement has a chance to redefine (itself) as the spokesman and last line of defense for workers one and all," Trumka said. Linda Chavez-Thompson, an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees official, fills the third slot on the opposition slate. Trumka said his side isn't interested in a deal to end the rare public contest for control of the 13-million-member labor federation before its annual convention. "In October at the convention, there will be at least one slate running and that slate will be John Sweeney, Linda Chavez-Thompson and Rich Trumka," he said. "We are the only slate that is capable of making change at the rate and to the degree that is necessary to rejuvenate, re-energize, reinvigorate the American labor movement." Thomas Donahue, secretary-treasurer and candidate to replace outgoing AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland, told reporters Friday that he also is determined to continue fighting for the post until the convention. "The campaign goes fine," Donahue said. "I'll be prepared to say at some point what the full levels of support are." Kirkland officially steps down Aug. 1 at the AFL-CIO's executive council meeting in Chicago. Donahue is likely to win the council's approval to replace him until October, when the convention will elect officers to two-year terms. The opposition candidates have yet to decide whether even to challenge Donahue and his running mate, Barbara Easterling of the Communications Workers of America, on the council. But Trumka and his colleagues say they are confident of victory at the convention, where leaders cast votes weighted to the size of their union membership. The opposition has claimed support of 56 percent. The opposition leaders helped force Kirkland, 73, to retire, saying they wanted a leader who could be an effective spokesman for working people. In a speech Saturday to Americans for Democratic Action, a progressive activist group, Trumka gave a spirited call for Democrats to return to their liberal roots, and criticized those who wanted to make Democrats "into a clone image of the Republican Party." He lashed out at the Democratic Leadership Council and Al From, the think tank's leader, for criticizing the Clinton administration's support for a minimum wage hike and a ban on firing striking workers. Trumka said From's policies were "a plea for Democrats to abandon the working men and working women who have always been the true strength of the Democratic Party." "The DLC's program isn't just immoral, it isn't just anti-worker - it is a blueprint for a Democratic
[PEN-L:5720] New Journal
Below is a forwarded message that is perhaps of interest to those in pen-l land. This is a statement of purpose to a new journal, *Transformation: Marxist Work in Theory, Economics, Politics and Culture* which has just been made available. Contact Donald Morton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more information. These are not friendly times for starting a new Marxist journal, and yet these are exactly the times in which a new Marxist journal is urgently needed to provide transformative knowledges for social change. TRANSFORMATION: MARXIST BOUNDARY WORK IN THEORY, ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND CULTURE is a response to the crisis of revolutionary theory and praxis. The (post)modern "left" has abandoned the project of revolution in favor of bourgeois democracy, marginalized problems of labor, class and exploitation, and elided the centrality of "need." More to the point, "left" theory has deserted economic and labor issues at a time of increasing class differences between North and South, the poor and the rich the world over, a time when the workers of the world are increasingly subjected to exploitation by ever more innovative technologies and subtle forms of management to keep the rate of profit high for transnational cartels. TRANSFORMATION is a biquarterly of historical materialist analyses of international modern and (post)modern economic, political and cultural practices, their history and consequences. The goal of TRANSFORMATION is to produce effective knowledges for understanding the world in order to change it. There are, of course, many journals publishing texts on the contemporary situation from neo-marxist, postmarxist, social democratic, feminist, postcolonialist, anti-racist lesbigay, and ecological perspectives. The underlying assumption of most "left" readi ngs of the world is that capitalism itself has changed from a society of "production" to a culture of "consumption," that "labor" has been displaced by "knowledge," and that we have entered a moment in history which is post-class, post-production, post- theory, post-ideology and post-dialectical in short a "post-al" phase. The post-al, has, in effect, put an end to politics based on "need," "class struggle," use-value," "collectivity" and the fight against "exploitation," and, in its place, has instituted a politics based on "desire," "difference," "conversation," "consensus," and "coalition." In post-al left journals social analysis is shifted from the political economy of material practices to cultural politics and poetics, and from the laws of motion of capital to the problematics of representation and (deconstructed) "identity politics." Materiality in the post-al left is not the materiality of class struggle, the mode of production and "need"--the structure of contradictions and antagonisms in history. Rather, it is the "matterism" of the "body," "language" and "desire." In opposition to this post-al cultural matterism and its ludic politics" of difference, TRANSFORMATION deploys classical Marxist theory to provide boundary explanations of contemporary capitalism-without-borders and the world order it has legitimated. By boundary work, we mean producing historical materialist analyses that directly engage the most advanced modes of bourgeois knowledges and supersede them. It places classical Marxist theory in new terrains and brings it to bear on the understanding of the emerging contradictions in post-al societies-- from labor relations to sexuality; from markets to the cyberspaces of virtual reality, from health-care to "crime" and "family values," from post-al forms of racism to hypercolonialism.and "welfare" TRANSFORMATION is a dynamic biquarterly committed to constantly bringing classical Marxist theories into zones in which they have not often been situated before. At the moment, some classical Marxist writers, in their encounter with new post-al discourses, seem to think that they have offered a helpful critique when, for instance, they denounce bourgeois theory and science for their opaque, elitist language and mystifying "jargon," or when they substitute moral outrage for an explanatory critique of the ethics of "difference," simply dismissing it as narcissistic and decadent. TRANSFORMATION will go beyond such commonsense criticism and, in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Luxemburg, Trotsky and other classical Marxist theorists, will not turn away from the "new" and the "post-al." It will confront and historicize them in order to develop class consciousness for transformative praxis. TRANSFORMATION is a vanguard journal opposing both nostalgia and utopia and insisting on developing rigorous materialist boundary understandings of
[PEN-L:5721] Re: Iqbal Masih
27 June 1995 My answer lies in the second sentence of my mesage. Namely, we are talking workers' rights in less developed countries, where adult workers are unable to gain their just right legally and if they gain legally, they are unable to implement them in practice. "De facto" situation is much different than "de jure." When it is difficult for adults, it is much more difficult for child workers, who cannot defend their rights as efficient and skilfully as adults. I am asked for a solution to a difficult question.There isn't one that can be implemented, because of the collusion between the employers and the governments. Frequently they are the same people.Child labor is inhuman whether it is legal or not. A chile in the field or in factory is a child whose education is denied. Educationally deprived child is a child lost. This vicious cycle of child exploitation must end so that they can't be exploited when they become adult. There must be a law (enforceable law) against child labor (anyone less than 14, 15, or 16 years old), and compulsory public education with government subsidy. If you can implement this, you will immensely improve children's future economic lot. In struggle, Fikret Ceyhun Economics Dept. Univ. of North Dakota On Mon, 26 Jun 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fikret Ceyhun says: The argument to legalize child labor with all the rights that their adult counterparts have will not end the child exploitation, but will further it. ___ How? ___ In a world that adult laborers are unable to defend and protect their just rights against business, how can we expect that from the children? Are we utopian or realist? _ But they have been defending and protecting it much better than the children have been. What would be your realist solution? Cheers, ajit sinha
[PEN-L:5722] pop density
I sent a response which I thought was to pen-l whaich I now believe went to Tavis Barr offnet. If this ends up a repeat, I apologize in advance. 1) A source on the role of secondary education of women and birth rates can be found in cover story in the Feb. 1994 issue of _Scientific American_ by Partha Dasgupta. More generally this finding has been widely verified in many studies. 2) I am extremely skeptical that anything near 40% of Puerto Rican women of child-bearing age have been strilized against their wills. For one thing the Roman Catholic Church would have raised holy hell. For another, there has been no US funding for any population control during the whole Reagan-Bush period. When would this have happened? 3) I also question the statement that Islamic men are more concerned about birth control than are Islamic women. If this is the case, then why did the Iranian birth rate soar after the Shi'i fundamentalist takeover in 1979? Barkley Rosser
[PEN-L:5724] Re: pop density
On Tue, 27 Jun 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 2) I am extremely skeptical that anything near 40% of Puerto Rican women of child-bearing age have been strilized against their wills. For one thing the Roman Catholic Church would have raised holy hell. For another, there has been no US funding for any population control during the whole Reagan-Bush period. When would this have happened? I've dug up one source: Marlene Fried mentions 45% in her Open Magazine pamphlet series entitled "Reproductive Freedom: Our Right to Decide." She cites a work (article? pamphlet? book? n/s) by the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse, edited by Susan Davis, for the info. Anyway, I didn't say "sterilized against their wills," I just said "sterilized." It is up to the reader to decide whose will caused it to happen. However your point about the catholic church is interesting. 3) I also question the statement that Islamic men are more concerned about birth control than are Islamic women. If this is the case, then why did the Iranian birth rate soar after the Shi'i fundamentalist takeover in 1979? I'm quite sure I never said any such thing. You must have me confused with someone else. I find it dubious too. Cheers, Tavis
[PEN-L:5727] Re: Orange County
Gary D. writes: "An OC crisis unmitigated by 0.5% sales tax will merely hasten the rapid shift toward privatized services of all kinds, including parks, schools, etc., that Mike Davis documents so well in one chapter of his City of Quartz." I know nothing of City of Quartz, but I read in The Economist Sunday that trouble in Orange County was already making it more difficult for other California jurisdictions to raise funds and that LA County has plans to cut 20% of its workforce to reassure investors. Monday at the lunch counter a county employee told me she'd got word her entire division is being eliminated. Cindy Cotter
[PEN-L:5728] Re: Orange County
On Tue, 27 Jun 1995, Cotter_Cindy wrote: I know nothing of City of Quartz, but I read in The Economist Sunday that trouble in Orange County was already making it more difficult for other California jurisdictions to raise funds and that LA County has plans to cut 20% of its workforce to reassure investors. Monday at the lunch counter a county employee told me she'd got word her entire division is being eliminated. Cindy Cotter Once again it is necessary to reassure investors, by increasing the insecurity of workers.
[PEN-L:5729] Re: pop density
I also do not have a cite, but I do believe that large numbers of Puerto Rican women were sterilized without their knowledge during the 1950s and 1960s -- which translates into against their will. I was told this by a woman I used to work with whose mother received tubal ligation right after delivery (of my friend) without her consent or knowledge. Apparently this was practice widely by English speaking doctors in Puerto Rico who were usually attached to the military bases. When a woman has just given birth, they snip the tubes leading to the ovaries -- the woman never knows until she can't get pregnant again. And, let's face it, the catholic church is nothing in the face of a determined military policy. Also, in this country, according to Gail Sheehy in "The Silent Passage: Menopause", the majority of African American women receive hysterectomys prior to menopause (average age of meno ranges from 45-55). Also of great concern is the continued marketing of Dalkon shields (IUDs) which were made illegal in the United States years ago but which are still sold in many third world countries. The problem with dalkons is that they tear the walls of the uterus creating internal bleeding, infections, sterilization and, in some cases death. Finally, there is the resurection of the use of Thalidomide in Latin America -- remember, that's the one that causes all the birth defects. Also, for a little historical interest, clitoridectomies are not just performed in African and middle eastern countries. According to an article by Frances Fox Piven, they were performed in the United States on middle class white women quite frequently from about 1850 up through the end of World War I. The reason? They were a cure for mental illness -- women's orgasm was considered the mental illness. Oh boy, gynecology, one of my favorite subjects. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
