Information from Beyond: Norman Bethune is Shocked Appalled
The below was written for a different purpose, after my recent extended period of teaching in Shanghai. It is not a profound economic analysis at all, rather it is a view of the heatlh services. Even there I have omitted stats for lack of time to research them, tho' this will follow. Purpose was to convey the bitterness of indidivual decision making, that is going on in China. Hari __ Health Care In China Today, following privatization of the Health Care System Astonishingly, there remain some who call themselves Marxist-Leninists, yet who still believe that the China of today is a socialist state. Even if we can agree to leave aside our fundamental differences with them regarding the political character of Mao Ze Dong, this belief of such people is too far beyond the pale not to challenge. Alliance can understand at least [without agreeing with], that school of Maoists who say that after Mao, socialism in China disintegrated. We do not agree with the implied lauding of Mao, but this latter formulation at least does recognise that the China post-Mao is not a socialist state. But to say it remains a socialist state now, is untenable. One does not need to visit China to be aware of the amazing rifts in the social fabric that have been allowed to further accentuate differences between rich and poor. Since Deng Xiaoping proclaimed it was socialist to Enrich Yourself! the green light for all manner of rapacious grabs was given. We will examine one small area that acts as a litmus indicator of how every-day life for ordinary people has dramatically changed. In the days when the pretence of being socialist was far more important than it is now, there was at least a modicum of equality in the health care services. The legacy of the legions of health care workers of Chinese background was astounding. The legacy of foreign workers (those like Dr Norman Bethune and Dr Joshua Horn) who came to China to assist the Liberation forces and the Chinese medical corps, was honourable. What has been done with this legacy? It has been ravaged by market forces. A recent article by Geoffrey York, lays out some disturbing facts. Public health services have eroded. Medical services have crumbled. Doctors and hospitals generate profit by charging higher fees. And those who cannot afford the fees are left out in the cold. Two-thirds of the population has no health insurance. About 60 to 70 percent of hospital patients are forced to end hospital treatment prematurely because they are unable to pay. A recent UN report found that Chinas health system is suffering a profound decline because of the shift to a profit based system. Because of the commercialization of medicine, health costs have jumped 400% in the past decade. And the medical system has become the top cause of poverty: more than 40% of poor families have fallen into poverty because of high medical costs. In some of the poorest regions, illness and mortality rates are increasing despite the economic prosperity in the rest of the country. Diseases such as TB and Hepatitis B are reappearing, and immunizations are being neglected because they dont generate a profit. Drug prices are routinely inflated and unnecessary treatments arte often prescribed so that the hospitals can earn income. York G: In New China, millions cant afford doctors; May 17th 2004; Globe and Mail p. A10. Under the previous era: Health cooperatives, and barefoot doctors ensured a minimum level of medical care for everyone even in the poor rural areas. Life expectancy rose dramatically and most children were immunized. It was a public health model for the world, and it achieved some incredible things, said Lisa Lee, a medical officer in Beijing for the WHO. But as China switched from socialism to free-market capitalism, it decided to privatize most of its health system. The medical cooperatives have been disbanded and nothing has replaced it Dr Lee said. Some very vulnerable and poor segments of the population are being left behind. Critical health services are falling through the gaps. Geoffrey York Ibid. These problems are enormous and naturally affect the most vulnerable and poorest sections the hardest: The problems are greatest in rural areas, where 90% of patients must pay cash for health services. Chinese media have reported cases of women dying in childbirth because they couldnt afford a hospital delivery. But the problem is also hurting people in big cites. Forty percent of urban dwellers have no insurance, and even the insured are often forced to pay most of their medical costs from their own pockets. York, G Ibid. Health care workers are naturally disturbed and upset that they are forced to participate in this sham of a heath care system: In a recent report to the Chinese parliament, one physician told poignant stories of impoverished patients and their lack of care. As soon as the
Extent of Medical adverse evetns in Canada
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/170/11/1678 Abstract The Canadian Adverse Events Study: the incidence of adverse events among hospital patients in Canada G. Ross Baker, Peter G. Norton, Virginia Flintoft, Rgis Blais, Adalsteinn Brown, Jafna Cox, Ed Etchells, William A. Ghali, Philip Hbert, Sumit R. Majumdar, Maeve O'Beirne, Luz Palacios-Derflingher, Robert J. Reid, Sam Sheps and Robyn Tamblyn Background: Research into adverse events (AEs) has highlighted the need to improve patient safety. AEs are unintended injuries or complications resulting in death, disability or prolonged hospital stay that arise from health care management. We estimated the incidence of AEs among patients in Canadian acute care hospitals. Methods: We randomly selected 1 teaching, 1 large community and 2 small community hospitals in each of 5 provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia) and reviewed a random sample of charts for nonpsychiatric, nonobstetric adult patients in each hospital for the fiscal year 2000. Trained reviewers screened all eligible charts, and physicians reviewed the positively screened charts to identify AEs and determine their preventability. Results: At least 1 screening criterion was identified in 1527 (40.8%) of 3745 charts. The physician reviewers identified AEs in 255 of the charts. After adjustment for the sampling strategy, the AE rate was 7.5 per 100 hospital admissions (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.7 9.3). Among the patients with AEs, events judged to be preventable occurred in 36.9% (95% CI 32.0%41.8%) and death in 20.8% (95% CI 7.8%33.8%). Physician reviewers estimated that 1521 additional hospital days were associated with AEs. Although men and women experienced equal rates of AEs, patients who had AEs were significantly older than those who did not (mean age [and standard deviation] 64.9 [16.7] v. 62.0 [18.4] years; p = 0.016). Interpretation: The overall incidence rate of AEs of 7.5% in our study suggests that, of the almost 2.5 million annual hospital admissions in Canada similar to the type studied, about 185 000 are associated with an AE and close to 70 000 of these are potentially preventable. --END---
Russian health care
Chris Doss: Male life expectancy has dropped 10 years; female life expectancy by about 2 years. That should tell you off the bat that it has little to do with the state of the healthcare system, and a lot to do with a giant increase in alcoholism and stress among Russian men and a greatly increased availability of alcohol in post-Soviet Russia. The majority of the excess deaths are middle-aged men dying from cardio-vascular diseases (not from hunger-related diseases either, another frequent, and strange, canard. There is not much hunger in a country in which most people grow their own vegetables.) Alcohol was expensive in the Soviet Union and very cheap today. In fact, Russian healthcare is about the same as it was in the Soviet era: free and bad, although you are expected to give the doctor a gratuity. For instance, I had an operation on my lower gum in a state clinic in Kaluga. I gave the doctor $3. For treatment of frostbite in my fingers, I gave about $1.50 to the woman who lanced the blisters. A friend of mine just had work done on her ear, and she bought the doctor a bottle of cognac. In fact the majority of the income of Russian healthcare workers is probably in the form of such gratuities from patients. Reply: Chris - I am not disputing your main thrust in your attack on NYT versions of Russian doom. However, your note above bears some additional remarks: i) There is rather a lot of abundant epidemiological data re the drift down in longevity from the change-over from socialism to restored-capitalism. Yeah I know, having said the abundant bit - someone might belikely to say where? I will dig it out if anyone wants. WHO is the best source. On the USSR health care system previously, Henry Sigerist is worth examining. ii) The majority of the excess deaths are middle-aged men dying from cardio-vascular diseases (not from hunger-related diseases I cannot cite to you data re diet in the USSR today. But your dissociation of diet from CVS deaths - is misleading. iii) No doubt 'blat' -'gratuity'-'payment' - operates reasonably well. But there is undoubtedly a difficulty with getting admissions for emergencies. As for ICU circumstances - I am informed by colleagues in the former USSR that there are serious problems. One is person-power. I have a lot of friends here in Canuckia that are ex-USSR docs working as lab techs whatever they can find. I admittedly have not seen whether the younger generations have filled that older emigre-left 'technogap'. Hari Kumar
From New Scientist: How Well Thought Out Was the USA Tortures Iraqi citizens?
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns4976 Seen on Leftist Trainspotters: Abuse of Iraqis 'well thought through' 16:58 10 May 04 NewScientist.com news service The type of mistreatment Iraqi prisoners have suffered at the hands of US soldiers is unlikely to have occurred without the knowledge of higher authorities, say psychologists by contacted New Scientist - adding support to allegations that the abuse may have been condoned by superiors. The revelation that Iraqi prisoners were being degraded by their US captors at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad sparked worldwide disgust after graphic photos emerged in the media at the end of April. The images, which show naked male prisoners being humiliated, date back to 2003. A lot of people had to be in the know for this to happen. The very fact people felt confident enough to take pictures suggests that this was not something which was a secret, says Ian Robbins, a consultant clinical psychologist at the traumatic stress service at St George's Hospital in London, UK, who has treated both victims of torture and torturers. In fact, both the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Amnesty International raised the alleged abuse of prisoners with US authorities many months ago. The ICRC's findings from visits to 14 Iraqi detention centres between March and October 2003 prompted repeated requests to the coalition authorities that they take corrective action. A leaked ICRC report reveals how an intelligence officer in charge at Abu Ghraib had told the Red Cross when asked about captives being imprisoned in darkness for days that it was part of the process. The US administration has shown a consistent disregard for the Geneva Conventions and basic principles of law, human rights and decency, says Irene Khan, Amnesty International's secretary general. This has created a climate in which US soldiers feel they can dehumanise and degrade prisoners with impunity. Rules and regulations In all organisations, all teams, troops and people will replicate in some way the personality of the number one person in charge - whether it's the President, down to the general, down to the head of the jail, says Simon Meyerson, director of the Institute of Psychology in London. If you know there's going to be trouble, you won't do it. Stansfield Turner, former head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, says the abuse indicates the Bush administration's indifference to laws and rules and regulations. If it was just the actions of a few aberrant people, they would either have to believe their superiors condoned what they did, or that they could get away with it because of lack of adequate supervision, he told the BBC. He says the blame must be placed high. In this case I think at least a three or four star general should be fired - and fired immediately. Hooded and cuffed Sabrina Harman, a reservist implicated in abusing prisoners, has defended her actions in emails to the Washington Post saying she was acting on orders. She was photographed grinning next to a pile of naked, bound prisoners. They would bring in one to several prisoners at a time already hooded and cuffed. The job of the MP [military police] was to keep them awake, make it hell so they would talk, she wrote. Robbins told New Scientist: It looks to me that it was a well thought through process. He says acts of ill-treatment by rogue operatives acting alone are more likely to be routine low-grade violence - the odd slapping - and neglect, such as withholding food or access to toilets. He also points out that the methods of humiliation depicted in the images would be particularly offensive to Arab men. If you really wanted to humiliate an Arab man, you would strip him, have a woman present, and then have a woman degrade him. One recent image shows a woman holding a dog lead attached to the neck of a naked Iraqi man. Photographing such events is likely to compound the shame by placing it on record. Robbins believes the abuses revealed so far could have been stopped extremely easily by senior officers. Shaoni BhattacharyaAbuse of Iraqis 'well thought through' 16:58 10 May 04 NewScientist.com news service The type of mistreatment Iraqi prisoners have suffered at the hands of US soldiers is unlikely to have occurred without the knowledge of higher authorities, say psychologists by contacted New Scientist - adding support to allegations that the abuse may have been condoned by superiors. The revelation that Iraqi prisoners were being degraded by their US captors at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad sparked worldwide disgust after graphic photos emerged in the media at the end of April. The images, which show naked male prisoners being humiliated, date back to 2003. A lot of people had to be in the know for this to happen. The very fact people felt confident enough to take pictures suggests that this was not something which was a secret, says Ian Robbins, a consultant clinical psychologist at the
Imperialist booty
I have no idea why but a lot of the messages from the Saturday 7 May 2004, are not showing up. So this comment is in response to various items proffered on the thread of Imperialist booty. I was able to read them yesterday - but was too tired to comment. If I recall right - Charles brown called for some empirical calculations regarding the extent numeric value of super-profit' bribes. This was done by Bland in relation to Maoist claims regarding the labour aristocracy embracing virtually all workers how were not either lumpen or black/immigrants. This can be found at: http://www.allianceML.com/BLAND/ALLIANCE_SIZEOFCLASS_WBB.html The analysis only goes up to the late 1960's, I am trying to do something similar for more modern figures. Neither was Bill an economist, I sure am not one. However... Naturally this list may well correct this simplistic methodology, and such corrections will be undertaken to employ in future analyses. I was glad to see that this thread got a lot more discussion, than when I had first joined this list and tried to raise it. I recall being somewhat patronized. I was peremptorily told to go read Mike Davis - which I did - and no else really replied. It was not certainly not adequately dealt with on PEN then, nor by Mike Davis. [I cite Davis a lot by the way in various bits pieces thus respect his work]. So I am not at all surprised that some people basically still say, to paraphrase cannot understand what all the furore on this question is all about. If questions as to Who is the working class in a political sense - that one can anticipate in being part of mass movement - are relevant; Then who has been bribed - and how has not been bribed?, surely are questions that are self-evidently of importance. I would submit, that one feature of Maoism was to confuse developing radical movements in the West, as to who their first and immediate allies were. The substitution of the Angolan peasant as your immediate ally (for e.g.) rather than the white worker down the block or two or three etc - is pretty devastating. Cheers, Hari Kumar
re Paris Commune: (Was Re: capitalism = progressive?)
Mike Ballard: I agree with most of your observations and I'm not trying to play one-upsmanship here; but Marx and many others thought that the French--espeically the workers of Paris--had reached at least a level of class consciousness sufficient to begin to junk the old State machinery and to attempt to create a class dictatorship of their own: the Paris Commune of 1871. Of course, France was awash with a peasant class as was the Czarist Empire of 1917. While this is right, htat M did caution that it was inopportune - I think the overall message that M E did not support the Commune should not be left potentially haning in the air. If the masses moved, righlty or wronglY - M supported it. That is my interpretation anyway. Hari
Re: Mark Jones was right
Soula: "Jones was not only right.. his little peace on the castration of Japanese capital was one good piece of Leninist analysis" Could someone give me a link to that please? Thx, Hari
World Bank Asian Univeristy reforms
On the CKMP list: Hassan Nasir wrote : The Awakening of the Sleeping Giant By Riaz Ahmed Teachers throughout South Asia are protesting against the government policy sponsored by the World-Bank of introducing drastic reforms in universities, colleges, schools and hospitals. The proposed reforms aimed wostensibly at governance and efficiency are actually aimed at removing teachers representation in senates, syndicates, academic councils of universities, forcing teachers to work on contract basis, raising fee, downsizing and finally privatisation. The WB has sponsored Task Forces on Higher Education in scores of third orld countries like Ghana, Indonesia, South Africa, and Brazil. The corporate model of universities being debated in the US is being implemented in our countries. Colleges and schools are being targeted along with hospitals and other welfare public institutions. We give below a write up on an agitation by university teachers in Pakistan as well as the issues involved in the agitation. The author is Secretary of the Karachi University Teachers Society (the largest union of teachers of varsity in Pakistan. Today it is a well-known fact that the government is trying to get teachers' consent into implementing the Higher Education Reforms in the varsities. At the same time it is also getting a very stiff resistance from the teaching community all over Pakistan. The Steering Committee on Higher Education Reforms comprising the Vice Chancellor of Agha Khan University, Prof Shams Lakha as President, and Dr Tariq Banuri, a USA based sociologist, as Secretary, are finding it difficult to get the reforms approved from the teaching community at the campuses. Why is that so? Before we analyze that let us digress a little on the history of these reforms. Back in April 2001 the Federal Cabinet formed the Task Force on Improvement of Higher Education in Pakistan (TFIHE). The Task Force included 18 members. 3 Vice Chancellors from academic public universities and 7 private sector non-academics, education bureaucrats and other functionaries of the civil society/state. The TFIHE claimed to have met 412 people in scores of meetings it held in 8 months since April. 25 Vice Chancellors, 232 teachers etc were given presentations all over Pakistan. The VCs who attended the meetings either took their advisors or senior professors to these briefings but no word was spread at the campuses despite the drastic structural adjustments suggested by the TFIHE. In January 2002 the TFIHE came up with a hefty report digressing on the ills and the cures in the university system. The Federal Cabinet constituted a Steering Committee on Implementation of Higher Education Reforms in March 2002 with the task to suggest by August 7, 2002 improvement of higher education , that is, on the ways in which the reforms can be implemented. It is here that things started to go wrong. The Task Force worked quietly and hardly ever gave a press statement on its proceedings while the administrators from various universities, the US Based Boston group of Pakistanis and University Grants Commission gave their inputs. It is true that without much obvious hindrance the TFIHE formulated its recommendations. There was no hindrance because those who were going to be affected by the reforms were not being consulted. The Steering Committee began its work on two fronts. One was to gradually implement the recommendations of the TFIHE and the other was to identify teachers in the varsities who are willing to help implement them in a future scenario. As part of the implementation process the University Grants Commission is being disbanded and a Presidential Ordinance is in the offing that will create the Higher Education Support Commission. On more than one occasion the President has announced that the Minister of Science and Technology who is also a KU Professor, and is to retire in September 2002, is going to head the HESC. As part of identifying the individuals in the varsities who are willing to cooperate with the Steering Committee, both Prof Lakha and Dr Binouri began to call meetings of teachers in various varsities. Not surprisingly, the entire exercise of the SC and the TFIHE has been done and derived by nominated individuals. Everybody in the SC and TFIHE is unelected, most are non-academics. Following their natural-nominated-instincts, the SC chose not to involve elected representatives of teachers. Now there are scores of elected members within a varsity. Every varsity has a Academic Staff Association, each has 6 or less elected members on three statutory bodies viz., the Syndicate, the Academic Council and the Senate. Elected members on these bodies form a core leadership which has considerable influence on varsity administration. Ignoring the elected members was the need of the SC and the TFIHE. The entire focus of the reforms is to remove elected representation of teachers in the statutory bodies and replace them with nominated
Re: From Your Friends at Dissent
Michael P: "But it appeals to young people. It is very effective for students.I am negotiating with an agent now. She is insisting that I make everything "dumber" to make the work popular. To do so would require opening me up to the kind of questions that Zinn is getting -- but it is an art form to be able to do that. Doug Henwood has been able to write about economics at a popular level. I have not. Nor have most of us. On Sun, Apr 04, 2004 at 11:39:13PM -0400, Joel Blau wrote: Although it's good to have the alternative narrative all in one place, Zinn's book is not very good history--neither subtle nor sophisticated. You can read it for a while, but then it begins to feel as if he is simply stringing together a series of tales about people fighting back. Ultimately, it seems more journalism than history--good for the stories he tells, but in the end, rather unsatisfying. For what it is worth, it is not just students or young people who can benefit. I needed a primer of US history upon arriving in North America, when it was no longer quite adequate to simply chant "Down with USA imperialism". I do not think Zinn's stuff is as good as A.L.Morton A People's hisotry of England - but it is a useful starting point for the un-initiated in my view. H
Nader at 12% says Oz
At: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9060859%255E1702,00.html I fully realise that talking to a self-professed Stalinist-Hoxhaist, as though he/she/it is sane, is probably quite taboo - quite infra-dig - amongst true intellectuals - but could you possible try? Just treat me like an ignorant we will get on fine! MY COMMUNITY [The 0.005% of political activists who retain the True Hoxhaite Faith Scientific Knowledge of All Time Ages - naturally) WANTS NEEDS TO KNOW!! What is this guy's programme? My Googlie skills with a keyboard may be suspect, but I do not get a clear programme with my paltry searches (Goggle is not even up to Pubmed sort of sensitivity specificity in searching). I also get a Trot attack which is not un-reasonable to me - qualified support) at: http://www.labournet.org.uk/so/40usa2.html So what's this all about then? Again, Sorry MP _ Just trying to get to understand this Nader thing! Thanks, H
Nader-Am I missing the Point(s)?
Hello Michael: Sincerely, am not trying to stir the pot. Of course given the situation, it is not unreasonable that participants feel agitated on this matter. I do fully respect applaud your sterling efforts to keep sane discussion here - rather than a virulent insanity - on this list. But a certain degree of heat on this one is probably inevitable, possibly healthy? Forgive me participants, but your USA scene is so odd I really do need help. The thesis seems to be that: Kerry not very dissimilar to Bush. OK - I agree - Kerry is pretty pro-USA-imperialist. But: What is the Nader programme all about? Is the only reason to vote for him that it is not allowing the avalanche of votes for the Dems? What does/whom does Nader represent? Is the recent kerfuffle/postings on the list about the 3rd party force, suggesting that Nader is that? Sorry to be so slow. Thanks, Hari
Saudi Arabia - References?
Dear Pen-ers: Recently I was in Saudi Arabia, realized how little I knew of what was going on there regarding the dissident movements. I turn to you for help in locating: i) Good RECENT books on Saudi Arabia politics; ii) After having talked to many Saudi women physicians, references regarding the teachings of the Koran itself on Hijab. As an aside, Saudis that I talked to in some detail, who were quite open about matters - made a huge distinction (repetitively) between tradition custom - on the one hand - religion. Curiously this appeared to be whether they were pro-Hijab or otherwise. All very confusing. But the contradictions in Saudi seem close to exploding point - to a naive outsider on a quick jaunt. Thanks in advance to those who can assist. Hari Kumar
Re: article on MR website
Michael Yates wrote: What went wrong? Looking at the broad sweep of history, we can perhaps identify some of the forces at work and bad decisions taken. First, as Marx pointed out, capitalism creates workers in its own image. It is hard for workers to grasp the nature of their circumstances, .. Mike B) comments: Here, I would more deeply develop observations on reification and the fethishism of commodities ... If workers don't consciously understand that their skills and time are commodities in the marketplace, they remain lost, suseptible to manipulation by others as opposed to candidates for making change for themselves. When they see themselves as the producers of the world, they can begin to accumulate the integrity necessary to organize to reclaim the the social product of their labour. They can begin to see that solidarity with other workers gives them more power in the marketplace. They can begin to see why they feel helpless and powerless as atomised individuals who define their freedom in negative terms i.e. my freedom is directly related to your unfreedom : women, blacks, other workers, other nationalities and so on. Question: Michael - I enjoyed your article. In relation to the comment from Mike - could I ask both of you as to whether there is a little too much emphasis on the 'concious' aspects of revolt? Perhaps inchoately, I am trying to refer to the citation 'ruling class' being unable to rule any longer' one of the strands in Lenins' What Is to be Done? - that it is not propaganda that will change the attitude of the workers, but thier life experience. Hari
Re: science in the corporate interest; yet another iteration
* Eubulides [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] posted: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16954 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16954 In Science in the Private Interest... Dear Eubilides - thanks, an interesting article. No solutions (perhaps naturally). Some factual errors - regarding the restoration of Dr Olivera's reputation. In any of this, as any trooper knows, mud sticks. This has definitely happened to Dr.O. It did not help that her red flag on the drug - was not corroborated after (as far as I know the later literature). This has tended to obscure the generic message. More worrying is the lack of solutions in a situation where the trend for scientists to be forced into an un-seemly and dirty bed with the companies is growing. The reality is that: i) Peer funding is getting harder harder; ii) Research that in a prior day could have been done on a shoe string good will, is pretty difficult nowadays; iii) Universities are simultaneously demanding more publications in better journals; begin cut off at the knees in terms of state funding. An obvious impasse. Richard Horton shows the problem well. But he does remain somewhat 'agnostic' on the solutions. He is a little more forthcoming in person, but even with a few GT's was cautious! The solution - well - as a Ml-ist I hesitate to say the obvious! It is in truth, a very difficult situation. the intense competition at all the 'usual' agencies is getting virtually impossible. Only 15% of applications to the Canadian Inst Hlth Res will get funded. I know the NIH is about as bad, if not worse. Wonder what the reformists on the list would proffer as solutions? Hari Kumar
Stats OED: [Was Re: demo fervor]
Sabri Oncu : Heteroskedastic means non-constant variance. If you look at the way the data varies with time, the fluctuations are larger initially and the fluctuations attenuate as the time progresses, although they appear to get larger again towards the end. Moreover, you just have 13 observations. I would never reach any conclusions with that many observations. Q: Is this the same as regression to the mean? Thx H
Thanks
THANKS very much Julio! The Herfindahl is the sum of the squared market shares. H = 1 means monopoly. H = 1/n (for n very large) means a perfectly competitive market. Julio ___
Re: US infant mortality increasing ? To Joanna
Joanna: Hari, I think you should add another factor to your list: women are not only giving birth later, but having children in a fairly stressed state (because of working full time until the last minute)...and having to return to work sometimes days after delivery. Surely that doesn't help. HK: I fully agree with you J. My point before was that the prior message, to me had implied a down-grading of more general societal impacts on Infant MR. Your point is well taken. I recall coming here from a still buffered UK welfare state to a situation where women were staggering around the work-place maneuvering in between small places generally looking exhausted - until virtually the moment they were due to pop. All to save the maximum amount of weeks off (a paltry potential number given by the Canadian Governemnt, at best) to spend on junior afterwards. Understandable, but very societally sad. There are a couple of randomized controlled trials (RCT) in fact that have targeted time off work. One was in France, where the time off work was pretty generous (I think - details fuzzy - I have not read it for years). The intervention did reduce rates of preterm labour, but if I recall was only of moderate effect size. The question of stress - its' effects are possibly (definitely I should say) much longer that just giving birth quick. Apart from the predicted consequences of stress' on the mother (depression etc) on the family vibes (hell etc) - there is a body of work arising that shows how hard wiring in the brain changes with stress. The stress that you I think of - becomes modulated into biochemical stress via the pituitary-adreno-cortical axis. [I shuddered when when the Axis of Evil phrase came about, I knew another wording in my nomenclature of life woudl be tained with awful memory impressiosn!]. I referred a while ago to the experience in the Romanian orphanages. Similar stuff goes on in less dramatic ways in other social systems it seems. Now, I forget myself, exactly where we on environment gene interactions? Cheers Hari PS Personally I agree with your pragmatism on voting. But I suppose I also should read Marx far more carefully - or perhaps for the very first time.
Simple Question please.
Surely it'd be possible to correlate Herfindahls Ginis, no? Hasn't someone done this? Doug gini I understand as a coefficient allowing some guess at level of equality. What is a Hefindahl please? Thanks, Hari
Re: US infant mortality increasing ? from 12 Feb
Says Juriaan: CDC suggests the 2002 rise in American infant mortality may be a one-time blip, and the US infant mortality rate for 2003 is expected to drop. Previous CDC research suggested the recent rise in infant mortality may reflect the long trend among American women toward delaying motherhood, because: (1) more women have put off having their first child until their 30s or 40s, at which time they are more likely to have babies with birth defects or other potentially deadly complications; (2) older women are more likely to use fertility drugs to get pregnant, which often lead to twins, triplets and other multiple births that carry a higher risk of premature labor and low birthweight; (3) more babies are being born prematurely or at low birthweights, because more doctors are inducing labor and using Caesarean sections for delivery. Multiple births climbed more than 400 percent between 1980 and 1998 because of fertility treatments by older women. Historically, the strongest underlying etiology of Infant Mortality Rate apparently is the well-being/wealth of a society overall. I would corroborate the CDC view that an increasing proportion of low birth weight (LBW) infants, are from the groups seeking (1) (2). But the corollary of that is that the survival rates of these infants have been rather dramatically increasing. Even in the most at risk - the 1000 g BW infants. Rather than attribute all to the increase in LBW, I suspect (but have not chased the data as of yet) that more societal factors are at work. Hari
Re: Psychoanalysis happiness being transient - Masquerades as a book plug for David Healey
On 9th Feb, Doug Henwood wrote: In a panel on Psychoanalysis Politics at 2001 (?) Rethinking Marxism conference, one of the participants said that she didn't expect socialism would make us all mentally healthy - it would just give us a better set of problems to work on. Sorry to be so tardy. - This is rather rambling, but I see no one has stinted themselves overly on this thread. As a lad, the choice was stark in the communes I haunted: Either you thought psychiatry could help you were thus 'pro-establishment' - or you were a Laing-ian exploring your inner souls repressions formed by Capital. All well good - till we hired a minibus went up to London town to hear the great man. Laing came on in a florid floral shirt proceed to sit in an arm chair (I think this was the Royal Albert Hall for Gawd's sake) proceeded to harangue abuse the followers, in a drunk/drugged stupor. Luckily one cut the Giordian knot in this One or the Other biology, with the help of Engels Lenin. at about the same time, I saw the misery of these people their famous as a psychiatric resident. So Doug's cautionary remark re that socialism will not necessarily make happiness, was of interest. However, in my experience, clinicians massively under-rate the effects of environment. one small example: A worker recently examined the Health Related Quality of LIfe (HRQL) as self-reported by children with Spina bifida. SB is a very serious disease of the spinal cord. What predicted the children adolescents self-perception of HRQL was not the biology (How high was the spinal cord cut?) but their mothers Hopefulness. We all know what society life often does to hope. Anyway - the book review: In spite of Louis' cautionary note re Prozac (Actually - was it a cautionary note - it dwelt on getting high?) - I strongly recommend a book I just acquired called Let Them eat Prozac; by David healey; Lorimer; Toronto 2003. Bless Canadian Association of University Teachers - who have defended academic freedoms for so many. Healey was the sentinel canary-in-the-mine however, that alerted many Canadians to these sort of problems. He got turfed from a Chair-in-waiting for warning of the dangers of this class of drugs, as Elli Lilley had funded the Chair. So Michael P - Sorry for the ramble, but I suppose it does have an economic component. Hari Kumar
reply:yo-da-ladeee.. .yo-da-lay-deeeeeee Rockefeller (was Iowa)
"Rocky money was also tied to medical science and the Flexner Report. . .which helped create bio-medicine a century ago. . .the scourge of social medicine. . . Brian McKenna." Hi Brian: (i) The 'scourge' of social medicine? But that great apostle of social medicine - Virchow was at the leading edge in his time of 'bio-medicine'. I am sure you probably did not mean to be quite so black white. The 'conflict' between bio-medicine social medicne - is like so many shibboleths false polarites in capitalism I would contend. ii) More interesting is the link between Flexner's report the rise of bio-medince. My understanding had been that although he was a 'scout for the Carnegie Foundation', Flexner was largely focused on medical educational standards. A side effect might indeed have been restriction of such to minorities such as blacks/women etc. In any case, Starr P: "Transformation of American medicine" - does seem to corroborate what you say (pp. 123-127). Thus I had not been aware that he had actually been of the following opinion: "Flexner denied in his report that the 'poor boy' had any right to enter medicine 'unless it best for society that he should" ... P. 125 Ibid. Hari
Public Inquiry into Arar case announced
Ken Hanley: I am very surprised by this. I thought that Martin would avoid an inquiry. Cheers, Ken Hanly http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1c=Articlecid=1075291136761call_pageid=968332188492col=968793972154 http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1c=Articlecid=1075291136761call_pageid=968332188492col=968793972154 OTTAWA It is rare as far as I am concerned that the CBC gets anythign right - but perhaps they did tonight? The reason they proposed, was for the Liberals to hide the issue away until after the Spring General Election. Makes sense to me. Cheers H
Ontario Strains its' Doctors
Many Ontario doctors are so fed up with the lack of resources in the health system that they're considering either retiring or leaving the province, suggests a new poll released Tuesday. One in every six doctors in the province is seriously considering leaving Ontario, while another 22 per cent are thinking of quitting medicine altogether, suggested the survey conducted by the Strategic Counsel. . The provincial Health Ministry has said 133 communities are underserviced, and that 1,968 more doctors are needed. Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara has said that doctors and other medical professionals must live within the province's means as the government battles a $5.6-billion deficit. The Strategic Counsel contacted 2,000 doctors for the survey that was conducted for the OMA. http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040127.wphys0127/BNStory/National/
Completely off-topic - but hot tip - Frayn's Copenhagen
Anyone seen the play by Michael Frayn on the Heisenberg-Bohr relationship? Strongly suggest those in the Toronto area try to see it. It is in my view, a multi-faceted dialectical play of the highest interest. The acting is superb - bar the somewhat always-the-same mannerisms of Martha Henry. Hari
Re M.Moore etc
MP wrote (paraphrased): you put it better than I did; Doug Henwood wrote: Fighting a Republican party that passionately believes in mostly horrible things is pretty hard when you're a party of capital that, given its constituencies, has to act like the popular party at the same time. That ideological division makes them bad at partisan conflict, esp when their rival's approach is take no prisoners. Question: This is addressed to many who have written on this strand: So - just so that I understand - there is no difference between the two parties? Please bear with my naiveté, I am honestly not trying to be either difficult or provocative. Hari [By the way Doug: When you are in London - great exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery of the servant].
Re: Michael Moore et al: To Louis
Louis: I am clear that I misunderstood you - when you clairfy in tihs ntoe that you are not an 'abstentinis'. With repsects to the Green party I suppose you are quite aware of infomration on Portside today, that they won a signficant vote (I think in the SF area). My apologies, I caught one strand fo your views. As for your further comments: 1) Lenin's tactics, especially those laid out in Ultraleftism, an Infantile Disorder, were intended to gain advantages for the revolutionary movement at the expense of the social democracy using critical support. He never intended that they be extended to bourgeois parties. Well, Lenin viewed those SD parties as bourgeois parties. Certainly if you read his writings with the British (Dreadnought Pankhursts etc) in mind, that is clearly the intent. 2) You say: These are exactly the kinds of people who do not vote. They lack the identification with Howard Dean's mix of Birkenstock-NPR outrage and conventional Democratic Party economic policies, let alone the snarling visage of the party in power. Do you mean to say that the Greens can get such people out? I mena more generally than in the SF area? 3) I am advocating a return to the electoral policies prior to the late 1930s when for the very first time in our history the radical movement tied its fate to the Democratic Party. Our traditions are those of the Populists, the Progressives, the Socialist Party and every other electoral formation that struggled to break the stranglehold of the 2-party system. What are yours others recommendatiosn on the best sources of that history? Thanks, hari
Re: Michael Moore et al -Carrol Cox
CC: 4. If a real fascist (or some new kind authoritarian populism) were to arise in the U.S. it could not be defeated by DP politicians. It could only be defeated by the unity of a _real_ social democratic party _and_ the 21st c. equivalent of a communist movement. But those urging us to support the DP this year are telling us to postpone once more the effort to build a mass left movement. Supporting the DP intead of focusing on our real task of mass-movement building can leave the u.s. helpless against fascism down the road. Ok - I see what you are saying. So please let me see even clearer what it is like down there: What mass-movement building - are we/you talking about? hari
Re: Michael Moore et al
I trust this is not too old a thread to allow further comment. I know that PEN-ers may be allergic to the name, but still - I was surprised that the old Leninist adage of Support them (=social democracy) like a rope supports a hanged man - did not come up. Though the intent of Jim C's return to Dimitroff did encompass a recognition of the older literature. The intent obviously behind these types of tactical strategic alliances ( Lenin's work is full of this real life tactics strategy) is to EXPOSE in power those who peddle illusions; expose them where they cannot whine (as they so often do while in OPPOSITION) that they do not control things. I will accept that this is perhaps this is not such an issue where there is no social democratic party (i.e. in the USA). It certainly applied to the UK under Thantcher; I think that it applies to the Canadian electoral circuses with the NDP. However, I cannot believe that some modification of this view does not allow mobilisation behind a non-SD-ic but liberal candidate - i.e. in the circus of all electoral circuses, those taking place in the USA [Oh sorry, I forgot India - they are the best cirucses I have seen]. I agree with LP's perspective that in the USA, the CP of the 30's 40's in rigid-sectarian march, spurned possible alternatives, as far as I knwo that hisotry. But - to descend now to abstentionism seems entirely wrong to me. To cover that track with a high sounding label for future generational viewing as the Abolitionists, is chaff. [Hey - sorry, just my view]. I do find it difficult to understand the translatiosn of such abstetionism into daily life: What actions one would propose to those who saw themselves as disenfranchised by the last electoral theft; How to approach the first time potential voter in a tenement dwellers. What do you concretely say to that person? Forgive me - Calm down - PLEASE -I ain't calling anyone here a fascist so no one fly off their handle... But, why isn't this tactic akin to saying: There is no difference between fascism bourgeois democracy? Reserving the right to view Michael Moore with humour not as our left saviour. Cheers Hari
Not Understanding What This Has to do with Fidel Economics.. but Does Anatomy Rule?
Mike ballard said: There seems to be greater recognition today that abused children tend to grow into becoming abusive parents/adults themselves. It seems to me to be a conservative cycle which has the effect of putting a psychological stopper on the social revolution. Of course, if all imposed, hierarchical power tends to breed abusive social relations, then capitalism has a moral problem and becomes even more of a fetter on the freedom of humanity. To Mike Others: There is a fascinating (and relevant to this discussion) set of data arising, partly from the Roumanian orphanage tragedies, that early abuse hard-wires the brain into fixed anatomical visible differences by MRI scanning. Of course the implications for the whole Nature vs Nuture thing - are tremendous. As an extension of this - the reverse also true. Hence likely many here know of the Bowlby monkey experiments. Recently much work on this in 'newer' model systems able to tease out the molecular under-pinnings of this, re-emphasize the importance of an early (meaning childhood/infancy) experience of love. I have mentioned before here, the Whitehall studies, where those higher on the totem pole of the 'civil' service have better health outcomes than those lower, has been related to control issues. PS: To Michael Perelman: Lurkers may be here to learn! As me. I appreciated very much the naive economic questions from - I think Mike B - who received expert tuition in economics. As a non-economic lurker, I often feel that I may waste others' time if I did that - although several times the need to ask has hit me. So I very much appreciated the 'nerve' of Mike B in doing that. Cheers, Hari
Re: Amnesty International
Dave: Thanks very much indeed - you got the one I had fleetingly seen. Lou: Thanks for the review on AI on Palestine. Cheers thanks again, H Not to myself: must not lose URLS's, must not lose usLrp's. must not.. Re: Amnesty International by dave dorkin 26 November 2003 01:09 UTC Thread Index I would be grateful for assistance: Recently there
Amnesty International
I would be grateful for assistance: Recently there was somewhere or other an article analyzing the stances that Amnesty has taken, showing its' marked preference for pro USA positions. Does anyone recall this where it might be found? My goggling being less than Pugliesian in its over-whelming-ness, has been unsuccessful in locating said. Thanks for any help, Cheers, Hari Kumar
Re: John Nichols on James Weinstein on Oscar Wilde and the Left
Wilde is in the general tradition of William Morris (NEWS FROM NOWHERE, etc.) Jim D. COMMENT: Mine is a simple remark, in the context of the discussion taking place on the matter- largely irrelevant. But I do object to the simplistic equation of William Morris (A man deeply involved with forming a Marxist Party and mass links) Oscar Wilde (A man representing the highest of individual courage). I say largely irrelevant - since the deeper purposes linkages of the men involved, informs the purpose of their writings. Hari
Re: secret history of the magna carta Michael Perelman
Thank M, for a good reading tip. As i read the very interesting piece from Linebaugh however, I found a sort of yearning for a past utopia. His critique of Robertson he cites early on, discredits Robertson - apparently upon the lack of evidence that King John was literate. [Since when did stop the ruling class puts its imprint on anything?] Since I am not an expert on middle age law, I found myself retreating to my usual Guide to English History as a first resort: the much under-known largely ignored Peoples History of England, by A.L.Morton; First 1938 most recently 1974 Lawrence Wishart. I still think that sometimes less is more. Not that the thrust of Linebuagh's article extolling the Commons and the commoner should be forgot. This was also the message of others in the past such as JL Barbara Hammond amongst many others. We will not even discuss Marx's excoriation of those like the Duchess of Argylle. Anyway, that old hack Stalinist -pickaxe wielding nutcase Morton has this to say - I think is more historically relevant in the big picture: In the last resort the barons retained the right of rebellion. This was always a desperate expedient, and in England, where the power of the Crown was greatest and that of the barons least, it was almost hopeless. Even the strongest combination of barons had failed to defeat the Crown when, as in 1095 and in 1106, it had the support of other classes and sections of the population. John, ablest and most unscrupulous of the Angevin kings, did make the attempt to pass beyond the powers which the Crown could claim without a violation of the feudal contract. He levied excessive fines and aids in ways and on occasions not authorised by custom; he confiscated the estates of his vassals without a judgement in court; he arbitrarily called up cases from the baronial courts to his own royal courts. In' short, he showed no respect for law or custom. His administrative machinery directly threatened baronial rights, and indeed the rights of all free men, of all, that is, who were concerned with keeping in effective working order the feudal state, one of whose main objects, it must never be forgotten, was to keep in their place the mass of serfs and cottagers. Nor were his innovations confined to the barons. The Church was similarly treated, and the towns, which during the two previous generations had been growing increasingly con-scious of their corporate rights, were made to pay all kinds of new taxes and dues. Ile result was the complete isolation of the Crown from those sections that had previously been its strongest supporters. John was peculiarly unfortunate in that his attack on the Church was made when it was at one of its periods of exceptional strength under a superb political tactician, Pope Innocent III. Even so, it is possible that he might have been success-ful but for the failure of his foreign policy. A dispute over the succession with his nephew Arthur led him into a long war with France. One by one he lost the provinces his father had held, including the dukedom of Normandy. The loss of Normandy meant for many of the English barons the loss of huge ancestral estates. In their eyes John had failed in his first duty, that of guarding the fiefs of his vassals. At the same time the loss of their foreign possessions made them more anxious to preserve those still held in England. At this moment, having lost the support of the barons, John became involved in a direct dispute with Innocent III over the filling of the vacant Archbishopric of Canter-bury. Ignoring the King's nominee, and contrary to the well-established custom, Innocent consecrated Stephen Langton, and to enforce the appointment placed England under an interdict. He followed this by declaring John excommunicated and deposed, and persuaded the kings of France and Scotland to make war on him. John organ-ised a counter alliance which included Flanders and the Emperor. His forces were crushed at the Battle of Bou-vines in 1214 and the English barons refused to fight. Even a last minute submission to Innocent failed to win back the support of the Church in England, and Langton con-tinued to act as the brain of the baronial revolt. John stood alone. It was not even possible for him to call out the fyrd, which in the past had been the trump card of the Crown in its struggles with the nobility. This fact in itself indicates that the movement against John was to some extent of a popular character. Unwillingly be submitted, and at Runnymede on June 15th, 1215, he accepted the programme of demands embodied by the barons in Magna Carta. Magna Carta has been rightly regarded as a turning point in English history, but almost always for wrong reasons. It was not a 'constitutional' document. It did not embody the principle of no taxation without representa-tion. It did not guarantee parliamentary government, since Parliament did not then exist. It did not establish the right to trial by jury, since, in fact, the
Liberian events to 1990
http://www.allianceML.com/CommunistLeague/LIBERIAissue1990.html Given the nature of current events in Liberia, I felt this above was still of use. Penned by the deceased W.B.Bland of Communist League (UK). Alliance is up-dating said piece. Hari
Re: Economists barred from court?
Re Andie Nachbogebornen: If Daubert is a defense weapon, and I suspect it is, it is because firms like mine probably have the money to hire better experts, .. You don't need an econ degree to do it, just some understanding of statistics and an operative bullshit detector. COMMENT: I know nothing about the application of this under USA law, but it does seem to me that if you insist on the rules of evidence (As applied in medicine) that in general that is a good thing. The rules of evidence for medicine [applied to aetiology-causation/diagnosis/prognosis/therapy etc] have been relatively clearly enunciated by Guyatt G Sackett D - in a couple of now standard texts. Despite those, difffering scientific opinions naturally still exist. Therein lies the bit about the amateur-pop-science judges being enabled to toss things out as being unsupported by science. H
New Dimensions in physiology
Carol: Simply having someone to talk to who isn't too stupid can help with many mental illnesses, and reasonably intelligent ones will have a stock of information and gimmicks that may help more. E.g., it was useful to me to find out that the lead ball in one's stomach that often accompanies depression or anxiety can be cleared up with deep breathing -- it is brought about by an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the lower lung. REPLY: Hey Carol: this one is one me without any extra-billing! i) What ever works - works. It is called the placebo effect. ii) I do not understand the explanation offered: That is brought about by an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the lower lung. This might invoke something called a V/Q mismatch (ventilation prefusion) but it is utter balderdash. I think - that most respiratory physiologists would have a hard time understanding that one in relation to the symptomatology you describe. iii) Deep breathing - speaking as a person brought up on yoga - is indeed, highly relaxing. But for the reasons ascribed ? iv) Indeed - psycho-therapy is NOT = to Freudian psychoanalysis. But name me 20 psychotherapists who are NOT heavily influenced in the Freudian concepts. v) At least in the disgustingly liberal Ontario-i-o-o - NOT all who can bill the state for Therapy - are psychiatrists. Even - NOT all are MD's! How liberal of us eh? vi) Anyway, having been thru' all the RD Laing stick - it is all a pile of shiteee.. As both engels Mr lenin had it -- Materialism means that there are indeed Material changes. Whether they are driven by INTERNAL events - or EXTERNAL events.. or _ Heavens above! - are DIALECTICAL can be interactive - is entirely another matter. H PS Forgive me my tone on this one!. I actually agree with many of your posts.
Freud Assessing Un-Blinded Experimentation
Ds2UP: wrote: I'm assuming you mean medical research here; I'm entirely unsure how you'd define the concept of a double blind in social sciences research, most of which is not experimental. And even in the medical context, I think that the demand that psychoanalysis use double blind tests would be silly. It's one thing to give someone a placebo pill, but how in the heck do you carry on a placebo version of a talking cure? COMMENT: In fact there are many situations where it is impossible to blind a placebo. The best that can be done - frequnetly is - to use standard therapy. Think of a big machine based therapy that is so bloody big it is obvious to the patient. What to do? What is often NOT done then - should be done much more frequently - is to use a blinded outcomes assessment. Freudian therapy is in principle no different. Having never seen an honest RCT of freudian thepay - one that straitfes for income of patient by the bye - I will proclaim it sucks. Not to say that Freud's cognitive insights - devoid of data - were helpful! i.e. Whatever the outcome is - percent successful quotation of Karl marx to walking a red line accurately - is done BLINDED to the initial randomization. By the way: Is Ian is still reading - thx for your reply! But the poor benighted ML-ist [Hereafter PBML-ist] did not get what it/she/he wanted. So - yes that quotation was certainly expressive of Popper. What i was driving at - was that you you were saying that there was a lot of literature 'attacking' [paraphrase of PBML-ist] Popper. ti sounded as you were talking that this emanated from respectable Philosophical sources. Please cite! Cheers, H
Freud Lives!
Carrol wrote: Actually, psychoanalysis has virtually disappeared from psychiatry and serious neuro-science. It survives only in literary criticism and among those marxists Timpanaro described as believing the Freud never made a mistake. Fewer and fewer medical schools have psychoanalysts on their faculty even. COMMENT: Well that may be. But then academics - and physicians perhaps as brilliantly as economists - have their heads in clouds. I can tell you buckets, oodles of luvverly are charged to Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP - forget what the frigging P is all about - ?Plan) for 'pschyotherapy' otherwise known in the rough trade as hitting the wallet HARD. Cheers, H
To JD Ian re Popper: Aid to the poor benighted Marxist-Leninists Amongst Us Please!
The conversation went: I noticed that a major element of Crews' critique of Freudianism (in the New York REVIEW OF BOOKS a few years ago) is that it can't be falsified (following Popper's criterion). Unfortunately, this seems to apply to all_ of social science (and to Popper). == Popper deplored the issue of reflexivity and self-reference from the moment it was turned on his own conjectures... Ian COMMENT: Can you both expand? I am aware of Muarice Cornforths's The Open Philosphy The Open Society - [not read it for many eyars now] - but to what body of work are you two talking about?? - - ?? Thx, hari
To Ian Jim: Find it very difficult to believe.
I would beg to differ. I simply find it rather improbable what you Samir Amin are suggesting. Although Ian, thanks for your links! I will indeed check them out. With all due respect, I think you must have a very hard time 'rationally' explaining the immoral war in Iraq - the sharp divisions un-earthed during the war between EC countries USA UK - if you really think this. And I suggest that it is no 'answer' to reply that it is an 'irrational' war one of just ego/bombast etc. Any way, the analysis in part, offered below, is what we would suggest: From Alliance 52 via: http://harikumar.brinkster.net/AllianceIssues/A2003/ALLIANCE52/FRONTCOVER.html : " We will argue, that one key aim of the current war is to capture the oil supplies of the Middle East in order to deny them to the major competitors at this moment - Primarily the German, French imperialists - but secondarily, also the Chinese and Russian nascent "immature" imperialists. According to recent reports (See BBC at : http://www.bbc.co.uk/business/programmes/moneyprogramme/archive/oil.shtml ) there are some fundamental problems regarding oil production: i) New finds - of new geographic stocks are dwindling: "The rate of oil discovery has been falling ever since the 1960's when 47 billion barrels a year were discovered, mostly in the Middle East. In the 70's the rate dropped to about 35 billion barrels while the industry concentrated on the North Sea. In the 80's it was Russia's turn, and the discovery rate dropped to 24 billion. It dropped even further in the 90's as the industry concentrated on West Africa but only found some 14 billion barrels." http://www.bbc.co.uk/business/programmes/moneyprogramme/archive/oil.shtml ii) Production of oil based energy is dropping: "In America, always the greediest consumer of oil, production has been falling for 30 years. Americans guzzle 20 million barrels of oil a day, but now they have to import over 60% of it. That pattern is being repeated elsewhere. Geologist Dr Colin Campbell predicted a decline in the North Sea several years ago and claims by 2015 Britain may have to import over half its oil needs. "In 1999 Britain went over the top and is declining quite rapidly," he says. "It's now 17% down in just three years, and this pattern is set to continue. That means that Britain will soon be a net importer, imports have to rise, the costs of the imports have to rise, and even the security of supply is becoming a little uncertain," Campbell adds. In Norway the government forecasts that in the next ten years its North Sea production will halve. In Argentina oil production has been down for several years and in Columbia, which was a big producer in the 90's, production is now past its peak." http://www.bbc.co.uk/business/programmes/moneyprogramme/archive/oil.shtml iii) Even with Iraqi oil, by 2010 there will be a short fall: "Whatever happens, rebuilding Iraq will be a huge job and only US companies have been invited to bid for contracts But even if Iraq does boost its oil production ironically the effect could be short lived. Its vast reserves represent just four years of world consumption and by the time Iraqi oil is flowing freely, global oil production may already be in terminal decline. Campbell thinks the decline will start by 2010. "It starts with a price shock due to control of the market by a few countries, and it is followed by the onset of physical shortage, which just gets worse and worse and worse," he says." But this is old news! Because the Bush Administration itself had emphasised all this, in a report of Dick Cheny, called the National Energy Plan - released in 2001: " In essence, the Cheney report makes three key points: * The United States must satisfy an ever-increasing share of its oil demand with imported supplies. (At present, the United States imports about 10 million barrels of oil per day, representing 53 percent of its total consumption; by 2020, daily U.S. imports will total nearly 17 million barrels, or 65 percent of consumption.) * The United States cannot depend exclusively on traditional sources of supply like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada to provide this additional oil. It will also have to obtain substantial supplies from new sources, such as the Caspian states, Russia, and Africa. * The United States cannot rely on market forces alone to gain access to these added supplies, but will also require a significant effort the part of government officials to overcome foreign resistance to the outward reach of American energy companies. " Michael T. Klare; "Bush's Master Oil Plan"; Pacific News Service; April 23, 2002; at: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12946 The understanding of the Cheney report, that all this imperils the oil supply was quite clear: "But it is also true that the areas that are garnering the greatest degree of attention from Washington the Middle East, the Caspian Sea basin, and the Andean region are also areas that figure
To Bill Lear: re soldiers cops
Bill writes: The stance toward them should be the same: they are both pawns, usually non-wealthy, fed intensive propaganda, left largely ignorant of the big picture, and placed in often dangerous situations where it is nearly impossible to do the morally correct thing. They should be held responsible for their actions, but those who direct them, set the scope of their activities, etc., deserve far, far more condemnation. Comment: Agree they are 'both pawns'. That sort of terminology brings up the further point: Without 'turning' both of them, the left will be gunned down. It was a key part of the military tactics of prior revolutionaries to incorporate that thinking. H
Models of Bring 'em down
re-posted from ISML list ___ THE STRATFOR WEEKLY 03 April 2003 by Dr. George Friedman Baghdad Summary From the beginning of the war-planning process, Baghdad posed the greatest challenge. The United States does not want to fight an urban battle, but the conquest of Iraq cannot be complete without the fall of Baghdad. The initial U.S. action -- trying to kill Saddam Hussein -- was designed to trigger a political capitulation that would make a battle for Baghdad unnecessary; it didn't. Iraqi resistance may collapse simply out from attacks and internal weakness. But if this doesn't happen, three war-fighting models will be available. One is the fall of Paris in 1944 -- the favored U.S. strategy. The second is the siege of Budapest in 1944-45 -- six weeks of encirclement and bombardment, with civilian casualties. The third is the fall of Berlin in 1945, with the attackers losing almost 80,000 men in three days. Berlin is out of the question. Paris is the model the United States wants, but the danger is that it will slip into a Budapest mode. Analysis Any discussion of the war in Iraq has always turned on the conquest of Baghdad. The capital city is the heart of Iraq. It is the country's political, administrative and structural center. The fall of Baghdad does not necessarily mean that all resistance will immediately end in the rest of Iraq. However, without the fall of Baghdad, this war cannot end. The fall of Baghdad has always been the central challenge facing U.S. war planners. Baghdad is a world-class city in terms of size and population, with more than 5 million people. The U.S. Army has never taken a city of this size in the face of significant opposition. Few armies have done so. In direct assault, capturing a large city against resistance tends to cause large casualties among the attacking forces. In 1945, the Red Army had Berlin completely surrounded; it had complete air superiority and massed artillery. The city was held by the defeated remnants of the German army, including large contingents of young boys and old men poorly armed and ill-trained. The Soviets were battle-hardened veterans. Moreover, the Soviets had no compunctions about nor political liabilities attached to causing massive casualties among the civilian population. They controlled the pattern and tempo of the offensive. Nevertheless, in the direct assault on Berlin, the experienced Soviet forces suffered nearly 80,000 dead and close to a quarter-million wounded in about three days of fighting. There are other strategies for subduing large cities. In 1944-45, the Red Army surrounded Budapest for six weeks, pounding it with artillery fire and aerial bombardment, before entering the city. By the time Soviet forces entered the heart of the city, resistance had collapsed. The siege took weeks and cost countless civilian lives, but Soviet losses were relatively light, compared to other battles fought. Other battles for cities ended poorly for the attacker: The Germans failed to take either Leningrad or Stalingrad after investing heavily in both battles. The point is that urban warfare is one of the most difficult exercises in warfare, and most armies avoid direct assaults on cities, since these are risky operations and almost invariably carry high casualty rates. This is particularly true in large cities. Moreover, in a war in which civilian casualties represent a significant political consideration, an assault on a city is generally to be avoided. The United States did take one world-class city in its history: Paris in 1944. It took the city with very light casualties to either its forces or to the civilian population, despite the fact that German troops had garrisoned the city. The key was political, not military. The German high command had ordered that troops resist and that they carry out a scorched-earth policy, in which defeat would mean the catastrophic destruction of the city. The local German commanders neither resisted nor carried out the order. Rather, they capitulated. The United States was able to occupy the city without assaulting it. Indeed, if an assault had been necessary, Eisenhower would have insisted on bypassing Paris. He was not about to engage in high-intensity conflict in a city the size of Paris. Paris was as much about politics as about warfare. The German commanders in Paris command were disaffected with the German political leadership. They were certain that the war was lost. Neither the commanders nor the troops were eager to die for a hopeless cause, and the commanders were aware that not only would the Allies hold them accountable for the destruction of Paris, but that a peaceful capitulation of Paris would put them in an excellent position in a postwar world dominated by the United States and its allies. The negotiations that occurred took place not between the Allied high
re:Canada part of axis of evil?
So Ken - Why do YOU think Chreiten pulled in that direction? H
Request re CNN clip
Does anyone have a clip/picture/reference to a very brief image shown (probably in error - shown only once that I saw anyway) when an African American man held up a picture of his son killed in Iraq said: President Bush- take a good look at this boy - remember him - because you killed him. We'd like to use it. H
re:Why Britain wants the war
Ken Thanks for that. It made a good deal of sense. What is the source pelase? Thanks again, H
Re: patriotism by andie nachgeborenen
1) I would dare to conjecture that the last thing you want is to receive any support for your position from a Marxist-Leninist.. However you will have to put up with it I guess! But I think all of this is setting up false straw people: 2) i) Love of one's country =Not chauvinism ii)Love of one's country =Not 'My country right or wrong' iii) Love of one's country =Not Vote for war credits iv) Love of one's country =Not disdain for (proletarian) internationalism v) Love of one's country =Not jingoism PS: Sorry - cannot do my usual sign for not equals! 2) I am not a chauvinist - for example, I was severely chastised at Roy Thomson Hall for refusing to stand for the Canadian National Anthem when the Governor-General was there - Why don't you go back from where you came etc. But - nationalism is a fact of life in this world reality. IT will take a number of generations under socialist rule - to erase into a true world cosmopolitanism. 3) Do Devine Yoshie feel that the national spirit that has up-lifted the Iraqi people to fight the USA imperialists is bad? This is the logical consequence that seems to me likely to flow from their utopianism. Hari Kumar
Re: patriotism by andie nachgeborenen
Yoshie says: It would be true to say that Japanese leftists are firmly opposed to many nationalist symbols that signify Japan's lost empire: Hinomaru, Kimigayo, Yasukuni, etc. Reply: What the hell has that to do with it? This is one of the equations I suggested was a NOT= to. It is another straw man-woman. Are these people against Hiroshige, against Cherry Blossom time ? H
What are Tony Blair's Chretien's Class interests?
Dear Chris Ken - I address Chris - (tho' it is all an open question of course) as he is clearly diligent about the UK angle - Ken since he is a Canuck: Let us for the moment simply agree to watch what happens. I certainly have no crystal ball - the Stalingard Thesis (I see it cited again in the Observer today by an Arab writer) can be left to the test of Old Man time.. With minor acknowledgement and all due respect to cavillers cautionaries - generally there is much overall agreement between all left forces as the overall forces at work in the USA pushing to war. Even - this might be very rare - ranging from the Trot analyses of Alex Callinicos to the ML-ist analyses (such as those of the humble forces of Alliance ML). 1) But what exactly is the Blair class interest? What force does he objectively represent? [Some will gag at that word - tough banannas]. Skimming "This Blessed Plot - Britain Europe from Churchill to Blare"; by Hugo Young - does not directly help me. However, rather like previous scions of Labour (albeit Old Labour) it is I believe possible to paint him as a pro-USA stooge that was working to subvert the EEC from within. Absurd? IF so - what is that little reptile - objectively speaking? [Please note: I am not looking for an existentialist response here]. What section of capital does he represent in the UK _ financial or industrial - or both - what? I have no data. 2) KEN: As for Canuckia: Old Jean - has taken a major warning from the USA bulldog-ambassador Celluci. Fair enough. However I was used to seeing the old style limited manoeuvring of the Canuckian capitalist class more or less ended with the NAFTA stuff. [Canada History of a Bi-National State at: http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/CCS/ALLIANCE6_Canada93.html ] So.. Is there some hurrah left in the old wilted Trillium-Maple leaf - or what is going on? Seeking Inspired Guidance, and Gratefully Yours, Cheers! Hari Kumar
Stalingrad - it's official
Dear Chris: I really would hope that you are right. But, again I doubt it. The "worried sick" look on Blair's face in the interviews at the War Summit with his leader Bush - certainly indicate that Blair is worried and sick. but what about exactly? Of course the longer the heroic struggle of the Iraqi peoples plays out, the worse is his likely political fate. But.. Stalingrad? I still doubt that - Guerilla warfare with significant casualties on the "Liberators"? YEs. But - no victory to the Iraq peoples in the short term. Again - what is the definition of "defeat"? The USA will be defeated purely by teh monumental exposure of imperial arragant might that this war shows. The exposure of the events to the peoples of the world - including in North America in the UK - is a HUGE victory - in the long term for us. But - in the sort term a different story I suspect. That is what I think anyway. Cheers, Hari
Re: Re: devastating news for hegemons; by soula avramidis
Dear Soula: You ask: the apparent readiness for suicide attacks etc. this suicide is new to the near east, records show that unlike Hungary or Denmark, suicides on the Persian gulf are few and far between. what could drive people to do that en masse must be seminally related to a social condition that nurture the culture of suicide or mass suicide. for instance, in eastern Europe, Russia, Forgive me, but perhaps I do not understand your point. But surely the explanation is a rather simple one? And incorporates a correct view - of the Iraqis, that Iraqi soil should not be dominated by foreign imperialism. Although bourgeois intelligentsia have often been disparaging of mere 'nationalism' in the era of 'globalisation' - this is patently an un-realistic and un-human viewpoint. It is indisupatable that the Iraqi peoples have suffered enormously under Saddam [See Alliance Monthly at http://harikumar.brinkster.net/PAPER/FEBRUARY2003/TABLECONTENTS.html Article recaptiualitng old data that Saddam was first propped by USSR social-imperilms, and then by USA imepriasim etc: http://harikumar.brinkster.net/PAPER/FEBRUARY2003/SADDAM.html ] BUT - the Iraqi peoples read the books printed in Cairo goes the saying in the Souk. Hari Kumar
Chris Burford: Defeat?
Dear Chris: you write: Saddam, vilified as an admirer of Stalin, may have taken a leaf out of Stalin's book: to play the war as a great patriotic united front against the aggressors. And as (Sir) David Frost let slip in his amiable way in an interview this morning, could Saddam be preparing Baghdad as his Stalingrad? There was no answer but it is a good question. Allied communication lines could suddenly look very extended against televised guerilla warfare. This morning suddenly there is at least a 10% chance that the hegemonic bloc will be defeated. It has been caught by its own impatience. If it does not get quick mass surrenders soon, it will get bogged down in longer warfare, which has even greater risks for it. That risk of defeat, under the potential democratic impact of global communications, could rise above 10%. BUT: is there not an element of wishful thinking here? Someone else (?Devine) said leftists get over-wishful. 1) The parallels with Stalingrad are fairly naive. The only thing that is comparable is that Stalin Saddam had a long standing warning and were able to some extent prepare. [We will not here address the ludicrous and historically wrong viewpoints that Stalin ignored/deluded himself re warnings that Hitler was about to invade]. But the distinguishing features are just far too many to make any such comparison meaningful: - geographical penetration of small country vs a huge country; rings of servile states willing to allow invaders to land/refuel/eat and drink etc... Stalin had taken care to knock out the pre-announced landing ase of Finland [under very generous terms to ensure neutrality - we can discuss that another place if needed]; very differing pre-conflict capacities of the country being invaded. 2) 10% chance of defeat? I think the question becomes - How do you define defeat? 3) What is interesting is that France is NOT being passive here. France announced that It was going to send a French force of experts on WMD to assess any claims that might surface that the Liberators found WMD. With the First Pres of Algeria I say Vive La France!. However... 4) I am also with Kelley here - I may not be an economist Like Krugman Devine - but sure as hell - we are looking at an attempted re-division of the world, and the Old Europeans are in it vs the USA the Vilnius 10. 5) The problem of progressives and leftists - we are fucking disorganised. We have no friggin party. H
You are right Ken
Ken wrote: Tell me if the US commentators point out that not only Iraqis have violated Geneva conventions by putting prisoners on TV but the US did the same. In fact they did it first! I would be interested if the US stations play the grisly videos of the corpses. Some of the prisoners are wounded it seems. Two at least are from Texas, and one is a woman. Well you are right Ken! The CNN did not do so; but the BBC the CBC did do so - sowing pictures of Al-Jerazza. There is something really disgusting about the pretnentiousness of the USA reporters. Frequently the CBC is so as well, but it is so much better. Hari Cheers, Ken Hanly
Re: death toll and media watch
Chris: I agree that this might be useful. Having heard the sanitary Frank briefing on the box just now, such a listing is even more important. It seemed ot me that the only serious questioning came form the BBC the CBC. As a Canadian aside, the news regarding the friendly fire incident (In Afghanistan - USA fighter pilots killed Canadian on ground exercises in friendly fire - I think N=4) - the refusal to move to court-martial by the USA authorities was timed just right. Hari Kumar
re: Iraqs weapons of mass destruction
Ken: The point was made to the 'Great Liberator Franks' - by the CBC press and one other reporter (could not catch who) as to whether or not the Iraqis really had WMD, or was this a lie allowing the invasion? Franks evaded the question's thrust, merely saying that they are waiting to see what happens, and that undoubtedly weapons will be found. He stated also that 6 SCUDS have been fired to date - 6! It might behove the Weapons Inspectorate to draw up very careful plans to verify the inevitable claims that will emerge, that the USA and UK Have found the smoking guns. Naturally - the Liberators MUST provide this proof now. Hari
The Kurds Turks the pressures re Iraq
http://harikumar.brinkster.net/AllianceIssues/CLOUD.htm
Thank you
Thanks Eugene! H
Query
Is anyone aware of documentaries on video or via the net - on the Venezuela struggles over the last year? Thanks, Hari Kumar
re: AFL-CIO Shake up by Devine
Title: afl-cio shake-up: Businessweek/MARCH 17, 2003 http://www.businessweek.com:/print/premium/content/03_11/b3824091.htm?mz) Question: Anyone have any idea whether the salaries of these worthies are published anywhere? Hari Kumar
Re:Re: Re: Iraq's oil rents by soula avramidis
Hello: Do you have a reference for this please? Lenin wrote to the national bourgeios movement in Syria in 1917 to inform them of secret plans for the division of greater Syria, that was because the zarist foreign minister was in on it with mr sykes and and mr peucot (the sykes picot treaty). Thaksn, Hari Kumar
re: Palestine Truth Tour 2003 Michael Hoover
Dear Michael: How may one 'book' this tour - or elements of the tour - for Canadian venues? Hari
Canada IMF
From the ML_ist Daily: IMF Praise for Canada The International Monetary Fund (IMF)is a financial spokesperson and organiser for the international financial oligarchy. IMF credit is routinely used to protect the investments of U.S., Canadian and other monopolies in those countries that have been bled white by imperialist exploitation. The IMF credits are used as a kind of insurance fund that allows the monopolies to cut their losses when a country suffers serious collapse. IMF credit eventually flows back to those monopolies that may be badly exposed in troubled economies. IMF credit is also used as political leverage to attack those social and political forces in the oppressed country that want to take measures to regain control of their national economy and restrict the operations of the foreign monopolies. Like most bureaucracies under imperialism, the IMF has become an international institution with its own life and interests. The IMF routinely issues economic guidelines for most countries sometimes accompanied with threats to withhold promised funds if the advice is not followed. Those instructions are then repeated in the international mass media with much head bobbing and analysis by leading academics. The process creates an aura of authenticity and seriousness that IMF proposals would otherwise never receive. In a country like Canada, the IMF instructions are mainly propaganda, a part of the continued effort to give authority to government economic policies dictated by the financial oligarchy that have no scientific or humane credibility. The recent IMF missive aimed at Canada heaped lavish praise on the Liberal government for continuing to pursue its anti-social offensive. The really only concrete IMF proposal was for what it calls health care reform and Kyoto. It is interesting that the IMF guidelines were issued only two days before the release of the Romanow Report on Health Care Reform. The IMF suggested the federal government fund new initiatives such as health care reform and Kyoto from existing programs or risk undoing the great strides it has made in improving Canada's economic foundation. What are the existing programs that must be cut to divert funds to health care reform and Kyoto? The only specific program mentioned for further cuts was the employment insurance program. Labour market flexibility could be further enhanced by scaling back regional-extended benefits. Moreover, EI programs directed at broader social objectives could be funded instead through other, more efficient, sources of revenue, which would provide greater scope for further lowering EI premiums, the IMF said. What are we seeing here? The IMF seems to be suggesting that public money taken from EI and other unspecified existing programs should be diverted to health care reform and Kyoto. A national insurance plan to partially fund the purchase of drugs has been bandied about. Is money going to be taken from the employment insurance fund and given to the U.S. and European pharmaceutical monopolies? The Canadian working class and people must be vigilant. Unemployed Canadians should not be made to pay for health care reform. That is not investing in health; it is robbing poor Peter to pay rich Paul. Health care reform must restrict the right of the monopolies to profit from illness and injury. Where the money comes from to invest in social programs is intimately related to the demand to Stop Paying the Rich! Billions upon billions of dollars in Canada which are expropriated by the government on behalf of the class it represents are distributed through institutions and schemes they set up behind the backs of the electors in a form of civilized corruption which includes the legal patronage system. But these billions are not considered available funds when it comes to meeting the claims of Canadians or society. Now that Canadians are embarking on a national campaign in defence of a fully-funded national health care system, it is crucial that all myths about the non-availability of funds be laid to rest.
Chomsky by MP
Whoa! Hell's teeth - a film Made the case that Pol Pot had to move the people out of the cities in order to avoid starvation. Gad! You people give Stalinism a bad name! Pol Pot was a fascist - you are scrabbling around to find some potential 'sense' to his actions? Steve Diamond is absolutely right. Besides which _ I must also say that Carol is right. Somehow Good Old buddy Louis is allowed the most virulent drippingly-'sarcastic'' (Y'all know of course how LOW sarcasm is as a form of humour eh?) Anyone else who try to drop a little humour is sternly told to piss off or grow up. And as for all this kick-another-reflex-anti-Stalin-shit - Well lets all toe the party line- Eh? finally the thought of Lou being a Stalinist is perhaps the most sarcastic comment that one could make. H
Re:Re: Negri explains the multitude
Charles: But if all this is unfair, let him come on this list and defend himself like normal human beings have to do.> Comment: Charles, please do not take this amiss, but why the hell would he? I mean while we gathered here - might get something out of this lark on PEN - what meaning does it have? This actually comes back to the matter of What is the real function of PEN? No scratch that! Commander Michael: I will follow PEN! Hari
Re: Economy in novels
I am impressed by both the scope of offerings - and the volume of replies to this question! I am surprised however, by the lack of The Jungle by old Upton Sinclair; the lack of Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressel (altho' I guess it could be classed as old - tho' if Shakespeare's old Richard remains eternally youthful - I agree - then so does Tressel). I second Haldnor Laxnesss I.Silone Smebene Ousmene - but I do miss other 3rd world writers. (I don't know what world Iceland or Italy is - OK)... Try: Mulk Raj Anand Coolie Untouchable Abdul Bismillah The Song of the Loom; Chaman Nahal Azadi Premchand Ghodan - The gift of a cow. Sarat Manesh For an appreciation of Sarat see: http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/SocialistArt/SARAT_BLAND.htm I also enjoy Yashar Kemal - virtually anything. Oh - And as an explicit and especial antidote to Jim Devine for his sci fi - I offer Nikolai Ostrovsky How the Steel Was Tempered. Hari K
Re: Polluted Air Increases medical expenses:ken hanly
Ken: Thanks. Have any economists done an analysis on the societal benefits resulting from reduction of emissions etc.? Given the barrage of stuff from the anti-Kyoto-ists in Canada - it might be useful grist. PS: What do you think the Chretien push on Kyotot is all about? Leave Martin with the bill? H
Who Is the More Avid Poacher?
Ken: There is probably a lot more poaching by Canada from the UK and particularly South Africa etc. then the US poaches from Canada. Our local hospital has two doctors from South Africa and one from Poland, and that is the total number of doctors there. REPLY: Hi Ken: Yes there is indeed a lot of dr traffic into Canada - indeed some nurse traffic. Two things have stopped that: The infamous Stoddard Report that said there were too many drs in Canada; the monopolistic-restrictive practices of the College of Physicians Surgeons of the various Provinces. That was an exception for so-called 'under-serviced' areas. [The 'restrictive' practices were even more intense vis-a-vis nurses who were very handicapped in moving to Canada]. After Solidarity - I taught a class of hundreds of Polish docs who were trying to re-train. But then the refugees docs were plugged. It is only now that a shortage of docs is once gain publicly identified - that refugee docs are being enabled to enter the system. As far as nurses go: the funnel is fully open at the other end. In practice especially high tech services - ICU/NICU/ER/Operating room nurses - vanished into the maws of the USA system. I do ton know the figures as to who is more avid? Canada - or the USA.
re: Building socialism with Chinese characteristics
Dear Ken: Your sub-heading: that is to say--- creating a smooth transition to capitalism - must prompt the question in reply: Was China ever anything other than capitalist? Cheers, H
re: US needs 1.2 million more nurses by 2010
Chris: This is definitely not a new problem. It has been the same with 'poaching' from Canada. It is one of the reasons that the English speaking metropolitan countries have used English countries for sourcing nurses ( drs let us add) as we have discussed on the list before. It may - I grant you - be getting worse. H
Re:re: re: From Toronto Star_Assaults on Public Health Carein
Dear Philip Ken: Now that the mud-slinging has (temporarily?) subsided with rapid fulminant exhaustion of the slingers, it might be actually worth continuing. Both you Ken outline many similar matters. Of course we Northern Neighbours still await with bated breath the Royal Commission (I forget - do we call it Royal in Canada? I still get my countires mixed up - alwyas saying lifts not elevators f'r instance) I do not think there is any shade of difference between myself and either of you on the substantive interpretations. And that includes - at least as far as Philip goes - that indeed the Canadian population has shown signs of revolt. Or at the mildest, intense disapproval! But the central question that Michael P raised can be interpreted as: IF there was a backlash/reaction, why is it not sustained/on-going? To my reply offered, namely that social-democracy has effectively caved in - what is your reply? I think this can be linked to a strand started as "Uh-OH" - and then commented upon by Peter Dorman. Poor Peter laments that no one replies to his interventions, but I thought his intervention (to Wit: Perhaps, but we should not forget that the implosion of the institutional left (labor parties, social democratic parties, reformist parties like the Democrats, etc.) has occurred in every advanced capitalist country. The same vacuum on the center-left can be found in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, you name it. Obviously, something structural has taken place in the world economy that has changed the balance everywhere.) You clever economists might take the bait provided in Peter's last sentence. But, perhaps a lay-person could suggest that it a huge political element in all of this is the disintegration of any working-class party. I am sure before someone lectures me on reductionism anti-dialectical splitting - that they are closely intertwined. But My main point had been that of Peter's - if you ain't even got a social reformist party worth that name, what have you got? My other point was, there has got to be some party building going on. Unpopular, simplistic, old-fashoned - but what else you going to do - all you brainy anti-"What Is To Be Done-ers"?? Tired Old-Saw-One Themer Hari
Hi Joanne- re 2WW - I almost forgot
Hi Joanne:
I know, I know - I said I would not try to reply to all your points!
But in amongst all the recent extraordinary mud-slinging - I had
overlooked your dump on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Well, none of this
will convince you, But at least it is off my chest!
I will argue here, that the diplomatic history of the period shows that
the USSR tried BLOODY hard to get an anti-fascist front, but that the
imperialists were trying to shove Hitler East.
See for instance Documents Relating to the Eve of the 2nd WW;
International Publishers; New York; 1948;
or; Axell A: Stalin's War Through the Eyes of His Commanders; London
1997;
or Grand Delusion: Stalin The German Invasion of Russia; Gabriel
Gorodetsky; Yale 1999.
They butress my following precis of the argument drawn from an anlysis
by the alte W.B.Bland, at our web-site. All of these ( many other
books) more or less project the following scenario:
1) that the USSR was being set up for attack, that this was the
function of the infamous Munich appeasement sessions. The set-up of
the USSR had started in the Spanish Civil War (which I note you have
commented on also, I would contend that Stalin was aiding the
Republicans that the USSR was being sabotaged in this also: see:
http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/CommunistLeague/Compass123-Spain1996.htm
).
2) The secret diplomacy of the pre-SWW shows clearly the collusion of
the imperialists with the German fascists. e.g.:
British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax is on record as telling Hitler
in
November 1937 that:
he and other members of the British Government were well aware
that
the Fuehrer had attained a great deal. . . . Having destroyed
Communism in his country, he had barred the road of the latter to
Western Europe and Germany was therefore entitled to be regarded as
a
bulwark of the West against Bolshevism. .
When the ground has been prepared for an Anglo-German
rapprochement, the four great West European Powers must jointly set
up the foundation of lasting peace in Europe.
('Documents on German Foreign Policy: 1918-1945', Series D, Volume
1;
London; 1954; p. 55).
See:
http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/AllianceIssues/WBBJVSNaziPact.htm
3) The onset of moves agisnt Poland by fascist Germany provoked Lloyd
George to set up talks with the USSR. However, the Anglo-French
delegation did not exactly set off to the USSR in a hurry - nor
empowered to actually take substantive steps: :
On 23 July the British and French governments finally agreed to begin
military discussions before the political treaty of alliance had been
finalised,
and a British naval officer with the quadruple-barreled name of Admiral
Reginald Plunkett-Ernie-Erle-Drax was appointed to head the British
delegation. No one, apparently, had informed the British government that
the
aeroplane had been invented, and the delegation left Tilbury by a slow
boat
to Leningrad, from where they proceeded by train to Moscow. When the
delegation finally arrived in Moscow on 11 August, the Soviet side
discovered
that it had no powers to negotiate, only to 'hold talks'. Furthermore,
the
British delegation was officially instructed to:
Go very slowly with the conversations;
('Documents on British Foreign Policy;', 3rd Series, Volume 6;
London;
1953; Appendix 5; p. 763).
http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/CommunistLeague/Compass123-Spain1996.htm
4) The US Ambassador to the USSR (Joseph Davies) made clear that these
(one of many) filibusters of the imperialists, was exasperating the
USSR:
On 11 March 1939 Joseph Davies, the former US Ambassador in Moscow,
now posted to Brussels, wrote in his diary about Stalin's speech to the
18th
Congress of the CPSU a few days before:
It is a most significant statement. It bears the earmarks of a
definite
warning to the British and French governments that the Soviets are
getting tired of 'non-realistic' opposition to the aggressors. . .
It certainly is the most significant danger signal that I have yet
seen.
(J. E. Davies: 'Mission to Moscow'; London; 1942; p. 279-80).
http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/CommunistLeague/Compass123-Spain1996.htm
5) The Soviet Zhadnov made public the increasing urgency and the
continuing dilemma:
On 29 June the leading Soviet Marxist-Leninist Andrei Zhdanov published
an
article in 'Pravda' which, most unusually, revealed that there were
differences
in the leadership of the CPSU on whether the British and French
governments
were sincere in saying that they wished for a genuine treaty of mutual
assistance:
the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations on the conclusion of an
effective
pact of mutual assistance against aggression have reached a
deadlock. . .
.
I permit myself to express my personal opinion in this matter,
although
my friends do not share it. They still think that when beginning
the
negotiations with the USSR, the English and French Governments had
Re: Re: Re-Assaults on Public Health-To Joanne Carrol
Hi Joanne: I agree with what I take to be your drift - the term American uttered in some circles with a hatred, can be mis-used to 'blame all Americans, for what the USA system has done. Point taken. Agreed! Hi Carrol: I am not sure why you ask such a pointed question of a simple statement. I know of no meaningful literature on building a ML-ist party that abstracts the subjective from the objective factors. Was I even suggesting that the party (There -I've said it! i.e.; the subjective factor) somehow dropped from the sky? You perhaps are confusing me with others. Rather than the 'abstraction' you point out of one factor from another, the more common anomaly/missing-link, on the active left is the question of the party. High-minded ones deliberately shun and shut down such debates. Cheers, H
Of interest Only to Yoshi
Yoshie: Sorry - re lateness reply sorry to address you via PEN-L [I could not easily see your address]. You asked for writers for Journal of Poverty speical issue re Latin America. Dr Jose Venturelli would be interested - he is very authoritative re child helath poverty in Latin America. See corespondence below. Hari. [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] ___ Friday, October 25, 2002 6:30 PM Subject: Query re: Poverty Inequality in Latin America Query re: Poverty Inequality in Latin America by Yoshie Furuhashi 25 October 2002 16:52 UTC Thread Index My friend Keith Kilty is an editor of _Journal of Poverty_ http://www.journalofpoverty.org/index.htm http://www.journalofpoverty.org/index.htm . He's now working on putting together a list of contributors for a special JoP issue on poverty and inequality in Latin America. If you know excellent scholars on the subject, let me know, and I'll pass the names to Keith. (I've already recommended James Petras, Abril Trigo, Dan La Botz, and Michael Hoover.) ___ Jose writes: My first answer is YES, I would like to contribute to it. It would not be difficult for me to do it as these are subjects that I deal with and discuss all the time on my international work. I need some precisions though: a. When is this issue on Latin America Coming out? b. What is the expected length of such an article? It comes to my mind that a a long article of mine is coming up in a Brazilian Journal dedicated to Health and Education. It's called Health and Education in Latin America (It is in Spanish but translatable) It will appear over two issues. I do not know whether is the one of the current month and next or a bit later. I will be attending in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the World Social Forum (see ww.portoalegre2003.org) for details. I am sure you will be interested in the themes and discussions. This point of convergence of progressive people has become a majoy one and is an important forum to all people that suffer the current Globalization of Exclusion that we are spoon fed every day. At the site I have given you you will fond lots of English articles and news. The meeting is a the end of January and I would have been to Bolivia, Perú, Argentina, Chile and Brasil by then. This is to say that if the Issue on LA of the JoP is for the spring, I would have more material. That is why it would be crucial, at least for me, to know both: length of the article and actual timing. I need time too as in all those places I will be having lots of activities that need preparation. Does this answer your question? Please, get back to me. Regards José
RE: RE: Re:harmonization
James You acknowledge in your note below, that there may be greater inequality. So what do these overarching figures showing improvement really mean to progressives? Incidentally I understand by the term 'welfare state' a rather more substantive 'welfare' than has ever been provided. Perhaps the Ashoka era India did comparatively better in my un-researched opinionated point of view. Certainly post-pseudo-Independence there never was a 'welfare state' that could equate to Western Europe. Hari Title: RE: [PEN-L:31879] RE: harmonization And at the same time their GDP per capita has risen, I understand that they've moved away from welfare statism and toward greater inequality and environmental pollution. But I'll bow to the experts on this question. All I can do here is to explain what I was talking about. According to http://www.indiaonestop.com/gnp2.htm, per capita NNP at factor cost (per capita national income) rose from 1630 Rupees in 1980-81 to 2608 in 1995-96 to 2761 in 1996-97, measured in 1980-81 prices.
Re: Re: RE: Re: RE: RE: RE: Re: RE: Re: dismantling due..To Joanna
Dear Joanna: I do not intend to take issue with each substantive point that you make. I am happy to do so if you choose to insist. I honestly do not think that in this forum, it is likely to be of any use. However, I do certainly take exception to an equation of Stalinism with events up to 1989. There is pretty good evidence that JVS was surrounded by a host of not comrades but enemies. there is very good evidence that his ecoomic polices were abruptly reversed after his death. That they were not reversed earlier was due to his fight againt Khruschev Vosnosensky. Cheers, Hari See: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/wim/wyl/hoxha/bland/index.html * also see The Leningrad [Vosnosenksy] Affair http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/wim/wyl/hoxha/bland/ussrleningrad.html
Re: Re From Toronto Star_Assaults on Public Health Care in
Dear Michael: You ask why there isn't a backlash? Perhaps Ken or others from C should chip in, but I would suggest this: (i) There is still enough 'heft' in the health care services to carry the majority of people, it just has not dug into enough people's real health status as yet; that is especially enough of the middle class. Especially we will ignore the effects on the Native Americans/Indian peoples etc. [I mean they don't really count do they?] (ii) There is NO party worth its weight as a genuine vehicle of the people's rights. You understand of course, that there is no ML-ist party - but I mean for crying out loud - There is not even anything of a social-reformist/social-democratic force that has exerted itself adequately in shape/size/form - for many years. (iii) Thus the eruptions of protest that DO occur - they DO: (e.g.; Witness; immense public shows in Alberta where the reactionaries have proceeded further perhaps than anywhere else in Canada; Witness: in BC where a very large public workers strike was reported in PEN_l by some correspondents; Witness: in Nova Scotia ditto etc..) are ultimately fizzling out. There is simply NO party that can/will/wants to build on these movements and is willing to use them as a vehicle to crush capital. Heck - even crush the worst manifestations of capital. (iv) The Objective factors are all there. What is lacking is the Subjective factor. But then you would expect this old Stalinist salt to say that - wouldn't you? Yeah yeah - hackneyed crap eh? What do Ken the other Canucks on the list say? (v) - But really - the question is much better phrased to the Americans on the list - why the hell have they not erupted? I mean the US health care system sucks - so much worse than the Canadian. Yet??? I suggest that it is for the same reason. i.e.: The lack of the subjective factor. I know that does not sit well with some. However... that is just my little old view. H
Re: Iam Murray re Uneven Development
Ian: Thanks - very sharp reminders of what is really going on. I was recently a programme grant reviewer for an RFA from the NIH on reduction of racial disparities in maternal child health inequities. 5 times approximately $1.5 million were to be awarded Hari _ORIGINAL:_ US in denial as poverty rises Sunday November 3, 2002 The Observer ...New Haven as the birthplace of President George Bush... It is a city with the same infant mortality rate as Malaysia and a terrifying rate of deaths from Aids - one day care centre alone commemorated the loss of 600 clients at a memorial service on Wednesday. But it is located in America' richest state, Connecticut, which has, proportionally, more millionaires than any other.. The proportion of children without health cover has increased from 63.8 per cent to 67.1 per cent. The poverty rate for children in the US is worse than in 19 'rich' countries, according to a study by the University of Michigan.
Re: Re: Readings needed on Marxist analyses of Theater
Brecht - is usually cited in these discussions. I contend that he is problematic. The whole notion of 'alienating' your audience is profoundly illogical to me. His personal behaviour at various points - strikes me as momentously less than socialist. Noticeably his grovel to that McCarthy committee. Anyway: My votes; 1. Any of George Thompson's works of Greece - which deal also with theatre of the Greeks - see THe First philosophers; London; Lawrence Wishart 1977. 2. Stanislavski-A Biography; by Jean Benedetti Methuen Press London; 1988 3. The Theatre of Meyerhold-Revolution on the Modern stage; Braun Howard; Methuen; London1986. 4.Consider Augosto Boal :Theatre of the Oppressed; Pluto Press 1979. 4. Very strongly recommend - related - not only theatre: Karl Marx World literature; S.S.Prawer; Oxford UP; 1978. Alliance has many articles on Socialist Art on its pages. Hari
Morgan-ists Ride On
Gene pioneer urges dream of human perfection By CAROLYN ABRAHAM From Saturday's Globe and Mail http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021026/wxwa= ts1026/Front/homeBN/breakingnews James D. Watson, the grand duke of DNA, described one of his greatest=20 fears yesterday to a packed auditorium: that society will be too=20 scared to use genetics to make people as perfect as they can be. Dr. Watson is one of the founding fathers of modern genetics. He was=20 in Toronto for the respected Gairdner Foundation awards, which this=20 year honoured the scientists who unravelled the human genome. He said=20 the information will allow society to eradicate and prevent not only=20 diseases but any other traits that might be deemed undesirable. Going for perfection was something I always thought you should do,=20 said the 74-year-old Dr. Watson, peppering his radical perspectives=20 with trademark humour. You always want the perfect girl. Would it be wonderful to turn the shy into extroverts? Calm down the=20 hotheaded? Turn cold fish into warm human beings? As Dr. Watson sees=20 it, the genetic revolution puts all these issues on the table. We'll be able to make correlations between genes and certain=20 professions, genes for the undertaker - they really don't cry very=20 much, he said, or the sprinter. It will be an absolute flood that will start to explain=20 everything ... even the cold fish. Dr. Watson was younger than many of the students who came to hear him=20 when, in 1953, he and Francis Crick discovered the molecular shape of=20 deoxyribonucleic acid, known for short as DNA, at the famed Cavendish=20 Laboratory at Cambridge University.=20 The double helix soon defined modern medicine, opened the field of=20 molecular biology and transformed criminal justice with DNA=20 fingerprinting that has convicted the guilty and exonerated the=20 innocent, and that remains one of Dr. Watson's greatest prides. But those are the field's obvious merits. The gangly, white-haired=20 Dr. Watson, Nobel laureate, past Gairdner winner, author of seven=20 books and recipient of 32 honorary degrees, was not at the University=20 of Toronto's MacLeod Auditorium to rehash highlights or to reminisce. He had come to talk about the future and the thorny issues facing=20 society now that it has the human-genome map, which contains the=20 precious instructions to build and operate us all: the fruit fly, the=20 family pet, and even, Aunt Mary. Dr. Watson took aim at scientists for not openly discussing where=20 genetic progress may carry us. It's my impression that none of the genome-project leaders have=20 gotten up and said, 'What we are going to do with this information; I=20 think we should use it,' he said. Maybe they're afraid of offending=20 people. Never veering from controversy, Dr. Watson believes that women and=20 their right to make reproductive choices could create the ideal=20 future, where prenatal genetic screening keeps the sick or=20 handicapped from ever being born and disease from being a serial=20 killer. In an interview earlier in the week, Dr. Watson mused that hang- gliding accidents might one day be the leading cause of death. He is also a proponent of so-called human-germline engineering, in=20 which doctors could add or delete elements from egg and sperm cells=20 that will be passed down to future generations. Perhaps adding genes that will turn slow learners into whiz kids, he=20 said, or those to prevent smokers from ever developing lung cancer,=20 or genes making people HIV-resistant, might be part of the future. But laws all over prevent DNA additives to the germlines, Dr.=20 Watson lamented. I'm sort of distressed when people say enhancement=20 is bad -- the question, they wonder, is 'Who will we enhance?' Some of Dr. Watson's comments are unlikely to calm anyone with those=20 thoughts, particularly when it comes to people's appearance. The=20 Chicago-born scientist - a well-known admirer of attractive women (he=20 titled one of his books Genes, Girls and Gamow) who keeps a 2002=20 calendar of tennis bombshell Anna Kournikova in his New York office -=20 said nature can be cruel: Who wants an ugly baby? Yet he admits people accuse him of wanting to use genetics to=20 produce pretty babies or perfect people. What's wrong with that? he countered. It's as if there's something=20 wrong with enhancements. Dr. Watson stressed his vision is not a bleak one. He too was haunted=20 by the world portrayed in the 1997 film Gattaca, where genetically=20 perfect members of an elite, conceived in labs, reign over the=20 genetically invalid, created naturally and condemned to society's=20 lowest jobs. The movie theme echoes concern that genetic enhancements will be=20 available only to the wealthy, widening the gap between haves and=20 have-nots. But Dr. Watson has more faith in the species: Most humans=20 are programmed by their genes to have compassion for their
re Autism etc..
Dear Pen-ers: (1) There is considerable data [A lot of good stuff of which was provided by CJ] to suggest that the health risks of IVF are considerable. I am not myself aware of any direct autism links. (2) JD notes the matter of toxicology. It is simply at this stage - unknown what the health burden of toxic environments are. Extrapolating however from 2 directly measurable matters - that of tobacco (measuring metabolic outcome measures of nicotine - cotinine) cocaine - the likely burdens of clinically relevant health outcomes are huge. What this means for autism - is entirely unclear to me at any rate. (3) I am not working in the psychiatric field - but it would seem to me (from reading my own clinical experiences) that autism - is a syndrome - and not a single disease entity. I bow to JD's superior knowledge here - but I contend that as the molecular patho-physiological explanations get sharper, the community will be able to discern a heterogeneity within the phenotypic expression of the same phenomenon that constitutes the outward expression of autism. (4) Simple environment alone - or simple genome alone- explanations alone - are...Untenable. Both at an abstract theoretical level - or by the test of experience. This was in fact, one of the keynotes of Lysenkoism. (5) No - please do NOT bother to jump down my throat.. In my own view, Lyenkoism was the exact reverse and opposite REACTION to Mendel-Morganism. I AM NOT a Lysenkoist. See: Lysenko, Trofim, History of Genetics; Dialectics in Biology- Lysenko, Nature Society -Reductionist Biology As Khruschevite Revisionist Weapon at: http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/Lysenko/lysenkotable.html This book needs up-dating to account for both the milestone of the genome mapping; some recent archival data from the Stalin Archives. But the bones of the analysis are still correct in my own personal view. Hari Kumar
re: re: Advice please re Spam. My Thanks.
I would like to thank both Ravi pbs for their time in reply. i) I may get back to you Ravi with more techno-specifics. ii) pbs: I understand when you say that the technical good advices, never seem to be 'possible' for the techno-faint-hearted! I count myself as in that category. iii) re the Palestinian thing: Indeed it is VERY worrying. They (whoever they are) have taken the names of several list-owners - including International Struggle ML (myself) a bunch of others - all ML-ist (including one - horror of horrors - termed 'Stalinist') used their list-owners as the perpetrators of some very vicious and prolific anti-Palestinian propaganda. iv) They even used the name of a (I think) a well known feminist, to disseminate a tract under her name, which was quite anti-Palestinian-women. I gather that that text did in fact originate in a real piece, that was originally signed by Andrea Dworkin. These tactics used are pretty clever - for the technologically challenged somewhat difficult to deal with. v) Of course this raises the (now-old) red-herring of the extent to which e-mail/interent organising can substitute for real-world organising. Of course it cannot. Nor do the proponents of using it for progressive causes have any such illusions about it. Nonetheless, - for me at any rate, this little episode shows one limitation of virtual class war versus real world organising for class war. Cheers - once more my thanks to Ravi to pbs - I will probably be in touch shortly. Hari
Question to James Devine
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine ...[W]hat is called globalisation is really another name for the dominant role of the United States. -- Henry Kissinger. QUESTION: James: Citation?
Advice Please
Hi folks Of Pen: Is anyone else being repetitively spammed by the most nasty anti-Palestinian messages? Many with rather nasty cartoons? All emanating from a variety of names - making it difficult to pin down who the sender is before opening? Furthermore, do any of the techie types on the list have any sound advice for the electronically incapable? Cheers Folks, H
Re: Re: Re: Re: Bush Militarism- How many Divisionsare there
Thanks Michael Hoover. The analysis I first read (re sectional interests the Yankees vs the Cowboys) did indeed invoke Ogelsby. It was in a work by W.B.Bland in an issue of Communist League from the 70's; discussed matters of the USA politics - from the Kennedy assassination - through to Watergate - in terms of power blocks within the USA ruling class. Points arising: YOU WROTE: 1) former sdser/new leftist turned conspiracy theorist carl oglesby may have been first to use cowboy/yankee concept/terminology in his early 70s book 'the cowboy and yankee war'... distinction probably more relevant at that time re. some differences between 'frostbelt' and 'sunbelt' capital... significantly, however, u.s. foreign policy never changed much regardless of whether 'liberal' yankees or 'conservative' cowboys won elections... REPLY: Well - well the direction of US foreign policy need not necessarily change. All I am suggesting is that within the context of an overall agreement to screw the workers/peasants fo the USA/the world - there may be cause to disagree on some matters within the ruling class. I am trying to understand why there can be a lobby within the US ruling circles that might at this present juncture contradict the general agreement ot launch war. Now while I agree with the other Michael P - that this si pretty muted opposition (Michael Pereleman says it is none) there si some. Why? Who (which sectional class interest) gains? 2) You wrote: ruling class differences - between domestic and transitional capital, for example - revolve around how best to stifle class conflict in order to maintain existing system... 'debates' rarely consider interests of working people... certainly, restraints upon ruling class exists, a no small part of which is what they think they can get way with, but also (somewhat ironically, perhaps) co-optation/ legitimation of representative' government... REPLY: No disagreement! Thanks again. I will check out Thomas Dye. Cheers! Hari
Re: Turkey warns of action if Kurds form state
This does appear to corroborate the view of JS as posted earlier at:. ALLIANCE 49: TURKISH EXPANSIONISM USA-LED ANTI- IRAQI WAR. It should be of interest. http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/AllianceIssues/TurkishExpansionismUSAgress
Workers CP Denmark - On Attack on Arafat Compound
The Lunacy Against the Palestinian People Must Stop! Break Off Diplomatic Relations with Israel Now! Statement of the Workers Communist Party of Denmark (APK), September 22, 2002 For how long more shall Israel be allowed to torture and humiliate the Palestinian people? Under the pretext of defending the security of Israel, Palestine has been bombed to pieces. The complete destruction of Arafats head quarters constitutes the attempt of the US and Sharon to crush the national rights and hopes of the Palestinian population. At the same time, Israel is continuing the construction of illegitimate settlements in the occupied territories. Two years of Intifada have shown Israel and the US that the struggling Palestinian people will never accept to live as subjects in their own country. Two years of massive criminal state terror and occupation of the Palestinians have shown that Sharon will never accept the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to a free and independent Palestine. Two years of one-sided US support for the executioner and criticism of the victim have shown that the US is neither a factor for peace nor a guarantor of the right of the Palestinians to an independent state. It is becoming still clearer to many people that the US preparations for war and occupation of the Iraqi people, as well as the Israeli occupation of Palestine, are serving the objective of the US and other Great Powers of controlling the oil-rich Middle East. For more than 30 years, the Israeli occupying power, the US and other Great Powers have been ignoring the UN-sanctioned rights of the Palestinians. To the worlds peace-loving peoples, the cup is full. We must demand that our government and national parliament break off relations with the Israeli terror state as long as it maintains the occupation and ignores the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Israel must be isolated in all fields like South Africa at the time of apartheid! Solidarity with the terrorized, imprisoned and struggling Palestinian people! The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Workers' Communist Party of Denmark (APK) Home page of the APK: http://www.apk2000.dk/
re Turkish Expansionism Iraqi War
Dear PEN_ers, I think the following article below - should prove of interest to more than just Sabri (Whose views on this matter I would especially appreciate). I think that even those who choke at the term ML-ist, will find the analysis (especially of Kurdish interests) a little novel, of passing interest. See: ALLIANCE Number 47: SPECIAL WAR ISSUE September 2002 Turkish Expansionism and US Aggression Against Iraq By JS At: http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/AllianceIssues/TurkishExpansionismUSAgressionAgainstIraq.htm
Bush Militarism- How many Divisions are there in the capitalist class?
I have probably missed this due to recent absence, but what do list members think re the apparent divisions in the ruling class regarding assulting Iraq? i) Are these real divisions - or merely 'willpower'? Or do they represent mroe objective capitalist class divisions? ii) If the latter - What do they represent? iii) What prognosis is there for either wing? Thx, Hari
Re: Re: Bush Militarism- How many Divisions are there in
Michael P said There are none. Carrol Said: "They are not in any politically significant sense _divisions_. ...And I think there is a reason for that: divisions in the ruling class occur only under heavy pressure from the working-class. Divisions on the international level, such as those that led to the world wars, are another thing. I don't think the latter have permanently disappeared .I think predicting the outcome (prognosis) of such differences of opinion on policy among the ruling class lies in the area of contingency and crystal-ball gazing. As Mao said, Marxists have no crystal ball." REPLY: 1) I do not think Michael - that it can be denied that there has been some domestic restraints on Bush. Mild maybe - but I think it would be erroneous to ignore them. Disgusting sight in general? Sure. But how is it so different about so much of USA history in its days of Imperial Arrogance? I agree the degree of nausea that Bush arouses is extremely marked to say the least. 2) Carrol: I have been aware of a proposed conflict presidential power between the 'cowboys' (Texan based oil) the 'yankees' (northern based financial based capital). Is this outlandish inconsistent with facts? 3) If there are indeed even minor wedges between groups of capitalists, we should be willing to recognise them - just in case there is only a marginal possibility of using them. 4) I do not know how anyone could deny current day international differences between imperialists. I know there was to--forth on this one between Chris Burford Proyect, but divisions between EU imperialists USA-UK imperialists on a host of matters since Bosnia have emerged - including now Iraq. 5) As to the Chairman's pontifications- he was surely being highly disingenuous - judging from many of his other pronouncements. In any case let us leave Mao aside. I am absolutely sure you are not suggesting that Marxists make no plans following the careful analysis of history the balance of forces - or..perhaps I err? Hari
Re:Re: Re: Forget Spencer-Bring on Ozymandias
PREVIOUS: 1)... what is exceptional about Americans is their mix of murderousness, infantile self pity and devastating lack of self-insight. Mark 2) Exactly. Just add America's new hyperpower status to that mix and you have the most toxic combination for world calamity since WWII. Carl. COMMENT: I trust no one will accuse me of singing the praises of the beast. But how exceptional is this in truth? - Anceint Greece had no interest whatever in compromise. It pursued everything to the point of self-destruction; J.Burchardt cited by Christian Meier Athens Portrait of the City in Its Golden Age; New York; 1998; p.507. - It must also be said that Athens had become its own worst enemy. Grandly as it dealt with its problems, it had long since over-extended itself; Meier Ibid; p. 510; -Perhaps the best example that shows that the USA is not exceptional - take Good Old Eng-A-Land. In the National Portrait Gallery, in London is a picture by Thomas Jones barker from c.1863: That is entitled The Secret of England's greatness - Queen Victoria Presenting A Bible in the Audience Chamber at Windsor. The benovelent white Queen bestows a bible to the handsome cheetah cloaked be-feathered be-jewelled exotic Black Warrior Chief who kneels at her feet and wondrously extends his muscular arms towards the 'secret'. But rather than reason - let Poetry bring some cheer perhaps - Intone your Shelley: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast trunkless legs of stone Stands in the desert.Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies On the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works ye Mighty, despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that collosal wreck, boundless bare The lone level sands stretch away. Ozymandias circa 1800 The New Oxford Book of English Verse Oxford 1972; p.580. Take heart. Hari
Poverty Health Today's europe
Poverty explosion in eastern Europe, ex-USSR: WHO. AFP. 17 September 2002. Poverty explosion in eastern Europe, ex-USSR: WHO. COPENHAGEN -- Poverty levels have exploded in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, according to a report by the World Health Organisation published Tuesday. It said the number of people living on less than four dollars a day (4.15 euros) in those countries had risen from 3.3 percent to 46 percent in about 10 years. The European Health Report 2002, which analyses health and poverty data and measures taken in 10 eastern European WHO members, was the basis for talks between 300 delegates from 51 WHO member states in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The report showed a clear relationship between life expectancy and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, citing as a striking example the widening gap in life expectancy between and within high- and low-income countries. On average, people in the former USSR die 10 years younger than those in western European countries, the report said, adding there was practically no precedent for changes of this magnitude in peacetime [N.B.]. The head of the WHO's regional office for Europe, Marc Danzon, noted however that poverty affected all countries in the European region of 870 million inhabitants, including western Europe where about 10 percent of the population live below the poverty line. This report provides governments with comparative figures in order to be able to create policies permitting them to protect the health and well-being of the population, he told AFP. He recalled that one of the fundamental priorities for improving health was to reduce inequalities linked to socio-economic factors. The WHO conference runs until September 19. [This message contained attachments]
Glut or not?
At 25/08/2002 16:13, Melvin P. wrote: There is a glut of oil in the world. Wrote Mark Jones: Er, well. Even BP don't quite agree. They, like Shell, think we are at the end of the oil age. Only the satanic hordes at Exxon think otherwise for some reason.' COMMENT: Well, would one expect the purveyors to agree there is a lot of the stuff aroun? Hari
From Julian Simon-ites-To Iraqi Stalingrads-More Hyperbole
ORIGINAL: Proyect: The problem is that many Marxists retain a kind of Julian Simon productivist notion that advances in the means of production--even under capitalism--can solve the environmental crisis. At this stage of the game, I would have to characterize this stance as counter-revolutionary REPLY: Sorry to betray so obvious ignorance yet again - but do explain the Julian bit. As for your ending - you swing between patronisation sweeping hyperbole yet again - as in the equation of Iraqi self-defence against USA imperialism with USSR self-defence against Hitler. Boy oh boy. Hari
Tuna Stocks
ORIGINAL: PROYECT: Obliviously socialism can solve lots of problems. But it cannot repopulate the oceans with Bluefin Tuna once they are extinct. REPLY: Hey Proyect-Englishy-Teacher- it is Obviously Or do I mean obviously? Yes?? However, real point is: i) The possibility of regeneration of the environment from acute pollution is not to be under-estimated. Witness: The Alaska spills; The Whale resurgence in numbers. ii) Your line actually objectively detracts from the fundamental matter- Socialism or Capitalism how? Sorry to be so simplistic. Hari
Counter-Revolutionary??_Proyect
Julian Simon productivist notion that advances in the means of production--even under capitalism--can solve the environmental crisis. At this stage of the game, I would have to characterize this stance as counter-revolutionary. REPLY: Please tell this counter-revolutionary - who what Julian Simon is/was/represents - in terms of the overall thrust of your views you are tyring to express here. Hari
Sadness' in Middle East/Asia-Sabri
Dear Sabri: I do agree with your sentiemnts. Sadness inded. But .. what about a United Front to stop/try to stop . impeirlaism? A new Zimmerwald IS NEEDED. See: Zimmerwald Zimmerwald 2001- A Call re Imperialist War Afghanistan http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/CALLfinalZ2001.htm Hari
Re:definitions Cuba Today_Ulhas
ULHAS: What has happened to Cuba since the USSR's demise? Is Cuba a neo-colony of some other nation? REPLY: I agree with you that this is a very good question. I frankly do not know the right answer based on data, I would be very interested in the lists' response to this question. Although from superficial read of the press, it looked at some stage that there was a regenerated drive to nestle Cuba back into USA orbit. That was stalled (I think) by outcries of anti-Castroites. Like many 'objective matters' the subjective working out of the practicalities often requires time 'lags behind'. Hari
re:Does Comprador Vs National_Dichotomy Exist? Was re: Stiglitz etc.
ORIGINAL: 1) Hari K: (i) I do not deny international connections - that is precisely the meaning of 'comprador'. (ii) As for domestic relations,Often the comprador elements are linked to landed aristocratic/feudal estates etc.; for instance. ... 2) Louis P: The problem in figuring out whether the term 'comprador bourgeoisie' is relevant is that those Asian tigers and India . are ... exceptions to the old-style colonial paradigm. But . it was absolutely necessary for the current phase of capital accumulation to loosen the leash on the South Korean bourgeoisie et al. .The last thing that imperialism would tolerate is the kind of chaebol protectionism that allowed development in South Korea to be replicated in Brazil, Nigeria, etc. This was a calculated bid to foster strong industrial-military Spartan states clustered around China based on capitalism. For obvious reasons, there is no longer such a need. This would explain the willingness of the west to see Indonesia and other Asian states to flounder. 3) Melvin P: The dichotomy between the national bourgeoisie and the comprador bourgeoisie no longer exist as a body politic. ... Yet there remains national sectors of capital.. Me - I ain't mad at you. COMMENT: 1) Firstly I am glad you are not mad at me Melvin - if this refers to me! 2) This will be very brief (I hope) since the fibroblasts sit in studied culture awaiting me: Hence I offer NO referencing at this stage, but this is fully available (To my satisfaction at least) for the points I make below. i) Before in some message, I had cursorily pointed out that Comintern had undergone a huge debate about the so-called Decolonisation Question. This was led by E. Varga as a major attack on a gentleman by the name of M.N.Roy. Roy had been key in debates with Lenin on the notion of the national borge - in the First CI discussions. Roy was then 'inconvenient' was being targeted by what I will here call the revisionists of the CI led by D.Manuilsky O.Kuusinen. The 'decolonisation' thesis - charged Varga - was Roy's embrace of imperialism. In reality Roy had not changed his spots at all, having argued from early on to Lenin that the 'progressive' role of the national capital was fleetingly small. Hence the discussions of Lenin on the Two stage revolution (Contrary to Trotsky, this line emanated from Lenin - not the 'ogre of all time/mankind' Stalin). (ii) Confusingly in the midst of this internecine warfare in the Comintern, BOTH Varga Roy pointed to the split in the British bourgeoisie regarding the Imperial Preferences system established by the UK, and the significance of the Ottawa Conference. (referencing can follow should anyone require). British imperialism WAS investing in heavy machinery etc in the colonies. (iii) Even Lenin in Imperialism (I will not - indeed I confess that I cannot easily - address those who have been claiming on the list that Lenin's anlaysis was detritus compared to Luxemburg's analysis) pointed out that there was a tendency in international capitalism to place the dirtiest and most polluting and most disgusting heavy machinery processes in 'the periphery'. (iv) I submit, that the process of industrialization in these developing countries was embraced by several imperialists as a means to achieve at last some of these goals: POLITICAL ENDS: -Shore up their imperialism versus national revolutionaries -Act as bulwarks against genuine socialist revolutionaries the USSR when ti was revolutionary (My classification for this discussion: pre-1953); ECONOMIC ENDS: - Develop new markets of mass consumption - Use lower wage structures (v) So I do NOT dispute that the Lenin-Two-Stager, regarding the 'progressive role' of the national bourgeoisie - may well be modified in the light of changes since circa 1950's. Already both Lenin others had suggested that the space between the First Bourgeois democratic national revolutionary phase, the second revolutionary socialist phase was narrow should be uninterrupted.. Yes truely almost the 'permanant'! (I will go there if needed). Rather presciently, Lenin had used the phrase that there was No Chinese Wall between them. Of course that is exactly what Maoist revisionism installed- a HUGE and long Chinese wall (effectively Stopping) the socialist phase) (see my quotations from Mao Liu in an earlier message). (vi) Exactly HOW small the stage was/is for the national bourgeoisie as allies in the revolution might be can only be determined on the basis of seriosu study of each nation. (I leave aside here the broader implications of: How many nations are there for Friggin ell's sake?). But I do think the stage has become distinctly smaller. But - it is not impossible for a person to stand on, not so small a to say NO role. That is my view. I submit that no one can understand the struggle of the Vietcong Good Old Ho - without seeing the LONG struggle of a national bourgeoisie even in modern (well
Reply: character of PRC_James Devine
JD WRITES: Two points: a) it's true that capitalism wasn't abolished in England, but the reforms weren't fictitious. The social-democratic management of capitalism did have some benefits to the working class (though you should ask a Brit, not me), though I think this was based on the power of the working class, not on the wisdom of the Labour Party leaders. b) Your history of China seems to be from the point of view of the CP of China. But isn't it a mistake, as Marx Engels point out in the GERMAN IDEOLOGY, to judge anyone by their self-perception? Was the Chinese government democratic by some objective standard, for example? was it really anything like a dictatorship of the proletariat if it was rule by a minority party? As a percentage of the whole population, the proletariat was pretty small at the time of the Chinese revolution. REPLY: Hi JD. (1) To (a): Didn't deny that there were benefits of the social dem reforms. The nostrum pitting reform versus revolution - is a meaningless cess-pit designed to paralyse. I dispute however your assertion that the reforms were due to the 'power of the wc rather the wisdom,' etc. As I stated there were some indication of the intense disgruntlement fo the class, certainly the influence of the Soviets had risen enormously after Stalingrad. However, I think it is a bad mistake of progressives to under-estimate the tenacity and wiliness of the ruling class. Is this wisdom? I don't know. But they know how ot preserve power. As Joseph Chamberlain said: What ransom will property pay for the security which it enjoys?... What insurance will wealth find to its advantage to provide? (J.Chamberlain, cited in J.L.Garvin: The Life of Joseph Chamberlain, Volume 1; London; 1932; p.549, 552). 2) To (b): (i)I regret I do not understand your first sentence - to wit: Your history of China seems to be from the point of view of the CP of China. But isn't it a mistake, as Marx Engels point out in the GERMAN IDEOLOGY, to judge anyone by their self-perception? Please clarify. I (Bland actually) was trying to point out that irrespective of the stated goals of the CPC these were not being effected. The stated goals of a political party are always subject to scrutiny - or have I not understood the sharp barbs on PEN about Bush? What does this have to do with M E in the GI? (ii) You say: Was the Chinese government democratic by some objective standard, for example? was it really anything like a dictatorship of the proletariat if it was rule by a minority party? You are referring to the matter of substitutionism of a small party for a class. However, surely it is for you to suggest an alternative to more or less classic ML-ist doctrine - that would allow an instant and greater sweep of a direct control by the masses? You reject the paradigm that MLists have offered, and at least one historic example where this was effected. What alternative do you posit? With respect, I think the onus is on the critics of ML-ist to offer concrete and thought out political vehicles for change. Perhaps I am 'wilfully blind' - but I have not seen that. Cheers. H
RE:RE: Re::Stiglitz interview_Character of PRC-To JD
ORIGINAL: Hari writes: I suggest that the term [comprador bourgeoisie] is still meaningful. [Even despite the increasingly 'narrow' stage on which national capitalists can play in today's even more inter-penetrated world]. It describes for instance the opponents of Chavez in the recent tussles in Venezuela. JD: I think that it's a mistake to reduce the anti-Chavistas to the comprador category. They are clearly allied with the US, but they also have their own interests in continuing the exploitation of their own working classes. Further, they affect US politics, by allying with the anti-Castro Cuban exiles (Otto Reich, e.g.) Groups can have comprador status _and_ also status within their own class system. It's best to look at international connections _and_ domestic relations. REPLY: Hi, (i) I do not deny international connections - that is precisely the meaning of 'comprador'. (ii) As for domestic relatioons, sure these are important. Often the comprador elements are linked to landed aristocratic/feudal estates etc.; for instance. Naturally they have an 'interest in exploiting'. All that is granted and part of the history of the comprador. I freely admit that I know relatively little about Chavez's precise linkages within the state. However, the main thing - I contend - is that he continues on the path of _Perz Alfonso_ - who earlier on had tried to steer OPEC with it Venezuela into a pathway fo nationalist development. They were stopped by the connivance of the Saudis with USA imperialism (led for this foray by Kissinger): The cartel strategy was first proposed by the national bourgeoisie of Venezuela, in 1959, after they regained power following the earlier successful military pro-USA comprador coup of 1948. The military coup in favour of the USA, had been precipitated 12 days following an act promulgated by the national bourgeoisie of the Venezuelan state, which had imposed a 50-50 split of the profits from oil, between Venezuela and the oil companies. The military coup was staged by elements in favour of a comprador relationship with the USA. After the coup, the new dictatorship favoured the interests of the US imperialists and dispensed new major oil concessions to the oil companies. Despite this failure of the Venezuelan national bourgeoisie, the 50-50 rule became standard in dealings with oil-exporting nations. For instance Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company ) used this formula in Saudi Arabia in 1950. (J.A.Bill, op cit, p. 61). However this still left considerable super-profits for the Seven Sisters. The national bourgeoisie of Venezuela recognised that a key factor in their defeat during prolonged negotiations had been the erosion of Venezuela's selling power by Middle East oil. Oil companies when faced with demands for a fairer distribution of profit had simply expanded production from the Middle East. The leader of the horse trading strategy, Perez Alfonzo had: Only envisaged an 'entente' and 'arrangement' between a few producing countries to establish, links of solidarity between them, reduce the oil companies capacity for maneuvering and prevent them from playing one country off against another. (Statement in Petroleum Weekly, New York May 1 1959 p. 19. Cited by Pierre Terzian OPEC: The inside story; London 1985.) After the national bourgeoisie of Venezuela returned to power in 1959, they again took up the cause of combination. .. See Alliance 2 (2001) On the Gulf War about the OPEC cartel (OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC ) http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/AllianceIssues/ALLIANCE2-GULFWAR.htm ---END CLIPPING___ Cheers, Hari
Re: Marx Quote-to Philip
Can anyone off the top of their head give me the quote from Marx referring to British exploitation of India, (about the 'whitened bones' or something to that effect) and where that quote appears? REPLY: ??? Sorry I know no bones except..: But perhaps a skull or two would be helpful to your quest: When a greater social revolution shall have mastered the results of the bourgeois epoch, the market of the worked the modern powers of production, subjected them to the common control of the most advanced peoples, then only will human progress cease to resemble that hideous pagan idol who would not drink the nectar but from the skulls of the slain. Which is at the end of : The Future Results of British Rule in India; July 1853; in Articles on Britain; Moscow 1971; pp.191-203; OR: Volume 12: M E : CW: Moscow 1976; pp. 217-223. The British Rule in India (same book pp.166- 182; also written in 1853 - or in Volume 12: M E : CW: Moscow 1976; pp. 125-134) is also possible source; that ends with his wonderful citation form Goethe: Sollte diese Qual etc. Which depicts a dialectical angst of a passage thru' the torture of capital for the greater pleasure of destruction of Hanuman Sabbala - towards the future. H
