[Marxism] United States: Marriage equality win highlights need for struggle
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * “When I graduated from high school - Catholic high school - in 1983, I didn't even think that this would ever be on the map,” said Jeff Mead, now a middle school teacher from San Francisco. The “map” that Mead was referring to took on a drastically new appearance on June 26 when the US Supreme Court announced its five-four decision to strike down state laws banning same-sex marriage. This effectively legalised such marriages across the US. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59408 -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Palestinian writer on the current state of the PLO
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I've met, like, and respect Khaled, and mean no snub to him. But in general, I grow weary of PFLP spokespeople repeatedly denouncing institutions in which their party is a full participant, and whose petty privileges it reaps as much as any other. If the Oslo system is politically bankrupt - which is clear enough to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear - at what point will they walk away from it? I can't honestly fault them for not being quicker to do it. I know abandoning the PA jobs, the PLC seats, etc. would entail real, painful sacrifices for many. But in the absence of real steps to weaken the infrastructure of occupation, why instead remind all the dumb foreigners of things that are bloody obvious even to us? On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 2:50 AM, Philip Ferguson via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/palestinian-liberation-and-the-plo-a-critical-view-from-pflp-activist/ -- Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Ecuador: Mass marches defend Correa, democracy amid coup plot
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * President Rafael Correa called a rally on July 2 in defence of democracy and the pro-poor Citizens' Revolution his government leads after plans by the right-wing opposition for a violent coup were exposed. “We are ready to defend the revolution against the coup plotters,” Correa told thousands of supporters gathered outside the Presidential Palace on the evening of July 2. “We will remain firm in defending the revolution against the ultra-right.” he added. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59413 -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] huge NO rally in Athens; both sides rally ahead of referendum vote tomorrow/Sunday (5)
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Tsipras speech to huge rally (dubbed into English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aidRyCAbAao ‘No to fear’ — Greece’s No protest as it happened by Kevin Ovenden Left Flank, July 3 http://left-flank.org/2015/07/04/no-to-fear-greeces-no-protest-as-it-happened A selection of KEVIN OVENDEN’s live posts from the massive No protest in Athens, 3 July 2015 Rally for the No side this evening — various different forces calling it — in Syntagma Square, central Athens. The rally will be big and militant. But please do not over-read the size of it and so on. Our friends on the Greek radical Left were not born yesterday. They know that you do not win a plebiscite by spending time among yourselves talking to the convinced. You win it among the people. The purpose of the rally is to force the reality of the No campaign into the media and also to galvanise active forces on our side. The couple of hours in the square outside the parliament allow us also to exchange experiences collectively, to hear those arguments that are having the most effect in the society, to dispel our own confusions and to build morale for the next 48 hours. I am not Greek. But every Greek I know of in the No campaign shares at least one common message among several: “Everything you do outside of Greece helps here. “And this is a fight which is not restricted to Greece nor to Sunday. So do what you can and think through how we proceed.” No one knows what the result will be on Sunday. We do know this: for five months the fate of the whole Greek experiment seemed to lie in the outcome of conference chamber and diplomatic exchanges. No longer. The oft talked about, sometimes overlooked, always hoped for social movement will be expressed in Syntagma tonight. There are more powerful things than Troikas. *** Huge. Tsipras: combative. Music all from the Left: Theodorakis, Papaconstantinou, Dimitriadi. Composition: young and working class, the social base of Syriza and Left... Been on air for hour or more. Talking with people. More soon. Quote from and old, old fighter: “We’re fighting for victory on Sunday, not honourable defeat.” . . . People have come largely in family groups or circles of friends. It’s a Friday night. This is social, underpinned by parties’ organisations, but beyond that. Quote from Stavroula, teacher: “I’m happy tonight. I want to be happy on Monday. Want my grandchildren to have a good life. I’m not very religious, but I pray this nightmare will end.” *** The anti-capitalist Left is here. I’ve seen many from all strands. Not so visible and not just because of size — many tens of thousands — but because they are largely buried deep in the micro-gatherings of friends and families who are laughing and chatting about so much — not just the referendum. The EU is not what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. *** “Remember. This is Athens. There is the Peloponnese. There is still small town Greece. Don’t get too carried away.” Someone I have learnt a lot about Greek politics from for 25 years. So: I won’t get carried away. . . . Oh! A lovely young comrade: “We are going to win. Tell the world.” I say: “Yes. We will win. Whatever the bastards do on Sunday. This fight goes beyond Sunday. And we are going to win this fight.” I thought that was the best answer and it is also truthfully how I feel tonight. *** Ok. Bella Ciao playing. A jolt of energy through crowd. This is of the Left all right! How far beyond have we reached? . . . Real social forces were rallied tonight! Tonight’s rally was a big success. The sheer size of it will be felt outside of Athens in the towns and villages and regional cities. The private media is very bad. But the rally was enormous and it has forced its way into the broadcasts with no one in a position to gainsay its size. There was no big speechifying, except the address by Tsipras [watch it dubbed into English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aidRyCAbAao]. But it was what he has been saying all week, though more combative. He speaks very well in any case. Tonight, though I was on air for some of it, his style was brilliant. Really confident and “laiko”, the popular touch. This was a rally. Forces were rallied. Several international journos on floor seven of the Athens Plaza — where the improvised studios are — were gob-smacked. And the overall feel of the rally had a clear tactical focus in the run-up to Sunday. *** There was a leak earlier today from New Democracy of their game plan for the last 48 hours until polls close on Sunday evening at 7pm. Their private surveys and polling have identified that there are 30 percent of those Syriza voters who
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Axis of Resistance or Axis of Compliance? | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I don't buy the weight he gives a subdued yet resurgent Russia acting in a minimally supportive role - namely I'm not sure Russia's position deserves even this quick throwaway line - but that's very different from the (hypothetical?) claim you criticized. On Fri, Jul 3, 2015 at 10:35 PM, Louis Proyect l...@panix.com wrote: On 7/3/15 8:30 PM, Joseph Catron wrote: If Putin really was the leader of the 'Axis of Resistance' ... Who formulated this peculiar thesis you're arguing against? Phil Greaves: From this starting point, we must then address the specific aims of the NATO/GCC axis as opposed to those of the Resistance axis. On the one hand, the imperialists and their allies (clients) are consciously employing militarism – the “vital expression” of capitalism – upon Iraq, Syria, Iran, and all other “lesser” nations in the inevitable quest for domination to expand their superiority and avert their imperial decay – this is the quintessential feature of predatory imperialism. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/19/isis-an-expression-of-imperialism-in-iraq/ -- Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Palestinian writer on the current state of the PLO
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/palestinian-liberation-and-the-plo-a-critical-view-from-pflp-activist/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] 'But the banks are made of marble' — how banks screw the world
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Across Africa, western Asia and Latin America in the 1980s, the growth of per capita GDP was brought to a halt. This was not a recession, it was a severe depression. And its cause was reckless lending by banks in the ’70s. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59414 -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] London 'Pride' march: LGBT, incorporation and commodification
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Each year, when the Pride march in London comes around, the claims that it has become commercialised and separated from its roots get stronger. This year was no different, with the movement becoming more splintered than ever – the divisions are clearer between its traditional left support and the newer, corporate-sponsored wing. There has been a concerted effort over the last decade to incorporate some forms of gay identity, but that process is partial, and incomplete, because, despite everything that has changed, the LGBT ‘community’ is hardly homogeneous. That was certainly in evidence on the June 27 march, and in the arguments that swirled around it. There was an altercation with the Pride board over the UK Independence Party’s gay section, LGBT Ukip. Pride originally invited the group to attend, only to retract the offer because of “health and safety concerns” when there were so many complaints. Whilst the Ukip leadership is formally for gay equality, so many of its members have come out with homophobic statements that the idea of a Ukip LGBT section faintly seems ridiculous. And, of course, Ukip has such horribly reactionary policies on a whole range of issues, not least immigration. The darker side of the incorporation of gay identity into the mainstream has been the small but real rise of what has been dubbed ‘homo-nationalism’: that is to say, the use of gay symbols and tolerance of LGBT people to promote. . . full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/07/04/pride-in-london-lgbt-incorporation-and-commercialisation/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the American Indian | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://louisproyect.org/2015/07/04/jefferson-the-declaration-of-independence-and-the-american-indian/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Greek Referendum
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * This is the problem. You are for class-struggle methods in Greece but are posing this to a mailing list of Marxists with one or two Greeks who already agree with you. Preaching to the choir does not begin to describe the absurdity of your intervention here. Our main concern is not why Tsipras has the gumption to be a neo-Keynesian but why the revolutionary left in Greece is so divided and isolated. The small groups in Syriza that are for socialism could never get a hearing unless they were part of Syriza. Antarsya's miniscule vote would indicate the level of support for your way of thinking even though they would find your brand of ultraleft sectarianism useless. It is much easier to excoriate Syriza than to figure out how to build a revolutionary left, particularly in the USA where you live and where you have wasted 40 years of your life wallowing in the sterile, kibbitzing, masturbatory type of politics that the Spartacist League excels in. If you had something interesting to say about building the left in the USA, it might be easier to take you seriously but this costume party pretense at Trotsky in Coyoacan is laughable. You'd have more credibility if you imitated Elvis or Napoleon Bonaparte. On 7/4/15 1:19 PM, James Creegan wrote: In today's neoliberal Europe, it is impossible to achieve even neo-Keynesian measures without class-struggle methods. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: The Islamic State’s Strategy: Lasting and Expanding-Carnegie Middle East Center - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Pragmatic Relationship With the Syrian Regime The Islamic State and the Syrian regime mutually benefit from one another, and consequently the relationship between the two has been largely pragmatic. The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been an economic client for the Islamic State as well as an indirect facilitator of its military activities, while the group helps to validate Assad’s narrative that he is fighting Islamist extremists, an approach he has been using since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in 2011 to discredit the Syrian opposition. The Islamic State is also useful for Assad because it serves as a tool to counter the regime’s enemies, including both the Free Syrian Army (FSA)—a collection of moderate rebel fighters—and groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria that was created to fight the regime. The Islamic State first arose in Syria in areas that the regime had lost to the opposition but which were far from the front lines. Opposition groups did not have a big military presence in those areas—and in most cases were instead focused on fighting the regime elsewhere—making them ideal for the Islamic State. The regime did not prioritize retaking these areas because Assad apparently calculated that allowing the Islamic State to operate in them and fight against the Syrian opposition and Jabhat al-Nusra would weaken his opponents, and that once the opposition was eradicated, the regime would be able to control the Islamic State.2 In doing so, Assad counted on presenting himself to the West as a counterterrorism partner. The Islamic State in turn did not prioritize fighting the regime, believing that it could easily overwhelm it in the future, and concentrated instead on building its state-within-a-state.3 The strategy used by the Islamic State is diverse and is based on pragmatism as well as the merger of military, media, and socioeconomic operations. The absence of front lines with the Islamic State gave the regime an excuse not to fight it and gave the militant group the ability to hold areas and recruit local and foreign fighters. The lack of fighting also encouraged many Syrians to move to areas controlled by the Islamic State in the pursuit of security rather than ideology. This came at a time when the Syrian opposition was badly fragmented due to both political disagreements and the lack of a viable military strategy. The Islamic State took hold of resource-rich areas, beginning in mid-2014 with the northern governorate of Raqqa, and eventually became financially self-sufficient in Syria by selling oil, wheat, and water; demanding ransom for kidnapped foreigners; and imposing taxes on local populations.4 The Syrian regime has been a key economic partner for the group, which has been selling oil from its wells in Syria at discounted prices to the regime. Although the Islamic State has also sold oil to both the FSA and Jabhat al-Nusra, which in turn facilitated and benefited from the sale of oil on the black market in Turkey, this activity has been greatly reduced due to Turkey’s increased monitoring of activities on its border with Syria. The regime, however, remains a key client.5 Syrian government forces began attacking areas controlled by the Islamic State in June 2014, after the group’s expansion in Iraq threatened to destabilize Shia areas close to Assad’s ally, Iran. But most of the Assad regime’s military engagement has been directed at the Free Syrian Army. In November 2014, a report by Jane’s Terrorism Insurgency Center revealed that until that point, only 6 percent of the regime’s attacks that year had been directed at Islamic State targets.6 The pragmatic relationship between the Islamic State and the Syrian regime continued despite the latter’s bombing of Raqqa in late 2014. They still appear to coordinate on the provision of services like electricity, with the militant group controlling a number of dams on the Iraq-Syria border and the regime continuing to pay most of the salaries of state employees residing in Islamic State–controlled areas.7 The regime’s pragmatism can also be seen in its passivity toward the group’s movements in areas with significant opposition presence. The regime did not stand in the way when Islamic State fighters approached the Qalamoun Mountains on the Syrian-Lebanese border to fight the Free Syrian Army in the area in 2014. It also did not interfere in early 2015 when the Islamic State took over the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus—and fought antiregime groups during the attack.8 A similar scenario occurred when the Islamic State
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Use this instead: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/whatever-happens-to-greece-the-euro-is-unsustainable/story-fnp85lcq-1227427130625 http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/7/3/european-crisis/whatever-happens-greece-euro-unsustainable _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] talking with Greek workers on referendum, Syriza, future
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Workers in Greece say, 'A no vote will show that we are not afraid' by Dave Sewell in Athens Socialist Worker, Britain, July 3 http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/40857/Workers+in+Greece+say%2C+A+no+vote+will+show+that+we+are+not+afraid . . . Cleaners sacked by Greece's previous government returned to work at the ministry of finance in Athens last week. “We won,“ cleaner Despina Kostopolou told Socialist Worker. “We got our jobs back—and on better conditions than before we were fired.” Several groups of laid off workers hounded the Tory-left coalition throughout its last two years in office. The cleaners had a particular impact, setting up camp outside their old workplace and confronting ministers and officials who went inside to plot austerity measures. They were finally reinstated by the new government formed by left party Syriza after the election this January. Despina said, “The change in government was crucial. We won because we took to the streets—but if the old parties were still in office we'd still be there”. The cleaners have collectively called for a no vote in this Sunday's referendum on a new austerity agreement proposed by the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund. Despina said, “We voted for it unanimously. There is no future with the yes vote. “People cannot stand any more of this situation. A big no vote will be the best way to show we are not afraid—and make the other side afraid instead.” A number of leading cleaners in the campaign joined Syriza—and are determined not to let the gains they have won be reversed. Government “I think the whole point of all this has been an attempt to get rid of the left government,” Despina said. “It's completely political. And whatever the vote is, it's very important the government isn't made to resign.” Just out of town in the port of Piraeus, dockers' union secretary Giorgos Gogos told Socialist Worker all the workers there would be voting no too. “It will show that we didn't want austerity, it was imposed on us,” he said. The union was preparing a statement condemning the main private sector union federation GSEE's decision to call for yes vote. Like the cleaners, the dockers had to fight bitterly under the last government. It was trying to privatise the port. “We are talking about a fire sale—selling the port off at far less than its value, adding up to virtually nothing compared to the national debt,” said Giorgos. “And this is a port with a real social role. It is the only link to the mainland for people in most of the Aegean islands. The dockers have held strikes, demonstrations, and even an occupation of the cargo terminal over the course of their own ten year battle. And subcontracted workers on worse conditions on the piers that have been privatised have struck to demand collective bargaining. But the dockers’ fight continues under Syriza. Giorgos said, “The new government said it was going to stop the privatisation, and of course we were very happy. So we were very disappointed when they revealed they were going ahead after all. The majority of the workers voted for Syriza.” Giorgos himself is a member of Syriza. But he said, “Privatisation is wrong whatever party is in power, and we are going to keep mobilising against it.” They struck in May, and a speaking tour over the summer is laying the ground for more walkouts in September when bidding for the port opens. Workers at both Piraeus port and Athens ministry see the referendum as a crucial point in their struggles. The cleaners' civil service colleagues made this clear when they became among the first of many workplaces to drop a banner saying no from their windows. Cleaner Giorgia Ekonomou first talked to Socialist Worker at the camp outside the ministry in January. Now she says, “The Greek issue is an issue for all of Europe. You have the same questions in Britain—a vote on the EU, and politicians who want cuts, cuts cuts. Everyone in Europe will have the same problems we have some time down the line.” 'We want control of our lives and workplaces', Greek health workers speak out by Dave Sewell in Athens Socialist Worker, Britain, July 3 http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/40854/We+want+control+of+our+lives+and+workplaces%2C+Greek+health+workers+speak+out . . . With just three days until Greece's austerity referendum, Europe’s rulers are ramping up their “project fear” about rejecting their latest deal. But the message from workers is a resounding no. Cleaner Cleopatra told Socialist Worker, “We need to take Greece back into our own hands – if we back down now they will crush us.” Health workers know the European Union (EU) and International
Re: [Marxism] Greek Referendum
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 7/4/15 11:49 AM, James Creegan wrote: Yes, I caught on to the Louis Proyect theory of leadership a long time ago: If people are confused and ambivalent, it is the task of leaders to... reflect their confusion and ambivalence. You don't seem to get my point. Syriza was neo-Keynesian economically. When Tsipras came to the USA, he visited the Jerome Levy Institute at Bard College not the Spartacist League. Pointing out its failure to adopt Bolshevik policies is asinine. Our problem as Marxists is to construct an alternative leadership, not to issue sterile critiques of people who never pretended to be anything except leftist opponents of austerity. We can offer our solidarity to such forces as Podemos, Syriza and the Scottish National Party without abandoning the effort to construct revolutionary socialist organizations. In your miserable 4 decades on the left, you have done nothing but write these sterile critiques from the sidelines without ever having led a mass movement against any social injustice. The left has generally abandoned the Spartacist League politics you espouse and has moved on. It is really too bad that you are mired in the past but understandable. Cynthia Cochran once observed to me that the left in its impotent failure to constitute a real threat to the capitalist class has settled into a pattern of attacking the traitors in our midst. She was talking exactly about you. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Greek Referendum
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * -- Forwarded message -- From: James Creegan sectaria...@gmail.com Date: Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 11:49 AM Subject: Re: [Marxism] Greek Referendum To: Louis Proyect l...@panix.com Yes, I caught on to the Louis Proyect theory of leadership a long time ago: If people are confused and ambivalent, it is the task of leaders to... reflect their confusion and ambivalence. Now dear friends, unto the breach (if it's not too dangerous) Give me liberty, or give me a reasonable alternative! *De la prudence, de la prudence, et encore de la prudence, et la nation est sauvee.* **There may be nothing to fear but fear itself, but fear itself can be awful scary! We will fight them on the beaches (weather permitting) Let's take stock Sunday night or Monday morning. I hope my prediction is wrong. On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 9:28 AM, Louis Proyect l...@panix.com wrote: But don't you get it? The Greeks voted for Syriza because the party reflected their own indecision. Polls reflected support for remaining in the eurozone even if you and the Spartacist League and the Socialist Equality Party knew better. Maybe some of these poor benighted souls will stumble across the Marxmail archives, read your rock-ribbed Bolshevik analysis and the scales will fall from their eyes. Jim Creegan saves the Greeks and then the planet. Hallelujah! On 7/4/15 6:41 AM, James Creegan via Marxism wrote: I will be very surprised if a majority of voters, in the face of all these contradictory moves, mixed signals and panic from their leaders, nevertheless decide to vote No. Such an outcome would represent a truly heroic act of defiance. The Geeks will have chosend to risk entrusting their future to leaders of demonstrated indecision and weakness rather than knuckle under to the debt lords. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Louis Proyect wrote http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/7/3/european-crisis/whatever-happens-greece-euro-unsustainable Paywall again --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Behind a paywall Best Wishes, - A On Jul 4, 2015 1:54 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/7/3/european-crisis/whatever-happens-greece-euro-unsustainable _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/adgagneri%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Louis Proyect wrote Use this instead: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/whatever-happens-to-greece-the-euro-is-unsustainable/story-fnp85lcq-1227427130625 http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/7/3/european-crisis/whatever-happens-greece-euro-unsustainable Thanks but same result, says it's for subscribers only, but when I put your first url in google it came up --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] 1968 SFSU Strike
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The soon-after (1970 Grove Press) 'best-known' book that leaps to mind is Kay Boyle The Long Walk at San Francisco State ( other essays). There is continuing writing and publication about it as the struggle that created the first Black Studies Department at a U.S. university, don't recall a book focusing just on S.F. State... but check this out: http://www.library.sfsu.edu/about/collections/strike/essay.html http://www.library.sfsu.edu/about/collections/strike/bibliography.html http://www.library.sfsu.edu/about/collections/strike/books-strike.html http://www.library.sfsu.edu/about/collections/strike/theses.html On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 10:00 AM, MM via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Can anyone recommend a good history / analysis of the protests at SFSU of 1968/9? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/daynegoodwin%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * For some reason, I hit no paywall, even though I have no subscription. Opened first time. Are there any copyright issues with me sending the text to the list? Or otherwise ask me off-list. -Original Message- From: Gary MacLennan via Marxism Sent: Sunday, July 5, 2015 8:39 AM To: Michael Karadjis Subject: Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Hitting the pay wall every time. Shame because I am trying to pay attention to what the thoughtful bourgeois commentators are saying. There has to be intense traffic behind the scenes. We are fed rubbish in the main media, but occasionally a serious article appears. The Guardian had an article saying that thus all could be the Eurozone's Sarajevo moment, when the great powers stumbled into WW1. I think the analogy is false and the history bad, but what I took out from that was the idea of a fear of losing control was setting in within bourgeois ranks. Another significant item (I thought) was that the Americans forced the IMF to release the paper which substantially supports Syriza's position. Certainly Tsirpas seized upon this. There was also talk in the Guardian that this crisis could be another Lehman Brothers moment. My reaction to that is Who knows? and that is precisely the point. Uncertainty is bad for the famous animal spirits of the ruling class. Then the Guardian editorialized about this being the worst of all possible outcomes. A Yes vote would mean that the Bureaucrats in Europe had succeeded in binging down a government. And that could turn out to be a Pyrrhic Victory. Destroying the pro-European Left, as Galbraith pointed out, would lead to a very uncertain future. Finally there is some suggestion that the leading thug Shauble might be blinking. He mumbled something about not leaving the Greek people in the lurch. If the Guardian's interpretation of what he has to say is accurate then he has been got at; possibly by the Americans. So what to make of all this? I keep thinking of the Barthes' article where he discusses ex-nomination. That is an ugly word but basically what he was saying was that the capitalists had succeeded in getting names for them removed from public language. Only we old lefties talk about the ruling class and when we do eyes glaze over everywhere. My students, who actually loved me, used to giggle affectionately at Old Gary ranting again. I am also reading, with a friend, Walter Benjamin on Language as Such. All very mystical but he too talks about a language that names and brings things into being. So what has all this to do with the price of bread? Well my take on the Greek crisis is that the neo-Keynesian Left (eat your heart out, Gary), are partly responsible for a situation where the forces of capitalism have been named. This is because Syriza has campaigned not for soviets but against austerity and so have struck a great chord with millions throughout Europe. As a consequence the capitalists are out there in all their frightful thuggery and ugliness. And they are elements among them who are quite unhappy at being there and being named. There has to be anger in bourgeois circles at the intransigence of the Germans who have brought us to this situation. It is Sunday morning now, here in Brisbane. May the winds of change that are blowing in Athens turn out to be a tornado and sweep away the powers that be. comradely Gary _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/mkaradjis%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I tried googling the title and the Australian let me in, once. It was worthwhile reading but, sorry, i didn't copy as that was about the same time as Louis' suggested the alternative url and i thought the problem was solved. Maybe Louis can still get to it and copy, or another try at googling the title will work for someone else. Thanks for your unprickly (prickly, there's an interesting word for musing about language [english]) and comradely sharing of thoughts, Gary. On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 4:39 PM, Gary MacLennan via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Hitting the pay wall every time. Shame because I am trying to pay attention to what the thoughtful bourgeois commentators are saying. There has to be intense traffic behind the scenes. We are fed rubbish in the main media, but occasionally a serious article appears. The Guardian had an article saying that thus all could be the Eurozone's Sarajevo moment, when the great powers stumbled into WW1. I think the analogy is false and the history bad, but what I took out from that was the idea of a fear of losing control was setting in within bourgeois ranks. Another significant item (I thought) was that the Americans forced the IMF to release the paper which substantially supports Syriza's position. Certainly Tsirpas seized upon this. There was also talk in the Guardian that this crisis could be another Lehman Brothers moment. My reaction to that is Who knows? and that is precisely the point. Uncertainty is bad for the famous animal spirits of the ruling class. Then the Guardian editorialized about this being the worst of all possible outcomes. A Yes vote would mean that the Bureaucrats in Europe had succeeded in binging down a government. And that could turn out to be a Pyrrhic Victory. Destroying the pro-European Left, as Galbraith pointed out, would lead to a very uncertain future. Finally there is some suggestion that the leading thug Shauble might be blinking. He mumbled something about not leaving the Greek people in the lurch. If the Guardian's interpretation of what he has to say is accurate then he has been got at; possibly by the Americans. So what to make of all this? I keep thinking of the Barthes' article where he discusses ex-nomination. That is an ugly word but basically what he was saying was that the capitalists had succeeded in getting names for them removed from public language. Only we old lefties talk about the ruling class and when we do eyes glaze over everywhere. My students, who actually loved me, used to giggle affectionately at Old Gary ranting again. I am also reading, with a friend, Walter Benjamin on Language as Such. All very mystical but he too talks about a language that names and brings things into being. So what has all this to do with the price of bread? Well my take on the Greek crisis is that the neo-Keynesian Left (eat your heart out, Gary), are partly responsible for a situation where the forces of capitalism have been named. This is because Syriza has campaigned not for soviets but against austerity and so have struck a great chord with millions throughout Europe. As a consequence the capitalists are out there in all their frightful thuggery and ugliness. And they are elements among them who are quite unhappy at being there and being named. There has to be anger in bourgeois circles at the intransigence of the Germans who have brought us to this situation. It is Sunday morning now, here in Brisbane. May the winds of change that are blowing in Athens turn out to be a tornado and sweep away the powers that be. comradely Gary _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/daynegoodwin%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Full text for Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable Alan Kohler The latest Greek crisis should end next week after the people surrender this weekend, but Europe’s foundations will continue to weaken: this won’t be the last existential crisis for the euro. Unless greater fiscal and political union accompanies the monetary union, it will eventually, noisily, fall apart. But this crisis, at least, is almost over. The Greeks would vote ‘yes’ on Sunday to almost any question they are asked to get access to what’s left of their euros. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will then agree to Germany’s demands for reform against the overruled objections from his party, German cash will start flowing again through the ECB, and Greece’s banks will reopen to sighs of relief all round. Most importantly, funds will be released to repay the IMF. The eurozone’s mistake was letting the IMF get involved in 2010. The incompetence, or negligence, of its then managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who acted against the advice of many of his member countries (including Australia) and half of its staff, set up Greece for failure. The IMF’s refusal to restructure Greece’s debt in 2010, and instead to insist on crushing austerity in return for more cash, was a terrible mistake. The Eurogroup attempted to repair the situation in 2012 with the restructure that replaced almost all of the private lenders, but the damage to the Greek economy had been done. Ironically, the IMF has changed its mind and is now arguing that Greece needs some debt relief. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis declared this week that he would rather cut off his arm than sign another “pretend and extend” agreement that did not include debt relief, and that he’d resign if the people voted ‘Yes’. Meanwhile the IMF issued this review of Greece’s debt and commented that it needs €60 billion over three years, plus debt relief. The IMF’s central position in the 2010 bailout inserted a hard-line outsider into what had been a cosy arrangement -- the 15-year-old European Monetary Union, in which Germany props up the southern countries with loans and they stagger on, burdened with debt, propping up Germany’s export machine. Greece’s failure to make its IMF loan repayment on Tuesday was a disaster for everyone: the IMF, Greece, Germany and the ECB. It is a mistake that should never have happened. The IMF now has the largest and most prominent delinquent debtor in its history; Greece sits on the edge of catastrophe and Germany, the ECB and the EU are complicit in the threat to the euro itself. They accepted the IMF’s money and conditions in 2010 and now, in reality, it is they who are refusing to repay. The remote prospect that the IMF might formally have defaulted Greece on Wednesday morning meant two things happened that dramatically raised the temperature: Tsipras called a referendum, ostensibly to get popular support for his position, but maybe to quell the revolt within his party so he could cave in to the Germans while keeping his job Then the ECB took the drastic step of closing the banks, presumably to pressure the Greeks into voting ‘Yes’. The Greek people really have no choice but to vote ‘Yes’ and they will be rewarded for their obedience with cash. The euro ship will sail on … until the next iceberg. The fundamental problem will remain: Germany’s surpluses are someone else’s deficits, specifically Italy’s, Spain’s, Portugal’s, France’s and, of course, Greece’s. Since the introduction of the euro in 1999, Germany has run cumulative trade surpluses versus the rest of Europe of well over a trillion euros. That has been financed by Germany lending the money back to the Mediterranean countries, either to finance budget deficits in the case of Greece and Italy or property bubbles in the case of Spain and Ireland. So there are two reasons why Germany is desperate to maintain the status quo: it is now a colossal creditor of those countries as well as the beneficiary of a weaker currency than would otherwise be the case. The exchange rate is the most important price in any economy. In March it seemed that the euro would hit the holy grail of parity with the US dollar, when it got as low as $US1.0463, but since then the unfolding crisis has seen it rise back to $US1.10 (note that it hasn’t fallen with the rising prospect of Grexit). But the US dollar exchange rate is less important to Germany than the internal currency lock-in. In the same way that China built its economy on exports to the US by locking its currency to America’s, Germany’s economy has been built
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Whatever happens to Greece, the euro is unsustainable | Business Spectator
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Hitting the pay wall every time. Shame because I am trying to pay attention to what the thoughtful bourgeois commentators are saying. There has to be intense traffic behind the scenes. We are fed rubbish in the main media, but occasionally a serious article appears. The Guardian had an article saying that thus all could be the Eurozone's Sarajevo moment, when the great powers stumbled into WW1. I think the analogy is false and the history bad, but what I took out from that was the idea of a fear of losing control was setting in within bourgeois ranks. Another significant item (I thought) was that the Americans forced the IMF to release the paper which substantially supports Syriza's position. Certainly Tsirpas seized upon this. There was also talk in the Guardian that this crisis could be another Lehman Brothers moment. My reaction to that is Who knows? and that is precisely the point. Uncertainty is bad for the famous animal spirits of the ruling class. Then the Guardian editorialized about this being the worst of all possible outcomes. A Yes vote would mean that the Bureaucrats in Europe had succeeded in binging down a government. And that could turn out to be a Pyrrhic Victory. Destroying the pro-European Left, as Galbraith pointed out, would lead to a very uncertain future. Finally there is some suggestion that the leading thug Shauble might be blinking. He mumbled something about not leaving the Greek people in the lurch. If the Guardian's interpretation of what he has to say is accurate then he has been got at; possibly by the Americans. So what to make of all this? I keep thinking of the Barthes' article where he discusses ex-nomination. That is an ugly word but basically what he was saying was that the capitalists had succeeded in getting names for them removed from public language. Only we old lefties talk about the ruling class and when we do eyes glaze over everywhere. My students, who actually loved me, used to giggle affectionately at Old Gary ranting again. I am also reading, with a friend, Walter Benjamin on Language as Such. All very mystical but he too talks about a language that names and brings things into being. So what has all this to do with the price of bread? Well my take on the Greek crisis is that the neo-Keynesian Left (eat your heart out, Gary), are partly responsible for a situation where the forces of capitalism have been named. This is because Syriza has campaigned not for soviets but against austerity and so have struck a great chord with millions throughout Europe. As a consequence the capitalists are out there in all their frightful thuggery and ugliness. And they are elements among them who are quite unhappy at being there and being named. There has to be anger in bourgeois circles at the intransigence of the Germans who have brought us to this situation. It is Sunday morning now, here in Brisbane. May the winds of change that are blowing in Athens turn out to be a tornado and sweep away the powers that be. comradely Gary _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: ‘No to fear’ — Greece's No protest as it happened - Left Flank
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Report from Kevin Ovenden http://left-flank.org/2015/07/04/no-to-fear-greeces-no-protest-as-it-happened/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Greek Referendum
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * But don't you get it? The Greeks voted for Syriza because the party reflected their own indecision. Polls reflected support for remaining in the eurozone even if you and the Spartacist League and the Socialist Equality Party knew better. Maybe some of these poor benighted souls will stumble across the Marxmail archives, read your rock-ribbed Bolshevik analysis and the scales will fall from their eyes. Jim Creegan saves the Greeks and then the planet. Hallelujah! On 7/4/15 6:41 AM, James Creegan via Marxism wrote: I will be very surprised if a majority of voters, in the face of all these contradictory moves, mixed signals and panic from their leaders, nevertheless decide to vote No. Such an outcome would represent a truly heroic act of defiance. The Geeks will have chosend to risk entrusting their future to leaders of demonstrated indecision and weakness rather than knuckle under to the debt lords. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The Greek referendum and the tasks of the Left by Stavros Mavroudeas - Counterpunch
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Did you see that Stavros himself shared this article with the marxmail list? https://mail.google.com/mail/#search/Stavros+Mavroudeas/14e54b8c3269bc6a At his blog http://stavrosmavroudeas.wordpress.com you can see his good work, scroll down to find articles in English. And links to two books: The Limits of Regulation http://www.elgaronline.com/abstract/9780857938633.xml and Greek Capitalism in Crisis http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415744928 On Fri, Jul 3, 2015 at 9:29 PM, Ralph Johansen via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/03/the-greek-referendum-and-the-tasks-of-the-left/#.VZa803-7F1Q.facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Looking for graphic resources
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Does any one know some good places to find graphics and images of a Marxist type? Class struggle, labour issues, civil rights, indigenous rights, environmental issues, peace, anti fascist, anti racist. Much gratitude if you can point me in direction of such. I've found the old soviet ones and the Labadie collection at the university of Michigan but any other depositories would be great. Thank you! _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Labor Standard (U.S.) on Greece
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://laborstandard.org/Eve_of_Greek_Referendum.html On the Eve of the Greek Referendum— For a Massive NO Vote, and Mass Mobilization in the Streets by George Shriver, co-managing editor, Labor Standard July 3, 2015—The crucial struggle right now is for a massive NO vote on July 5, and mass mobilization in the streets to encourage the working class and its allies to intervene directly in this crisis, asserting their own demands and directly acting in their own class interests. Many reports indicate that the healthy, vital, combative elements of the Left are engaging in a united-front effort precisely for a massive NO vote and a mass mobilization of the workers and their allies, such as the many active movements for social change. Only sectarian elements such as the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) are standing aside... . . . Transitional Measures Moving Toward Social Ownership Are Also Needed On July 3, in his speech to a huge crowd in Syntagma Square in front of the Greek government building in Athens, Alexis Tsipras emphasized the fight for democracy and the dignity of the Greek people against the blackmail and ultimatums of the international creditor “institutions.” And certainly it is right to emphasize the fight for democracy against unelected capitalist power. After all, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the Communist Manifesto of 1848 talked about the need for the working class to “win the battle of democracy”—that is, to form a workers’ government that would begin to make inroads against the rule of capital based on private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of the wage workers who produce surplus value, which is then appropriated by the capitalist owners. However, the fight must go beyond capitalism. Transitional measures can be taken immediately by the Syriza government. For example, the government can continue the capital controls it imposed on the Greek banks on Monday, June 29. Let the government run the banks in the public interest and under workers control... . . . _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Despair and Anger as Puerto Ricans Cope With Debt Crisis
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * (The parallels with Greece are palpable. If a colony of the USA that was held up as a showcase alternative to Cuba is such a basket case, what does that say about the failure of capitalism to deliver the goods?) NY Times, July 4 2015 Despair and Anger as Puerto Ricans Cope With Debt Crisis By LIZETTE ALVAREZ SAN JUAN, P.R. — It’s the lunch hour at Baker’s Bakery, a fixture in Río Piedras, one of Puerto Rico’s oldest neighborhoods, but the bustle at the counter is long gone. The front door opens and shuts only a few times an hour as customers, holding tighter than ever to their money, judiciously pick up some sugar-sprinkled pastries and a café con leche. On the first day of the new sales tax, which jumped to 11.5 percent from 7 percent, the government’s latest rummage for more revenue, Puerto Rico’s malaise was unmistakable. “People don’t even answer you when you tell them, ‘Buenos dias,’ ” said Ibrahim Baker, 55, on Wednesday as he stood at the cash register of the bakery he has owned for 25 years. “Everyone is depressed.” After nearly a decade of recession, Puerto Rico’s government says it cannot pay its $73 billion debt much longer. Gov. Alejandro García Padilla warns that more austerity is on the way, a necessity for an island now working feverishly to rescue itself. With so many bracing for another slide toward the bottom, the sense of despair grows more palpable by the day. “So many people are leaving you can’t even find suitcases,” said Erica Lebrón, 30, as she sat outside a housing project bodega. Before long, Puerto Ricans will face more tax increases — the next one is in October. Next on the list of anticipated measures, these for government workers, are fewer vacations, overtime hours and paid sick days. Others in Puerto Rico may face cuts in health care benefits and even bus routes, all changes that economic advisers say should be made to jump-start the economy. People ricochet from anger to resignation back to anger again. Along San Juan’s colonial-era streets, in homes and shops, Puerto Ricans blame the government for the economic debacle. Election after election, they say, political leaders took the easy way out, spending more than they had, borrowing to prop up the budget, pointing fingers at one another and failing to own up to reality. “It’s very, very, very worrisome,” said Mr. Baker, who added that he wanted the federal government to oversee the rescue plan because “in the hands of Puerto Rico’s politicians, this will never get better.” For Mr. Baker, each year has been worse than the one before. He first opened his business here 25 years ago, not too far from the University of Puerto Rico. At one time, 23 employees served up pasteles and tortas. Now he has one worker, and his daughter, a recent college graduate who cannot find a job, also works behind the counter. Sales have plummeted 50 percent and, over the years, he has been forced to close two other businesses. Taxes continue to go up. But so do other costs. Living on an island, many business owners must ship their goods in from a mainland port, already a costly proposition. But a 1920 law, the Jones Act, which requires Puerto Rico to receive its shipments from the United States on American-built ships with mainly American crews, makes the cost of transporting goods even more expensive. Recently, it got costlier, Mr. Baker said. Now there is a chorus of calls for Congress to relax the law as it relates to Puerto Rico. And some powerful Democrats are rallying behind the idea of granting Puerto Rico, a commonwealth, the ability to file bankruptcy for some of its debt-laden agencies. “I have to pass some of these costs on to customers,” Mr. Baker lamented, a tray of bread at the ready and an espresso machine churning in the background. For example, the price of ham, he said, recently increased for him to $2.39 a pound from $1.19 a pound because of shipping costs. “So we have fewer customers. Some months nothing is left over for us after we have paid the bills.” The high cost of electricity and water in Puerto Rico also make running his bakery, and paying his bills at home, all the harder. “I am stuck here because I have no alternatives,” he said. “I don’t have the opportunity now to even try.” Many others in Puerto Rico, including a stream of professionals and middle-class workers, have sought alternatives. They have moved to the mainland for jobs and better prospects. Over the past decade, Puerto Rico has lost more than 5 percent of its population, which now numbers 3.6 million, according to a New York Federal Reserve report. An
[Marxism] 1968 SFSU Strike
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Can anyone recommend a good history / analysis of the protests at SFSU of 1968/9? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Greek Referendum
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * It will be a miracle if the Troika is rebuffed tomorrow in its attempt to bring down Syriza and humiliate Greece. When people are faced with a leap into the unknown, as a No vote would surely be, they usually require the reassurance of leaders who are competent and determined. Tsipras and the people around him have shown themselves to be anything but. Displaying all the ambivalence, vacillation and hesitancy of the middle class layers they immediately represent, they are presenting to Greek voters not with a clear choice, but with a confusing muddle. Having made repeated concessions, Tsipras apparently concluded that negotiations were going nowhere, and called a referendum. But no sooner had he taken this seemingly bold step, than he turned around in an eleventh-hour attempt to capitulate. The Troika rejected his capitulation and withdrew its terms, having become convinced that a referendum offered a decent chance of unseating Tsipras and Syriza. I think they made a good bet. The Greek people are fully aware of Tsipras's last-minute climb-down. He called the Troika's terms blackmail, and then attempted to submit to them! They also can't be anything but confused about what a No vote would mean. What sense does it make to reject terms the Eurocrats say are now off the table? A rejection would be no more than symbolic. Would No mean a Grexit? Tsipras says it won't, that he is only trying to strengthen his negotiating hand. The troika says it will, because no more generous offer is forthcoming. Why can't Tsipras accept the fact that the Eurocrats aren't bluffing? They would rather see Greece out of the Eurozone than soften their terms. Does the Syriza leadership have a plan in the event that an exit becomes necessary? None that I or anyone else has been able to discern. Meanwhile the Troika, by withholding emergency bank funds, is deliberately creating a panic on the ground. I will be very surprised if a majority of voters, in the face of all these contradictory moves, mixed signals and panic from their leaders, nevertheless decide to vote No. Such an outcome would represent a truly heroic act of defiance. The Geeks will have chosend to risk entrusting their future to leaders of demonstrated indecision and weakness rather than knuckle under to the debt lords. Jim Creegan _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Greece's referendum: NPR interview w/ Tsakolotos; contending narratives opposition; establishment media, financial fears; a poll (6)
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * National Public Radio (U.S.) interviews Euclid Tsakalotos on the referendum NPR's Rachel Martin talks with Euclid Tsakalatos, Greece's deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator in the bailout talks, about Sunday's referendum and what yes and no votes would mean All Things Considered, July 3 Audio and transcript here: http://www.npr.org/2015/07/03/419824368/chief-bailout-negotiator-greece-needs-an-economically-sustainable-deal RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: We are joined now by Euclid Tsakalotos. He is deputy foreign minister for Greece and the head of Greece's negotiating team. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. EUCLID TSAKALOTOS: You're more than welcome. MARTIN: Greeks are clearly confused about what Sunday's referendum is about. Can you clarify? What are they voting on? TSAKALOTOS: Well, the institutions - that's the IMF, the European Commission and the ECB - made a proposal for an agreement. And that agreement, we felt - the Greek government - was not sustainably economically or socially just. And it's that proposal that is being put to the Greek people to either accept or to reject. MARTIN: But as I understand it, that particular proposal isn't even on the table anymore. TSAKALOTOS: Yes, that is technically true, but there is going to be a new agreement, and that agreement is going to be of a certain character. So we know what the institutions were proposing. I think most people understand the really underlying issues. MARTIN: Is this a negotiating tactic, to call this referendum? Since it doesn't explicitly validate or discredit a particular proposal, it's mostly symbolic in nature. TSAKALOTOS: In one sense you're right, and in one sense you're wrong. In one sense you are right, in the sense that we always said that this referendum was part of the negotiation process and not in lieu of the process. And it's part of the negotiation process when we feel that we really did try our very best to reach an honorable compromise, whereas the IMF, the Commission and the ECB proposal was much more close to their opening bid three months ago, rather than trying to find the common ground. And that's where you're wrong. It's more than a symbolic gesture. It's a democratic gesture. And what we're asking is that European people must respect the democratic decision because if they do not, people will draw the terrible conclusion that in Europe you can vote, but it doesn't matter who you vote for, what electoral platform you vote for, what manifesto you vote for - you always get the same policies. And that means that people will be disgruntled with the democratic process, alienated from the democratic process, and that could lead to some very nasty, nationalistic, right-wing politics. MARTIN: If the vote does not go the way you would like it to, if Greeks vote yes, does that mean your government folds? TSAKALOTOS: Well, I can't tell you the mechanics - the political mechanics. But, obviously, it's like a vote of no-confidence for opposition for the Greek people, and that is a very serious matter. We would have to respect the decision of the Greek people, and the deal would have to be signed on the lines suggested by the institutions. So the political mechanics are less important than the substance. And the substance is that we would need a government who believe in the institution's proposals, think that they can work. Presumably, a lot of people who are voting yes and the politicians recommending yes - who are the same politicians, I would add, who ran Greece over the last five years with disastrous consequences for people's income - they would have to have a greater say in a government. But exactly how that would be carried out, it's too early to say. MARTIN: If the vote is no then what does that mean - talks continue? TSAKALOTOS: We will be there on Monday morning, if there is a no vote, negating on one and only one criterion. What we need is a deal that is economically sustainable, and that's why it must have something on the debt because what we have in Greece is a lot of pent-up demand. We have people that have some money who are not spending it now. Not because they don't have it, but because they fear the future. We have savers who are not willing to put their money in banks because they fear for the future. And we have investors not investing because they fear for the future. And unless the decision on debt it taken now and not pushed back to December or Easter or next summer, that pent-up demand won't be released, and then we won't even be able to keep our promises. MARTIN: But what do you say to smaller European countries, like Ireland, who never got their own debt
