[Marxism] Davidson on uneven and combined development

[Andrew Pollack via Marxism]

  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.
*

Neil Davidson's series is now complete and available as a pdf:

https://rs21testblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/uneven-and-combined-development-modernity-modernism-revolution.pdf
_
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: Workers, civil rights leaders join for 'March on Mississippi' backing Nissan union | Facing South

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

  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 shape of things to come.

https://www.facingsouth.org/2017/03/workers-civil-rights-leaders-join-march-mississippi-backing-nissan-union
_
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: Donald Trump accuses Obama of 'wire-tapping' his office before election | US news | The Guardian

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

  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://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/04/donald-trump-accuses-obama-of-wire-tapping-his-office-before-election
_
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] Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

  POSTING RULES & NOTES  
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*

NY Times, Mar. 4 2017
Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS and NOAH WEILAND

WASHINGTON — It was a scalding message, painted on a university campus 
sidewalk this week: “Welcome to the Trump plantation. Overseer: Wayne A. 
I. Frederick.”


What made the message more jarring still was that Dr. Frederick is the 
black president of one of the country’s most respected historically 
black institutions, Howard University, founded here 150 years ago as a 
bulwark of social justice. Other graffiti on campus buildings said, 
“Wayne Frederick doesn’t care about black people,” and “Make Howard 
black again.”


And on Thursday, students disrupted a university convocation to protest 
what they saw as Howard University’s catering to the Trump 
administration. One student confronted Dr. Frederick, shouting: “Someone 
might have convinced you that money is more important than people. But 
we are asking you, in this moment, to choose us, to take a stand for us, 
and to do right by us.”


The student backlash came after Dr. Frederick and more than 60 other 
leaders of historically black colleges and universities gathered for a 
meeting on Monday with top officials of the Trump administration, 
including the new education secretary, Betsy DeVos. As the meeting was 
getting underway, participants said, it was interrupted to invite them 
to an impromptu visit with President Trump in the Oval Office.


A photograph of the black leaders smiling and chatting with Mr. Trump 
around his desk was widely circulated and instantly became a flash point 
for students who believe the administration has been insensitive to the 
needs of black Americans.


“Is it a photo op, is it an opportunity for Trump to put himself next to 
black people and smile?” Llewellyn Robinson, a Howard sophomore, said, 
after the graffiti had been wiped clean. “Is that the situation we’re 
dealing with? Or is it truly a seat at the table?”


Howard protesters said they had heard echoes of support — in the form of 
tweets, student organizations reaching out and the exchange of 
information on group messaging apps — from students at other prominent 
black institutions like Spelman, Morehouse, Hampton and North Carolina 
A An aide to one college president said that concerns about how to 
deal with the protesters had been a topic of intense phone conversations 
among the leaders.


Many of the black leaders who met with Mr. Trump, Vice President Mike 
Pence and other members of the administration said that they had no 
apologies for what they called institution building, a chance to make a 
personal connection with Mr. Trump in the hope that his administration 
would invest in the future of their colleges and universities.


“I was not there for any foolishness,” said David Wilson, the president 
of Morgan State in Baltimore, who said he consulted with student 
leaders, faculty, alumni and regents before agreeing to the meeting. “I 
was not there for a photo op with the president. I was not there to make 
any statement about legitimizing him or not. I was there to make sure 
that the genre of institutions that has been so critical to building the 
middle class in this country and that will be critical to maintaining 
the middle class going forward receive the appropriate amount of federal 
aid.”


But the students saw the meetings as political cover for Mr. Trump, and 
some awkward details of his administration’s encounter with the black 
academic leaders only reinforced their skepticism.


Many saw it as disrespectful when Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to 
Mr. Trump, was photographed sitting with her feet tucked under her on a 
couch in the Oval Office, fiddling with her phone, as Mr. Trump and the 
black leaders stood in the background.


Ms. DeVos was criticized for saying, in a statement in honor of the 
meetings, that “H.B.C.U.s are real pioneers when it comes to school 
choice,” referring to historically black colleges and universities. Some 
were offended by the implication that black institutions were created as 
a free-market choice, rather than by necessity because of segregation.


At Thursday’s convocation at Howard, students raised fists and held 
signs saying, “Trump is Not Welcome @ Howard,” and “Don’t Take Trump 
Hu$h Money,” before being escorted from the auditorium by security, the 
students said. As they paraded out, they chanted, “We have nothing to 
lose but our chains.”


Students said that Dr. Frederick’s visit to the White House had been a 
topic of conversation in classes all week. Residents of one dorm held a 
town hall-style meeting on Wednesday night to discuss it.

Re: [Marxism] NO STALINIST VIOLENCE IN OUR MOVEMENTS!

[DW via Marxism]

  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.
*

No, what Andy described is *disruption*. There is a huge difference. While
all violence is disruptive and anti-democratic, not all disruption is
violence. I understand Andy is pissed, and rightfully so. In fact what was
WWP even doing there but to disrupt the event? But violence is a
qualitatively different thing. If they PUSHED people, hit them, etc as they
did in the 1970s (they are a totally different group now and have been for
37 years) or the way the Larouchites did, that would violence.

David
_
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 revolutionary democratic-dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry? Say what? | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

  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://louisproyect.org/2017/03/04/the-revolutionary-democratic-dictatorship-of-the-proletariat-and-the-peasantry-say-what/
_
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: Trump in Perspective: Fascism or Just More Barbarism? (part two)

[Greg McDonald via Marxism]

  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 author writes:

"The reason Trumpism looks so similar to fascism may be due to the fact
that fascism has usually had a close relationship with organized crime in
its society. In Japan, for example, the social links between the Yakuza
networks and the right wing political forces are well known. The same close
ties exist between the Italian fascists and mafia families in that country.
The same in Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and many other countries throughout
the world."

Perhaps Reza Fiyouzat could explain how Mussolini's alliance with the Mafia
led to the arrest of 11,000 alleged members of the Siciian Mob by 1928,
with 1,200 convicted and imprisoned. This happened on Mussolini's direct
orders to eradicate the Sicilian Mafia. Let us also not forget to mention
the alliance between the OSS and the Mafia leading up to the US invasion of
Italy.

Time Magazine Monday, Oct. 24, 1927

 "More than a year has sped by since, at Premier Mussolini's orders, the
dread Mafia (or Black Hand organization) was hunted down on the island of
Sicily, captured, jailed. For centuries the Mafia protected Sicilians while
the island was under foreign rule. When Italy became unified in 1870, the
Mafia (in reality a coalition of gangs) turned brigands and terrorized the
island ruthlessly. Not until the advent of Signor Mussolini and his
Fascist! has any government dared to put down their wholesale lawlessness,
although many half-hearted attempts have been made..."

Greg McDonald
_
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] movie

[John Reimann via Marxism]

  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 those who watch movies on their computers, here is a film made about
Afghan refugees in Iran and how they are treated there. It is a full length
film. It is not a documentary, but I am told it is accurate. I think the
ending gives a glimpse of how hopeless the situation must seem to many in
that part of the world.

John

https://youtu.be/gG_8HAqMW6o

-- 
"No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them."
Asata Shakur
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com and //
www.facebook.com/WorkersIntlNetwork?ref=stream
_
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] Trump as seen from Down Under

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

  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 have mentioned before that the right wing her in Australia have been
immensely emboldened by the Trump victory.  Now there have been a salvo let
loose from the Left.   Leftist historian, speech writer and script writer
Don Watson has let loose on the Trump "horror show" in *The Monthly*.

The article is at

https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2017/march/1488286800/don-watson/american-berserk

For starters it is brilliantly written. Watson is a major stylist and has
produced a genuinely enjoyable take down of the monster in the Oval
Office.  His line is interesting.  He depicts Trump as quintessentially
American and asks why has it taken so long to produce a president like
him.  He writes:

*A scam artist, an ignoramus, a professional liar, a colossal and malignant
narcissist, a vulgarian, a casino operator, a serial bankrupt – a Roy
Cohn–mentored billionaire with deep Mob connections – is in the White
House. Has there ever been a more American presidency? What took them so
long?*



He then flirts with channeling the Nietzschean intellectual, H. L. Mencken,
and his talk of the "morons".  Watson of course is forced to condemn
Clinton's talk of a "basketful of deplorables" and he rightly says that
phrase will be her legacy.

My comment is this.  If we want to say or if we accept that Trump's victory
is a victory for typical Americans then we cannot avoid the Mencken
position that the majority of Americans are deplorables or morons.  And
Watson is trapped here.

The solution of course is to insist that Trump is a minority President.
That happens to accord with empirical reality.   There is no need then to
flirt with Mencken and Nietzsche and deplore the role of the majority and
to bask in the self-pity of the isolated intellectual.

We actually have an opportunity for the left intelligentsia to end its
isolation and to break through to a mass base by opposing Trump.  But we
will never get there if we think he represents the majority.  My take on it
all remains that the American ruling class (the true deplorables) has made
a major error in allowing the jester to keep prancing around in the crown
and the robes of the king after the carnival is over.  The fact that the
jester is a sociopath and a narcissist compounds the error.

We are about to see major acts of resistance by a wide variety of interest
groups.  They will all be united by a realization of the necessity to say
No to Trump.  that is the good news story.

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

Re: [Marxism] US Arab Spring policy? Third party counter-revolution

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

  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 author of this article describes the Syrian Democratic Forces as 
"counter-revolutionary", whereas the Free Syrian Army are the "real" rebels.

He/she does not recognise that some FSA units have been coopted by Turkey and 
used in its counter-revolutionary military intervention in Syria.  Turkey, with 
the aid of these groups, has seized Syrian territory in the north of Aleppo 
province.

Turkey has always been hostile to Rojava, and more recently to the broader 
north Syrian federation. This antagonism is motivated by several factors, 
including hostility to Kurdish self-determination, fear that a Kurdish-led 
movement in Syria will inspire Turkey's Kurds to rebel, and hostility to the 
secular leftist politics of the PYD.

Since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion in Syria, Turkey has given weapons 
and other aid to some Syrian rebel groups. But this aid came with strings 
attached, including a requirement to support Turkey's anti-Rojava policy.

The United States initially supported Turkey's policy. Turkey is a NATO member, 
whereas the PYD shares the political ideas of the PKK, which is on the US's 
"terrorism" list.

The US allowed its allies Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to supply modest 
amounts of aid to the Syrian rebels - enough to keep the war going but not 
enough to win. The aim was to apply pressure for a negotiated transition, where 
Assad would be replaced by a new leadership, but the capitalist state would be 
preserved.

The US approach changed after ISIS captured Mosul. This threatened US efforts 
to create a stable pro-US government in Iraq. The growth of ISIS also 
threatened instability in the broader Middle East.

A few months after the fall of Mosul, the siege of Kobane occurred.  After some 
hesitation, the US began to cooperate with the YPG/YPJ against ISIS.

Turkey had different priorities and followed a different policy. It was still 
obsessed with the Kurdish threat, and continued to aid ISIS in its war against 
Rojava.

It is only recently that the Turkey-ISIS alliance broke down, leading to 
fighting in al-Bab (though attempts have been made to patch it up).

For the SDF, Turkey and ISIS are the most immediate threats.  Hence the 
cooperation with the US against ISIS, and the recently reported cooperation 
with Assad forces in the west of Manbij district against the Turkish invasion.

Of course, neither the US nor Assad regime is a reliable ally.

Chris Slee


From: Marxism  on behalf of Michael 
Karadjis via Marxism 
Sent: Saturday, 4 March 2017 5:33:06 PM
To: Chris Slee
Subject: [Marxism] US Arab Spring policy? Third party counter-revolution

  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.
*

US Arab Spring policy? Third party counter-revolution
by eternispring

.

The “rebel” factions that the US has directly supported in Syria have
always been those that do not fight Assad – in other words rebels that
don’t rebel. The SDF position on Syria is identical to that of the US –
a “third option” theoretically distinguishable from the regime but which
ultimately involves indirect support to it. This “regime preservation by
proxy” has been US policy in the conflict, helping it to avoid the
criticisms which would otherwise arise from unmediated direct support –
with other “proxy” US-backed allies of the regime include Iraqi army
brigades (who currently form the biggest ground forces of the Assad
regime) and the Egyptian al-Sisi regime.

Another example of what’s talked about here is the famed “US only found
54 moderate rebels to fight ISIS”. Hundreds of outlets (mainstream and
alternative) probably recirculated the original context-less source
piece, in turn reaching millions of people. And in only a tiny minority
will the crucial detail being missing: that there were only 54
signatories because the US stipulated that those who signed up sign a
declaration to use their weapons only to fight ISIS, not Assad. This in
turn provides the source material for “alternative media” outlets to
repeat the upside-down narrative of a US conspiracy against the Assad
regime.The result literally from just one misleading piece failing to
add a line is millions of people understanding the issue upside down.

This isn’t unique to Syria either; for instance you’ll often find
Zionists say “the 

[Marxism] The Russian election hack: bullshit

[Joaquin Bustelo via Marxism]

  POSTING RULES & NOTES  
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*

A review of some aspects of this cock-and-bull story.

*  *  *
This whole scenario makes no sense.

The FBI and DNC don't take seriously the Russian incursion, which goes 
on for months.


We're told these are hyper-sophisticated secret attacks but the Podesta 
email trick is so pedestrian you can look it up in the dictionary. And 
apparently it was not even exploited to plant software in Podesta's 
machine (or that of his aides), only to harvest emails from Google's 
servers.


The Russians supposedly were both fiendishly clever and completely 
clueless. They realized how damaging the revelation of real documents 
and emails would be ... but didn't do it when it would have been most 
damaging, during the primaries.  When they release it, they do it 
through Wikileaks, where it will have the least impact, instead of 
doling giving it to the New York Times and other news organization.


There is one word that best describes this story: bullshit.

*  *  *

Full:

http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-russian-election-hack-bullshit.html

_
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at: 
http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com