To the young Czechs who said that their direct experience with communism and capitalism has taught them that the two systems have something in common: they both treat people as if they are less than fully human; where communism see people only as potential producers, capitalism sees them only as potential consumers. And to those who agree with this assesment of both systems, I recommend the Green alternative and their Ten Key Values: Ecological Wisdom; Social Justice; Grassroots Democracy; Non-Violence, Decentralization: Community-Based Economics; Feminism; Respect for Diversity; Personal and Globval Responsibility; and, Future Focus/Sustainability. JoeMosley In a message dated 9/27/00 4:09:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Subj: [CrashList] S-26, Elections, and Resistance Date: 9/27/00 4:09:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tony Abdo) Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On this CrashList, we have two subscribers battling away at each other over elections being stolen BEFORE the election. One, an American marxist, is correctly upset that the US government is stealing an election in Yugoslavia, by a combination of threat of war, and paying for the 'opposition'. The other subscriber is a European anarchist, who has seen the theft of many a previous election by an entrenched government 'socialist' bureaucracy, that uses state assets to maintan its clique in power. This radical speaks of the need to resist, and not to support (Milosevic). Clinton's most current lie... as of this morning.... ''It certainly appears from a distance that they had a free election and somebody's trying to take it away from them,'' Clinton said at the White House. I print this to show that there is another way still, of seeing the slogan 'resist, not support' (Clinton). From the US, Jared has been a model for resistance, while others refused all action. Emperor's Clothes was created precisely because no other English language source was trying to expose the US lies, similar to that of Clinton's latest disingenuous fib, just read. As we write, anarchists like Andrej are involved in street actions in Prague against capitalism. And Rightists at antiwar.com are the only semi-decent news source in the US, about what is happening in the current standoff between the US and the crumbling government of Milosevic. But will these Rightists try to mobilize against the capitalist system? No..... they won't. I want to use this moment to express unequivocally to Jared, my solidarity with his efforts to RESIST. We should stand with him in solidarity when he takes on the Raimondo's and Flemings of the world. However, we have to take quite a different view, when he launches attacks on people like Andrej or Noam, in the effort to build support for a Milosevic, as opposed to an effort to mobilize against US imperialism. Below, is an article for Jared to consider, with a slight change in title to.... Capitalism and Communism Look Equally Bad in Belgrade.... It's off todays Common Dreams site ( a site that did not resist much, the bombing of your country, Andrej). __________________________________ Capitalism And Communism Look Equally Bad In Prague by Naomi Klein �What seems to most enrage the delegates to the meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Prague this week is the idea that they even have to discuss the basic benefits of free-market globalization. That discussion was supposed to have stopped in 1989, when the Wall fell and history ended. Only here they all are -- old people, young people, thousands of them -- literally storming the barricades of their extremely important summit. And as the delegates peer over the side of their ill-protected fortress at the crowds below, scanning signs that say "Capitalism Kills," they look terribly confused. Didn't these strange people get the memo? Don't they understand that we all already decided that free-market capitalism was the last, best system? Sure, it's not perfect, and everyone inside the meeting is awfully concerned about all those poor people and the environmental mess, but it's not like there's a choice -- is there? For the longest time, it seemed as if there were only two political models: Western capitalism and Soviet communism. When the USSR collapsed, that left only one alternative, or so it seemed. Institutions like the World Bank and IMF have been busily "adjusting" economies in Eastern Europe and Asia to help them get with the program: privatizing services, relaxing regulation of foreign corporations, building huge export industries. All this is why it is so significant that yesterday's head-on attack against the ideology ruling the World Bank and the IMF happened here, in the Czech Republic. This is a country that has lived through both economic orthodoxies, where the Lenin busts have been replaced by Pepsi logos and McDonald's arches. Many of the young Czechs I met this week say that their direct experience with communism and capitalism has taught them that the two systems have something in common: They both treat people as if they are less than fully human. Where communism saw them only as potential producers, capitalism sees them only as potential consumers; where communism starved their beautiful capital, capitalism has overfed it, turning Prague into a Velvet Revolution theme park. The experience of growing up disillusioned with both systems helps explain why so many of the activists behind this week's protests call themselves "anarchists." Anarchism is an ideology that defines itself by being fiercely non-ideological. It rejects externally imposed rules and argues that we are impoverished, as individuals and as communities, by overwork and overconsumption. Most of us carry a mess of negative biases about anarchists. But the truth is that most are less interested in hurling projectiles than in finding ways to lead simple, autonomous lives. They call it "freedom." So what do the lifestyle choices of a small (but growing) radical subculture have to do with the allegations being made against the World Bank and the IMF? Everything. Far from simply demanding debt relief, the mass protests against the Bank and Fund are now driven by more fundamental demands: the elimination of both institutions, and of the economic beliefs that drive their every decision. Over the past decade, a critical mass of communities in poor countries have questioned the Bank's belief that large-scale "development" always equals "improvement." The people coming forward have been displaced by World-Bank-funded mega-dams and had their water systems polluted by World-Bank-funded mines. Are these people Communists? A few. But most aren't capitalists either. They are tapping into something different, and much older. The young anarchists in Prague, also gathered here from around the world, have tapped into it too. The Indian writer Arundhati Roy put it best, writing about her crusade against a World-Bank-funded dam: "Perhaps what the 21st century has in store for us is the dismantling of the Big. Big bombs, big dams, big heroes, big mistakes. Perhaps it will be the Century of the Small." _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
