http://www.swans.com/ March 15, 2004 -- In this issue:
Note from the Editor:
Now that the Deaniacs have officially taken a Kerryian outlook of the
world, Howard Dean can call for the multinational removal of Robert Mugabe
of Zimbabwe on NBC's Meet The Press. Saddam Hussein's removal would have
been okay too, had it been done through a multinational surgical action,
and for "legitimate" reasons. In this light, Aristide's deposition from
Haiti was kosher -- hey, weren't the French our allies this time around?
Who's next? What about Hugo Chávez of Venezuela? He sure is a good
candidate for multinational surgical excision. See, in spite of the
country's fabulous oil wealth more than 70 percent of the population lives
in poverty and the Chávez administration has directed the national oil
company to increase its social spending from $40 million to $1.7 billion a
year, thus transferring some of The Commons back to the commoners, away
from the elite and the banks in Miami. Chávez's policies, a reversal of a
long historical trend that has seen property rights and privatization
become sacrosanct (see Milo Clark's article), are anathema in Western
chancelleries. Ergo, Mr. Chávez, like Robert Mugabe or Fidel Castro, is
branded a dictator, an enemy of freedom and democracy, a tyrant governing
through corruption and violence. Unilateralists or multilateralists, same
combat! Actually, Gerard Donnelly Smith provides a good example of what
private enterprise can do for you; and both Manuel García and Phil
Rockstroh look into the potential -- or probable -- consequences if the
neo-liberal order continues unabated.
Injustice and exploitation are much on Eli Beckerman's mind, as well as an
insatiable thirst for alternatives, as he ponders the significance of
Martin Luther King's slaying some 36 years ago. Certainly, submits Scott
Orlovsky, replacing our black and white world with liberty and fraternity,
taking profits out of the equation, would serve the greater needs of The
Commons. But, here again, so long as the neo-liberal order carries on
unabated...
Mr. Bush, instead of sending personalized pictures to Charter Members of
his campaign (seriously, look at the picture and the letter in "Err, Mr.
Bush, What Went Wrong?" -- they are hilarious!), and Mr. Kerry would be
well-advised to listen to Frank Wycoff and the kind of messages he would
like to hear from them or any other president. He has a few concrete ideas,
for instance saving on the White House rental to help the homeless. Michael
Stowell, who relates some of his latest experience with homelessness and
observations on how to turn people inside out, would undoubtedly agree. But
will the "Good Americans" do what's necessary to overcome the interrelated
conditions that keep them down? For Philip Greenspan, a young 77 years old,
an unrepentant optimist and unrelenting activist, nothing's impossible!
It's incumbent upon all of us to prove him right. Take the time to visit
the International ANSWER coalition regarding information about the March 20
demonstrations around the U.S.
We end with another poem by Gerard Donnelly Smith and the repost of an
excerpt of Diana Johnstone's Fools' Crusade.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes)
know about Swans.
*****
Here are the links to all the articles:
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/mgc122.html Privatization: A Platform
Issue by Milo Clark
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/gsmith16.html Environmental
Contamination and Genocide: Tar Creek Superfund Site - by Gerard Donnelly Smith
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/mgarci10.html Oil, Population And Global
Warming by Manuel Garcia, Jr.
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/procks21.html Global Warming: The
Passion Of The Snow Globe of Doom by Phil Rockstroh
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/elib016.html The Power Of The People
Don't Stop by Eli Beckerman
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/sorlov20.html Liberty vs. Fraternity by
Scott Orlovsky
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/ga172.html Err, Mr. Bush, What Went
Wrong? by Gilles d'Aymery
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/flw019.html Jobs And Janet Jackson by
Frank Wycoff
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/mws053.html Inside Out - by Michael W.
Stowell
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/pgreen37.html The Good Germans (Nazi
Era) And The Good Americans (Today) by Philip Greenspan
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/dianaj01.html "Fools' Crusade" - Book
Excerpt by Diana Johnstone
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/gsmith12.html Lies, Lies, Always Lies -
Poem by Gerard Donnelly Smith
#####
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Gilles d'Aymery -- Swans
"Hungry man, rush for the book: It is a weapon." B. Brecht
Louis Proyect
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