the piece by barker on liberal foundations (and he has several along this line on Znet) i guess i find puzzling, unless you accept the generic conclusion that possibly people funded by liberal philanthropies should work more closely with grassroots based groups. however, the last reference, on this point, refers to 'the revolution will not be funded', which suggests maybe this is not possible---you have to make a choice between being funded (eg by Ford or the Ctr for Social inclusion), and tailoring your work to their criteria, or not being funded. so, i'm not sure what the conclusion is.
It can be mentioned as an aside that R Healey, on the social inclusion board, is the son of dorothy healey, who was a well known communist from long ago, who had a radio show. Barker also cites P Bond, on work showing neoliberal attacks on s african social change partly due to efforts of foundations, while also noting that bond himself is on the board of directors of some of the ngo's funded by these foundations. but his own project apparently was defunded. actually, my basic view is that barker is (or was) a graduate student studying this topic, and universities themselves in many ways are NGO's like philanthropies (providing resources, grants, stipends, etc. to a wide variety of views and causes---and universities themselves are dependent on all sorts of philanthropic, business and government financial influences), so if one wants to deal with the pernicious influences of wealth/power/agendas you cannot just look to see who Ford is funding (and this includes last i looked, dean baker's group, CEPR) but indirectly everyone who is being funded, and why (eg who goes to graduate school? who gets tenure?) Barker could likely do a similar dissection of his own university---where do they get funds, and who gets them? And, why do people take the opportunities and funds? maybe, to eat, or travel---to conferences (this piece was written for a conference it appears). why did chomsky take money from the military for his original research on the 'language instinct'? Barker advocates for particpiatory democracy, but generally people who get money don't really share its use. (its interesting that right wingers are promoting that the US share of GM be given equally out to US citizens---that actually seems pretty democratic.. 'own a piece of the rock'. if the entire stock market went under, and they iterated that process, then you'd be approaching market socialism, or 'coupon capitalism', or 'people's capitalism' as people like Romer advocate (and even shiller has something like this. or one could run the government as a lottery, so 'earmarks' would be the entire budget, and would be distributed like lotto winnings on a random basis. It would be interesting if people would actually vote to raise taxes if they knew they had a chance to, say, get a check in the mail the size of a Lockheed-Martin contract. ) in sum, i dont get the point of barker's article, apart from being interesting data, and something to keep him busy and get some letters to add to his name (too bad you can't get those english royal credentials in a university---sir, or knight, or count, or king, or whatever paul mcartney is). its possible there is no other way than the liberal reformist approach where you try to take the master's tools and money and then try to remake the world in some fashion (eg plowshares). but everyone is doing that, in often conflicting ways. everyon'es hustling. (the health care debate is interesting in that there are all these academic experts chiming in, sometimes from the same universities---like Herrnstein v Gould/Lewontin at Harvard on IQ---each with their diagnosis and analyses, and they are typically training whole new cadres to take up 'new class' positions in policy debates in their particular schools.) maybe it would be better to move to brazil and do what some argued (chagnon) the yananamo do, and just keep it small scale. http://www.axiomsandchoices.blogspot.com --- On Sun, 8/23/09, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Louis Proyect <[email protected]> > Subject: [Pen-l] Swans Release: August 24, 2009 > To: "Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition" > <[email protected]>, "Progressive Economics" > <[email protected]> > Date: Sunday, August 23, 2009, 7:27 PM > Swans Commentary http://www.swans.com/ August 24, 2009 > > *** Many thanks to Don Durivan for his generous > contribution. People, you need to SUPPORT US > FINANCIALLY. We keep at it on a bi-weekly basis. All > original content, which brings you thoughts and thoroughly > researched facts to help you make your own decisions. > We help you. Please help us. Check our Donation page: > http://www.swans.com/about/donate.html. > Send us a check or enclose a few $20 bills in an > envelope and mail them to us. THANKS! *** > > > > P L E A S E ! ! ! > > Note from the Editors: If you landed on > Swans while searching for an answer to whether Michael > Jackson had a nose when he died, or if it's > appropriate for a First Lady to don shorts; if you're > looking for the scoop on John Edward's love child or > Mark Sanford's mistress, you've come to the right > place! Because it's time to turn off the television and > redirect your attention to matters that matter... For > example, why is US foreign policy so focused on > Afghanistan (and Iraq, and Yugoslavia...)? The answer is > neither new nor "democracy" -- but if you need a > geopolitical primer read Gilles d'Aymery's treatment > of the spectacle and reality of the West's Eurasia > interests. Nor did Hillary Clinton visit Africa recently to > export democracy - - as Femi Akomolafe reports from Ghana, > she did what Western leaders always do best...when it > comes to colonialism and imperialism. And if you're a post- > racial liberal, you'll find Michael Barker's research on > liberal philanthropy's cooption of anti-racism activism an > eye-opener. > > Britons are rightly concerned about their military presence > in Afghanistan and the rise in casualties, while being > fed the same "fight them there so we don't have to > fight them here" rhetoric. Peter Byrne considers the > aftermath of terrorism in London and New York, along > with the novelists capitalizing on the new wealth of > material. Time to put down the terror novels and pick > up Tiziano Terzani's *Letters Against the War.* Martin > Murie continues his exploration of this powerful > collection, with a review of Terzani's letter from > Afghanistan in the days following 9/11. Jan Baughman takes a > sardonic stab at the "death by socialism" rhetoric > that's infecting the health care debate; while Charles > Marowitz challenges our president (with his sharp > tongue -- certainly not a gun) to take off his > community-organizer / coalition-builder hat and put serious > pressure on Congress for reform. And for a Kafkaesque > moment, Michael Doliner follows Franz's confused > spiritual journey in the midst of the Enlightenment > and revolution. > > *Dans le coin français,* Graham Lea concludes his colorful > observations on the riders, politics, and pharmacology > of the 2009 Tour de France; Xavier Robert examines our > role in making the planet uninhabitable and our > responsibility to reverse course; Marie Rennard shows how > liberalism is trumping solidarity and failing > retirees; Patrice Houzeau pens a lunar- inspired literary > fantasy; and we share the 1753 anti-Twitterati, > legendary discourse of Mr. de Buffon on style and > prose. The poetry corner is enriched by Guido Monte, > who considers the mystery of the universe; Jeffery > Klaehn, who exalts a mysterious love; and Art Shay, > who recalls his former photographic subject, the > recently-departed Robert McNamara. The looming > departure of summer means the ramping up of football -- Raju > Peddada reviews the diluted state of the game. > Finally, we close with your letters, on Saul Bellows, the > Cash for Clunkers scam, and more. > > > > # # # # # > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/ga271.html > Eurasian Spectacle And Reality - Gilles d'Aymery > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/femia17.html > Oh, Shut Up, Mrs. Clinton! - Femi Akomolafe > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/barker29.html > Liberal Foundations And Anti-Racism Activism - Michael > Barker > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/pbyrne107.html > Counting The Dead In London - Peter Byrne > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/murie77.html > An Opportunity - Martin Murie > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/jeb210.html > Death By Socialism - Jan Baughman > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/cmarow145.html > "Yes We Can" -- But We Won't! - Charles Marowitz > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/mdolin46.html > How Kafka Became So Kafkaesque - Michael Doliner > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/glea06.html Le > Tour De France -- Part Two: So were the Riders all Heroes? - > Graham Lea > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/xavier01.html > Gaïa et ses prophètes - Xavier Robert (FR) > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/marier36.html > Libéralisme et Solidarité : Quand le système faut - > Marie Rennard (FR) > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/houzeau01.html > Douze brefs lunaires et d'autres lieux - Patrice Houzeau > (FR) > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/xxx136.html > Discours sur le style - Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de > Buffon (FR) > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/gmonte74.html > Mystery Of The Universe - Multilingual Poetry by Guido > Monte > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/klaehn01.html > So In Love - Poem by Jeffery Klaehn > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/ashay13.html > Snapshot Of A Strange (Love?) Before His Time - Poem by Art > Shay > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/rajup19.html > Is The NFL Losing Its Game? - Raju Peddada > > http://www.swans.com/library/art15/letter172.html > Letters to the Editor > > > > # # # # # > > Please, consider supporting our co-operative work > financially. See http://www.swans.com/about/donate.html > > Swans (aka Swans Commentary), ISSN: 1554-4915, is a > bi-weekly non- commercial ad-free Web-only magazine which > provides original content to its readers. We encourage pulp > publications to republish Swans' Work in print format. > Please contact the publisher at <aymery AT > ix.netcom.com>. Please, do not repost Swans' Work on the > Web and other mailing lists: "Hypertext" links to any pages > of Swans.com are authorized; however, republication of any > part of this site, inlining, mirroring, and framing are > expressly prohibited. We welcome your comments and > suggestions. 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