Re: [Marxism] multipolar world pro-Confederates in the news again
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 find it interesting that the entire media discussion has worked furiously to make the issue about the Confederate flag rather than the police, the institutional constraints on the black community in the face of its qualitatively worsening condition in the U.S. Is it possible for the mainstream political culture to ever focus on the substance rather than the symbols nowadays? ML _ 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] multipolar world pro-Confederates in the news again
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. * Exactly. Getting rid of the Confederate flag or making its fans more sensitive would be part of that healing, as would be presidential hand-wringing over the entire thing. The question is power--how to mobilize it and how to direct those mobilizations. ML _ 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] multipolar world pro-Confederates in the news again
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 6/22/15 12:45 PM, Mark Lause via Marxism wrote: I find it interesting that the entire media discussion has worked furiously to make the issue about the Confederate flag rather than the police, the institutional constraints on the black community in the face of its qualitatively worsening condition in the U.S. Is it possible for the mainstream political culture to ever focus on the substance rather than the symbols nowadays? At the risk of sounding like a contrarian, I don't think the Charleston murders, as bad as they were, can be seen in the same light as the KKK terror of the 1950s and 60s. The ultrarightist that Roof hailed has repudiated him and Ted Cruz has repudiated the ultrarightist. The main threat to Black people is the cops. Beyond that, the economic oppression that is entirely legal and peaceful costs the lives of many thousands each year from early childhood diseases, alcoholism, drug overdoses, suicide, etc. All this talk about healing from Wolf Blitzer is enough to induce projectile vomiting especially when CNN keep referring to thugs during the Baltimore protests. _ 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: Time for a New Black Radicalism - The New York Times
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://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/time-for-a-new-black-radicalism/ Time for a New Black Radicalism By CHRIS LEBRON JUNE 22, 2015 1. The Negro must love the white man, because the white man needs his love to remove his tensions, insecurities and fears. 2. You do too much singing. Today it is time to stop singing, and start swinging. Which of the above is emblematic of black radicalism? The answer is not as clear-cut as many of us might think. The first statement was made by Martin Luther King Jr. in support of his much lauded and widely known strategy of nonviolent resistance. King’s call comes from his 1958 account of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, “Stride Toward Freedom.” In it, he articulated what he saw as an essential form of communal love that had its roots in New Testament Christianity but one that King felt was best described by the ancient Greek word “agape,” a redeeming love that “springs from the need of the other person.” Certainly, the families of the murdered congregationalists of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Charleston, S.C., were practicing that sort of love last week when they publicly forgave Dylann Roof, the young white supremacist who committed those murders. The second statement was made in a characteristically biting tone by Malcolm X some six years after King’s, in a 1964 speech in Detroit, known as “The Ballot or the Bullet,” urging a more active resistance in the face of the government’s repeated failure to protect black people’s rights and lives. It was clearly directed at those who still affirmed King’s program of nonviolent resistance, and raised the possibility that the continuation of that government failure might require blacks to take up arms. Today, as we face a seemingly endless number of black lives being unjustifiably threatened, damaged and lost, and the resulting emotional cycle among black Americans of rage-despair-hope, it seems urgent that we ask again whether now is the time to make black radicalism central to black politics and activism. And if so, what should it demand of American citizens? • By radicalism I mean the explicit intention to use strong, nonconventional and unsanctioned means to effect systemic change by either disrupting the status quo or reinstating a preferred previous status quo. If the convention in a capitalist society is for the tech industry to charge for all services and you offer yours for free on the principle that “knowledge wants to be free,” you are a radical; if you’re a state legislator who cuts against the separation of church and state by lobbying to make the Bible the official book of the state, you are a radical. It would be a disservice to the diverse tradition of black thought and activism to present the black radicalism monolithically, but we can identify a central motivation across its various iterations: to secure for blacks, against the history of white supremacy and the persistent racial oppression it has spawned, a degree of respect and dignity by means that directly confront and reconfigure both the discourse of and policies around racial justice. This is typically done with an eye toward not merely rationally persuading white Americans, but to intentionally unsettle and dislodge them from the comforts of white privilege. We don’t typically assign the term “radical” to people like the computer programmer or the legislator described above, for a number of reasons. First, radicalism, especially in the political sphere, is thought to necessarily entail violence. Second, radicalism is often used as a substitute for “fundamentalism.” Lastly, radicalism is thought to represent (some form of) insurgency as a way of life or lifestyle. This last reason when combined with the first is what makes the idea of radicalism, especially black radicalism, alarming to many Americans. Yet it turns out that all of these reasons for treating radicalism as a dangerous doctrine are wrong. It is important to begin by challenging the claim that radicalism and fundamentalism are interchangeable. Fundamentalism is an ideology and all ideologies share one critical flaw. They begin with a basic proposition (for example, the lives of all nonbelievers in religion X are expendable) and assert that proposition as a true statement about the world and then proceed to interpret all evidence in the light of that purported truth; thus ideology short-circuits effective means of assessing the reality of social, economic and political situations. Radicalism, in contrast, is significantly (but not entirely) post hoc — it is
[Marxism] John Halle on Charleston
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. * (from FB) It is a testament to the optimism of the left that some of us were able to find a silver lining even in the most toxic of black clouds which was the Charleston massacre. One of these was Maurice Mitchell of the Movement for Black Lives who took comfort in the organizing and the heart and resilience we are seeing on the ground. Mitchell was hopeful that it will continue—that we might be able to precipitate a meaningful, transformative political and cultural shift in this country. Unfortunately, Mitchell's optimism was probably misplaced for reasons Naomi Klein provides in the Shock Doctrine: crises, even those which might seem to galvanize the left, are routinely used as a smokescreen under which the right pursues their most regressive policies. Last Thursday was no exception. Indeed, while the bodies were being counted, the U.S. Congress approved HR 1314, a major step to achieving Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA, which will result in far more devastation in African American communities than white supremacists' bullets. The difference lies in the violence being effected by fountain pen wielding men in suits resulting in unseen destruction--of jobs, environmental protections and organizing rights all of which adding up to mass unemployment, misery, and hopeless and, ultimately, thousands of premature deaths. This outrage provoked almost no discussion in liberal and left circles which a week before had been crowing about having imposed insurmountable obstacle to the passage of the TPA through the defeat of enabling legislation. Thursday showed that little has changed since the heady days of NAFTA when a similar phalanx of a centrist Democratic executive, almost all of the Republican caucus and a few key defectors from the Democrat ranks enabled the first round of jobs destroying trade agreements. Among the crucial votes this Thursday were congressional black caucus members Stephanie Sewell, Eddie Bernice Johnson and Gregory Meeks whose overwhelmingly working class constituencies are sure to be among the biggest losers in the intensified race to the bottom the TPA is designed to promote. But in the wake of the Charleston outrage, Sewell, Johnson and Meeks could be confident they would be insulated from any criticism for their vote, particularly from unions spearheading the opposition whose own history of racism remains an open wound for many African Americans. Of course, the acknowledged master of racialized triangulation is the misleader in chief, Barack Obama whose service to elites was crucially enabled by liberals besotted by the prospect of an African American presidency, enthusiastically projecting all manner of left identitarian fantasies on to him-despite all evidence that he was committed to the corporate center right governance which has been the hallmark of his administration. Those who had warned of this materializing hoped that the TPA, provoking Obama's shameless attacks on the Democratic labor base and sullenly dishonest smears of Elizabeth Warren, would finally open the eyes of liberals to who they were dealing with. No such luck. It's a safe bet that the President will have some of his waning moral authority restored by Charleston. Demands from the black lives matter movement to respect black leadership will be cynically exploited by a ruling elites which recognized from the very beginning the unique value of cultivating multiculturally diverse spokespersons fronting for their neoliberal product line. The strategy was first deployed by New York City mayor David Dinkins who was able to sell his candidacy to the establishment on the grounds that his left-liberal base, rather than rebel against his treasonous embrace of neoliberalism, would take if from me. Let's hope Barack Obama's presidency will be seen as marking the zenith of this strategy. It is time for the left to own up to its own role in enabling it and resolve to never allow itself to be played for suckers again. _ 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] new Greek proposal to troika raises questions, riles concerns at home (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. * 1) SYRIZA on standby for agreement Party bodies ready to convene, VAT on islands a red line for Independent Greeks I Kathimerini, Athens, June 22 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_22/06/2015_551375 SYRIZA’s party bodies are on standby to meet in the coming days if the government reaches an agreement with the institutions and to assess whether the deal meets the approval of leftist party members and MPs. Ministers and SYRIZA lawmakers mostly remained tight-lipped Monday regarding the potential agreement but the party’s political secretariat and central committee will be convened if a deal is reached. SYRIZA’s parliamentary spokesman, Nikos Filis, said he was confident that the coalition will remain faithful to its red lines, which include lower primary surpluses as well as not cutting pensions and public sector salaries. “The agreement will be evaluated, discussed and will pass through Parliament, with backing from SYRIZA’s parliamentary group and, I believe, Independent Greeks.” Alternate Minister for Citizens’ Protection Yiannis Panousis suggested that if there are ministers who disagree with the expected settlement between the government and its creditors, they should leave the cabinet. “If there are ministers who cannot take it, do not want it, who are against the new agreement that is on its way, then a reshuffle will be necessary,” said Panousis, who is not a SYRIZA member. One potential flash point in the government is over the issue of scrapping the value-added tax discount for Aegean islands. Coalition partner Independent Greeks has said it would strongly oppose such a move. This position was repeated Monday by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos. “The issue of VAT on the islands is a precondition for Independent Greeks and me personally to accept this agreement and continue being part of the government,” Kammenos said. 2) Why the words ‘civil war’ are no longer a joke in Greece by Paul Mason Channel 4 News, England, June 22 http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/words-civil-war-longer-joke-greece/3924 Here’s the situation as the Eurogroup on Greece is underway. On Sunday the Greek cabinet met and decided to make a further retreat on the fiscal targets their lenders want them to meet. There’s a gap of about €2bn between the two sides, and this latest move fills €1bn of it. This is by putting up the VAT rate on electricity, cutting the pensions of better-off pensioners, reducing early retirement rights quicker than planned, a one-off tax on companies with turnover above half a million, and closing tax loopholes. However, the real change is in the tone on debt relief. Alexis Tsipras has always argued that any deal done now should form the framework of a future discussion on rescheduling Greece’s debts. Until Sunday this was a red-line issue. Now I understand the Greek government would accept a form of words that pledged to address this in future; and an un-named EU official has said this is likely. The problem is, these extra measures are effectively “left austerity” – changes of the kind the lenders don’t like, hitting the rich harder than the poor. So even if they accept they could help balance Greece’s books, they might still object that they are not sustainable. But the background to this final concession is ominous. Tsipras and his team are under huge pressure from within Syriza, and from within the 47 per cent of voters who, when polled last week, said they would vote for Syriza. The pressure comes verbally, in constant text messages from constituents, and from a group within the parliamentary party known as the 53 group. These are grassroots “modernised” left-wingers – and their 53+ MPs, combined with around 30 or so from the pro-Grexit Left Platform, have enough support and willpower to reject any deal that looks like humiliation. Controlling Syntagma Square So Tsipras and his cabinet went to Brussels to make one more big concession, but fully prepared to endure an unwilling “rupture” with lenders, leading to the imposition of capital controls and a default, if they judge lenders are actually trying to humiliate them and force them to the exit. They understand the likely chaos would not just be economic. The second of the pro-euro demonstrations is due to be held tonight. So far has the mood darkened between this essentially right-wing, pro-austerity movement and the mass base of Syriza that it has in the past week become routine for people to start throwing around the words “civil war”, and no longer in the jokey way they used to. People fear, sooner or later, that the left and right will stop alternating their demonstrations in Syntagma
[Marxism] new Greek gov't proposals please creditors (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. * *cover letter on new proposals from Tsipras to EC Commissioner Juncker June 22* https://twitter.com/claudiperez/status/613051340458184704 1) Greece offers new proposals to avert default, creditors see hope by Renee Maltezou and Jan Strupczewski Reuters, June 22 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/22/eurozone-greece-idUSL8N0Z811320150622 BRUSSELS - Greece took a step back from the abyss on Monday with the presentation of new budget proposals that euro zone leaders welcomed as a basis for a possible agreement in the coming days to unlock frozen aid and avert a looming default. European Council President Donald Tusk, who chaired an emergency summit of leaders of the 19-nation currency bloc, called the Greek proposals a positive step forward. He said the aim was to have the Eurogroup finance ministers approve a cash-for-reform package on Wednesday evening and put it to euro zone leaders for final endorsement on Thursday morning. However, there must first be a detailed agreement with representatives of European governments, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to ensure the numbers add up, he said. . . . The Greek proposals included higher taxes and welfare charges and steps to curtail early retirement, but not the nominal pension and wage cuts first sought by lenders. Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected in January on a promise to end austerity measures, also appeared to have avoided raising value added tax on electricity or loosening job protection laws. Tsipras said the ball was back in the creditors' court and they should provide a deal that would make Greece's huge debts affordable. We are seeking a comprehensive and viable solution that will be followed by a strong growth package and at the same time render the Greek economy viable, he told reporters. The cash-starved country must repay the IMF 1.6 billion euros by June 30 or be declared in default, potentially triggering a bank run and capital controls. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the euro zone finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, described the new Greek document as comprehensive and a basis to really restart the talks. He said negotiations in the coming days would show whether the numbers added up. He left the summit saying only that there would be hard work for the next few hours. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was the most negative, telling reporters earlier in the day he had seen nothing really new from Greece. Participants said Schaeuble questioned in the Eurogroup meeting whether the European Central Bank should continue emergency lending to Greek banks if there was no deal this week and whether it should not be accompanied by capital controls. A Greek official said ECB chief Mario Draghi had reassured Tsipras in a private meeting that the central bank would continue to support Greek banks as long as Athens remained in a bailout programme. An ECB source said there was no direct link between the emergency liquidity assistance and the programme. Participants said IMF chief Christine Lagarde cast doubt in the meeting on whether the proposals were sufficient to make Greece's public finances sustainable. We have a huge amount of work to do in the next 48 hours. We are not at all at the end of the route, Lagarde said on leaving the summit. Tsipras had demanded a promise of debt relief as a condition for a deal, but both Merkel and Juncker said now was not the time to discuss it. An EU diplomat said Tsipras struck a very cooperative tone in the summit and promised to work further on the proposals to ensure a deal this week. Juncker said he had proposed a 35 billion euro programme for growth-enhancing measures in Greece up to 2020. The money appeared to be a restatement of existing EU budget funds earmarked for Athens. . . . With anxious Greek savers continuing to withdraw cash, though apparently in smaller amounts on Monday than last week, the ECB increased its emergency lending to Greek banks for the third time in a week. But after months of acrimony, the positive mood music in Brussels gave investors hope that an agreement might be near. European shares hit their highest level in a week and the Greek stock market jumped 9 percent while the borrowing costs of Italy, Spain and Portugal - the countries most likely to be hit if Greece headed for the euro zone exit - fell sharply. . . . In its proposal, Greece offered to raise the retirement age gradually to 67 and curb early retirement. It also offered to reform the value-added-tax system to set the main rate at 23 percent, and promised additional taxes on business and the wealthy. Economics Minister George
[Marxism] Fwd: Leader of group cited in 'Dylann Roof manifesto' donated to top Republicans | US news | The Guardian
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[Marxism] Fwd: A Syrian teen's tale of torture and death in an Islamic State town - CSMonitor.com
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[Marxism] some perspectives on Greek financial crisis (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. * 1) Crunch time for Greece by Jorge Martín In Defense of Marxism, IMT, June 19 http://www.marxist.com/crunch-time-for-greece.htm . . . Now we have reached crunch time. The troika maintains its demands, while the Greek government realises that if it makes any further concessions it might not be able to survive. The experience of the last four years in Greece, clearly shows that any government attempting to implement the Memoranda has been destroyed. After the breakdown of negotiations at the Eurogroup yesterday a new emergency political meeting has been called for Monday, June 22. It is not likely to lead anywhere. In the meantime, ahead of Monday’s meeting, the Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis has published his intervention at the Eurogroup meeting, where he expressed http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/06/18/greeces-proposals-to-end-the-crisis-my-intervention-at-todays-eurogroup his views and proposes even further, outrageous concessions. Those were also rejected. The document details a comprehensive and hair rising list of the impact of the crisis and austerity policies on Greece which is worth reproducing: “The public sector’s structural, or cyclically adjusted, fiscal deficit turned into a surplus on the back of a ‘world record beating’ 20% adjustment Wages fell by 37% Pensions were reduced by up to 48% State employment diminished by 30% Consumer spending was curtailed by 33% Even the nation’s chronic current account deficit dropped by 16%.” He then explains the impact of these brutal cuts: “Aggregate real GDP fell by 27% while nominal GDP continued to fall quarter-in-quarter-out for 18 quarters non-stop to this day Unemployment skyrocketed to 27% Undeclared labour reached 34% Banks are labouring under non-performing loans that exceed 40% in value Public debt has exceeded 180% of GDP Young well-qualified people are abandoning Greece in droves Poverty, hunger and energy deprivation have registered increases usually associated with a state at war Investment in productive capacity has evaporated.” Even after explaining all this, he says he is prepared to make even further “adjustments”, including a privatisation plan for the next 10 years (something which is clearly in direct contradiction with the Thessaloniki programme). The whole argument, he says, is not that we don’t want to cut, it is just that we want to do it “our way”. To stress the point he makes a further proposal which had not been advanced before, that of an automatic mechanism to control public spending. This is how he explains it: “Instead of arguing over half a percentage point of measures (or on whether these tax measures will have to all of the parametric type or not), how about a deeper, more comprehensive, permanent reform? An automated hard deficit brake that is legislated and monitored by the independent Fiscal Council we and the institutions have already agreed upon. The Fiscal Council would monitor the state budget’s execution on a weekly basis, issue warnings if a minimum primary surplus target looks like being violated and, at some point, trigger automated across the board, horizontal, reductions in all outlays in order to prevent the slide below the pre-agreed threshold. That way a failsafe system is in place that ensures the solvency of the Greek state while the Greek government retains the policy space it needs in order to remain sovereign and able to govern within a democratic context. Consider this to be a firm proposal that our government will implement immediately after an agreement.” This would in effect mean an automatic mechanism for permanent austerity regardless of the economic circumstances and far from giving any government “sovereignty” or a “democratic context” it would be precisely the opposite! Here we have the sad spectacle of the democratically elected Greek representatives being forced to grovel in front of the European bankers and capitalists begging for some crumbs off the table, asking for leniency, making promises of “good behaviour”, only for the masters to turn around and say: NO, we want more! Having reached this point, the main problem is that the Syriza leadership did not expect a situation where an “honourable agreement” would not be possible and therefore did not prepare for it, either from an economic point of view or from a political point of view. The Left Platform inside Syriza, which now has about 45% of the vote in the Central Committee, has voiced opposition to these concessions (see its amendment at the last CC meeting https://greekanalyst.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/syrizas-left-platform-call-not-to-pay-next-imf-tranche). However, there are two weaknesses in
Re: [Marxism] some perspectives on Greek financial crisis (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. * On 6/22/15 4:30 AM, Dayne Goodwin via Marxism wrote: In reality, the only alternative to the utopian strategy of searching for an agreement with the lenders is what the comrades of the Communist Tendency of Syriza call a “socialist rupture”. That is, to repudiate the debt and take measures to expropriate the capitalist, bankers, landlords and ship owners, so that the wealth of society can be put in the hands of those who produce it, under a democratic plan of the economy. Breaking decisively with capitalism is also the only policy which could rekindle the enthusiasm which existed in the initial days of the government, both in Greece and throughout Europe. That is the only way forward. In reality, this is where their troubles would really begin. _ 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: Earth is on the brink of a sixth mass extinction, scientists say, and it’s humans’ fault - The Washington Post
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[Marxism] Greens fall for Liberals' divide and conquer tactics
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. * While we in Australia are splitting hairs arguing over which worker is slightly richer than other workers, and admiring the government for its sleight of hand in giving a few crumbs to a few pensioners, the rich are laughing all the way to their tax free superannuation bank. And it is not just superannuation. As ACOSS has revealed in its report Inequality in Australia: A nation divided, inequality continues to increase in Australia. As the report says 'a person in the top 20% wealth group has around 70 times more wealth than a person in the bottom 20%.' The main winners out of this winner/loser strategy are the Abbott Government and the really rich. The government will use the same divisive model again. Public school fees anyone? http://enpassant.com.au/2015/06/22/greens-fall-for-liberals-divide-and-conquer-tactics/ _ 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] George Orwell on the British left
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. * George Orwell: One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England. full: http://www.drb.ie/essays/the-romantic-englishman _ 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] New on Redline
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. * New health and safety bill before parliament: Time for workers to take charge of health and safety: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/time-for-workers-to-take-charge-of-health-and-safety/ Protecting NZ capitalism is not in the interests of workers anywhere: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/from-the-vaults-protecting-new-zealand-capitalism-is-not-in-the-interests-of-workers-anywhere/ The White New Zealand policy, pt 6: (re)presenting the parliamentary debates of the late 1890s - the data: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/white-new-zealand-policy-pt-6-representing-the-parliamentary-debate-the-late-1890s-the-data/ Phil _ 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: Is China going Green? A reply to John Bellamy Foster | 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 know how excited we should get about Wang being a Marxist. Isn't it predictable that functionaries in China would consider themselves Marxists? Out of tradition, if nothing else? Best Wishes, - A On Jun 22, 2015 3:50 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. * On June 15th an article by John Bellamy Foster titled “Marxism, Ecological Civilization, and China” appeared on MRZine. It was the fourth in a series of exchanges that date back to a February 2012 Monthly Review article by Zhihe Wang titled “Ecological Marxism in China”. Wang, who is the director of the Center for Constructive Postmodern Studies and professor of philosophy at Harbin Institute of Technology in China, discusses the penetration of Marxist ecological theories in China including those that should be familiar to those of you who keep abreast of such matters: 1. James O’Connor’s theory of the “Second Contradiction” 2. Joel Kovel’s Frankfurt Marxist analysis 3. Foster/Paul Burkett, which Wang implies is the only one that is strictly Marxist. For the most part, Wang is enthusiastic about the arrival of a Green-Red synthesis and gives equal credit to academicians like Foster and Chinese officials such as Yi Junqing, who Wang describes as: the Minister of Central Bureau of Compilation and Translation (a top government institution on Marxism Studies in China), believes that “Marxism will lose its vitality” if it does not address the ecological crisis in the twenty-first century. Wow. That’s pretty good news, ain’t it? A top government official is not only a Marxist but someone who emphatically believes that ecosocialism should become official government policy. I must have dozed off somewhere along the line not to have noticed this. full: http://louisproyect.org/2015/06/22/is-china-going-green-a-reply-to-john-bellamy-foster/ _ 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
[Marxism] Greece today, illuminating report by Paul Mason
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. * Greece – five pictures of a troubled country by Paul Mason Channel 4 News, England http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-pictures-troubled-country/3900 [slightly behind the front edge of the latest news but lots of perceptive observations, d] _ 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] multipolar world pro-Confederates in the news again
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 the one hand, the union responses to this atrocity and to police murders have pointed to institutional racism in hiring, education, housing, etc. So for that matter have the various #blacklivesmatter groups. And when quoting all of them on facebook I've agitated for us to campaign on those institutional issues. On the other hand, the flag debate does reflect power dynamics (and several of the right-wing groups have in fact praised the murderer and even called for trashing the US flag). On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 12:56 PM, Mark Lause 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. * Exactly. Getting rid of the Confederate flag or making its fans more sensitive would be part of that healing, as would be presidential hand-wringing over the entire thing. The question is power--how to mobilize it and how to direct those mobilizations. ML _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%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] ARGENTINA: Successful election for the Left and Workers' Front
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. * Source: http://laizquierdadiario.com/english Noelia Barbeito, a 33 year-old teacher and a member of the Socialist Workers Party (Partido de los Trabajodores Socialistas, PTS) representing the Left and Workers' Front obtained 10,39 % of the votes in the gubernatorial race in Mendoza province on Sunday. The coalition headed by the center-right Radical Party (UCR) defeated Kirchnerist candidate and other opposition parties to win the election. Noelia Barbeito obtained 10,39 % of the votes in Mendoza’s governor race (nearly 110,000 votes). The Left once again achieved historic results in an election for an executive position. Last May, current presidential candidate Nicolas del Caño, a 35-year old member of the PTS representing the Left and Workers’ Front (known as FIT in Argentina), achieved 17% in the mayoral race in Mendoza city, ahead of the Kirchnerist candidate. Barbeito improved on her results from the primary election by nearly 50 % (she obtained 7 % in the primaries). Together with Barbeito’s 10,39 %, the Front earned two new provincial legislator seats (a senator, Víctor Da Avila from PO; and alegislator, Macarena Escudero from PTS), and many city council seats. This is one of the several successful elections this year for the Left and Workers’ Front. The left coalition had achieved verypositive results in previous elections in Mendoza (in both the primary and general elections), Salta, Buenos Aires city, and Neuquen. The Left and Workers’ Front has consolidated its position as a political force that can attract votes from many of those who hold progressive views on many issues but that previously supported Kirchnerism and who genuinely believed in its promises of change. The workers and the youth of Mendoza see in the Left and Workers’ Front, and PTS candidates like Barbeito and Del Caño, among others, a left and working class alternative. Del Caño has presented himself as candidate for President, and will be joined by Myriam Bregman as candidate for vice president in the upcoming primary elections for the Left and Workers’ Front. They will compete with the Workers Party’s (Partido Obrero) candidate for President Jorge Altamira and Socialist Lefts’ (Izqueirda Socialista) candidate for vice president Roberto Giordano. _ 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] Philadelphia - the real history of the Vietnam War
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://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/index.php/event/world-social-forum-philadelphia/ _ 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: Albert Woodfox’s Forty Years in Solitary Confinement - The New Yorker
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. * Woodfox was serving time for armed robbery in the notoriously violent Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, in 1972, when a prison guard named Brent Miller was stabbed to death. Woodfox and a fellow-prisoner, Herman Wallace, were accused of Miller’s murder, despite the fact that no physical evidence linked them to the crime and that both men consistently maintained their innocence. They claimed they were framed by the prison authorities because of their membership in the Black Panther Party and their outspoken criticism of prison conditions. Louisiana juries convicted Woodfox in the early seventies and again in the late nineties, but both convictions were thrown out for racial discrimination in grand-jury selection. Meanwhile, the appeals process dragged on, and Woodfox remained in solitary confinement for decades. (Wallace was also held in solitary confinement until his conviction was overturned, also on grand-jury-discrimination grounds, in 2013, just a few days before his death.) full: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/albert-woodfoxs-forty-years-in-solitary-confinement _ 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] Syrian fighters withdraw from US program, refusing to sign contract to not fight Assad
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 know it must be really, really old news by now that the US program to train and equip a new army of rebels was only ever aimed, explicitly, at them only fighting ISIS and not the regime, but this is the first time I see they were expected to sign a contract pledging to not fight Assad. I guess these rebels are only quitting now were a little slow. MK Syrian Opposition Fighters Withdraw from US 'Train and Equip' Program Jun 22nd, 2015 by Ibrahim Hamidi for Al-Hayat (London-based Saudi newspaper) http://syrianobserver.com/EN/News/29382/Syrian_Opposition_Fighters_Withdraw_from_US_Train_Equip_Program/ Dozens of fighters withdraw from Pentagon training program in Turkey and Jordan after being forced to sign contract pledging not to attack Assad forces Syrian Opposition Fighters Withdraw from US Western diplomatic sources confirmed that dozens of “moderate opposition” fighters withdrew from the US Defense Department’s train-and-equip program after refusing to sign a contract guaranteeing not to fight against the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, regional and Western countries are seeking to persuade the Obama administration to provide political mandate to the international coalition jet fighters to support the opposition fighters against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). US Congress approved a three-year plan with a $500 million USD annual budget for training and arming 5,000 fighters annually to achieve three goals; fighting ISIS, defending the areas controlled by the moderate opposition, and pushing towards a political solution in Syria. Congress also agreed to set up four camps, including two in Jordan and Turkey. According to sources, about 6,000 fighters applied to join the Pentagon program, supervised by Gen. Michael Nagata, in parallel with a secret CIA program to train and equip opposition fighters. About 2,500 fighters were said to have passed the first phase of testing, with only 1,500 of them chosen to continue training. The sources noted that about 200 fighters arrived in two training camps in Jordan and Turkey, but only around 50 of them remained in the program after the rest refused to sign a paper containing a pledge not to fight regime forces, or because their names did not match the names registered in the preliminary lists, meaning only dozens of fighters received training in the camp in southern Turkey. Agence France Presse reported from Pentagon spokesperson Colonel Steve Warren that while the stated goal is to train 5,000 fighters per year, only a hundred or two Syrians began training in the two camps in Jordan and Turkey. US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told Congress on Wednesday that it is “very difficult” to identify fighters who meet the specified criteria. In addition to operational difficulties, the program also faces strategic problems between the Obama administration and some of its allies, such as Turkey. Sources claim Ankara believes the US aims to train the fighters only against ISIS, at the expense of fighting the Syrian regime, stating: it was clear from the very beginning that the task of these Syrian fighters is to fight ISIS at the moment. Turkey and Western countries have attempted to convince Washington to broaden the mission of the international coalition fighter jets to provide air protection to opposition fighters, but the Obama administration has refused to approve any step that may harm Iranian interests or the current nuclear negotiations deal. Coalition warplanes struck ISIS locations in Izaz Soran in the countryside of Aleppo last week, strengthening the position of the Syrian opposition fighters, the first step of its kind since the commencement of the coalition raids last September. The sources explained that the task of the coalition fighters in Syria is only to strike any ISIS location that effects fighting ISIS in Iraq, because Obama's strategy is to defeat ISIS in Iraq first, in addition to destroying the infrastructure of the Islamic State in the north east of the country. The sources believe the political mandate given to coalition fighters only to destroy ISIS infrastructure, such as oil stations and command centers, within Iraq first, may explain the coalition's failure to prevent ISIS from controlling the city of Palmyra in central Syria weeks ago _ 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
