Re: [Marxism] Democratic Socialism Isn?t Social Democracy

[Andrew Stewart via Marxism]

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Great, so we've gone at warp speed through the politics of the Second
Internationale and straight into Derrida's reincarnation. At what point are
we going to get off this shit-show and start actually building rather than
navel gazing at the Democratic Party's feet?

-- 
Best regards,

Andrew Stewart\


Message: 1
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2018 14:09:54 -0400
From: Louis Proyect 
To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition

Subject: [Marxism] Democratic Socialism Isn?t Social Democracy
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/democratic-socialism-social-democracy-nordic-countries
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Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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RKOB says:


'Chris Slee says:”RKOB ignores the occupation of Afrin by Turkey.”

'Answer: not true!'


I didn't mean you have never said anything about the occupation, just that you 
didn't mention it when discussing the talks between the Democratic Federation 
of Northern Syria and the Assad regime.

The SDF might be hoping for some form of support in their campaign to drive the 
Turkish occupation forces out of Afrin.  This seems unlikely at present.  But 
if Assad were to conclude that Erdogan intends to occupy parts of northern 
Syria permanently, he might decide to give some aid to the SDF to put pressure 
on Turkey to leave Afrin.

Chris Slee


From: Marxism  on behalf of RKOB via 
Marxism 
Sent: Tuesday, 7 August 2018 11:21 PM
To: Chris Slee
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

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Chris Slee says: “RKOB quotes praise for the YPG and SDF by US
generals.This just reflects cooperation between the SDF and the US in
the fight against ISIS, something I have never denied.”

Well, do you want to suggest that the relationship between the US and
YPG/SDF is one of cooperation between equals? On one hand we have the
biggest imperialist power of the world and on the other a
petty-bourgeois nationalist militia representing an important sector of
the Kurdish minority in Syria. Really, one does not to be Einstein to
understand that this is not a relationship of equals but a hierarchical
relationship with US imperialism in the command.

This is also one reason, by the way, why the YPG/SDF fights for US
interests (as well as its own nationalist interests) in Arab territories
with hardly any or none at all Kurdish population. This is why the
YPG/SDF acts as national oppressors in the Arab-populated territories in
Eastern Syria.

Chris Slee says:”RKOB ignores the occupation of Afrin by Turkey.”

Answer: not true! See our statement with the very title “Syria: No to
Turkey’s Attack on Afrin! Defend the Syrian Revolution against
Annihilation!”,
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/no-to-turkey-s-attack-on-afrin/
Syria: No to Turkey’s Attack on Afrin! Defend the Syrian 
...
www.thecommunists.net
The Syrian Revolution must reject sectarianism and strive to create 
multinational unity among Arabs, Turks and Kurds! Rally all forces against the 
Assadist-Iranian-Russian Aggression in Idlib!



(see also the collection of all our articles on Syria:
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/collection-of-articles-on-the-syrian-revolution/)

Chris Slee asks: ”If the SDF are the "foot soldiers" of US imperialism,
why did the US do nothing to stop the Turkish invasion of Afrin?”

Answer: because the YPG/SDF is too small and weak to satisfy the
interests of US imperialism in Syria. Washington needs more and stronger
allies and hopes to win over Turkey in one way or another. But, as we
have seen since some time, this is highly difficult and contradictory.
Turkey would be a very insecure ally. So Washington is manoeuvring and
tries to keep YPG/SDF and at the same to improve cooperation with the
Erdoğan regime.

Personally, I think it is entirely possible that the alliance between US
imperialism and the YPG/SDF could end at some point. This could be the
case when the US no longer needs them as foot soldiers. This could be
the case either if the US has found a stronger ally (Turkey comes into
mind). Or if the US completely withdraws from Syria. But the US-YPG
alliance would not end because of any anti-imperialist impetus of the
YPG/SDF but because Washington has found a better mercenary. In this
context it is possible that the YPG/SDF finally joins the camp of Assad
and Russian imperialism. No improvement to the present situation. Just a
replacement of one bloody reactionary master by another.

--
Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG
(Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, 
www.thecommunists.net)
www.rkob.net
ak...@rkob.net
Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314



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Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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People voted in Democratic Northern Syria Federation elections:



https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava/people-voted-in-democratic-northern-syria-federation-elections-22286



Foza Yusif: “Elections sent a strong message”:


https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/foza-yusif-elections-sent-a-strong-message-23573


Northern Syria election results announced:


https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava/northern-syria-election-results-announced-23501


From: Jason 
Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2018 3:22 AM
To: Chris Slee; Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 8:11 AM, Chris Slee via Marxism 
mailto:marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu>> wrote:
But this cooperation does not amount to US occupation of SDF controlled areas. 
The people of these areas govern themselves through their own democratic 
institutions.

Without wanting to distract attention from mkaradjis's important email, I'd 
like Chris to share evidence that SDF controlled areas are governed by the 
local populations through "democratic institutions."
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Re: [Marxism] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance wows SF’s Mission. Her speech not so much. - Mission Local

[Mark Lause via Marxism]

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Since her victory, I think Bernie and the other fossils have taken her
under their wing and persuaded her that FDR was really a closet socialist
(albeit also a warmonger and a segregationist) . . .

And that the Democratic decision to purge the party of the more radical New
Dealers with the Red Scare really didn't do much of any harm to it . . .

And the later decision to go back after 1972 and exorcise the ghost of
liberalism from the party somehow just didn't take . . .

And that Carter, Clinton, and Obama were all very, very radical but just
didn't do anything about it.

ML
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Re: [Marxism] The excuses some Marxists make for voting Democratic (part two) | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 8/7/18 9:41 PM, Jason wrote:
On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 6:02 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism 
mailto:marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu>> wrote:



Not that surprised that you would think the Popular Front was a
viable project if carried out correctly. Not one bit.


Feel free to present an argument.


I try to avoid having too many exchanges with you on this mailing list 
because it is counter-productive. I went through that with Carl Davidson 
5 years ago on FB and finally realized that it was not worth my time. I 
am glad that you presented your arguments for backing the Democrats in 
terms far more sophisticated than what I read in Political Affairs 50 
years ago since they gave me the opportunity to answer them on my blog. 
In part 3, I am going to deal with the argument I have heard that Karl 
Marx backed a bourgeois politician, namely Abraham Lincoln, so why can't 
we? Assuming that you agree with that, maybe you can do me a favor and 
sling together a hundred or so words of your acrobatic prose so I can 
have something to work with.

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Re: [Marxism] The excuses some Marxists make for voting Democratic (part two) | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Jason via Marxism]

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On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 6:02 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

>
> Not that surprised that you would think the Popular Front was a viable
> project if carried out correctly. Not one bit.
>

Feel free to present an argument.
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[Marxism] "Iran after Trump's threats"

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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From the Alliance of Middle East Socialists

"Iran After Trump’s New Threats
Aug 7, 2018

After unilaterally exiting from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran in May
2018, an agreement which had been signed by Germany, France, Britain,
Russia and China, the U.S. is planning to impose the “strongest sanctions
in history” on Iran in November. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani also
proclaims “The collapse of the Islamic Republic of Iran is around the
corner.” The rulers of apartheid Israel are doing all they can to have Iran
destroyed by a U.S. war. The Republicans enthusiastically support Trump’s
military threats. The Democrats can’t be expected to mount any serious
opposition – indeed many of them will also support war. All this means the
U.S. is on the road to a new war. We must oppose it.
Yet, we have to be honest. Iran’s woeful human rights record and its
participation in Assad’s destruction of the Syrian revolution, mass murder
of Syrian people and displacement of half the Syrian population are
indefensible.

We say,

· No war on Iran, no cyberwarfare, no economic sanctions that would hurt
the Iranian masses.
· The anti-war movement must remind the world about the horrors of the
sanctions on Iraq 1990-2003
· Iran get out of Syria right now. Your intervention is criminal. Stop
direct and indirect military intervention in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen"

Read full article here:

https://www.allianceofmesocialists.org/iran-after-trumps-new-threats/?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email


-- 
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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[Marxism] Syria’s Women Prisoners, Drawn by an Artist Who Was One - The New York Times

[Richard Taylor via Marxism]

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> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/arts/design/syria-prison-artist.html 
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance wows SF’s Mission. Her speech not so much. - Mission Local

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 8/7/18 7:17 PM, Mark Lause via Marxism wrote:

I think that's not an unreasonable response to socialism as a "label."
Rather than fighting over vocabulary like adysfunctional English
Department, the fight should be around the political question of power, no?


I think the French Mandelistas had the right idea to form something 
called the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) that put the question of 
socialism on the back burner. It leads to too many fissures about how to 
interpret what it means.


But everybody should be able to agree that the capitalist system is not 
working. That provides the basis for an all-inclusive left party that 
can focus on the tasks at hand such as defending immigrant rights, 
opposing fascists, defending the trade union movement, etc.


Unfortunately, that's the one thing that the DSA candidates do not 
address. Can you imagine the impact if A. O-C went on "Meet the Press" 
and instead of making all these mealy-mouthed formulations and had 
simply said that humanity is doomed on account of the drive for profit 
that is polluting the air we breathe and the water we drink? And had 
properly fingered big pharma for its profit-hungry indifference to our 
health?


The Green Party had that potential under Nader and maybe Howie Hawkins 
is just the person to carry that agenda forward.

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Re: [Marxism] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance wows SF’s Mission. Her speech not so much. - Mission Local

[Mark Lause via Marxism]

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I think that's not an unreasonable response to socialism as a "label."
Rather than fighting over vocabulary like adysfunctional English
Department, the fight should be around the political question of power, no?

Cheers,
Mark L.
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Re: [Marxism] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance wows SF’s Mission. Her speech not so much. - Mission Local

[Dan Michniewicz via Marxism]

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Here's that write-up on Ocasio-Cortez's visit to Michigan.

https://thebaffler.com/the-poverty-of-theory/the-vital-possibility-of-el-sayed-alvarez

And here's El-Sayed's response to a question about DSA:

And have you reached out to groups like DSA or sought their endorsement?”

*El-Sayed*: “We’ve had great conversations, and we share a lot of ideals,
[but] I don’t like labels. Here’s the thing: in science, one of the
concepts you start to appreciate deeply is that a large portion of science
is about replicability. And replicability implies that you can communicate
the same shared set of ideas universally. If a word has slippery meanings,
and there’s slippage in the way the word works for people, then you
miscommunicate, and when you miscommunicate you can’t replicate, and when
you can’t replicate that’s the death of science.

“I come from that world, where we pick our words very carefully and very
thoughtfully. And I think that the term “socialism” is too slippery of a
word right now, and it evokes too many different things to too many
different people. I think for a millennial the word “socialism” is spelled
with a lower-case “s,” and it implies an engagement of government in some
of the most important aspects of our lives to ensure and address a level of
equity that we have not had . . . And then, I think for people who are over
the age of sixty, it implies a history that was some of the most fearful in
their lives. And I think because it evokes different meanings politically
it’s just not a useful term.

And so, I don’t really care that much about the [socialist] label, I care
about the work . . . I respect what DSA is working on and what they do. We
have a lot we share—a lot in common. I consider us to be sister and
brothers in the work.”

On Tue, Aug 7, 2018, 11:35 AM Mark Lause via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
>  I don't think there's any inconsistency between electoral politics in the
> here and now with "pragmatism."
>
> Her explicit falsification of Democratic party history--I think that was at
> that recent conference of "progressive" Democrats--was absolutely BS.
>
> ML
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[Marxism] The Nation Magazine Betrays a Poet — and Itself

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, August 7, 2018
The Nation Magazine Betrays a Poet — and Itself
By Grace Schulman

During the 35 years that I edited poetry for The Nation magazine, we 
published the likes of W.S. Merwin, Pablo Neruda, May Swenson, Denise 
Levertov, James Merrill and Derek Walcott. They wrote on subjects as 
varied as lesbian passion and nuclear threats. Some poems, and some 
critical views, enraged our readers and drove them to drop their 
subscriptions.


But never did we apologize for a poem we published. We saw it as part of 
our job to provoke our readers — a mission we took especially seriously 
in serving the magazine’s absolute devotion to a free press.


We followed a path blazed by Henry James, who in 1865 wrote a damning 
review of Walt Whitman’s “Drum Taps,” calling the great poem “arrant 
prose.” Mistaken, yes, but it was James’s view at the time. And it was 
never retracted.


Apparently the magazine has abandoned this storied tradition.

Last month, the magazine published a poem by Anders Carlson-Wee. The 
poet is white. His poem, “How-To,” draws on black vernacular.


Following a vicious backlash against the poem on social media, the 
poetry editors, Stephanie Burt and Carmen Giménez Smith, apologized for 
publishing it in the first place: “We made a serious mistake by choosing 
to publish the poem ‘How-To.’ We are sorry for the pain we have caused 
to the many communities affected by this poem,” they wrote in an apology 
longer than the actual poem. The poet apologized, too, saying, “I am 
sorry for the pain I caused.”


I was deeply disturbed by this episode, which touches on a value that is 
precious to me and to a free society: the freedom to write and to 
publish views that may be offensive to some readers.


In my years at The Nation, I was inspired by the practical workings of a 
free press. We lived by Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that “error of 
opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” And no 
one was a greater defender of press freedom and of writers’ right to be 
wrong than Victor Navasky, who succeeded Blair Clark as editor in chief 
in 1978.


One defense in the late 1980s risked losing Discovery/The Nation, an 
annual contest in which the poets who won the prize read their work at 
the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan and simultaneously had it published in 
the magazine. The Y’s board, which sponsored the contest, suggested 
dropping The Nation’s participation after it published an article by 
Gore Vidal that some people deemed anti-Semitic.


I remember Mr. Vidal’s piece. I detested it and his views. But I’d 
learned by then the crucial importance of a free press to a democracy.


I asked for Mr. Navasky’s help in saving the contest. And no, he would 
never have rebuked the offensive article and apologized.


Instead, he wrote a letter to the board of the Y explaining The Nation’s 
way. He said, in effect, that when we invite a writer to contribute to 
the magazine, our aim is to help that person articulate his or her own 
view as clearly as possible. As I recall, the copy editors went to town 
on factual and grammatical errors, but left what Jefferson called errors 
of opinion.


Mr. Navasky’s defense of Mr. Vidal’s piece did not at all reflect 
indifference to the poetry contest. On the contrary, he cared for it, 
speedily sent over the magazines that contained the winners’ poems and 
often came to the readings. But his position on free speech was 
uncompromising.


How far we have come from those idealistic, courageous days. As Katha 
Pollitt, a columnist for The Nation, put it, the magazine’s apology for 
Mr. Carlson-Wee’s work was “craven” and “looks like a letter from 
re-education camp.” She also rightly suggested that the proper thing to 
do would have been to publish a page of responses. That would have been 
in keeping with the expectations of a free press.


The broader issue here, though, is the backward and increasingly 
prevalent idea that the artist is somehow morally responsible for his 
character’s behavior or voice. Writers have always presented characters 
with unwholesome views; F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens and 
Shakespeare come immediately to mind. One wonders if editors would have 
the courage to publish Robert Lowell’s “Words for Hart Crane” or Ezra 
Pound’s “Sestina: Altaforte” today.


It would not be proper for me to comment on the aesthetic merits of Mr. 
Carlson-Wee’s piece. That’s the job of the magazine’s current poetry 
editors. But going forward, I’d recommend they follow Henry James’s 
example. Just as he never apologized for his negative review of Whitman, 
they had zero reason to regret their decision.


G

Re: [Marxism] The excuses some Marxists make for voting Democratic (part two) | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 8/7/18 5:34 PM, Jason via Marxism wrote:

The problem with the "Popular Front" strategy as it existed and was
implemented was that it involved the subordination of independent workers'
parties to bourgeois parties and on terms that undermined the workers'
movement.


Not that surprised that you would think the Popular Front was a viable 
project if carried out correctly. Not one bit.

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[Marxism] The centrist takeover that isn't happening | Richard Seymour on Patreon

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.patreon.com/posts/20604291
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Re: [Marxism] The excuses some Marxists make for voting Democratic (part two) | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Jason via Marxism]

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First, to be clear, I don't claim the British Labor Party and Democratic
Party are particularly similar. I do think those who claim to look to Marx
and Lenin for guidance would do better to examine what Lenin actually wrote
about how socialists should relate to the British Labor Party than
regurgitate what passes for received wisdom regarding the Democratic Party
on the US marxist left.

Second, this post displays yet again strong indications of motivated
reasoning: Louis fitting things to his existing paradigm rather than
engaging information and analysis that challenges his paradigm. He
correctly says we shouldn't follow the writings of classical marxists like
some follow scripture--but that argument is deployed only against quotes
that disagree with his paradigm. He then deploys rather comparatively
meager quotes that buttress his paradigm with scarcely any substantial
analysis to back them up.

For example, on Lenin's views of the British Labor Party, he quotes a
rather thin journalistic piece from 1913 and dismisses what I quoted as
being "polemical and designed in the heat of the moment to shepherd
ultraleft Communists into Labour". That doesn't hold up given that Lenin
made the same argument as to the bourgeois nature of the BLP in 1916
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/oct/x01.htm as he gave in
1920
https://www.communist-party.org.uk/76-m-l-education/1933-lenin-on-labour-speech-on-affiliation-to-the-british-labour-party.html.
And both of those comments are "polemical" but they are also thoughtful and
reasoned and not journalistic summaries like the 1913 quotation Louis gives
which displays no substantive analysis to agree or disagree with.

Take the example of "workers' governments"--again Louis is fine with quotes
as long as they back him up--or as long as he thinks they do. He claims
regarding the Comintern resolution: "Is there any doubt what was meant by
all “workers’ parties”? What would that mean in Germany except the SP and
the CP? Or Labour and the CP in England?"

Even if we accept Louis's interpretation, that changes nothing at all
regarding my point on how Lenin argued socialists should relate to the
British Labor Party.

Further, the resolution was unclear on this point and as John Riddell's
comments make clear, don't say much for Louis's or my positions in that it
refers, as unanimously amended, to governments of Labor or Social Democrats
as "disguised coalition regimes of the bourgeoisie and anti-revolutionary
workers’ leaders" and says that "Communists cannot participate in such a
government" and "must stubbornly expose to the masses the real character of
such a false workers’ government"
https://johnriddell.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/a-workers-government-as-a-step-toward-socialism/.
There is much else that was never clarified about the workers' government
slogan.

Re Louis's point that "If you follow the DSA’er’s logic, there would be no
difference between the workers government advocated in 1922 and the 1934
Popular Front turn". This is another shibboleth of the Trotskyist movement
post-WW2, that the problem with the Popular Front can be simply described
as an alliance with bourgeois parties, full stop. Trotsky’s first article
on the French Popular Front (
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/whitherfrance/ch03.htm) does
not say that “it is an alliance with bourgeois parties so it is wrong”: he
argues the point that the bourgeois party has freedom of action for itself
while restricting the freedom of action of the worker parties and the
“property qualification” is introduced into the united front. He did not
say break with the Radicals because they’re bourgeois but “The sole demand
that class-conscious workers put to their actual or potential allies is
that they struggle in action. Every group of the population really
participating in the struggle at a given stage, and ready to submit to
common discipline, must have the equal right to exert influence on the
leadership of the People’s Front.”

The problem with the "Popular Front" strategy as it existed and was
implemented was that it involved the subordination of independent workers'
parties to bourgeois parties and on terms that undermined the workers'
movement. Particularly it involved the subordination of the struggle
against national oppression when the oppressor countries were allied to
Stalin. Similarly, Rosa Luxemburg nor I think anyone other than the
ultra-sectarian De Leon ruled out a socialist party joining a bourgeois
government with a party like the Democratic Party when they were
criticizing the way in which Millerand entered that government.

Finally, what's important here is not w

[Marxism] Africans in China are infuriated over a museum exhibit comparing Africans to animals — Quartz Africa

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://qz.com/africa/1101699/africans-in-china-are-infuriated-over-a-museum-exhibit-comparing-africans-to-animals/
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Re: [Marxism] Arrested, Jailed and Charged With a Felony. For Voting.

[A.R. G via Marxism]

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There is no rational basis behind what ends up qualifying as a felony or
not. Each state has different and frankly, arbitrary rules about what
constitutes a felony as opposed to a misdemeanor. There are people in New
York who are convicted of felonies because they were carrying small
carpenters knives that are sold at Home Depot for construction work, which
is technically illegal if the knife flips out.

And there is no reason that people who do have serious felonies shouldn't
be able to vote. They are affected by the laws that resulted in their
current status. Any functioning democracy would consider their opinion.
Perhaps that's why America doesn't.

Amith R. Gupta

On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 9:14 PM, DW via Marxism 
wrote:

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>
> Proposed 28th Amendment:
>
> "The right to vote or all residents 16 year or older shall be guaranteed
> regardless of legal standing and cannot be infringed upon"
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[Marxism] Democratic Socialism Isn’t Social Democracy

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/democratic-socialism-social-democracy-nordic-countries
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[Marxism] The excuses some Marxists make for voting Democratic (part two) | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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As I stated in my article on young Marxist intellectuals and the 
Democratic Party, the level of sophistication is far in advance of 
anything I used to hear from the “lesser evil” arguments of the 
Communist Party. While I referred to the academic contributors to 
Jacobin as exemplifying this trend, others outside the academy have 
shown the same kind of erudition, even as it shared the same casuistry.


In a Marxmail discussion touched off by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 
victory over Joe Crowley, I made the point that socialists have no 
business supporting bourgeois parties and that this practice dates back 
to the Popular Front. When an Australian Socialist Alliance member and A 
O-C supporter asked why it would be acceptable to vote for a Labour 
Party candidate in Australia that has positions worse than the Democrats 
on some questions, I replied that the “The key difference between a 
reformist Labor Party and the Democratic Party is based on class.”


full: 
https://louisproyect.org/2018/08/07/the-excuses-some-marxists-make-for-voting-democratic-part-two/

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[Marxism] Ed Sadlowski – Remembrance of a life even bigger than the man | Paul S. Kaczocha | People's World

[Kevin Lindemann and Cathy Campo via Marxism]

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http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/ed-sadlowski-remembrance-of-a-life-even-bigger-than-the-man/


Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [Marxism] Steven Salaita on A. O-C

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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AOK's critics are a bunch of "out-of-work professors and writers who won't
ever make the New York Times unless they buy it." Well, I'm not now nor
have I ever been a professor, either in or out of work. As far as the NY
Times: I didn't know that being accepted by one of the foremost journals of
US capitalism was a qualification for having something valid to say as far
as the working class movement is concerned. If it were, we'd never even
have unions in this country!

More to the point: Even the leadership of DSA admits that we need a working
class party in the US, as does much of the union leadership. But they claim
that we can work towards it while supporting some Democrats.

Where? How?

I would like those who make this claim to explain to me exactly what they
are doing in the here and now to actually build towards a mass working
class party. I know they're doing a lot for politicians like Ocasio-Cortez,
and for causes accepted by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, such
as single payer. But what are they doing to build an alternative to the
employer-controlled Democratic Party?

Here in Oakland, East Bay DSA is totally consumed in helping the liberal
wing of the Democrats, to the near exclusion of everything else. And here's
a little incident that really says it all: Back over a year ago a small
group of us went to the chapter leadership with a proposal that they
organize an open discussion on EBDSA running its own candidate or
candidates in the then-upcoming Oakland elections. That would have been for
city council or board of ed or something similar. The chapter leadership
refused on the untrue grounds that they couldn't make that sort of decision
for the branch as a whole. But that wasn't what we were proposing; all we
proposed is to have an open discussion on the issue.

Why were they so afraid of even discussing it?

I think that the reason is that there is no legitimate argument against
having done so. But doing so would directly contradict the support for the
liberal wing of the Democrats. By their actions, they recognized that they
couldn't do both.

Which returns us to the original issue - support for or criticism of
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In congress (assuming she gets elected) she will
have zero affect as far as what gets passed or not. She's already indicated
that she wants to "learn" from her fellow Democrats as well, probably, as
from Republicans. She's already said that she won't be "antagonistic" to
these representatives of the class enemy. But what she will do is continue
doing what she's already done: continue to "keep hope alive" that the
workers movement and socialists within the workers movement don't need to
break their ties with one of the two parties that represents the employers
and start down the difficult, arduous task of building our own party, a
mass working class party.

John Reimann

-- 
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

[Jason via Marxism]

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On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 8:11 AM, Chris Slee via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

> But this cooperation does not amount to US occupation of SDF controlled
> areas. The people of these areas govern themselves through their own
> democratic institutions.
>

Without wanting to distract attention from mkaradjis's important email, I'd
like Chris to share evidence that SDF controlled areas are governed by the
local populations through "democratic institutions."
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Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

[mkaradjis via Marxism]

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Chris rejects Michael Probsting’s description of Idlib (actually
‘Greater Idlib, which includes northern Hama, southern and western
Aleppo, and part of northern Latakia) as "the last remaining liberated
area", because “the Turkish army has bases in Idlib, and much of the
province is controlled by groups which are Turkish proxies.”

Yet in his latest response, Chris rejects Michael’s description of
northeastern Syria as “occupied by the US,” because, according to
Chris, “If the presence of some foreign troops in an area amounts to
"occupation", then Idlib is occupied by Turkey (something that RKOB
has denied).” But Chris refers to “the Turkish occupation of Idlib.”

So I am confused. Either both Greater Idlib and Greater Rojava (ie,
including Raqqa etc) are occupied, or both are liberated, with “some
foreign troops.”

To clarify, I think we all agree that Afrin is under Turkish
occupation. As for the northern Aleppo border region between Azaz and
Jarablus via al-Bab, there is a kind of Turkish occupation, but one
which appears to be overwhelmingly, if often grudgingly, supported by
the local Arab and Turkmen population of that region.

But in Idlib we are only talking about a few Turkish observation
posts, which are there to prevent the rebels going on the offensive
against Assad, and in theory to prevent Assad from going on the
offensive against the rebels (which of course does not work). In no
sense is Idlib itself under “Turkish occupation.”

Perhaps it is an exaggeration to also describe Rojava as under US
occupation; as in Idlib and even northern Aleppo, the forces on the
ground (the SDF) run their show. But there are a lot more than “some
foreign troops.” According to this map
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcR-QszW4AAe6hP.jpg), there are 11 US
military bases in SDF-controlled Greater Rojava (and one French base),
while of course there are zero US bases in any of the areas controlled
(or that were ever controlled) by the Syrian rebels, who many liked to
slander as “US proxies” (while usually giving a pass to the
YPG/SDF!!). There are known to be some 2000 US troops in Rojava.

Seems to me that makes Greater Rojava every bit as “occupied” as the
Azaz-Jarablus stretch is by Turkey; neither are fully occupied in the
Afrin sense; and both a lot more so than Greater Idlib, which is
indeed the only remaining fully free territory.

And when discussing “occupation”, we always need to keep in mind that
the part of Syria most fully under foreign imperialist and regional
reactionary occupation is the part controlled by the Assad regime,
which is so entirely dependent for its survival on Russian imperialism
and Iran that it is essentially a satrapy.

Separate to the question of “occupation” or otherwise, it is correct
to describe Greater Idlib as liberated territory. Revolution and
liberation are not concepts that can be measured simply by a
description of the political orientation of the armed groups present.
If the entire conflict were just between the Assad regime and various
“armed groups”, such groups would have been crushed years ago, given
their pathetic level of armament in the face of a massively armed
dictatorship with the full backing of a superpower and a major
regional power.

The armed groups, whether we are talking about the FSA, Islamists,
even HTS, and whatever degree some may be collaborating with Turkey or
even “proxified” or otherwise, do not determine the state of the
region. Countless articles, studies, research, for anybody interested
in reading (and a warning, this does require going beyond the Apoist
media outlets) have described the people’s movements, their continued
resistance, to HTS’s anti-democratic encroachments, and also to other
brigades often enough. Revolutionary councils, LCCs, civil
organisations etc that continue to act in
as-democratic-a-fashion-as-possible given the atmosphere of years of
Assad siege and bombardment, including free elections etc.

The presence of the armed groups is part of the defence of this little
piece of freedom the people have cut out from the horrific regime;
many are simply the neighbours and family members of civil
oppositionists and ordinary civilians; the groups are thus unable to
fully impose the level of repression some may want to (especially
HTS); yet at the same time, the long-term military presence does lead
to extensive violations, to many of these groups being only an
imperfect, at best, armed representation of the revolutionary masses.

I must say I’ve been stunned over the years when everyone wants to
know if there are any “left-wing” armed groups, as if that is the
measure of whether or not there is some kind of revolutio

Re: [Marxism] Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change - The New York Times

[Michael Meeropol via Marxism]

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haven't read the article yet --- but I have a question -- does the writer
mention the efforts made by Barry Commoner during the entire decade of the
1970s (and beyond) to raise the alarm about the need to make what he called
"The Solar Transition" --

He went all over the country raising the alarm -- and wrote the book THE
POVERTY OF POWER about it as well ---

He lost his "place" as a "respected scientist" in the mainstream media
after running for President on the Citizens Party ticket in 1980 --- but he
never gave up.



On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 9:42 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> (The Pomerance referenced below is Rafe Pomerance, a staff member of
> Friends of the Earth who was assigned the task of gathering information on
> climate change by the group in 1979. His concern about bringing a new child
> into a world headed for catastrophe is at the heart of Paul Schrader's
> great "First Reformed" that is for sale now on iTunes and Amazon and will
> likely be for rent as well before long. The NY Times Magazine section was
> devoted to this article in its entirety last weekend and has been
> criticized by Naomi Klein and others. Whatever it is lacking politically
> should not dissuade you from reading it since it is very useful as history.)
>
> In the days that followed, Pomerance grew uneasy. Until this point, he had
> fixated on the science of the carbon-dioxide issue and its possible
> political ramifications. But now that his meetings on Capitol Hill had
> concluded, he began to question what all this might mean for his own
> future. His wife, Lenore, was eight months pregnant; was it ethical, he
> wondered, to bring a child onto a planet that before much longer could
> become inhospitable to life? And he wondered why it had fallen to him, a
> 32-year-old lobbyist without scientific training, to bring greater
> attention to this crisis.
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/
> climate-change-losing-earth.html
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Re: [Marxism] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance wows SF’s Mission. Her speech not so much. - Mission Local

[Mark Lause via Marxism]

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 I don't think there's any inconsistency between electoral politics in the
here and now with "pragmatism."

Her explicit falsification of Democratic party history--I think that was at
that recent conference of "progressive" Democrats--was absolutely BS.

ML
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[Marxism] Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change - The New York Times

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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(The Pomerance referenced below is Rafe Pomerance, a staff member of 
Friends of the Earth who was assigned the task of gathering information 
on climate change by the group in 1979. His concern about bringing a new 
child into a world headed for catastrophe is at the heart of Paul 
Schrader's great "First Reformed" that is for sale now on iTunes and 
Amazon and will likely be for rent as well before long. The NY Times 
Magazine section was devoted to this article in its entirety last 
weekend and has been criticized by Naomi Klein and others. Whatever it 
is lacking politically should not dissuade you from reading it since it 
is very useful as history.)


In the days that followed, Pomerance grew uneasy. Until this point, he 
had fixated on the science of the carbon-dioxide issue and its possible 
political ramifications. But now that his meetings on Capitol Hill had 
concluded, he began to question what all this might mean for his own 
future. His wife, Lenore, was eight months pregnant; was it ethical, he 
wondered, to bring a child onto a planet that before much longer could 
become inhospitable to life? And he wondered why it had fallen to him, a 
32-year-old lobbyist without scientific training, to bring greater 
attention to this crisis.


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html
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Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

[RKOB via Marxism]

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Chris Slee says: “RKOB quotes praise for the YPG and SDF by US 
generals.This just reflects cooperation between the SDF and the US in 
the fight against ISIS, something I have never denied.”


Well, do you want to suggest that the relationship between the US and 
YPG/SDF is one of cooperation between equals? On one hand we have the 
biggest imperialist power of the world and on the other a 
petty-bourgeois nationalist militia representing an important sector of 
the Kurdish minority in Syria. Really, one does not to be Einstein to 
understand that this is not a relationship of equals but a hierarchical 
relationship with US imperialism in the command.


This is also one reason, by the way, why the YPG/SDF fights for US 
interests (as well as its own nationalist interests) in Arab territories 
with hardly any or none at all Kurdish population. This is why the 
YPG/SDF acts as national oppressors in the Arab-populated territories in 
Eastern Syria.


Chris Slee says:”RKOB ignores the occupation of Afrin by Turkey.”

Answer: not true! See our statement with the very title “Syria: No to 
Turkey’s Attack on Afrin! Defend the Syrian Revolution against 
Annihilation!”, 
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/no-to-turkey-s-attack-on-afrin/ 
(see also the collection of all our articles on Syria: 
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/collection-of-articles-on-the-syrian-revolution/)


Chris Slee asks: ”If the SDF are the "foot soldiers" of US imperialism, 
why did the US do nothing to stop the Turkish invasion of Afrin?”


Answer: because the YPG/SDF is too small and weak to satisfy the 
interests of US imperialism in Syria. Washington needs more and stronger 
allies and hopes to win over Turkey in one way or another. But, as we 
have seen since some time, this is highly difficult and contradictory. 
Turkey would be a very insecure ally. So Washington is manoeuvring and 
tries to keep YPG/SDF and at the same to improve cooperation with the 
Erdoğan regime.


Personally, I think it is entirely possible that the alliance between US 
imperialism and the YPG/SDF could end at some point. This could be the 
case when the US no longer needs them as foot soldiers. This could be 
the case either if the US has found a stronger ally (Turkey comes into 
mind). Or if the US completely withdraws from Syria. But the US-YPG 
alliance would not end because of any anti-imperialist impetus of the 
YPG/SDF but because Washington has found a better mercenary. In this 
context it is possible that the YPG/SDF finally joins the camp of Assad 
and Russian imperialism. No improvement to the present situation. Just a 
replacement of one bloody reactionary master by another.


--
Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG
(Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, www.thecommunists.net)
www.rkob.net
ak...@rkob.net
Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314



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[Marxism] The UK’s Labour Party and Its “Anti-Semitism” Crisis

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/07/the-uks-labour-party-and-its-anti-semitism-crisis/
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[Marxism] Syria’s Women Prisoners, Drawn by an Artist Who Was One

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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Azza Abo Rebieh got her guards to give her pencils and paper, then began
sketching the faces and habits of fellow inmates in Syria’s notorious
detention system.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/arts/design/syria-prison-artist.html
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[Marxism] Amy Meselson, Lawyer Who Defended Young Immigrants, Dies at 46

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/obituaries/amy-meselson-lawyer-who-defended-young-immigrants-dies-at-46.html

In 2006, an East Harlem high school’s upset victory in a New York City-wide
robot-building contest proved to be bittersweet for Amadou Ly, a member of
the winning team.

Not only was Mr. Ly prevented from boarding a plane to Atlanta for the
national finals with the rest of his team, because he lacked government
identification; he was also facing deportation as an illegal immigrant.

Mr. Ly (pronounced Lee) had immigrated from Senegal, West Africa, with his
mother in 2001. A year later, after his visitor’s visa had expired, she
abandoned him.

In 2004, when a car he was riding in got into an accident, the police
reported him to the immigration authorities. But that encounter, after a
series of frustrating court appearances, ultimately delivered him, to his
good fortune, to Amy Meselson, a Legal Aid Society lawyer in New York.

Ms. Meselson had dedicated her career to defending hundreds of vulnerable
immigrants from deportation and helping them navigate the gaps between the
child welfare and national security bureaucracies. She recruited volunteers
from corporate law firms to represent foster children in immigration cases,
and she successfully lobbied for a special juvenile section in immigration
court.

Mr. Ly had been pinning his hopes on the Dream Act, the legislation that
would have granted a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants brought
to the United States illegally as children through no fault of their own.

When that legislation stalled in Congress, though, Ms. Meselson suggested
that Mr. Ly’s impressive performance on the Central Park East High School
robotics team might elicit public support for his case.

“I was very scared at that time,” he recalled, “but I knew I could trust
her.”

Ms. Meselson helped bring Mr. Ly’s plight to public attention, namely
providing information for a front-page profile
 in The New York
Times. The article produced an outpouring of legal, public and political
support.

Federal officials were persuaded to drop the deportation proceedings and
grant Mr. Ly a foreign student visa. He graduated
 from
Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, became a citizen, embarked on
an acting career  and moved to
Hollywood.



Ms. Meselson, who had struggled with depression since she was teenager,
committed suicide on July 22 at her home in Manhattan, her mother, Sarah
Meselson, said. She was 46.

Mr. Ly, now 30, said in a recorded tribute that he sent to Ms. Meselson’s
family: “I was able to stay in this country, I was able to live my dream
and grow up and feed my family and help out others because she helped me
and she did it with open arms. She was my hero.”

Ms. Meselson worked in the immigration law unit of the Legal Aid Society in
New York from 2002 until 2016, focusing on unaccompanied migrant children.
She had recently become the managing attorney of the Immigrant Justice Corps
, a volunteer program to provide free counsel.

Chief Judge Robert Katzmann, of the United States Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit, who was instrumental in founding the Immigrant Justice
Corps, described Ms. Meselson in an email as “a life saver and life giver.”

“What Amy did was to give hope to immigrants and their families, to make it
possible for dreams for a better life to be realized, for despair to be
transformed into hope,” Judge Katzmann said.

Amy Valor Meselson was born on Dec. 4, 1971, in Boston to Matthew Meselson,
a molecular biology professor at Harvard, and Sarah Page Meselson, who
researched human rights conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean for
the political asylum division of the United States immigration service.

Ms. Meselson earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a
master’s from Harvard, both in philosophy. (Her senior thesis at Brown was
about free will and determinism.) She earned her law degree at Yale.



In addition to her mother, she is survived by her father; her sister, Zoe
Forbes; her stepmother, Jeanne Guillemin Meselson; her stepfather, Arthur
Podaras; her stepsisters, Paola and Isabel Emerson; and her stepbrothers,
Rob and John Guillemin and William Emerson IV.

Ms. Meselson earned her middle name by surviving a life-threatening
respiratory disease. Besides dealing with depression, she had recently been
given a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and extreme anxiety — all
aggravated when she traveled to Greece two years ago 

[Marxism] MR Online | Social Imperialism in the 21st century

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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The unnamed editor of MR Online has published the second article by 
Louis Allday, a member of Tim Hayward's network of propagandists that is 
dedicated to absolving Assad of chemical attacks and smearing the White 
Helmets as al-Nusra accomplices.


With CounterPunch having shed scumbags like this in the recent period, 
it is dismaying to see MR still stuck in this tawdry swamp. I blame this 
on John Mage, the two-bit Stalinist who hired Yoshie Furuhashi to run 
MR's online zine and evidently the knuckle-dragging idiot who replaced her.


https://mronline.org/2018/08/06/social-imperialism-in-the-21st-century/
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[Marxism] ZCommunications » BRICS-Johannesburg simultaneously disappoints and threatens

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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By Patrick Bond

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/brics-johannesburg-simultaneously-disappoints-and-threatens/
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Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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RKOB quotes praise for the YPG and SDF by US generals.  This just reflects 
cooperation between the SDF and the US in the fight against ISIS, something I 
have never denied.  

But this cooperation does not amount to US occupation of SDF controlled areas. 
The people of these areas govern themselves through their own democratic 
institutions.

RKOB ignores the occupation of Afrin by Turkey.  The invasion was carried out 
with the support of Russia and the acquiescence of the US.  If the SDF are the 
"foot soldiers" of US imperialism, why did the US do nothing to stop the 
Turkish invasion of Afrin?

RKOB says that the Turkish army "created 12 observation positions at the 
demarcation line between free Idlib and the Assad-controlled territory".  
Actually the first 3 "observation positions" (military bases) were on the 
border between HTS controlled territory in Idlib and SDF controlled Afrin.  
They were part of the preparation for the invasion of Afrin.  So HTS, at the 
very least, collaborated with Turkey in the preparations for the invasion of 
Afrin.

Chris Slee


From: Marxism  on behalf of RKOB via 
Marxism 
Sent: Tuesday, 7 August 2018 1:43:55 AM
To: Chris Slee
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Syria: Towards the Final Battle in Idlib

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This seems to me a particularly clumsy attempt to whitewash the role of
the YPG/SDF as foot soldiers of U.S. imperialism. As it is widely known,
the YPG/SDF leadership and the U.S. military have closely worked
together during numerous military operations. The U.S. Air Force has
given support to the YPG troops. The U.S. has armed the YPG, and so on.
(See on this e.g.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Democratic_Forces#Support_by_the_United_States,_France_and_other_Western_nations)


This is why the US military has repeatedly and openly praised the YPG as
their foot soldiers.

As we reported in a past article, US General Dunford praised the YPG as
the US “partners” on the ground in Syria. (“/We have 50,000 partners on
the ground./”,
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/revelations-of-u-s-general-on-washington-s-allies-in-syria/)

Maj. Gen. James Jarrard, the commander of US Special Operations against
the Islamic State, also praised the YPG/SDF: “/They have an indomitable
will. They have been ferocious fighters and excellent leaders and pretty
amazing tacticians./”
(https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1359137/department-of-defense-press-briefing-by-general-jarrard-via-teleconference-from/)

And Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of US Central Command, told a
congressional committee that the Kurdish-led fighters constitute “/the
most effective force on the ground in Syria against ISIS/.”
(https://armedservices.house.gov/legislation/hearings/terrorism-and-iran-defense-challenges-middle-east)

Chris Slee may deny all this out of political embarrassment but the US
imperialists openly acknowledge the value of the YPG for Washington goals!

In contrast, the Turkish army or its air force didn’t join the HTS a
single time in any of its operation against the Assadist forces! Hence,
Ankara does not praise the role of the HTS. Quite the opposite, as we
have shown in past articles, the Erdoğan regime has desired since long
to subordinate or smash the HTS. (See e.g.
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/syria-towards-the-final-battle-in-idlib/;
,
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/syria-idlib-the-attack-of-the-astana-conspirators-could-be-repelled-thus-far/;
https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/turkey-s-hidden-war-against-hts-in-idlib/)

How silly for Chris Slee to equate the role of the YPG with that of the HTS!

As a result, Idlib is certainly not occupied by the Turkish army (until
now). The later has created 12 observation positions at the demarcation
line between free Idlib and the Assad-controlled territory. This is bad
enough but still the Turkish army does not move around freely inside
Idlib. This is in contrast to the role of the U.S. in YPG/SDF controlled
areas!

--
Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG
(Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, 
www.thecommunists.net)
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[Marxism] “Chapo Guide to Revolution” hints at a burgeoning leftist culture going mainstream | Salon.com

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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So Chapo Frat House gets $100K per month from subscribers. Unbelievable. 
This article equates them with the popular front culture of the 1930s 
(Orson Welles, et al.) Now I've heard everything.



https://www.salon.com/2018/08/06/chapo-guide-to-revolution-hints-at-a-burgeoning-leftist-culture-going-mainstream/
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[Marxism] The Islamic State Threat to Syria’s Regime – LobeLog

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://lobelog.com/the-islamic-state-threat-to-syrias-regime/
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[Marxism] bellingcat - Did Drones Attack Maduro in Caracas? - bellingcat

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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How ironic. Eliot Ward Higgins uses his time-honored open source 
methodology to establish that drones WERE used to kill Maduro. How sad 
that some would jump to the conclusion that Venezuela would use a "false 
flag" of an accidental gas tank explosion to crack down on the opposition.


https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2018/08/07/drones-attack-maduro-caracas/
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Re: [Marxism] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance wows SF’s Mission. Her speech not so much. - Mission Local

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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It may be too early to call "traitor" at OC. But if she does succumb to
pragmatism, her career is over.

comraely

Gary

On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 10:28 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> (Maybe there's hope for the DSA.)
>
> As such, following Ocasio-Cortez’s 20-minute speech, Alisha Foster, a
> member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said she would have liked
> for the candidate to have been more “explicitly socialist.”
>
> “It felt like a watered-down message. She was jumping around and
> discussing tactics for getting elected, but she avoided the big issue,
> which is capitalism.”
>
>
> https://missionlocal.org/2018/08/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-a
> ppearance-wows-sfs-mission-her-speech-not-so-much/
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