[Marxism] Thousands take to the streets in Rome in solidarity with Rojava (ANF)
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. * Thousands take to the streets in Rome in solidarity with Rojava: https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/thousands-take-to-the-streets-in-rome-in-solidarity-with-rojava-38949 Civil disobedience action for Rojava at Marseille airport: https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/civil-disobedience-action-for-rojava-at-marseille-airport-38945 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Syrian Kurdish officials reject Assad’s plans to control autonomous territory (Kurdistan 24)
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. * https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/718cee66-05fe-4dfa-9b6b-2c781be223f0 "Despite having reached a deal with Damascus for national troops to counter the recent Turkish military incursion into northern Syria, top Kurdish officials continue to reject plans by President Bashar al-Assad to bring autonomous Kurdish-controlled areas under his authority. "The Kurdish-led administration in earlier failed talks with Damascus called for a degree of self-autonomy but Damascus insisted on a full return of all territory within Syrian borders to the central government. "Local authorities, however, are in a much weaker position since being forced to make a deal with the Syrian government to deploy national forces to protect the border against Turkish attacks that began on Oct. 9." (Note: Kurdistan 24 is based in Iraqi Kurdistan. It is not a supporter of the PKK, or of the Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria) _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Turkey detains hundreds for critiquing, reporting on military offensive in Syria: Amnesty
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Re: [Marxism] Are belching cows really driving climate change?
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. * The article is about soil carbon. Without it there is not much excuse for active plant life to be had nor means to retain moisture. Here in Australia, soil carbon levels have dropped by up to half of pre-agricultural levels in many areas because of activities such as cultivation, stubble burning or removal and overgrazing. Worldwide, cultivated soils have maybe lost between 50 and 70 percent of their original carbon stock. A good place to start thinking about soil carbon and sustainable agriculture practices of a region is to monitor SOC (or SOM) -- Soil Organic Carbon -- levels in the soil. Here's what the journal 'Nature' says about carbon in soils: "The amount of C in soil represents a substantial portion of the carbon found in terrestrial ecosystems of the planet. Total C in terrestrial ecosystems is approximately 3170 gigatons (GT; 1 GT = 1 petagram = 1 billion metric tons). Of this amount, nearly 80% (2500 GT) is found in soil (Lal 2008). Soil carbon can be either organic (1550 GT) or inorganic carbon (950 GT). The latter consists of elemental carbon and carbonate materials such as calcite, dolomite, and gypsum (Lal 2004). The amount of carbon found in living plants and animals is comparatively small relative to that found in soil (560 GT). The soil carbon pool is approximately 3.1 times larger than the atmospheric pool of 800 GT (Oelkers & Cole 2008). Only the ocean has a larger carbon pool, at about 38,400 GT of C, mostly in inorganic forms (Houghton 2007)." https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/soil-carbon-storage-84223790/ As the GLW article points out, there is a perverted discussion being sponsored about the ecology of carbon as it is biased towards reductionism. dave riley On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 2:11 PM Ratbag Media wrote: > > > https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/are-cow-farts-really-driving-climate-change > > "The debate about agriculture’s contribution to greenhouse gases has been > perverted. Methane is not the important issue — nitrate fertilisers and > soil carbon loss are the important issues." > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Are belching cows really driving climate change?
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Thanks David,
I've just checked and both those Montgomery books are in libraries near me.
I was pretty sure that in a practical sense, it isn't an "either/or"
situation, that both are good things. I just found the rival claims a bit
contradictory. Thanks for replying promptly. I'll look at these books and
see if my brain can cope with the science!
In New Zealand we have some of the most intensive dairy farming in the
world. Agriculture (NZ agriculture is highly capital intensive and
industrial, but largely free of feedlot style farming, although with
massive supplementary feeding due to the intensity of the stock numbers) is
accounted to be New Zealand's single biggest greenhouse gas emitter as well
as, due to methane emissions. In Canterbury, dry land farming has been
converted to dairy to the massive detriment of river quality through
irrigation. The government has just given the agricultural sector another 5
years to come up with its own plan before it is brought into the emissions
trading scheme, which is, if course a virtually worthless attempt to let
the market solve the climate change issue. So this is really topical and
there are some interesting experiments with more sustainable and
regenerative models being undertaken in New Zealand
On Sat, Nov 2, 2019 at 10:44 AM DW via Marxism
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.
> *
>
> John,
> I have been active student (courses and all that) of soil fertility for
> almost 3 years now. I've learned about 20% of what I think I may need to
> know. It is a highly complex issue. I've written on some of this as well
> and posted links here. Others are "getting into science of soil fertility"
> as well. Knowing how our food is produced, a we can *change* the way it is
> produced, is part and parcel of both climate activism and the science of
> geology, agronomy and soil.
>
> I think the question is poised wrong. It is not "grasslands vs forests" at
> all. Everyone I know loves to have new forests planted. Even the far right
> is into forest conservation if it' doesn't mean we can't ever cut down a
> tree. Forests do indeed sequester lots of carbon. I won't even attempt to
> give a flip answer on the question of the indigenous genocide against
> native peoples as cause for "Little Ice Age" of the mid to late 18th
> Century. I haven't a clue.
>
> No, the issue of "grasslands" (pastures, steppes, sahels, prairies and so
> on) is not really an issue. The only real issue fpr the "land question" is
> over climate change with regards to standard commercial farming practices
> vs regenerative agricultural practices. Few would dispute the value of
> forests. It does come down to the soil. That is a good place to start in
> studying this. One can read authors like David Montgomey's (the geologist
> and soil scientist, not the labor historian) two books on the subject:
> "Dirt" and more recently "“Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to
> Life". Both are good reads and one learns a helluvalot on soil, the climate
> and agriculture.
>
> I poised the question this way, commercial vs regenerative agriculture
> because that is largely how we can, *dynamically*, change the soil
> fertility, reverse the nitrogen glut into the water and oceans, and
> sequester enough carbon to also effect positively the climate. Trees do it
> even better but we need to grow food too, dirive some sort of economic
> intercourse between farmers, urban workers and the land ("healing the
> metabolic rift between our species and nature") Just planting forests
> (which actually require lots of maintenance actually, and water...see our
> forest fires out here where I live) won't hack it, IMO though, again, it is
> very wrong to counterpoise the two systems: forests and regenerative
> agriculture. They easily work in harmony with each other.
>
> It also doesn't require us to give up eating meat, I might add, which is
> why political vegans are quite upset about regen agriculture since it
> relies heavily on integrating animal husbandry with such farming practices
> where practical. (zing!)
>
> David Walters
> _
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> Set your options at:
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--
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from
[Marxism] Monthly Review | The Jack O’Dell Story
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. * Paul Buhle review of Jack O'Dell bio by Nikil Singh. Singh just tweeted that O'Dell is dead at 96. He was a life-long civil rights activist who was Jesse Jackson's top adviser. https://monthlyreview.org/2011/05/01/the-jack-odell-story/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Are belching cows really driving climate change?
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John,
I have been active student (courses and all that) of soil fertility for
almost 3 years now. I've learned about 20% of what I think I may need to
know. It is a highly complex issue. I've written on some of this as well
and posted links here. Others are "getting into science of soil fertility"
as well. Knowing how our food is produced, a we can *change* the way it is
produced, is part and parcel of both climate activism and the science of
geology, agronomy and soil.
I think the question is poised wrong. It is not "grasslands vs forests" at
all. Everyone I know loves to have new forests planted. Even the far right
is into forest conservation if it' doesn't mean we can't ever cut down a
tree. Forests do indeed sequester lots of carbon. I won't even attempt to
give a flip answer on the question of the indigenous genocide against
native peoples as cause for "Little Ice Age" of the mid to late 18th
Century. I haven't a clue.
No, the issue of "grasslands" (pastures, steppes, sahels, prairies and so
on) is not really an issue. The only real issue fpr the "land question" is
over climate change with regards to standard commercial farming practices
vs regenerative agricultural practices. Few would dispute the value of
forests. It does come down to the soil. That is a good place to start in
studying this. One can read authors like David Montgomey's (the geologist
and soil scientist, not the labor historian) two books on the subject:
"Dirt" and more recently "“Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to
Life". Both are good reads and one learns a helluvalot on soil, the climate
and agriculture.
I poised the question this way, commercial vs regenerative agriculture
because that is largely how we can, *dynamically*, change the soil
fertility, reverse the nitrogen glut into the water and oceans, and
sequester enough carbon to also effect positively the climate. Trees do it
even better but we need to grow food too, dirive some sort of economic
intercourse between farmers, urban workers and the land ("healing the
metabolic rift between our species and nature") Just planting forests
(which actually require lots of maintenance actually, and water...see our
forest fires out here where I live) won't hack it, IMO though, again, it is
very wrong to counterpoise the two systems: forests and regenerative
agriculture. They easily work in harmony with each other.
It also doesn't require us to give up eating meat, I might add, which is
why political vegans are quite upset about regen agriculture since it
relies heavily on integrating animal husbandry with such farming practices
where practical. (zing!)
David Walters
_
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[Marxism] “The CUNY PSC Contract is an 8,600-Word Capitulation.” | Left Voice
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[Marxism] Scientists are baffled: What’s up with the universe? - The Washington Post
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[Marxism] Is Trump a "traitor"?
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. * "Is Donald Trump a “traitor”, an agent of a rival foreign power (Russia)? That is the claim of the former federal prosecutor Kenneth McCallion in his recently published book Treason & Betrayal. Along the way, McCallion presents some serious evidence that it is to Russian capitalism that Trump’s true allegiance lies." But what is "treason" really, and what are "national interests"? Is Russian imperialism really a rival to US imperialism? Has the mainstream of the US capitalist class largely lost control over its president, or has a new wing of that class simply gained dominance, as Roger Silverman says? What does all this mean for the present state of US capitalism? These are some of the questions indirectly raised in the book by former federal prosecutor Kenneth McCallion in his book "Treason & Betrayal". https://oaklandsocialist.com/2019/11/01/is-trump-a-traitor-a-book-review/ -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Are belching cows really driving climate change?
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'm not a scientist so I'm dependent on the expertise of others to understand the science around this, but I do want to know what is really going on. So I'm a bit confused. On this list I've read that the decimation of the native American population through disease etc resulted in arable land being abandoned and returning to woodlands. This is supposed to have led to so much carbon sequestration through the return of forest that it brought on a mini-ice age, that froze the Thames over. I've also read that in the US, lawns are a huge but inefficient form of planted land use, because they don't sequester much carbon. Then I read this, that argues that regenerative farming is far more efficient that trees as a form of carbon sequestration. I get that the lawn article can be qualified by the fact that people fertilizing their lawns reduces the benefits, as this article suggests for contemporary industrialised farming. But I would imagine that the native American farming methods would have been largely regenerative and low intensity by today's standards. So which is correct? That switching from regenerative farming to wilderness and woodland massively absorbed carbon to the point of Northern hemispheric cooling due to the expansion of forest (trees) or that regenerative farming is more efficient than tree planting as a solution to current climate woes. Obviously there is some overlap - the story about the Portuguese regenerative farming experiment posted here included trees as part of the picture. But there does seem to be two competing claims - one arguing that well managed pasture is better, the other that reforestation (and rewilding) is better. I'm also aware that arguments for depopulation could be drawn from the example of rewilding and I am clearly not some kind of racist misanthrope so I don't need that to be explained to me. I know there are neo-Malthusians around that want to just get rid of people; I'n not one of those. I'd really appreciate an informed layperson's perspective on this. On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 5:13 PM Ratbag Media 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. > * > > This is no minor point, given the obscurantism being engineered about the > role of livestock in agriculture -- a distraction that suits the fossil > fuel corps and undermines the impetus of the movement against climate > change by exaggerating consumption politics and blaming family farmers. > > > https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/are-cow-farts-really-driving-climate-change > > "The debate about agriculture’s contribution to greenhouse gases has been > perverted. Methane is not the important issue — nitrate fertilisers and > soil carbon loss are the important issues." > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/johnedmundson4%40gmail.com -- The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The political economy of homelessness | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
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[Marxism] William Loren Katz: Teacher, Author, Editor and Activist (1927-2019)
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. * William Loren Katz, historian who championed the marginalized, died on October 25, 2019. He was 92 years old. Bill, who is survived by Dr. Laurie Lehman, his wife and partner of 36 years, was the father of Naomi and Michael, proud grandfather of Maya, and lifelong friend of Dr. Virginia Shipley. He is also survived by a legacy that comprises the forty American history books that he authored including *Black Indians, The Black West* [a revised edition was published this year]*, *and *Breaking the Chains: African-American Slave Resistance*. As the series general editor, Bill oversaw the publication of over 200 edited volumes from *The American Negro: History and Literature*, and *The Anti-Slavery Crusade in America* series published by the New York Times and Arno Press. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173436 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Katie Hill: White Supremacist?
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. * The posting of the gutter press article is extremely misguided to say the least I am not particularly aware of Hills politics other than she is a Democrat but given the tsunami of press interest in recent days it would be fairly likely that if she had ever said anything close to overt white supremacism this would have been trumpeted about. On Sat, 2 Nov. 2019, 2:56 am A.R. G 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. > * > > This is complete nonsense and given the context amounts to sexual > degradation. The iron cross is used by everyone from skateboarders to biker > groups with no ties to white nationalism. Classic inflammatory garbage from > the DailyFail. > > On Fri, Nov 1, 2019, 12:22 PM STEVEN ROBINSON 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. > > * > > > > Granted it could have been a youthful indiscretion but why not say so or, > > better yet, have it removed? > > > > > > > > > https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7609835/Katie-Hill-seen-showing-Nazi-era-tattoo-smoking-BONG-NAKED.html?fbclid=IwAR0jNyYJF4x2BeYMKQxmG5q6CCCqotfJM6sRtkyC0gKlZrY94qJGmL1wZVI > > _ > > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > > Set your options at: > > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com > > > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/gregadler502%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Katie Hill: White Supremacist?
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. * This is complete nonsense and given the context amounts to sexual degradation. The iron cross is used by everyone from skateboarders to biker groups with no ties to white nationalism. Classic inflammatory garbage from the DailyFail. On Fri, Nov 1, 2019, 12:22 PM STEVEN ROBINSON 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. > * > > Granted it could have been a youthful indiscretion but why not say so or, > better yet, have it removed? > > > > https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7609835/Katie-Hill-seen-showing-Nazi-era-tattoo-smoking-BONG-NAKED.html?fbclid=IwAR0jNyYJF4x2BeYMKQxmG5q6CCCqotfJM6sRtkyC0gKlZrY94qJGmL1wZVI > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Katie Hill: White Supremacist?
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. * Granted it could have been a youthful indiscretion but why not say so or, better yet, have it removed? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7609835/Katie-Hill-seen-showing-Nazi-era-tattoo-smoking-BONG-NAKED.html?fbclid=IwAR0jNyYJF4x2BeYMKQxmG5q6CCCqotfJM6sRtkyC0gKlZrY94qJGmL1wZVI _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] A Chicagoan's "Love Affair with Life": The Photography of Michael Gaylord James — Cleveland Review of Books
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[Marxism] Iran’s Leaders See Threats in Iraq and Lebanon Protests
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. * NY Times, Nov. 1, 2019 Iran’s Leaders See Threats in Iraq and Lebanon Protests By Farnaz Fassihi Iran’s hierarchy often rails against the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia as direct threats to its security and regional influence. But lately the authorities in Tehran have turned their attention to two new sources of worry: Lebanon and Iraq. Enormous antigovernment demonstrations in both countries, some tinged with hostility and resentment toward Iran, have suddenly put Iran’s interests at risk. They have also raised the possibility of inspiring protests inside Iran itself. If the Lebanese and Iraqi protesters succeed in toppling their governments and weakening established political parties with deep ties to Iran’s leaders, Iran stands to lose decades of financial, political and military investments that have turned it into one of the Middle East’s biggest powers. On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is revered by some Lebanese and Iraqi Shiites as a spiritual leader, inveighed against the protests — a signal of the danger he sees lurking in them. Iran also closed several border crossings with Iraq to both travelers and trade, Iranian state media reported. “The U.S. and Western intelligence agencies, with the help of money from regional countries, are instigating unrest in the region,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a speech. “I advise Lebanon and Iraq to make it a priority to stabilize these security threats.” The events in both countries have been portrayed negatively in Iranian media. Officials and conservative commentators in Iran have branded the uprisings as “sedition” — a term they used for domestic antigovernment demonstrations in 2009 and 2017. Some suggested that American, Israeli and Saudi provocateurs had stoked the unrest in order to weaken Iran and create divisions with its key regional allies. But Iranian officials also are wary of the infectious power of popular protests in their neighboring countries and the common grievances that Lebanese and Iraqis share with ordinary Iranians. The last wave of nationwide protests in Iran in 2017, much like those in its Arab counterparts today, are rooted in the economy, unemployment and frustration at government corruption. Iraq’s prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, raised the possibility on Thursday that he would resign. Two days earlier, Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, announced his resignation. There is no sign that protests in either Iraq or Lebanon will abate anytime soon. “The perception of Iranian leadership is that these movements are an existential threat,” said Joseph Bahoud, a Middle East expert with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Still, he said, “they still have a lot of cards to play before resorting to open violence to crush this.” Ayatollah Khamenei said in his speech that he had ordered security forces to be on alert to counter the uprisings. His comments suggested he may have wanted Iran’s Shiite proxies in Iraq and Lebanon to battle the crowds. The Hezbollah organization in Lebanon and many pro-Iranian militias in Iraq operate under the guidance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Analysts said Iran would try different tactics to counter the protests. In Lebanon, the aim is to divide the movement and distance Shiites — including the two dominant Shiite political and militant groups, Hezbollah and Amal — from the call to overthrow the entire political establishment. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has already asked supporters to stay off the streets. Like Ayatollah Khamenei, he has suggested that the protests were instigated by foreign countries. Lebanese riot police officers grab an antigovernment demonstrator in Beirut on Thursday.Credit...Anwar Amro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Iran is also counting on intimidation to disperse the Lebanese protesters. On Tuesday a group of plainclothes militia wearing black, described by others as Hezbollah loyalists, raided the main protest site in downtown Beirut, beating protesters and dismantling their tents. Since then, the crowds have thinned. With Mr. Hariri’s resignation, the prospect of a political vacuum in Lebanon looms if a new government cannot be formed. Iraq presents a more complicated challenge for Iran. Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, commander of an elite force of the Revolutionary Guards, who has visited Iraq many times in recent years, went to Baghdad recently to help the government manage the uprising. In Shiite populated cities where Iran-backed militias have a strong base, like the holy city of Karbala, clashes are
[Marxism] E.P.A. to Roll Back Rules to Control Toxic Ash from Coal Plants
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. * NY Times, Nov. 1, 2019 E.P.A. to Roll Back Rules to Control Toxic Ash from Coal Plants By Lisa Friedman WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is expected to roll back an Obama-era regulation meant to limit the leaching of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury into water supplies from the ash of coal-fired power plants, according to two people familiar with the plans. With a series of new rules expected in the coming days, the Environmental Protection Agency will move to weaken the 2015 regulation that would have strengthened inspection and monitoring at coal plants, lowered acceptable levels of toxic effluent and required plants to install new technology to protect water supplies from contaminated coal ash. The E.P.A. will relax some of those requirements and exempt a significant number of power plants from any of the requirements, according to the two people familiar with the Trump administration plan, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the new rules. The move is part of a series of deregulatory efforts by the Trump administration aimed at extending the lives of old, coal-fired power plants that have been shutting down in the face of competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy generators. Coal ash, the residue produced from burning coal, was dumped for years in holding areas near power plants, largely without regulation, but it came to the public’s attention after spills in North Carolina and Tennessee sent mercury, cadmium, arsenic and other heavy metals from the ash into water supplies. “We support reasonable regulations for coal ash and non-coal-ash byproducts that protect health and the environment,” said Michelle Bloodworth, president and chief executive of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group. “At the same time, it is important that regulations not cause unnecessary retirements or idling of coal-fired power plants because they are necessary to ensure that consumers have a reliable, resilient, and affordable electricity supply.” Environmental groups warned that the regulatory rollback could lead to contaminated drinking water and birth defects, cancer and stunted brain development in young children. Energy analysts said the administration’s latest gambit to bolster the industry would not save the industry from its long decline. “While it might keep some existing coal plants running a little bit longer, it’s at best a Band-Aid on a bullet wound that the market has sent the coal industry,” said Joshua Rhodes, a senior energy analyst with Vibrant Clean Energy, a clean technology consultancy based in Colorado. A spokesman for the E.P.A. did not respond to a request for comment. The Obama-era rule came partially in response to a 2008 disaster in Tennessee when a containment pond ruptured at the Kingston Fossil Plant. More than 1.1 billion gallons of coal-ash slurry spilled into nearby rivers and destroyed homes. In 2014, a broken pipe spilled millions of gallons of liquefied coal ash from a retired power plant into the Dan River in North Carolina. It turned the water into dark sludge and threatened drinking water supplies. The electric utility Duke Energy later agreed to pay a $6 million fine for violating water protection laws. The spill also prompted the passage of a new state law in North Carolina that requires all coal ash storage ponds be closed by 2029. Utility companies and coal industry supporters say the Obama administration overreacted to those events, in large part because the administration wanted to force the closure of coal-fired power plants by eliminating ways of disposing of coal ash. Environmentalists vehemently disagreed. Lisa Evans, general counsel for Earthjustice, an environmental group, called the E.P.A.’s plan “a huge step backward and incredibly dangerous.” Agency officials held a conference call Tuesday with supporters of the Trump administration’s deregulatory efforts to discuss the measure, multiple people on the call confirmed. According to the E.P.A., about 1.1 million Americans live within three miles of a coal plant that discharges pollutants into a public waterway. The 2015 rule set deadlines for power plants to invest in modern wastewater treatment technology to keep toxic pollution out of local waterways. The regulation also required them to monitor local water quality and make more of the information publicly available. The Obama administration estimated the regulations would stop about 1.4 billion pounds of toxic metals and other pollutants from pouring into rivers and streams. But
[Marxism] Life in the Ashes of Lotusland Dreams: the Kinkade Fire and the Future of California - CounterPunch.org
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[Marxism] What’s wrong with CUNY’s contract: Adjunct faculty are still woefully underpaid - New York Daily News
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[Marxism] A foie gras ban is long overdue – but what about other foods made from animal suffering? | Jacy Reese | Opinion | The Guardian
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[Marxism] Fast, Casual, and Out of Control | The New Republic
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. * The fast-casual burrito-slinging behemoth Chipotle was awash in Halloween-themed promotions this month. Cheap “boorritos”! TikTok contests! But no haul of spooky goodies could hide the spirit of labor revolt lurking amid the other skeletons in the company’s closet. Chipotle’s continued labor violations and piss-poor treatment of its workers—who for years have reported that working conditions at the chain are a “nightmare”—came to a head with multiple rallies across New York City in October. Members of 32BJ SEIU, a property-services union dedicated over the better part of a decade to organizing the city’s fast-food workers, gathered to speak out against the company’s failure to heed the city’s 2017 Fair Workweek law. Chipotle’s stated commitment to “raising the bar” in matters of social responsibility apparently stops when it comes to its own employees. https://newrepublic.com/article/155573/chipotle-workers-unionization _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Beyond Basebuilding: Towards a Declassed Socialist Movement - Regeneration Magazine
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[Marxism] Carrying the Burden of Communist Man - COSMONAUT
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. * Very interesting article by Donald Parkinson. https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/11/01/carrying-the-burden-of-communist-man/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] A Day in My Life at CounterPunch - CounterPunch.org
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. * By Jeffrey St. Clair Fortunately, there are no demand letters this morning. But there was a torrent of hate mail, which is always more instructive to read than the rare herogram. “Why are you so soft on Putin?” “Why are you in Putin’s pocket?” “Your blind support of Assad is outrageous.” “Why did CounterPunch turn its back on the Syrian regime?” “ANTIFA are fascist scum.” “ANTIFA is the last line of defense against fascists.” “You guys are climate deniers.” “Why did CounterPunch abandon Cockburn’s critique of global warming science?” “You Bernie Bros are responsible for Trump!” “I’ve donated for many years, but not after St. Clair’s vile attacks on Bernie.” “What do you have against Tulsi?” I sympathize with the confusion. Unlike many political sites, CounterPunch doesn’t a have company line. The online edition of CounterPunch has always been a venue where different voices, on what can loosely be described as the “left,” can freely engage in fierce debates about politics, economics, war, movies, racism, music and political movements. We’ve tried to make CounterPunch free from dogma and cant, but to keep it open for writers with fresh points of view and vivid writing styles. The experience can perplex readers who are used to grazing in the usual media feedlots of processed prose and artificially-colored opinions. https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/01/a-day-in-my-life-at-counterpunch-2/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] "US finds in PYD/YPG something rare in the Middle East"
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. * An interesting article from a former diplomat. "The US finds in the Syrian Kurd something rare in the Middle East – an ally, a spirited fighter and also a good friend of Israel." https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/11/article/us-veers-back-into-geopolitics-contest-for-syria/ -- Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG (Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, www.thecommunists.net) www.rkob.net ak...@rkob.net Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314 -- Diese E-Mail wurde von Avast Antivirus-Software auf Viren geprüft. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] US patrols Syria border with Kurds for first time since troop withdrawal
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. * It seems that the PYD/YPG leadership is not too angry about Trump's betrayal. They continue to serve loyally U.S. imperialism as mercenaries in jointly patrolling the borders. Surely, they have "no alternative" (except serving Assad and Putin)! https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/10/31/us-patrols-syria-border-for-first-time-since-pull-back -- Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG (Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, www.thecommunists.net) www.rkob.net ak...@rkob.net Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314 -- Diese E-Mail wurde von Avast Antivirus-Software auf Viren geprüft. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
