[Marxism] on the French Regional Elections
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://theactivist.org/blog/on-the-french-regional-elections Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The reality behind Inglourious Basterds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Is it just me or doesn't that whole professional revolutionaries concept amount to grand compliment in admiration of professionalism under capitalism? How does a professionalism that sets you apart from the ordinary run-of-the-mill working people recommend you as one to lead them? Just a thought ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The reality behind Inglourious Basterds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 17-Mar-10, at 1:21 PM, Mark Lause wrote: Is it just me or doesn't that whole professional revolutionaries concept amount to grand compliment in admiration of professionalism under capitalism? How does a professionalism that sets you apart from the ordinary run-of-the-mill working people recommend you as one to lead them? maybe the wording should have been unless you earn your living as an revolutionary activist. the point being that we are all inside the system contributing to it in one form or another. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The reality behind Inglourious Basterds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Mark Lause wrote: Is it just me or doesn't that whole professional revolutionaries concept amount to grand compliment in admiration of professionalism under capitalism? How does a professionalism that sets you apart from the ordinary run-of-the-mill working people recommend you as one to lead them? Just a thought Lenin coined the term professional revolutionary in What is to be Done, chapter IV. (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/iv.htm) Like most things that Lenin wrote in this pamphlet, it has been treated ahistorically by the Marxist-Leninist movement. Although this was never stated explicitly in the American SWP, we generally assumed that this was the full-timers. It is hard to reconcile that with the kind of revolving door staffing of the SWP in the 1960s and 70s when somebody fresh off the campus would take a job as an organizer of one sort or another without having the foggiest notion about Marxist theory. I think that the concept has the greatest merit not so much in terms of who pays you, but as an acknowledgment that socialist revolution requires a professional rather than a dilettantish approach. Despite its cult-like nature, the one good thing about the SWP was its ability to set an example in terms of professionalism back then. Today, of course, is another matter entirely. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Kucinich toes the line
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Kucinich is trying his best to create some measure of good for as many people as possible out of a bad situation. That is to his credit. -- mil Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Kucinich toes the line
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Most working people, I think, have a health insurance plan like mine: it covers next to nothing, and I'm paying over $100 every two weeks for it. And my boss (it's a very small business) is paying over $1000 a month just for me and my family. And for this I get denied reimbursement for necessary eye surgery for my wife because the doctor is in network but his office - which the doctor OWNS - is NOT in the network. You can't make this stuff up! And this health insurance bill does NOTHING - NOTHING - for me. Because I have health insurance, and I don't really have a choice about changing it. It's my boss's decision, not mine. And for this, they drafted 2700 pages of mishigas when they could have passed a 37-page HR676 and put everyone into Medicare. I gave Kucinich a piece of my mind over this one. He should be ashamed of himself, and I'm sure he is. I'm certain that Emanuel threatened to sic AIPAC on him and drive him out of Congress as was done to Cynthia McKinney. Well, if he had any courage he would have told Emanuel to do his worst. I think at one time Kucinich really thought that he could help people by being a Democratic member of Congress. Welcome to reality! -Tom -Original Message- From: marxism-bounces+biastg=embarqmail@lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+biastg=embarqmail@lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of moteck1...@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 9:03 PM To: Thomas Bias Subject: Re: [Marxism] Kucinich toes the line == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Kucinich is trying his best to create some measure of good for as many people as possible out of a bad situation. That is to his credit. -- mil Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/biastg%40embarqmail.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] China's Economic Nationalism?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Today's Wall Street Journal expresses shock that China is resorting to economic nationalism, which is supposed to be the exclusive right of the U.S. After all, China's economy seems to be performing better than the U.S. -- at least until a possible real estate bubble bursts. In addition, China does seem to be reining in its expansionary monetary policy, something the U.S. did not do as its bubble grew. Anyway, here are my extracts from the relevant articles: http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/chinas-economic-nationalism/ -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Kucinich toes the line
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I have an excellent health care plan with wonderful medical and dental coverage...unless you actually need them to pay off on something. Every time this has happened, their first response was to decline payment. The last one referred me for an explanation to Code Such-and-such, which says---when you look it up--something like we aren't paying this claim. Great explanation. Eventually, you'll probably get them to pay--which, I appreciate, is better than many plans--but the actual system in practice is such that you usually have to fight them to get what you've already paid for... Imagine if you went to the grocery store, paid for your groceries and then had to set up a series of meetings with the store manager and arm wrestle a bagger to remove the groceries from the store. ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Kucinich toes the line
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Thomas Bias bia...@embarqmail.com wrote: [Extra text deleted] I gave Kucinich a piece of my mind over this one. He should be ashamed of himself, and I'm sure he is. I'm certain that Emanuel threatened to sic AIPAC on him and drive him out of Congress as was done to Cynthia McKinney. Well, if he had any courage he would have told Emanuel to do his worst. I think at one time Kucinich really thought that he could help people by being a Democratic member of Congress. Welcome to reality! Given Kucinich's well-established reputation for stabbing his supporters in the back, I'm surprised anybody here is actually shocked by his flip-flop on the so-called health care reform bill. (In reality, the Health Insurance Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010) In 2004, Kucinich used his bid for the Oval Office as a vehicle to harness the energy of the anti-war movement and put it to work to help elect a right-wing New Democrat to the White House. After he got blown out of the primaries, Dennis told his supporters to rally around the pro-war nominee, Senator John Kerry. In 2006, he received about $135,000 in laundered corporate money from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), chaired by -- guess who -- then-Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, a strong supporter of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and now President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. If Dennis is such a pain in the ass to corrupt Democratic Party leadership, why would they shower him with cash? Now that he officially backs the taxpayer bailout of the private health insurance industry, wanna bet they'll pump even more laundered corporate money into his re-election bid? The sordid reality is Kucinich has track record of getting down on his hands and knees, sticking out his tongue, and licking the boots of corrupt Democratic Party leadership whenever it suits his interests to do so. The bigwigs love Dennis because he does a great job keeping the sheep within the fold. Sincerely, Duane J. Roberts duaneroberts92804@ yahoo.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Left Forum meet-up
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Hope I can. It depends on when I have to usher on Saturday night. MIL (Marion) -Original Message- From: Louis Proyect l...@panix.com To: Marion L. moteck1...@aol.com Sent: Wed, Mar 17, 2010 2:52 pm Subject: [Marxism] Left Forum meet-up == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Comrades attending this are invited to hook up after the Saturday 5:00 PM - 6:50 PM panels and go out for drinks, food and conversation at a nearby pub. We did this last year and had a really nice time. Meet me at the Monthly Review book table, the same place we met last year. Lou Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/moteck1457%40aol.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Hamas calls new intifada, mass protests explode over settlements
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == This anti-occupation Jewish feminist is getting good and fed up with the leadership on both sides. - MIL Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] A 3rd Intifada?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Have a look at this, Shawn: and no, this does not mean that I approved of Ariel Sharon's policies in the West Bank and Gaza. I did NOT. But I also don't approve of making things simple and double standards when it comes to human rights abuses. I've added some bolding of selected passages. -- MIL Israel, Palestine, and Gays by Paul Varnell Originally appeared August 28, 2002, in the Chicago Free Press. LET'S TAKE A QUIZ. No peeking at the answers directly below. 1. Which Middle Eastern country has no sodomy laws nor uses vague charges such as offenses against religion or immoral conduct to prosecute and imprison gays and lesbians? 2. Which Middle Eastern country has a variety of gay organizations which safely conduct gay advocacy efforts? 3. Which Middle Eastern country has a gay and lesbian community center in its capital city? 4. Which Middle Eastern country holds annual Gay Pride parades? 5. Which Middle Eastern country has members of parliament who actively support and speak out on behalf of gays and lesbians? 6. In which Middle Eastern country did the head of state meet with gay activists? 7. Which Middle Eastern country lets gays and lesbians join its military services? 8. Which Middle Eastern country has broadcast programs about gays and lesbians on its television stations? 9. And a bonus question: When gays in Palestine are forced to flee persecution, what Middle Eastern country do they usually flee to? Answers: Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel The contrasting treatment of gay men in neighboring Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt is well known: Gays are beheaded or sentenced to long prison terms. What seems less well known, however, is the appalling treatment of gays under Yassir Arafat's Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza. At least it was less known until Yossi Klein Halevi wrote about it in the August 19th New Republic. Palestine makes rural Texas look like San Francisco. According to Halevi, one young man discovered to be gay was forced by Palestinian Authority police to stand in sewage water up to his neck, his head covered by a sack filled with feces, and then he was thrown into a dark cell infested with insects. During one interrogation Palestinian police stripped him and forced him to sit on a Coke bottle. When he was released he fled to Israel. If he were forced to return to Gaza, he said, The police would kill me. An American who foolishly moved into the West Bank to live with his Palestinian lover said they told everyone they were just friends, but one day they found a letter under our door from the Islamic court. It listed the five forms of death prescribed by Islam for homosexuality, including stoning and burning. We fled to Israel that same day, he said. The head of a Tel Aviv gay organization told Halevi, The persecution of gays in the Palestinian Authority doesn't just come from the families or the Islamic groups, but from the P.A. itself. Palestinian police have increasingly enforced Islamic religion law, he said: It's now impossible to be an open gay in the P.A. He recalled that one gay man in the Palestinian police went to Israel for a short time. When he returned to the West Bank, Palestinian Authority police confined him to a pit without food or water until he died. A 17-year-old gay youth recalled that he spent months in a Palestinian Authority prison where interrogators cut him with glass and poured toilet cleaner into his wounds. The U.S. State Department, which more and more seems to be living on some other planet, blandly noted in a 2001 human rights report, In the Palestinian territories homosexuals generally are socially marginalized and occasionally receive physical threats. That's one way to put it. In the last few years, Halevi reports, hundreds of gay Palestinians, mostly from the West Bank, have fled to Israel, usually to Tel Aviv, Israel's most cosmopolitan city. Many are desperately poor, he says, but at least they're beyond the reach of their families and the P.A. So it seems clear that Israel is the one country in the region in which gays have legal rights as citizens and live in safety and freedom. Oddly, however, some gays and lesbians over on the anti-capitalist (progressive) left sympathize with Palestinian terrorists and support the Palestinian Authority. One such fledgling group calls itself Queers for Palestine, another is named Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (as if trying to stop terrorism against Israeli civilians is itself terrorism). To be sure, no one should argue that gays and lesbians must support Israel just because it is vastly more gay-friendly. They don't. They may feel that some other political principles are more
Re: [Marxism] A 3rd Intifada?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Bolding didn't last when I hit the send button so here's one of the passages I wanted to bold: A 17-year-old gay youth recalled that he spent months in a Palestinian Authority prison where interrogators cut him with glass and poured toilet cleaner into his wounds. I've added some bolding of selected passages. -- MIL Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Palestinian Gay Runaways Survive on Israeli Streets
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Israeli LGBT groups try to help them. I criticize the Israeli government too, for not immediately granting them asylum, for sending them back to Palestine, and for sometimes forcing them to collaborate. MIL Palestinian Gay Runaways Survive on Israeli Streets Reuters, September 17, 2003 By Dan Williams TEL AVIV—At the bath houses of Tel Aviv, “Rani” finds anonymity and sometimes a free buffet. And there is always the chance of meeting an Israeli or a rich tourist who will offer his hotel room for a few nights, no questions asked. For gay Palestinian runaways such as Rani, life on the street in Israel is a daily calculation of how to survive, but it is still easier than the persecution they say they suffered in the more traditional communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “Anwar”—who like other Palestinian homosexuals interviewed by Reuters goes by an assumed name—fled the West Bank after his brothers and father suspected he was gay and beat him senseless. Rani said he was tortured by Palestinian police who wanted him to spy on other homosexuals—a charge authorities at his Gaza hometown denied. He escaped on a work visa to Israel before a Palestinian uprising for statehood erupted three years ago. Rights activists estimate that 300 mostly male gay Palestinians are quietly eking out a living in Israel, at risk of being forcibly repatriated because they are illegal immigrants or because police consider them a threat. “The first danger to them is from family and community, as well as (Palestinian) authorities,” said Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International. “Going to Israel is a one-way ticket, and once there their biggest problem is possibly being sent back.” Palestinian runaways learn Hebrew quickly, playing down their Arab accents. Hospitals are avoided, and cash put aside for private health care. Those who turn to prostitution learn to spot plainclothes police from a distance. Fearing that word of their whereabouts might reach vengeful relatives back home, they avoid contact with one another. “In my dreams I see my relatives, wearing masks, coming to kidnap and kill me,” said 22-year-old Rani, wearing a goatee, fake military dog-tags and a Star of David medallion—the trappings of Israeli urban youth. According to Shaul Gonen of Aguda, Israel’s main homosexual rights lobby, at least three Palestinian runaways have disappeared this way, punished for violating “family honor.” Nature Versus Nation Sodomy carries a three- to 10-year jail term in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian legal experts say enforcement is at the discretion of local authorities and usually requires that the accused be caught in the act. Islam denounces homosexuality as a sin, and many Palestinians deny it exists in their midst. Israel, which decriminalized sodomy in 1987, is considered among the more liberal of societies when it comes to gay rights. “Palestinian society is very conservative and there is a very, very, very small and secretive community of these people,” said Hassan Khreisheh, who heads the human rights monitoring committee in the Palestinian Legislative Council, or parliament. He dismissed the runaways living in Israel as “collaborators guilty of various crimes, including homosexuality.” Palestinian gays are regularly accused by compatriots of being part of Israel’s vast network of informers. Asked to verify Anwar’s account of his expulsion from home, a Palestinian security source said that not only Anwar, but also his father and brothers were viewed as “prostitutes and spies.” “In the Arab mindset, a person who has committed a moral offense is often assumed to be guilty of others, and it radiates out to the family and community,” said Bassam Eid, director of Palestinian Human Rights Watch. “As homosexuality is seen as a crime against nature, it is not hard to link it to collaboration—a crime against nation,” Eid added, lamenting what he called a “total lack” of support networks for gays in the West Bank and Gaza. Eid and Gonen said they knew of several Palestinian gays who had worked for Israeli intelligence in exchange for money or administrative favors including the right to live in Israel. One former Israeli handler of collaborators disputed this. “Gays are already treated with suspicion in Palestinian society,” said Menachem Landau, a veteran of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency. “So what good are they for covert work?” Pressure goes the other way too. “Ali,” a 19-year-old from the West Bank, said he went into hiding in Tel Aviv after Palestinian militants ordered him to carry out a suicide bombing and “purge his guilt” for being gay. Rani said he knew of three similar cases. “But they refused. We don’t want to kill, just to live—in Israel or
[Marxism] Human Rights Watch news release on Hamas
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == from mil HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Gaza: Hamas Should End Killings, Torture Related Materials: Internal Fight Under Cover of War “During Israel’s attack on Gaza, Hamas moved violently against its political opponents and those deemed collaborators with Israeli forces. The unlawful arrests, torture, and killings in detention continued even after the fighting stopped, mocking Hamas’s claims to uphold the law.” Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division At Least 32 Palestinians Killed During and After Israeli Offensive April 20, 2009 (Gaza City) - Hamas should end its attacks on political opponents and suspected collaborators in Gaza, which have killed at least 32 Palestinians and maimed several dozen more during and since the recent Israeli military offensive, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch called on Hamas authorities in Gaza to hold those responsible accountable. The 26-page report, Under Cover of War: Hamas Political Violence in Gaza, documents a pattern since late December 2008 of arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, maimings by shooting, and extrajudicial executions by alleged members of Hamas security forces. The report is based on interviews with victims and witnesses in Gaza and case reports by Palestinian human rights groups. The spate of attacks began during Israel's military operation, from December 27, 2008, to January 18, 2009, including the summary execution of 18 men in Gaza, most of them suspected collaborators with Israel.It has continued in the three months since, with 14 more killings, at least four of them of people in detention. During Israel's attack on Gaza, Hamas moved violently against its political opponents and those deemed collaborators with Israeli forces, said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division. The unlawful arrests, torture, and killings in detention continued even after the fighting stopped, mocking Hamas's claims to uphold the law. Internal political violence in Gaza and the West Bank is not new. Over the past three years, Hamas and its chief rival, Fatah, which controls the West Bank, have carried out arbitrary arrests of each other's supporters and subjected detainees to torture and ill-treatment. The violations in Gaza have lessened in April, Human Rights Watch said, but Hamas authorities are still failing to address seriously the crimes by security forces during and after the Israeli attacks. Hassan al-Seifi, general inspector in Gaza's Interior Ministry, told Human Rights Watch on April 16 that a committee he heads had completed investigations into two deaths in detention. In both cases, the Hamas authorities acted on the committee's recommendations, he said, suspending from duty and filing charges against the police officers involved. In two other cases, the committee is continuing its investigations. Interviewed on April 15 and 16, a Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, and the Gaza Interior Ministry spokesman, Ihab al-Ghusein, told Human Rights Watch that Hamas had explicitly forbidden excessive force by security forces after Israel's military operation. But they said that Hamas forces could not have prevented the killings and shootings by Palestinians during the Israeli attacks due to the chaos of the fighting. The systematic nature of many of the executions and attacks, and the fact that killings have continued after the Israeli offensive,undercut these assertions, Human Rights Watch said. Gazan police were among those targeted by Israeli forces, sometimes apparently unlawfully, but this does not justify Hamas's apparent use of summary execution, Stork said. The attacks and killings also continued after the Israeli military operation had stopped. Human Rights Watch urged the Hamas authorities to prosecute vigorously any security force member found to have violated the law. Four investigations into 32 deaths are not enough, Stork said. Most of the 18 Palestinians executed during Israel's military operations were men accused of collaboration with Israel, Human Rights Watch said. Along with others, they had escaped from Gaza's main prison after Israeli aircraft bombed parts of the facility on December 28. Gunmen believed to be from Hamas then tracked down and shot the men. During the Israeli operations, Hamas security forces also physically attacked known Fatah members, especially those who had worked in the Fatah-run security services of the Palestinian Authority prior to June 2007.The widespread practice of maiming people by shooting them in the legs is of particular concern. According to the Independent Commission for Human Rights(ICHR), the human rights
[Marxism-Thaxis] Pilger on why the Oscars are a con
http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2010/02/pilger-iraq-oscar-american-war I hate just about anything with Matt Damon in it, so I'm glad JP has given me several good reasons not to see 'Invictus'. I hate American-produced war movies, all all all of them. But I did get to see 'Redacted' on TV here, really really late at night. A remarkable work by DePalma (whom I usually hate). (Not that this has much of anything to do with the Oscars, since a film like 'Redacted' will never get the attention that 'The Hurt Locker' has). The good thing about that overview is that JP has so very little to say about 'Avatar', which is about more than it deserves. A very unremarkable film. Visually stunning in some sequences, I still wonder how they blew 250 million dollars to produce it--the 3D 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' a couple years ago had about as much visually going for it , with a budget of 60 million. Verhoeven's non-3-D but CGI-laden Starship Troopers, produced something like 10 years ago, still shows better integration of CGI for a plot-driven story. The CGI artists haven't really topped it after ten years of trying. The thing they ought to remember about special effects is simply: do the minimum you need to tell the story. The best part of Spielberg's War of the Worlds, for example, is the first 40 minutes before any of the aliens pop up out of the ground. At any rate, here is an excerpt of Pilger: American airbrush Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is in this tradition. A favourite for multiple Oscars, her film is better than any documentary I've seen on the Iraq war. It's so real it's scary (Paul Chambers, CNN). Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian reckons it has unpretentious clarity and is about the long and painful endgame in Iraq, and that it says more about the agony and wrong and tragedy of war than all those earnest well-meaning movies. What nonsense. This film offers a vicarious thrill through yet another standard-issue psychopath, high on violence in somebody else's country where the deaths of a million people are consigned to cinematic oblivion. The hype around Bigelow is that she may be the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director. How insulting that a woman is celebrated for a typically violent all-male war movie. The accolades echo those for The Deer Hunter (1978), which critics acclaimed as the film that could purge a nation's guilt! The Deer Hunter lauded those who had caused the deaths of more than three million Vietnamese, while reducing those who resisted to barbaric commie stick figures. In 2001, Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down provided a similar, if less subtle, catharsis for another noble failure by the US, this time in Somalia, airbrushing the heroes' massacre of up to 10,000 Somalis. By contrast, the fate of an admirable American war film, Redacted, is instructive. Made in 2007 by Brian De Palma, the film is based on the true story of the gang rape of an Iraqi teenager and the murder of her family by US soldiers. There is no heroism, no purgative. The murderers are murderers, and De Palma ingeniously describes the complicity of Hollywood and the media in the epic crime of Iraq. The film ends with a series of photographs of Iraqi civilians who were killed. When it was ordered that their faces be blacked out for legal reasons, De Palma said: I think that's terrible because now we have not even given the dignity of faces to this suffering people. The great irony about Redacted is that it was redacted. After a limited release in the US, the film all but vanished. Non-American (or non-western) humanity is not deemed to have box-office appeal, dead or alive. They are the other who are allowed, at best, to be saved by us. In Avatar, James Cameron's vast and violent money-printer, 3-D noble savages known as the Na'vi need a good-guy American soldier, Sergeant Jake Sully, to save them. This confirms they are good. Natch. My Oscar for the worst of this year's nominees goes to Invictus, Clint Eastwood's unctuous insult to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Based on a hagiography of Mandela by a British journalist, John Carlin, the film might have been a product of apartheid propaganda. In promoting the racist, thuggish rugby culture as a panacea of the rainbow nation, Eastwood gives barely a hint that many black South Africans were deeply embarrassed and hurt by Mandela's embrace of the hated springbok symbol of their suffering. He airbrushes white violence - but not black violence, which is ever present as a threat. As for the Boer racists, they have hearts of gold, because they didn't really know. The subliminal theme is all too familiar: colonialism deserves forgiveness and accommodation, never justice. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] PROGRESSIVES BLUNT ‘TEA-BAGGE R’ ATTACK ON REP. KILROY!
PROGRESSIVES BLUNT ‘TEA-BAGGER’ ATTACK ON REP. KILROY! Bruce Bostick Hundreds showed up at what was supposed to be a right wing attack on Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy’s office yesterday in Columbus (Ohio). The event, however, proved to be much different from what the “Teabaggers” announced and had planned. Dueling demonstrations, each with around 200-300 folks, lined Olentangy River Rd., the “Teabaggers” attacking Kilroy for her strong support of health care reform and an equal or greater force of people there supporting her stand. “We just had to come out and stand with Mary Jo,” said Tim Ely, a Business Agent for the Pipefitter’s Union. “She’s stood up for us in the legislature, and I’m just sick and tired of these right wing thugs lying about health care and going around intimidating people. That crap’s going to stop, now!” Chants of “Pass it Now,” “People’s Needs, not Corporate Greed,” Health Care, not Warfare” echoed against the building that housing Rep. Kilroy’s office, and cars honked, answering signs stating; “Honk to support Health Care Reform!” Many of the signs were hand-printed, many carried by people that have had to fight insurance companies as well as diseases. On the “teabagger” side, the mood was much different. Chants and signs called on Kilroy to “Kill the Bill,” but the undercurrent was extreme levels of anger, paranoia and frustration. Dave Hysell, who described himself as “a proud American,” stated that he was there “because the government lies.” “They made the Swine Flu virus,” he said, “but didn’t make enough vaccine for the seniors. They’re trying to kill off the seniors.” Nearby, a woman named Mary, volunteered that “they have secret committees in place to decide who they can kill off.” Asked how she’d know about them if they’re secret, she stated that, “oh, we have ways, we can find out.” Chris Grant, with the right wing group, said that he opposed the proposed reform for two reasons; “”First, he said,” it’s going raise taxes, and I’m against all taxes, and, second, the bill eliminates choice.” On the pro-reform side, there was more of a carnival atmosphere. People seemed happy and especially encouraged at the big turnout to support Rep. Kilroy and oppose the “Teabaggers.” Faith Van Horne, a local artist, spoke about her concerns. “I’m really happy to see all the people here,” she said. “I’m just so sick of the lies they’re telling about health care reform. I’d had a lump on my breast,” she explained, “but I waited 6 months until my regular checkup to get it checked. The insurance wouldn’t cover it and it would’ve cost me $1,500 that I didn’t have, just to get it checked. We need to get rid of these insurance companies and get real health care coverage.” We were glad to hear that the exam had proved negative and she was here in good health. While a police line separated the demonstrations, “Teabaggers” yelled “Whore” and “Bitch” at women demonstrators and seemed anxious to create confrontations. A group of three “Teabaggers” came across to the progressive side, standing behind folks, attempting to confront them. When Diane Smith approached the men, stating that she had M.S. and could not get insurance, one of the right wingers just laughed at her, stating “you’ve got health care, just go to the Emergency Room!” “They are just disgusting,” said Jeff St. Clair, who was there “because my wife has five incurable diseases and cannot get insurance coverage.” He explained that his family was able to get some help from the MS Society, “But,” he stated strongly, “we have a rich county. We should have health care coverage for everyone, with dignity! If every other nation can do it, we certainly can, as well!” Norm Wernet, Ohio Director for the Alliance of Retired Americans, was struck by how many “Teabaggers” held signs about keeping Medicare free of “government control.” “It’s such a shame that people aren’t getting the facts, that these right wingers put out so many lies. This Health Care reform bill will SAVE Medicare! Bush put private companies into Medicare and we are paying them 17% MORE than the norm,” he said. “This bill will cut those funds and put Medicare on much stronger footing. We need this bill to save Medicare,” (which, he stated with a grin, is, of course, a single-payer government run program that runs pretty darn well)! Leaving the rally, we heard that Rep. Kilroy stated that she would proudly continue to support the Health Care. A day later, we learned that Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who’d previously stated his opposition to the present reform bill, announced he’d also vote YES! ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] PROGRESSIVES BLUNT ‘TEA-BAGGE R’ ATTACK ON REP. KILROY!
The problem is, the bill isn't very progressive--no guarantee of health care as a human right, no public option. Wht the bill does (and I could see this coming from last year) is put off the day of reckoning by pumping even more subsidies into an ineffective, wasteful, to quite an extent fraudulent, for-profit system. It buys off the big pharma and for-profit health care providers and insurers--for about 5 years, at the most. It is supposed to bring in 30 million people into the 'safety net' (which doesn't exist). The key event this week was that Kucinich buckled and will now support this piece-of-shit legislation. He knows it is that too. Poll after poll shows the same thing: if asked, most Americans think most Americans should have health care and support a public option (because they know they could get turfed off their own plans if they got something chronic or too expensive for the bean counters). CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
