[Marxism] CFP Final - Exploring the Colonial Present: Contemporary Research on Palestine - AAG 2011
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == *with the usual apologies* Call for Papers: Exploring the Colonial Present: Contemporary Research on Palestine Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers Seattle, Washington, April 12-16, 2011 Organizers: Omar Jabary Salamanca (Gent University), Lisa Bhungalia (Syracuse University), and Kareem Rabie (CUNY Graduate Center) The recent wave of scholarship in Geography addressing the Palestinian-Israeli question has often emphasized colonial practices from a geopolitical perspective and scale, and has focused on the mechanics of Israeli occupation through issues of territory and territoriality, borders, violence, militarization, and so on. This research is characterized on the one hand by a presentist tendency that contributes to the framing of this particular situation as exceptional and without similarities to other colonial conflicts. And on the other hand, by a shortage of local empirical research and consequently, characterizations of Palestine and Palestinians as a cohesive and homogeneous entity. Within the structure of Israeli settler colonialism and in the present context, aid intervention, neoliberal practice, and actors such as Palestinian elites and returnees, donor governments, subcontracting agencies, international organizations as well as local governments, grassroots movements, settlers, and other actors are reshaping socio-political, spatial, legal, economic, and environmental relations in Palestine. This paper session invites scholars to theorize Palestine from a critical perspective at the intersection of different political, economic, legal, and other processes operating at multiple scales in order to explore the similarities and differences between the Palestinian case and other colonial conflicts or global struggles for social justice. As such, we encourage empirical as well as theoretical papers that can be historical or contemporary on topics that may include—but are not limited to—the following: Aid intervention: development, and humanitarianism Neoliberal reforms The politics of infrastructure building and privatization Environmental politics Economic planning Colonial bureaucracies Political and social normalization Palestine in the regional and global economies Diaspora and global activism Intersectionality of race, class, and gender in the colonial context New Middle Eastern urbanism Cartographies and mapping Zionism, settlement, and Zionist conceptions of territory Grassroots activism and social movements Decolonization Law and Israeli lawfare Security discourse and the militarization of the Palestinian Authority Geographies of settler colonialism Please submit abstracts to Omar Jabary Salamanca (omar.jab...@ugent.be), Lisa Bhungalia (lbhun...@syr.edu), and Kareem Rabie (kareemra...@gmail.com) by October 19, 2010. Abstracts must be received and participants must be registered by this date in order to allow time to read abstracts and prepare the final panel submission by October 20, 2010. 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] Aust PM declares engagement' in Afghanistan for 'rest of decade'
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Sydney Stop The War Coalition activist Marlene Obeid was dragged out of the public gallery this afternoon as Australian PM Julia Gillard announced that Australian troops would be engaged in Afghanistan at least for the rest of this decade. They are war criminals, said Obeid as she was dragged off by Parliament House security guards. She is right. It would be good if other anti-war groups could go to Canberra and make their message clear in whatever way they can. The Sydney STWC protest was covered on the evening news reports of most of the major TV channels in Australia. Below is war criminal Julia Gillard's statement in Parliament today: “NO SAFE HAVEN” PRIME MINISTERIAL STATEMENT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 19 OCTOBER 2010 Mr Speaker, a national government has no more important task than defending the nation, its people and their interests. That is why we take so seriously any decision to go to war. The war in Afghanistan is no different. Today I will answer five questions Australians are asking about the war: why Australia is involved in Afghanistan; what the international community is seeking to achieve and how; what Australia’s contribution is to this international effort – our mission; what progress is being made; and finally, what the future is of our commitment in Afghanistan. Of course, while our troops remain in the field, I must be responsible in how much I say, but in answering those questions, I want to be as frank as I can be with the Australian people. I want to paint a very honest picture of the difficulties and challenges facing our mission in Afghanistan. The new international strategy and the surge in international troops responded to a deteriorating security situation. This means more fighting, more violence, it risks more casualties, there will be many hard days ahead. Mr Speaker, Australia has two vital national interests in Afghanistan. One: to make sure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists, a place where attacks on us and our allies begin. Two: to stand firmly by our Alliance commitment to the United States, formally invoked following the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. Last month we marked the ninth anniversary of Al-Qaeda’s September 11 attacks. Before September 11 Al-Qaeda had a safe haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban government, a safe haven where they could recruit, indoctrinate, train, plan, finance and conspire to kill. On September 11, Al-Qaeda murdered more than three thousand people, thousands of Americans – citizens of our ally the United States, people from many other countries. Ten Australians, ten of our own, never forgotten. And millions of people were terrified. So we went to Afghanistan to make sure it would never again be a safe haven for Al-Qaeda. We went with our friends and allies, as part of the international community. We went with the support of the United Nations. The war has put pressure on Al-Qaeda’s core leadership, killed some, captured others, forced many into hiding, forced them all on the defensive. Al-Qaeda has been dealt a severe blow. But Al-Qaeda remains a resilient and persistent network. Our successes against it in Afghanistan are only part of our effort against terrorism. We are working to counter the rise of affiliated groups in new areas such as Somalia and Yemen, and violent extremism and terrorist groups in Pakistan. That is why we support efforts in those countries, with those governments, to target terrorist groups there as well. The terror did not end on September 11. Since 2001, some 100 Australians have been killed in extremists' attacks overseas. Among them: 88 Australians were killed in the Bali bombing in 2002. Four Australians were killed in the second Bali bombing in 2005. Our embassy has been bombed in Jakarta. In each of these cases, the terrorist groups involved had links to Afghanistan. If the insurgency in Afghanistan were to succeed, if the international community were to withdraw, then Afghanistan could once again become a safe haven for terrorists. Al-Qaeda’s ability to recruit, indoctrinate, train, plan, finance and conspire to kill would be far greater than it is today, and the propaganda victory for terrorists worldwide would be enormous. So the goal of Australia and the international community is clear: to deny terrorist networks a safe haven in Afghanistan. Mr Speaker, the international community has been in Afghanistan a long time: nine years. The Australian people are entitled to know what we are trying to achieve and when our troops can come home. Removing the Taliban government in 2001 and pursuing Al-Qaeda in the years since has made a crucial difference in preventing terrorist attacks. From 2001 to mid-2006, US and Coalition
[Marxism] Chomsky’s lecture at the Istanbul Co nference on Freedom of Speech
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.thecommentfactory.com/chomskys-lecture-at-the-istanbul-conference-on-freedom-of-speech-3761/ 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] VERSO BOOKS: V40 Special events and new titles
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Verso Books: V40 40 Years of Radical Publishing 1970 - 2010 Verso - the English-speaking world's largest independent radical publisher - celebrates its fortieth anniversary this autumn with the launch of an innovative new website (www.versobooks.comhttp://www.versobooks.com/) and a series of books and events reflecting the continuation of its commitment to radical thought into the twenty-first century. For more on Verso's history, visit: http://www.versobooks.com/pg/about-verso - Verso 40th anniversary events: V40 Philosophy - 22 October 2010, Tate Modern Screening of Wittgenstein (Directed by Derek Jarman, produced by Tariq Ali and written by Terry Eagleton). Tariq Ali will be in conversation with Jonathan Derbyshire, culture editor of the New Statesman, following the screening about Derek Jarman's life and work. More information and booking here: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/film/22840.htm V40 Politics - 25 October 2010, Free Word Centre Panel discussion with Tariq Ali, Mehdi Hasan, Patrick Cockburn and DD Guttenplan to discuss how much Obama's first two years in office will cost him at the most expensive elections in history. Tickets are FREE, but booking is essential for this event. Call 020 7324 2570 or email i...@freewordonline.comhttp://www.freewordonline.com/%22mailto:i...@freewordonline.com/%22 to book your place. More information here: http://www.freewordonline.com/events/ Marx's Political Writings launch - Wednesday 10 November, Marx Memorial Library Launch of Marx's Political Writings with the books' editor, David Fernbach - Verso 40th anniversary books The Verso Book of Dissent: From Spartacus to the Shoe-Thrower of Baghdad An anthology of revolt and resistance to orthodoxy and oppression. Spanning centuries and continents, the Verso Book of Dissent includes words of protest and resistance from Ancient Greece to the anti-war protests of the last decade, from such figures as Plato, the Levellers, Malcolm X, Thomas Paine, the Marquis du Sade, Harold Pinter, and Tupac Shakur. For more information and to buy: http://www.versobooks.com/books/504-the-verso-book-of-dissent The Obama Syndrome A merciless dissection of Obama's overseas escalation and domestic retreat by renowned author, filmmaker and international commentator Tariq Ali. Ali argues that the fact that Obama has proved incapable of shifting the political terrain even a few inches in a reformist direction will pave the way for a Republican surge and triumph in the not too distant future. For more information and to buy: http://www.versobooks.com/books/516-the-obama-syndrome Marx's Political Writings A set of beautiful new editions of Marx's classic political writings. A resurgence of interest in Marx's theories has developed in the wake of the recent financial crisis and these editions provide the vitally important context of his political thought, without which no understanding of the great thinker is complete. For more information and to buy: http://www.versobooks.com/series_collections/13-marx's-political-writings Radical Thinkers Classics New editions of some of Verso's leading titles from our Radical Thinkers series, in beautiful hardback foil-embossed editions. Featuring: Theodor Adorno's Minima Moralia; Raymond Williams' Culture and Materialism; Louis Althusser's For Marx; and Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Bertold Brecht and Georg Lukacs' Aesthetics and Politics. For more information and to buy: http://www.versobooks.com/series_collections/14-radical-thinkers-classic-editions -- Visit Verso's all-new website for blog updates, information on our upcoming events, news, reviews, publications and special offers: http://www.versobooks.comhttp://www.versobooks.com/books/469-manituana Become a fan of Verso on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Verso-Books-UK/122064538789 And get updates on Twitter too! http://twitter.com/VersoBooksUK 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] 8, 000 Demonstrate in Tel Aviv against Racist Laws and Population Transfer Exercises
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == 8,000 Demonstrate in Tel Aviv against Racist Laws and Population Transfer Exercises http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=51028699f=17475u=22792232c=3906032 Some 8,000 people marched through Tel Aviv to the Ministry of Defense on 16 October 2010, in protest against the racist laws being promoted by the Israeli government and the Israeli security forces' population transfer exercises. A long list of organizations, movements, and political parties participated in the demonstration, including the Hadash Party, Hithabrut-Tarabut, and the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, amongst others. http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/israel181010.html 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] French workers set an example
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTL2wlVpCHc 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] American-style
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I would put it this way: America needs a planned economy for the satisfaction of basic/vital needs for all. Agree? glenn From: waistli...@aol.com Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:39:56 -0400 Subject: Re: [Marxism] American-style To: rai...@hotmail.com == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Broad advocacy for Nationalization and explanation of its meaning to the working class masses is on the agenda. The agenda grows out of the spontaneous impulses of all classes struggling to mitigate and survive crisis of capital in an environment of revolution in the means of production. General Motors and Chrysler have been partially nationalized. Health care or Medicare for all with zero cost to the individual is something our working class is spontaneously fighting for in the here and now. Expanded section 8 - Public housing, with no cost to the individual or cost based on income. Full nationalization of public education; zero cost to the local state jurisdictions or the individual. State jurisdictions should have no role in education delivery. Nationalization of utilities; a nationalized system of public transportation. Nationalize pensions. In a few words, nationalization of socially necessary means of life, with zero demand of labor exchange as a precondition for delivery of services. As a vision the national state system and federal authority - government, should be barred and prohibited from owning any property, including military installations. Abolish the stock market; abolish the new non-banking financial institutions. Heck, abolish the banking system and temporarily replace it with credit unions and payday loan centers. WL. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/rain51%40hotmail.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] Everything you need to know about China's internationalism
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == WSJ of 10/18/10 reported that 11 coal miners were shot by two Chinese supervisors at the China owned Collum Coal Mine. The miner were part of a demonstration and protest against low wages and unsafe working conditions. Miners at the Collum Mine are the lowest paid in Zambia. In 2008, the Zambian safety department closed the underground portion of the mine due to several fatal accidents Meanwhile... The bodies of 26 miners were recovered after a coal mine accident in Henan province, China. Eleven miners are missing, and there is little hope for their survival. In 2009, China again recorded the largest number of mining fatalities, at 2631. But the outlook isn't all bleak, that number is significantly less than China's mine fatalities in 2002 which were recorded at 6995. Things are getting better all the time, even if they have to shoot miners in Zambia. Progress demands it. 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] 1, 000, 000th visitor to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Message of congratulations and solidarity can be left in the comments box at http://links.org.au/node/1946 ! ** October 20, 2010 -- In the early hours of October 20, 2010, /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ passed an historic milestone -- its 1,000,000th visitor (since statistics began being kept on April 4, 2008). The unknown visitor entered site at Renfrey Clarke's essential article, The new climate-change denialism: Who promotes it, and how to answer it http://links.org.au/node/1942. Those 1 million visitors have collectively read more than 1.33 million articles since April 2008. /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/'s mission has been to promote the revival of a democratic, ecological, thinking, activist socialism, and to encourage and publicise the activities and views of active socialists around the world who are rebuilding the socialist and radical alternative in deed as well as word. /Links/' success is especially gratifying because there were some who claimed -- when we took the decision to go solely online, rather than continue to produce the excellent but largely unread hard-copy version -- that /Links/ was being closed down and was part of an abandonment of our fundamental socialist principles. Well, there are now more than a million arguments against that pessimistic forecast. /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ would like to thank all its readers, contributors, collaborators and well wishers for their assistance in passing this important milestone, in particular the comrades of the Socialist Alliance and /Green Left Weekly/ in Australia, without whom /Links/ could not appear. We'd like give special mention to our comrades in /Socialist Voice/ in Canada, the Socialist Party of Malaysia, the Labour Party Pakistan, the Partido Lakas ng Masa in the Philippines, the People's Democratic Party (Indonesia) and Working People's Association (Indonesia), Patrick Bond from South Africa, and many other left parties, workers' groups, liberation movements and individual activists who have made /Links/ an important asset for the entire world socialist movement. Don't YOU miss an article, subscribe at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 or follow /Links/ at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism. You can also join the /Links/ Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643. 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] French workers set an example
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == More good videos at http://www.dailymotion.com/Talenceagauchevraiment Hurray for the French workers! Anybody on the List from France? jay 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I'm exhausted. I've spent the last three days going from road block to road block, together with teachers, railroad workers, truckers, nurses, etc. So far, in our sector, we've managed the feat of keeping the Arnages oil depot totally closed since Friday 4 AM ! As a result, all the petrol stations in aradius of 70 kms are closed, completely out of gas. I slept 4 hours on Friday night, 6 hours on Saturday, 2 on Monday ... Today, we got the main Teachers' Union to call on all striking teachers to come and help block all the remaining fuel depots. The police can't intervene, because the truckers have established road blocks on the major roads leading to the oil depot. What is incredible is that despite the fact that there is no more oil available, and therefore that people are blocked at home, a resounding 71% of the population approves of the strike (according to today's opinion polls). The movement is set to last at least another week. I spent the whole of Sunday night with transport (railway and truckers) workers playing cards and drinking beer. It was quite cold (2°C) around 4 AM, but the railroad workers brought several truck-loads of palettes (empty wooden containers) and we lit a might bonfire. Striking workers from the neighbouring Renault factory brought firecrackers and we spent the wee hours of the morning lighting them. Workers are determined to fight until the bitter end. Workers who chose not to go on strike are being encouraged to donate part of their salary to the workers of the most strategic sectors, especialy the Donges raffinery. Personally, this is my 6th day of Strike. An open-ended strike that might not be the best way of going about things, the consensus now being that revolving strikes (15% of the workforce on strike on a given day) would enable us to hold out longer. The support from ordinary people is astounding. When we block a freeway, drivers often honk to support us, give us money, hand us daily newspapers, enven though we are effectively blocking them. I've decided to stay on strike for a further three days but to spend more time with my family, which is also what the union is advocating. Some comrades have spent 4 days without going home and the union is worried this may cause trouble with spouses,who are forced to look after the kids, which would further undermine our resolve. All 12 French oil refineries are on strike until next Friday. Many depots are blocked. Half the train stations (including major ones) are closed. Truckers have blocked the roads leading to the main production areas, and factories cannot function because they lack raw material and pieces (they don't have any stocks of materials stored because they believe storage costs money). Anyway, the mood is indescribable. Workers from every sector are united and determined, and for the first time, many workers can chat with people employed in other industries knowing that they share a common goal. The only problem is, it will be hard, very hard to go back to work. But thanks to the government, people are prepared to remain on strike until next week. Then we'll see. It's a general strike and a lot of ordinary workers I've talked to are determined not to resume work until the retirement age is brought back to 60. 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Thanks for taking the time to report to us, Dan. Tell all our French fellow workers that they are an example for us all. I trust that others are far more ready to do something substantive than are most of the Americans, who are still banging the rocks together 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Some problems remain, even though A LOT, a great, great deal, has been accomplished since last Tuesday. 1) The strike is now indefinite 2) The union membership is demanding support from the union bureaucracy which is forced to yield 3) Public opinion overwhelmingly supports the strike 4) The economic impact of the blockade is being increasingly felt by the bosses, who are now uncertain whether to follow the government or call for a truce. 5) the strike has bread true comradship between workers of very different sectors, and the blur/white-collar worker gap is slowly being bridged. 6) despite the loss of wages, the determination of workers is still extremely strong, BECAUSE they can actually see that although they are loosing money, so are the bosses. negative points : 1) the government has declared a state of emergency and is threatening to impose prison sentences on those who seek to destroy the country. Of course, nobody takes those threats seriously, but still... 2) agents provocateurs are burning down public buildings and then blaming this on strikers. 3) the government is trying to appear as the restorer of order and is increasingly accusing the unions of undemocratic behaviour, because picket lines prevent those who wish to go to work from doing so. 4) tensions are rising between the union rank and file and the union leadership. There are rumours that the leadership is ready for a sell-out. 5) left-wing political parties are telling people that going on strike is well and good, but voting for a socialist candidate in the 2012 presidential election is the only way forward. Yeah ! A socialist government, just like in Greece ! I've lost a fourth of my monthly salary so far, have had my car window smashed by people unknown, but am feeling very happy by the way ordinary people have decided enough was enough. I suppose I should get ready for a rude awakening. 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Dan wrote: I suppose I should get ready for a rude awakening. My comment: thank you for these inspirational reports Dan. We wish you and your comrades all the best in the struggle. Of course the union Leadership will seek a sell out option. That is what they do. But the intransigence of the government is forcing them to let the struggle escalate. The crucial thing would appear to me, from this distance, to be the refineries. The Government has to get them open or else the strikers will win. I recall talking to a striking coal miner in 1971 at Essex University and him telling me that when the lights began to flicker they would have won. Ditto for the French refineries. What seems to be happening in France is the workers are awakening to a sense of their own power. What the bosses (union bourgeois) will seek to do is to put an end to that awakening and replace it with the comatose status quo. comradely Gary 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] 1, 000, 000th visitor to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 10/19/10 7:51 PM, glparramatta wrote: October 20, 2010 -- In the early hours of October 20, 2010, /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ passed an historic milestone -- its 1,000,000th visitor (since statistics began being kept on April 4, 2008). The unknown visitor entered site at Renfrey Clarke's essential article, The new climate-change denialism: Who promotes it, and how to answer ithttp://links.org.au/node/1942. Those 1 million visitors have collectively read more than 1.33 million articles since April 2008. I just checked my own stats on Wordpress. 1,713,740 views since February 2006. You can't find out how many are unique, though. In terms of blog ratings, I am ranked 1,433,990 by Alexa. For comparison's sake, Lenin's Tomb is 553,417. 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] Al Jazeera Film on French Strikes
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == . *'Limited options'* *'Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Paris, said the government seemed to be in a stronger position, with the unions' options for manoeuvre becoming increasingly limited.* *By striking at oil refineries they've been limiting the fuel, but now the government says they will have fuel supplies back to normal within for or five days by calling on its own reserves, she said.* *It seems that everything the unions try to to, the government has an answer to... It does really seem that there is no turning back for this government plan.* * * * * *Sarkozy has got a reputation of being a tough man. That's how he built his political career. He can't afford to appear to be the one who backed down in the face on this kind of union pressure.* I don't know off Rowland at all but the above is typical how the petit bourgeois see the world. She neither understands nor can she envisage class struggle in action. Sarkosy is the one with the limited options. He has to continue his offensive and at any moment he could be deserted by his masters. They have lots of fall back positions he has none. In the mean time a radical working class consciousness is being forged in the furnace of class struggle. I love it. comradely Gary 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] Mistake
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Mistake on my part : I wrote half the train stations are closed (including major ones), which is not true. All the train stations are open, simply because there are either strikers or railway staff (management and non-strikers) inside. What I meant was : half THE TRAINS in France are blocked (including in major railroad nodes). 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] Remembering Harvey Pekar
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=articleid=28968 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Sarkozy is the one with the limited options. He has to continue his offensive and at any moment he could be deserted by his masters. They have lots of fall back positions he has none. In the mean time a radical working class consciousness is being forged in the furnace of class struggle. I love it. You are totally right Garry. Sarkozy is running out of options. And you are right about working class consciousness being forged in the furnace of class struggle (will re-use that metaphor !). And you are also right about the fact that the union leaderships are allowing a general strike to become stronger by the day, because they have no other option. And they are at risk of loosing control over the situation on the ground. They may have already lost it, because some union leaders have become contaminated by the enthusiasm of the rank and file while others are more worried about the political fall-out. The Union leadership will have to make a decision on Friday over whether to call off the strike or not. The way things are heading, they might either go with the flow, or ... what ? If Sarkozy doesn't back down, the Unions will loose face. I think the Union leadership is hoping Sarkozy will summon them for talks or something, anything to give them an excuse for calling for a strategic pause. The other possibility is that Sarkozy will initiate a gigantic crackdown. But it is doubtful whether this is even possible, given the situation. Workers are truly getting to know each other, after five sleepless days and nights. Solidarity between industries is in full swing. Students have joined workers on every road block. Just telling them to go home after having endured a week of cold and shared anguish and elation, will not go down well. Not at all. We've held this far, despite the odds. We've lost our pay, we're exhausted... We've brought the country to a virtual standstill... and now you're telling us to quit ? No way ! F*** you ! 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] A simple slogan [Re: American-style]
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == El 19/10/2010 05:43 p.m., Thomas Bias escribió: Getting working people into action, even around simple slogans like Jobs, Education, Justice is a good thing to do. I am not USAmerican, of course, and I am not prone to have a saying on issues where I am not directly involved. But I guess this simple slogan, when gathering Black Americans, is somehow a reminder of another simple slogan, Peace, Bread, Land. Where´s a Father Gapon when you need one? 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == El 19/10/2010 08:59 p.m., Dan escribió: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I'm exhausted. I've spent the last three days going from road block to road block, together with teachers, railroad workers, truckers, nurses, etc. The I'm exhausted is the best proof that you are not telling a tale. Now that you have tested it yourself, how does it feel? ;-) Hats up for the French people! I have always had misgivings about the decission to surrender arms to the bourgeoisie in 1945. It looks like the masses are slowly reckoning and discovering the bad results of such a mistake. It is never late when you learn a good lesson. 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Dan said: Workers are truly getting to know each other, after five sleepless days and nights. Solidarity between industries is in full swing. Students have joined workers on every road block. Just telling them to go home after having endured a week of cold and shared anguish and elation, will not go down well. Not at all. We've held this far, despite the odds. We've lost our pay, we're exhausted... We've brought the country to a virtual standstill... and now you're telling us to quit ? No way ! F*** you ! Dan, is there any activity taking place in organizing workers through councils akin to soviets (sorry for the dated historical reference, it is only meant to serve as an example of broader organization to unite the workers under more direct and militant leadership beyond the union bureaucracy)? This is a heroic battle and I am sure the rest of us in the rest of the world would like to come to the aid of the French workers, students, parents, and immigrant peoples. Our solidarity goes without saying. We watch and learn . . .and hope for the best! 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 simple slogan [Re: American-style]
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Nestor wrote: But I guess this simple slogan, when gathering Black Americans, is somehow a reminder of another simple slogan, Peace, Bread, Land. In the meantime, Solidarité with the French workers and students would certainly be appropriate. 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] Chris Hedges on the Death of the Liberal Class
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_on_the_death_of_the_liberal_class_20101018/ You can see my questioning of his outlook in the middle of the q and a. Basically Hedges writes off the working class in the US. Jon Flanders 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] Sartre and the French strike
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == El 19/10/2010 09:45 p.m., Gary MacLennan escribió: I recall talking to a striking coal miner in 1971 at Essex University and him telling me that when the lights began to flicker they would have won. Ditto for the French refineries. What seems to be happening in France is the workers are awakening to a sense of their own power. What the bosses (union bourgeois) will seek to do is to put an end to that awakening and replace it with the comatose status quo. In France, most power plants are nuclear. So that I am not sure if lights will flicker soon. But yes, it is wonderful news from Dan and we must be proud to have him on this list. And the French working class, hopefully, can send a strong signal to workers all over Europe. Nothing they haven´t done in their glorious past. As to union leaders, while I don´t trust them at all, they are _also_ a result of the relations of power at play. If strikers can keep doing their job, they will find it hard to betray them. And, however reluctantly, they will have to radicalize their own standing or see the wave drown them into nothingness. Wasn´t a French who wrote something about L'être et le néant 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] News from France
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Good question about Councils (Soviets). Also, what has been the role of the LO, NPA and other far-left organizations in this struggle? Dan, is there any activity taking place in organizing workers through councils akin to soviets (sorry for the dated historical reference, it is only meant to serve as an example of broader organization to unite the workers under more direct and militant leadership beyond the union bureaucracy)? This is a heroic battle and I am sure the rest of us in the rest of the world would like to come to the aid of the French workers, students, parents, and immigrant peoples. Our solidarity goes without saying. We watch and learn . . .and hope for the best! 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] Australian parliamentary debate on troops in Afghanistan
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Yesterday afternoon Sydney Stop The War Coalition activist Marlene Obeid was dragged out of the parliamentary public gallery as Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that Australian troops would be engaged in Afghanistan at least for the rest of this decade. They are war criminals, said Obeid as she was dragged off by Parliament House security guards. She is right. PM Gillard's speech: http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/file.axd?file=2010%2f10%2f101009+pm+statement+afghanistan.doc The reasons she gave to keeping the troops there for at least the rest of the decade was to prevent Afghanisatn from becoming a safe haven for terrorists and to support the US, Australia's chief military ally. Liberal-National opposition leader Tony Abbott supported the government line, while objecting to Australian Spercial Forces being tried in a military court for killing Afghan civilians, including women and children, and then attempting to cover it up. Tony Abbott's speech: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/tony-abbotts-speech-to-parliament-on-australias-deployment-to-afghanistan/story-e6frg8yo-1225940811388 The bi-partisan pro-war line was re-affirmed Today the sole Green MP in the House of Representatives gave his speech. The Greens believe it is now time to bring our troops safely home, he said. The Greens believe the Australian people and our defence forces should not be asked to continue this war for another decade. And The Greens believe many people in Australia agree with us, with recent polls showing most Australians want our defence forces personnel brought safely home. If we really want to ensure Afghanistan never again becomes a haven for terrorists, we must encourage education and help strengthen the institutions of civil society. We must foster democracy from below, not imagine we can impose it from above down the barrel of a gun. No matter how much the contemporary trend might be to dress it up in the garb of human rights, an invasion is an invasion, a war is a war. It is a mistake we have made before but not yet learned from. We owe it to our troops, the Australian people and the people of Afghanistan to adopt a different path. Adam Bandt's speech in full can be read here: http://adam-bandt.greensmps.org.au/content/speech/afghanistan-debate-october-20-2010 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] Sartre and the French strike
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Hi Nestor One can be sure that Sarkosy has detailed knowledge of the thinking of the union leaders. This would be through phone taps, surveillance, informers, third party contacts etc. What he does not have is any knowledge or understanding of the brave spontaneous heart of the French working class. That heart is precisely what he is afraid of. But he is not the only one becoming frightened. Business as usual has been disrupted. There is a new Fête dans les rues underway and unlike 68, it could be a case of 'No more water, the fire next time'. comradely Gary 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-Thaxis] Why the IMF Meetings Failed
http://michael-hudson.com/2010/10/why-the-imf-meetings-failed/ Why the IMF Meetings Failed October 11, 2010 By Michael Hudson And the Coming Capital Controls “Coming events cast their shadows forward.” – Goethe What is to stop U.S. banks and their customers from creating $1 trillion, $10 trillion or even $50 trillion on their computer keyboards to buy up all the bonds and stocks in the world, along with all the land and other assets for sale, in the hope of making capital gains and pocketing the arbitrage spreads by debt leveraging at less than 1% interest cost? This is the game that is being played today. The outflow of dollar credit into foreign markets in pursuit of this financial strategy has bid up asset prices and foreign currencies, enabling speculators to pay off their U.S. positions in cheaper dollars, keeping the currency shift as well as the arbitrage interest-rate margin for themselves. Finance has become the new form of warfare – without the expense of military overhead and an occupation against unwilling hosts. It is a competition in credit creation to buy foreign real estate and natural resources, infrastructure, bonds and corporate stock ownership. Who needs an army when you can obtain monetary wealth and asset appropriation simply by financial means? Victory promises to go to the economy whose banking system can create the most credit, using an army of computer keyboards to appropriate the world’s resources. U.S. officials demonize countries suffering these dollar inflows as aggressive ‘currency manipulators’ for what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner calls “‘Competitive nonappreciation,’ in which countries block their currencies from rising in value.”[1A] Oscar Wilde would have struggled to find a more convoluted term for other countries protecting themselves from raiders trying to force up their currencies to make enormous predatory fortunes. Foreign central banks are being forced to choose between passively letting these inflows push up their exchange rates – thereby pricing their exports out of foreign markets – or recycling these inflows into U.S. Treasury bills yielding only 1% with declining exchange value. (Longer-term bonds risk a price decline if U.S interest rates should rise.) U.S. officials demonize foreign countries as aggressive “currency manipulators” for keeping their currencies weak. But these countries simply are trying to protect their currencies from arbitrageurs and speculators flooding their financial markets with dollars. Foreign central banks must choose between passively letting these inflows push up their exchange rates – thereby pricing their exports out of global markets – or recycling these inflows into U.S. Treasury bills yielding only 1% and whose exchange value is declining. (Longer-term bonds risk a domestic dollar-price decline if U.S interest rates should rise.) The euphemism for flooding economies with credit is “quantitative easing.” The Federal Reserve is pumping liquidity and reserves into the financial system to reduce interest rates, ostensibly to enable banks to “earn their way” out of negative equity resulting from the bad loans made during the real estate bubble. This liquidity is spilling over to foreign economies, increasing their exchange rates. Joseph Stiglitz recently acknowledged that instead of helping the global recovery, the “flood of liquidity” from the Fed and the European Central Bank is causing “chaos” in foreign exchange markets. “The irony is that the Fed is creating all this liquidity with the hope that it will revive the American economy. … It’s doing nothing for the American economy, but it’s causing chaos over the rest of the world.”[1] What U.S. quantitative easing is achieving is to drive the dollar down and other currencies up, much to the applause of currency speculators enjoying quick and easy gains. Yet it is to defend this system that U.S. diplomats and bank lobbyists are threatening to derail the international financial system and plunge world trade into anarchy if other countries do not agree to a replay of the 1985 Plaza Accord “as a possible framework for engineering an orderly decline in the dollar and avoiding potentially destabilizing trade fights.”[2] The Plaza Accord derailed Japan’s economy by raising its exchange rate while lowering interest rates, flooding its economy with enough credit to inflate a real estate bubble. IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was more realistic. “I’m not sure the mood is to have a new Plaza or Louvre accord,” he said at a press briefing on the eve of the IMF meetings in Washington. “We are in a different time today.” Acknowledging the need for “some element of capital controls [to] be put in place,” he added that in view of U.S. insistence on open, unprotected capital markets, “The idea that there is an absolute need in a globalised world to work together may lose some steam.”[3] At issue is how long nations will succumb to the speculative dollar glut.
