[PEN-L:7326] Re: fetishturgy (fwd)
Did you get my question of fetishurgy? I would like to run down the source for the etymology, but the system stopped shortly after (?) I asked you to fill me in or to give me the address of the person who posted the note to you. Thanks. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:7327] Re: Fwd: Affirmative Action in public employment and education is
Maggie writes: 1. I think that this vote will serve as a legitimizing symbol to a growing backlash against affirmative action, particularly against women in nontraditional careers (whatever the hell nontraditional means). 2. I believe that the business community will increasingly not comply with affirmative action laws on the books, and complainants will find beleaguered public agencies less and less able to deal with monitoring compliance. We've clearly got our work cut out for us. The real question, it seems to me, is whether our side will go on the offensive. Although many of us in Sunny CA fought like hell to stop CCRI from passing, Affirmative Action was never the place we wanted to fight; who wants to defend Nixon's compromise? I wish we'd won, but now that we've lost, I hope we'll use this as an opportunity to fight for real racial justice (personally, I hope we turn discrimination into a felony covered by 3 Strikes). As for the businesses, all I can say is, this is one of those times when I really, really like lawyers... p.s. one reason pomoism is important is because it at least attempts to combat real world problems like this one, Say what? Although I like making fun of pomo, I have learned some useful things from reading it. But pomo didn't have 'nuthin to do with fighting this one. We did better than I expected (ie we lost by 8 instead of 20-30 points) because for once, a lot of campus folks got their butts off--or had their butts dragged off--campus. Pomo didn't teach them to do that; if anything, in the past 8 years pomo gave people on campuses like Berkeley an excuse to avoid seriously working in the community (not that "Marxism" was doing much better). The difference this time was that this time, other forces were pulling folks off campus. Partly it's the new social conditions in CA, and mostly it's that folks from the Applied Research Center, the Center for Third World Organizing, and others created Californians for Justice, the first grassroots statewide campaign in CA in a very, very long time. Incidentally, when it came to discourse, the other side did pretty damn well. I coordinated the phone banks at CfJ's headquarters on election day, and it was amazing the number of people our folks talked to who didn't understand that a vote for yes on 209 was a vote against outreach programs, etc. Like I've said in previous posts, I think the Left has a lot to learn from the Right. Anders Schneiderman Progressive Communications
[PEN-L:7328] Re: Political cartoon
Another good political cartoon was reprinted in the Sunday N.Y. Times (?last week): It shows a woman sitting before "El Presidente" -- the boss' desk. She says: "Um, if you don't mind, if you have nothing better do do, could you please stop dumping toxins in the river? Also some pay equity would be nice, too ..." The Boss says: "Thanks for working within the system. Now get out." --The heading is: "Political Activism in the 90's" and is by Ted Rail, Universal Press Syndicate. Larry Shute Here's a recent cartoon (LA Times, Nov. 6, 1996). Sorry I can't draw the pictures: US-based radio interviewer (a man): "So Janet... what do CANADIANS think about our elections?" Canadian newspaperwoman (Janet): "YOUR ELECTIONS? It's all about YOU isn't it? Your elections... Your Olympics... Your apple pie... What about your largest trading partner? Canada is in danger of splitting up... "And all you can talk about is YOU YOU YOU! What about me me ME? I've had enough! I WANT A DIVORCE!!" Radio interviewer: "Is that ALLOWED in NAFTA?" -- "Us Them" by Wiley Miller and Susan Dewar. I thought that "Us Them" referred to men women. But it also refers to USers and Canadians. It's the only cross-border cartoon strip I've seen. (Lynne Johnson's "For Better or For Worse" is purely Canadian.) and now back to grading tests... in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.
[PEN-L:7329] Monopolies And The Falling Rate Of Profit (Canada); Growing Isolation
Every three months the quarterly profits of the largest companies appear on newscasts, and Canadians gasp and sigh and really do not know what it all means. Big profits are usually reported as good, and low profits are said to be bad and an indication of trouble brewing in the future for that particular company. The ramifications of these profits on other sectors of the economy is rarely discussed. The impression left with the viewer is that these profits exist in isolation to other companies, the economy and people as a whole, and even apart from the Canadians who work for the particular monopoly. Usually the overall slant of the news is that hefty profits for the big companies means the economy is in good shape. Since 1992, the announced profits of the auto companies, the five big banks and certain other monopolies have been the subject of much admiration on the part of some and ire on the part of others. The announced profits in these cases have been enormous in all aspects: the total mass; in relation to invested capital; and, in growth. The curious thing is that the current news also contains items that say bankruptcies of businesses and individuals are at an all time high, that unemployment has "stabilized" at ten percent, more jobs are being lost than created, the absolute numbers of Canadians living in poverty is at its highest levels ever with one in four children socially abused through want, over twenty percent unemployment in Montreal, and the number of people on welfare and unemployment insurance benefits -Canadians paid minimal amounts not to work - has climbed to several million. British Columbia, which many argue is probably the single richest region for quantity and variety of natural resources in the entire world, has over nine percent unemployment and pockets of terrible poverty. Its forest industry is in crisis and the NDP government is openly speaking of cutbacks and massive layoffs of government workers in the style of the former NDP government of Ontario. Enormous profits exist hand in hand with high unemployment and increasing poverty and cutbacks of social services. Those industries most suitable, well-placed or wealthy enough to utilize the new digital technology have done so with speed and enthusiasm. The use of computers and machines operated by computers has increased tremendously since 1990. This coincides with the latest serious recession. From 1989 to 1991 over 100,000 manufacturing workers were laid-off in Ontario. Production plummeted. The auto monopoly Chrysler was even said to be in financial trouble. Since 1991, digital technology has been heavily introduced into the manufacturing sector and overall production now surpasses the level of 1989. Yet, only one-fifth of the manufacturing workers have been recalled and even they are in danger of being let go. For example, the recent collective agreement between the CAW union and GM calls for the elimination of 4,100 jobs in the near future. Production levels have increased but with the use of less living labor. Production per worker has gone up, which everyone knows is called increased productivity. But something else has also gone up: the mass of invested capital. The amount invested in expensive robotic, computerized machinery has risen. The big banks, through use of computers and other means, have eliminated tens of thousands of workers from their ranks but have greatly increased their control of the bookkeeping and financial services of individuals and business throughout Canada. The ratio between living labor employed in production, to dead labor congealed in buildings, machinery and raw materials has changed considerably. There is less living labor producing the same amount or even an increased amount of goods and services. There have been other changes as well, such as the manner in which work is organized. Outsourcing, contract work, part-time work, use of overtime and move intense labor have all contributed to less living labor in relation to what is produced. The increased exploitation of labor and use of modern technology have led to the phenomenon of the "jobless recovery." The quality and quantity of labor has been reduced but production has remained the same or even increased. This has produced, as well, a very real sense of insecurity resulting in a lower standard of living for the working class. But something else has appeared that is extremely dangerous if not squarely dealt with by the working class and people: the centralization and concentration of capital in fewer and fewer hands. The control over the national economy that is now in the hands of giant monopolies is leading to an economic disaster and war. The basic contradiction between social production and private ownership is at a breaking point. The huge monopolies such as GM and the banks, which are interested only in amassing more capital, use that immense socially produced value in ways that suit their private
[PEN-L:7330] Re: help on racial differences (fwd)
I (Rakesh Bhandari) am forwarding this from the marxism international line; the post was written by Rahul Mahajan. _ Yes, race is a biologically incoherent category, but many of the arguments that start here miss the point or make incorrect assertions out of overzealousness. It's obviously not true that race is merely "socially constructed," although, of course, all races are tremendously diverse groups that shade by imperceptible gradations into each other. Still, I could never have grown up a white boy, no matter how I tried (the number of times I tried to bleach my face!). Second, even though it's true that there is a tremendous amount of phenotypic variation within a race (race is phenotypically incoherent), this is irrelevant. It doesn't mean, for example, that one cannot speak about genetically-based height variation based on race -- it may be true that most variation in average height between the large racial groupings is based on differences in diet, but a cursory examination of pygmies and Watusis (or of properly fed subgroups) will tell you that genetics has something to do with it. How is this possible, given the incoherence of race? It's because only a few genes are involved in the determination of height. Race is largely incoherent on the genotypic level, to the extent that one small African tribe has 75% of the genetic variability of the whole 5.5 billion of us, but there are certain clear, easily measurable differences in gene frequencies, e.g. blood types. The genes involved in the determination of height thus may well, at least in some cased, differ appreciably in frequency from group to group. Intelligence, however, even if it can be directly measured, which of course it really can't, is surely something that depends on a huge number of genes in an extremely complex manner, thus making it incredibly unlikely that there would be, in the terminology of scientists, a systematic rather than random bias between different amorphous genotypically incoherent groups. Systematic biases in environment are far more likely, but then the racist argument gets turned on its head and becomes an argument for social justice. So, anyway, the incoherence of intelligence is equally important. The scientific value of such studies is another matter. One can easily find a correlation between, say, skin color and race, but what does it help us to understand? Not much. The real reason for these studies is not hard to find, and has as much to do with science as the "4 out of 5 dentists surveyed" Carefree sugarless gum commercials, something which the Social Text types should ponder.
[PEN-L:7331] A Union Organized Internet Provider (fwd)
Hi All, I just got my electronic copy of IGC's (Institute for Global Communications- Peacenet, Econet, Labornet...) newsletter and found that they are now union! I reproduce the story below, and then information for contacting them. For those of you who pay for internet access and thereby have to choose a provider (I know many of you have free academic accounts), you should certainly check out IGC if your commitment to social justice includes labor rights. Especially those who work in the field and therefore recommend providers. I have no connection with Peacenet other than using them as my provider for 4 years and being very satisfied with their service and support! alex chis CELEBRATING LABOR DAY IN A MEANINGFUL WAY: IGC SAYS UNION: YES! === Just days before Labor Day, employees of the Institute for Global Communications voted to be represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 790. This historic vote represents the creation of the first fully unionized Internet Service Provider in the U.S. IGC and LaborNet have pioneered the use of the Internet among unions, labor activists, and labor researchers. LaborNet Steering Committee member Steven Hill says: "Finally, the labor movement has a home on the Internet that is pro-union and organized." LaborNet and IGC provide full Internet access and World Wide Web publishing services to union locals, internationals and rank and file members. LaborNet's Web page is http://www.igc.org/labornet. "The emergence of the Internet has raised new issues in workplaces that we have sought to address," says Alair MacLean, a member of the union organizing committee, and Director of IGC's Environmental Justice Networking Project. "We are delighted about the result, and hope it will inspire other Internet workers to examine issues about pay, working conditions, diversity and workplace hazards related to keyboard use and repetitive strain injury." Soon, people will see the new electronic union bug on IGC Web pages, one of the first of its kind on the Internet. NEED INFO ABOUT IGC? Automatic reply email addresses. Send a blank email message to the following email address for info about... [EMAIL PROTECTED] general IGC brochure [EMAIL PROTECTED] IGC's World Wide Web services [EMAIL PROTECTED]IGC's Internet mailing list services [EMAIL PROTECTED] IGC's Domain Name services ...or stop into... http://www.igc.orgIGC's Web site
[PEN-L:7332] Re: Affirmative Action in public employment and education is dead
I can't agree with the sentiment "Everything feminists have fought for in terms of improving girls' educational opportunities and women's employment is now in potential jeopardy." In one sense, everything has _always_ been in potential jeopardy so this is no big change. But isn't "affirmative action" a rather timid utopia? How could _that_ represent everything feminists have fought for? What about social justice and political power? And, what lessons might be learned from the passage of proposition 209? I also don't see a post-modernist analysis in Myra Strober's post, forwarded by maggie coleman. So I'm wondering whether maggie's p.s. was an aside or a non sequitur. Regards, Tom Walker, [EMAIL PROTECTED], (604) 669-3286 The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm
[PEN-L:7333] ASSA meetings and proposition 209
The following was posted on another list and Patrick Mason asked that it be passed along to other lists for consideration and action. You can contact Patrick directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Given California's approval of prop 209, should we begin lobbying for west coast ASSA conventions to be held somewhere other than California. There was a little discussion of this among NEA members last year but not in sufficient time to do anything. I don't know when the next date is for a west coast meeting of the ASSA but it would seem that for persons (such as myself) interested in boycotting all conventions held in California, there is plenty of time for networking with others.
[PEN-L:7334] [OPE-L:3639] ASSA meetings and proposition 209 (fwd)
Forwarded message: Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 12:58:07 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: patrick l mason [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [OPE-L:3639] ASSA meetings and proposition 209 X-Comment: Outline on Political Economy X-UID: 897 OPE-Lers: This is a posting that I originally forwarded to NEA-L (National Economics Association List). NEA-L (Patrick L. Mason, list manager) has a large number of African American economists. The list has no official tie with the National Economics Association, which publishes the Review of Black Political Economy. Anyway, the proposition below has received some support among NEA-L members and I'd like to know the reaction of OPE-L members. Please send you posts to directly to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] since this really isn't a topic of direct relevance to OPE-L. Also, please forward to femecon, pen-l, and other groups which might be interested in the issue. peace, patrick l mason Given California's approval of prop 209, should we begin lobbying for west coast ASSA conventions to be held somewhere other than California. There was a little discussion of this among NEA members last year but not in sufficient time to do anything. I don't know when the next date is for a west coast meeting of the ASSA but it would seem that for persons (such as myself) interested in boycotting all conventions held in California, there is plenty of time for networking with others. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:7335] President Boring
The Ottawa CitizenNovember 8, 1996 News - A1 / Front VENERABLE TV HOST TOO CANDID FOR CAMERA By Hugh Davies "He has not a creative bone in his body. Therefore, he's a bore, and will always be a bore.'' -- David Brinkley on Bill Clinton WASHINGTON -- David Brinkley is the U.S.'s most urbane broadcaster -- a southern gentleman of the old school, laconic, wry and utterly deferential, even to the most outrageous guest on his ABC political talk show. Then, at 12:30 a.m. on the night of his last U.S. election, he had some thoughts on live television about the re-election of Bill Clinton. "We all look forward with great pleasure to four more years of wonderful, inspirational speeches full of wit, poetry, music, love and affection, plus more goddamn nonsense.'' Correspondent Sam Donaldson broke in: "You can't say that on the air, Mr. Brinkley. We're on the air, I just want to re-affirm that, David, OK?'' But Brinkley, 76, careered on, saying: "Well, I'm not on the air.'' "David, we ARE on the air,'' host Peter Jennings interrupted. "Too bad,'' Brinkley retorted. "I told you I was leaving.'' He described the president as a straw man. As for the president's talents: "He has not a creative bone in his body. Therefore, he's a bore, and will always be a bore.'' His remarks drew hundreds of protest calls to ABC headquarters and Brinkley called the White House Thursday to apologize. As a tribute to Brinkley, Clinton had previously agreed to give him his first post-election television interview. It was to be aired Sunday on This Week with David Brinkley, the journalist's last appearance as moderator. Now the White House is not so sure. Clinton will try to find time, press secretary Michael McCurry said Thursday. "But it's not 100-per-cent certain.''
[PEN-L:7336] Inuit naming the Sequel
My bit on Inuit naming was forwarded by someone to Valerie Alia. My comments were based upon her book but I probably used considerable "poetic" licence and creative memory. I reviewed her book some time ago for the Canadian Journal of Native Studies. If anyone is interested in her work the details of it are given in the paragraph below reproduced with her permission. Dear Ken Hanly, Your piece on names was forwarded to me by a colleague. I'm especially interested in your comments, because I have been working on this subject since the early 1980s, and have published several articles and a book on it. Also, I did a 2-part documentary for CBC "Ideas" last year, which you may have missed, "Nunavut: Where Names Never Die." It's been rebroadcast once, and will probably be rebroadcast again one of these days (especially if people request it). The transcript is available from CBC. If you're interested in the book: Valerie Alia, NAMES, NUMBERS AND NORTHERN POLICY: INUIT, PROJECT SURNAME, AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY, Halifax: Fernwood, 1994. I also did a short critique of some errors in work on the disk numbers, in an article last year for Canadian Woman STudies journal (special issue on Women of the North). Valerie Alia Distinguished PRofessor of Canadian Culture Center for Canadian-American Studies Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225-9110 USA phone: 360-650-7509 fax: 360-650-3995 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (ignore the Henson puppet names that appear with this message...our cutesy internal thing...) Cheers, Ken Hanly
[PEN-L:7337] Canadian monopolies
The 25 largest enterprises in Canada control 45.5% of all corporate assets. Foreign control of these assets is 3.5 %. US control of all corporate assets in Canada ( 10.8 %) now in the lowest ranges this half-century. There is more foreign direct investment per person FROM Canada than the US, Japan, Germany or France (and more to developing countries than the last two). Is this the profile of an oppressed country where nationalist opposition to 'free' trade makes sense? [Statistics Canada CALURA 1994. Enterprises are corporations grouped under common control. "Top 25" ranked by assets. "Control" means non-resident ownership of more than 50% of voting shares (or 33% if this larger than the next two share blocks combined). FDI data from UN and OECD.) Bill Burgess Vancouver
[PEN-L:7338] Re: Affirmative Action in public employment and education is dead
Tom Walker asked: And, what lessons might be learned from the passage of proposition 209? That, ironically enough, the more people become alike in terms of universal criteria, the more virulent discrimination will become in order to maintain a racialized hierarchy of labor? Or is it that the more whites (an interesting category) feel that they may lose political power due to their impending minority status, the more they will insist on the right to maintain prejudices "for their own"? Is this why California has been the site for both Props 187 (the attack on trabajadores sin papeles) and 209, that whites imagine themselves here as a group headed for minority status? And do whites imagine themselves in this paranoid way in no small part because census data, kept in racial categories, continuously reminds them of how they will soon be "pinced" , as best-selling immigration expert Peter Brimelow puts it, in between Blacks, Hispanics and Asians? Or is it that by creating greater and greater controversy over the racialized divisions in the workforce (lawsuits and other controversies are already proliferating over the interpretaiton of Prop 209) and distrust among workers generally (of course the Bigger Simpson spectacle has made no small contribution here), Pete Wilson has ensured that there will be little progress in the political organization of labor as a racialized majority turns on a racialized minority? Jim Devine would know the details, but Michael Reich has attempted to show a positive correlation between racial inequality and intra-white inequality. I don't know how much greater the mean income of whites is to their median but I would think it is sufficiently great to raise the question of whether we may be witnessing the emergence of two nations among "whites." Or do firms just wanted to rationalize the costs of meeting EEOC requirements and the right to resort to statistical discrimination as a way to rationalize screening costs, whenever it is convenient? Rakesh
[PEN-L:7339] Re: Affirmative Action in public employment and
Rakesh says:
Or is it that the more whites (an interesting category) feel that they may
lose political power due to their impending minority status, the more they
will insist on the right to maintain prejudices "for their own"? Is this
why California has been the site for both Props 187 (the attack on
trabajadores sin papeles) and 209, that whites imagine themselves here as a
group headed for minority status? And do whites imagine themselves in this
paranoid way in no small part because census data, kept in racial
categories, continuously reminds them of how they will soon be "pinced" ,
as best-selling immigration expert Peter Brimelow puts it, in between
Blacks, Hispanics and Asians?
I understand your sentiment but you should be careful not to rescind into racism
yourself. your emphasis on "whites" as an oppressive colour disturbs me.
oppression is system-specific. i don't see too many whites in rwanda
oppressing.
rather you should focuc on the ruling class not by colour but by its
association with capital.
kind regards
bill
--
## William F. Mitchell
### Head of Economics Department
#University of Newcastle
New South Wales, Australia
###* E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
###Phone: +61 49 215065
# ## ###+61 49 215027
Fax: +61 49 216919
## http://econ-www.newcastle.edu.au/~bill/billyhp.html
"only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money."
(Cree Indian saying...circa 1909)
