[LAAMN] Fwd: The Pentagon slave labor in U.S. prisons - by Sara Flounders
From: Sara Flounders mailto:s...@peoplesmail.nets...@peoplesmail.net Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 1:15 PM Subject: The Pentagon slave labor in U.S. prisons - by Sara Flounders The Pentagon slave labor in U.S. prisons By Sara Flounders Parts 1 2 - Prisoners earning 23 cents an hour in U.S. federal prisons are manufacturing high-tech electronic components for Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles, launchers for TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles, and other guided missile systems. A March article by journalist and financial researcher Justin Rohrlich of World in Review is worth a closer look at the full implications of this ominous development. (http://minyanville.com/minyanville.com) The expanding use of prison industries, which pay slave wages, as a way to increase profits for giant military corporations, is a frontal attack on the rights of all workers. Prison labor with no union protection, overtime pay, vacation days, pensions, benefits, health and safety protection, or Social Security withholding also makes complex components for McDonnell Douglas/Boeings F-15 fighter aircraft, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, and Bell/Textrons Cobra helicopter. Prison labor produces night-vision goggles, body armor, camouflage uniforms, radio and communication devices, and lighting systems and components for 30-mm to 300-mm battleship anti-aircraft guns, along with land mine sweepers and electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems Bradley Fighting Vehicles laser rangefinder. Prisoners recycle toxic electronic equipment and overhaul military vehicles. Labor in federal prisons is contracted out by UNICOR, previously known as Federal Prison Industries, a quasi-public, for-profit corporation run by the Bureau of Prisons. In 14 prison factories, more than 3,000 prisoners manufacture electronic equipment for land, sea and airborne communication. UNICOR is now the U.S. governments 39th largest contractor, with 110 factories at 79 federal penitentiaries. The majority of UNICORs products and services are on contract to orders from the Department of Defense. Giant multinational corporations purchase parts assembled at some of the lowest labor rates in the world, then resell the finished weapons components at the highest rates of profit. For example, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Corporation subcontract components, then assemble and sell advanced weapons systems to the Pentagon. Increased profits, unhealthy workplaces However, the Pentagon is not the only buyer. U.S. corporations are the worlds largest arms dealers, while weapons and aircraft are the largest U.S. export. The U.S. State Department, Department of Defense and diplomats pressure NATO members and dependent countries around the world into multibillion-dollar weapons purchases that generate further corporate profits, often leaving many countries mired in enormous debt. But the fact that the capitalist state has found yet another way to drastically undercut union workers wages and ensure still higher profits to military corporations whose weapons wreak such havoc around the world is an ominous development. According to CNN Money, the U.S. highly skilled and well-paid aerospace workforce has shrunk by 40 percent in the past 20 years. Like many other industries, the defense sector has been quietly outsourcing production (and jobs) to cheaper labor markets overseas. (Feb. 24) It seems that with prison labor, these jobs are also being outsourced domestically. Meanwhile, dividends and options to a handful of top stockholders and CEO compensation packages at top military corporations exceed the total payment of wages to the more than 23,000 imprisoned workers who produce UNICOR parts. The prison work is often dangerous, toxic and unprotected. At FCC Victorville, a federal prison located at an old U.S. airbase, prisoners clean, overhaul and reassemble tanks and military vehicles returned from combat and coated in toxic spent ammunition, depleted uranium dust and chemicals. A federal lawsuit by prisoners, food service workers and family members at FCI Marianna, a minimum security womens prison in Florida, cited that toxic dust containing lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic poisoned those who worked at UNICORs computer and electronic recycling factory. Prisoners there worked covered in dust, without safety equipment, protective gear, air filtration or masks. The suit explained that the toxic dust caused severe damage to nervous and reproductive systems, lung damage, bone disease, kidney failure, blood clots, cancers, anxiety, headaches, fatigue, memory lapses, skin lesions, and circulatory and respiratory problems. This is one of eight federal prison recycling facilities employing 1,200 prisoners run by UNICOR. After years of complaints the Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General and the Federal
[LAAMN] Fwd: California's Prison System: The Living Hell in Pelican Bay Prison
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:21:10 -0400 Subject: California's Prison System: The Living Hell in Pelican Bay Prison California's Prison System The Living Hell in Pelican Bay Prison by Li Onesto http://www.globalresearch.ca/Global Research, June 21, 2011 Crescent City is far north in California, about 20 miles from the Oregon border. In 1989, 275 acres of dense forest near there were chopped down to build the $277.5 million Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP). Today, more than 3,000 people are locked up in this prison, infamous for its inhumane conditions and extreme abuse. More than 1,000 prisoners at PBSP are locked up in an X-shaped cluster of white buildings set apart by electrified fences and barren ground. This is the Security Housing Unit (SHU), a supermax control facility where prisoners are subjected to sensory deprivation, isolation and brutality. Many prisoners in the Pelican Bay SHU, and their lawyers, have bravely fought to expose the torture that is going on. They have written letters and articles, and filed lawsuits. Against heavy repression and censorship they have struggled to connect with people on the outside who are fighting for the rights of prisoners. Dehumanizing Sensory Deprivation and Isolation Solitary confinement is a hidden world within the larger hidden world of the prison system, and prisoners in solitary are an invisible and dehumanized minority within the larger population of prison inmates in generalwho also remain remarkably invisible and dehumanized... Solitary Watch, an information clearinghouse on solitary confinement If you are in the SHU at Pelican Bay Prison you face two extremes: minimum human contact and maximum sensory deprivation. Think about everything that makes you human, that keeps you physically and mentally alive, that connects you with the world and other people, that gives you a reason to live, to love, to learn and think. All this is what the SHU tries to extinguish. If you get put in the SHU youre locked up in a small, windowless concrete cell for 23 hours a day, without any face-to-face contact with another human being, not even a guard. You may or may not be allowed reading material. You get only one hour outside the cell, by yourself, in a small indoor space. You never see sunlight or a blade of grass. Whenever you leave your cell youre handcuffed and shackled, hands-to-waist, ankle-to-ankle. Many mentally ill prisoners are put in the SHU at Pelican Bay. And the SHU literally drives many prisoners crazy. What does this mean? There is evidence that long-term isolation can alter brain chemistry and produce psychopathologies, including panic attacks, depression, inability to concentrate, memory loss, aggression, self-mutilation, and various forms of psychosis. These things occur as a result of other forms of confinement. But they happen at a considerably higher rate to prisoners subjected to long-term isolation. And there are prisoners in the Pelican Bay SHU who have been suffering this form of torture for 20, 30 or even 40 years.1 These crimes against prisoners also carry over to their families. Prison officials purposely prevent prisoners in the SHU from having physical contact with their loved ones. A prisoner in the PBSP SHU isnt even allowed to take a photo of himself to send to his family. No phone calls are permitted. If you live in San Francisco and have a son, a husband, or a father at Pelican Bay, you have to drive 370 miles to see them. If you live in Los Angeles the drive is 750 miles. And when you get there, youre only allowed to visit for one and a half hours through thick glass, no touching. Brutality Aimed at Breaking Bones and Spirit The prison population in the U.S. has skyrocketedfrom 500,000 in 1980 to more than 2.3 million today. In California 33 new prisons were built between 1984 and 2005 (12 prisons had been constructed in the state in the previous 132 years). Human rights groups in the U.S. and internationally have documented the inhumane conditions of this mass incarceration. And recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that conditions in California prisons constitute cruel and unusual punishment. 2 Indeed if you look at the brutal conditions in U.S. prisons, which have been clearly documented, it becomes clear that the prison system in this country is not about helping prisoners or even treating them like human beings. And for decades now, there hasnt even been the pretense of prisons being about rehabilitation. Mass incarceration in this country is about locking up a whole section of societyespecially poor Black and Latino mento whom this system offers no future. Prisons in the U.S. are aimed at punishmentdegrading, dehumanizing, and breaking people. And the SHU at Pelican Bay is a model in doing exactly that. For example, guards carry out brutal cell extractionswhich they say are done if a prisoner wont leave
[LAAMN] African Union calls for end to NATO war, talks, 'competitive democracy' in Libya
Remarks by Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, permanent representative to the UN, giving the AU position to the UN Security Council regarding the NATO attacks, June 15: Mr. President, 1 . Thank you for organising this interactive dialogue. It is good that the United Nations Security Council has met the African Union (AU) Mediation Committee (High-Level Ad hoc Committee on Libya) so that we can exchange views on the situation in Libya in a candid manner. This should have happened much earlier because Libya is a founding member of the AU. An attack on Libya or any other member of the African Union without express agreement by the AU is a dangerous provocation that should be avoided given the relaxed international situation in the last 20 years since the release of Nelson Mandela from jail and the eventual freedom of South Africa. 2. The UN is on safer ground if it confines itself on maintaining international peace and deterring war among member states. 3 . Intervening in internal affairs of States should be avoided except where there is proof of genocide or imminent genocide as happened in Rwanda or against the Jews in Germany and the European countries that were occupied by the Third Reich. 4. There are differences on the issue of Libya as to whether there was proof of genocide or intended genocide. Fighting between Government troops and armed insurrectionists is not genocide. It is civil war. It is the attack on unarmed civilians with the aim of exterminating a particular group that is genocide - to exterminate the genes of targeted groups such as the Jews, Tutsis, etc. It is wrong to characterise every violence as genocide or imminent genocide so as to use it as a pretext for the undermining of the sovereignty of States. Certainly, sovereignty has been a tool of emancipation of the peoples of Africa who are beginning to chart transformational paths for most of the African countries after centuries of predation by the slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Careless assaults on the sovereignty of African Countries are, therefore, tantamount to inflicting fresh wounds on the destiny of the African peoples. If foreign invasions, meddlings, interventions, etc, were a source of prosperity, then, Africa should be the richest continent in the world because we have had all versions of all that: slave trade, colonialism and neocolonialism. Yet, Africa has been the most wretched on account of that foreign meddling. 5 . Whatever the genesis of the intervention by NATO in Libya, the AU called for dialogue before the UN resolutions 1970 and 1973 and after those Resolutions. Ignoring the AU for three months and going on with the bombings of the sacred land of Africa has been high-handed, arrogant and provocative. This is something that should not be sustained. To a discerning mind, such a course is dangerous. It is unwise for certain players to be intoxicated with technological superiority and begin to think they alone can alter the course of human history towards freedom for the whole of mankind. Certainly, no constellation of states should think that they can recreate hegemony over Africa. 6. The safer way is to use the ability to talk, to resolve all problems. 7 . The UN or anybody acting on behalf of the UN must be neutral in relation to the internal affairs of states. Certainly, that should be the case with respect to African countries. The UN should not take sides in a civil war. The UN should promote dialogue, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and help in enforcing agreements arrived at after negotiations such as the agreement on the Sudan. 8. Regardless of the genesis of the Libyan problem, the correct way forward now is dialogue without pre-conditions. The demand by some countries that Col. Muammar Gadaffi must go first before the dialogue is incorrect. Whether Gadaffi goes or stays is a matter for the Libyan people to decide. It is particularly wrong when the demand for Gadaffi's departure is made by outsiders. 9 . In order for dialogue, without pre-conditions, to take place, we need a ceasefire in place that should be monitored by the AU troops among others. This will help the AU to confirm the veracity of the stories of Gadaffi killing civilians intentionally. 10 . That dialogue should agree on the way forward in the direction of introducing competitive politics. Gadaffi thinks he has the most democratic system in the world of people's authority, elected local committees. Since so much chaos in Libya has emerged on the issue, Gadaffi should see the wisdom of accepting competitive democracy. Gadaffi cannot ignore the fact that the rebels took over Benghazi and his authority melted away before NATO came in to confuse the picture. The pre- NATO uprising in Benghazi was, mainly, internal. Gadaffi may say that they were organised by Al Qaeda. Even if that is so, it is a fact that some Libyans in Benghazi threw out Gadaffi's authority. Therefore, Gadaffi must think of and agree to reforms, resulting into
[LAAMN] south of silicon valley, hunger haunts hollister
SOUTH OF SILICON VALLEY, HUNGER HAUNTS HOLLISTER By David Bacon Hollister, CA 6/4/11 http://newamericamedia.org/2011/06/south-of-silicon-valley-hunger-haunts-california-town.php# Every year when the spring comes, families get in their big pickup trucks in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, or the Salt River Valley in Arizona, and head for Hollister. Generations of families have made the annual migration to get jobs in the San Benito Foods cannery, or in the local fields on the machines harvesting the tomatoes that get canned there. Juana Rizo This year, say Harley and Emillio Delgado, work has been really slow. Last week we were picking apricots. It's the weather - it's been raining a lot, and not really warm, according to Harley. The two live in the migrant worker camp, set up just south of town in the 1940s to house the field labor needed by local ranchers. Today part of the camp consists of trailers, and another part buildings built after the war. Every Saturday, Israel Banuelos pulls his truck out of a parking lot on the other side of Hollister, behind the warehouse that houses the county food bank. The truck is filled with bags of food, and the camp is his first stop. The Delgado brothers are among the many that line up. Driver Israel Banuelos and helper Erik Rivera hand out bags of food In one of the great contradictions of American poverty, people who spend their working lives producing the food consumed by millions in cities all over the country often don't have enough to eat themselves. Here at the migrant camp, farm workers and cannery workers need the truck's food partly because work is slow. But even when there's more work, there are still lots of families here waiting for bags of food, Banuelos says, sometimes more than there are today. People really need it. I don't know what they'd do if we didn't come every week. I feel I'm doing something important, helping them to survive. San Benito County is just south of Silicon Valley. As you drive south, the big electronics plants and the sprawling developments that house their workers live, gradually disappear. In their place spread fields of lettuce and tomatoes, and orchards of apricots and walnuts. Antonio and Jocelyn Sanchez Something else changes too. As communities get more rural, and farm workers make up more of the population, people get poorer. In 2009 the average yearly income in Santa Clara County - home of Silicon Valley - was $94,715. Silicon Valley has its own not-so-hidden poverty, but the urban standard of living, especially in the country's premier high-tech industrial center, is much higher than San Benito County. Here the average wage in 2009 was a third of Silicon Valley -- $37,623. In April last year, when the recession boosted state unemployment to 12%, Santa Clara's rate was 10.3%. San Benito County's unemployment rate was exactly double - 20.6%. Sandra and Samantha Tello When the San Benito County Community Food Bank opened twenty years ago as the Community Pantry, it served 35 families. Last year it handed out 1750 bags a week to over 5000 people. Half of them are children, many from families who work in the fields. Consuelo Aguilar After the truck leaves the migrant camp, it heads back towards town, to the Rancho Apartments. These subsidized homes were built in the wake of the political changes brought by the farm worker movement of the 1960s and 70s. During those years, at the height of the United Farm Workers, Hollister was a union stronghold. Jose Luna (known in English as Joe Moon), was a short, unassuming farm worker who became one of the union's best organizers. He came to Hollister in the late 1960s, and organized the thousand grape pickers at what was then one of the largest wine companies in the world - Almaden Vinyards. When Luna left, his legacy wasn't just a contract, but a union the workers ran themselves. Julio Cervantes Every September when the grape harvest started in the fields of Paicines, a half-hour south, hundreds of men and women would descend on the tiny union office on Hollister's Second St. There the ranch committee, usually headed by Roberto San Roman, would dispatch workers out to the fields. The office here was run by the workers. The union contract boosted piecerates, and a family working the nine-week season at Almaden could earn enough to get back to Texas or Arizona, and make it through winter's dead time until the following spring. Today the vinyards at Paicines are as extensive as ever, but Almaden Vinyards is hardly a memory. The company disappeared in the 1980s. In the place of the union dispatch hall, labor contractors hire workers for the harvest. Piecerates have dropped. Most farm workers today were small children when union office closed. A few older men getting bags of food at the truck in the migrant camp, like Julio Cervantes or Jose Manzo, are old enough
[LAAMN] How US Mayors Passed an Antiwar Resolution, The Get Lit Players at Beyond Baroque, this Saturday
Hi. Sunday's kickoff of Ash Grove Summer Concerts ranked well within the top level of anything I've ever produced. Bernie Pearl, Berrie Fikes and S. Pearl Sharpe were not only superb, but each built upon the other. Then came the Get Lit Players, children of varied teen age, seven in a row, with one breathtaking verse after another, for 30+ minutes of the widest range of subject and tone. It was breath-taking and a wonderful vision for artists and audience of our best hopes for the future. They were that good and we reveled in it. The kids sold $400 in t-shirts, if you need that as a standard. So, for all you who missed Sunday, especially west siders, here's a chance to share that experience. Ed From: Sherman Pearl shrmp...@yahoo.com Sent: Sun, June 19, 2011 10:51:45 AM Subject: Get Lit Players at Beyond Baroque SPECIAL PROGRAM NOTE FROM BEYOND BAROQUE: Big poetry treat next Saturday, June 25, 7:30 p.m. Special guests at Beyond Baroque will be the Get Lit Players, young poets from inner city schools throughout L.A. They've been featured on HBO, the L.A. Times and PBS. They perform their personal and politically/socially concerned work before thousands of their peers each year, and recently performed at the White House. Get Lit will perform at Beyond Baroque just before taking their program to San Francisco for a major poetry slam competition. Admission will be $10, and 60% of the proceeds will be donated to held fund their travels. Don't miss them! BB is located at 681 Venice Blvd., Venice. Call 310-822-3006 For more on Get Lit: http://www.getlit.org/ * * * From: The RAIN Newsletter (21-6-11) http://rain.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8c08f97b142bb05db019d489bid= f2f1d5069be=b0842707b4 http://www.counterpunch.org/swanson06212011.html Now Will Obama and Congress Listen? -- How US Mayors Passed an Antiwar Resolution By DAVID SWANSON David Swanson is a writer in Charlottesville, Va. CounterPunch June 21, 2011 The U.S. Conference of Mayors has just done something it hasn't done since Vietnam, passing a resolution that supports efforts to speed up the ending of our current wars and calls on the President and Congress to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs. Here's a page that organized this: http://rain.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8c08f97b142bb05db019d489bid= 17c825d01de=b0842707b4 http://www.wardollarshome.org Activist groups are already taking the opportunity to ask Congress and the President to finally listen to what has, after all, been majority public opinion for a long time. The President is about to announce whether he will violate his commitment to a significant withdrawal from Afghanistan in July. The House of Representatives is passing amendments blocking funding for the Libya War, and 10 congress members have sued the president in court to end it. Iraq, we are told, may soon request a continued occupation into next year. A CIA war in Yemen is ramping up, along with that in Pakistan. Congress will soon vote on $530 billion for the Department of Defense and another $119 billion for the wars. Meanwhile, Robert Gates just told the New York Times these are wars of choice. The American people and the U.S. Conference of Mayors seem to want a different choice made. Here's the resolution's key language. There are two resolved clauses. The first reads: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports efforts to speed up the ending of these wars; and The second was edited and debated on the floor of the conference to read (I think): BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. President and Congress as soon as strategically possible to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy, and reduce the national debt. Prior to editing, it had read: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. Congress to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy. This resolution could have passed in a batch of resolutions without debate, but Mayor Pete Lewis of Auburn, WA, asked that it be pulled, resulting in a debate and vote individually on this resolution. Lewis expressed horror that such a resolution might have been passed during Vietnam or other previous wars - What would have happened?! he asked. But the US Conference of Mayors did pass a resolution in 1971 urging that the US military get out of Vietnam, a stronger resolution in fact than the new one. Here's how the debate went down on Monday. 11:16 a.m. Pete Lewis speaks first. I live in a military state. [As opposed to
[LAAMN] Presentation At Anarchist Bookfair-The Economic Workings of a New Society
- Original Message - From: John A Imani To: r...@lists.riseup.net ; rac-la_support...@yahoogroups.com ; anarchistmarxisteconom...@lists.riseup.net Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 10:36 AM Subject: Presentation At Anarchist Bookfair: The Economic Workings of a New Society (Comrades, the discussion will begin at 12:00 on Saturday. Below are outline and notes:) The Economic Workings of a New Society The session would consist of a no more than 10-15 minute overview of the below necessary workings of all societies to be followed by discussions and questions regarding the economic workings of this capitalist society, and how the new societythat we all want and needmight solve the problems left with us as a consequence of the demise of capitalism. And how we might chart new ways, new thinkings, new manners of relationships amongst ourselves. As example, the circuits of RAC-LAs production will be offered as the transitional model that it is. Planning, Working, Living and Recreating Our New Lives 1st Circuit Planning and Allocation of the Factors of Production / \ 4th Circuit 2nd Circuit Consumption Production | \ / | 3rd Circuit |Distribution of the products | A. Productive (Social) Consumption-wherein the material factors of the next production cycle are stored B. Final User (Individual) Consumption-wherein societys members reproduce and improve themselves Circuit 1-social decision-making as to what is to be produced and how Circuit 2-where the products are made and/or improved through worker freedom Circuit 3-where in the output is allocated to societys members according to its principles. Circuit 4A-wherein capital goods are stored awaiting the decisions made in Circuit 1 (with the mark indicating that this is a new Circuit 1; and, Circuit 4B-where the goods allocated to the members are consumed thus replacing the energy and efforts expended in the other circuits, as well as providing additional benefits above that necessary for replacement. How are these things How could they be differently? How does RAC-LA done under capitalism? do these things? 1. 1. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 3. 3. 4A. 4A. 4A. 4B. 4B. 4B. It is hoped that committees would result from this conference formed so as to more deeply explore the separate problems identified and necessary to be solved; and fashion ideas for changes in the ways and manners that things are done; and be able to present these ideas in mannersand develop working modelswhich contribute to promoting a local- all the way to world-wide-dialogue on these problems in which all can be heard. johnaim...@earthlink.net RAC-LA - Original Message - From: Sara Ramirez Galindo To: anarchist bookfair ; Jennifer Garcia ; Robin Garcia Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 9:33 PM Subject: [labookfair-discussion] notes! Read through this...messy but VERY informative. love you all! -sara Street Closure: Lafferty will handle it! Jade will
[LAAMN] Alan Woods:The Greek drama enters a new stage
http://www.marxist.com/greek-drama-enters-a-new-stage.htm The Greek drama enters a new stagehttp://www.marxist.com/greek-drama-enters-a-new-stage.htm Written by Alan Woods Wednesday, 22 June 2011 [image: Print]http://www.marxist.com/greek-drama-enters-a-new-stage/print.htm[image: E-mail]http://www.marxist.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,7b178e6abad4c8fcd78cc4c1ee3440c133d97091/tmpl,component/ *The Greek drama becomes more intense by the day and by the hour, threatening the stability of the whole European Union. Yesterday amidst a mood of growing fury on the streets, the Papandreou government scraped through in a critical vote of confidence as tens of thousands of people gathered outside the parliament building in Athens chanting: Thieves! Thieves!* The anger of the people is directed not just against the austerity measures, but against politicians in general. One protester in Athens told the BBC: There is great indignation that you see around you. There is a lot of desperation that is registered on the faces of the people around us. It means there is no future. Prime Minister George Papandreou is struggling to win support for extra austerity measures aimed at avoiding a debt default. But no serious person now believes that a default can be avoided. I believe we should go bankrupt and get it over with. These measures are slowly killing us, Efi Koloverou, a 22-year-old student, told the Reuters news agency. This view is shared in Brussels, no matter what they say in public. It is not a question of * whether* Greece will default but only *when* and in what conditions. The new cabinet was approved in parliament by a very narrow margin: 155 votes to 143, with two abstentions. MPs will now be asked to approve 28bn euros (£25bn) of cuts, tax rises, fiscal reforms and privatization plans. Euro zone ministers say the legislation must be passed to receive a 12bn-euro loan Greece needs to pay its debts. This is no longer a crisis of government: it is a crisis of the regime itself. Alarm bells are ringing in every government in Europe and beyond. Vote of confidence [image: George Papandreou]http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/greece/George_Papandreou.jpgGeorge PapandreouThe confidence vote took place early on Wednesday after a heated debate on Tuesday. All the political parties can feel the fire under their backsides. In an attempt to direct the flames away from their rear ends, sections of the opposition staged a brief and unconvincing walk out. But in the end they approved the vote of confidence. Naturally! Papandreou had an ace card up his sleeve. The right wing do not want elections right now, because they fear they might win. The right wing does not want to occupy the hot seat yet. They prefer Papandreou to carry on doing the dirty work for them. Similarly, the threat of a revolt within the governing Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) evaporated like a drop of water on a hot stove. Having made a lot of noise, the Pasok MPs voted tamely along the lines laid down by the leadership. This underlines the real nature of left reformism. In the last analysis, the Lefts cannot have an independent position, but cling to the Right, who, as firm defenders of capitalism, cling to the bourgeoisie. This is the eternal dilemma of the Social Democracy in all countries. Once in power they are faced with a stark choice: either defend the interests of the working class and attack Capital, or defend Capital and attack the working class. They inevitably take the second path. The right reformists do so eagerly and without hesitation. The Lefts do so reluctantly and hesitantly, but they do it anyway because they have no perspective of fundamental change in society and are organically incapable of maintaining a firm position on anything. But winning a confidence vote is not the end of Papandreous problems. He must now persuade parliament to approve a five-year package of 28bn euros of tax increases and spending cuts by 28 June, otherwise, Brussels is threatening to withhold its new aid package. This is like threatening to cut the tubes that keep a patient alive in the intensive care unit. [image: Greece: Economic Crisis - Latuff]http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/greece/GreeceEconomicCrisis_Latuff.gifGreece: Economic Crisis - LatuffThe German government, and the governments of other creditor nations, faces a serious political problem. They call it donator fatigue, and it is the mirror image of the so-called aid fatigue in Greece. All over Europe, right-wing politicians are howling in unison: dont pay the Greeks! By blaming the people of Greece, these demagogic chauvinists are attempting to draw attention away from the real culprits the big banks and the capitalist system itself. Since the collapse of 2008, governments all over the world have thrown trillions of euros at the banks to fill the black hole left by decades of speculation and swindling. They then inform the public that there
[LAAMN] Fw: Bibliocracy tonight - Spies, Commies!
- Forwarded Message - From: Andrew Tonkovich Wednesday, June 22 - Scott Martelle: The Fear Within Tonight, 8 PM on Pacifica Radio, KPFK in Southern California: How is it that Bibliocracy so consistently airs shows featuring the most eclectic, smart, critical, necessary, entertaining guests? I'm too darn shy and modest to answer that one, so instead offer even more evidence in support of the startlingly obvious answer: Writer and journalist Scott Martelle! His new book, follow-up to the terrific success of Blood Passion: The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West is another riveting account of a key moment in American political history, The Fear Within: Spies, Commies, and American Democracy on Trial. It's the story of the famous Smith Act Trials, and as great American political trials go, this one had it all, with enough to rival the trial of the Chicago 7 for intrigue and weirdness: the internal struggle of the Communist party, sexy spies, FBI informants, a juror writing notes for a novel, the first Ivy League-educated Mexican-American judge presiding, six -- count --em, six radical lawyers, all of whom end up in jail themselves, the Peekskill riots and of course the back story of American politics including the landmark 1948 election, where Truman beat out his Republican challenger, benefitting from splits on the left and right from third-party challengers. In case you miss the subtext, reviewer Wendy Smith points out that Martelle's timely storytelling reminds us that freedom of speech and thought are most essential, not when we are feeling most confident, but when we are most afraid. Tune in Wednesday at 8 PM, via old-fashioned FM radio or online. Download free from the KPFK station archives for 90 days. Thanks for listening. ANDREW TONKOVICH Lecturer, UC Irvine Department of English President, UC-AFT Local 2226 Editor, Santa Monica Review Host, Bibliocracy Radio/KPFK 90.7 FM http://www.smc.edu/sm_review/ http://bibliocracyradio.blogspot.com/ Groupon#8482 Official Site 1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. Get 50-90% off your city#39;s best! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4e020f0896375116a3st02vuc --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Ireland: Short Strand – part of the world crisis
http://www.marxist.com/ireland-short-strand-part-of-world-crisis.htm Ireland: Short Strand part of the world crisishttp://www.marxist.com/ireland-short-strand-part-of-world-crisis.htm Written by Seamus Loughlin Wednesday, 22 June 2011 [image: Print]http://www.marxist.com/ireland-short-strand-part-of-world-crisis/print.htm# *The UVF attacks on the Short Strand area of Belfast over the last days and the clashes between Catholic and Protestant youth demonstrate that despite the claims of the various ministers at Stormont, the underlying tensions and conflicts in the North have neither been resolved nor overcome.* The Short Strand area has often been the site of conflict passing periodically from a state of psychological siege to a physical and sometimes bloody siege, not just recently but going back to the 1920s. Reports on the recent events indicate that shots were fired from both sides. The trigger for the recent events seems to have been the rerouting of an Orange march that was planned to pass through Ardoyne prompting a loyalist riot. But there has been low level sectarian activity over the past period also. The Short Strand is an easy target surrounded by overwhelmingly Protestant areas in what used to be the industrial heart of the city. The loyalists claim that Protestant rights have been denied, but the truth is that it isnt the Catholic workers and youth to blame. It is the crisis of capitalism that has eaten away at East Belfast over decades. Shorts Bombardier has shrunken away, Sirocco has gone. The whole area has been deindustrialised and now the Protestant workers are in the same situation as the unskilled Catholic workers who were historically excluded from many of the skilled jobs in the area. In some ways the situation is worse, as the loss of the industry and the jobs that went with it has been felt more in the Protestant areas. The Good Friday and St Andrews agreements resulted in the carve up of political power in the North between two main camps, neither of which offer any way out of the blind alley. Existing tensions have been fuelled by the economic crisis, while many workers on either side see no tangible benefit from the debates and posturing at Stormont. Tensions have risen during the economic crisis and in the absence of a clear political alternative, many are pulled towards sectarian groups egged on by some politicians or towards the so called dissident republicans. Loyalist attacks such as these give the still armed republican groups the opportunity to point to the decommissioning of weapons as evidence that Catholic communities have no means of self defence. In the Short Strand, that argument can gain ground. At the end of June 1970 the Short Strand was attacked by overwhelming numbers of loyalists. The defence of the area, which was led by Billy McKee a founder of the Provos, was instrumental in developing the position of the Provisionals in Belfast. The defence of St Matthew's Church has acquired an important place in the history of the Provisionals. However, Billy McKee himself who is now 89 was recently interviewed in the Irish News where he distanced himself from Sinn Féin (SF), while coming over as a devout mass-going Catholic with no regrets regarding the armed campaign and the bombing campaign of the early 1970s. This must be very worrying for the leadership of SF, as it indicates that there is fertile ground for the dissidents. Billy himself would probably have been out last night if it wasn't for infirmity. At the same time, yesterday's reports claimed that while the UVF attacks have been linked to the march through Ardoyne, there are tensions within the leadership of the UVF which may also have contributed to the events. The run up to July 12th is likely to see further conflict. Once again last night gun shots were reported. Unemployment, low wages, poor housing and lack of opportunity for the youth saps the life out of communities. While we can point out the reasons why tensions between Catholic and Protestant can be exacerbated because of the impasse in society, we cant leave it at that. There are no solutions to the problems of workers and youth from either side on the basis of capitalism and within the narrow boundaries of the North of Ireland. The crisis of capitalism which is particularly severe in Ireland has produced mass, united, working class struggles across Europe. In the South we have seen unprecedented mass mobilisations in the recent period. In Britain the workers are beginning to flex their muscles, as the March 26 demonstration and the coming June 30 strike action confirm. The same issues that affect workers in England, Wales and Scotland, from the raising of the age of retirement, to cuts in education and healthcare, also affect workers in the North of Ireland. It is because of this that the present resurgence of sectarianism can be cut across by united working class struggle. But there is no guarantee that this will be the
[LAAMN] State department announces $4.1 million in Cuba destabilization grants
One has to wonder why some in the Cuban government and US solidarity activists keep calling for a opening up of relations when the US government will never give up on the idea of overthrow and do all they can one way or the other to accomplish it. Cort http://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2011/06/state-department-announces-41-million.html Monday, June 20, 2011 State Department announces $4.1 million in Cuba grantshttp://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2011/06/state-department-announces-41-million.html http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2gtCRJBneBY/Tf-R5kAr_TI/AAABHWw/5_XYnNLOU1o/s1600/dept-state.jpg Below is the State Department's latest requesthttp://www.state.gov/g/drl/p/166462.htmfor proposals from organizations interested in carrying out democracy work in Cuba. This request covers $4.1 million in fiscal 2010 funds, part of the $20 million that Sen. John Kerry froze on April 1 because he had questions and concerns about the programs. The State Department on March 31 sent Congress a noticehttp://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2011/04/full-text-of-memo-on-20-million-for.htmldiscussing how it planned to spend the $20 million. This new request for proposals adds some detail on ways that $4.1 million of the $20 million in funds would be allocated. According to the request, the money would be spent on the following: - People with disabilities - $200,000 - Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, or LGBT - $300,000 - Professional journalists - $600,000 - Artists, writers, poets and bloggers - $600,000 - Social inclusion, improvement of living standards - $1 million - Conflict resolution, promoting peace in civil society - $300,000 - Legal associations - $700,000 - Human rights documentation - $427,024 Below is the full announcement: *Request for Proposals: Civic Participation in Cuba* June 16, 2011 Department of State Public Notice Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Request for Proposals: To expand Cuban civic participation and strengthen independent civil society groups with a view to supporting the ability of Cuban citizens to freely determine their own future. *SUMMARY* The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Proposals from organizations interested in submitting proposals for projects that respond to the needs and interests of Cubans on the island and empower citizens to engage more robustly in civic activities and decisions that improve their lives. PLEASE NOTE: DRL strongly urges applicants to access immediately www.grants.gov in order to obtain a username and password. It may take two full weeks to register with www.grants.gov. Please see the section entitled, DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS below for specific instructions. *REQUESTED PROPOSAL PROGRAM OBJECTIVES* DRL invites organizations to submit proposals outlining innovative implementation concepts (including but not limited to distribution of small cash grants to enable Cubans on the island to carry out activities that they design, and use of new technologies that facilitate networking, such as SMS text messaging) and capacity to manage projects, targeting one of the following issues. Proposals that include a majority of on-island activities are strongly preferred. Special thought and consideration should be given to the selection of consultants and other personal who may be required to travel to the island. To the extent possible, travel by American citizens should be limited. It is preferable for these personnel to speak Spanish fluently, possess solid understanding of the cultural context, and have prior experience on the island, in order to maximize their effectiveness in this unique operating environment. Proposals that combine topics may be deemed technically ineligible. Applicant organizations proposing the disbursement of small cash grants should demonstrate their capacity to disburse cash grants and propose a comprehensive plan for administering multiple small cash grants and ensuring that funds are used strategically within the scope of the primary grant. In addition to quarterly reporting responsibilities, grantees will be required to provide DRL, on a quarterly basis, a record of all small cash grant disbursements, breakdown of disbursements, activity funded, and goals reached to date. To ensure transparency and oversight, DRL reserves the right to request any programmatic and/or financial information during the grant period. Cuba: *Strengthen the inclusion of people with disabilities (subject to the availability of funding, approximately $200,000):* DRL seeks proposals to strengthen and complement Cuban-led initiatives to create the conditions that allow meaningful civic participation by persons with disabilities. DRL seeks to support initiatives that enable Cuban civil society to encourage and support Cubans to respect, protect and fulfill the rights set out in within Cuban law and international conventions to which Cuba is a party, such
[LAAMN] Big Frank's Musical Birthday Celebration Fundraiser for The Office of The Americas ~ Saturday, July 9th, 6:30 PM ~ Special Guests Blase Theresa Bonpane, Marcy Winograd, Jim Lafferty ~ Musi
You Are Invited to Big Frank's Musical Birthday Celebration Fundraiser for The Office of The Americas Saturday, July 9th - 6:30 PM to Midnight At Frank, Jane Emily Dorrel's 3967 Shedd Terrace (aka Lauren Lane), Culver City 90232 Special Guests: Theresa Blase Bonpane Marcy Winograd Jim Lafferty Music by Andy's LivingRoom Band With Andy Manoff, Dennis Davis, Cole Miller Tupper Julia Lienke Emily Dorrel Plus KB Solomon Wil B Light Dinner, Desserts Drinks $10 Donation at the Door All Proceeds Will Go to The Office of The Americas If You Would Like to Give Frank a Present, Please Make Out a Check to The Office of The Americas RSVP to Frank at: 310-838-8131 or: fdor...@addictedtowar.com or fdor...@sbcglobal.com www.officeoftheamericas.wordpress.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Obama's Finest Hour: Killing Innocent People For Made-Up Crap
Obama's Finest Hour: Killing Innocent People For Made-Up Crap Written by Chris Floyd Monday, 18 October 2010 17:03 If ever I am tempted by the siren songs of my tribal past as a deep-fried, yellow-dawg Democrat, and begin to feel any faint, atavistic stirrings of sympathy for the old gang, I simply think of things like the scenario below, sketched last week by Johann Hari, and those wispy ghosts of partisanship past go howling back to the depths: Imagine if, an hour from now, a robot-plane swooped over your house and blasted it to pieces. The plane has no pilot. It is controlled with a joystick from 7,000 miles away, sent by the Pakistani military to kill you. It blows up all the houses in your street, and so barbecues your family and your neighbours until there is nothing left to bury but a few charred slops. Why? They refuse to comment. They don't even admit the robot-planes belong to them. But they tell the Pakistani newspapers back home it is because one of you was planning to attack Pakistan. How do they know? Somebody told them. Who? You don't know, and there are no appeals against the robot. Now imagine it doesn't end there: these attacks are happening every week somewhere in your country. They blow up funerals and family dinners and children. The number of robot-planes in the sky is increasing every week. You discover they are named Predators, or Reapers – after the Grim Reaper. No matter how much you plead, no matter how much you make it clear you are a peaceful civilian getting on with your life, it won't stop. What do you do? If there was a group arguing that Pakistan was an evil nation that deserved to be violently attacked, would you now start to listen? ...[This] is in fact an accurate description of life in much of Pakistan today, with the sides flipped. The Predators and Reapers are being sent by Barack Obama's CIA, with the support of other Western governments, and they killed more than 700 civilians in 2009 alone – 14 times the number killed in the 7/7 attacks in London. The floods were seen as an opportunity to increase the attacks, and last month saw the largest number of robot-plane bombings ever: 22. Over the next decade, spending on drones is set to increase by 700 per cent. Friends, it's very simple: if you support Barack Obama and the Democrats -- even if reluctantly, even if you're just being all sophisticatedly super-savvy and blogospherically strategic about it, playing the long game or eleven-dimensional chess or what have you -- you are supporting the outright murder of innocent people who have never done anything against you or yours. You have walked into a house, battered down the bedroom door, put the barrel of a gun against the temple of a sleeping child, and pulled the trigger. That is what you are supporting, that is what you are complicit in, that is what you yourself are doing. But hey, let's be all super-savvy and eleventh-dimensional ourselves here for a moment. Let's be pragmatic, and technocratic, let's be grown-ups, let's not get sidetracked by a bunch of jejune, dorm-room, hippy-dippy moralizing. No, let's concentrate on practicalities, let's get down to brass tacks, let's be serious and focus on what works to protect our national security. OK, so here's the practical result of the illegal campaign of mass murder that Obama is waging on the sovereign territory of one of America's allies: ... Drone technology was developed by the Israelis, who routinely use it to bomb the Gaza Strip. I've been in Gaza during some of these attacks. The people there were terrified – and radicalised. A young woman I know who had been averse to political violence and an advocate of peaceful protest saw a drone blow up a car full of people – and she started supporting Islamic Jihad and crying for the worst possible revenge against Israel. Robot-drones have successfully bombed much of Gaza, from secular Fatah to Islamist Hamas, to the brink of jihad. Is the same thing happening in Pakistan? David Kilcullen is a counter-insurgency expert who worked for General Petraeus in Iraq and now advises the State Department. He has shown that two per cent of the people killed by the robot-planes in Pakistan are jihadis. The remaining 98 per cent are as innocent as the victims of 9/11. He says: It's not moral. And it gets worse: Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially as drone strikes have
[LAAMN] transcript of interview-Chavez, Colombia and the Zelaya Deal
Major mistakes have been made,kind of conflicted about the written aspects of the interview, seems like the bureaucracy thinks it can take advantage of the grassroots and the Left in Venezuela.(That's how it comes off, maybe I will watch the RT video to see how much arrogance there is) As for the last election, the number of votes went down in turn out for the PSUV, I would expect the same because the revolution has not been completed. Cort [image: Logo Venezuela Analysis] Chavez, Colombia and the Zelaya Deal Jun 22nd 2011, by TheRealNews PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay. When President Zelaya--and of course he's now former president of Honduras, but many people think he still should be president because he was removed in what most of the world at the time said was an illegal coup. But a couple of weeks ago, when he returned to Honduras in a deal brokered by President Santos of Colombia and President Chavez of Venezuela, it was met with mixed reaction. Thousands of people greeted him in Honduras, happy that he was back. But the deal itself was open to question because the Honduran government that came to power in an election after the coup, an election not recognized by most of Latin America and not by most members of the OAS, but after this deal, Honduras rejoined the OAS with all states voting in favor, with the exception of Ecuador. Now joining us to make sense of all of this is Greg Wilpert. He's the founder of Venezuelanalysis. He now joins us from New York City. Thanks for joining us, Greg. GREGORY WILPERT, FOUNDER, VENEZUELANALYSIS.COMhttp://venezuelanalysis.com/: Hi. Thanks for having me. JAY: So, first of all, why does Chavez make this deal with Colombia after taking such a strong stand against this new Honduran regime? WILPERT:* I think the main reason is that he was subordinating his previous policy, basically, to his new policy of warming relations with President Santos's Colombia.* That is, in the name of improving relations with Colombia, he agreed to be drawn into this deal of brokering an agreement on the return of President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras. I think he felt that even though it didn't satisfy all of the requirements that had been set up by Zelaya and his movement, it was good enough, and if it was going to help also improve his relation with Colombia, it would be worth it. Of course, as a result Chavez has received some criticism from his own ranks, from the left of his own ranks, that this was a mistake, especially because the human rights abuses are continuing in Honduras, and also because the coup plotters are continuing in office or are not being punished at all for what they had done. JAY: Right. And for people who have not followed this story--but, of course, if you're watching The Real News you would know this--human rights violations in Honduras continue almost unabated. Dozens of people have been killed, many, many more wounded, many arrested. The repression against journalists--Honduras is considered one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a journalist right now. So given all that, has Chavez not received criticism within Venezuela for this deal? WILPERT: Yes, he has certainly received some criticism for that. *But as I said, he's really doing it in the name of improving relations with Colombia, * and he feels to some extent he can take this criticism, even though he is running for office again for president in 2012, because he knows that *he's the only option that the left has for Venezuela, and right now he's more concerned with improving relations with Colombia because of the economic benefits and security benefits that might bring*. JAY: And in Venezuela, how is this warming relationship with Colombia being greeted? My understanding is he's been going after some people that have been at least accused of being FARC supporters in Venezuela. WILPERT: Yes, actually, a number of people have been captured in Venezuela, people who are accused by the Colombian government of being FARC members or FARC leaders, and there were three last year and two this year. One of them actually was a prominent journalist who had sought political asylum in Sweden because his wife was murdered in 1993 and he was being persecuted in Colombia. So that was a very controversial case. His name was Joaquin Perez Becerra, where it's not at all clear that he was actually a member of the FARC leadership or anything like that. Colombia simply launched that accusation against him, and Chavez responded almost immediately, arresting him when he arrived in Venezuela and deporting him to Colombia within two days. That really caused a lot of consternation among the left in Venezuela. And then another case recently of a musician, whether he was considered to be the FARC musician, so to speak. He was arrested in Venezuela as well and is about to be deported or extradited to Colombia. So those cases have caused probably a lot more consternation
Re: [LAAMN] Presentation At Anarchist Bookfair-The Economic Workings of a New Society
Sorry about formatting as LAAMN plain text wreaks havoc. Anyone interested, reply and I will forward preentatioon notes directly to you. JAI RAC-LA - Original Message - From: John A Imani johnaim...@earthlink.net To: labookfair-discuss...@lists.riseup.net Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 10:44 AM Subject: [LAAMN] Presentation At Anarchist Bookfair-The Economic Workings of a New Society - Original Message - From: John A Imani To: r...@lists.riseup.net ; rac-la_support...@yahoogroups.com ; anarchistmarxisteconom...@lists.riseup.net Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 10:36 AM Subject: Presentation At Anarchist Bookfair: The Economic Workings of a New Society (Comrades, the discussion will begin at 12:00 on Saturday. Below are outline and notes:) The Economic Workings of a New Society The session would consist of a no more than 10-15 minute overview of the below necessary workings of all societies to be followed by discussions and questions regarding the economic workings of this capitalist society, and how the new society-that we all want and need-might solve the problems left with us as a consequence of the demise of capitalism. And how we might chart new ways, new thinkings, new manners of relationships amongst ourselves. As example, the circuits of RAC-LA's production will be offered as the transitional model that it is. Planning, Working, Living and Recreating Our New Lives 1st Circuit Planning and Allocation of the Factors of Production / \ 4th Circuit 2nd Circuit Consumption Production | \ / | 3rd Circuit |Distribution of the products | A. Productive (Social) Consumption-wherein the material factors of the next production cycle are stored B. Final User (Individual) Consumption-wherein society's members reproduce and improve themselves Circuit 1-social decision-making as to what is to be produced and how Circuit 2-where the products are made and/or improved through worker freedom Circuit 3-where in the output is allocated to society's members according to its principles. Circuit 4A-wherein capital goods are stored awaiting the decisions made in Circuit 1' (with the ' mark indicating that this is a new Circuit 1; and, Circuit 4B-where the goods allocated to the members are consumed thus replacing the energy and efforts expended in the other circuits, as well as providing additional benefits above that necessary for replacement. How are these things How could they be differently? How does RAC-LA done under capitalism? do these things? 1. 1. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 3. 3. 4A. 4A. 4A. 4B. 4B. 4B. It is hoped that committees would result from this conference formed so as to more deeply explore the separate problems identified and necessary to be solved; and fashion ideas for changes in the ways and manners that things are done; and be able to present these ideas in manners-and develop working models-which contribute to promoting a local- all the way to world-wide-dialogue on these problems in which all can be heard. johnaim...@earthlink.net RAC-LA - Original Message - From: Sara Ramirez Galindo To: anarchist bookfair ; Jennifer Garcia ; Robin Garcia Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 9:33 PM Subject: [labookfair-discussion] notes! Read through this...messy but VERY informative. love you all! -sara Street Closure: Lafferty will handle it! Jade will call him so we can get our way with the street soft and hard closure. Wheel-chair access: Ramp unavailable. We need security guards help people in wheel chairs up the stairway. Security should be posted near main entrance, at least one person. So far we have Ralph, Joaquin, Kevin and maybe Jorge and some Native
[LAAMN] Eric Margolis: Turkey - The Mideast's Real Revolution
http://rain.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=8c08f97b142bb05db019d489bid =cfecd15e8be=b0842707b4 http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/20-4 Turkey: The Mideast's Real Revolution Eric Margolis Common Dreams: June 20, 2011 The revolutions and uprising that have been sweeping across the Mideast are widely believed to have begun in Tunisia. In fact, the first seeds of revolution were planted in 2002 in Turkey, as its Justice and Development Party began the long, arduous battle against disguised military dictatorship. To understand how important last weeks Turkish elections were, step back for a moment to 1960 when I was in high school in Switzerland. A Turkish classmate named Turgut told me, tears in his eyes, The generals hanged my daddy! His father had been a cabinet minister. The 510,000-man Turkish armed forces, NATOs second biggest after the US, have mounted four military coups since 1950. Turkeys current constitution was written by the military after its 1980 coup. Ever since the era of national hero turned strongman, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey has been run by its powerful military behind a thin façade of squabbling politicians. In the process, it suffered wide-scale political violence, Kurdish secessionism, rigged elections, and endless financial crises. Americans always liked to point to pre-2002 as the ideal Muslim state. Why cant those Arabs be more like the sensible Turks? was a refrain often heard in Washington. Its proponents chose to ignore, or simply failed to see, that Turkey was an iron-fisted military dictatorship. Turkey began to change in 2002 when the new Justice and Development Party (AKP) won an electoral victory. The shift from the traditional left and rightist Kemalist parties was due to a major demographic shift. Rural and middle class Turks began moving into the cities, diluting the political and economic power of the minority secular elite: the military, big business, media, academia, and judiciary. Turkeys tame Muslim religious establishment was kept under tight security control. Under Ataturk and his successors, Islam, the bedrock of Turkish culture and ethos, was savagely attacked, nearly destroyed and brought under state control just as the Russian Orthodox Church was during Stalins era. What Turks called the deep government hard rightists, security organizations, gangsters, the rich elite, and rabid nationalists -wielded power and crushed dissenters. AK called for Islamic political principles: welfare for the poor and old, fighting corruption, responsive, ethical political leaders, good relations with neighbors. Turkeys right and its military allies screamed that their nation was about to fall to Iranian-style Islamists, or torn apart by Kurdish rebels. In fact, AKs decade of rule has given Turkey its longest period of human rights, stunning economic growth, financial stability, and democratic government. Under AK, Turkey has moved closer to the European Unions legal norms than, for example, new members Bulgaria and Rumania. But France and Germanys conservatives insist Turkey will never be accepted in the EU. Europe particularly its farmers dont want 75 million mostly Muslim Turks. Largely unseen by outsiders, AK has relentlessly pushed Turkeys reactionary military back to its barracks. This long struggle culminated in attempts by the military, known as the Ergenekon affaire, to again overthrow the civilian government. The plot was broken: numbers of high-raking officers were arrested and put on trial. So were journalists and media figures involved in the plot probably too many. Investigators are examining questionable arms deals between Turkeys military and Israel. Ergenekon broke the power of Turkeys generals, who were closely allied to the US military establishment and Israels Likud party. In fact, the Pentagon often had more influence over Turkey than its civilian leaders. Until AK, the US nurtured bitter Turkish hostility to Iran, Syria, Hezbullah, Hamas, and, at times, Iraq, and an artificial friendship with Israel. Today, all has changed. Turkeys popular prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, backed by a majority of voters, has turned Turkey into the Mideasts role model for successful democracy, and unleashed the latent economic power of this nation of 75 million. Turkeys capable foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, engineered a zero problems policy that vastly improved Turkeys relations with all its formerly hostile neighbors, excepting Armenia and Greek-Cyprus. Turkeys foreign policy now reflects Turkish rather than US and Israeli interests. Zero problems opened the Mideasts doors to Turkish business, restoring Turkey to the former dominant regional leadership it held before World War I. Turkeys popular support for the Palestinians led to a bitter clash with Israel. As a result, Turkey has become the target of fierce attacks by the US
[LAAMN] California Uber Alles
California Uber Alles By Duane Roberts In his pivotal work, The State and Revolution, V. I. Lenin epitomized the essence of capitalist democracy when, quoting Karl Marx, pointed out elections are mechanisms in which the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them.” For proof of this undeniable truism, we need not look any further than last year’s gubernatorial election where then-California Attorney General Jerry Brown defeated billionaire former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, the latter who spent a record-breaking $178.5 million of her own fortune in an furtive attempt to buy the seat outright. Despite the usual round of delusional claims made by Democratic party liberals the newly-crowned Governor would offer a bold and refreshing alternative to the cronyism and gimmickry of his action-figure hero predecessor, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, political reality being as it is, of course, is much more sordid. Almost from the moment Brown was sworn into that office, he has veered the ship of state government to the hard right, cutting and slashing the budget wherever he can, mostly eliminating $11.2 billion from programs and services that benefit millions of working and indigent Californians: everybody from single moms to senior citizens. In his first 100 days, Brown, the so-called “lesser of two evils,” has been far more successful at dismantling California’s meager social welfare state than every Republican party politician who has occupied the Governor’s mansion since a mediocre B-grade movie actor by the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected in 1966. Click on the following link for the rest of the article: http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2011/06/california-uber-alles-2/ --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] 6/29 Eastside LA Netsquared: Creating Effective Social Media Campaigns: How DREAM Students Built a Movement
EASTSIDE L.A. NETSQUARED (http://bit.ly/lMqx8A) invites you to attend Creating Effective Social Media Campaigns: How DREAM Students Built a Movement Wednesday, June 29, 2011 6:30pm - 8:30pm Location: Asian Pacific American Legal Center, 1145 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA Facebook listing: http://on.fb.me/iOxQCk Dream Activists all over the nation have always taken their fight to the streets, but through strategy-driven campaigns that maximize the power of current social media trends, they have halted deportations, passed laws and garnered the nation's attention all the way to the White House. Come and hear first hand from the activist organizing and leading these campaigns here in the LA area. There will also be presentations and a discussion with activist who have taken to social media in redefining what it means to be undocumented in the U.S. and the changing experience for those who have known no other place other than the U.S. SPEAKERS (list in formation): Erick Huerta is a journalism student at East Los Angeles College. He's a community organizer with Dream Team Los Angeles, a contributing blogger on LAEastside.com and lataco.com Erick has been writing about issues facing undocumented resdents and has been chronicling his life on his personal blog www.justarandomhero.blogspot.com since 2006. Pedro Joel Espinosa graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2009 and I'm a community organizer, media maker, complex human being and all around DREAMer. Jesus Iniguez, founded Dreamers Adrift, an online media project by undocumented youth and for undocumented youth. We're a small contingent of DREAMers from various backgrounds who come together to explore and dissect our experiences as undocumented college graduates, as well as the various intersectionalities of our identities and how the undocumented experience impacts these other personal identities. --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Today's LUV News: 22 June, 2011
I thought so, the 30,000 troop withdrawal for Election season, is only half of what he escalated it to (not including the contractor escalation numbers too). Considering that he ran on getting us out of the Middle East, ain't it comforting to know that those who INVESTED the most MONEY in the last RECORD SETTING Election, are STILL getting their money's worth? Scott *TODAY'S WAR NEWS * ** *Tonight President Obama gives his speech about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, to kick off his campaign for reelection. The networks are allowing it in prime time-- because their owners, stockholders, and board members are making a fortune from the wars, and realize it is an obvious scam to keep the wars going, a token withdrawal with which to fool a disgruntled public. President Obama would have to withdraw at least 60,000 troops just to get back to the troop strength in Afghanistan when he took office, so anything less will be a dog and pony show intended to divert the attention of the masses. Early in his administration, Obama doubled the size of the occupation there by over 30,000, then last year added another 30,000 in a President Bush-like surge, increasing the numbers during his presidency from about 32,000 to 99,000 (not counting contractors numbering over 100,000). The reason for this scam is clear, the American people want out (latest polling numbers http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/pew-research-record-support-afghanistan-troop-withdrawl_n_881549.html). Politicians are frightened of the public mood, indicative in a report from /Truthout/ http://www.truth-out.org/us-mayors-call-end-wars-and-nuclear-weapons/1308677269 this morning titled US MAYORS CALL FOR END TO WARS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Glenn Greenwald summarizes many of Obama's broken peace promises in his piece this morning http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/06/21/endless_war/index.html Today in Endless War. * ** *STARVING SENIORS TO HELP THE RICH * ** *As our butt-kissing politicians recommend cutting Social Security and Medicare to balance a budget out of control because of their tax cuts to the rich, profitable corporate wars, Wall Street bailouts and other scams, Senator Bernie Sanders tells us http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/21/sanders-5-million-seniors-face-the-threat-of-hunger/ that 5 million seniors face the threat of hunger. Sanders is one of few among our psychopaths called senator, to have a conscience, and he often sounds such alarms never relayed to the public by our shameless mass media. Robert Reich just made a video in which he solves the US economy in two minutes http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/robert-reich-solves-economy_n_881479.html. * ** *MURDERING THE MENTALLY SLOW * ** *Milton Mathis, with an IQ in the low 60's, was executed in Texas last night http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/milton-mathis-executed-killer_n_881885.html by Governor Perry, who's now slaughtered 230 people in this manner, popular enough with voters that he keeps getting reelected. In most of the civilized world executions have been outlawed as human rights violations, but even where they are still allowed they are most often banned when applied to children or the mentally slow, since these are not considered to be aware enough of their actions to be found guilty of criminal intent. Perry is thought to be considering a run for the White House, reminiscent of Bill Clinton's execution of a mentally slow Ricky Ray Rector,**with which to appeal to voters**, as Clinton ran for the White House. **After consuming his last meal,**Rector told his guards he wanted to save his pecan pie for later, and helped guide the execution needle into his arm, thinking it was medicine. * ** **The democracy movement in the USA that will be starting its major action on 6 October, has put out a statement in unity with the other democracy movements on the planet and asked that we go with it this morning, following. A similar piece was supposed to run at /al Jazeera/ on Sunday, so we held back on publishing it to give /al Jazeera/ the scoop. But /al Jazeera/ is trying to get into the American market, where they are mostly shut out by the ruling Forces of Greed http://members.cox.net/libertyuv/FOG.htm, pushing them toward increasing censorship, as we have noted in recent months. To merge into the American mass media requires that the viewpoint of the ruling Forces of Greed http://members.cox.net/libertyuv/FOG.htm be unchallenged, so /al Jazeera/ has been excluded from most cable networks. As we predicted, the entire mass media will censor this action as long as they can, and when it becomes impossible to ignore it, they will turn to attacking
