[Marxism] Blue Ocean Event

2019-04-19 Thread Greg McDonald via Marxism
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/19/the-blue-ocean-event-and-collapsing-ecosystems/
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[Marxism] Russia: The Protest Movement is Younger, Poorer, and More Left Wing | Lefteast

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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https://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/russia-the-protest-movement-is-younger-poorer-and-more-leftwing/
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[Marxism] Instant Dreams; Be Natural | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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Just by coincidence, two new documentaries do justice to two important 
but neglected figures in photography and motion pictures. “Instant 
Dreams”, which opens today at the Village East in New York and next 
Friday at the Laemmle in L.A., is tribute to the Polaroid camera that 
has been superseded by digital cameras, even if the question of whether 
newer technology is really superior to an older one artistically. In 
many ways, despite the convenience of CD’s, vinyl sounds better since 
analog is closer to the way we actually perceive reality. “Be Natural: 
the Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché”, which opens at the Laemmle today 
and at the IFC in New York next Friday, is a loving and inspired tribute 
to the first female director in history. Executive produced by Robert 
Redford and Jodie Foster (who also narrates), it establishes her as a 
major influence on film art with geniuses like Sergei Eisenstein and 
Alfred Hitchcock counting her as an important influence. If you 
appreciate photographic art and film aesthetics, these two documentaries 
are well worth your time.


full: https://louisproyect.org/2019/04/19/instant-dreams-be-natural/
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[Marxism] The Mueller Report: Glenn Greenwald vs. David Cay Johnston on Trump-Russia Ties, Obstruction & More

2019-04-19 Thread Ralph Johansen via Marxism

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https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/19/the_mueller_report_glenn_greenwald_vs

This exchange between Greenwald and Johnston pretty much puts paid to 
this whole dreary, dragged-out investigation.


As Greenwald concludes: "I think Donald Trump is a huge danger and 
menace to the republic for a lot of reasons that David is very adeptly 
covering, and I really hope that we can now turn our attention to those 
things, now that we’re done with this espionage thriller that has 
dominated us for three years. I hope we can focus on the things that 
matter."

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Re: [Marxism] [pen-l] A Socialist Defector | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

2019-04-19 Thread Ralph Johansen via Marxism

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One of your best, Lou.

On 4/19/2019 7:22 AM, Louis Proyect wrote:

There are men who struggle for a day and they are good.
There are men who struggle for a year and they are better.
There are men who struggle many years, and they are better still.
But there are those who struggle all their lives:
These are the indispensable ones.

– Bertolt Brecht, “In Praise of the Fighters” (song)

full: https://louisproyect.org/2019/04/19/a-socialist-defector/



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[Marxism] A Socialist Defector | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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There are men who struggle for a day and they are good.
There are men who struggle for a year and they are better.
There are men who struggle many years, and they are better still.
But there are those who struggle all their lives:
These are the indispensable ones.

– Bertolt Brecht, “In Praise of the Fighters” (song)

Arriving on a book tour for his newly published “A Socialist Defector: 
From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee” on April 23rd, Victor Grossman is a 
testament to Bertolt Brecht’s oft-quoted lyrics. At the age of 91, he 
has never ceded an inch to capitalism and imperialism. Indeed, the sense 
of outrage over the way in which East Germany was “liberated” pervades 
throughout this most necessary personal history is a reminder that 
“youthful rebellion” can be overrated. For that matter, his 68 articles 
for CounterPunch over the years are a testament to his undying 
revolutionary spirit as well as to CounterPunch’s age as well as 
political diversity. Unlike other periodicals on the left oozing 
youthful rebelliousness, the editors have a keen sense of the importance 
of contributions from our leftwing tribal elders from Ralph Nader to 
those who have passed on, like Uri Avnery. With a profound 
radicalization on the horizon in the USA, there is no substitute for 
relying on the insights of people who have gained hard-earned experience 
from earlier historical periods. As someone who was organizing 
anti-racist protests at Harvard University in 1947 as a Communist Party 
member, Grossman’s experience is essential for young people involved 
with Black Lives Matter today. The struggle against capitalism, racism, 
and imperialism is an epochal one and connecting the strands between 
fighters from different generations cannot be overestimated.


full: https://louisproyect.org/2019/04/19/a-socialist-defector/
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[Marxism] Maybe We’ll Be Better Off With a Clown as President

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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NY Times Op-Ed, April 19, 2019
Maybe We’ll Be Better Off With a Clown as President
By Alisa Sopova

“No Promises, No Excuses!” Such is the only political message of the 
comedian who could soon lead one of Europe’s largest countries. That 
outcome may seem absurd. Yet it could be an opportunity.


Volodymyr Zelensky scored a spectacular victory in the first round of 
Ukraine’s presidential election on March 31, winning some 30 percent of 
the votes, compared with about 16 percent for the incumbent, Petro O. 
Poroshenko. It was an astonishing result not only because the actor’s 
only political experience to date consists of playing the part of a 
president on TV, but also because he presented no platform, no policy 
proposal.


Branding himself “Ze,” he campaigned mostly via social media postings 
and by touring the country with his comedy shows. Instead of substantive 
messages, he offered banter and mockery. When he was accused of being a 
clown instead of a serious candidate, Mr. Zelensky proudly agreed, 
posting a video selfie on Instagram with a round red nose superimposed 
on his face.


His defiance has proved triumphant, and it may well make him president 
after the runoff vote on Sunday. Better to keep silent than to say 
anything in today’s Ukraine — the country with the least trust in its 
government, according to a recent Gallup survey.


Since the Orange Revolution in 2004, politicians of all stripes have 
promised to defeat corruption and pull Ukraine out of the mire of its 
transition from communism. After so many lies, failures and 
disappointments, such promises have turned into cruel clichés.


The government’s continuing war against the Russia-backed insurgency in 
eastern Ukraine has also created a toxic public discourse. Journalists 
have been called traitors simply for seeking accreditation from the 
separatist authorities of the Donbas region. Using the word “conflict” 
instead of “war” or “Russia” instead of “aggressor state” can destroy a 
reputation. Say something, almost anything, and you expose yourself to 
being called too pro-Russian, too pro-Western, too nationalistic or not 
patriotic enough.


In this climate, Mr. Zelensky’s blank slate is an asset for him — as 
well as a canvas onto which people can paint whatever they want. And 
what do the people want right now? Apparently to punish Mr. Poroshenko 
for forgetting his own slogan to “live in a new way” from the 2014 
election, and for returning instead to the comfort of the old, familiar 
Ukraine of corruption, poverty, inequality and dirty politics. Back 
then, a popular revolt had just toppled President Viktor F. Yanukovych, 
who fled the country in disgrace. The rejection of Mr. Poroshenko today 
is less thrilling but no less momentous.


Just a few weeks ago, before the first round of voting, he was 
presenting himself as the only possible head of state, the nation’s 
savior. His political message had become markedly conservative. “Army. 
Language. Faith.” Those three ingredients, the president repeatedly 
emphasized, were the keys to the “unique national identity” of Ukraine — 
even though the country is bilingual and secular.


At a rally in Cherkasy, central Ukraine, earlier this year, a local 
activist asked the president if he was going to fight corruption. Mr. 
Poroshenko answered, “I have a request for you: Light a candle — because 
you are a nonbeliever — and God will calm you.” He called the man, who 
had spoken in Russian, a “Moscow provocateur.” A video of the exchange 
went viral. Mr. Poroshenko’s arrogance was then punished in the voting 
booths.


After that he began to lose his nerve. In the opening move of the 
campaigning for Sunday’s runoff, Mr. Poroshenko’s team posted billboards 
that portrayed him facing off with President Vladimir V. Putin of 
Russia. The move was widely ridiculed: Mr. Poroshenko, having nothing 
left to offer, appeared to be grasping at nationalist straws and trying 
to instill fear in a boogeyman. His staff promptly took down the ads.


In a poll taken April 9–14, 17 percent of respondents said they intended 
to vote for Mr. Poroshenko and more than 48 percent for Mr. Zelensky. 
And while Mr. Poroshenko has misstepped since the first round of voting, 
Mr. Zelensky, true to form, has done little except mock his competitor. 
After challenging the incumbent to a debate, Mr. Zelensky stood him up 
last Sunday. (The two men disagreed about when to hold the event.) 
Another debate is scheduled for April 19.


Mr. Zelensky’s supporters are often accused of confusing the TV comedy 
series in which he plays the president, “Servant of the People,” with 
real life. The charg

[Marxism] The Hustlers and Swindlers of the Mueller Report

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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The New Yorker, April 18, 2019
The Hustlers and Swindlers of the Mueller Report
By Masha Gessen

There was a lull on social media among Russia watchers after the 
redacted Mueller report dropped, on Thursday. “Everyone is reading,” a 
friend of mine wrote. “It’s like a well-written detective novel.”


I disagree. A masterfully constructed novel might spin different strands 
in order to tie them up neatly at the end, leaving the reader with the 
sense that the world has come into focus: motives are clear and 
mechanisms of malfeasance have been exposed. The Mueller report exposes 
the mechanisms and the motives, to be sure, but doesn’t tie anything 
together in the end. Rather than the story of a single crime 
masterminded by a single actor or entity, this is the story of many 
hustles, most of them unsuccessful. You’d be hard-pressed to find 
collusion among these hustlers—each of them has his own game.


One of the first hustlers comes into the report on page 54. He is Jerome 
Corsi, whom the report identifies as an “author who holds a doctorate in 
political science.” He is also a conspiracy theorist, a Swift Boater, 
and a birther. In his interviews with investigators, Corsi claimed to 
have alerted the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to the impending 
publication, by the Washington Post, of the “Access Hollywood” tape, on 
which Donald Trump boasted of forcibly kissing women and grabbing women 
by the genitals. Corsi appears to have claimed credit for insuring that 
Assange released the first trove of e-mails stolen from the Clinton 
campaign chairman, John Podesta, within an hour of the publication of 
the tape. The special counsel could not find anyone who could 
corroborate Corsi’s claims. It appears that Corsi might have lied 
(though Corsi has denied this). Corsi’s hustle is like most of the other 
hustles in this story: he is inflating his own importance.


Next, on page 61, comes Henry Oknyansky, a.k.a. Harry Greenberg, a 
Russian-born Florida businessman, and Alexei Rasin, identified as a 
Ukrainian involved in Florida real estate. The two met with the Trump 
campaign adviser Roger Stone in May, 2016, and offered to sell damaging 
information on Hillary Clinton, which Rasin claimed to have obtained 
while working for Clinton. Stone rejected the offer. Mueller found no 
evidence that Rasin was ever connected to Clinton, and the special 
counsel was unable to locate Rasin himself.


Page 67 marks the arrival of big-time hustlers: the father and son Aras 
and Emin Agalarov and their sometime associates Irakly Kaveladze and 
Robert Goldstone. Aras Agalarov is a Moscow real-estate mogul. Kaveladze 
is his deputy and representative in the United States. Goldstone is a 
British music producer who served as a go-between for Agalarov’s 
contacts with Trump. Agalarov wanted to build a Trump-branded tower in 
Moscow. The Trump Organization explored the option but, by September, 
2014, appears to have lost interest in the Agalarovs, only to take up 
negotiations the following year with two other potential partners in 
Moscow. In this battle of hustlers, Felix Sater, a Soviet-born New York 
lawyer and convicted felon, emerges. He imagines bigger and better than 
the rest of them. In a now famous November, 2015, e-mail to the Trump 
attorney Michael Cohen, Sater promised the world: a ribbon-cutting 
ceremony from Trump Tower Moscow that would feature Trump and Russian 
President Vladimir Putin onstage together—and this, he claimed, would 
win Trump the Republican Presidential nomination. (“And possibly beats 
Hillary and our boy is in,” he added hopefully.) Sater proceeded to 
string Cohen along with promises of arranging a meeting with Putin.


Frustrated, Cohen decided to reach out to the Russian President himself, 
by writing to a publicly available e-mail address for Putin’s press 
secretary, Dmitry Peskov. His first message didn’t go through because he 
misspelled the address, but eventually he made contact with Peskov’s 
assistant. Sater jumped back in, trying to take control of the 
communication. Claiming to be coördinating with Peskov and promising a 
meeting with Putin, Sater arranged for Cohen to travel to the St. 
Petersburg Economic Forum, in June, 2016. Cohen went so far as to get 
his travel arrangements and credentials, but then concluded that Sater 
was misrepresenting his connections and was not acting on Peskov’s 
behalf after all. Cohen didn’t go to Russia. At the St. Petersburg 
forum, Putin, in an onstage interview with Fareed Zakaria, made fun of 
the American media’s obsession with his imagined regard for candidate 
Trump. “I said that he is colorful,” Putin said. “

[Marxism] Using the Law to Build a Socialist Society

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/19/using-the-law-to-build-a-socialist-society/
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[Marxism] New EPDE publication "Russian Interference, and Where to Find It" - European Platform for Democratic Elections

2019-04-19 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism

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https://www.epde.org/en/news/details/new-epde-publication-russian-interference-and-where-to-find-it.html
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[Marxism] Remember the Warsaw Ghetto uprising!

2019-04-19 Thread John Reimann via Marxism
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On this day, 76 years ago, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising started. We should
remember this event, partly because of the heroism of its actors but also
because it shows the very best that human beings are capable of.

Marek Edelman was one of the very few survivors of that uprising, and he
later wrote a first person account of the conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto
under the Nazis and of the uprising itself. One of the all-time great
history books. Here is a book review of Marek Edelman's book.
https://oaklandsocialist.com/2016/04/19/anniversary-of-warsaw-ghetto-uprising/?fbclid=IwAR2N6KVJok8V56TawvT9C8aowPSS8VP7QDyPCT2D4RITgQxOFiqtFeSCavA

-- 
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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Re: [Marxism] Life or death | Richard Seymour on Patreon

2019-04-19 Thread Greg McDonald via Marxism
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There is a Facebook group titled “faster than previously expected “.


“New evidence suggests that permafrost is thawing much faster than
previously thought,” the report warns. Indeed, a recent study found that
Siberian permafrost at depths of up to 30 feet warmed a remarkable 1.6°F
(0.9°C) from 2007 to 2016. “


https://thinkprogress.org/devastating-arctic-warming-locked-in-warns-un-48e55348514b/?fbclid=IwAR0wSivemUVavrre9RLtU9-lcvZrE-VL_LEUS46wMTeFPwOCbcJ5TggUufA
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