Re: [Marxism] [pen-l] Re: Brief Reflection on Trump?s Impeachment By Roberto Savio
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Opinion: Don’t Be Surprised If Trump Is Never Impeached David Marcus - The Federalist - Thursday, October 17, 2019 Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would not move forward with a vote on impeachment any time soon. The statement comes as a month of pressure has built up behind efforts to unseat the president over a phone call with the Ukrainian president. While Democrats insist, contrary to precedent, that they do not need to hold a vote, their unwillingness to hold one may show the impeachment train is skidding off the tracks. In the giddy early days of the “impeachment investigation” over Ukraine, Democrats saw the polls move in their direction. But those polls have now stabilized and in some cases crept back against impeachment. Even at the peak, impeaching and removing the president was only popular among those who already opposed the president. So as the groundswell subsides, could Democrats really reverse course and abandon an impeachment that just last week seemed imminent? Surprisingly, yes, they could. The central thing to consider here is that impeachment is a political, not a legal, process. Despite their insistence that there are plenty of reasons to impeach Trump, Democrats have yet to do so. Why not? It seems clear that they do not believe they have sufficient political support in the country for the move. Not only do they risk infuriating Trump’s base, there are also many independent voters who seem to have little interest in this process. Along with this, consider that when and if the House Democrats ever actually hold a vote on impeachment, which could leave incumbents in purple seats vulnerable, the ball will move into the Senate’s court and Pelosi and the House will have no more control over it. That’s a very big deal, because from the day they took over the House the Democrats have been able to frustrate Trump with impeachment talk any time they want to step on his initiatives or triumphs. Once a vote is held, that is over. Put simply, the build up to impeachment is much more politically valuable to Democrats than impeachment itself. An actual vote to impeach Trump puts the story out of their hands and into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s. He could choose, like a cat playing with a soon-dead mouse, to drag the inevitable acquittal of Trump out as long as he wants. Meanwhile, the entire Democratic Party, including its eventual nominee for president, will be demanding a Senate conviction that won’t happen. Instead, Senate Republicans and Trump himself would use the Senate trial as an opportunity to prove that this has all been a witch-hunt. They would argue that, after the special counsel investigation, once promised to be Trump’s Waterloo, failed, the floundering Party of Jefferson and Jackson found a second-rate scandal to hang impeachment. Yet it isn’t any kind of crime or misdemeanor, high or otherwise. An eventual Trump victory in a Senate trial, whenever it comes, perhaps leading into his convention for example, will be used by the president to proclaim total exoneration. “Not guilty!” he will insist. “Proof of the witch hunt!” He'd take victory laps that would put Mario Andretti to shame. And what can the House Democrats say when that happens? That they knew it would happen? That it was inevitable with a GOP majority in the Senate? Well, if so, why did they engage in this farce to begin with? No. Today the inevitable is starting to seem far less likely. The pros of formally impeaching the president are a molehill next the mountain of cons. If they finish their process, impeach, and yield to the Senate, they become irrelevant. Their constant yammering about wrongdoing turns into a legal process where facts will be demanded and the president will walk free. Anyone paying attention knows this is what Pelosi has feared from day one, and with good reason. Her far-left caucus has been goading her, as has the president, into an informal impeachment, and she clearly still does not want it. She is wise not to. There is one more issue here: the media. Won’t the leftist press be outraged if once again the House Democrats demur on impeachment? No, they won’t. As always, they will call the move brave and wise, and laud Pelosi for keeping the House the narrator of the White House story with forever investigations instead of handing that story to the Senate. Nothing ventured, something gained, the stories will say. The bottom line is this. Once the gavel falls on an actual impeachment, the House, the only chamber the Democrats hold, becomes irrele
Re: [Marxism] Democratic Party Debate
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I don't agree that it's not worth listening to debates such as the one of the 12 top Democratic candidates of the other night. If for no other reason than the fact that a reported 8.3 million people watched it, socialists should watch it too. Nor do I agree that it was totally without substance. In the first place, there is an ongoing debate between the candidates about Medicare for all and whether that should mean eliminating the option of having private insurance. I think it's very useful to listen to the arguments on both sides because that argument is going to be played out among millions of workers. We, as socialists, should be aware of what those arguments are and what is the socialist response. As I pointed out in my article, the defenders of Medicare for all (Warren and Sanders) were really ineffective in countering the opposing argument. That being the case, we have to be able to explain why they didn't answer the argument seriously. We also have to be able to answer the arguments that the right wing libertarian Andrew Yang is raising, again because I think he's affecting the thinking of millions of people, younger voters in particular. Obviously, we can't answer his arguments if we don't hear them. Finally, there is Tulsi Gabbard. I had thought (maybe thinking born of wishful thinking) that she would go away. After watching her in several debates, it's clear that that's not going to happen. After seeing some of her commercials on social media (Facebook), after seeing her endorsements from outright fascist forces, and after watching her the other night, I think she's going to be a very dangerous presence in the Democratic Party for some time to come. And I don't think we can really understand exactly what she's doing or be able to explain her role without doing such things as watching her in these debates. I know it can be frustrating to watch these debates, especially because there are so many candidates at a time. But I do think it's important to do so. John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Democratic Party debate
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * It's also just blatantly transparent that CNN and MSNBC (for which much of the advertising comes from insurance companies, etc.) is doing their damnedest to disparage Warren as well as Sanders. They want Biden and are continually trying to force feed him to the electorate, though they're toying with the blatantly pro-corporate alternatives. Neither the so-called "liberal media" nor the Democratic hierarchy have learned much from the Trump disaster they helped to co-author. If there was any sort of serious Opposition party in the U.S., this trumpster fire would have been extinguished as soon as it started. But, too, it would never have been ignited. Cheers, Mark L. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] "Perfidious Trump throws Kurds to Erdogan and Assad
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Marcus Halaby writes from London: All socialists and democrats should support the Kurdish resistance to the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, and the remaining revolutionary-democratic forces struggling against Assad’s reactionary dictatorship. At the same time we should ask: how did the Kurdish national liberation movement and the Syrian democratic revolution come to such a dire pass, why have they not supported each another, and why has the Western anti-war movement failed in its basic task of solidarity? see full article: https://oaklandsocialist.com/2019/10/17/perfidious-trump-throws-kurds-to-erdogan-and-assad/ -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The tragedy of the Joker | Red Flag
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 10/17/19 5:56 PM, MM via Marxism wrote: Present day cinema, even more than when Adorno and Horkheimer were writing, is an obscene and exploitative industry. It trades in pat clichés and the regurgitation of tired narratives. The endless remakes of superhero films suggest that something is rotten in the state of California – a crisis of imagination reflective of the broader malaise of a capitalist system consuming itself in its own excesses. Every now and then, however, something brilliant, challenging and disturbing appears. Todd Phillip’s Joker is one of those films. https://redflag.org.au/node/6924 If I hadn't been ill with bronchitis for the past 2 weeks, I'd go see this stupid movie. The film critics group I belong to will likely consider it in December for an award and I have to be able to respond. Somehow I doubt that the director of "Hangover" can be capable of such an anti-capitalist masterpiece. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The tragedy of the Joker | Red Flag
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * German social theorists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, reflecting on Hollywood’s culture industry in the post-WWII period, maintained that comedy, musicals and the “happy ever after” dramas of mainstream cinema serve as distractions. “Fun is a medicinal bath”, they wrote. “The pleasure industry never fails to prescribe it. It makes laughter the instrument of the fraud practiced on happiness.” The culture industry functioned largely, they thought, to divert people’s longing for a society of genuine happiness into the transitory emotional satisfaction and false joy of narrative certainty. For those concerned with changing the world, however, it’s better to examine with sobriety the ills of society than succumb to the garish Technicolour illusions of mainstream cinema. Present day cinema, even more than when Adorno and Horkheimer were writing, is an obscene and exploitative industry. It trades in pat clichés and the regurgitation of tired narratives. The endless remakes of superhero films suggest that something is rotten in the state of California – a crisis of imagination reflective of the broader malaise of a capitalist system consuming itself in its own excesses. Every now and then, however, something brilliant, challenging and disturbing appears. Todd Phillip’s Joker is one of those films. https://redflag.org.au/node/6924 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] A chronicle of deaths foretold in Syria
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * By Idrees Ahmad. https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/Comment/2019/10/17/A-chronicle-of-deaths-foretold-in-Syria _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Thousands marched in Manbij against Turkish occupation (ANF)
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-syria/thousands-marched-in-manbij-against-turkish-occupation-38522 Manbij is a predominantly Arab town that was liberated from ISIS by the Syrian Democratic Forces in August 2016. Worried by the possibility that other nearby towns might also be liberated by the SDF, Erdogan sent Turkish troops across the border to block the SDF's advance. Erdogan has frequently announced his intention to invade Manbij, but so far has not managed to do so. Turkey continues to occupy areas north and west of Manbij. Chris Slee _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: H-Net Review [H-AmIndian]: Guiliano on Billings and Black, 'Mascot Nation: The Controversy over Native American Representations in Sports'
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW > Date: October 17, 2019 at 11:47:13 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff > Subject: H-Net Review [H-AmIndian]: Guiliano on Billings and Black, 'Mascot > Nation: The Controversy over Native American Representations in Sports' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Andrew C. Billings, Jason Edward Black. Mascot Nation: The > Controversy over Native American Representations in Sports. Urbana > University of Illinois Press, 2018. Illustrations. 256 pp. $14.95 > (e-book), ISBN 978-0-252-05084-8; $99.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-252-04209-6; $24.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-252-08378-5. > > Reviewed by Jennifer Guiliano (Indiana University - Purdue University > Indianapolis) > Published on H-AmIndian (October, 2019) > Commissioned by F. Evan Nooe > > A Path Forward? The Limits of Public Surveys for Understanding > Indigeneity and Mascotry > > In _Mascot Nation_, Andrew C. Billings and Jason Edward Black, > professors of broadcasting and communication studies respectively, > deploy "empirically driven social scientific data and a humanistic > approach undergirded by both rhetorical and cultural criticism" to > understand what Native American mascotry is and how it plays out in > public spaces (p. 15). Establishing self-categorization theory > (chapter 1) and postcolonialism (chapter 2) as its foundational > underpinnings, _Mascot Nation_ delves into "the public" and the > public's understanding of the naming, visual imagery, and ritualized > performances surrounding mascots and associated debates. > > Readers get a glimpse of fan commentary on YouTube videos (chapter > 3), the discourse around naming for the University of North Dakota > and the NFL's Washington football team (chapter 4), the cartoonish > logos associated with mascots and their offensiveness (chapter 5), > and the rituals of Florida State University and the Cleveland Indians > (chapter 6). Billings and Black also provide a comparative case study > of mascot eradication at the University of Illinois and Florida State > University (chapter 7) before concluding with an analysis of the 2017 > Supreme Court decision regarding the Washington team and the more > recent decision regarding disparaging trademarks and the Lanham Act. > > _Mascot Nation_ serves to update C. Richard King and Charles > Fruehling Springwood's edited collection _Team Spirits: The Native > American Mascot Controversy_ (2001) and King's edited volume _The > Native American Mascot Controversy: A Handbook_ (2010) with more > recent historiographical work, including additional case studies. For > nonspecialists, _Mascot Nation_ fills a gap by casting a wide net and > offering conclusions backed by the diverse cast of disciplines that > are engaged in mascot research. The work of Jacqueline Keeler, Jay > Rosenstein, Laurel R. Davis, Brenda Farnell, King, Springwood, Sudie > Hoffman, Ellen J. Staurowsky, James V. Fenlon, Lawrence R. Baca, > Carol Spindel, Stephanie Fryberg, and others allow Billings and Black > to incorporate a wealth of deep and complex research. Brief > histories, contextual vignettes, and short narrative arcs about > selected high schools, colleges and universities, and professional > teams move the reader between local, institutional, and virtual > environments as needed. This allows the authors to illustrate the > complexity of mascotry as cultural phenomenon without bogging the > reader down in any one single case study or issue. > > Billings and Black combine this with their own original research, > which considers the acceptability of mascot names, logos, and rituals > via a comprehensive survey of "attitudes about Native American > mascots--and also some oft-mentioned mascots as potentially troubling > outside of Native American terrain (e.g., the Notre Dame 'Fighting > Irish')" (p. 63). They surveyed 1,073 respondents using the > Mechanical Turk (MTurk) service. Specifically seeking to > differentiate self-categorized sports fans from non-sports fans, > Billings and Black identify a clear pattern that non-sports fans find > Native-themed names less acceptable than self-identified sports fans. > Their analysis shows that "the gap between the name 'Braves' and some > of the names scoring lowest on the scale (e.g., 'Redskins' and > 'Savages') is as wide as the gap between 'Braves' and most any other > mainstream mascot name" (p. 74). More revealing is their conclusion > th
[Marxism] Criticism and Self-Criticism: Red Guards or Iron Guards? - COSMONAUT
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * In the past, I was an outspoken defender of the organization known as Red Guards Austin (RGA) from state repression. Despite many differences with them, I believed that they were genuine revolutionaries who stood on the side of the working class. As of October 12th, 2019, this current can no longer be considered anything but an anti-working class organization bent on the subversion of the class struggle. The Kansas City affiliate of the Red Guards, moving beyond their usual disruptive and sectarian tactics, physically assaulted and hospitalized an anti-war disabled veteran and socialist during an event highlighting indigenous resistance to the United States. Communists, socialists, and anyone who fights for the life and liberty of the oppressed need to be prepared to physically defend themselves against this force that is, from the perspective of the working class, indistinguishable from fascism. https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/10/17/criticism-and-self-criticism-red-guards-or-iron-guards/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Revealed: rightwing push to ban criticism of Israel on US campuses | US news | The Guardian
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/16/conservative-activists-want-to-outlaw-antisemitism-in-public-education-why-is-that-a-bad-thing _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] MIT professor Postol resigns from science journal in spat over article on Syria | al-bab.com
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://al-bab.com/blog/2019/10/mit-professor-postol-resigns-science-journal-spat-over-article-syria _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Anti-Assad protests break out in eastern Syria following SDF-regime agreement
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/10/16/anti-assad-protests-in-eastern-syria-following-sdf-regime-agreement -- Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG (Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, www.thecommunists.net) www.rkob.net ak...@rkob.net Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314 -- Diese E-Mail wurde von Avast Antivirus-Software auf Viren geprüft. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Listen to Our New Podcast Featuring Vanessa Flores Maldonado Discussing the Providence Community Safety Act & the Police "Gang Database"
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://washingtonbabylon.com/listen-to-our-new-podcast-featuring-vanessa-flores-maldonado-discussing-the-providence-community-safety-act-the-police-gang-database/ Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] [SUSPICIOUS MESSAGE] Re: Statement of the Internationalist Commune on the agreement between self-administration and the Syrian state
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * When discussing the rebel movement in northern Syria, we should remember that it is not a united force. In 2014 Jabhat al-Nusra attacked and crushed the Syrian Revolutionaries Front. Some of the survivors of the SRF formed the Army of Revolutionaries (a predominantly Arab organisation), which later linked up with the Kurdish YPG/YPJ and other groups to form the Syrian Democratic Forces. Thus when the SDF captured Tal Rifaat in early 2016, I would assume that the Arab component of the SDF would have played a major role. I would guess that for some of them Tal Rifaat would have been their home town. Having said that, I will admit that the alliance with Assad makes me uneasy. It is probably necessary in the face of the Turkish invasion, but there are a lot of dangers. Chris Slee From: Marxism on behalf of mkaradjis . via Marxism Sent: Thursday, 17 October 2019 6:52:30 PM To: Chris Slee Subject: [Marxism] [SUSPICIOUS MESSAGE] Re: Statement of the Internationalist Commune on the agreement between self-administration and the Syrian state POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The statement also says: "The agreement would also give the opportunity to expand the fight [ie, the fight by the joint SDF-Assad regime forces] to the occupied territories west of the Euphrates, i.e. Jarablus, Bab, Azas, Mare and Afrin, which would allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return." Thus, with the exception of Afrin, the SDF here offers itself up as shock troops for the Assad regime in exactly the same way as these ex-rebel ("TFSA") brigades have offered themselves up as shock troops for Turkey. The Jarablus-al-Bab region is, yes, under Turkish control, but local rebel brigades run it day to day, apparently with local support, as this is a largely non-Kurdish region, partly Arabic and partly Turkmen. Before Turkey and its rebel allies took this region in 2016, it was not run by the SDF (ever), it was run by ISIS. Thus Turkey and FSA liberated the region from ISIS much like the SDF and its allied US imperialism liberated the northeast from ISIS. The Azaz-Mare region is not run by Turkey but by the rebels, and is overwhelmingly Arabic. These have been liberated cities since 2012. Previously they were connected to rebel-held east Aleppo city, but in early 2016, the SDF invaded the rebel-held region in coordination with the Russian airforce, bombing the rebels from the sky, and they seized iconic rebel-held Tal Rifaat and other towns which linked Azaz-Mare to Aleppo, expelling tens of thousands of Arabs. In other words, they already did what the "TFSA" later did to the K7urds in Afrin and now in the northeast, with Russia in place of Turkey. By cutting off Aleppo city from the stretch of rebel-held territory to the Turkish border, this action greatly facilitated Assad encircling the city and crushing it. Turkey and its ex-rebel goons did the same to the Kurds of Afrin two years later. How ironic that Afrin Kurds who were dispossessed from Afrin now reside in Tal Rifaat, from where the SDF had earlier dispossessed the locals. And now the SDF offers itself up to the Assad regime as vanguard of its reconquista in Jarablus, al-Bab, Azaz and Mare. Utterly disgusting. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] [SUSPICIOUS MESSAGE] Re: Statement of the Internationalist Commune on the agreement between self-administration and the Syrian state
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The statement also says: "The agreement would also give the opportunity to expand the fight [ie, the fight by the joint SDF-Assad regime forces] to the occupied territories west of the Euphrates, i.e. Jarablus, Bab, Azas, Mare and Afrin, which would allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return." Thus, with the exception of Afrin, the SDF here offers itself up as shock troops for the Assad regime in exactly the same way as these ex-rebel ("TFSA") brigades have offered themselves up as shock troops for Turkey. The Jarablus-al-Bab region is, yes, under Turkish control, but local rebel brigades run it day to day, apparently with local support, as this is a largely non-Kurdish region, partly Arabic and partly Turkmen. Before Turkey and its rebel allies took this region in 2016, it was not run by the SDF (ever), it was run by ISIS. Thus Turkey and FSA liberated the region from ISIS much like the SDF and its allied US imperialism liberated the northeast from ISIS. The Azaz-Mare region is not run by Turkey but by the rebels, and is overwhelmingly Arabic. These have been liberated cities since 2012. Previously they were connected to rebel-held east Aleppo city, but in early 2016, the SDF invaded the rebel-held region in coordination with the Russian airforce, bombing the rebels from the sky, and they seized iconic rebel-held Tal Rifaat and other towns which linked Azaz-Mare to Aleppo, expelling tens of thousands of Arabs. In other words, they already did what the "TFSA" later did to the K7urds in Afrin and now in the northeast, with Russia in place of Turkey. By cutting off Aleppo city from the stretch of rebel-held territory to the Turkish border, this action greatly facilitated Assad encircling the city and crushing it. Turkey and its ex-rebel goons did the same to the Kurds of Afrin two years later. How ironic that Afrin Kurds who were dispossessed from Afrin now reside in Tal Rifaat, from where the SDF had earlier dispossessed the locals. And now the SDF offers itself up to the Assad regime as vanguard of its reconquista in Jarablus, al-Bab, Azaz and Mare. Utterly disgusting. On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 5:36 PM Chris Slee via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > POSTING RULES & NOTES > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > * > > > Statement from the Internationalist Commune, a group of international > activists working in northeastern Syria on various projects (educational, > ecological, etc): > > > https://secure-web.cisco.com/10QuNSyFUFOpRmfo0m2XFOXDVkXFdoGeZeAdMhgcNppG8ntH3HCo-M8hOQPEALb8rMN50ENGyjQDM7iaao667f1pvg_swF2brnQJXPs-Vi-aSDfHDZ1J6ycuO3R6PI5QEWudrnr0WQP3xyNMCj7Jw8MjNASh_DpO9jwLLK56VXpfJi-b-Zcf7Ma6PT90A5CPQTM6VZ9Bb5OS1OJZgKJN1vcd_crf7liGktlOuz_Yv8xrw3aZGTsr59FwK5U4qEMIkKsSt41ZYI7kxxDwzhXHyrYIQKRdSFEay1VC2dnuh2TQDpPlTR7slRveyCzbtcSAJRrfKUFod16_bZmxl-1tZ4okQiA4euOjlcrQHSH5F-9wBiduPPdCixq7Pcgk34EJi/https%3A%2F%2Finternationalistcommune.com%2Fstatement-of-the-internationalist-commune-on-the-agreement-between-self-administration-and-the-syrian-state > > _ > Full posting guidelines at: > http://secure-web.cisco.com/1UGRSNSHhQjCwSQ0duPnDZuZ44YM-XCDR3qk-2L6G9kefGUGC43baIW4-fINHlH__PFPQ74G5_3LcKUMAK8ZOEVG9wmIFtGTEniOTiX_-So-1RDj6sr8h3ybxCZWgqvcwcq6YK9U4iqIeh5e5YiM2ULPWtp_EsU4kAyngTDtuSv57ng1N3I71JoKWciKeXCHFDzY2k2JNlf_OrqTDbMsSG3f98y2jKOgh4IWRrhuB2Jln8zGHeZep4PfAmyXG9tdOYTnJx2VWdx1pO849S1lVs6jmhrI0DFSGWS-AyhjLVOvT89EM1OUZxm_wWOwKth5oiNehIUeuAVTtEH48cx0L7r1i01QABLOAmCaZdJAi1_p1uYZkM2TNk5rmi4yuMETj/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marxmail.org%2Fsub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/mkaradjis%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Democratic Party debate
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Mark, I agree the corporate media debate format, is more a beauty contest for obtaining campaugn donations and endorsers - and that answers you question on why the "chosen" take part - for those donations and supporters that without - there would be no serious way to contnue for most all of them. However, I was pleased with Bernie Sanders and with the billionaire publicly admitting that Bernie Sanders is correct with the rigged system and the wealthy benefitting off the workers. This is not news to us - but helped raise awareness to some and led others to hopefully question - what the game and team are actually doing! The mud wrestling idea you raise - would help with more viewership and better ratings. As for "dignity", I have not seen much of that in any political office holder competition debate.Some acting coaches, speech writers and political consultants. putting forward a "professional politician", as a sports figure on view - to get behind and identify with. Using false insinuation of playing on hopes and making sure the performing candidate shows their ability to entertain, gain support and always show their loyal service to the producers and managers of the candidate game performance race. As with most games of the master owners - this one has a lot rigged too. Bernie Sanders understands that - and has decided to "perform and play". He with his awareness and whatever weak politics from our views, so far has been more effective than most of us, in raising Class Awareness and the word and concept of: socialism. Bernie was good in raising and identifying the threats and issues that are confronting Our Class. >From my view, Bernie is doing better than Jack Barnes, James Robertson, etc. I have seen the political theater of those people pretending they are "our leaders", but last night was a larger viewership and seeing how the various corporate owned candidates offered themselves - as the "alternative to Trump". But the Empire has been in crisis from within, between the greed corruption and expectations of the "American Dream". Of the 2008 Recession, revealing more to the actual nightmare and join many already in their real experiences "as losers" in the capitalist pyramid scheme. We see hopes of those caught up in the consumerism culture and denial - that are not making it! And expect to see more with unfolding events - and the "ideas" of a socialist planned economy for workers interests and a wild hope we share perhaps for a worker run cooperative society. The corporate media has their intent and ideas, they want to transmit for their owners benefit. Epect these monthly "performance debates" will lead to many asking - what was accomplished and it was more boring than entertaining - with expectations dashed. But could that not be the corporate rulers intentions and deceptions - to prefer many watch a baseball game or some comedy show or some religious ministry show instead? To ignore politics and ideas (workers told they have no influence in such) and just listen to the media talking head "experts". I think Mark's suggestion for mud wrestling might be a good idea for both the media ratings, advertisers and us the consumer viewers, to be better entertained. Some might get more informed in that process - revealing it is all entertainment by the real stage managers - as any theater productions. Ignore the Military Industrial Complex behind that curtain of deception, with posing as some kind of great wizard for "candidates" ratings approval - to save us. Bernie states we need a mass movement and not to rely on just some saviour wizard, no matter how smiling and soothing the false words and promises.Seeems good advice to me, can we do it - and build a real alternative to what the corporate entertainment (posing as news) considers to be "acceptable to them"? These "debates" have become less substantive and more of a spectacle every time they do them. Their corporate sponsorship and the requirement of a certain level of campaign moo-lah in order to buy your part of the platform makes the fundamental nature of electoral politics absolutely transparent--as much as the motives of the Democratic National Committee and the various organs of the media in sponsoring and structuring them. All the commentary building up to them aims at encouraging confrontational rhetoric and minimizing conflict over substantive questions. The whole thing is modeled on a game show and it's no secret that that's what framed the election of the present Con-artist-in-Chief. And they've gotten worse every four years.
Re: [Marxism] Statement of the Internationalist Commune on the agreement between self-administration and the Syrian state
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The statement says: "It is important to emphasize that the agreement now being discussed does not represent a swing in the tactical course of the Autonomous Administration, but rather that it is the direct continuation of the movement’s approach to a solution. The strategy of democratic autonomy was never a project of secession from the Syrian central state, but to strive for a solution to the crisis within the democratic unity of all parts of Syria. It has been always emphasized that a solution to Syria’s political crisis, and thus an end to the bloody war, can only be achieved through successful dialogue within Syria." I think this formulation is important and corrct: "It is important to emphasize that the agreement now being discussed does not represent a swing in the tactical course of the Autonomous Administration, but rather that it is the direct continuation of the movement’s approach to a solution." This confirms our assesment that the PYD/YPG was always looking for a deal with the Assad regime ("a successful dialogue within Syria") instead of overthrowing it as the Syrian people desired for. QED Am 17.10.2019 um 08:35 schrieb Chris Slee via Marxism: POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Statement from the Internationalist Commune, a group of international activists working in northeastern Syria on various projects (educational, ecological, etc): https://internationalistcommune.com/statement-of-the-internationalist-commune-on-the-agreement-between-self-administration-and-the-syrian-state _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/aktiv%40rkob.net -- Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG (Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, www.thecommunists.net) www.rkob.net ak...@rkob.net Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314 -- Diese E-Mail wurde von Avast Antivirus-Software auf Viren geprüft. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com