China: Market woes test the mettle of iron, steel sectors

[Stephen E Philion]

Market woes test the mettle of iron, steel sectors

China Online
(30 January 2001)

A tenuous balance between supply and demand, imports and exports¡Xnot to 
mention an ancient organizational structure and trouble with quality 
control¡Xcombine to illustrate an industry in chaos, according to the Jan. 
20 Zhongguo Kuangye Bao (China Mining News).

First off, China¡¦s large and medium-size iron and steel producers are 
estimated to be able to increase their output by more than 13 million tons 
in 2001. But China¡¦s domestic market can absorb only 5 million tons of 
added output. The potential imbalance between supply and demand, therefore, 
is still a serious problem.

Current supply-to-demand balance is extremely vulnerable. Once loosened, 
market price for iron and steel products will surely have a steep decline, 
and iron and steel producers will be back to a situation in which income 
growth does not result from increased output.

Recent market trends already show visible signs of price downturn. Although 
the seasonal slack might affect this, excessive inventory of the iron and 
steel market is a major factor that cannot be ignored, the article said.

Additionally, China is unable to meet the demand for some high-grade steel 
and high-value-added iron and steel products; thus, these must be imported 
in large quantities. Consequently, the country imports 7 million tons of 13 
types of steel annually, including sheet steel, petroleum pipes, stainless 
steel, and steel for tool production.

Grim import-export future

Once China enters the World Trade Organization, the balance between imports 
and exports for the iron and steel sector will also be out of kilter, the 
article said.

The year 2000 saw a large amount of imported iron and steel products, 
particularly billets. According to statistics from China¡¦s General 
Administration of Customs, China imported a cumulative total of 16.35 
million tons of iron and steel products in the first 10 months of 2000, an 
18 percent increase over the same period in1999. It is estimated that China 
will import 20 million tons for 2001, double the goals established at the 
beginning of the year.

Solutions include more import regulations, higher quality for domestic 
products and adjustment of product types according to market demands, the 
article said.

In terms of export, it will be quite difficult to increase export to the 
United States and the European Union due to strong anti-dumping attitudes. 
These have resulted in the United States and the European Union, during the 
second half of 2000, because of a significant slowdown in iron and steel 
product consumption coupled with rising inventory.

In the Asian market, Chinese products do not have the advantage in terms of 
variety and quality when facing serious competition from products made by 
South Korea and Japan. Additionally, low-price iron and steel products from 
Russia and Ukraine may also have big impact on China.

Outdated business model

The irrational enterprise organizational structure of the iron and steel 
enterprises in China continues to be problem. It is only a matter of time 
before a considerable number of small iron and steel plants are completely 
shut down, the article said.

Finally, China¡¦s inability to eliminate fake and low-quality iron and 
steel products, particularly in northwestern China, poses a negative impact 
on a significant part of the market, leading to potential quality problems, 
the article said.

Non-state investments outstrip state investments in Shanghai

[Stephen E Philion]

China Online

  Non-state investments outstrip state investments in Shanghai

(30 January 2001) The city of Shanghai achieved a major milestone in 2000.

For the first time in 50 years, investments made by interests other than 
the central government¡Xso-called "non-state" investments¡Xtotaled more 
than those made by the state.

Non-state investments refers to foreign investments, including those made 
by interests located in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan; investments made by 
joint-stock companies; investments from the collective sector; and private 
investments. In 1999, they accounted for 37.4 percent, 30.9 percent, 26.1 
percent and 5.6 percent, respectively, of the total non-state investments 
made in Shanghai.

In 2000, the amount of fixed-asset investments in Shanghai reached 186.1 
billion renminbi (US$22.48 billion). Non-state investments accounted for 
52.1 percent of the total, surpassing the 47.9 percent share made by state 
investments, reports the Jan. 29 Jiefang Ribao (Liberation Daily).

The scale of investments made by purely private interests remains very 
small, the story said.

In 1990, Shanghai¡¦s non-state investments stood at a mere 15.3 percent of 
all fixed-asset investments. In 1993, that figure rose to 35.9 percent and 
cleared 40 percent in 1995. In 2000, it broke the 50 percent mark.

Between 1990 and 2000, the annual growth rate of Shanghai¡¦s non-state 
investments was more than 46 percent on average, which was 16 percentage 
points higher than the average growth rate of investment during the same 
period, the story said.

During the 1990s, the city recorded a total of Rmb 1.38 trillion (US$166.67 
billion) in investments, and non-state investments were a major force 
behind that achievement, the article said.

Although the total amount of non-state investments is impressive, the 
overall financing structure contains significant flaws, according to the 
story. Specifically, non-state investments have a very narrow focus. They 
are mainly limited to real estate and manufacturing.

In 2000, 90 percent of non-state investments went to these two fields. 
Other industries received minuscule investments from non-state entities, 
the story said.

Question for Penners

[Stephen E Philion]

Pen folk, 
COuld someone help me refute this stuff. I take it to be part of the right
wing hype about the 'failure' of social security? But the thing about the
senators throws me. I wonder if this isn't an internet scam mailing?


Fwd: Want to get pissed?". [2001/02/01 19:46]


Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 3:37 PM Subject: Want to get
pissed? Pensions and Social Security Perhaps we are asking the wrong
questions in this election year. Our Senators and Congressmen do not pay
into Social Security, and, of course, therefore they do not collect from
it. Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare
elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for
themselves. Many years ago they voted in their benefit plan. In more
recent years, no congress person has felt the need to change it. After
all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this. When they retire,
they continue to draw their same pay until they die, except it may be
increased from time to time by the cost of living adjustments. For
example, former Senator Bradley, and his wife, may be expected to draw
$7,900,000.00, with Mrs. Bradley drawing $275,000.00 during the last year
of her life. This is calculated on an average life span for each. Their
cost for this excellent plan is $"0", nada, zilch. This little perk they
voted in for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for
this plan. This fine retirement plan is funded directly from the General
Funds. Our tax dollars at work! Social Security, which you and I pay into
every payday for our own retirement, with an equal amount matched by our
employer, we can expect to get an average of $1,000.00 per month from our
Social Security plan. Or, we would have to collect our benefits for 681
years and 1 month to equal the Bradley's benefits.

Imagine for a moment that you could structure a retirement plan so
desirable that people would have extra amounts deducted from their pay to
enhance their own personal retirement income. A retirement plan that
worked so well, that Railroad Employees, Postal Workers, and others who
were not in the plan would clamor to be included. This is how good Social
Security could be, if only one small change were made. That change would
be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan out from under the Senators
and Congressmen. Put them into the! Social Security plan with the rest of
us. Then watch how fast they would fix it !!! If enough people receive
this, maybe a seed will be planted, and maybe good changes will
evolve. How many people can YOU send this to?


 


Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

China's Left E-Journal Blocked in China (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

I've been informed by a good source at the left wing E-journal  China and
the World (chinabulletin.com) that their website has been blocked from
Chinese viewers for over a week now. The Web page had been putting out
some very valuable and interesting discussions and updates of SOE factory
worker protests in Zhenzhou City, Henan Province. It also has had a series
of articles and discussions of the recent rendition of a play based on the
life of Che Guevara, that was plainly critical of the corruption that has
accompanied this era of increasing privatization and plunder of state
owned enterprises in China.  

On a bright note, such efforts to block are not likely to be
effective. You'd be amazed at all the different techniques people in China
have come up with to circumvent gov't blockages of web pages.  

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Vigorous, yet vulnerable (China)

[Stephen E Philion]

Business Times - 9 Feb 2001
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/5/focus/focus21.html

Vigorous, yet vulnerable
Despite its robust performance last year, China's growth prospects for 2001 
and the next few years are still underscored by uncertainty, says JOHN WONG 
HINA

China ended 2000 with a strong 8 per cent economic growth, compared to the 
7.1 per cent of 1999. The Chinese economy, like most Asia-Pacific economies 
in the post-crisis period, has rebounded with higher growth; but China's 
performance in 2000 is more remarkable in that it has arrested a seven-year 
trend of declining growth.

Not long ago, some commentators started to speculate that the Chinese 
economy, after 20 years of hyper-growth, might have exhausted its growth 
potential and could well be in the transition to a more moderate growth 
regime. The strong upturn in 2000 has put an end to such lower-growth 
speculation.

Growth in 2000 was fuelled by exceptionally strong external demand with 
foreign trade chalking up a record 32 per cent rise. Rising exports were 
buoyed by strong economic growth in the US and the recovery of the regional 
economies.

But for a large and inward-looking economy like China, domestic demand 
(which accounts for nearly 70 per cent of its overall economic growth) has 
been even more crucial. The growth of domestic demand in 2000 was the 
result of the sustained proactive fiscal stimulus plus various government 
measures to boost consumer spending.

In fact, Premier Zhu Rongji, who was widely credited for his efforts in 
subduing the 1992-96 inflation by bringing the economy to a successful soft 
landing, can now claim extra credit for having successfully reined in the 
deflation of 1997-2000 as well.

For 2001, the Chinese economy has been variously estimated to grow at 
7.5-8.0 per cent. But growth prospects for 2001 and possibly for the next 
few years are underscored by considerable uncertainty. As China has now 
been more integrated with the global economy, it has become vulnerable to 
the ebb and flow of the international economy, particularly the rising 
spectre of an economic downturn in the US, which is China's largest export 
market (absorbing 21 per cent of China's total exports in 2000).

The Chinese economy is also susceptible to the looming global oil crisis. 
Since 1995, China has become a net oil importer. In 2000, China imported 70 
million tons of oil, or about 30 per cent of its total consumption. By 
2005, China's import dependency for oil may well reach 50 per cent.

GOING GLOBAL

The greatest uncertainty surrounding the Chinese economy for the next few 
years, however, is associated with its imminent accession to the World 
Trade Organisation in 2001. The economic effects of WTO membership can work 
two ways. Over the longer run, China's economy will clearly stand to gain 
in terms of greater efficiency due to further economic liberalisation and 
faster progress in domestic economic reform. But all eyes will be on the 
short-term adjustment costs, including the political and social costs.

Specifically, both exports and imports may go up; but China's annual trade 
surplus (which fell 17 per cent in 2000 to US$24 billion) may well shrink 
further. The inflow of import-substitution type of foreign direct 
investment (FDI) may be reduced while export-complementing type of FDI is 
expected to go up. So would certain strategic, high-tech FDI. This explains 
why some electronic and high-tech firms from Taiwan and elsewhere have 
recently rushed to establish beach-heads in China.

China's WTO entry will expose all the major economic sectors -- banking and 
finance, agriculture, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) -- to the 
challenges of the open market. But the actual sectoral responses will be 
different, depending on their adjustment and preparedness.

What appears to be rather odd is that with WTO entry already on its 
doorstep, the central government has still not mounted concerted efforts 
(beyond paying lip service in the form of various directives) to actively 
prepare its potentially exposed economic sectors to the coming WTO challenges.

Why such an apparent ineptitude on the part of Beijing? Firstly, the 
half-reformed Chinese economy has developed considerable institutional 
rigidity, which is further aggravated by the proliferation of many special 
interest groups. It will not be easy for Beijing to introduce real changes. 
Secondly, most of the adjustment will be borne by the provinces, which 
control most of China's economic activities.

The outcome should be sufficiently clear. WTO membership is likely to 
sharpen the political tension between the centre and the provinces. When 
the crunch of the WTO dispute finally comes, Beijing will be at loggerheads 
with the affected provinces and the special interests involved.

For the time being, however, Beijing can only wait and see. Basically, it 
is still relying on its time-honoured but effective strategy of "touching 
the stones 

Re: Re: RE: Re: Bush war

[Stephen E Philion]

Last night on Nightline, Scowcroft (sic?) was asked by Koppel if Bush
wasn't just continuing Clinton's policies against Iraq?  Scowcroft
responded that this was just a 'routine mission' and not a continuation of
Clinton policy, that a new policy is still something that would be for the
future to make...
The implication seemed to be that we ain't seen nothing yet.

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822


On Sat, 17 Feb 2001, Jim Devine wrote:

> I can't read their minds. But the continuity of the Bush-Clinton-Bush 
> policies toward Iraq is pretty clear, while Clinton's policy of killing a 
> bunch of Iraqi children, though much less dramatic than Bushie's recent 
> attack, is pretty bloodthirsty. Besides, I bet it was Cheney who really 
> made the executive decision. The government seems to fulfill the wet dream 
> of some political scientists, separating the roles of "head of state" and 
> "head of government," with Bushbaby as the largely-ceremonial President 
> (the former) and Cheney as the hands-on Prime Minister (the latter). (A 
> standard polisci critique of US government is that the two roles are merged 
> in the Presidency.)
> 
> Mat wrote:
> >while it is true that bombing continued under clinton, the reports from the
> >pentagon made it clear that this was on a scale that had not been 
> >undertaken for
> >some time, and the feeling i got was that other "routine" bombings were not
> >being directed by the prez, whereas Dubba-u did have a say in this. i could
> >imagine that the pentagon routinely has several proposals of differing degrees
> >of harshness, and that Dubba-u is barely able to hold himself back. it 
> >would be
> >naive i think to dismiss any possibility that the bad blood between daddy bush
> >and saddam hasn't been transfered to Duba-u. i can just imagine Daddy B. 
> >at the
> >first news getting himself into a frenzy and rushing into tell Barb "the 
> >Bush's
> >are back in town, yippee!" He was not happy that 'desert storm' failed to 
> >remove
> >Saddam. I think people like that must view themselves historically and
> >symbolically, they certainly saw a lot of symbolism in Dubba-u beating the 
> >VP of
> >the man who beat Daddy. Does anyone know the specifics on exactly what the
> >Bush's direct material interest is in Iraq with respect to the oil industry?
> 
> Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine
> 
> 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Chossudovsky on Iraq bombing..

[Stephen E Philion]

The US might be into long term investment then, with short term losses? 
Reference the Yugoslavia bombing. In the short term it seemed thoroughly
irrational, since the population was solidly behind Milosevic and
anti-American during the civilian bombing campaign. But in terms of long
term benefits, the US and something called NATO made out very well when an
exhausted population saw no point going on with the status quo and voted
in a neo-liberal regime that would willingly submit to US/IMF
counseling on how to reorganize its political economy and get rid of those
bad guys who wouldn't...


Steve


On Sat, 24 Feb 2001, Ken Hanly wrote:

> Talking about stocks, it would seem bombing Iraq has boosted Hussein's stock
> considerably among the Arabs. Indeed, the bombing is unpopular even with
> some of the US staunchest allies in the Mideast isn't it. Hussein has been
> building bridges and forging links with neighbouring states while the recent
> US bombing gives his stock a big boost.
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
> - Original Message -
> From: Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2001 5:47 PM
> Subject: [PEN-L:8413] Re: Re: Re: Chossudovsky on Iraq bombing..
> 
> 
> > At 10:49 AM 02/24/2001 -0800, you wrote:
> > >Not long ago on the list, there seemed to be an agreement that a war
> could
> > >take the US out of economic crisis. That is not far fetched, Mandel made
> a
> > >point of it, the Marxist theory of war could be woven around it, insofar
> > >as aggression remains the fifth facet of imperialism, and even Paul
> > >Samuelson, in his introduction to economics, hints at certain crisis in
> > >the cycle which were overcome by war.
> >
> > I've always thought that the idea that war was somehow an automatic
> > consequence of economic crisis -- or would automatically solve economic
> > crises -- was the hallmark of crude Marxism. Crises may encourage war by
> > tilting the political balance toward warlike interest groups, but they may
> > also cause civil war and the like. Similarly, sometimes wars solve crises
> > (as World War II did for the US and its allies) but they can make things
> > worse economically (as World War I did for the losers).
> >
> > The fact is under capitalism, policies such as war result from the
> > competition of capitalist interest groups, usually organized as elites.
> > Some benefit from militarism, others don't. [This vision is a bit like
> > pluralism, but, crucially, some interest groups -- e.g, those with the
> most
> > money -- have the most influence. Further, the same thing happens in other
> > types of society. The clash of interest groups was merely hidden in the
> old
> > USSR.]
> >
> > >Now comes Michel Chossudovsky to pinpoint a specific incidence, the
> > >bombing of Iraq, in which a calculus of happiness between stock market
> > >performance and strategic imperialist objectives results in optimum gains
> > >for uncle Sam; That the US has to bomb Iraq is not an  issue: it simply
> > >has to or it would not be itself...
> >
> > The US _has to_ bomb Iraq? Even if Nader had won the election? I don't
> > think historical events are _ever_ predetermined. Maybe Nader's victory
> was
> > extremely unlikely (actually, there's no "maybe" about it), but if there
> > were a full-scale anti-establishmentarian movement in this country at this
> > time, it might be able to block foreign-policy adventures.
> >
> > Optimum gains for Uncle Sam? the problem with this is that the "optimum
> > gains" are defined differently by different elites. (Similarly, some
> > interest groups prefer high oil prices while others prefer low ones.) And
> > as Doug notes, the stock market isn't that important. And many gain when
> it
> > goes down.
> >
> > >Ps. In some recent figure about stock ownership, the rich owned something
> > >like 96% of all stocks. Of course that depends on what threshold was used
> > >for the rich.
> >
> > Of course the lion's share of stocks are owned by the rich (they're the
> > ones who can afford to take such financial risks). But different rich
> > people often have different interests (except when the chips are down and
> > their class dictatorship is threatened), while they often leave issues of
> > foreign policy to professionals. The latter are all pro-capitalist, but
> > there's a lot of debate within the establishment about what
> > "pro-capitalist" means.
> >
> > Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine
> >
> 
> 

CHINA: Both Party Man And Businessman

[Stephen E Philion]

Actually, the debate in China has already advanced beyond this one. Now it
is whether capitalists should 1.) count as members of the working class,
since they too produce surplus value through their labor
and 2) be qualified (therefore) to serve as heads of labor union branches
and/or provincial labor bureaus (which they do now in several
provinces). I had the chance to sit in on an
editorial meeting of a well known Chinese left journal, in which some of
Beijing's most prominent left economsts were organizing a series of
articles in their magazine criticizing this trend. On the bleak side, they
are quite peripheralized at this point. Their journal is not reaching much
in the way of an audience on Chinese campuses these days. 


Steve
  




FEER  Issue of March 8, 2001

CHINA
Both Party Man And Businessman

The Chinese Communist Party is debating whether to drop its ban on
private-enterprise owners being
allowed to join its ranks. Hardliners worry the party would lose the
ideological basis for its rule. Yet
some pioneers are already mixing party and company business

By Susan V. Lawrence/BEIJING
Issue cover-dated March 8, 2001

PEOPLE LIKE Hu Gang aren't meant to exist in China. Hu, an engaging
43-year-old software engineer, is CEO and chairman of the board of the
privately owned Xin Dalu  Jituan, or Newland Group, based in Fujian
province. It has more than 1 billion renminbi ($120 million) in assets,
of which Hu owns 40%. But what makes him particularly noteworthy at this
moment in China's long and winding transition toward a market-based
economy is that Hu is also a Communist Party member and head of his
company's party  branch, which he set up when he founded the  hi-tech
firm in 1994.

Hu sees no contradiction in being a head of a private enterprise and a
party-branch leader. His relationship to the party, like that of most
private-enterprise heads, is pragmatic and ad hoc. But plenty of people
in the party find the dual position of people like Hu disturbing. Party
doctrine holds that the heads of private companies are, by definition,
"exploiters," and that their employees, no matter how well paid, are
being exploited.

With the party still styling itself as the "vanguard of the working
class," party rules formulated in 1989 specifically bar
private-enterprise bosses from joining the party. For those already in
the party, there are strict demands, including "voluntary acceptance of
supervision from party organizations," and agreeing to put the "vast
majority" of after-tax profits into a fund for further developing the
business and for public welfare. Violators are not allowed to stay in
the party.

Hu sees no need to apologize for being either a party member or head of
his party branch. "If the party is to grow strong and more advanced, and
not slide backwards," he says, "it needs to mobilize the best talent to
join this organization." He counts himself in that category. "Whether
this organization has strength," he says, "depends not on whether it is
in power, but on whether it has the best people, and whether it can earn
the support of the people."

While socialism may demand the ultimate abolition of private enterprise,
Hu says confidently that China is committed to something else: socialism
with Chinese characteristics. That, Hu says, means "whatever is good for
the development of society and for raising people's standard of living."
He argues that "the point of 'Chinese characteristics' is not to set in
stone what China has to become in order to be socialist."

The awkward reality that people like Hu do exist--driven home to Party
General Secretary Jiang Zemin on a tour last year of the booming
southern coastal province of Guangdong--is now forcing the party to
re-examine its policies. Conservatives are leaping into the debate to
argue forcefully for upholding the ban on private-enterprise heads
joining the party.

Recent issues of unofficial Marxist journals such as Zhenli de Zhuiqiu,
or The Search For Truth, which describes its mission as "critiquing
bourgeois liberal thought and anti-Marxist thought," are filled with
articles justifying why the ban should be upheld. In contrast, liberals,
including prominent thinkers at China's Central Party School, have used
more elliptical language to suggest that the party should consider
relaxing the ban.

At the core of the debate is the question of what the party's
relationship with private business should be. Some analysts argue that
the issue is as significant as China's 1999 decision to make sweeping
market-access concessions in order to join the World Trade Organization.
Although China's WTO membership is still pending, those concessions
clearly signalled Beijing's embrace of the notion of integration with
the global economy.

A POWERFUL SIGNAL

A decision to allow private-enterprise heads to join could send a
similarly powerful signal that the Communist Party has come to terms
with private business, and would almost certainly spur the sector's
devel

Re: Re: Indonesian minister warns of nation's demise-paper

[Stephen E Philion]

Taiwan's unemployment rate has like doubled in the last year. Plant
closings abound, the stock market is a mess...

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822


On Tue, 13 Mar 2001, Brad DeLong wrote:

> >Dear Friends,
> >
> >First of all, let me say hello to all of you. I recently joined 
> >PEN-L as I discovered it only a
> >short while ago, basicly after Michael P.  forwarded to me a few 
> >e-mails from this list. This
> >appears to be a high volume list and I must confess I find it 
> >difficult to follow your pace but to
> >the extent I can follow the flow, I enjoy the quality of your 
> >discussions and the topics covered.
> >
> >It is my view that the disintegration of Indonesia is coming closer 
> >by the day and soon we will
> >witness an unpleasant economic (and social) turmoil in Southeast 
> >Asia, originating from Indonesia.
> >Of course, South Korea and Taiwan are also contenders in this 
> >originating game,
> 
> ???
> 
> I thought both the South Korean and the Taiwanese economies were 
> doing quite nicely these days...
> 
> 
> Brad DeLong
> 
> 

Re: Cockburn and global warming

[Stephen E Philion]

Lou, 
Is there a url for this article? Ironic, didn't Cockburn write a book that
was supportive of struggles of indigenous people in South America with
Suzan Hecht in the early 90's? 

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822


On Wed, 14 Mar 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> Today's NY Press, a rightwing 'alternative' weekly newspaper, has a lengthy
> defense of global warming skepticism by Alex Cockburn that not only suggest
> that global warming might be good for us, but that acid rain had nothing to
> do with fish kills. I suspect that much of this is geared to stirring up
> controversy like his recent columns stating that opposition to Ashcroft was
> based on hysteria. I suppose this is what happens when a leftwing
> journalist with almost no connections to a mass movement, who lives in
> Robinson Jeffers-like splendor in the Pacific Northwest, who networks with
> posse comitatus types, will end up writing. We need new leftwing
> journalists. The old ones have become worthless cranks.
> 
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
> 
> 

More on Taiwan's decline

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.feer.com/_0103_15/p056money.html



Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Labor organizer in China jailed for fighting for workers' rights

[Stephen E Philion]

This is a report I can vouch for, except the demands were more than being
paid. It involved a case (of which there are at least 30 similar ones in
Zhenzhou city alone) in which the workers' company was merged with a
'phantom enterprise' that fulfilled none of the terms of the merger,
including investing in and reviving production, restoring lost work
positions, payment of back insurance and health debts, and enterprise
autonomy.  The company they merged it, it turned out, was actually one
that was slapped together by Party cadres, the factory director, and small
commercial businessmen (involved in wholesale/retail schemes). 

The first thing the company did after merging was to start selling off
machinery and not reinvesting $$ from that in production, effectively
killing off productive possibilities. They rented out part of the factory
to a capitalist who enforced a dictatorship of production for the small
portion of the factory's workers who were reemployed. None of the rent
made from that arrangement went back into production either, as was
originally promised. 

The workers, through their worker elected Workers' Representative
Congress, voted and demanded nullification of their merger arrangement and
the return of factory property to the workers.  They really only started
their organization efforts when the company made it clear they intended to
sell the factory land and use the $$ to speculate in the land. All the
arrangements were illegal and this was plain as day to anyone who was
familiar with the case. What offended workers the most was that government
officials showed no interest in the case and sided with the illegal
merger, even after all terms were thoroughly violated. 

I'll leave it at that for now..

Steve



Friday March 16, 2:24 PM

Labor organizer in China jailed for fighting for workers' rights

BEIJING, March 16 (AFP) -

A labor organizer in central China has been detained for demanding his 
fellow workers at a paper factory be paid, a New York-based human rights 
group said Friday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Li Jiaqing was arrested on August 7 last year 
as a suspected ringleader of a protest in which more than 100 workers 
occupied a paper mill for two months to protest at a merger.

The mill where Li worked was a state-owned factory which halted production 
in 1995. It was idle for two years until it merged with a local enterprise, 
HRW said in a statement sent to Beijing.

The enterprise had promised to pay the mill workers' basic living expenses, 
but instead siphoned off the assets of the old paper factory, according to 
workers.

Li helped set up a workers' congress which democratically elected a slate 
of leaders, including Li, who then issued a proclamation seeking to nullify 
the merger.

In January last year, the workers submitted a petition to the city 
government and bureau of light industry demanding safeguards for their 
factories' assets.

When the petition met with no response, the workers began occupying the 
factory in June.

On August 7, police arrested Li and the next day some 500 police forced 
their way into the factory and detained 20 workers.

All were released after a day's questioning except for Li and another man 
who was charged with obstructing traffic and imprisoned for four months.

Li was tried on a charge of "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" on 
February 13, as around 200 workers protested outside the courthouse 
demanding his release.

The trial was adjourned and Li remains in a detention center awaiting the 
verdict. If convicted, he could be sentenced to between three and seven 
years in prison.

The government prosecuted Li partly on the basis that he tried to organize 
a workers' congress at the paper mill in 1999, despite that being allowed 
under the law, HRW said.

Chinese law prohibits free trade unions, but does allow, on paper, "staff 
and workers representative congresses" at state-run enterprises.

The case demonstrates China's continued restrictions on basic worker 
rights, HRW said.

"China says it respects economic rights, but the vulnerability of its 
workers is actually increasing, particularly in state-run enterprises," 
said Jan van der Made, HRW's researcher in Hong Kong.

"They're caught in a squeeze, facing massive plant closures and lay-offs. 
Workers lack the basic means to protest, such as the right to organize and 
collectively express their grievances."

China last month ratified the UN Convention on Economic, Social and 
Cultural Rights, but excluded a provision in the convention which allowed 
for the setting up and joining of independent trade unions.

Re: Re: Labor organizer in China jailed for fighting forworkers' rights

[Stephen E Philion]

Yes, Lou, that is why I thought it was important to note that I can vouch
for this report, although its distributors have their obvious neo-liberal
goals as the motivation. However, and what might be of interest to you, is
that not every instance of labor organizing in Chinese SOEs is dominated
by neo-liberal agendas. In this instance, the main people involved in
helping workers are Maoists. And, as I reported, their goals are not to
get more private enterprise in China, but to preserve the state sector
from its current dismantling. 

Shame on me for not writing this case up earlier, but I know it quite well
and the people involved in it are not of the same ideological orientation
as Human Rights Watch.  This is the irony of the workers' struggles in
SOEs in China. The Party either ignores them or directly participates in
their repression and then liberal organizations like HRW are able to claim
them as part of their own agenda. The struggles are real nonetheless, are
closely interrelated with the problem of the reform agenda and ideology
itself, and if the Marxist left abroad doesn't want to claim them,
liberals will surely benefit from that decision. 

News of this story btw didn't originate at HRW. It originated on the China
and the World web page (chinabulletin.com), which is a Chinese
Marxist/Maoist web page, with the latest books in online form of Chinese
left economists on China and WTO, and a host of other topics critical of
reform, imperialism, etc...Unfortunately most articles are in Chinese, so
only those who can read Chinese can understand it.  If they had some big
funding they could hire out people to do full time translating of its
better articles, which would be invaluable to western marxists...


Steve

On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> >A labor organizer in central China has been detained for demanding his 
> >fellow workers at a paper factory be paid, a New York-based human rights 
> >group said Friday.
> >
> >Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Li Jiaqing was arrested on August 7 last year 
> >as a suspected ringleader of a protest in which more than 100 workers 
> >occupied a paper mill for two months to protest at a merger.
> 
> 
> While I have no doubt about the anti-labor practices of the CCP, I wonder
> about the credentials of Human Rights Watch as a critic of such practices.
> HRW is a highly politicized outfit that was launched by publishing mogul
> Robert L. Bernstein in a move to open up the Soviet Union to commercial
> exploitation of highly marketable "dissident" authors. George Soros is on
> the advisory board and is a heavy contributor. He has a vested interest in
> "free" trade unions in China as long as they accompany free markets.
> Jagdish Bhagwati, who is on the HRW China Committee, is raked over in a
> recent Lingua Franca article--can't remember the name of the author.
> Bhagwati is an economist who has been closely associated with the kind of
> neoliberal changes taking place in China that has workers so upset.
> 
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
> 
> 

Blasts in China Leave at Least 18 Dead (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

NYT   
   March 16, 2001
   
Blasts in China Leave at Least 18 Dead

By CRAIG S. SMITH

 [spacer.gif]
 
   Map
   The New York Times
   
   S HANGHAI, March 16 A series of apparently coordinated blasts killed
   at least 18 people in an industrial city 120 miles south of Beijing
   early Friday, sending riot police into the streets and sparking rumors
   that laid-off factory workers were wreaking revenge.
   
   The state-run New China News Agency reported that one explosion ripped
   through a residential building at the Number Three Cotton Mill in
   Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province. China's news agency said
   18 people had died in the pre-dawn explosion.
   
   But the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies separately reported
   that at least two other buildings were hit by blasts within an hour of
   the first explosion, which witnesses said leveled the five-story
   building that housed dozens of families.
   
   The New China News agency published a photograph showing rescue
   workers clambering over a pile of rubble at the first blast site.
   
   By this evening, the cause of the blasts had not yet been reported.
   The death toll, however, was expected to rise.
   
   Residents reached by telephone described Shijiazhuang as a tense city
   with riot police patrolling areas around the blasts. Police turned
   back several foreign reporters who tried to reach the city by car from
   Beijing.
   
   Reuters and The Associated Press both reported that a second explosion
   blew a hole in the side of a dormitory near the city's Number One
   Cotton Mill, down the block from the first blast. Another struck the
   dormitory of a city-run railroad company about three and a half miles
   away.
   
   Reuters reported that a fourth explosion damaged a dormitory near the
   Hebei Provincial Television and Broadcasting University, thought it
   wasn't clear which organization had the building.
   
   The Associated Press quoted a city fire official named Liu as saying
   that the first blast, at around 4 a.m. today, nearly flattened the No.
   Three Cotton Mill building, which housed 48 families. Mr. Liu said
   that more than 40 people had been rescued from the wreckage.
   
   There were no reported deaths from the other blasts.
   
   The blasts came a day after Prime Minister Zhu Rongji apologized to
   the nation for an earlier explosion on March 6 at a school that killed
   42 people, most of them schoolchildren, in rural Wanzai county of
   Jiangxi province. The government has blamed that blast on a deranged
   suicide bomber, though local residents allege that at the time,
   children were assembling fireworks in the school.
   
   Guns are tightly controlled in China, but explosives are relatively
   easy to come by in a country pocked with construction sites and mines,
   fueling the speculation about the blasts today. As a result, bombs
   have become the weapon of choice for a broad swath of angry people
   seeking revenge or expressing discontent, from spurned lovers to
   separatist terrorists in the country's Far West.
   
   Shijiazhuang is in the middle of China's cotton belt and is a center
   of the country's beleaguered state-owned textile mills, which the
   government has been shaving down in its effort to rid itself of
   money-losing enterprises.
   
   Three years ago, Beijing vowed to radically reduce the number of the
   textile industry's "spindles," a measure used for yarn spinning
   machines, and it has made good on its word. By the end of last year,
   9.4 million cotton spindles had been scrapped, according to a recent
   government report.
   
Continued
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Re: Chinese labor activist...Fwd: Re: paper factory made nyt (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

Re: Lou's comments on Human Rights Watch. Below is a short exchange I had
with a person who is closely associated with the case of Mr. Li
Jiaqing. It's relevant because it shows how ill advised it is to associate
a Chinese labor activists' politics with the foreign source of articles on
him. That is to say, clearly HRW has their own ideological agenda vis a
vis Mr. Li, who is in prison and has little say in what HRW claims his
politics are. However, that Li's politics are quite different from HRW's
is also quite apparent from the case and the demands of the workers, which
is why such cases are very much worth the attention of leftists outside
China. 

To answer Yoshie's question, until recently I would have said that Maoists
in China were not really worth much discussion since they were mostly
inclined to obsess over details of how the CR failed or was subverted by
which faction and/or lament endlessly about how China has become
capitalist, without any real explanation as to what that means or how it
happened, let alone how to organize to change that. Since the fallout of
the Asian Financial Crisis has sharpened the crisis and contradictions of
state owned enterprise 'restructuring', more careful attention has been
given to the question of how the social inequalities that the CR was
originally proposed to resolve in China and present day loss of power by
rural and urban producers are linked and the impilcations the answers to
that question have in terms of how and whom to organize today. 

I had the chance to sit in on a meeting of students at a Beijing campus of
a student group called the 'seeking truth from facts',which was discussing
quite
sensitive questions about the Cultural Revolution (i.e. what were the
leading problems facing Chinese socialism in the 1960's, what connection
was their between ideological struggles and these issues,...). They were
discussing, in this particular discussion group, a writing of Lin Biao in
which he excoriated Liu Xiaoqi for a whole host of reasons. What they did
in this group was to read carefully this text and then ask what in it was
of use to understanding that period of Chinese history and those in
today's 'reform' era China? . They right off
agreed that there was little value to some of Lin's more extreme
accusations of national traitor and the like heaped on Liu. But that
having been said, they then proceded to ask what the social class origins
of disagreements between Liu and the Maoists were, in terms of real
problems of class/social inequality in 1960's China and how that debate
retains a relevance to the problems of China today. All of this was done
without resorting to any kind of hero worship or demonization  of any of
the leading figures of that period (which is the dominant trend in
mainstream media and academic organs in China today). And,  I should note,
there was a remarkable openess to any viewpoint on the CR or Mao in this
group. No condemnations of any viewpoints for straying from whatever line
or being 'supportive of neo-liberailsm'...

These students knew, by the way, about the Li Jiaqing case and were quite
concerned about it, which again should tell us something about how ill
advised it is for western leftists to reject out of hand reports on labor
activism as supportive of neo-liberalism. The story is considerably more
complex than that, as any Chinese Marxist closely tied to Chinese
Marxists/Maoists in China would tell you. 

BTW, funny thing that HRW should be able to claim this story. When I was
in Beijing, friends involved in that case were concerned that the case not
become the property of liberal groups outside China with ulterior motives. 
So, the information was put out, in Chinese, on at chinabulletin.com, the
left Chinese web page. Invariably, HRW got a hold of the now public
information and put out its press release...which the media here then
picked up as originating with HRW...

Steve



>Date:  Fri, 16 Mar 2001 14:34:55 -1000
>Subject: Re: paper factory made nyt
>To:Stephen E Philion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
Hi Steve,
>I was already told that China Human Rights claim Li is an "independent
>trade union activist."  But fortunately they can only make that claim.
>China is not Poland.  What do you think?
>
>
>On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, Stephen E Philion wrote:
>
Hi   ,
>> How goes?  Paper factory leader Li Jiaqing made the NYT today. Human
Rights Watch
>>  has made him their poster boy of the week also I see. 
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  Steve
>>
>>  Stephen Philion
>>  Lecturer/PhD Candidate
>>  Department of Sociology
>>  2424 Maile Way
>>  Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
>>  Honolulu, HI 96822
>>
>>

Corporate Power in Overdrive (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

NYT 

 
> 
>  March 18, 2001
> 
>  Corporate Power in Overdrive
> 
>  By ROBERT B. REICH
> 
>  [C]AMBRIDGE, Mass. — With last week's reversal of his campaign pledge to limit 
>power plants' emissions of carbon dioxide, a key contributor to global warming, 
>President Bush surrendered to coal companies and utilities dependent on coal. He had 
>little choice. It's payback time, and every industry and trade association is busily 
>cashing in.
> 
>  There's no longer any countervailing power in Washington. Business is in complete 
>control of the machinery of government. The House, the Senate and the White House are 
>all run by business-friendly Republicans who are deeply indebted to American business 
>for their electoral victories. If corporate America understood its long-term 
>interest, it would use this unique moment to establish in the public's mind the 
>principle that business can be trusted. But it's doing the opposite, and the danger 
>for American business as a whole is profound.
> 
>  Credit-card companies are getting a bankruptcy bill that will make it harder for 
>overstretched people who succumbed to these companies' blandishments ever to get out 
>from under the resulting debts. Oil companies are on the way to obtaining rights to 
>drill on Alaska's coastal plain. Cigarette manufacturers are confident the 
>administration will drop the federal lawsuit against them. Pharmaceutical companies 
>are hoping to get longer patent protections. Big, labor-intensive businesses want to 
>get rules that weaken unions, and they've already killed the Labor Department's 
>ergonomics rules, which would have protected workers against repetitive-stress 
>injuries. Airlines with labor problems can count on White House actions to ward off 
>strikes. And so on.
> 
>  In normal times — when business has to cope with some political resistance — its 
>leaders are forced to set strict priorities. There is only a fixed amount of 
>political capital to spend. The Business Roundtable, comprising the chief executives 
>of large American companies, typically establishes at the start of a new Congress a 
>legislative agenda reflecting what its members consider the most important issues. 
>The United States Chamber of Commerce, after canvassing its mostly small and 
>medium-sized member businesses to determine their priorities, also develops a 
>strategy. The National Association of Manufacturers weighs in with its wish list. And 
>the National Federation of Independent Business, composed of small firms, sets its 
>goals.
> 
>  These groups do not always see eye to eye, but under normal circumstances they 
>understand that legislative success requires coordination. Separately, they lack the 
>political clout to overcome determined resistance in one or both houses of Congress 
>or from a president at least partly dependent for his political future on organized 
>labor, environmentalists and other interests besides business.
> 
>  The trade associations representing specific industries — coal-powered utilities, 
>pharmaceuticals, hospitals, electronics, securities, oil and gas, for example — 
>typically play supporting roles. Their own parochial legislative goals can't 
>interfere directly with the priorities of business as a whole because the industries 
>often have to depend on the larger business groups to be heard. Specific firms may 
>retain their own Washington lobbyists, but they, too, have to work with others in 
>order to have significant effect.
> 
>  Political resistance, in other words, forces the business community to decide 
>what's most important to it. It thereby enables corporate America to exert some 
>discipline over itself. Business leaders can prevent or at least distance themselves 
>from excesses by any single company or industry that might otherwise taint business 
>as a whole in the minds of the public.
> 
>  American business notably did not come to the aid of cigarette manufacturers when 
>lawsuits against them began several years ago. Nor has corporate America as a whole 
>fought on behalf of the gun lobby. Labor and environmental rules with broad 
>consequences typically become high priorities for legislative attack, but not all 
>such rules. In the first Clinton administration, the business community was quite 
>happy to let the Labor Department target apparel manufacturers and major retailers in 
>its crackdown on sweatshops. I recall a number of White House meetings in which the 
>leaders of major business organizations quietly assented to the administration's 
>plans to block subsidies flowing to a particular industry, or to impose new clean-air 
>rules on another industry, or to move aggressively with an antitrust complaint.
> 
>  With political resistance gone, the business community can, paradoxically, no 
>longer discipline itself. Every business lobb

Re: Re: More on the Li Jiaqing case

[Stephen E Philion]

No, Lou, as I stated, it tells us the opposite. There are many cases of
worker self-organization and workers' leaders who have been arrested that
are worthy of leftist's support in China.  The assumption that they are
neo-liberals or dupes of neo-liberals is a simplistic way of approaching a
rather complex issue.  We can doubt the motivation of the source of this
report, surely, as do the workers in this case. But for that to mean then
that we should not support someone like Li Jiaqing, or the struggle for
workers in that case (and many others, the Paper Factory, according to an
article in the Workers Daily last year, is only one of scores of such
cases in Zhenzhou City), is a position that is of little use to real
workers involved in real struggles over privatization of SOEs in China. 

Steve






On Mon, 19 Mar 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> Pardon me if I come across as a little thick, but doesn't this tend to
> reinforce what I stated originally? Despite my strong feelings of
> camaraderie with Henry Liu and my unabashed support for Yugoslav socialism,
> etc., doesn't this seem to say that we should take HRW reports on China
> with a grain of salt in the future?
> 
> >Below is the statement from Li Minqi:
> >
> >
> >March 18, 2001
> >For Immediate Release:
> >
> >The True Story Behind Zhengzhou # 1 Paper Factory WorkersÕ
> >Anti-Corruption, Anti-Privatization Struggle
> >
> >In recent days, the organization Human Rights Watch and Labour Watch and
> >other Overseas Organizations as well as The New York Times and The World
> >Journal (the largest Chinese newspaper in North America), have put out
> >statements and reports asserting that Li Jiaqing is an "Independent Union
> >Leader", that the Paper FactoryÕs workers have established an "independent
> >union organization," etc.  These organizations do this as part of an
> >effort to alter or cover up the real goals of the Paper Factory workersÕ
> >struggle. 
> 
> 
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
> 
> 
> 

More on the Li Jiaqing case

[Stephen E Philion]

Below is a statement sent to me from  Li Minqi(and which I translated) 
that he wrote in response to the Human Rights Watch and Labour Rights
Watch report on the Li Jiaqing case in Zhenzhou, China. Li Minqi and I
both know the people involved in helping the workers in this particular
case. They also  Again, this kind of statement should give pause to those
who are inclined to view all reports on worker activity in the SOE sector
as inspired by neo-liberal visions of markets. While some of it is
motivated in that direction, much of it is also being done by leftists in
China who have no desire to see more privatiztion.  

I should note that the friends of these workers in Zhenzhou also sent out
a short statement expressing displeasure with the mistakes in the Human
Rights Watch and other political and news organisations' reports. Perhaps
I'll translate that out also and send it on...

Below is the statement from Li Minqi:


March 18, 2001
For Immediate Release:

The True Story Behind Zhengzhou # 1 Paper Factory WorkersÕ
Anti-Corruption, Anti-Privatization Struggle

In recent days, the organization Human Rights Watch and Labour Watch and
other Overseas Organizations as well as The New York Times and The World
Journal (the largest Chinese newspaper in North America), have put out
statements and reports asserting that Li Jiaqing is an "Independent Union
Leader", that the Paper FactoryÕs workers have established an "independent
union organization," etc.  These organizations do this as part of an
effort to alter or cover up the real goals of the Paper Factory workersÕ
struggle. 

Based on my own first hand knowledge of this case I join with persons in
Zhengzhou who have shown concern and support for the Paper Factory
workersÕ struggle in putting out the following statement of correction:

1.) This instance of workersÕ struggle is entirely a matter of opposing
corruption, the loss of State Owned Enterprise assets, and opposition to
privatization.  When the workers staged a takeover of the factory
management last year, they placed a banner at the front factory gate
exclaiming, "Reform does not equal Privatization," something that the
people of Zhenzhou would all approve of. These goals are far different
from the so-called "independent union movement" run by Chinese liberal
intellectuals who have been co-opted by western imperialism. 

2.) The Paper Factory WorkersÕ Representatives Congress is an institution
that is required by "PeopleÕs Republic of China Enterprise Law", whose
function is to carry out democratic management of State Owned
Enterprises.  The Zhengzhou Paper Factory Workers acted through their WRC
mass meetings in order to protect socialismÕs State Owned Assets, their
own legal rights, and have little to do with "Independent Union
Organizations." 

3.) The So-called "Independent union movement" is a deceptive product of
western imperialism, which utilizes the original goals of socialism to
breed the foundation of its own fake brand of justice and facilitates the
takeover of the socialist state by capitalists, corrupt officials and
intellectuals.  In the process, the rights of ChinaÕs entire working class
to state assets is sacrificed, with nothing to show for in return, as the
door is opened to foreign capital to enslave China's workers.  The end
result is corruption and the complete appropriation of state assets, now
in its most fully transparent and thorough form.  For socialist countries
that have gone this route, this has spelled the end of their political and
economic self-rule.  Can it be that workers in the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe have suffered less than such a criminal fate? 

History proves that the backward step to privatization and capitalism is a
dead end for workers. China is not Poland, the Chinese working class will
not be deceived.


Li Minqi
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Dept. of Economics 
PhD Candidate
  


Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Re: Re: Re: More on the Li Jiaqing case

[Stephen E Philion]

On Mon, 19 Mar 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> >No, Lou, as I stated, it tells us the opposite. There are many cases of
> >worker self-organization and workers' leaders who have been arrested that
> >are worthy of leftist's support in China.  The assumption that they are
> >neo-liberals or dupes of neo-liberals is a simplistic way of approaching a
> >rather complex issue.  We can doubt the motivation of the source of this
> >report, surely, as do the workers in this case. 
> >
> >Steve
> 
> You have me totally confused. You posted a report from HRW that I
> questioned because of the source. Then, today, you post something from the
> workers on the spot who disavow the HRW report. I am not questioning
> whether leftists should support workers struggle in China or elsewhere,
> just urging caution about sources.

I don't think I'm confusing you with anyone else. In the past when I've
brought up first hand knowledge of cases like Li Jiaqing in China, they've
always met with suspicion that they are neo-liberals or dupes of some
agency of the US state. 

 Human Rights was the outfit that said
> that the Iraqis were detaching babies from Kuwait life-support systems.  If

Sure, and the NYT is the outfit that told us that the Pope was nearly
assasintated by Bulgarians. They are also the source that reported to the
public the case of Zhou Wei in Shenyang Province, the elderly cadre who
helped farmers and cadres fight corruption until it threatened the Mayor
of Shenyang City...I visited his wife in Shenyang last October..and guess
what? The NYT Times, except for a few very minor mistakes, got their story
pretty damn correct...So, what position should we take toward Zhou Wei who
remains in jail for the crime of taking the Party seriously about fighting
corruption? If we assume that the story is in the NYT and not worth
supporting...I think that's a dead end approach. 

I agree with you we have to develop our own sources. However ,even when
they are developed, like China and the World, they still get accused of
being infiltrated by the CIA, as the post you sent on from Henry argued a
month or so ago...

Steve



> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
> 
> 

Re: Query

[Stephen E Philion]

I recall that Alex Cockburn wrote a number of very critical articles about
the co. in the late 80's or early 90's, in his *Beat the Devil* column.

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822


On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, Carrol Cox wrote:

> I vaguely remember some discussion (I think negative) of The Body Shop
> on this or some other list. The company has or aspires to have a
> progressive reputation. Does anyone have any information.
> 
> Carrol
> 
> 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ergonomics, etc.

[Stephen E Philion]

On Sun, 25 Mar 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:

> Mark Laffey wrote:
> 
> >What evidence is there that Nader voters were in fact potential Gore voters?
> >That is, is there any data to show that had Nader not been an option, the
> >people who voted for him would have voted for Gore?  Surely that is the
> >correct question to ask.  Nader voters may simply have stayed at home rather
> >than voting for Gore.
> 
> This is a logical and empirical argument, to which bruised Dems are 
> immune. They have an emotional need to blame Nader for the fact that 
> their guy ran a dismal campaign, and blew what should have been a 
> landslide.
> 
> Doug


True. It's also worth noting, for lefties at least, that a number of
Naderites, especially Lorna Salzman (sic?) have been almost obsessive
about finding a 'stalinist left' conspiracy to explain Nader's 3 %
showing.  Not a little ironic since Naderites, rightly I believe,
criticize Democrats for not looking at the real causes of Gore's
defeat-victory/handover of the presidential election. 


Steve

 
> 
> 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ergonomics, etc.

[Stephen E Philion]

On Sun, 25 Mar 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Yea Doug, a typical American reply.  It ain't us, it is all you 
> foreigners.  

Hold it, now where did Doug say that? Not even close.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ergonomics, etc.

[Stephen E Philion]

Yes, but in your reply to Doug's transparently sarcastic remark on
Candaian innocence, you seem to be taking Doug as an ardent defender of US
foreign policy...
Doug's displeasure, if I'm reading it correctly, is with the idea that
wishing any working class any kind of economic decline is not a very left
position, since that decline can be as much (if not more) the foundation
for non-left 'alternatives' to the present state of affairs. Why not
address yourself to that argument, since it is the main argument Doug
is making. 

Steve


On Sun, 25 Mar 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Doug,
> 
> This is repugnant.  You have never heard me defending Canadian 
> policy on this list.  Furthermore, if you knew what I have been 
> doing, I have been crossing the country speaking and denouncing 
> Canadian policy in this area.
> 
> Paul Phillips
> 
> Date sent:Sun, 25 Mar 2001 13:47:23 -0500
> To:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject:  [PEN-L:9456] Re: Re: Re: ergonomics, etc.
> Send reply to:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > 
> > >Second, I would ask Doug why we shouldn't hope that the
> > >American working class doesn't get hammered into poverty,
> > >disease and death since they have been supporting governments
> > >and policies that have been prescribing such medicine for the rest
> > >of the world.
> > 
> > While Canadians, of course, are pure and innocent.
> > 
> > Doug
> > 
> 
> 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Demicans or Repugnocrats (was:ergonomics, etc.

[Stephen E Philion]

Well, yeah, but it's a stretch to say that this is anything close to the
argument Doug was making...

Steve

On Sun, 25 Mar 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Do you really believe this?  I guess this is really what I am 
> complaining about, US intellectual imperialism.  Ugh.
> 
> Paul Phillips
> 
> 
> 
> From: "Andrew Hagen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To:   "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date sent:Sun, 25 Mar 2001 15:02:05 -0500
> Send reply to:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Priority: Normal
> Subject:  [PEN-L:9466] Re: Re: Re: Demicans or Repugnocrats (was: 
>ergonomics, etc.
> 
> > A healthy US economy would benefit the world's poor. A Gore
> > Administration would been far more deft in its handling of the current
> > economic crisis. They would have brought in people with actual civil
> > service experience, for example. Fiscal policy is a good concrete
> > example. Reduced taxation on middle and lower income people would have
> > greatly helped the US economy. Instead, the Bush administration is
> > planning to lower taxation on upper income people. Even this stimulus
> > plan is in jeopardy of not passing Congress at all. Additionally, a
> > budget that paid down a large amount of debt this year would have made
> > it possible for Greenspan to significantly lower interest rates. The US
> > economy would have benefitted from such an approach, indirectly helping
> > out people in other countries. 
> > 
> > (Are you suggesting that there is a global polarization of income and
> > wealth? Would you say poor people worldwide became worse off or better
> > off in the 1990s? My current understanding is that poor people
> > worldwide become somewhat better off in the 1990s.)
> > 
> > A second example is trade policy. Instead of forgetting about the WTO,
> > the Gore Administration would have been more amenable to a new round of
> > talks aimed at setting global labor, health, and environmental
> > standards. This could have conceivably wiped out child labor worldwide.
> > It would also have fostered a lot of economic growth, because more
> > nations would have willingly joined the WTO regime. The focus on
> > international finance might even have led to a successor concord to
> > Bretton Woods.
> > 
> > Third, a Gore Administration would have been much less hawkish. In my
> > view, the Bush Administration is going to propose some type of
> > skirmish-war to bolster the US economy. This nasty possibility will
> > likely take place if US economic growth is in doldrums for more than a
> > year or two. Additionally, Gore supported the landmines treaty (with
> > the temporary Korea exception) and the CTBT. Bush opposes both, AFAIK. 
> > 
> > Fourth, environmental policy. Enough said.
> > 
> > Instead of a capable economic policy, a workable trade policy, and a
> > sensible national security policy, the Bush Administration is
> > implementing ill-thought policies that will wreak disaster upon
> > humanity. We are looking at at least four years of economic, political,
> > social, and military disruption. 
> > 
> > We don't owe it all to Nader, though. Gore ran the worst presidential
> > campaign since Goldwater's, and the Clinton legacy hurt. Many other
> > factors also contributed, such as the willingness of five Supreme Court
> > justices to substitute their politcal preferences for that of 100
> > million American voters. It's stupid to look for one cause of an event.
> > There are always multiple causes.
> > 
> > Andrew Hagen
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > 
> > On Sun, 25 Mar 2001 13:16:32 -0600, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > 
> > >Can Bush be any worse for the rest of the world than Clinton/Gore? 
> > > If so in what way.  Will the civilians of Yugoslavia and Iraq be any 
> > >less fearful of their lives?  Will the peasants of Columbia be more 
> > >fearful for their lives?  Will Canadians fear more for the loss of their 
> > >jobs, pollution of their climate, etc.  I don't think so. 
> > >
> > >Paul Phillips
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >> If you don't think that these shifts in policy make America a worse 
> > >> place, it's not clear what you do believe.
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> Brad DeLong
> > >> 
> > >
> > >
> > 
> 
> 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: US Consumer Confidence index surges

[Stephen E Philion]

Also, it's generally the case that bad times bring with them things like
unemployment increases, which tend to make it even less likely that labor
will organize, for the obvious reasons.

Steve

On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:

> Jim Devine wrote:
>
> >Also, Doug, doesn't it get a little tiring making the same point
> >(that leftist hope for bad times) over and over again?
>
> No more tiring than it gets to see leftists making the same point
> over and over again. It's stunning how this list comes alive at a
> hint of panic. Michael wants PEN-L to be relevant to political
> activists, but disaster-sniffing doesn't seem to be the way to go
> about it.
>
> Look, for much of the world, "disaster" is the norm. That hasn't
> worked to the left's advantage in too many places, at least not yet.
> For the more comfortable part of the world, disaster has rarely
> worked to the left's advantage either. In the light of that, there's
> something pathological and self-marginalizing about getting excited
> when the Dow loses 300 points - or dredging up a sucker rally from
> 1930 as a precedent on a day when it's up 200. Or with an alleged
> progressive wishing mass impoverishment on the American working
> class. Or with yet another saying it's all hopeless here, because the
> real action is in Mexico - even though the holder of that point of
> view is comfortably situated in the comfortable part of the world.
>
> The hell with it. I'll shut up for a long while.
>
> Doug
>
>

PRC to follow California deregulation model!

[Stephen E Philion]

BNA, Inc., International Trade Reporter, January 18, 2001
Copyright 2001 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., International Trade
Reporter

CHINA'S STATE POWER SECTOR PREPARES TO DEREGULATE, SELL OFF POWER GENERATORS
By Noah J. Smith

  BEIJING -- China's monopoly State Power Corp. is preparing to sever its
regulatory functions and sell off its power generators, as reformers have
gained the upper hand over entrenched resistance that held up deregulation
for years, industry sources told BNA.

Power officials, backed by hard-line conservatives, were loath to loosen
their grasp on the powerful state monopoly, which still controls one-sixth of
state-owned assets (about $ 96.6 billion), according to figures in the most
recent edition of China's official Business Weekly.

Liberalization policies are now gaining momentum after a number of opponents
at all levels were "removed from the scene" as a result of ongoing corruption
investigations in the industry, one power industry source told BNA on
condition of anonymity.

State Power is also working with outside advisers to restructure, with a view
to listing shares on domestic or international stock markets. "The company
may even list some of its plants," Business Weekly quoted State Development
and Planning Commission (SDPC) official Wang Jun as saying.

Encouraging Foreign Investors.

Foreign investors "should be encouraged" to purchase power plants to boost
competition and efficiency, the article paraphrased researcher Hu Angang of
the Chinese Academy of Sciences as saying. "The government should also clear
up market entrance barriers for overseas investors" and lift limits on the
proportion of stakes they can hold, Hu said, as quoted in Business Weekly.

Those opposed to restructuring once enjoyed the backing of China's powerful
Li Peng, chairman of the National People's Congress and No. 2 in the
Communist Party hierarchy after President Jiang Zemin. But Li Peng's power
has waned as China's year-long anticorruption drive took its toll on his
rear-guard faction, lending impetus to reformers, sources said.

The campaign brought under investigation a number of senior State Power Corp.
officials. In one prominent example, top Shandong power official and Li Peng
acolyte Cha Keming was formally arrested in November for taking a $ 500,000
"help fee" in exchange for granting a major power contract to a Hong Kong
company whose bid was $ 4.8 million above competitors, Singapore's Xingdao
Daily reported Nov. 29.

Even State Power President Gao Yan has been sidelined, ostensibly for health
reasons, sources said. The SDPC has long had State Council support in pushing
for power industry deregulation, but is only now starting to make real
progress.

"Because of recent developments, State Power's resistance to reform has
crumbled under extreme pressure from Prime Minister's office," one source
said. Now they are moving ahead to reduce their scope, divest assets to
private owners, and introduce competition into power generation.

State Power Corp.'s generators will be severed "soon," reducing the
government body's functions to regulation and transmission, the Jan. 9
Business Weekly said. The details of the reform program are "still under
discussion" but will not be released "this year." In order to see through
reforms, a "supervision committee" will be established, the SDPC's Wang said,
as quoted in Business Weekly.

State Power's holdings in power generation will be cut to around 10 percent,
which will be kept "for the sake of national security," the magazine said.
The remainder will be hived off to independent entities in an effort to set
up a competitive market. Regulators are now evaluating "competitive pool"
pilot programs introduced last summer in the coastal province of Zhejiang and
later brought to Shanghai and Shandong as a model for the deregulated market.


Under the trials, separate generators were to compete to supply power through
bidding, thereby letting supply and demand conditions determine wholesale
prices.

But some industry observers questioned the presence of true competition in
the trials, noting that a reported decline in prices was inconsistent with
market conditions.

Demand for power in Zhejiang shot up 20 percent in 2000, well outpacing
supply growth and cutting the reserve margin from a safety range above 20
percent to 3 percent. "Usually in those conditions the price spikes," one
source said, citing the quadrupling of prices in California. But in Zhejiang,
the average pool price plummeted 16 percent, fueling speculation that prices
were in fact dictated by officials from behind the scenes.

Now, however, Power Corp. officials have "completely changed their approach"
and have begun working with international advisers, taking lessons from
already deregulated markets elsewhere in the world, the source said.


FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which
has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We

Hawaii Public Education CLOSED

[Stephen E Philion]

Hawaii school teachers and college profs of the University of Hawaii
system are poised to be on strike starting this morning at 6 a.m. (12 p.m.
EST).  It will be the only state in the union that is not offering public
education at any level.  Public school teachers voted 99+% to go on
strike, the profs 90% + voted to strike.

for details, check http://www.uhpa.org/
   http://www.hsta.org/

steve




 Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Re: Re: Re: Burawoy

[Stephen E Philion]

On Wed, 11 Apr 2001, Michael Yates wrote:

> Louis Proyect wrote:
>
> > At 02:56 PM 4/11/01 -0400, you wrote:
> > >John Foster sharply attacks Burawoy's sociological theory in a Monthly Review
> > >article published I believe in 1999.  I was at the conference in which
> > John made
> > >the attack. Burovoy was in the audience.  John criticized Burovoy for the
> > >latter's sharp critique of Harry Braverman's "Labor and Monopoly Capital."
> > >
> > >Michael Yates
> > >
> >
> > Well, there goes Burawoy's submission hopes with MR.
> >
> > Louis Proyect

Doubt it, MR publishes bang-up debates at times precisely because it
believes that comrades can engage in healthy debate without having to fear
that it will result in harm to the publication or readership...

Steve


>
>

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Burawoy

[Stephen E Philion]

On Wed, 11 Apr 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> >Doubt it, MR publishes bang-up debates at times precisely because it
> >believes that comrades can engage in healthy debate without having to fear
> >that it will result in harm to the publication or readership...
> >
> >Steve
>
> Wrong. MR never has debates in its pages with, let alone publish, the kind
> of people who write for Rethinking Marxism or Social Text. Won't even
> co-sponsor debates with them at Socialist Scholars Conference.
> Louis Proyect


I was thinking of the exchange between Bellamy Foster and Harvey...

Steve

Hawaii Educators' Strike - Your Help Is Needed

[Stephen E Philion]

Folks on PEN, feel free to circulate this important message to other
lists. It's now day 8 of the strike and negotiations have not made that
much progress. I'm part of an effort to get students on the picket lines
to show support for the faculty union here. It's a story that hasn't
gotten much play, but lots of students are actively walking on the picket
lines with their profs here for many hot hours.
The entire state's public schools are shut down. Imagine all the public
schools in NY State shutting down at once, you've got a sense of the
intensity of this strike

Do send letters, emails, phone calls,...Steve


 Hawaii Teachers Need Your Help

[Message from Andrea Feeser, a former CUNY student and now a Hawaii
teacher, to her CUNY professor Stanley Aronowitz. Please re-post this
message and call the Hawaii Governor's office to express your
solidarity.]


We desperately need your help. Since Thursday April 5, the University of
Hawaii Professional Assembly (affiliated to the NEA), our Faculty Union,
and the public school teachers organized by the Hawaii State Teachers
Association have  been on strike against the State of Hawaii, and
there's no end in sight.

The faculty here have been without a contract for the last two years
because of the intransigence of Governor Ben Cayetano, who has refused
to bargain with the union in good faith and threatened to reduce faculty
benefits and health coverage by 25%. During the last two and a half
years we have received no pay increases, effectively cutting our pay
already. Until the end of last week, his negotiator Davis Yogi refused
to meet at all with  union representatives, and then offered to LOWER
the pay of part-timers employed as Lecturers at the university to $900 a
credit hour!

It seems clear that Cayetano plans to break the Faculty union,
demoralize the faculty and clear the ground for what Davis Yogi himself
has called an "entrepreneurial university." I don't need to decode this
for you.

Cayetano is strangling the life out of this university, he is betraying
the school-children of the state, especially those who can't afford to
go to more expensive mainland schools, and he's dealing a fatal blow to
the labor movement in Hawaii. He's also destroying the Democratic party
here and paving the way for a Republican party takeover of the state.(I
kid you not, when Republicans start shaking hands on picket lines,
something very peculiar is afoot!)

Cayetano's actions and policies have deliberately provoked the first
Education General Strike in American history! All public education in
Hawaii is at a standstill. Support here is strong. The strike was
authorized by 99% of public school teachers and 91% of university and
community college faculty. And the local community here has been behind
the striking teachers so far, isolating Cayetano but failing to do more
than force him into the appearance of negotiation.

We must have national attention and support and we must have it NOW! Can
you please forward this email to as many colleagues and friends as you
can.

Can you please organize expressions of support through your own
institutions, faculty organizations, professional associations or
unions. These can be sent to us at www.uhpa.org.

Can you please organize official and personal expressions of protest
directed at the Governor of the state, letting him know how damaging
this strike will be to higher education in Hawaii, and to the prosperity
of the Hawaiian economy.

Amazing things have happened so far! For a start, we have proved that
professors can organize pickets, and turn out en masse to support a
strike like this. But we need all the help we can get, if we are to have
any chance of winning this strike.

Here is the Governor's address and phone number:

Governor Benjamin Cayetano
Governor's Residence
Washington Place
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Tel # (808) 587-2598 (Residence)
  (808) 586-0034 (Office)


Thanks,
Andrea Feeser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Chinese Raid Defiant Village, Killing 2, Amid Rural Unrest

[Stephen E Philion]

> NYT  April 20, 2001
>
>  Chinese Raid Defiant Village, Killing 2, Amid Rural Unrest
>
>  By ERIK ECKHOLM
>
>  [Y]UNTANG, China, April 18 — Before dawn last Sunday, more than 600 police and 
>paramilitary troops stormed this village in southern China and opened fire on a 
>gathering crowd of unarmed farmers, killing 2 and wounding at least 18, witnesses and 
>local officials say.
>
>  The shootings, which have not been reported in the Chinese news media, were one of 
>the most severe known incidents of civil strife in recent years, the latest act in a 
>three- year struggle pitting the 1,400 residents of Yuntang against township and 
>county officials. The villagers have refused to pay what they call illegal and 
>impossibly high local taxes and fees, and the officials have labeled the villagers a 
>"criminal gang."
>
>  As a tangible sign of their resistance, the villagers erected a strong iron gate 
>across the only road into Yuntang last year, keeping it locked and guarded to prevent 
>the entry of official vehicles.
>
>  The bitter strife in this village and untold others reflects the anger and despair 
>among the millions of farm families in China's traditional breadbasket region. Even 
>as the national economy booms, in villages across central and southern China incomes 
>have stagnated, most young people migrate to coastal cities to perform menial jobs, 
>and local governments are so short of money that officials and teachers often go 
>unpaid for months at a time.
>
>  The use of gunfire against unarmed, protesting citizens has been rare in recent 
>years and Sunday's hushed-up clash is a sharp reminder of the domestic pressures 
>bearing down on the country's leaders and the Communist Party as they try to 
>modernize China without losing control of it.
>
>  The shooting in Yuntang — with its echoes of the unresolved national trauma of the 
>1989 shooting of hundreds of demonstrators around Tiananmen Square — stemmed in part 
>from the economic strains that are bound to grow as China joins the World Trade 
>Organization and opens up industries and agriculture.
>
>  The people of Yuntang remain defiant but also fearful of further reprisals, and 
>when a foreign reporter unexpectedly arrived, he was quickly told to leave. One older 
>man apologized, saying, "If the Communist regime knows we are meeting the foreign 
>press, they might level our village."
>
>  The authorities of Jiangxi Province, where this rice-farming village of the lower 
>Yangtze basin lies, have managed to largely suppress news of the killings. Still, 
>villagers say the authorities apparently recognized the potentially explosive nature 
>of the news because the evening of the incident a provincial deputy Communist Party 
>secretary was dispatched to the village, and he promised an investigation.
>
>  The deadly clash in Yuntang is the latest sign of instability in Jiangxi, a 
>relatively poor province known as a cradle of Mao's Communist revolution. Another 
>county not far from Yuntang was the site of another major, internationally publicized 
>conflict last August, when more than 10,000 farmers protesting high taxes rampaged 
>through township offices and the homes of officials. There is no sign that farmers 
>from the two restless counties have joined forces, forming the kind of rural movement 
>that the authorities are especially anxious to prevent.
>
>  And Jiangxi Province's top two officials were replaced after a deadly explosion in 
>March at a primary school where, local residents said, students had been forced to 
>make fireworks. In that case, which aroused popular suspicion and anger, local 
>authorities apparently misled leaders in Beijing about activities at the school. 
>While Prime Minister Zhu Rongji did not publicly rebut the official account that the 
>explosion was the work of a madman, he did issue a highly unusual public apology for 
>the accident.
>
>  The Yuntang shootings fly in the face of a warning issued by the prime minister to 
>local authorities in a 1999 speech. Discussing the wide concern over rural tax 
>burdens, Mr. Zhu publicly admonished officials to respond with understanding rather 
>than force.
>
>  The provincial authorities apparently face a quandary: should they praise the 
>officials of Yujiang County and Zhongtong township for safeguarding public order, or 
>should they fire those who planned this attack, or even punish some for murder? 
>Officials must also decide whether to press charges against Su Guosheng, a village 
>leader who had dared to take complaints about local corruption and excess taxes all 
>the way to Beijing and, villagers said, was detained the day before the raid.
>
>  The villagers are still waiting for answers and have kept a pile of empty shell 
>casings as well as the bodies of the two dead men, Yu Xinguang, 38, and Yu Xinquan, 
>22, as potential evidence. They say they have not heard back from the detained Mr. 
>Su, and fear he will be beaten to death in poli

Some leaders unsure unbridled capitalism best way to nurture democracy- Toronto Star (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

Toronto Star April 25
Summit leaders taped during closed-door session

Leaders of smaller, poorer countries question whether unbridled
capitalism is best way to nurture democracy.

Quebec (CP) - The prying lenses and sharp pencils of the press
had been shooed out of the meeting hall.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien assured his fellow summit leaders
their discussion was now closed and they could let their hair down.
Many did. But none of them noticed that a translated feed of
their vigourous discussion was still flowing out of the room.
But an alert producer with Radio-Canada did take notice and
scrambled to run an audio tape of the private discussions held
Saturday.
Some of what was recorded would have cheered those on the
streets and may have chagrined George W. Bush.
The U.S. president could take comfort that his chivalry was
noted by the only woman head of state around the table.
''I have to say that the speakers make excellent speeches but
they only speak of `Mr. presidents,' '' said Panamanian President
Mireya Elisa Moscoso.
''There's a woman president here, which I'm sure will only be a
short-term exception. I'd like to thank President Bush for pointing
this (the predominantly male presence) out to me during the break.''
No TV cameras were rolling to reveal if Bush blushed.
But much of the rest of the session must have been dreary for
the U.S. president. One after one, leaders of smaller or poorer
countries lined up to indirectly question whether his vision of
unbridled capitalism is the best way to nurture nascent
democracies.
Bush had told his counterparts during the televised session that
democracy linked to markets was the best weapon against tyranny.
But, once the cameras left and the doors were closed to
reporters, other leaders wondered how their creaking and
vulnerable economies could possibly wield such a weapon. Others
stated baldly that they needed to know how much money countries
like Canada and the United States would be willing to pay to help
them make the transition.
''The most powerful, I insist, cannot avoid the obligation of
solidarity with those less favoured,'' said Paraguayan President
Luis Angel Gonzalez.
That was code for a plea for cash before Paraguay can prepare
to meet the 2005 deadline set for a negotiated deal on a Free
Trade Area of the Americas.
Others asked larger countries to treat them as equals, but not
before they were given preferential treatment.
''Don't poke sticks into our spokes,'' said Guatemalan president
Alfonso Portillo, thumping on his desk for emphasis.
''The small economies are not the same as the big economies.
Just to become the equals of the big brothers, we will need to be
treated accordingly.''
Portillo's solution included a promise from larger countries not to
demand the lowest market prices for commodities from smaller
countries. How that perspective might fit into the framework of a
hemispheric free-trade pact remained a mystery.
Hugo Chavez, the firebrand president of Venezuela, scoffed at
the notion of democracy as currently constructed in Latin America.
''If the democracy doesn't provide land, if it's concentrated in the
hands of two per cent of the population, we can't speak of
democracy,'' Chavez said.
There was little surprise on Sunday when the final declaration
from summit leaders reaffirming their commitment to a hemispheric
free-trade pact included an asterisk that represented Chavez's
dissent.
The format of the meeting didn't allow for debate or discussion,
so there was no noted reaction from Bush.
White House officials were said to be unhappy that a technical
lapse threw open what was supposed to be a closed-door session.

Reformatted: "A Task That Never Ends": Bush Proposes Perpetual War(fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

>From the Indian Journal Frontline
Aijaz Ahmad, author of *In Theory: Classes, Nations, and Literature*,
Verso Press.

"A Task That Never Ends"
Bush Proposes Perpetual War

*

The date of 11 September has a powerful resonance in the annals of modern
history. Twenty-eight years ago on this date, the CIA-sponsored coup of
General Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected socialist government
of President Allende and established a regime of terror which killed an
estimated thirty-five thousand people in the first few weeks and continued
to brutalise Chilean society for some two decades. 11 September was also
the date of the Camp David Accords which signalled Egypt's final surrender
to American imperialism and Israeli zionism, leaving the Palestinians at
the mercy of the latter. And, 11 September was the day when George Bush,
father of the current President of the United States, made his fateful
speech to the U.S. Congress announcing the war against Iraq-that supreme
act of terror which killed an estimated 200,000 people in the course of
that brief assault and which has led to the death of at least half a
million Iraqi children over the next decade, thanks to the U.S.-dictated
sanctions against their country.

Betrayal of the Palestinians, the destruction of Iraq! One can reasonably
assume that these two great devastations of the Arabo-Muslim world were
vivid in the memory of those 19 hijackers on this year's 11 September, when
they cammandeered four civilian aircraft owned by two major U.S. airlines,
and smashed three of them into the World Trade Centre (WTC) and the
Pentagon- famous nerve centres of U.S. financial and military power- while
committing a collective suicide in the process. The White House-the seat of
America's political power-was probably to be struck by the fourth aircraft
but something in the hijackers' plan went awry. Over 6,000 innocent
civilians from 60 couuntries-some five hundred of them from South Asia
alone, including the son of a close friend of the present writer- died
within a couple of hours in an act of calculated, hideous act of terrorism
carried out with stunning technical precision.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with their 220,000 dead, are of course the most
famous of the numerous cities that the United States has destroyed around
the world in the course of this century with the deliberate, terroristic
intent of targetting innnocent civilians, just as civilians were targetted
in their towns and hamlets alike throughout Indochina during the Vietnam
War. The spectacular terror which destroyed the World Trade Centre and
killed so many so callously pales by comparison; as one journalist has
calculated, the death of 6,000 civilain means that this same level of
violence would have to be carried out every day for a whole year for the
resulting death toll to match the death toll in Iraq over the past decade.

Even so, this was the first time that Americans came to experience what it
means for cities to be at the receiving end of such destructive force.

This hijacking operation carried out by less than two dozen individuals was
the largest attack on mainland United States in its history, larger than
Pearl Harbour, while American armies, assassins and covert operators of all
kinds have been active around the globe for well over a century.

And, because being at the receiving end of violence on their own soil was
such a novel experience for the U.S. centres of power, this attack on a
couple of buildings at the heart of the imperial centre produced effects
that no amount of terror and destruction in the outposts-or even the
secondary and tertiary centres- of the empire could have produced. An
economy that was already slowing down went into a full-fledged downturn,
and the week following the hijackers' attack proved to be the worst in the
history of U.S. finance since July 1933, with Dow Jones and Nasdeq posting
2-digit losses virtually every day and liquid assets losing $1.4 trillion
of their value over the week. The 30-year Treasury bonds continued to
decline day by day, amid speculation that further issues of long-term
federal debt shall be required to fund the war-without-end that is now
envisaged, not to speak of the reconstruction costs and coping with the
expected recession.

Not just fresh investment but also consumer spending dried up and the
working people paid the price. 116,000 jobs were lost in the airline
industry alone during that week, and the twin fears of war and economic
recession led to plummeting of sales across North America. An emergency $15
billion assistance package was quickly put together for the airlines while
Boeing, the lynchpin of American aerospace industry, threatened to fire
31,000 of its employees unless federal aid and subsidy came in.

Insurance companies were in similar turmoil, with insurance claims arising
from the World Trade Centre tragedy alone expected to exceed $73 billion.

The companies hit back by notifying airports across North America and

A Widow's Plea for Non-Violence; Killing Civilians; Norwegian BishopsSpeak Ou (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

This might help for those who are targets of guilt trips for taking
anti-war positions at a time like this, especially when their patriotism
is called into question, or, to the same effect, their sympathy for
victims is made the subject of unecessary doubt.

Steve


 IN THIS MESSAGE: A Widow's Plea for
Non-Violence;
Killing Civilians; Norwegian Bishops Speak Out; Looking for Final Proof

A Widow's Plea for Non-Violence

by Amber Amundson
September 25, 2001
Chicago Tribune

My husband, Craig Scott Amundson, of the U.S. Army
lost his life in the line of duty at the Pentagon on
Sept. 11 as the world looked on in horror and
disbelief.

Losing my 28-year-old husband and father of our two
young children is a terrible and painful experience.

His death is also part of an immense national loss
and I am comforted by knowing so many share my grief.

But because I have lost Craig as part of this
historic tragedy, my anguish is compounded
exponentially by fear that his death will be used to
justify new violence against other innocent victims.

I have heard angry rhetoric by some Americans,
including many of our nation's leaders, who advise a
heavy dose of revenge and punishment. To those
leaders, I would like to make clear that my family
and I take no comfort in your words of rage. If you
choose to respond to this incomprehensible brutality
by perpetuating violence against other innocent human
beings, you may not do so in the name of justice for
my husband. Your words and imminent acts of revenge
only amplify our family's suffering, deny us the
dignity of remembering our loved one in a way that
would have made him proud, and mock his vision of
America as a peacemaker in the world community.

Craig enlisted in the Army and was proud to serve his
county. He was a patriotic American and a citizen of
the world. Craig believed that by working from within
the military system he could help to maintain the
military focus on peacekeeping and strategic
planning--to prevent violence and war. For the last
two years Craig drove to his job at the Pentagon with
a "visualize world peace" bumper sticker on his car.
This was not empty rhetoric or contradictory to him,
but part of his dream. He believed his role in the
Army could further the cause of peace throughout the
world.

Craig would not have wanted a violent response to
avenge his death. And I cannot see how good can come
out of it. We cannot solve violence with violence.
Mohandas Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye only makes
the whole world blind." We will no longer be able to
see that we hold the light of liberty if we are
blinded by vengeance, anger and fear. I ask our
nation's leaders not to take the path that leads to
more widespread hatreds--that make my husband's death
just one more in an unending spiral of killing.

I call on our national leaders to find the courage to
respond to this incomprehensible tragedy by breaking
the cycle of violence. I call on them to marshal this
great nation's skills and resources to lead a
worldwide dialogue on freedom from terror and hate.

I do not know how to begin making a better world: I
do believe it must be done, and I believe it is our
leaders' responsibility to find a way. I urge them to
take up this challenge and respond to our nation's
and my personal tragedy with a new beginning that
gives us hope for a peaceful global community.

Amber Amundson is the wife of the late Craig Scott
Amundson, an enlisted specialist in the Army.
==

Subject: Killing Civilians: Behind the Reassuring Words


Killing Civilians: Behind the Reassuring Words


By Norman Solomon
Sept. 25, 2001



The Bush administration has vowed that it will not
aim the Pentagon's firepower at civilian targets in
Afghanistan. Such assurances are supposed to make us
think that innocent bystanders will be spared when
the missiles fly and the warheads explode. Don't
believe it.


Back in early August 1945, President Truman had this
to say: "The world will note that the first atomic
bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That
was because we wished in this first attack to avoid,
in so far as possible, the killing of civilians."


Actually, the U.S. government went out of its way to
select Japanese cities of sufficient size to showcase
the extent of the A-bomb's deadly power. In Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, hundreds of thousands of civilians died
-- immediately or eventually -- as a result of the
atomic bombings.


In the past several decades, presidents have
routinely expressed their reverence for civilian
lives while trying to justify orders that inevitably
destroyed civilian lives. Denial is key to the
success of public-relations campaigns that always
accompany war.


While top U.S. officials spoke of fervent desires to
protect civilians from harm in Southeast Asia, the
Pentagon inflicted massive carnage on the populations
of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Both Lyndon Johnson
and Richard Nixon tir

Mechanics irked that NWA still using foreign repair shops

[Stephen E Philion]

http://startribune.com/stories/535/714577.html

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Nephew of WTC Hero Cited By Bush Jr.

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemId=11963




Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Chomsky on CNBC today

[Stephen E Philion]

Chomsky will be on CNBC toady
Go to :
http://www.msnbc.com/chat/default.asp

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Duham NAACP Backs up minister

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.newsobserver.com/tuesday/news/triangle/Story/823471p-815669c.html

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Blair on terrorism

[Stephen E Philion]

I'm now listening to the speech by Tony Blair on Minnesota Public Radio.
I almost get the sense that this speech was designed to not only rally
Europeans behind the American military, but also to let the American
people hear the ideology of that institution expressed in a coherent and
eloquent fashion. Everytime I hear Bush on the radio, th e man is so
uninspiring with all those uh's, uhhmm's, er'sThis guy should
considering  standing in as US president...

Steve



Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

chomsky on msnbc now

[Stephen E Philion]

chomsky is having a full hour on msnbc, it's remarkable. right now.
steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Re: Re: RE: Evidence against bin Laden

[Stephen E Philion]

I foresee at some point a man with a white piece of paper in his hand
stating, "I have here the names of dozens of known  Bin Laden supporters
in the White House."

Steve

On Tue, 2 Oct 2001, Michael Perelman wrote:

> I concur with Jim.  We have no need to discuss the bin Laden here,
> expecially when we know so little about him and his organization.
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>

laid off NW worker on NWA since 9/11

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.mndaily.com/story.php?date=20011004&storyID=4094

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Blair's evidence against Bin Laden

[Stephen E Philion]

Seymour Hersh was interviewd on NPR the other day and  he spoke of his
numerous high up contacts in the CIA revealing to him that there's noo way
a white paper could be drawn up by the administration today, there just
isn't enough evidence that's convincing enough. I think he has an article
coming out in this months New Yorker.

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822


On Thu, 4 Oct 2001, Ken Hanly wrote:

> The evidence is detailed at: http://www.pm.gov.uk/
>
>
> I would be interested in people's response. There is not too much that is
> new. A lot of the evidence has nothing specific to do with the attacks on
> Sept 11 but relate to earlier attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and
> Tanzania and the USS Cole. A considerable amount of background is also
> provided including bin Laden's declaration of  Jihad against the US. The
> general strategy is to simply point out that bin Ladn is head of a large
> terrorist group, that is committed to a jihad against the US that includes
> terrorist attacks, and that he and the group are prime suspects in several
> other attacks. There is a final note that there is even more compelling
> evidence that is too sensitive to share..
>
>
> Just a few specific remarks and questions:
>
> The evidence states specifically that bin Laden claimed responsibility for
> attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole. I was under
> the impression that while he applauded them and claimed that they were in
> accordance with the jihad against the US that he was not responsible for
> them. Is this incorrect?
>
> Part of the evidence is that bin Laden made a phone call that says that an
> attack would take place
> in two days. This evidence was discovered AFTER the attacks. This makes
> absolutely no sense to me. I posted a source earlier that said that a call
> to bin Laden's mother had been intercepted in which he said that there would
> be an attack in two days. Surely this makes more sense. The call was
> intercepted at the time that it was made. It would be known then wouldn;t
> it. What gives?
>
> The picture the evidence gives is that bin Laden is something like the CEO
> of a terrorist organisation and as such of course he is involved in planning
> major attacks. But if he is how is it that intelligence sources are unable
> to to know what is going on? Furthermore one of the hijackers is said to
> have been involved both in the USS Cole attack in some way and in one of the
> embassy bombings. Surely you would think that intelligence sources would be
> keeping good track of this guy. How could he come to the  US and take part
> in a hijacking undetected? The evidence does not make intellligence services
> look even minimally competent.
>
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
>
>

New American War Motto

[Stephen E Philion]

Just read a suggestion for a new National Motto in a ltter to the  editor
of the Minneapolis Tribune, Oct. 5:
"Spend your money--maybe you'll get your job back!"
suggeted by James Johnson, Minneapolis.




Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Media priorities

[Stephen E Philion]

Now that's going too far. A lot of hard working journalists busted their
ass during the OJ Trial to make sure that nothing ever gets more
coverage...

Hey, what's OJ's take on 9/11?

Sorry, I'm l think Charles, it comes down to the  media squeezing as much
blood money as it can outta this tragedy...

steve

On Fri, 5 Oct 2001, Charles Brown wrote:

> At  this rate , in about six months from now, the amount of media coverage of the 
>September 11 events  will equal that of the coverage of the O. J. Simpson trial .
>
>
> CB
>
>

Re: Globalization and the Arab world

[Stephen E Philion]

Georgia wrote:
 We are not perfect; Wallerstein is not perfect; I am
not perfect; Mussolini is not perfect, that's life.

---Well, not perfect, noone is asking for perfection, but  how about just
quoting a person accurately. Since Wallerstein  never expressed  support
for the  9/11 attacks, which you falsely claim he did, what is the point
of debating with you?

Steve



Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Re: Globalization and the Arab world

[Stephen E Philion]

I'm not sure what planet Georgia is from, but we can with certainty that
she has made a false claim  about Wallerstein, namely that he supported
the  WTC attack. There  really is littl epoint in continuing to debate
someone who misstates the  position of someone they are  challenging.

Steve



On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, Anthony D'Costa asked Georgia:

> Since when did pen-l have an official line and which planet are you on:)
>
> 
>
> Anthony P. D'Costa
> Associate Professor   Ph: (253) 692-4462
> Comparative International Development Fax: (253) 692-5718
> University of Washington  Box Number: 358436
> 1900 Commerce Street
> Tacoma, WA 98402, USA
> 
>xxx
>
> On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, georgia rondos wrote:
>
> > The following remarks by Anthony D'Costa exhibit in full clarity what's
> > wrong with the pen-l official line:
> >
> > >I consider the Taliban as jokers,
> >
> > Just jokers, right. Nothing to worry about.
> >
> > >My take on this is probably no different from most others: a dramatic act
> > >that would not have happened in a perfect world, but the world is not
> > >perfect and so it did.
> >
> > Yea, too bad the weather turned bad. Life is not perfect; you never know,
> > one day the Taliban will hit you, another day they may not. One day 5
> > million Indians may die of hunger, another day they might celebrate a
> > holiday; that's life. Today the Towers, tomorrow a nuclear installation,
> > later the World Series. We are not perfect; Wallerstein is not perfect; I am
> > not perfect; Mussolini is not perfect, that's life.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>

Re: Re: Re: Globalization and the Arab world

[Stephen E Philion]

georgia originally said:
> >>No, the choice is how to respond to this type of terrorism (which
> Wallerstein welcomed as the most successful political act in the history
> of leftwing terrorism - this from a man who resides in NY and collects a
> salary from one of its universities in the range of probably $200,000!<<
Jim responded:
Like Steve, I'd like to see evidence that he actually said that.

--We won't see any, there is none to be found. She's making it up.

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Tourist in Waikiki detained by FBI

[Stephen E Philion]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/22/ln/ln07a.html

This ridiulousness seems to know no end...

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: peter k and hitchens

[Stephen E Philion]

I can hardly follow  that long pointless paragraph. You seem obsessed with
this Hitchens thing. I guess you think you're talking to a list filled
with c.h fansgo figure.  And maybe you just might wanna wake up and
smell the coffee, Henwood's been more than sufficiently critical of c.h's
bizarre ramblings since  9/11. This isn't the *Henwood is guilty of {  }*
list.  There are other lists that thrive on that for one bizarre reason or
another...

What is your problem anyway? I remember one time your publicly thanking
Henwood for helping you  when you were in a real health crisis jam...now,
in your book he is enemy #1what nonsense to  be playing out on this
list at this time

Steve

On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, Rakesh Bhandari wrote:

> sorry michael. i thought that with the hitchens' line being defended here by
> georgia and andrew h, people would be interested in peter k's having downloaded
> without any criticism at all a safire column on kerrey's actions in vietnam.
> can't quite make out why peter k would call me an asshole for referring to him
> as peter kitchens; what's interesting is that peter k referred in a private
> email to hitchens' critics, presumably including tariq ali, as pygmies and
> gnats. then when peter k discovered that i had forwarded that nasty little
> message to henwood, he wrote back that he was only joking. at that point, i was
> pretty certain hitchens was worried that his stupid little criticism would get
> back via henwood to tariq ali. at least that's how i then made sense of peter
> k's repudiation of his own contemptous dismissal of hitchens' critics.  well,
> it's obvious that navasky and co. should have given hitchens' nation column to
> tariq ali or dilip hiro or eqbal ahmad, but that would be too much to ask the
> american left! eqbal ahmad passed without ever really being featured by the
> american left--oh hitchens praised him to the skies, but seems to have
> forgotten anything that he wrote.  it's rather pathetic, i would say.
>
>  michael,  i don't know where the name peter k comes from, but i have a good
> friend whose oral histories of the rhineland controversy (use by french of
> black colonial troops for the occupation of germany--which was experienced as a
> humiliating blow to "white prestige") and the third reich features a "peter k",
> a black man who joined the Nazi party only later to be sterilized in line with
> Nazi eugenic policy.
>
> Rakesh
>
>
>
>
>

Re: Re: Re: peter k and hitchens

[Stephen E Philion]

My aplogies Michael, I see responding to this thread only carries on  the
past soap operasI will stop responding...

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Organized Slaughter: North Dakota Meatpacking

[Stephen E Philion]

http://citypages.com/databank/22/1090/article9889.asp

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

re: Nicaragua analysis

[Stephen E Philion]

Michael Perelman forwarded to us an analysis of the FSLN from Michael
Friedman that included the following phrase:
I remember Tomas Borge was quoted in '83 as saying something like "el
nuestro es un proceso enredado, y al pueblo no le gustan los enredos."

--The analysis is interesting, but I gotta ask what is it with certain
(not all) English speakers who can speak Spanish, why do they love to post
stuff in Spanish and assume everyone can read it? I speak 3 languages
already  and though I can rattle off a few sentences in Spanish, that's
about the end  of it. Could someone please translate this phrase from
Borge? Thanks.

Steve


Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Veteran in battle for benefits

[Stephen E Philion]

http://starbulletin.com/2001/11/13/news/index.html

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

US Attacks School of the Americas in Latest Phase of War on Terrorism

[Stephen E Philion]

http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=90162&group=webcast

Warlords Vie For Kitty

[Stephen E Philion]

http://nytimes.com/2001/11/16/international/asia/16AFGH.html

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: RE: Taliban retreats

[Stephen E Philion]

Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your kites!!

Steve



On Fri, 16 Nov 2001, Brownson, Jamil wrote:

> Karl, excellent analysis! Afghan loyalties have alwasy been close to home
> but mercenary in relation to outsiders, even when "outside" is at a tribal,
> ethnic, or regional level, much less any grand "national" or ideological
> scheme, such as propagated by Taliban.
>
> You are correct to point out that Taliban had few really significant
> military "victories" in the field, and those were largely due to support by
> Pakistani military /ISI "advisors". Whle their initial success was due to
> perception of them as a clean new actor in the chaos of civil war, their
> subsequent dogmatic and capricious rule endeared them to few if any
> Afghanis, including most of their allies and recruits. Marx's line "all
> that's solid melts into air" has many uses.
>
>
> As to the "hard core" Taliban and their "foreign" supporters going down in a
> hellish fire of bombs & munitions, I have deep compassion for them despite
> repudiation of their fanaticism. To be a mujahihadeen is an honorable
> identity, albeit perhaps mislpaced in this context. But if many of these men
> were veterans of wars for liberation of Muslim lands and peoples from true
> state terrorists such as Soviet & Russian successors, then they deserve
> compassion at the very least in their final end of unimaginable agony.
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Karl Carlile [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 10:51 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [PEN-L:19654] Taliban retreats
>
>
> A study of the history of the Taliban with regard to its take over of most
> of
> Afghanistan will show that it had not demonstrated any particular skill on
> the
> battlefield. The Taliban had made many of its gains as a result of
> defections
> due to sizable payments to the appropriate commanders or due switching sides
> so
> as to be on the winning side. The Taliban when it did do battle suffered
> some
> serious blows.
>
> It is clear that this process has been reversed. The significant defections
> away
> from the Taliban helps explain much of the gains from those that now oppose
> them. Those among the Taliban that are putting up a fierce and tenactious
> resistance are more than likely the core of the Taliban and OBL's armed
> group.
>
> Indeed it was a demonstration of the bankruptcy of the Taliban that should
> have
> tried to hold on to so much territory under the circumstances. Some weeks
> ago I
> pointed out that if I were Taliban I would have retreated from the cities
> and
> kept my army in tact. This would have left me in a better position to resist
> and
> even mount an offensive againt Western forces.
>
> Karl Carlile
> Be free to visit the web site of the Communist Global Group at
> http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/
>
>

arizona fbi flyer story true?

[Stephen E Philion]

Is that story about  the  fbi flyer on how to tell a terorist a true
story or another internet hoax?

steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Re: Doug tells the truth..........................

[Stephen E Philion]

Mark in the apoplectic mode contends:

"The truth"about Doug 'I'm no pacifist' Henwood is that he, too, is in
favour of US policy, that is, Henwood favours the policy of bombing Afghan
towns and cities, he favours the random and/or mass slaughter of Afghanis,
he favours the destruction of whatever remains of the social
infrastructure
in Afghanistan, in short he favours the kind of war of exterminism which
for example the Russian state has carried out in Chechya in recent years.
The collapse of Afghan society as a result of the combined efforts of  US
bombing and the insertion of Russian ground forces, troops, tanks etc,
under the Northern Alliance flag, is creating not just a humanitarian
catastrophe but prime-time genocide in Afghanistan. Henwood does support
this ongoing genocide.


--Wierd, on other lists I've not seen any evidence of this. He's
challenged the likes of Leo Casey on LBO and Soc. Register List, disagreed
with Max Sawicky on the LBO list on the current bombing campaign.
Any evidence that Doug supports the current  bombing campaign or is this
just one more of a series of smears?

Steve



Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Re: Re: Doug tells thetruth..........................

[Stephen E Philion]

Actuall Michael, you're too generous. This kind of smear is better suited
for M-l I would think than the PEN list. Mark doesn't characterize, he
mischaracterizes in the sectarian  tradtion  of substituting attack for
argument.

Steve

On Fri, 23 Nov 2001, Michael Perelman wrote:

> whoa, Mark.  Rather than characterize Doug as a craven apologist, let him
> elaborate if he wants to do so.
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>

Re: Re: Re: More on JP Morgan Crashing

[Stephen E Philion]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:

> Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> >I think the JPM Chase story is probably way overheated, but that's
> >another story.
>
> By the way, the stock market apparently doesn't see JPM at death's
> door:
> .
> It's outperformed the S&P, over both the short and medium term. Maybe
> a bunch of heavy-breathing conspiracists know better.
>
> They better not crash; Chase is where I keep my meager funds.
>
> Doug


YOU INFIDEL!!!

Re: Re: today's new ultimatum

[Stephen E Philion]

Shouldn't we be bombing Spain next? What is this knowingly harboring
terrorists w/o unconditionally handing them over to the US anyhow?

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822


On Tue, 27 Nov 2001, Ian Murray wrote:

>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Devine, James" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Pen-l (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 8:27 AM
> Subject: [PEN-L:20024] today's new ultimatum
>
>
> > from the SLATE "Today's Papers" column:> all the big US newspapers
> featured
> > >President Bush's comments that the Saddam Hussein should let
> weapons
> > inspectors into Iraq. And what happens if Saddam balks? "He'll find
> out,"
> > said the President.  Bush also said that any country "that develops
> weapons
> > of mass destruction that will be used to terrorize nations," will
> now be
> > granted
> > terrorist status. He has never mentioned this criterion before.
> Still, Bush
> > said he wasn't changing positions. "Have I expanded the definition?"
> he
> > asked.  "I've always had that definition, as far as I'm concerned."
> <
> >
> > let's see. What country, located in North America, developed and now
> harbors
> > the largest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in the world?
> what
> > country has actually used them and has threatened to do so again on
> several
> > occasions? what country, besides Iraq, also refuses to accept
> international
> > inspection?
>
> ===
> < http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1127-03.htm >
> President Bush's prime purpose now is gearing up America for a wider
> war. "It's not over. It's not over," he told Newsweek, concerned that
> the people might think otherwise. "Afghanistan is just the beginning,"
> he roared to an audience of soldiers at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
> "America has a message for the nations of the world. If you feed a
> terrorist or fund a terrorist, you're a terrorist."
>
> Who should be hired to bomb Langley, DC, Saudi Arabia etc.?
>
> Maybe it's time to bring back the free market in mercenarism.
>
> Ian
>
>

Re: RE: the great game

[Stephen E Philion]

Max asked:

If there's a major error in this analysis, I would say it's the
failure to appreciate the extent to which Russia is or will
become a U.S. client.  Otherwise it's hard to believe the
Bushies are that stupid, but I'm open to persuasion to
the contrary.  I wonder what Mark J. would say, aside
from the 'no oil shortage' part.

mbs

---He'd end up blaming Henwood.

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

China: How to Build a Rebellion (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

Far Eastern Economic Review

Issue cover-dated November 29, 2001

AGRICULTURE

HOW TO BUILD A REBELLION

A BOMB THAT NOW NEEDS TO BE DEFUSED

By Bruce Gilley

For 100 years, China has chased one "great leap forward" after another,
says Shanghai-based scholar Cao Jinqing. Mao Zedong's steel furnaces were
replaced by Deng Xiaoping's market reforms. These days, he says, the great
leap is global integration, symbolized by China's entry into the World
Trade Organization.

But each time, it is China's farmers who felt the brunt of the campaigns.
And each time, they have rebelled, Cao says. This time will be no different.

"As long as farmers are facing the same difficulties and feeling the same
anger, then it only takes a few villages and you already have a rebellion
of several thousand people on your hands," he says. "Today this situation
is already happening on a small scale. One day, a bigger crisis will happen."

Cao is well placed to comment, having spent years researching rural China.
Unlike most academics or officials, he always travels undercover in order
to learn the truth of the farmers' plight. His recent book China Along the
Yellow River, based on four months of sojourning in central Henan province
in 1996, is one of the richest portraits of the Chinese countryside
published in the reform era.

What Cao learned then, and has continued to uncover, is a vast swath of the
interior living in stagnation as coastal farmers prosper. "The coastal
areas are converging on modernity while the inland areas are converging on
tradition," he says.

The old problems of excessive taxation, small-holder farming and clan-based
societies persist or have returned to inland areas since collective farms
were disbanded in the late 1970s, he notes. That means the wheat, corn, and
cotton-growing areas expected to be hit hardest by WTO entry are the most
fragile. "In many places, the hope is just to maintain subsistence incomes.
Forget development," he says.

While historical and social factors play a role, Cao pinpoints the state's
policy of under-investing in agriculture and taxing farmers heaviest as the
biggest problem. The central government simply does not provide the funding
needed for public services in rural China, he says. The result is local
officials resort to an array of special taxes.

In Hubei province, which Cao visited in August, farmers are being asked to
pay taxes equivalent to 50% of their net income. In the year to September,
he says, citing official figures, 26 peasants around China took their own
lives because they couldn't pay taxes required by local cadres. "The
Communist Party came to power to overthrow the landlords. Now it has become
the new landlord," he says.

The solution, he says, is a thorough shake-up of the country's development
strategy to give rural China a fair deal. This means investment, pricing
and social policies to build prosperity. "There is a basic contradiction in
a state policy which wants to exploit the farmers but also to keep them
from rebelling," says Cao. "The national strategy has to be adjusted to
take them into account."

The Other America

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,595460,00.html

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Enron's fall to hurt alternative energy investment?

[Stephen E Philion]

I  just heard an interesting comment from an interviewee on
NPR was comenting on the effect of Enron's fall (about which there has been
surprisingly little discussion on this list, speaking of projects btw).
This observer commented that Enron's  fall could be potentially bad for
alternative energy sectors such as wind power. This, she claimed, was
because Enron's 'innovative character', that is its willingess to invest
in areas not traditionally invested in by the energy sector, including
wind power. The working assumption here seemd to be that deregulation
opened up the  potential for alternative energy research and investment
(the former stimulated by the latter). Deregulation  of energy would  now
face big obstacles, which would invariably militate against these trends.
I wondered how  Ralph Nader would respond to this.

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: Comment from Rudy Fichtenbaum:

[Stephen E Philion]

When I was in China, the  Marxist economist (and  translator of the
nefarious  Henwood's book Wall Street I might add) Han Deqiang used quote
after quote from Stiglitz in speeches he gave to university audiences to
debunk the adoration of the WTO in Chinese academia. There was another
person he used very effectively, Bill Clinton! He would end his lectures
with a quote from Clinton in a speech to  congress advising quick passage
of the China's entry to WTO based on the one sided character of
sacrafices called for in the deal, i.e.  only China would have to make
significant decreases in tarrifs, etc.
Han, btw, is really the closest thing China has to a Noam Chomsky. He goes
around to campuses and delivers lectures that simply use the words of
mainstream economists against the mythologies of neo-liberalism...

Steve

On Thu, 29 Nov 2001, Charles Brown wrote:

> Comment from Rudy Fichtenbaum:
>
> I just skimmed over the article outlining Stigliz and Krugman's
> critiques.  Considering the fact that they are not Marxists I think
> their criticisms are pretty significant.  I think that on one level it
> is probably worth supporting them because people will actually listen to
> what Stigliz has to say since he is a nobel prize winner.  This gives us
> an opportunity to influence a lot of people including a number of
> mainstream economists.  This doesn't mean we should accept their
> analysis uncritically.  Where it is appropriate we can debate and
> criticise but at the same time support the statements that they make
> that we agree with.
>
>

Guardian: US bombs rain death on innocents

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,610052,00.html

Peace activists disagree with Ward Churchill's comments

[Stephen E Philion]

Ward Churchill was invited by Burlinton Peace activists to speak at a
rally in opposition to the  "war on terrorism". They were taken aback when
a  Burlington Free Press columnist did some elementary research on
Churchill's views on the people who died in the WTC attack. Churchill's
view that the people in the WTC bldg. were "little Eichmanns" shocked the
organizers and sponsors, one of whom pulled out of the rally, Pax Christi.

The column from Saturday's Burlington Free Press:

Hemingway

Activist's views on attacks will have people buzzing

Ward Churchill is speaking in Burlington today.

That might not mean much to most folks, although Churchill is one of the
nation's foremost experts on the plight of indigenous peoples,
particularly Native Americans.

That's important stuff, but it's his views about the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that will have people buzzing this
weekend.

Churchill, who is expected to appear at a downtown rally against the
bombing in Afghanistan this morning and at a symposium at the University
of Vermont in the afternoon, basically thinks the victims of the attacks
got what they deserved.

In a lengthy Internet essay titled, "Some people push back: On the justice
of roosting chickens," this is what he wrote about the people who
commandeered the airliners that crashed into the Pentagon and the twin
towers:

"They finally responded in kind to some of what this country has dispensed
to their people as a matter of course. That they waited to do so ... more
than anything is a testament to their patience and restraint."

As for those victims who died at the Pentagon, they were not "innocent
civilians," he wrote. "The building and those inside comprised military
targets, pure and simple."

He directed his harshest remarks at the people who worked and died inside
the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, apparently forgetting that a good
number of them worked in low-paying jobs servicing the building and its
users.

"If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of
visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little
Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd be
really interested in hearing about it."

The Eichmann reference is to Adolph Eichmann, the member of the Nazi
secret police who was convicted and executed for his part in the killing
of six million Jews during World War II.

Thankfully, we live in a nation that values free speech and is strong
enough to permit the articulation of unpopular viewpoints, even as
repugnant as Churchill's.

To be fair, his essay was written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, so
we don't know if he remains as strident on the subject today. Attempts to
reach him by telephone this week were unsuccessful.

The essay first appeared on a Web site he helps edit and most recently was
posted on UVM philosophy professor Will Miller's Web site.

One thing's sure: UVM and the people responsible for sponsoring his visit
to Burlington don't support what he wrote about the victims.

They didn't even know he'd said those things until the essay was brought
to their attention by a reporter.

"I find it personally obnoxious and abhorrent," said Provost John Bramley.
"I didn't know a damn thing about it until today."

Ellen Kahler, director of the Peace & Justice Center, spoke about wishing
her group could "pull back" from support for Churchill's appearance at the
rally.

"It's clearly not our position at all, and it's unfortunate it came out
now," she said.

Jimmy Leas, a lawyer connected with the Burlington Anti-War Coalition,
said his group considered but rejected the idea of disinviting Churchill
upon learning of his remarks.

"What he said is so completely at variance with what we believe," Leas
said.

You have to wonder if Churchill's remarks would be as cold-blooded if he
had lost a loved one in the attacks, or what he'd say to the families of
the 13 UVM alumni who did.

Sometime this weekend, you can bet someone is going to ask Churchill about
that.

Let's see what he says.

can friendly fire be confirmed?

[Stephen E Philion]

Hold on here folks, why are we taking for granted that the attack can be
confirmed?  hasn't  Rumsfeld been telling us that it's hard to confirm
reports from Afghanistan? Maybe it was an Afghani Taliban Islamic Fascist
fighter plan in disguise?

Steve

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Why does Hitchens Call Garzon his ally in the "WOT", Bombings, etc...

[Stephen E Philion]

Hitchens refers to  Garzon in his recent  article, contrasting him with
anti-war activists whom he confuses with  Bin Laden supporters. But
Garzon's public writing indicates that  he is actaully not at all
supportive of Hitchens/Bush's would be  "war on terror"...

Steve


http://www.zmag.org/garzon.htm
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/rob00113.htm


best, steve



Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

In the Failed Mill's Shadow, the Workers Despair

[Stephen E Philion]

New York Times

December 8, 2001
In the Failed Mill's Shadow, the Workers Despair
By ERIK ECKHOLM
BAODING, China — For more than three decades after it was founded in 1958,
the Baoding No. 1 Paper Mill seemed a model of Chinese socialism.

If none of the workers got rich, at least they were provided decent
housing. Medical care was nearly free and the growing force of retirees
from the city-owned mill received livable pensions.

Faithful workers, a number of whom gained coveted membership in the
Communist Party, spent their careers at the mill and their children often
entered it too.

"This was a family affair," is how one worker described it.

Today, the factory is dismantled. Its workers, onetime "masters of the
nation," are mostly destitute and feel betrayed.

They say the mill exemplifies some of the darker sides of China's economic
transition: the dismemberment of old state enterprises under shady
circumstances and the virtual abandonment of lifelong employees.

Many better-educated Chinese look forward eagerly to the opportunities
provided by the growing private sector and by China's imminent entry into
the World Trade Organization.

But millions of middle-aged and older workers in state enterprises — whose
own schooling was often cut short by Maoist turmoil — have been left
feeling castoff and afraid. They include many in Baoding, an aging
industrial city of a million or so about 80 miles southwest of Beijing
where failed state industries and unemployment have proliferated.

In a chilling reflection of a community in despair, three elderly male
retirees have committed suicide in the last three years, despondent because
they became such a burden on jobless children with families of their own to
support, workers said.

The case of this mill is by no means an isolated one, and the government's
promises of training and even minimal income support have not been kept.

"I never imagined it would get this hard," said Chen Yinglan, 72, who wears
the haunted look of someone whose world has fallen apart. Her husband
worked for 40 years in state industries, proudly joining the Communist
Party and rising to foreman at the Baoding paper mill. He died in 1994,
when the plant's fate still seemed uncertain, but she has rarely received
the pension she is due.

Last year, she said, she got a total of $6 a month to live on, and this
year she has not received a penny.

Like most of the former mill employees and their spouses, she lives in the
increasingly decrepit company apartment blocks. She shares her room with
two cats and spends her days rummaging through garbage for sellable materials.

Adding to her grief, her oldest son, laid off from the same mill, died in
1999, perhaps from heart disease. The ailment was never diagnosed, she
says; he had no money to see a doctor even as he began to feel sick. Her
two other children have been laid off from other state enterprises, and
they too have rarely received the stipends they are legally owed.

Zhang Shufen, 48, who lives in the same compound, is not as hard up because
she has kept her job at an outside store. Still, she fought back tears as
she described how her husband — who had been a foreman at the paper mill
and a member of the Communist Party for 20 years — was arrested last month
for disturbing public order.

"He really believed in socialism and would never do anything to hurt the
party," she said of her husband, Zhang Xiaoying, who is 46. "He hadn't had
any real work for 10 years and he took it hard.

"I think he just got so outraged when he saw that they had beat up workers,
and nobody cared," she said by way of explaining her husband's role in the
angry demonstrations on Nov. 12 and 13 that led to his arrest. She has not
been able to visit him in jail and is waiting to hear his fate.

The paper mill was still doing a good business but was closed in 1992 to
halt pollution of a nearby lake. The national government provided $3.3
million for upgrading but that money disappeared, former managers say, and
the mill's 1,036 employees, including 400 retirees, were left with nothing.

The plant never reopened and workers watched as valuable equipment was sold
off, sometimes covertly and illegally by managers.

The laid-off workers received living allowances or pensions only
sporadically and medical reimbursement stopped, leading to deaths and
disabilities that perhaps could have been prevented.

In 1999 the city had the mill declared bankrupt and sold it to an
enterprise that is also mainly owned by the same city government, but in
addition sells shares on the stock exchange.

The new owner, the Bao Shuo Corporation, put a new plastic piping plant on
part of the land, and sold another large part to a commercial developer in
return for $10 million and a share of the new development.

Under the terms of the bankruptcy sale, Bao Shuo was supposed to meet past
and future financial obligations to former employees and help them find new
jobs. Only after years of bitter agi

Spread of AIDS in Rural China Ignites Protests (fwd)

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/11/health/11AIDS.html

Peasants to bear brunt of open grain market

[Stephen E Philion]

Peasants to bear brunt of open grain market

SCMP
  RAY CHEUNG








Tough business: Zhang Zhonghuang faces a new age of competition. SCMP
photo

Every day, Shandong farmer Zhang Zhonghuang brings the wheat from Liu
village to a local grain wholesale market, 30km south of Jining.
Mr Zhang sells his village's wheat at 60 fen (56 HK cents) per 500g,
making a profit of 10 fen.

The sale, after tax, fertiliser, seed, and water, allows the 30 year-old
farmer with two children to earn about 4,000 yuan (HK$3,773) a year.

"The grain business is tough," he said. And it is about to become even
tougher. On November 10, half a world away in Doha, Qatar, China finally
joined the World Trade Organisation.

As part of its accession to the WTO, China will open up its agricultural
market to foreign imports, particularly for grain.

For wheat, maize and soyabeans, China will reduce tariffs from an average
22 per cent to 17.5 per cent and raise imports quotas by up to 20 million
tonnes each year. This will bring trouble for 70 per cent of China's 600
million farmers, who grow grain mostly in the North China Plain region
above the Yellow River and northeastern China.

Grain produced by farmers in the US, Canada, Australia, and the European
Union will enter the Chinese market. With their huge plots of land and use
of modern machines, these farmers can produce wheat, maize and soyabeans
at costs up to 50 per cent lower than the Chinese.

The US is expected to make the biggest gain among foreign grain producers.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates that by 2005 its grain exports
to China will rise by US$1.6 billion (HK$12.48 billion) a year, with wheat
reaching US$727 million. Mr Zhang will soon face two options - to leave
the farm or grow another crop.

The semi-official Chinese News Service reported that China expected to
lose 12 million farming jobs through the WTO's agricultural import policy.
That will add to an estimated 150 million rural migrants. To absorb the
millions of unemployed, Beijing is transforming villages into urban
industrial cities through heavy investment in infrastructure.

Li Tie, director-general of the Centre for Town Reform and Development,
said: "We are seeking to create new cities in rural areas which will
stimulate the manufacturing industry and increase demand for urban
services, bringing new jobs to rural people."

The rural-urban metamorphosis will take years and require massive skills
training for farmers. It will also depend on a sizeable rise in China's
manufacturing exports, which is unlikely during the current global
economic slowdown.

Despite these challenges, the World Bank's China Agriculture Section
Co-ordinator, Juergen Voegle, is optimistic.

"The impact from the WTO on China's farmers is overestimated. The WTO will
simply push out the marginal and less competitive areas," he said.

One development is that grain farmers may now plant more profitable crops
such as vegetables. Many of China's grain farmers have been part of the
Government's food security policy of achieving 95 per cent
self-sufficiency in grain supplies.

The policy, the product of the great famines in the 1960s, heavily
subsidises farmers to grow more grain and imposes tariff on imports.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that by 1999 China had
more than 450 million tonnes of stockpiled grain - equivalent to 97 per
cent of the total annual demand for that year. While this has been good
for the nation, it is devastating for farmers' incomes.

The People's Daily reported rural per capita incomes from 1998 to last
year grew by only 91 yuan to 2,253 yuan, while urban residents' per capita
income grew by 848 yuan to 6,316 yuan.

"The Government's policy is now moving towards market forces . . . Farmers
are not stupid, if they know they are not making money, they will then
change their crops," said Dr Huang Jikuan, director and professor at the
Chinese Academy of Science's Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy.

Only time will tell how joining the WTO will affect China's countryside.
One certainty is that as China enters another era of change, farmers
including Mr Zhang will be asked to make the largest sacrifices.





Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

LA Times: Taliban's Fall No Insurance of Peace

[Stephen E Philion]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-121701endgame.story

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Abu jamal death sentence thrown out

[Stephen E Philion]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011218/us/mumia_abu_jamal.html

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Oil row in Maoist haven a bad omen

[Stephen E Philion]

South China Morning Post

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Oil row in Maoist haven a bad omen

REUTERS in Beijing

Their battle cry was ''Get to Work'' and they came in three shifts, but the
Chinese oil drillers weren't brandishing their crowbars and wooden sticks
as tools.

The 400-man brigade swarmed over and smashed police cars guarding
state-owned oil fields as they laid down their claim to drilling rights
late last month on behalf of a firm backed by the local government.

When the workers dispersed and the dust settled, around 30 injured
patrolmen crawled out of their deformed vehicles, some with baseball-sized
holes in their safety helmets.

The clash in the northwestern city of Yanan, the cradle of Mao Zedong's
Communist revolution, could be a sign of things to come as China opens its
markets, cuts tariffs and drops import barriers as a new member of the
World Trade Organisation.

Many fear social unrest will proliferate in the hinterland as Beijing
closes inefficient, illegal or unsafe producers and lays off tens of
millions of workers as it restructures fragmented industries like coal and
petrochemicals to fend off foreign competitors.

The November 19 incident, still under investigation, was the latest
flare-up in the Yanan county of Ansai between local government oil men and
state conglomerate Changqing.

''But it's never been this serious,'' an official at the Ansai County Oil
Drilling Company, which admits spearheading the attack, told reporters.

The disputed fields lie some 50km from the caves in Shaanxi province where
Mao, seeking a safe haven after the 1934-36 Long March, coined the phrase
''serve the people''.

The locals, booted from the fields on a daily basis before violence broke
out, stewed over a lag in implementing a special 1994 deal aimed at
breaking up Changqing's legal monopoly over the poor region's chief natural
resource.

''They are a powerful and bullying state-owned giant and they have state
media on their side,'' the Ansai official said.

Changqing's parent, state giant PetroChina, tells a different story.

''The nature of this is very clear,'' PetroChina Deputy Director-General
Cao Yanzheng told reporters. ''We own the rights to these deposits and they
infringed on those rights. Then they took violent action, so that's a
further violation of the law.''

Malcontent workers and feisty local outfits have long coveted the oil in
northern Shaanxi.

At least a decade ago, a slew of drillers sponsored by local governments
began to carve pieces of the pie away from sheepish state monoliths
illegally. Little regulated, they compounded Yanan's economic and social
turmoil by plundering the wells.

The State Council, China's cabinet, intervened in 1994, brokering a deal
that opened 500 sq km of Changqing land in six Yanan counties to other
drillers.

Called Agreement 413, it was to be a ''land for peace'' trade-off, said the
Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Weekend.

Yet certain boundaries were never finalised and drillers like Ansai had yet
to cash in.

''The central government stepped in to broker the 413 Agreement, but that
didn't stop the violence,'' said a Yanan police chief, who declined to give
his name.

Two of the 33 Changqing security personnel injured in the November 19
assault were seriously hurt, according to the respected Beijing-based
magazine Sanlian Weekly. Southern Weekend ran photos of their cracked headgear.

Ansai denied it caused the injuries.

''Our people did smash their cars this time, but we did not hurt anybody.
We know the law,'' said the official.

In neighbouring areas there have been even fiercer stand-offs involving
Changqing, the Yanan police chief told reporters.

''Last year in Wuqi County a peasant was killed,'' he said.

In the middle of the fray is Yanan, a city anxious to protect local
interests but keenly aware that regionalism is a sin in the WTO-era akin to
feudalism in Mao's heyday.

On the city's other flank lies Changqing, whose huge stake in the area
includes a new 720 million yuan ($US87 million), 460-km gas and oil
pipeline to PetroChina's petrochemical plant in Xianyang, 250 km south.

Changqing fields produced 4.6 million tonnes of crude oil and 2.056 billion
cubic metres of natural gas last year, five times the amount local amateurs
could drill, Sanlian said, citing analysts.

Not that Yanan collects taxes from the PetroChina subsidiary.

''We don't end up seeing any local benefits,'' Yanan mayor Zhang Shenian
told Sanlian.

Yanan's impotence was reflected by a criminal probe which, according to the
police chief, aimed ''not to say who was right and who wrong, but to assess
who owes what''.

The incident has dented the armour of a town which still reckons itself a
bastion of the collectivist ethics Mao devised there in the 1930s.

''This is simply denigrating,'' fumed mayor Zhang. ''It's hurt Yanan and
Ansai county's image.''

The local favouritism and fragmentation underlying the incident could give
China a bad WTO image, lamented

Re: Chinese working class

[Stephen E Philion]

Steve Diamond wrote:
 They ignore the actual independent labor
insurgency underway in China right now and they charge anyone in their way
with being a racist, national chauvinist, etc. etc.

--Uhm, actually the argument that has been put forth by a number of
persons on the left in the US is that if the US unions can have relations
with the Mexican union movement, which itself is reknowned for
encompassing a  large # of company/Party unions, why not China? The idea
is that, especially with the changes in foreign policy directions that
Sweeney has at least attempted to push the AFL-CIO, the door is then open,
much more open, to work with non-company unions and/or labor
sympathizers/activists in countries such as Mexico or China.

Steve


Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Does Geraldo know where He is?

[Stephen E Philion]

http://baltimoresun.com/features/bal-to.geraldo15dec15.story

Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Chinese Robbers Get Death Sentence

[Stephen E Philion]

Thursday April 26, 5:27 PM

Chinese Robbers Get Death Sentence

BEIJING (AP) - Two men who robbed an American diplomat of $50 have been
sentenced to death, officials said Thursday.

Armed with knives, Li Guang and Mu Jiangqiao also stole a camera and a
watch from a U.S. diplomat in the southwestern tourist center of Lijiang in
August, the government's Xinhua news agency said.

The Shanghai-based diplomat was not identified. His assailants also
confessed to committing several other robberies.

The U.S. Consulate in Shanghai did not comment.

In a separate capital case, Zhang Yunsong robbed two Dutch tourists of $80
in Lijiang in July, the report said. Zhang confessed to six other robberies
and received the death penalty, Xinhua said.

An official at the Lijiang Intermediate Court, who gave his name only as
Mr. Zhang, confirmed the death sentences.

China tends to punish crimes against foreigners more harshly to secure an
image as a safe place for tourism and investment. Despite increasing crime
and violence nationwide, crimes against foreigners remain rare.

China executes more prisoners each year than the rest of the world
combined. State-run media have reported more than 100 executions so far
this month. Most executions are carried out by gunshot to the back of the head.

China's poverty time bomb

[Stephen E Philion]

SCMP

Tuesday, April 24, 2001
China's poverty time bomb

CALUM MACLEOD

Red-faced from cheap alcohol, Mr Chen paces angrily on Tiger Hill. ''What
socialist country?'' he shouts. ''China is a society for the rich!'' Inside
the former army barracks behind him, Mr Chen, who declines to give his full
name, has made a one-room home. His makeshift bed competes for space with
the roots and herbs from which he scratches a living in Nanjing, a city of
2.8 million. Other urban residents enjoy water, electricity and other basic
amenities, but not Mr Chen and his neighbours in this slum of flophouses on
the verge of collapse. ''Who'd like to live in this ing place?'' he asks.

 From his vantage point, Mr Chen is a witness to profound changes sweeping
this Yangtze River port in eastern China. But he doesn't like what he sees.
''Look at these rich people, living in big high rises and luxurious villas.
Damn them!'' He spits and points down Tiger Hill to one of many
construction sites. Banners hung over every approach road to the apartments
of Yanheyuan Garden complex beckon: ''First instalment only 60,000 yuan
[about HK$57,000].''

A good deal, says businessman Liu Rong. The 48-year-old, who requested a
false name for this story, is busily cashing in on his city's real estate
boom. Living in a low-rent flat allocated by his wife's state-run work
unit, Mr Liu made his first property investment two years ago, 400,000 yuan
for a Western-style apartment overlooking Beiluzhou Park. ''I want to buy a
better and more expensive house this time,'' he explains, ''because the
more expensive it is, the more investment return you make.''

Mr Liu and Mr Chen live in the same city and were born in the same year,
but they have grown worlds apart. After two decades of economic reforms in
China, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are growing poorer at an
alarming rate. The worsening polarisation of Chinese society has become a
major concern for Communist Party officials, lawmakers and academics. Many
express fears that the growing income gap, dividing east and west China,
town and country, and even communities within the same city, is a time bomb
threatening social stability and future development.

''Look at the recent series of bombings in Jiangxi and Shijiazhuang,'' says
Beijing-based economist Dr Han Deqiang. The blasts last month killed scores
of children and cotton workers. ''There is a clear, if indirect, link
between the incidents and the gap between rich and poor. I worry that
China's entry to the World Trade Organisation will widen the gap further.
There will be more victims, as many enterprises go bankrupt, and the whole
of society will be affected by the greater competition.''

Local authorities throughout China are battling ever more frequent protests
by urban workers laid-off or owed wages by redundant state-owned factories.
Peasants whose incomes have stalled in recent years grow increasingly
restive at the continued exploitation by corrupt officials. At least 100
million peasants have fled the land to compete for scarce jobs in the
cities. Yet China simply cannot afford a social security net to catch them all.

Word of the crisis is troubling the top echelons of power. At last month's
annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), Premier Zhu Rongji
warned that a 1999 survey put China's Gini Coefficient, an international
index for income equality, at 0.39, ''close to the international danger
level'' of 0.4. He should be so lucky. Most experts agree that a more
accurate estimate of the current figure is 0.458, although some claim the
true figure is as high as 0.59. On the Gini Coefficient, zero represents
perfect equality and one represents perfect inequality.

A truly egalitarian society was one of Mao Zedong's most cherished goals,
and he came close to achieving it through decades of brutal social
experiments as everyone stayed poor together. Two years after his death, in
1978, China's Gini index was just 0.15, among the lowest in the world. Then
came Deng Xiaoping, with his call to ''let some people get rich first''.

Millions have heeded Deng's advice, resulting in spectacular achievements
in poverty alleviation. Although an average of 47 poor people are added to
the world every minute, China claims to have 20 fewer poor people per
minute. Yet millions remain left behind in the rush to riches. Mr Chen's
monthly earnings of just 200 yuan set him above the official bottom line
for poverty (625 yuan per year) but far below Nanjing's monthly average of
850 yuan.

Mr Chen feels neither Mao's nor Deng's revolution dealt him a fair hand.
His parents were condemned as ''rightists'' in the late 1950s and exiled to
the poverty-stricken countryside of Anhui province. After their death, Mr
Chen returned to Nanjing in the 1980s, demanding justice for his parents
and the much cherished right to urban residence. He was rejected. Having
decided not to return to the village, he somehow stumbled into the deserted
arm

Re: Re: Re: Low productivity in the "Global South"

[Stephen E Philion]

Brad wrote:
> >in resource-poor Bangladesh today, with U.S. consumers protected
> >against the danger of buying Bangladeshi textiles made with child
> >labor, 80% of newborns are expected to survive to age 40, and that
> >was definitely not the case two generations ago...
> >
> >
> >Brad DeLong

The sarcastic reference to US consumers protected from Bangladeshi child
labor seems a bit off the mark given this letter to the NYT from an
AFL-CIO Dept. rep...


[T] o the Editor:

Re "Hearts and Heads," by Paul Krugman (column, April 22):

It is true that in 1993 the threat of United States legislation led
irresponsible garment factory owners in Banladesh to dismiss child
workers, who had no immediate prospects for schooling. But a five-year
memorandum of understanding, signed in 1995 by Unicef and the
International Labor Organization with the Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association, has provided schooling and
income support for more than 27,000 former child laborers.

Since then, the number of exporting factories using children has dropped
from 43 to 5 percent, allowing more Bangladeshi adults to move into jobs
previously held by children. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh garment export
industry grew almost 500 percent from 1990 to 2000.

BARBARA SHAILOR

Speaking of Numbers...

[Stephen E Philion]

SCMP
   Wednesday, May 2, 2001
   LABOUR DAY
   Re-employment figures fall to record low for quarter
   __

   The percentage of jobless people who returned to the workforce fell to
a record low in the first quarter of this year, according to official
  labour figures.

 Only 4.8 per cent of unemployed people, or 331,000, returned to work
 in the first three months - a drop of 2.7 percentage points compared
   with last year, the China Youth Daily, quoting figures from Labour and
Social Welfare Ministry, reported. The report said 50 per cent of
   unemployed people returned to work in 1998, compared to 40 per cent in
1999 and 35.4 per cent last year.

  Despite early reports that more people were laid off as a result of
accelerated state-owned enterprise reforms, the Labour and Social
   Welfare Ministry claims that fewer people were forced to leave the
   work force. About 6.53 million people were laid off at state-owned
   enterprises, which is 40,000 fewer than the end of last year, ministry
   statistics reveal.

  During the past three years, the Government had closed nearly 1,000
 large and medium-size state firms to avoid losses to the state, with
 23 of them employing more than 10,000 workers and some more than
  50,000, said the Beijing Daily.

  "The record low re-employment rate indicates that the situation has
 become worse," an official at the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry
   was quoted as saying, adding that the main reasons for the
 difficulties encountered by the long-term unemployed in getting back
   to work were their age and lack of skills.

   The poor implementation of the country's re-employment policy also
contributed to the drop, he admitted.

   From the beginning of this year, the Government has closed 938
  re-employment service centres in Beijing that had been set up since
  August 1998 to help laid-off workers find new jobs.

Re: Re: Re: the enemy's statistics

[Stephen E Philion]

On Wed, 2 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:
> key. Might I recommend books you might find useful to understand the
> phenomenon of stagnation:
>
> 5. James Petras, "Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America"
>
> I have found them extremely useful and I am sure that so would you.
>
Lou, I've always wondered, since you frequently refer to James Petras as
one of the Marxists you greatly admire, where do you stand on Petras'
criticisms of dependency/World Systems Theory, especially his rather
*explicit* agreement with Brenner's criticisms of these theoretical
approaches.  Brenner is taken to task by you for the similar reasons that
you take on Doug so frequently. Isn't this somewhat inconsistent?


Steve

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the enemy's statistics

[Stephen E Philion]

On Wed, 2 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> >Lou, I've always wondered, since you frequently refer to James Petras as
> >one of the Marxists you greatly admire, where do you stand on Petras'
> >criticisms of dependency/World Systems Theory, especially his rather
> >*explicit* agreement with Brenner's criticisms of these theoretical
> >approaches.  Brenner is taken to task by you for the similar reasons that
> >you take on Doug so frequently. Isn't this somewhat inconsistent?
> >
> >
> >Steve
>
> I am glad you asked that question. Basically I regard both Brenner and
> Wallerstein as dialectically opposed reactions to genuine Marxism, which

So, on this you would probably be in disagreement with Petras, who clearly
is sympathetic with Brenner's approach and indicates nowhere that what
Brenner does is not consistent with 'genuine Marxism'?

Steve

Is the WB unreliable?

[Stephen E Philion]

Here, most ironically, is an article from what I believe is a reliable
source extolling the WB's extolling of Cuban education and health
indicators...  Steve




Inter Press Service
Finance: Learn from Cuba, says World Bank
by Jim Lobe
Washington, 30 Apr  -- World Bank President James Wolfensohn Monday
extolled the Communist government of President Fidel Castro for doing "a
great job" in providing for the social welfare of the Cuban people.

His remarks followed Sunday's publication of the Bank's 2001 edition of
'World Development Indicators' (WDI), which showed Cuba as topping
virtually all other poor countries in health and education statistics.

It also showed that Havana has actually improved its performance in both
areas despite the continuation of the US trade embargo against it, and the
end of Soviet aid and subsidies for the Caribbean island more than ten
years ago.

"I think Cuba has done -- and everybody would acknowledge -- a great job
on education and health," Wolfensohn told reporters at the conclusion of
the annual spring meetings of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). "I have no hesitation in acknowledging that they've done a good
job, and it doesn't embarrass me to do it. ...We just have nothing to do
with them in the present sense, and they should be congratulated on what
they've done."

His remarks reflect a growing appreciation in the Bank for Cuba's social
record, despite recognition that Havana's economic policies are virtually
the antithesis of the "Washington Consensus", the neo-liberal orthodoxy
that has dominated the Bank's policy advice and its controversial
structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) for most of the last 20 years.

Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to suggest that other
developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba's performance.

"It is in some sense almost an anti-model," according to Eric Swanson, the
programme manager for the Bank's Development Data Group, which compiled
the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic, social,
and environmental indicators.

Indeed, Cuba is living proof in many ways that the Bank's dictum that
economic growth is a pre-condition for improving the lives of the poor is
over-stated, if not downright wrong. The Bank has insisted for the past
decade that improving the lives of the poor was its core mission.

Besides North Korea, Cuba is the one developing country which, since 1960,
has never received the slightest assistance, either in advice or in aid,
from the Bank. It is not even a member, which means that Bank officers
cannot travel to the island on official business.

The island's economy, which suffered devastating losses in production
after the Soviet Union withdrew its aid, especially its oil supplies, a
decade ago, has yet to fully recover. Annual economic growth, fuelled in
part by a growing tourism industry and limited foreign investment, has
been halting and, for the most part, anaemic.

Moreover, its economic policies are generally anathema to the Bank. The
government controls virtually the entire economy, permitting private
entrepreneurs the tiniest of spaces. It heavily subsidises virtually all
staples and commodities; and its currency is not convertible to anything.
It retains tight control over all foreign investment, and often changes
the rules abruptly and for political reasons.

At the same time, however, its record of social achievement has not only
been sustained; it's been enhanced, according to the WDI.

It has reduced its infant mortality rate from 11 per 1,000 births in 1990
to seven in 1999, which places it firmly in the ranks of the western
industrialised nations. It now stands at six, according to Jo Ritzen, the
Bank's Vice President for Development Policy, who visited Cuba privately
several months ago to see for himself.

By comparison, the infant mortality rate for Argentina stood at 18 in
1999; Chile's was down to ten; and Costa Rica, at 12. For the entire Latin
American and Caribbean region as a whole, the average was 30 in 1999.

Similarly, the mortality rate for children under the age of five in Cuba
has fallen from 13 to eight per thousand over the decade. That figure is
50% lower than the rate in Chile, the Latin American country closest to
Cuba's achievement. For the region as a whole, the average was 38 in 1999.

"Six for every 1,000 in infant mortality - the same level as Spain - is
just unbelievable," according to Ritzen, a former education minister in
the Netherlands. "You observe it, and so you see that Cuba has done
exceedingly well in the human development area."

Indeed, in Ritzen's own field, the figures tell much the same story. Net
primary enrolment for both girls and boys reached 100% in 1997, up from
92% in 1990. That was as high as most developed nations - higher even than
the US rate and well above 80-90% rates achieved by the most advanced
Latin American countries.

"Even in education performance, Cuba's is very much in tun

teamsters immigration resolution

[Stephen E Philion]

International Brotherhood of Teamsters
GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD RESOLUTION ON IMMIGRANT WORKERS


WHEREAS, immigrant workers are among the most exploited and abused in the
workforce, but they  possess few of the resources necessary to effectively
advocate for their own rights; and

WHEREAS, membership in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters would
provide these  disadvantaged workers with the ability to assert their
rights to a fair wage, decent benefits, and a safe  working environment; and

WHEREAS, unscrupulous employers are using the threat - and, in some cases,
the action - of  reporting undocumented workers to the Immigration and
Naturalization Service in order to  discourage, frustrate, and defeat
Teamster organizing drives involving immigrant workers; and

WHEREAS, many workers who are vulnerable to this threat have been living in
the United States for  years, working in the most difficult,
labor-intensive jobs, paying their taxes, investing in our  neighborhoods,
contributing to our communities, and joining our Union; and

WHEREAS, expanding upon the immigration reforms - particularly limited
legalization - passed in  the 106th Congress will protect thousands of
these workers from unscrupulous employer threats,  drastically weakening
the effectiveness of this union-busting tool; and

WHEREAS, many immigrant workers who already call themselves Teamsters face
tremendous  challenges in dealing with visa applications, naturalization
requirements, the Immigration and  Naturalization Service bureaucracy, as
well as other legal needs specific to immigrant workers and  their
families; and

WHEREAS, Local Unions that possess the ability to assist in these matters
could, in addition to  helping their current membership, use this expertise
to earn the trust of non-organized immigrant  workers.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters declares  its commitment to the rights of immigrant workers, in
particular their right to join a union; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the General Executive Board of the
International Brotherhood of  Teamsters endorses the resolution supporting
immigrant workers' rights passed by the Executive  Council of the AFL-CIO
on February 16, 2000 (attached); and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the General Executive Board of the
International Brotherhood of  Teamsters charges the Government Affairs
Department with formulating a progressive approach to  meeting the needs of
immigrant workers, including:  § soliciting from Local Union leaders their
front line experiences and any other relevant  information, as well as
their input into prioritizing the challenges facing immigrant workers and
their  families;  § working with Local Unions to develop pilot programs
that will provide these workers with  immigration assistance, other legal
services, language instruction, job training, and outreach  programs to
immigrant communities;  § working with Local Unions, businesses, and
immigration advocacy organizations to find  creative ways to use current
visa programs to promote unionism;  § promoting a legislative agenda aimed
at reforming current immigration laws that empower  anti-worker employers
while disenfranchising immigrant workers. This agenda includes further
limited legalization, expanded family unification measures, and other
provisions that protect  immigrant workers already residing in the United
States; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
will educate its  members on this commitment to the rights of immigrant
workers and communicate to its Local  Unions new opportunities for
participating in this effort.

Passed unanimously by General Executive Board on January 18, 2001

Floyd Norris: An Exaggerated Productivity Boom May Soon Be a Bust

[Stephen E Philion]

>  NYT
>
>  May 11, 2001
>
>  Floyd Norris: An Exaggerated Productivity Boom May Soon Be a Bust
>
>  By FLOYD NORRIS
>
>  [P]roductivity is not what it was cracked up to be. And therein lies one of the 
>great fallacies of the recent boom and bubble.
>
>  Productivity — at least as measured by the government — zoomed in recent years, 
>rising at a faster rate than at any time since the 1960's. That increase helped to 
>persuade many economists that it was a new era, one in which old economic verities 
>might not apply.
>
>  Rising productivity meant that the economy could grow rapidly without fear of 
>inflation while the information technology revolution, in the year-old words of John 
>T. Chambers, the chief executive of Cisco Systems, enabled companies to "reduce 
>costs, generate revenue in new ways, empower employees and citizens and provide the 
>agility needed for the Internet economy's rapid pace."
>
>  Now productivity is falling, and Mr. Chambers is coping with a collapse in demand 
>that he did not see coming and still cannot quite believe. This week he was still 
>talking of Cisco returning to a 30 percent to 50 percent annual growth rate when the 
>economy recovers.
>
>  The reality of the productivity explosion was that it was concentrated in the 
>information technology industry. Some of that rise was not real anyway, since the 
>government's statistical adjustments probably exaggerated the improvements in 
>computers. But the failure of the productivity measures to show big gains in other 
>areas should have been telling. "If it was a real productivity miracle, how come we 
>didn't see it in other places?" asked Greg Jensen, an analyst at Bridgewater 
>Associates.
>
>  Nonetheless, it was believed to be real by the people that counted. It was that 
>belief, says Robert Barbera, the chief economist of Hoenig & Company, that led the 
>Federal Reserve to back away from a pre-emptive tightening framework, in which rates 
>were raised when the economy began to grow too fast.
>
>  There is no way to know just how much a tighter Fed would have been able to slow 
>the expansion of the bubble, but it would have had some effect. Less money would have 
>been wasted on unproductive investments, of which Cisco's $2.2 billion inventory 
>write-down is but a small part. Think of the money invested in absurd dot-coms, as 
>well as fiber optic lines that are installed but may never be used.
>
>  "Now we see a contraction of the ability of good companies to get money, because of 
>all the money the bad companies sucked in," Mr. Jensen said.
>
>  Instead, we must deal with the effects of a bust in capital investment, one that is 
>likely to continue for some time. We will learn that productivity was probably really 
>growing at a slower rate than we thought, and will continue to do so. That implies 
>slower economic growth and lower multiples for earnings in the stock market.
>
>  There are historical precedents. In the 1920's and again in the 1950's and 1960's, 
>productivity surged along with the stock market. "Productivity growth does not 
>necessarily presage heaven on earth," James Grant, the editor of Grant's Interest 
>Rate Observer, said.
>
>  The last productivity boom came to an abrupt halt with the horrors of the 1970's, 
>when high oil prices helped to choke off economic growth and slow investment. In the 
>five years that ended with 1972, productivity rose 2.9 percent, very close to the 
>level of the last five years. But by 1980, the five-year average was below 1 percent 
>and the Dow Jones industrial average was below where it had been in 1966.
>
>  Productivity booms are not permanent things.
>
>

Allow Us to Demonstrate: Student Protest Comes of Age

[Stephen E Philion]

NYT
May 13, 2001

Allow Us to Demonstrate: Student Protest Comes of Age

By JODI WILGOREN

   S INCE they finished finals at the end of April, Ben Royal and three
   fellow University of Michigan students have been driving around the
   Northeast in a green 1992 Toyota Corolla, trying to make a movement.

   They went to Pennsylvania State University, where death threats to
   black students recently inspired a sleep- in at the student center.
   They stopped at Brown University, where protesters outraged by an
   advertisement concerning reparations for slavery confiscated copies of
   the student paper and formed human chains to block its distribution.
   And they made several visits to Harvard, where 26 smelly students
   emerged Wednesday after a three-week sit-in over how much the nation's
   richest university pays its janitors.

   Mr. Royal and his comrades, cell phones at their ears, are recruiting
   for a June conference on their Ann Arbor campus. They hope for
   attendance of 200 twice, they note, the number that gathered for the
   founding conference of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
   in 1960.

   There is a fine line between a march and a movement, and with
   students, in the glare of springtime, that line can be hard to see
   particularly in a culture that has become inured to the endless
   variations on chants that begin, "Hey hey, ho ho." There is, cynics
   will say, always a hardy band of leftists decrying something or other
   on every college campus, like background noise on the soundtrack of a
   liberal education. But if the activism of the late 1960's signified a
   more profound challenge to the fabric of society, today's
   demonstrations focused, tolerated and relentlessly coordinated may be
   more efficient at achieving their goals.

   Student protest has a long history in Europe and Asia, dating at least
   to the 19th century. American campuses were slower to simmer, with the
   first sparks coming over economic issues in the 1930's and 1940's. It
   was only as universities opened up to a more diverse student body, in
   the 1960's, that a true student movement took hold, focused first on
   civil rights and then on the Vietnam War. A second generation arose in
   the 1980's, when students erected mock shantytowns and pushed many
   universities to divest themselves of their holdings in apartheid-era
   South Africa.

   In both cases, the involvement of the young intellectual elite served
   to grab public attention. But the linkages between the student efforts
   and more established adult groups businesses and antiwar veterans,
   Democratic politicians and civil rights leaders were crucial to
   creating actual change.

   "Students very often are the most publicized element, and very often
   they engage in the most dramatic actions because they are young and
   free and more ready to take risks because they are young and free,"
   said Howard Zinn, the radical historian who visited the Harvard
   encampment several times. "If that movement doesn't go beyond
   students, then it doesn't go very far."

   THE latest rumblings, dating back about five years, focus on economic
   justice and globalization, with a dash of environmentalism. Students
   have rallied against the use of sweatshop labor to make their
   sweatshirts; now, at Harvard and across the country, they are aligning
   with union organizers to call for a "living wage" for the
   universities' lowest-paid employees. Mr. Royal and his friends,
   meanwhile, are trying to defend affirmative action.

   Students were a major element of the recent civil disobedience
   disrupting world trade meetings in Seattle and Quebec, and unions have
   also stepped up their organizing among professors, graduate students,
   and even undergraduates across the country. In both the actions on
   campuses and the highly publicized protests of globalization that have
   targeted political and diplomatic conferences, students have forged an
   unusually strong alliance with labor.

   This new partnership comes in part from the increasing interest among
   union leaders in direct action, and labor has reached out to young
   people with programs like Union Summer, an echo of the 1964 Freedom
   Summer, with college students organizing workers this time instead of
   registering voters. It also reflects the outward-looking ideology of
   today's students, who are rallying for the rights of low-wage workers
   even though, with their expensive degrees, they are unlikely to
   confront such problems personally.

   ELECTRONIC communication has also revolutionized the revolution.
   Organizers now coordinate activities through e-mail and Web sites; the
   Harvard protesters spent much of their time on cell phones, blitzing
   the media and urging celebrities to come to the daily noontime rallies
   outside the window (they also frequently called their parents and
   assured them they were all right).

   Whe

Re: Re: Reply to Ellen Meiksins Wood, part 1

[Stephen E Philion]

On Thu, 17 May 2001, Michael Perelman wrote:

> On Thu, May 17, 2001 at 02:28:27PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
> > We've gone through this before. Perhaps Michael will tell us not to
> > continue the current thread.
>
> Are people seeing anything new here?  I don't think that I have.
>


Nope. A while back Perry Anderson was the world's worst traitor to Marxism
and not a 'real Marxist.'  Now that Ellen Wood is this week's traitor to
Marxism, Perry is back in like Flynn, who will be next week's traitor to
Marxism...One would think that Lou might give some credit to Wood for
having made a substantive contribution to the critique of
Post-modernism, which Lou has found useful in the past (the critique that
is).


Steve



> > Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine "Segui il
> > tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.)
> > -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
> >
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>

Re: Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ellen Meiksins Wood, part 1

[Stephen E Philion]

Actually I knew one of Brenner's grad students a number of years ago in
Taiwan. Right before I went back to grad school I told him I still wasn't
sure about going back given the tendency of intellectuals to distance
themselves from mass political involvement...Brenner was one of the people
whom he cited as a counterexample to that trend.  Maurice Zeitlin was
another one. Would you have any substantive examples that prove that
Brenner has no relationship with activists aside from the fact that he
writes in academic journals or participates in big name conferences?

In Brenner's  writings btw, I haven't read anything equivalent to the
piece that  Anderson wrote in NLR essentially giving up on  left politics,
let alone revolution...

Steve


On Thu, 17 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> Steve Philon:
> >Nope. A while back Perry Anderson was the world's worst traitor to Marxism
> >and not a 'real Marxist.'
>
> Thanks for reminding me of this. I wouldn't want my citation of Perry
> Anderson to give anybody the wrong idea. Nowadays he is a complete wanker
> running elite conferences backed by corporate money with Brenner whose
> department he graces out at UCLA. Cocooned as these characters are from the
> realities of ordinary working people, no wonder they can preside over the
> TINA-ization of NLR. Thanks again, Steve.
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
>

Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ellen Meiksins Wood, part 1

[Stephen E Philion]

On Thu, 17 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> Steve Philion:
> >Actually I knew one of Brenner's grad students a number of years ago in
> >Taiwan. Right before I went back to grad school I told him I still wasn't
> >sure about going back given the tendency of intellectuals to distance
> >themselves from mass political involvement...Brenner was one of the people
> >whom he cited as a counterexample to that trend.
>
> Wasn't this when the BeeGees were popular?
>
Actually, as you well know, I'm not that old...I was young enough to not
know better than to think the Bee Gees were really groovy when they were
big...

Steve

Re: Re: Tom Kruse's world: was [the mita]

[Stephen E Philion]

ichael Perelman writes:

>Someone whom I respected a great deal asked me earlier today what all of
this discussion has to do with real world struggles.  Tom Kruse, in his
note  to me, was describing the heroic struggles of the people of Bolivia.
Suppose  one of these Bolivians were to stumble on to the list and ask how
all of this would be>useful in the struggles at home.


---I would say that for most people involved in real life struggles as
organizers, the whole way diaologue takes place among leftists has little
relevance to their lives because so much of it is influenced by the
tradition of attack that small left  sects (be they sects that meet in
real life or over the internet) engage in is foreign to the real life
experience of mass based alliance making that most activists are forced to
take up as a real life strategy to effect any political power.  Attacks in
unsolidaristic manners are, in my experience, far more alien to 'the
masses' than 'too intellectual sounding' material.

Steve




 Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Deadly Shadow of AIDS Darkens Remote Chinese Village

[Stephen E Philion]

This is an updated story of a similar one that appeared in the Times about
a year ago. These stories can  also be found in the Chinese media.
Steve


>  NYT May 28, 2001
>
>  Deadly Shadow of AIDS Darkens Remote Chinese Village
>
>  By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
>
>  [D]ONGHU, China — The most striking things about people from this village are that 
>their threadbare clothes seem way too big and that nearly all of them share a hollow, 
>desperate look in their eyes.
>
>  Stooped and shuffling, frail before their time, farmers who should be in their peak 
>productive years are unable to tend their wheat fields or to care for their children. 
>In this picturesque central Chinese village of 4,500, every family is touched by 
>gruesome maladies: fevers, chronic diarrhea, mouth sores, unbearable headaches, 
>weight loss, racking coughs, boils that do not heal.
>
>  Dozens of relatively young people have died here in each of the last two years. In 
>December, 14 people in their 30's and 40's died.
>
>  The culprit that has devastated not just the health but the very soul of this 
>impoverished place is something that local officials here in Henan Province have 
>generally insisted is not a problem: it is H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
>
>  While hints of this secret epidemic first seeped out from remote areas of China's 
>countryside last year, the depth of the tragedy and the staggering toll it has taken 
>on villages like Donghu are only now emerging, as desperate, dying farmers have 
>started to speak out.
>
>  In Donghu, residents estimate that more than 80 percent of adults carry H.I.V., and 
>more than 60 percent are already suffering debilitating symptoms. That would give 
>this village, and the others like it, localized rates that are the highest in the 
>world.
>
>  They add that local governments are in part responsible. Often encouraged by local 
>officials, many farmers here in Henan contracted H.I.V. in the 1990's after selling 
>blood at government-owned collection stations, under a procedure that could return 
>pooled and infected blood to donors. From that point, the virus has continued to 
>spread through other routes because those officials have blocked research and 
>education campaigns about H.I.V., which they consider an embarrassment.
>
>  "Every family has someone who is ill, and many people have two or three," said 
>Zhang Jianzhi, 51, who gathered with others who have the virus here. "I would guess 
>more than 95 percent of people over the age of 14 or 15 sold their blood at least 
>once," said Ms. Zhang, still stout but suffering from fevers and malaise. "And now we 
>are all sick, with fever, diarrhea, boils."
>
>  As China begins to confront its AIDS problem, the emerging evidence of virtually 
>blanket infections in villages like this one has become a huge wild card, whose 
>proportions are undefined.
>
>  Officially, the Chinese government says there are only 22,517 people in a country 
>of more than 1.2 billion who have been registered as H.I.V. positive — mostly drug 
>addicts and prostitutes — although health officials estimate that 600,000 carry the 
>virus.
>
>  But some Chinese doctors who have worked in the province said more than a million 
>people had probably contracted the AIDS virus from selling blood here in Henan 
>Province alone, where the problem is most severe. They add that while the sale of 
>blood has died out in the most severely affected villages, it continues elsewhere to 
>a lesser extent, both in Henan and other provinces.
>
>  Clearly, tiny Donghu is an extreme case, but it is not alone in its desperation. 
>Donghu villagers said there were probably a number of seriously affected villages 
>just in the same county, Xincai. In the last six months, reports from Chinese 
>researchers and farmers have also revealed high levels of disease in villages in 
>Henan's Weishi, Shangcai and Shenqiu counties.
>
>  "I do not know how many villages have a very grave problem, but I know that it's a 
>lot more than just a handful," said a Chinese doctor who works in the province. "I've 
>been a doctor for many decades, but I've never cried until I saw these villages. Even 
>in villages where there was no blood selling, you now can find cases." Such 
>transmission occurred through migration, marriage and sexual contact.
>
>  In Donghu, there are sick grandparents, sick parents and sick children — since a 
>number of women who carry the virus have given birth and breast-fed infants in the 
>last five years. There are no AIDS orphans yet, villagers say, but that will come 
>soon, since several couples are already too ill to get out of bed, and in some 
>families one parent has died and the other is ill.
>
>  Counting Off the Doomed
>
>  Dong Hezhou, 38, a sturdy man who never sold blood and is one of the few people his 
>age not infected, has five former classmates who have died of AIDS since the 
>beginning of last year. He uses his fingers as he ticks off the nickname

More on Chinese workers in Israel

[Stephen E Philion]

The role of China's labor ministry officials in this story is especially
noteworthy.  Steve




[Translated from Ma'ariv, 11.5.01 by Moshe' Machover]

The Great Wall of Cynicism

by Sari Makover

A group of 170 construction workers from China are being threatened with
deportation from Israel and being put on trial for daring to strike and
protest against their appalling conditions of employment.

In his small carpentry workshop in the village of Nantu Tse near Shanghai,
Lin Huaice first heard that in Israel there were more grains of gold than
grains of rice. Although the Chinese carpenter was regarded as member of
the lower class, he was not poor. But some people from Nantu Tse who had
worked in Israel came back home richer than the Emperor. They built houses
for themselves, bought cars and sent their children to university. The
whole village envied them. So did Lin Huaice.

In the offices of Nantong Er Jian-Ji Tuan, a construction company that
serves as intermediary between Israeli building contractors and Chinese
workers, Lin Huaice, 37, was received with open arms. His particulars were
taken down, he was promised "comfortable conditions, excellent food, work
that is not too hard, and at least $350 per month." He was asked for a
deposit of $2,500 as surety.

$2,500 is a fortune by the standards of a Chinese village; but this was the
price of Lin Huaice's lucky ticket to Israel. He borrowed most of the money
from a private moneylender in a nearby town and got the rest from his
friends in the village. He took $30 from his aged parents, money that had
been saved for a modest funeral and gravestone; but Lin Huaice, excited and
happy, promised to erect a golden gravestone for his parents, when the time
came.

Cock-a-doodle-doo neck

In January 2000, Lin Huaice arrived in Israel. Dressed in his only good
suit, equipped with a passport, a long-term visa and $10, he was sent
together with 169 other Chinese workers to the Toyota building site in the
center of Tel Aviv, near the acoustic fence of the Ayalon Bridge. The A.
Dori Ltd. Contractors were his employers in construction work and the
go-between Chinese company was responsible for his living conditions.

In a very short time he was turned from a foreign worker into an unskilled
laborer. He says that he and his fellow workers were required to work for
at least 11 hours a day, sometimes more. They were not allowed to take
breaks at their discretion, not even toilet breaks. During the little free
time they had, they slept or played cards. They were allowed out three
times a week, for two hours only. They were lodged in small run-down
quarters, something like caravans or containers, whose thin walls could not
block out the incessant din coming from the Ayalon Highway.

But this was only the beginning. According to Lin Huaice and his comrades,
for a year and three months they worked for next to nothing.. Every month
they received between 50 and 100 shekels [1 shekel = $0.24 = £0.17
approximately], which was barely enough for a phone-call to their families
in China. It was certainly insufficient for supplementing the meager meals
of cooked vegetables provided by the Chinese company.

And since even workers of a particularly parsimonious Chinese company have
to eat meat from time to time, the kitchen staff sent the foreign workers
to the market to buy chicken feet and other leftovers. Sometimes the cooks
asked the workers to gather leftover fruit and vegetables from the nearby
market. Lin Huaice points his ten skinny fingers at his neck and says in a
small voice, "cock-a-doodle-doo." This is how I understood, even before the
interpreter arrived, that from time to time the workers' meal included
chicken necks.

By Wednesday, March 28 of this year, after 15 months in Israel, Lin Huaice
no longer believed that he would ever see his wages. In consultation with
his fellow workers, it was decided to down tools. Then 170 tired and
indignant Chinese workers went to the office of the Workers' Hotline in Tel
Aviv and asked for help in obtaining humanitarian and legal aid as well as
payment of their wages in full. "Perhaps this is how Chinese workers are
customarily treated in your country," he says angrily, "but this is
certainly no way to treat human beings."

For five days the Chinese government tried, through their embassy, to
dissuade the workers from their decision to strike. The damage caused to
the image of the Chinese government's construction company was enormous.
The A. Dori contracting company also tried to put an end to the strike by
threatening the workers with deportation. A copy of the letter was sent to
the offices of the Workers' Hotline but Uri Dori, the Director General of
the company, until recently president of the Association of Contractors and
Builders in Israel, denies the existence of the letter and claims that
forgery was involved.

The Chinese workers' strike attracted public attention, and only then 

U.S. Military Linked to Sweatshop Labor in Israel

[Stephen E Philion]

A joint report by the Israeli association Kav La'Oved (Workers' Hotline)
and The National Labor Committee (Education Fund in Support of Worker and
Human Rights In Central America):


May 2001

Hanna Zonan, Director
Kav La'Oved/Workers Hotline
17 Peretz st. p.o.b 2319

Tel Aviv 61022, ISRAEL
Phone: 03-6883766

National Labor Committee
Education Fund in Support of Worker and Human Rights In Central America

275 7th Ave. New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-242-3002

Charles Kernaghan, Director National Labor Committee

Phone: 212-242-3002

U.S. Military Again Linked to Sweatshop Labor

v The U.S. military is about to award a $40 million contract to a
construction company convicted of exploiting Chinese 'guest' workers in
Israel. The 'guest' workers are paid less than one half the legal minimum
wage, and are being held under conditions of indentured servitude.

v Israeli human rights groups are urging the U.S. military to redirect its
$40 million contract to a company which respects fundamental human and
worker rights, and pays fair and legal wages.

_

The U.S. military is about to award a $ 40 million contract to an Israeli
construction company, Solel Boneh, which is again under investigation by
Israel's Labor and Welfare Ministry for exploiting Chinese 'guest' workers
and paying them less than one half of the legal minimum wage in Israel. (On
February 22, the Solel Boneh company told the Jerusalem Post newspaper that
"it has won a $40 million tender from the U.S. military." Previously, Judge
Hanna Ben-Jose of the District Court of Labor in Tel Aviv convicted the
Solel Boneh company on November 19, 2000, of illegally underpaying its
Chinese 'guest' workers, and fined the company $10,000. The Solel Boneh
company had been under investigation since March 1999 when the Labor
Ministry submitted an indictment. Under Israeli practice, the fine was
considered steep, and according to a Ministry spokesperson "such a high
fine" was meant to set a "precedent".

The contract about to be awarded to the Solel Boneh company is to build a
training base for the Israeli defense forces in the south of Israel, in the
Negev. The 'guest' workers are brought to Israel by a Chinese
government-run manpower and recruitment agency, Tzingdau, which charges the
Chinese workers $2,500 each to secure a two-year work contract in Israel.
Such forced payments to secure work are illegal under Israeli law. In
November 2000, the Chinese government-operated Tzingdau company was
convicted along with Solel Boneh of cheating the workers of their legal
wages, and was fined $20,000.

Upon their arrival in Israel, the Tzingdau agency immediately confiscates
the passports of all the Chinese workers, which is also illegal under
Israeli law. The Tzingdau agency also illegally withholds all the workers'
wages for the entire two-year period they are in Israel. If a Chinese
worker attempts to switch jobs, or for any reason does not successfully
complete their two-year contract, he will have forfeited payment of all
back wages. The Chinese workers are held in a state of fear, forced to work
10 to 13 hours a day, six days a week. Sick leave is not permitted, and a
worker is fined $50 for each workday missed. Worst of all, the Chinese
workers are not paid the legal minimum wage in Israel, and in fact, are
cheated of over half their legal pay. Nor are the workers paid the legal
overtime premium. In one primitive trailer park in Gedera housing dozens of
Chinese workers, the workers reported being locked in at night - supposedly
to stop them from seeking other work.

Commenting on the repressive conditions under which the Chinese workers are
held, an Israeli Ministry of Labor spokesperson told the Ha'aretz newspaper
on February 6, 2000: "It was difficult to conduct the trial against Solel
Boneh since the Chinese workers who came to testify in court saw the
(Tzingdau) company's directors and were afraid to do so."

Solel Boneh began importing 'guest' workers in 1997 and currently employ
over several thousand such foreign workers, including 1,000 people from
China. Solel Boneh has a permit to import over 1,000 additional 'guest'
workers from China, and is currently bidding on two additional U.S.
military contracts, which are part of the Wye River Memorandum. In the
Memorandum, the U.S. military agreed to finance the construction of three
military bases in Israel.

# # # # # # # # # # #


The U.S. military should immediately withdraw the contract tender signed
with the Solel Boneh company and award the $40 million contract to a
company which guarantees respect for human and worker rights, and pays at
least the legal minimum wage.

This is just the latest incident in which the U.S. military has been found
to be exploiting sweatshop labor. In December 2000, the National Labor
Committee discovered the U.S. military's Army and Air Force Exchange
Service (AAF

Re: Re: Re: the mita

[Stephen E Philion]

> >Another commercial feature reflected in Hammurapi's code was the use of
> >silver as _both_ a means of payment _and_ a measure of value. In early
> >cultures the two most often varied: e.g., use silver or copper for means
> >of payment but cattle for measure of value. By Jim Blaut's criteria,
> >capitalism is at least 4000 years old and thus useless as a historical
> >category.
> >
> >Carrol
>
> Absolutely correct.
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
>

Alas, Louis admits that Carrol and Jim are correct.

Steve

Re: Re: Re: the mita

[Stephen E Philion]

On Mon, 28 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> Mercantilism = Code of Hammurabi = Kelly Girls?


Why not? For you Brenner=Kautsky
 Graduate students of Ellen Wood=Fool
 Raymond Lau=Trotskyist Sect leafleter
 Zeitlin=Pinochet

Steve

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the mita

[Stephen E Philion]

On Mon, 28 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> >Alas, Louis admits that Carrol and Jim are correct.
> >
> >Steve
>
> Of course they are correct. How can anybody deny that ancient Babylonian
> society and day labor, the fastest growing job category in the USA by some
> accounts, both fall under the rubric of mercantile capitalism. In fact the


it seemed to me that what your saying is consistent with the arguments
Wood makes about Ancient Greek slavery in Peasant Citizen and Slave...or
for that matter in her book Origins of Capitalism...

Re: Re: Re: the mita

[Stephen E Philion]

Lou, why not give us the whole text instead of the parts that are
ironical. You know this section hardly does justice to the argument
Linebaugh is making in support of Marx and Engels...

And ain't it funny, when pomo's make the same exact kind of argument about
Marx and Engels you have a Dick Cheney, but when the "post-colonialists'
'world systems' folks make the argument that Marx was 'eurocentric,
teleological', etc. hey you just grab it and run with it.  Ahmad's section
on Marx on India I think does more than a fair job of refuting simplistic
accounts of Marx's views on colonialism, teloeology, etc.

Steve




On Mon, 28 May 2001, Louis Proyect wrote:

> Michael Perelman wrote:
> >Let's keep this under control.  Jim gave a very nice description of Marx's
> >analysis of the mode of production.  Lou asked him to relate those
> >abstract topics to Latin America, which Marx and most of us do not know
> >all that well.
> >
> >Marx was not familiar with the internet either.
>
> Michael, the Internet was an invention of the late 20th century. It had not
> been invented when Marx was writing. However, colonial society had existed
> for more than 300 years when Marx was writing. He reflected his milieu by
> neglecting this social reality. Peter Linebaugh honed in on the problem
> with this May Day article:
>
> May 1, 2001 A May Day Meditation
>
> by Peter Linebaugh
>
> Comrades and Friends, May Day Greetings!
>
> Here is 'the day.' The day we long to become a "journee'," those days of
> the French Revolution when a throne would topple, the powerful would
> tumble, slavery be abolished, or the commons restored.
>
> Meanwhile, we search for a demo for the day, or we gather daffodils and
> some "may" for our loved ones and the kitchen table. We greet strangers
> with a smile and "Happy May Day!" We think of comrades around the world, in
> Africa, India, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico, Hong Kong. With our comrades we
> remember recent victories, and we mutter against, and curse our rulers. We
> take a few minutes to freshen up our knowledge of what happened there in
> Chicago in 1886 and 1887 before striding out into the fight of the day.
>
> So during this moment of studying the day, I'm going to take a text from
> Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, and I'll ask you to
> take it down from the top shelf of the spare room where you stuck it when
> Reagan came to power, or to go down into the basement and dig it out of a
> mildewed carton whence you might have disdainfully put it during the
> Clinton years. No where does Engels mention the slave trade. No where does
> Engels mention the witch burnings. No where does Engels mention the
> genocide of the indigenous peoples. He writes, "A durable reign of the
> bourgeoisie has been possible only in countries like America, where
> feudalism was unknown, and society at the very beginning started from a
> bourgeois basis."
>
> Dearie me. Dear, dear, dear!
>
> He has forgotten everything, it seems. He has swallowed hook, line, and
> sinker the whole schemata of: Savagery leads to Barbarism leads to
> Feudalism leads to Capitalism which, in turn, with a bit of luck, &c., &c.,
> will be transformed, down the line, in the future, when the times are ripe,
> &c. &c. into socialism and communism. He has overlooked the struggle of the
> Indians, or the indigenous people, of the red, white, and black Indians.
> The fact is that commonism preceded capitalism on the north American
> continent, not feudalism. The genocide was so complete, the racism so
> effective, that there is not even a trace or relic of memory of the prior
> societies.
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
>