[Marxism] Gaddafi will fall within 48 hours - Western diplomat

[Stuart Munckton]

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The clock is ticking for another Arab dictator. Muammar Gaddafi is now
living his last days - or maybe hours - as “leader.” For over 40 years in
power he has declined to be called "president" – of the Libyan people.

"Give him a few more hours – 48, maybe less - 36 and he will fall,"
commented a Western diplomat who asked for his name to be withheld, to Ahram
Online.

According to this well-informed diplomat, "Gaddafi should have fallen
earlier, but he went wild using force to quell demonstrators."

Today, this diplomat argues, Gaddafi is still capable of inducing more
bloody violence against his own people "but not for long because he is
losing the army."
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/6479.aspx
-- 
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man
Under Socialism

“The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker

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[Marxism] Toward Palestine's 'Mubarak moment' - Opinion - Al Jazeera English#

[Greg Adler]

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The PA was a trap for the Palestinian people that has worked wonderfully
for Israel  with the toadying cooperation of the corrupt Fatah leadership
This is an an important contribution to the discussion of the way forward
for the Palestinian struggle  taking inspiration from the Tunisian Egyptian
and Libyan struggles
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011224141158174266.html


-- Shared using Google Toolbar

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Re: [Marxism] glorious Spring

[Mark Lause]

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No apology necessary, Manuel.  I didn't intend my response to sound more
techy than bemused at the two of us bantering about "power," when we both
know we mean the same thing.

Tell you what, though.  If we were in the streets, you could say tomato and
I'll say tomato...but we'll rest assured that we'll both be throwing at the
same target.

Yrs,
Mark

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Re: [Marxism] glorious Spring

[Manuel Barrera]

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Sorry, Markreally wasn't trying "catch" anyone out. I really didn't think you 
were commenting like the post-modernists (I do know your roots and respect 
them). I was simply taken aback by the use of "power" politics because of the 
way I hear so many in my field (of education) use it. Apologize if you took 
umbrage. 
don' be so sensative, ese! it's jus' a discushun!(sorry, couldn't help it, 
"dude")

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[Marxism] Democracy means...

[Matthew Russo]

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...never having to say they are sorry as they shoot you.  A bloody day today
in Iraq, but that's OK, its the will of the people - except that they forgot
to add that it was the American democracy and the American people who willed
it, for sure in the 2004 elections.  A neat synopsis from Angry Arab:

How US media cover occupied Iraq: some observations

First, notice that US media, especially the New York Times and Washington
Post, cover Iraq with barely a mention that the country is occupied and has
been occupied since 2003.

Secondly, notice that every article about repression and protests in Iraq
has to mention that the country is a "democracy" as if to express amazement
at the willingness of Iraqis to protest against it (this is today's NYT:
"Unlike protests elsewhere in the region, the crowds in this young, war-torn
democracy did not call for an entirely new form of government...").   Notice
that the murder and repression by Iraqi puppet forces are always justified:
(in the NYT today it said that people died from "clashes":  "Iraq’s “day of
rage” on Friday ended with nearly 20 protesters killed in clashes with
security forces.").

Thirdly, notice that any protests against the occupation and its puppet
forces are instantly conflated with Al-Qa`idah terrorism (this is from
today's NYT: "But on Friday, he celebrated the fact that there had been no
suicide bombings. Their absence was perhaps a fluke, but it suggested that
heavy security restrictions..."  I mean, why should they link the protests
to suicide bombings? Unless they are implying--like the sectarian puppet,
Al-Maliki,  that Bin Laden was behind the protests--just like Qadhdhafi has
claimed in Libya).

Fourthly, there is no opportunity missed to heap praise on puppet Iraqi
repression forces.  (Upon learning that some 20 protesters were killed, this
is what a US commander has said:  "Col. Barry A. Johnson, a spokesman for
the United States military, said Iraq’s security forces appeared to respond
well to the volatile, sometimes violent, crowds. “The Iraqi forces’ response
appeared professional and restrained,” he said in an e-mail.").

Fifthly, It is hard for US media to accept this, but Iraqis and Arabs in
general in particular never treat Iraq as a democracy. It is never treated
like a model to emulate.  If anything, there is wide contempt for a republic
jointly run by an obscurantist Ayatullah in cooperation with US and Iran.
Nuri Al-Maliki is seen, rightly, like any other tyrant, no matter if he has
sectarian support by virtue of the corrupt sectarian system that the US has
set up there.  In his speech the other day warning against protests,
Al-Maliki sounded like Saddam warning ominously against "suspicious"
forces.  In fact, his rhetoric is a replica of that of Qadhdhafi.

Sixthly, the absurd myth that Iraqi Kurdistan is a heaven and haven, is
shattered by the daily protests and repression there is still being promoted
and for that the coverage of protests there is scant.

Seventhly, the nature of non-sectarian protests is ignored because Bush
taught them that you can only speak of sects in Iraq.

[This is why they want to hurry the "transition to democracy" so they can
unleash the repression without reservation or apology]

-Matt

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[Marxism] Superb take-down of Peter Ackerman

[Louis Proyect]

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http://quotha.net/node/1570


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[Marxism] Shoppers Wary of GM Foods Find They're Everywhere

[Ralph Johansen]

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[I send this article that just came my way, although mindful of the 
preemption of discussion right now on this list due to the activity in 
the middle east and Wisconsin. It's a rapidly spreading phenomenon and 
another pernicious long-term effect of capital accumulation - the food 
we eat and its maltreatment.


What I remembered when I read this article about the "absence of harmful 
effects" of GMO imported into our food are the following:


1)   that a few years ago Monsanto was seeking approval of importing a 
DNA trait of a type of fish across species into the DNA of strawberries 
in order to utilize the freeze-resistant properties of fish in keeping 
strawberries from freezing - and the implications entailed;
2)   that other countries are successfully managing to keep GMO foods 
from their farms and markets;
3)   that most of the research on the "non-harmfulness" of GMO food 
comes from Monsanto labs and Monsanto-commissioned studies, which the 
USDA and FDA accept as "reliable" even though not peer-reviewed, nor 
adequately tested in crucial unexplored or unknown health variables and 
side-effects over a period of years before it is imposed on consumers;
4)   that this process was in no way a response to consumer demand but 
was foisted on us with considerations of profitability foremost;
5)   that Monsanto in the 80s successfully lobbied the GHW Bush 
administration to steamroll approval of GMO in principle without 
adequate research or public input;
6)   that Monsanto personnel have regularly matriculated between 
corporate board and regulatory agencies (there are many instances 
documented of Monsanto executives moving to USDA and FDA, even Mickey 
Kantor as international trade representative) - and back), and that they 
successfully lobby and bankroll legislative federal and state election 
campaigns eliminating government opposition and provision of objective 
oversight on GMO;
7)   that Monsanto and a few compeer cohorts like Basel-based Syngenta 
are seeking oligarchic control of virtually every aspect of agricultural 
production, from seed, pesticide and fertilizer to marketing of finished 
(processed) product;
8)   that drift of GMO pollen and seed, bird-and-air-borne, is 
contaminating organic fields, making it impossible to grow 
non-GMO-infested produce, and to have alternative foods that are truly 
organic;
9)   that insect resistance to pesticides such as Monsanto's Roundup is 
well-documented and inevitable, unnecessarily and irreversibly 
distorting natural growth processes;
10) that US government approval of extending GMO to salmon is pending 
approval, paving the way to entry of GMOs into every species of plant 
and animal, so that all marketed foodstuffs will be contaminated with GMO;
11) that comparison of varietal cross-breeding within species to enhance 
crop characteristics, to genetically engineered crops is an apples/ 
oranges exercise: the latter is transgenic, incorporating genes from 
alien sources, with very different compositional correlates and 
therefore unknown long-term consequences;
12) that even labeling of GMO-containing food to respect consumers' 
choice is being blocked in the US by this powerful industry;
13) that domestic and world-wide protest against the presence of GMO in 
our diets has been, with a few exceptions pretty much after the fact 
such as this article, virtually unmentioned in US media.]


- - - - -

Published on Friday, February 25, 2011 by the Associated Press 




   Shoppers Wary of GM Foods Find They're Everywhere

by Mary Clare Jalonick

You may not want to eat genetically engineered foods. Chances are, you 
are eating them anyway.


Genetically modified plants grown from seeds engineered in labs now 
provide much of the food we eat. Most corn, soybean and cotton crops 
grown in the United States have been genetically modified to resist 
pesticides or insects, and corn and soy are common food ingredients.


The Agriculture Department has approved three more genetically 
engineered crops in the past month, and the Food and Drug Administration 
could approve fast-growing genetically modified salmon for human 
consumption this year.


Agribusiness and the seed companies say their products help boost crop 
production, lower prices at the grocery store and feed the world, 
particularly in developing countries. The FDA and USDA say the 
engineered foods they've approved are safe --- so safe, they don't even 
need to be labeled as such --- and can't be significantly distinguished 
from conventional varieties.


Organic food companies, chefs and consumer groups have stepped up their 
efforts --- so far, unsuccessfully --- to get the government to exercise 
more oversight of engineered foods, arguing the seeds are f

[Marxism] Nir Rosen - What this means for Israel and Iran

[Dennis Brasky]

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What this means for Israel and
Iran



Nir Rosen

clip –

So all this revolution business is not good for Iran for two reasons. The
obvious one is that Iran may also be caught up in the  wave of popular
revolutions sweeping the region.

Regardless of what happens inside Iran, it seems quite likely that Iran will
lose much of its influence if Egypt regains any of its natural role in the Arab
world. Iran had influence in part because nobody else was carrying the flag
of Palestine or anti imperialism but if Egypt returns to an Arab nationalist
foreign policy and is no longer collaborating with Israel or under the
American or Saudi sway then Iran is a big loser. This will also somewhat
reduce Hizballah’s regional popularity, they are limited by being a
religious Shiite movement (even if everybody loves Seyid Hassan’s speeches
and loves the resistance for defeating Israel). The rise of a more
independent Turkish foreign policy was already chipping away at Iranian
influence (because in the end Iran is Shiite and unfortunately that matters,
at least Turkey is Sunni even if too is non-Arab), but now Egypt is
unshackled from Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States (it  seems clear
from today that the Egyptian demonstrators will not settle for cosmetic
changes) and the demonstrators have made their hostility to Israel
very clear in their slogans and in their response to Qaradawi’s sermon, so
with Arab nationalism reborn Iranian influence will wain. There will be new
political and military elites rising up and they will not necessarily be the
ones with long standing ties to the Israelis, the Americans, the Saudis. And
if you have a more independent and Arab nationalist Egypt it will limit the
Saudi ability to meddle in the region. This is good because Saudi money
thwarts progress, democracy, development. A nationalist Egypt (as opposed to
one that collaborates with Israel and America) means that other Arab
countries will have to follow or at least be less collaborationist. It will
mean that Jordan will not necessarily accomodate Israel or the Palestinian
Authority as much (the Jordanians and senior Fatah leadership dont trust
each other much anyway). So Israel is losing its regional partners. And do
not think for a second that the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya,
and throughout the region are purely economic. They are also deeply
political. No new regime that is based on popular will is going to be
friendly to Israel. Everybody hates Israel. Just look at whats been
happening to Turkey since it became more of a genuine democracy. And listen
to what Egyptian demonstrators were chanting about Israel (hint- they want
to liberate Palestine).



full article -

*
http://nirrosen.tumblr.com/post/3510120373/what-this-means-for-israel-and-iran?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=5cf1e2cf35-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
*

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Re: [Marxism] Report from the Battle for Wisconsin

[Mark Lause]

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Live feed from the capital

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/afl-cio-2010-rally

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Re: [Marxism] Report from the Battle for Wisconsin

[dave x]

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More from Wisconsin:

http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/3174

http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/3175


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[Marxism] United Left Alliance Expects to Win 4 Seats in Irish Parliament

[Dan DiMaggio]

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The Socialist Party of Ireland's Joe Higgins was elected to the Irish
Parliament (the Dail) on the United Left Alliance ticket, and expects at
least three other ULA candidates to join him to form a "relentless,
unremitting opposition" in the next Dail:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0226/breaking57.html
Higgins expects four seats for ULA

Elected Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins expects United Left Alliance
candidates to gain four seats, with the possibility of a fifth, allowing it
to form a "relentless, unremitting opposition" in the next Dáil.

Mr Higgins, who was elected on the third count in Dublin West, expects his
Socialist Party colleague Clare Daly to be elected in Dublin North, with
possible gains for the ULA in Dublin South Central and Tipperary South.
Richard Boyd Barrett is fighting for the last seat in Dún Laoghaire.

Speaking at the Dublin West count centre in Coolmine, Mr Higgins said he was
pleased with "the new advances made today for the socialist alternative".

He described it as a new development in Irish politics and said the
Socialist Party would be discussions with fellow ULA candidates about
forming a new movement.

"Obviously there will be many discussions but we in the Socialist Party
would be of a mind that there is a huge vacuum on the left. There is a need
for a new movement to represent the working class in its widest sense - the
public sector, the private sector, pensioners and young people.

"We will now set our minds to that with our colleagues in the United Left
Alliance and others about launching a new movement," he said. "We will be
putting up the real opposition and the real alternative, not just inside the
Dáil, but outside as well. I anticipate movements of people power, movements
of workers, movements in communities in opposition to new attacks that will
come - perhaps water charges, perhaps a home tax - that these new parties
are committed to, which are all simply more burdens on working class
people."

Mr Higgins was the third candidate to be elected in Dublin West, following
Labour's Joan Burton, who was elected on the first count, and Fine Gael's
Leo Varadkar who was elected on the second count. Fianna Fáil's Brian
Lenihan is poised to take the fourth and final seat.

Mr Higgins said it would be "a monstrous betrayal" were ULA candidates to
offer support to the Fine Gael government. "No way would we contemplate any
such thing."

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Re: [Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots

[johnedmundson]

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> Bang on, Fred!! And don't forget those flags. The official flag of
> Qaddafi's Libya -- all green, for Islam and the Green Book -- is
> nowhere to be seen in the photos of mass demonstrations; instead, they
> are waving the flag of King Idris, of the "Kingdom of Libya"!
> (Monarchists, indeed!) Which just happens, of course, to be the first
> flag of independent Libya, adopted in the early 1950s (in case anyone
> raises this again):
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya. ;-)

Actually, as Louis has pointed out, and there's a link in the archives, the red,
black and green flag with the star and crescent is NOT "the flag of King Idris"
at all. It is the flag of Libya, which was then the "Kingdom of Libya", which
the rsistance fought under when resisting the Italian fascists. The "flag of
King Idris" is an all black field with the creascent and star, which are of
course common Islamic images.
Cheers,
John


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Re: [Marxism] glorious Spring

[Mark Lause]

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Gee. Manuel. It's a good thing you're not trying to catch anybody out and
denounce them for deviant politics.

I stand by what I actually wrote.  If anybody can read that and come away
seriously saying that it wasn't about who was wielding power, they should
pass the bong

ML

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Re: [Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots

[Richard Fidler]

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Bang on, Fred!! And don't forget those flags. The official flag of
Qaddafi's Libya -- all green, for Islam and the Green Book -- is
nowhere to be seen in the photos of mass demonstrations; instead, they
are waving the flag of King Idris, of the "Kingdom of Libya"!
(Monarchists, indeed!) Which just happens, of course, to be the first
flag of independent Libya, adopted in the early 1950s (in case anyone
raises this again):
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya. ;-)

Richard

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Fred Feldman

More totally made up CIA propaganda against the revolutionary hero
Gadhafi, who has richly earned - we can all agree - the love and total
devotion that he is receiving from the Libyan people. In fact, there
is no such place as Tripoli.   

 By the way, one of King Idris' descendants-in-exile has endorsed the
revolt, proving that it is all a plot to restore the monarchy!
Of one thing you can be sure. It's definitely not a real popular
revolt if anyone who is not a militant leftist revolutionary endorses
it.

Fred Feldman

February 26, 2011


Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital


By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
 


TRIPOLI, Libya - A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi
  to prove that he was firmly in
control of Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists
he invited to the capital discovered blocks of the city in open
revolt. 

[clip]



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[Marxism] (FT) Britain, Gadhafi: "No Line in the Sand"

[Fred Feldman]

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Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/198e48b4-411a-11e0-bf62-00144feabdc0.html
Britain and Libya: "No line in the sand"
By James Blitz and Lina Saigol

Published: February 25 2011 21:56 | Last updated: February 25 2011 21:56

Stood near a Bedouin tent outside Tripoli on Wednesday March 24 2004, Tony
Blair offered what he called “the hand of friendship” to Muammer Gaddafi.
That five-second handshake with the Libyan leader was one of the most
remarkable moments in Mr Blair’s decade-long premiership and in the recent
history of the Middle East.

For years, Col Gaddafi had been the pariah of the western world, the man US
President Ronald Reagan dubbed the “mad dog” of the Middle East, the
instigator of terrorist attacks across Europe. Yet here was Britain’s
charismatic leader standing alongside him, declaring that the whole world
would benefit from Libya becoming a “strong partner of the west”.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Gaddafi forces open fire on protesters - Feb-25.Chinese oil interests
attacked in Libya - Feb-24.Editorial: Time to muzzle Libya’s mad dog -
Feb-24.Libya refugees flee to Malta - Feb-24.Libya regime admits 300 dead in
uprising - Feb-23.Editorial: EU - the feeble monster - Feb-23..That
handshake quickly came to be known as the “deal in the desert”. Col Gaddafi
promised to cease sowing terror, in return for which international oil
companies would help him extract Libya’s huge oil reserves.

But seven years on, the deal seems like a cynical and ill-judged act in the
eyes of many Britons. In the past seven days, Col Gaddafi has emerged once
again as the abominable figure he once – some would say always – was. As he
prepared for what may be his last stand in Tripoli, he called on mercenaries
to shoot ordinary Libyans protesting against his 41-year rule, whom he calls
“rats” and “cockroaches”. He has used helicopter gunships to massacre his
countrymen from the skies. In a tirade this week, he threatened to “cleanse
Libya house by house” to keep himself in power. Many in Britain now wonder
how on earth their government could have contemplated doing business with
this man.

To be fair, the UK is not the only nation that has cosied up to the colonel.
After he renounced terrorism in 2003, several sought to do business with the
despot. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has backed him to such a degree
that trade between Italy and Libya is today eight times that between Tripoli
and the UK. Unlike his British counterparts, President Nicolas Sarkozy of
France has received Col Gaddafi in his capital city, where the Bedouin tent
was set up within sight of the Elysée palace. The US, Brazil, Germany have
all rushed to do business with his regime.

Yet some argue there was something unusually intimate – craven, even – about
the political and business relationship between London and Libya. “You
cannot exaggerate the role that Blair and Britain played in bringing Gaddafi
in from the cold,” says Professor Fawaz Gerges of the London School of
Economics. “In 2004, Gaddafi was still a maverick – someone dismissed as an
insane, babbling idiot by most serious people. By allowing Gaddafi to
rebrand himself, Blair sacrificed principle at the altar of economic gain.
The rest of British business duly followed.”

In spite of the mayhem now being visited on Libya, architects of the deal in
the desert maintain it was the right thing to do. In the 30 years before the
event, Col Gaddafi had been a serious threat to western security, supporting
the Irish Republican Army with weapons and instigating the 1988 bombing of a
Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland that killed 270 people. Yet Jack
Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the deal, insists it was a valuable
prize because the Libyan leader surrendered weapons of mass destruction that
included important elements of a nuclear programme.

“The situation on the ground in Libya is difficult enough today,” he says.
“But imagine what it would be like now if he had gone on developing that
nuclear capability over the last seven years. We would be dealing with an
autocrat of questionable mental stability in charge of a nuclear weapons
system. This seems to be forgotten by many people.”

Others, however, question this argument. Sir Menzies Campbell, former
Liberal Democrat leader, accepts there was a clear benefit in convincing Col
Gaddafi to surrender WMD. But once this had been secured, he believes, UK
government and business leaders were too quick to embrace him. “We should
have been far more sober and fastidious in the way we dealt with Gaddafi
after that, keeping a tough restriction on arms sales and holding him to
account on his human rights record,” he says. Prof Gerges is more blunt.
“Business interests were dominant from the very start,” he says. “We needed
to make 

[Marxism] Fidel: "The cynical /danse macabre/" -- more on Libya and the danger of imperialist intervention

[Lüko Willms]

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  FYI -- for your information

 cut ---
Reflections by Comrade Fidel

 
THE CYNICAL DANSE MACABRE


The policy of plundering imposed by the United States and their NATO allies 
in the Middle East has gone into a crisis. It has inevitably unravelled with 
the 
high cost of grains, the effects of which can be felt more forcefully in the 
Arab countries where, in spite of their huge resources of oil, the shortage of 
water, areas covered by desert and the generalized poverty of the people 
contrast with the enormous resources coming from the oil possessed by the 
privileged sectors.

While food prices triple, real estate fortunes and the treasures of the 
aristocratic minority reach millions of millions of dollars.

 The Arab world, mainly Muslim in its culture and beliefs, has seen itself 
additionally humiliated by the imposition of blood and fire by a State that was 
not capable of fulfilling the basic obligations that were part of their origin, 
from the colonial order existing up to the end of WW II, by virtue of which the 
victorious powers created the United Nations Organization and imposed world 
trade and economy.

Thanks to the treason committed by Anwar El-Sadat at Camp David, the 
Palestinian State has not been able to exist, despite the UN treaties of 
November 1947, and Israel became a strong nuclear power, an ally of the 
United States and NATO. 

The US Military Industrial Complex supplied Israel with tens of billions of 
dollars every year as well as to the very Arab States that were submitted and 
being humiliated by Israel.   

The genie has escaped from the bottle and NATO doesn't know how to 
control it.

They are going to attempt to wrest the most benefits from the regrettable 
events in Libya.  Nobody can know at this moment what is happening over 
there. All the figures and versions, even the most implausible ones, have 
been spread by the empire via the mass media, sowing chaos and 
disinformation. 

It is obvious that inside Libya a civil war is brewing.  Why and how did this 
happen?  Who will pay the consequences? Reuters Agency, echoing the 
opinion of the well-known Nomura Bank of Japan, stated that oil prices could 
go beyond any limits:

 "'If Libya and Algeria suspend oil production, prices could reach a maximum 
of more than 220 dollars a barrel and OPEC's inactive capacity would be 
reduced to 2.1 million barrels per day, similar to levels seen during the Gulf 
War and when values touched 147 dollars a barrel in 2008', the bank 
asserted in an article."

Who could pay that price these days? What would be the consequences in 
the midst of the food crisis?

The main NATO leaders are all worked up.  British Prime Minister David 
Cameron, ANSA informed, ".admitted in a speech in Kuwait that the western 
nations made a mistake in backing non-democratic governments in the Arab 
world." One has to congratulate him on his frankness.

His French colleague Nicolas Sarkozy stated: "The extended brutal and bloody 
repression of the Libyan civilian population is disgusting".

Italian Chancellor Franco Frattini stated as "'believable' the figure of one 
thousand dead in Tripoli [.] 'the tragic numbers shall be a bloodbath'."

Hillary Clinton stated the following: ".the 'bloodbath' is 'completely 
unacceptable' and 'it has to stop'."

Ban Ki-moon spoke: "'The use of violence in the country is absolutely 
unacceptable'."

".'the Security Council will act according to whatever the international 
community decides'."

"'We are considering a series of options'."

What Ban Ki-moon is really hoping is that Obama pronounces the last word.  

The president of the United States spoke this Wednesday afternoon and 
stated that the Secretary of State would be leaving for Europe in order to 
agree with their NATO allies on the measures to be taken. On his face once 
could note the opportunity to spar with John McCain, the far-right-wing 
Republican senator, pro-Israel Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut 
and the leaders of the Tea Party, in order to ensure the Democratic Party 
demands.

The empire's mass media has prepared the terrain for action. There would be 
nothing strange about a military intervention in Libya; besides, with that, 
Europe would be guaranteed almost two million barrels of light oil per day, 
unless before that events would put an end to the leadership or the life of 
Gaddafi.

Anyway, Obama's role is rather complicated. What will the reaction of the 
Arab and Muslim world be if blood should flow in abundance in that country 
as a result of that exploit? Would NATO intervention in Libya stem the 
revolutionary tidal wave surging in Egypt?

In Iraq, the innocent blood of more than a million Arab citizens was spilt when 
the country was inva

Re: [Marxism] glorious Spring

[Manuel Barrera]

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Mark Said: "The underlying similarity in all these upheavals revolve around the 
issue of power in its various forms and the specific way we hope to see it 
challenged in the most fundamental ways...not through a mere change of regime, 
dynasty, or party but by establishing the rule of those who labor and have no
 fundamental vested interests in sustaining the injustices and insanities of 
the present order."

I am fairly sure, Mark, that you do not mean to convey some sort of 
post-modernist claptrap bordering on "good and evil" religiosity, but what you 
just wrote almost smacks of the kind of nonsense I often hear from the Henry 
Girouxs and Donaldo Macedos of the world who love to appear transcendent about 
the sweep of history and how "power" is the problem and not who wields it. 

However, I wonder (not actually sure yet) if we part ways on the analysis of 
what is taking place and the Class connection of the quite disparate struggles 
from Egypt to Greece to Madison to Latin America. If we are in an age of 
imperialism (and we are) and the designs of the finance capitalists--the 
imperialists--and their political and military henchman throughout the world 
are decidedly united in their common solutions to economic crisis (no, they 
don't have to sit in a room to be so united--though they often do--they just 
have to act like the "birds of a feather"  that they are), then it should 
follow that even though the response of the working masses is fragmented and 
less than directly united there remains a clear commonality of response. In 
Europe, austerity has resulted in the channeled response through the main 
working class, but bureaucratic parties (and, even so, popular anger is being 
demonstrated). In the Middle East, it is the righteous anger of the entire 
population with workers and youth playing a pivotal role, in the U.S., unions 
are bearing the brunt of the attack and workers are beginning to see the 
viability of the popular struggles taking shape globally. 

It really seems like something new is taking shape, but I recognize that 
upsurges have occurred in the past and, as many of us have seen those previous 
upsurges, it is tempting to put what we are seeing from those lenses. In a 
nutshell, I think that what has been experienced before has informed what is 
happening now both positively and negatively. Negatively, the near total 
bankruptcy of lesser-evil politics (USA) and the bureaucratic workers' 
organizations to lead popular struggles has made it difficult, especially in 
Europe and the U.S. Positively, the rise of revolutionary youth from Ireland 
and the U.K through Europe and in the Middle East, the ongoing leadership in 
battle and on the street of women, and the striking independence of the masses 
from their traditional leaders is creating a valuable example and I believe is 
having its impact on workers in the imperialist world.

  

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[Marxism] Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin – Who “Contributes” to Public Workers’ Pensions?

[Dennis Brasky]

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Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin – Who “Contributes” to Public Workers’
Pensions?

David Cay Johnston – Feb. 24, 2011

When it comes to improving public understanding of tax policy, nothing has
been more troubling than the deeply flawed coverage of the Wisconsin state
employees' fight over collective bargaining.

Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on
the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among
journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic
principles.

Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective
bargaining agreements to "contribute more" to their pension and health
insurance plans.

Accepting Gov. Walker' s assertions as fact, and failing to check, created
the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift
from taxpayers. They are not.

Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin' s pension and health insurance
plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

full* *-*
http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EDJYS?OpenDocument*

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[Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots

[Fred Feldman]

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More totally made up CIA propaganda against the revolutionary hero Gadhafi,
who has richly earned - we can all agree - the love and total devotion that
he is receiving from the Libyan people. In fact, there is no such place as
Tripoli.   

 

By the way, one of King Idris' descendants-in-exile has endorsed the revolt,
proving that it is all a plot to restore the monarchy!
Of one thing you can be sure. It's definitely not a real popular revolt if
anyone who is not a militant leftist revolutionary endorses it.

Fred Feldman

February 26, 2011


Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital


By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
 


TRIPOLI, Libya - A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi
  to prove that he was firmly in control of
Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists he invited to the
capital discovered blocks of the city in open revolt. 

Witnesses described snipers and antiaircraft guns firing at unarmed
civilians, and security forces were removing the dead and wounded from
streets and hospitals, apparently in an effort to hide the mounting toll. 

When government-picked drivers escorted journalists on tours of the city on
Saturday morning, the evidence of the extent of the unrest was unmistakable.
Workers were still hastily painting over graffiti calling Colonel Qaddafi a
"bloodsucker" or demanding his ouster. Just off the tour route were long
bread lines where residents said they were afraid to be seen talking to
journalists. 

And though heavily armed checkpoints dominated some precincts of the city,
in other neighborhoods the streets were blocked by makeshift barricades of
broken televisions, charred tree trunks and cinder blocks left over from
protests and street fights the night before. 

"I have seen more than 68 people killed," said a doctor who gave his name
only as Hussein. "But the people who have died, they don't leave them in the
same place. We have seen them taking them in the Qaddafi cars, and nobody
knows where they are taking the people who have died." He added, "Even the
ones with just a broken hand or something they are taking away." 

In some ways, the mixed results of Colonel Qaddafi's publicity stunt -
opening the curtains to the world with great fanfare, even though the stage
is in near-chaotic disarray - is an apt metaphor for the increasingly
untenable situation in the country. 

On Friday, before the journalists arrived, his forces put down a
demonstration in the capital only after firing on the protesters. There were
reports that an armed rebel force was approaching the city on Saturday, but
Colonel Qaddafi's forces are believed to have blocked the way at the city of
Surt, a stronghold of his tribe. 

He is no longer in full control of the countryside either. Rebels now
control about half the populous Mediterranean coast, including the strategic
towns of Zawiyah and Misurata, not far from the capital and near important
oil facilities. 

But Tripoli is home to a third of Libya's roughly six million people.
Colonel Qaddafi and his special militias have unleashed enough firepower
here that it may enable them to keep a firm grasp on the city for some time
to come, raising vexing questions about just how the standoff might end. 

Until Friday night, Colonel Qaddafi's government had imposed a complete ban
on foreign journalists, had shut down most Internet access, had confiscated
cellphone chips and camera memory cards from those leaving the border, and
had done whatever it could to prevent unauthorized images of the unrest here
from leaving the country. 

But he reversed himself on Thursday when his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi
  said Libya would now welcome the
foreign news media and officials began figuring out how to issue visas when
many of its embassies abroad had already defected to the rebels. 

When foreign journalists arrived Friday night, the airport looked like a
refugee camp, with thousands jammed into the halls awaiting flights out of
the country. Many customs and security officials wore hospital masks in fear
of contracting some disease among the hordes. 

In a midnight news conference for journalists assembled in the luxurious
Rixos Hotel, where bread and other food was plentiful, the younger Mr.
Qaddafi, dressed in a dark zip-up sweater, acknowledged for the first time
the extent of the rebellion, confirming reports that rebels had control of
Zawiyah and Misurata despite concerted attempts over the last two days to
dis

Re: [Marxism] Arhundti Roy on the struggle in Libya

[sobuadhaigh]

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Richard wrote:
>The point is well made. But aren't those the 
>views of Willi Langthaler, the writer, responding 
>to Arundhati Roy, who said she was
>"anxious" about the support the rebellions 
>enjoy in the western media?

You are absolutely right comrade.
I read the post quickly and mistakenly
thought they were summarizing her 
remarks instead of printing Langthaler's
response. It is a good reply as her
reservations are shared widely.



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[Marxism] "Anti-imperialist" Fallacies

[Matthew Russo]

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The chief of which is that imperialism WAS NOT intervening in Libya prior to
the present uprising.  In fact, as has been amply documented on this list,
that intervention was occurring via the good offices of the "progressive"
Gaddfi regime.  It's a strange concept of imperialism that sees intervention
as a purely military phenomenon, when most of the time it intervenes by
"peaceful" means.  It is also a notion of imperialism that is alien to the
Leninist concept, with all of its theoretical gaps and shortcomings.  But
what were all those thousands of Americans and Europeans doing in Libya in
the first place?

Therefore it is also fallacious to counterpose "criticizing Gaddafi" with a
supposedly "correct" anti-imperialist posture.  The correct anti-imperialist
stand was to attack the decisive "neo-liberal" turn of the Gaddafi regime 10
years ago: how's that for "opposition in advance"?  Yet one strains their
ears to hear such criticisms from the camp of our "socialist" political
opponents on this list.

Thus the anti-Gaddafi revolt appears as an annoying inconvenience to
imperialism, requiring a shift in mode of intervention - not a "new"
intervention.  Perhaps they can turn this into a "new opportunity", but
right now they strike me as less than enthusiastic.

In the final analysis, the "anti-imperialism" of our opponents is but empty
posturing, a cover for their anxiety over the fate of some historic Latin
American currents they've aligned themselves with as the center of their
little world.  The rest of us can begin by criticizing the "Chinese-style"
neo-liberal turn of the Cuban CP NOW, "in advance", for as a neo-liberal
turn is is also a turn TOWARDS imperialism.

-Matt

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Re: [Marxism] Arhundati Roy on the struggle in Libya

[Richard Fidler]

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The point is well made. But aren't those the views of Willi
Langthaler, the writer, responding to Arundhati Roy, who said she was
"anxious" about the support the rebellions enjoy in the western media?


-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of sobuadha...@hushmail.com
Sent: February 26, 2011 11:18 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Arhundati Roy on the struggle in Libya

Excerpts from an interview with the
Anti-Imperialist Camp discussing Western media support for the
insurgents in Libya. 


However, support by the western media
machinery won't automatically create a
pro-western movement. Of course there are forces in Libya-as well as
in Egypt and in Tunisia-who seek salvation in the west, but the main
forces of the rebellion are the middle and lower classes, and they
combine democratic demands with social and anti-imperialist demands.
This also seems to be the case in Libya, where the average standard of
living is much higher than in other Maghreb countries, but just as in
the oil monarchies of the Gulf, the oil rent is distributed in a very
unequal way and political power is monopolised. The rebellion is thus
absolutely legitimate, even though it is not motivated by hunger as it
is in Egypt..

The jubilations of the western media are very myopic and misplaced
indeed, maybe delusional.
 They are hoping for a colour revolution like those staged in eastern
Europe, but the Arab world has been the victim of 150 years of brutal
colonialism and neo-colonialism, permanent Israeli aggression,
numerous US-led wars, neoliberal pillage decorated with pro-western
oil princes who flaunt a Disney Arabia to the starving masses. 
A few rabid liberal democracy criers won't be enough to turn around
the legitimate hatred of the masses against the west which has been
nurtured for generations.

In the Middle East and in the Arab world, democracy means
anti-imperialism.



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[Marxism] Arhundati Roy on the struggle in Libya

[sobuadhaigh]

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Excerpts from an interview with the 
Anti-Imperialist Camp discussing Western 
media support for the insurgents in Libya. 


However, support by the western media 
machinery won’t automatically create a 
pro-western movement. Of course there are forces 
in Libya—as well as in Egypt and in Tunisia—who 
seek salvation in the west, but the main forces 
of the rebellion are the middle and lower classes, 
and they combine democratic demands with social 
and anti-imperialist demands. This also seems 
to be the case in Libya, where the average 
standard of living is much higher than in other 
Maghreb countries, but just as in the oil 
monarchies of the Gulf, the oil rent is distributed 
in a very unequal way and political power is 
monopolised. The rebellion is thus absolutely 
legitimate, even though it is not motivated 
by hunger as it is in Egypt….

The jubilations of the western media are very 
myopic and misplaced indeed, maybe delusional.
 They are hoping for a colour revolution like 
those staged in eastern Europe, but the Arab 
world has been the victim of 150 years of brutal 
colonialism and neo-colonialism, permanent Israeli 
aggression, numerous US-led wars, neoliberal 
pillage decorated with pro-western oil princes 
who flaunt a Disney Arabia to the starving masses. 
A few rabid liberal democracy criers won’t be 
enough to turn around the legitimate hatred of 
the masses against the west which has been
 nurtured for generations.

In the Middle East and in the Arab world, 
democracy means anti-imperialism.



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[Marxism] MERCO PRESS: Colombian president says he has FARC leader and his command on target

[Walter Lippmann]

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Below my comments you'll find a MERCO PRESS report posted today about the 
situation in Colombia as of this conjuncture. This is my latest contribution to 
a discussion which has been going on at the website of KASAMA for some time. 
The url:
http://kasamaproject.org/2010/07/29/colombia-the-real-farc-ep-inside-and-out/

I suppose this is the Colombian government's response to the FARC's releases of 
prisoners held by the FARC through the participation of former senator Piedad 
Cordoba and with the participation of the Brazilian military.

Colombia's rulers succeeded in booting Cordoba from the Colombian parliament, 
but they haven't been able to remove her from the political scene. Indeed, when 
for some logistical reasons the FARC weren't able to release one if the 
prisoners it had promised, they released an ADDITIONAL one as a way of 
apologizing to Cordoba for the screw-up. She's quite popular among left 
circles, but is also virulently hated by supporters of the Colombian government.

It's clear that the FARC still has some cards to play politically, and a 
non-military solution to the Colombian conflicts would certainly be in the 
interests of that country if it could ever actually be brought about. 

Fidel Castro wrote an entire book about this and I've made a small study of the 
Colombian situation from which my sense of the rightness of Fidel's political 
conclusions were only reinforced. He advised them to release all of their 
prisoners, but, at the same time, not to put down their weapons. The report 
below from MERCO PRESS would seem to confirm Fidel's assessment.

The FARC has suffered substantial blows in recent years, beginning with 
Marulanda's death - of natural causes - but what capitalist government has ever 
NOT claimed that it knows where the revolutionary opposition is and that it has 
them in its sights? Cubans certainly know something about that, after all.

The current Colombian president has shown himself to be far more astute 
politically than his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe. Colombia's decades-long 
struggle has experienced its ups and downs, but its prospects for a military 
victory seem quite remote, at best.

Santos has reduced tensions with Venezuela, where Chavez told the FARC that the 
days of their form of armed struggle were over quite awhile ago. The economies 
of Venezuela and Colombia are closely tied, and a reduction of conflicts 
between the two countries is clearly in the interests of both. 

In this context, a peaceful resolution to the Colombian conflict, if it could 
be achieved, would provide both satisfactions and frustrations to many, but 
would seem to be the best thing which could happen, IF IT COULD HAPPEN.

Millions of Colombians are living in Venezuela, and many seem to be strongly 
supportive of Chavez who has welcomed them into his country. Here in Havana I 
met - a few nights ago - one of these Colombians who lives in Venezuela who 
gave me something of a sense of this.

We are living indeed in very interesting times.

Walter Lippmann
La Habana, Cuba
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
=

MERCO PRESS
Friday, February 18th 2011 - 14:19 UTC

http://en.mercopress.com/2011/02/18/colombian-president-says-he-has-farc-leader-and-his-command-on-target?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

Colombian president says he has FARC leader and his command on target

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said this week that military forces know 
the exact hiding place and movements of the FARC guerrilla maximum leader, 
Alfonso Cano, and brushed aside any chance that he might escape.

"The military forces and the government know exactly in which area Cano is 
hiding", said Santos during a speech countering doubts that the top rebel 
leader of the armed organization might have taken advantage of a "cleared area" 
(free of military operations) for the agreed release of hostages, to flee from 
where he was holed in.

"We know exactly where he and his command are moving; we would be stupid to 
cease operations in an area where he is, thus facilitating a possible escape", 
added the Colombian president.

"We like to dialogue, but we are not stupid. We're going to continue chasing 
him; we'll be on his back, as we are now. That bandit will eventually fall into 
our nets as happened with Mono Jojoy", said Santos.

Since Santos took office six months ago he has managed several significant 
coups against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the most recent the 
death during an air bombing in September 2010 of Mono Jojoy (Jorge Briceño) who 
was then number two and military commander of the terrorist organization.

In March 2008 when Santos was Defence minister of former President

[Marxism] CBS NEWS/Seigelbaum: Cuban Jewish leader knew imprisoned American

[Walter Lippmann]

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Please forgive sloppy formatting today.


Walter


==
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/24/501364/main20036259.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;1
 
February 24, 2011 

By Portia Siegelbaum

February 24, 2011 
Cuban Jewish leader knew imprisoned American

First member of Cuba's small Jewish community admits knowing and talking to 
American Alan Gross, imprisoned for allegedly smuggling illegal satellite 
communication devices
Font size PrintE-mailShare2 Comments By Portia Siegelbaum .
Like this Story? Share it:

Share On Facebook   .. 
The Capitol building in Havana, Cuba  (AP)
.(CBS News)  Havana, Cuba -- William Miller, until this fall vice-president of 
the Beth Shalom Temple told CBS News Thursday that he had met more than once 
with the American contractor who faces a possible 20-year sentence for crimes 
against the security of the Cuban state.


Alan Gross, a Potomac, Maryland native, goes on trial March 4, accused of 
allegedly smuggling in satellite communication devices prohibited under Cuban 
law. He has been jailed for the past 15 months.


Gross worked for a company that subcontracted a U.S. Agency for International 
Development program designed to bring about regime change in Cuba. The program 
dates back to the Bush Administration.

Miller ducked the question of whether he is going to be a prosecution witness, 
saying only, "I'm going to be there, I'm part of it."

Miller is the first member of Cuba's small Jewish community to admit knowing 
and talking to Gross.

"I know the person. I know exactly the person you're referring to," he said in 
a phone conversation with CBS.

"I met him at the Jewish community [the building housing Beth Shalom Temple, 
known as the Patronato, the largest Jewish community center in the country]. He 
came there more than once," Miller said responding to questions.

Adela Dworin, who took over as president of the Temple following the death of 
Miller's grandfather Jose Miller in 2006, had denied knowing Gross when asked 
shortly after the American's arrest in December 2009. More recently she told 
reporters that so many Americans come to the Temple, she simply didn't know if 
he had been one of them.

Miller said he won't speak on camera until after the trial, adding, "Let me 
tell you, the solution to the problem is coming very soon. It's complicated. 
It's hard even for me."

Asked what he meant, all Miller would say was, "Better for the government to 
explain everything."

Miller, formerly a constant presence at the Patronato, disappeared from the 
community in the early Fall. Asked what he has been doing, Miller said, "I've 
been very busy" working on unspecified "projects". Sources close to the 
community suggested he has been working with the prosecution to build the case 
against the 61-year old development worker.

When asked if Gross had offered him a B-gan (a satellite accessing device with 
internet and telephone capability), Miller speaking in English said, Gross "was 
trying to play a little bit about that. I was not sure what his real work was, 
what he was doing."

He also denied "personally" accepting any satellite equipment from the 
American. There has been some speculation that Miller had taken something from 
Gross and was going to be charged in the case.

U.S. demanding Gross's release

The United States is demanding that Cuba release Gross, saying he was only 
providing internet access to Jewish groups on the island so they could 
communicate with each other and with other Jews around the world and has 
committed no crimes.

Miller, however, insists that what Gross was doing had "absolutely nothing to 
do with the Jewish community."

Referring to a CBS shoot at the Patronato last September, Miller declared, "I 
was there when you were filming at the Community. You saw. We have computers. 
We have internet. We don't need persons like Alan Gross."

It's been implied that Miller's stepping down as vice-president of the Temple 
is intended to distance the religious community as a whole from the case.

In a meeting with some members of a delegation from the South Florida League of 
Women Voters Thursday afternoon, Dworin said the Jewish community "had the best 
of relations with the government" and stressed that they stayed out of 
politics. She mentioned President Raul Castro's recent visit to Beth Shalom, 
when wearing a yarmulke he lit the first of the Hanukkah candles. It was a 
visit interpreted by many observers as an attempt to show that the government 
was not allowing the Gross case to spill over onto Cuba's Jews. 

Gross' wife Judy has begged the Cuban government to send her husband home on 
humanitarian grounds, even sending a letter expressing remorse for her 
husband's work directly to President Raul

[Marxism] Popular Army to March on Tripoli, as Qaddafi Massacres Protesters

[dave x]

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http://www.juancole.com/2011/02/popular-army-to-march-on-tripoli-as-qaddafi-massacres-protesters.html

Aljazeeera Arabic is reporting that Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi
has lost control of much of Tripoli and really only dominates the area
of the capital immediately around his palace. Certainly, his security
forces are having to fight for control.

Time reports that 10,000 Libyan soldiers in the east who have joined
the popular forces are preparing to march on the capital, Tripoli.

...


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Re: [Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?

[dave x]

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On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 3:45 AM, Patrick Bond  wrote:
> From where I write, South Durban in South Africa, the Norwegian regime -
> which is the North's most left ruling party combo, I think - appears a
> vanguard of imperialism in the area of climate damage, energy politics and
> the commodfication of the air: http://links.org.au/node/2008

Indeed. It is very interesting how imperialism has has developed these
geographical functional specifications.
-dave


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Re: [Marxism] Libya, phoniness, ad hypocrisy

[sobuadhaigh]

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Eli wrote
>Your interpretation suggests that you think the 
>only way the regime will fall is via U.S. intervention 
>which, if it's true, doesn't say much for the Libyan
> opposition. 

Eli, the Party of Socialism and Liberation thinks far 
less of the Libya revolutionary forces than I do. I 
suggest you re-read the entire article, and not just 
the equivocating conclusion.

>The revolt in Libya appears to have started among
> the long-time opposition to Gaddafi in the city of 
>Benghazi. Initial reports indicated that the movement 
>in Libya was primarily composed of lawyers,
> judges, doctors and police officers…. the middle-class 
>opposition, which for decades resented Gaddafi’s 
>formerly anti-imperialist stances.

> The National Front for the Salvation of Libya, 
>an exile group that has been interviewed constantly 
>by foreign media as a leading opposition force, 
>was for decades trained by the CIA

>Protesters have hoisted Libya’s first national flag, 
>that of the exploitative, U.S.-backed monarch 
>King Idris (1951-1969) over the areas they 
>have seized….

Ok, I get it. The opposition to Gaddafi is led 
by those who are hostile to the progressive 
history of Libya and whose exile cheerleaders 
are on the CIA payroll. Within the country
they exhibit a suspicious degree of 
  military sophistication,” and their banner 
is a symbol Libya’s former domination 
by imperialism, Check. 

Of course everything is laboriously qualified but 
there was one equivocation that particularly
‘struck me:

>At present, the revolt has not produced any 
>organizational form or leader that would make 
>it possible to characterize it politically

Wait a minute here. The Egyptian rising was also
marked by the lack of a clear organizational form 
or  leader and that was most definitely characterized 
positively by the PSL and everybody else. The 
difference must be that 
>Gaddafi is not a puppet of 
imperialism like Mubarak was…

The article does lack the ringing endorsement of 
Gaddafi made by Daniel Ortega and the political support
Given by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, but its 
political conclusion is the same . All that really 
matters now is to prepare for a battle against US
 military intervention which is the call issued by
 Fidel. The regime is being destabilized by 
imperialism for the reasons described below.

>While the U.S. policymakers dream about owning 
>Libya outright, and replacing Gaddafi with a client 
>regime, their main concern is now, as it has always 
>been, stable and guaranteed control over Middle 
>East oil resources. To the extent Washington 
>becomes more “pro-active” against Libya, it will 
>mean they have devised a plan—or found someone 
>better—to do that job. 

What? I thought the invasion plans were already
In m otion and it was time to start screaming 
hey hey, ho ho outside of some federal building. 
Regardless, the partners of imperialism as described 
in Libya are the forces advancing on Tripoli and 
whether the American military or NATO or a lawyer 
from Benghazi administers the coup de grace
the result will be the same.

The article is a mess and tries to be on both 
sides of a developing revolutionary situation 
at the same time. Take a side comrade.
Castro, Ortega, and Chavez have for the 
same reasons the PSL  advances but then
won’t commit to.



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Re: [Marxism] US war plans against Libyan people taking shape

[Fred Feldman]

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Matthew Russo wrote:

stansfield smith, shallow, phony "anti-imperialist" troll.

Listen, one of my own personal goals in this new revolutionary era that is
beginning to open up, is to accomplish the total eradication of a certain
trend in the post Russian Revolution socialist left that almost strangled to
death revolutionary Marxism. Almost, but I think not quite. There will be
scores to settle. That is the honest truth.

 

Fred Feldman comments:

I don't make the rules around here, so Matthew Russo is probably in the
clear.  But I think implicit or explicit threats to "settle scores" with or
"eradicate" people who hold views the writer doesn't agree with should be
banned from the list. Matthew's insistence that this was "the honest truth"
just made matters worse.

 

If Russo feels an irrepressible need to show the world what a tough guy and
thug he can be, I suggest he check out the discussion on World Wrestling
Entertainment or maybe the National Rifle Association.

.


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Re: [Marxism] US war plans on the Libyan people taking shape

[Leonardo Kosloff]

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Matthew Russo stated the obvious in clear, brilliant form. Thanks Mat.
By the way, on fake-ass catchphrases and accusations of the real Marxists a 
la stansfield smith,here's a gift from Fred Engels:
"[...]All this [these highground accusations] is secondhand and little Moritz 
is a dangerous friend. The materialist conception of history has a lot of them 
nowadays, to whom it serves as an excuse for not studying history. Just as Marx 
used to say, commenting on the French "Marxists" of the late [18]70s: "All I 
know is that I am not a Marxist.  [...]In general, the word "materialistic" 
serves many of the younger writers in Germany as a mere phrase with which 
anything and everything is labeled without further study, that is, they stick 
on this label and then consider the question disposed of. But our conception of 
history is above all a guide to study, not a lever for construction after the 
manner of the Hegelian. All history must be studied afresh, the conditions of 
existence of the different formations of society must be examined individually 
before the attempt is made to deduce them from the political, civil law, 
aesthetic, philosophic, religious, etc., views corresponding to them. Up to now 
but little has been done here because only a few people have got down to it 
seriously. In this field we can utilize heaps of help, it is immensely big, 
anyone who will work seriously can achieve much and distinguish himself. But 
instead of this too many of the younger Germans simply make use of the phrase 
historical materialism (and everything can be turned into a phrase) only in 
order to get their own relatively scanty historical knowledge — for economic 
history is still as yet in its swaddling clothes! — constructed into a neat 
system as quickly as possible, and they then deem themselves something very 
tremendous..." 
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_08_05.htm
 

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[Marxism] Helena Sheehan on Libya

[Jim Farmelant]

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As some people here maybe aware, Helena Sheehan,
a noted scholar and teacher on the history and
philosophy of science (she is known especially for her book,
"Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History,"
(http://webpages.dcu.ie/~sheehanh/mxphsc.htm), had been
invited some months ago to deliver a lecture on the philosophy
of history in Tripoli.  Unfortunately, for her, the lecture date would
coincide with the upsurge of civil unrest against the Gadaffy regime.
As a consequence, her lecture was (not surprisingly) cancelled, 
and she found that she had been abandoned by her academic
hosts (who were off advising the regime as to what to do),
leaving her stuck in her hotel as Tripoli descended into the
chaos and violence. that was and is. being perpretated by the 
regime.  Fortunately though, she was able to get out a couple
of days ago.  Since then she has been giving accounts of what
she experienced in Tripoli to the press, such as:

www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0225/1224290837264.html

On her Facebook page, Helena writes:

"So much death, destruction and displacement. All ambivalence 
about that regime gone, gone, gone. It is brutal, corrupt, delusional. 
Worst days of my life. I have kept myself on high energy to tell the
story. 
Need to wind down soon. Not even sure how traumatised I am."

Jim Farmelant
http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant
www.foxymath.com
Learn or Review Basic Math

Dermatologists Hate Her
Clever Mom Uses $5 Trick to Erase Wrinkles and Look Younger Instantly.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4d68f197ac2e488c82st04vuc

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Re: [Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?

[Patrick Bond]

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On 2011/02/26 12:30 PM, dave x wrote:

...Norway is deeply connected
to particular capitalist centers and is part of the EU and NATO, etc
which are important imperialist structures. It is part of the
capitalist/imperialist 'core' or at least very close and well
integrated.


From where I write, South Durban in South Africa, the Norwegian regime 
- which is the North's most left ruling party combo, I think - appears a 
vanguard of imperialism in the area of climate damage, energy politics 
and the commodfication of the air: http://links.org.au/node/2008





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Re: [Marxism] Libya

[Matthew Russo]

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The term "sub-imperial" has been in use for some time to fill in some of the
gaps.  But in fact the composition of the core imperialist countries has
remained pretty stable.  The key sub-imperialist countries are comprised by
the BRICs.

I don't really understand the question.  A key, necessary feature of
imperialism is an effective monopoly on the global means of production,
which is why it appears that a "developed, industrialized" country is also
always in the imperialist camp.

-Matt

"One issue which puzzles me is the continued persistence of the assumption
that
the same group of countries that was imperialist a hundred years ago still
exclusively comprises the imperialist world today. I can't imagine Lenin or
Marx, having such a cramped imagination or understanding as to insist that
New
Zealand is imperialist, but that no non-white nations aside from Japan can
be
even considered for such a designation. I have the sense that there's a
dawning
recognition that China is stepping into imperialist shoes, especially in
Africa,
but I wouldn't be surprised to see that still debated about a generation
hence.

"Here's a question: can a country be considered industrialized or developed
and
*not* be imperialist? If not, then de facto, a whole group of nations are
either
already newly imperialist or are about to become as such. And if so, then
the
question of living standards and the exploitation of the global South has to
go
by the wayside to a certain extent."

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Re: [Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?

[dave x]

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On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 12:08 AM, J L  wrote:
> ==
>
> Norway supplies raw materials (oil and gas) to the world economy ; that's why 
> it
> is rich. Norway actually was colonized by Sweden for much of its history. I
> would not characterize it as an imperialist country.
>
> Jeff
>


The whole obsessive questioning 'is random medium-small country
imperialist?' seems both historically backwards and unimaginative. In
particular the idea that we should be thinking of imperialism in
exclusively or even primarily nation-state terms seems wrong-headed.
Geographically imperialism seems today to be defined more by
particular centers. Places like New York, Washington DC, London,
Brussels, Frankfurt, Tokyo. Perhaps also emerging centers in China,
India, and Dubai. Of course there are some countries whose state and
military apparatuses play particularly important roles in imperialism,
in particular we might think of the US as in some way uniquely
imperialist due to its central, though possibly waning role in this
whole setup. And yes it is true that there is some level of conflict
and competition between different imperialist centers of activity but
even so it is a far cry from the sort of inter-state rivalry of
nationally-bound capitals that characterized the world of Lenin's day.
Is Norway imperialist? In one sense 'no' if you have in mind Norwegian
imperialism as being out there in competition with other state-based
imperialisms. But in another sense 'yes' as Norway is deeply connected
to particular capitalist centers and is part of the EU and NATO, etc
which are important imperialist structures. It is part of the
capitalist/imperialist 'core' or at least very close and well
integrated. In this way it differs from countries like Iran or
Venezuela which are capitalist but are also much more peripheral in
the overall system. This peripheral character is what has allowed a
certain amount of space for the particular political experiments each
has undertaken. However, one gets the sense that, worldwide, this sort
of space has been rapidly shrinking and that such experiments are
increasingly tenuous and difficult to maintain. This is one of the
reasons that I think the whole 'campist' approach is likely to founder
now in ways that it probably wouldn't have in the past.
-dave


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Re: [Marxism] US war plans on the Libyan people taking shape

[Matthew Russo]

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stansfield smith, shallow, phony "anti-imperialist" troll.

Listen, one of my own personal goals in this new revolutionary era that is
beginning to open up, is to accomplish the total eradication of a certain
trend in the post Russian Revolution socialist left that almost strangled to
death revolutionary Marxism.  Almost, but I think not quite.  There will be
scores to settle.  That is the honest truth.

-Matt

"Boy, all this talk about the outrages against the people of Libya by
Qaddafi just melts away when we are asked to?stand up?against imperialist
intervention against them. That's quite a lesson in the phoniness and
hypocrasy of the people on this list."

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[Marxism] From Tobruk: "We can depose of the regime ourselves, we don't want foreign intervention"

[Lüko Willms]

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  A reporter (Stefan Buchen) from German TV (ARD, 
Tagesschau/Tagesthemen) captured these words from a man in Tobruk -- in 
my translation to English from German which the reporter or who else 
translated from Arabic: 

  "We are able to deal the death blow to this regime just like the Tunisians 
and the Egyptians have done. 'We don't want interference from outside, we 
manage to do it ourselves". 

> 


   at about minute 2. 

   This was broadcasted in the 20 o'clock news show of last night. 


Cheers, 
Lüko Willms
Frankfurt, Germany



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Re: [Marxism] Libya and the Middle Eastern Revolution

[Matthew Russo]

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On the situation in the Arab world:  While revolutionary processes are
always some dialectical combination of democratic and social revolution,
rather than a "staged" counter-position of one versus the other, I'd agree
that at present this is a predominantly democratic revolutionary process,
with an objective undercurrent of social revolution centered in Egypt.  The
subjective element - parties of socialist revolutionaries - is obviously
mostly missing, therefore this cannot possibly be analogous to, say, 1917;
Instead the period of democratic revolution is likely to have a prolonged
life depending upon the rapidity with which a meaningful socialist
opposition can be constructed as the only means to guarantee its
permanence.  That much is obvious.

However it is just as obvious that the Arab world is overdetermined by two
peculiarities of its superstructure for which even a democratic
revolutionary process poses a uniquely grave danger to imperialism.  These
are the existence of a feudal relic in the form of the House of Saud and its
princely Persian Gulf satellites, the ultimate "tribal Arabs" so beloved of
imperialist orientalism and the axial template it wishes to impose on the
whole region;  And, closely related in structure to this, the American
Zionist settler regime, an integral part of the United States projected into
the Middle East.  Both these features place sharp restraints on
imperialism's capacity to maneuver within and against the democratic
revolution, these peculiarities on top of an increasing volatile world
situation due fundamentally to the deepening capitalist crisis and posing
the need to contain "contagion" (for example see "The Global Political
Awakening and the New World Order" by  Andrew Gavin Marshall, inspired by
the ever watchful Zbigniew Brzezinski
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19873 - alas our
latter-day Wilsonian liberals don't stand a chance despite their man Obama
being in the White House).  Imperialism might give up the first in extremis
but never the second - unless the U.S. is dethroned as leader of
imperialism.  But the fate of U.S. domination of the imperialist world is
itself bound up with the fate of the Arab world and its revolution.  Even
the progress of a purely "democratic" revolution here could lead to that
dethronement, an event that would mark a sort of "democratic revolutionary"
progress in the imperialist world itself, and especially within the United
States.

On historical analogies:  Though they formally seek to identify
commonalities between different historical events, the real usefulness of
analogies is to identify the differences, and therefore what is new and
different in the present.  The analogy with 1848 highlights the expansive
and synchronous global character of the mass movements as well as the
political weakness of the socialist element.  But it is the powerful global
synchronicity that stands out as new and different in the present.  It's an
internationalists dream, a great time to be alive.

-Matt

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[Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?

[J L]

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Norway supplies raw materials (oil and gas) to the world economy ; that's why 
it 
is rich. Norway actually was colonized by Sweden for much of its history. I 
would not characterize it as an imperialist country.

Jeff


  

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