[Marxism] Egypt: The revolution must go to palestine
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == “To continue this revolution, Egypt must go to Palestine.” These were the words of Akram Ismalii, a student from Cairo University who marched along side his classmates in downtown Cairo for the Third Palestine Intifada rally on May 15. The day marks *al-Nakba* (the catastrophe), as Palestinians call the anniversary of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47689 http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47689Egypt: Fresh protests rock Cairo, huge march planned http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47688 The streets of Cairo have been the frontier for a range of demonstrations over the past two weeks. A new “Day of Rage” is being organised on Facebook for May 27 – much the same way as the January 25 demonstrations that sparked the mass movement that brought down dictator Hosni Mubrak were called.http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47688 http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47688 -- “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 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Hugo Chavez, Monthly Review, and the Syrian torture state
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Good piece, Louis. Today Hezbollah has finally spoken its piece on Syria, and unfortunately it's full of similar garbage, burnishing Assad's anti-imperialist credentials: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=391215 This is particularly disappointing as, for all the group's faults, Nasrallah doesn't bullshit people. If he says he's going to resist, he does, and if he doesn't think it's realistic, he doesn't hide behind phony excuses. But his party IS a bourgeois populist one, and is part of a bourgeois government, and so one can't be too surprised. It's sort of like the sorrow one feels reading about Nasser's failings and crimes, which were legion, despite his vastly superior standing relative to other Third World leaders of the period. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Would a Left-Right Coalition Revive Anti-war
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://phillyworkersvoice.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/would-a-left-right-coalition-revive-the-antiwar-movement/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Obama's Middle East: rhetoric and reality
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == From the always insightful David Bromwich: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/may/22/rhetoric-and-reality/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] A Little Horror Story: Sixty-eight Pages on a Pleasant Idaho Day
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == May 26, 2011 (This certainly requires NO acknowledgement. It's one of the final updates on my Lupus War which has taken the better part of a decade of my life -- time that I have spent in both positive reflection and writing very productively. H.) Thomas, grandson/son and his good spouse, Mimie [Yirengah}, are visiting here from their current base in Iowa City where Thomas, an M.D., is entering his third year of residency -- internal medicine and psychiatry -- at the University of Iowa Hospital and Mimie, having now secured her Masters in Public Health, is deep into her academic work toward a Physician's Assistant degree. Accompanied by their two furry family members, Chocolate [a Husky/Chow mix and Kronos, a Pomeranian], the quiet ethos of our house has been significantly altered -- very pleasantly. I didn't know much about Pomeranians but Thomas tells me that they, Icelandic in origin, were once very large dogs but, via careful breeding, have been reduced to small entitities. Physically, that is, he added, but their egos have remained the same. A couple of nights ago, with the family favorite of Navajo Tacos as cuisine centerpiece, we had nine family members present. I was the oldest and babies Aidan and Finley [Josie/Cameron] were, at two years and almost eight months, respectively, on the other end. Throw in our two dogs and the two visiting canines and our two cats and -- you have a recipe for chaos. But everything remained remarkably laid back,with harmony interrupted only slightly by a very few inter-dog disputes over treats tossed from the table, See some -- some -- family members here, ca. 2009: http://hunterbear.org/PHOTOS%20SOME%20FAMILY%20OF%20OURS.htm Thomas, back in the day, and an undergrad at Idaho State University, had accompanied me faithfully and consistently at every juncture in the Lupus War from 2003 into 2005, usually with varying other family members with us -- and has remained closely interested in all developments. He was almost always initially ignored by the doctors with whom I was involved. But when he occasionally asked a very sharp question or made a quite insightful comment, they suddenly paid much attention to him. Now he plans a substantial medical paper on my Systemic Lupus saga. To that end, he and I traveled yesterday over to the other side of Pocatello to the brand-new and extremely large Portneuf Medical Center. The day was bright, sunny with a turquoise sky, cool. Dark green has replaced winter hereabouts but snow is very visible on the mountains around. We were seeking the basic medical records covering roughly four months -- September through December, 2003. This was the Fire Fight epoch with three substantial hospital incarcerations [each time, much of this in ICU] -- a period that saw me very close indeed to bodily death on those occasions. I really had no idea what the documents would indicate -- but Thomas recalled hearing one doctor tell another back then that mine was Really hot Lupus. A photo of me in that time period shows an apparently very old man, super thin and gaunt with the exception of badly swollen feet and legs, wrinkled face under his Stetson hat, sitting and looking into the Cosmos. A few years later, I had once said of the photo, Throw the Goddamned thing away but I'm now glad to have it, following my eventual resurrection and restoration. It's a kind of stark and revealing record from a genuinely surreal and Hellish time. Portneuf is a huge hospital -- state of the art. We can see it away off from our home. But powerful elements of accrued Dine' [Navajo] tradition always lead me to see those places, in which I've been incarcerated personally a number of times over decades, as Chindee -- and taboo. Inside, we were immediately taken in tow by a friendly senior citizen lady who guided us to a higher level and a great picture window displaying much of Pocatello from a cushy lounge containing a self-playing piano. Just as we walked past, it obligingly burst forth with a favorite of mine, The Call of the Far Away Hills from a great film favorite, Shane. Sitting next to the piano was a very large harp -- but sans an Angel. We entered a very small room -- Medical Records. I completed a couple of legal pages releasing the documents to Thomas and, within twenty minutes, we had 68 pages of distilled small type material. Thomas, immediately engrossed in the packet and frequently exclaiming genuine awe at the dire progression, walked past the piano where an attractive earthly lady was now playing the harp -- and without noticing her. Headed home, we stopped along the way to make copies for myself. We both read through the documents, written in matter of
[Marxism] Iranian Marxists on US role in Arab counter-revolution
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://revolutionaryflowerpot.blogspot.com/2011/05/us-role-in-arab-counterrevolution.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Egypt to open Rafa crossing into Gaza
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == ...at least mostly... http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/2011525174117897741.html -- - Juan Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism-Thaxis] FWD from Roni Ben Efrat
New from Challenge online www.chall-mag.com To join our facebook and get updates: link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Challenge-Online-Magazine/121389134601913 and click on like analysis Obama claims the Arab uprisings for himself by Yacov Ben Efrat In an exciting and revolutionary speech, US President Barack Obama laid out his Middle East doctrine, claiming the new reality created by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia must be grasped. I did not only support those uprisings, he seemed to be saying, I brought them into being when I announced at the University of Cairo that the clash of civilizations had come to an end. In fact Obama was saying that he was ditching the policies of his predecessor George W. Bush and abandoning American fundamentalism, which opted for regime change by means of war. These policies created a wave of hostility against the US. He came to Cairo, Obama said, to address an Arab audience above the heads of their leaders, to announce that Islam is not the enemy of the US, and to affirm that it is the right of all Arabs to free themselves of poverty and repression and live democratic lives. There is no doubt that Obama contributed significantly to the fall of the dictators, and that his demand that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak step down was the final blow for the old regime. Obama tried to pull the US out of the interminable war against Islam, which was costing a high price in terms of resources and human lives at a time his country was in the throes of economic crisis. Under Obama, the US administration understood that the dictatorial regimes would not last long, because nepotism, corruption and oppression. This was causing great anger which, sooner or later, would bring down the regimes. Therefore, these uprisings were not much of a surprise Obama had read the writing on the wall. In his recent speech, Obama extolled Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian youth who set himself alight and thus sparked the uprisings which led to the fall of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, and he also praised Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian Google employee. Obama claimed the Arab uprisings were infused by values of the America Revolution, the uprising against the British, and the ideals of Rosa Parks who sat in a seat reserved for whites and set off the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Yes Obama appeared as a revolutionary, an enlightened democrat, and shook himself free of all those dictatorships which had been US allies for many long years. He understood which way the wind was blowing, and set sail to direct the course of history. Appropriating the revolution Obama is able to do this. He understands that one of the reasons for the uprisings was the economic woes of the masses and the lack of certainty for the future of the youth. The US wants to appropriate these uprisings by channeling billions of dollars towards friendly parties while strengthening the position of big capital. Obama wants enlightened capitalism which will enable the multinational corporations to continue benefiting from their investments in Arab states and allow business owners to flourish, but without corruption, nepotism or political oppression. A realist, he knows that this will take time, and that the Muslim Brotherhood which was not mentioned in his speech is a serious obstacle to his plans and to democracy. But reality is even more convoluted. It may be true that the Egyptian revolution adopted the values of the American revolutionaries and the black struggle for equal rights, but the claim that the Egyptian revolutionaries want to imitate the American model is completely false. The US today is not a role model for any country anywhere in the world. The US, controlled by Wall Street, where the politicians serve the giant oil and insurance companies and the banks, where some 40 million citizens have no health insurance, which has 10% unemployment, and where socioeconomic gaps are among the widest in the world this country cannot be a model for the world, and Obamas rhetoric cannot change that fact. The truth is, the Egyptian revolution has not adopted Obamas values, but expresses a popular uprising against the economic system of the US. What will Obama say about los indignados, the new movement that has occupied Madrids central square, bringing thousands of unemployed youth like Bouazizi to the streets? These youth demand regime change, claiming that the two large parties, the rightwing party and the socialist party, are controlled by capital, the banks and the real estate tycoons. What will happen if this movement, which is spreading throughout Europe, reaches the shores of the US? The youth of Egypt, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy demand the same thing an end to the system of predatory capitalism. Obama, however, is tied to this system, to the great sorrow of the millions of young activists, African-Americans and unionists that brought him to power. Netanyahu is digging in Moreover, Israels
