Re: [Marxism] How did nine Turkish activists die on the Mavi Marmara?

[Gary MacLennan]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Hi Eli

this reminds me of Isaiah Berlin's famous sentences about the Holocaust.
the philosopher Roy Bhaskar uses them a lot in his discussion of
objectivity.


.

a) The country was depopulated.

b) Millions of people died.

c) Millions of people were killed.

d) Millions of people were massacred.

d) is the most emotional but it is also the most objective in that it is the
only adequate description of what took place.

comradely

Gary

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] Report from Cuba on Chavez health and related matters

[Fred Feldman]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


South Journal (Cuba)
Western Media Campaign against Hugo Chavez
Posted on June 26, 2011 by lchirino

By the editor

South Journal–Over the past few days, the western media has intensified a
campaign against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who is currently in Cuba
recovering from surgery on a pelvic abscess. The "news" have flooded the
Internet with fake and fatalist headlines about the health of the Bolivarian
commander, which has been strongly rejected by Caracas.

So many articles about the issue can be read on the web, like one by the
"Nuevo Herald" (the Spanish version of the Miami Herald) which uses
"intelligence sources" that the daily does not identify; however, it reads
that Chavez would be in critical conditions. The BBC in Spanish echoed the
rumors with an article based on non-official medical sources that do not
know the details of the case.

Other websites post similar articles and as it is commonplace in these cases
Venezuela´s El Nacional newspaper has made its part as well. The website
Infobase.com says that recent statements by foreign minister Nicolás maduro
may suggest doubts and the daily interprets those statements in a manner
quite far from reality, by stating that "Chavez is waging a battle for his
life! Just like if he were between life and death.

However, Maduro told Telesur TV Channel that Chavez "is currently in full
recovery as he is focusing on medical indications. He (Chavez) is paying
close attention to his health, but at the same time he is attending to
issues to the national government; he is in permanent communication. He is
combining, in a balanced way, his recovery process and his functions as
president."

As to the return of Chavez to Venezuela, Maduro pointed out that the doctors
are evaluating the president´s health in a permanent way and "we hope he
will be back as soon as possible."

In response to the media campaign against Chavez, former Venezuelan
vice-president and journalist Jose Vicente Rangel explained that "the
president (Hugo Chavez) enjoys good health and he will be soon with us, but
not when they (the opposition) want, only when he decides to come."

Rangel made his statement during a ceremony to grant the Anibal Nazoa prizes
at the Simon Bolivar building, host to the national parliament.

Meanwhile, Eirka Farias, minister of the presidency, said on Saturday that
Hugo Chavez is recovering well, with high spirit and energy, from the
surgery he was submitted in Cuba to extirpate a pelvic abscess.

The official talked to reporters during a tour by the cabinet of the housing
project known as Gran Mision Vivienda Venezuela, a state program designed to
build 2 million homes by 2017. On this kind of social initiatives, Chavez
himself approved in Cuba last Saturday, June 22, an investment valued at 647
million bolivares to build and refurbish public schools.

And more recently, the Bolivarian president wrote on his Twitter page
(chavezcandanga) his congratulations to the Venezuelan army in the context
of commemorations for the Carabobo Battle, which he described as the defeat
of Spanish colonial rule in Venezuela.

Just after being operated on, Chavez sent his people a communiqué explaining
that "surgery was successful. Fortunately, some biopsies have been done,
studies and microbiology analyses as well in different labs and there is no
malign sign. Luckily there was no infection; I never had a fever. This
abscess appeared in the pelvic zone, so it took an operation, a more or less
deep wound to extract it," Chavez explained in details.

Venezuelan Communication minister Andres Izarra called on the people to not
let themselves be manipulated by the media and he pointed out that Chavez is
recovering well.

Just last week, the Cuban website Cubadebate published some potos of Chavez
along Fidel and Raul Castro. In the picture Chavez is standing and wearing
the colors of the Venezuelan flag.

This kind of media campaign that is targeting Hugo Chavez and his
government, is nothing new for countries and governments who choose a path
far apart from the imperial mandate. It is the only manner to influence the
minds of the people and at the same time it is the bitter part of our
everyday bread; it is the loud and clear signal that the changes taking
place in the South do have an irreversible impact on the very heart of the
North.




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] Troubling! -- despite Federal reassurances: Flood berm collapses at Nebraska nuclear plant

[Hunter Gray]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


 
After observing the various dimensions and facets of the uranium/nuclear Horror 
since I was a kid in Northern Arizona, Federal [and corporate] reassurances 
have long sounded like a very unconvincing standard script.  My youngest son, 
Peter, is a journalist with the Lincoln Journal Star and, when he returns in a 
few days from a group bike trip in southeastern Nebraska, I should hear more on 
this.

Meanwhile, much of Minot, North Dakota is inundated with very high water that's 
been more forceful than some "normal" floods since the deemed-necessary opening 
of dams upriver.  Minot has some small hills, where more affluent people 
reside, and, although those homes may escape, thousands of others, and 
businesses as well, have been hit hard, even to the point of striking the 
second floor of buildings.  The last flood of this size to hit Minot was in the 
Territorial days, 1880s.  The horrific Grand Forks, ND flood of 1997, which our 
family escaped owing to our far out location, occurred on land which is mostly 
as flat at the Mississippi Delta.  In that catastrophe, which also featured a 
fire, virtually the whole Grand Forks region was struck and almost 55,000 
people were forced into other parts of North Dakota, other states, and Canadian 
provinces.  The Forks waters did not, at least generally, hit the second floors 
-- and a good deal of eventual renovation was possible.  A major problem in any 
flooding situation is "black mold" -- capable of generating serious medical 
problems.  After helping my daughter, Maria, and other family members, muck out 
her Grand Forks apartment basement -- a really filthy all day chore -- we threw 
our work clothes away -- and took very long showers. [Now on an Idaho hill 
since that '97 flood, we keep an eye open for brush fires and think about 
earthquakes.]

This Nebraska nuclear plant situation comes as warnings sharply increase, in 
this country and globally, about attendant and very significant safety issues.  
Official reassurances are fast losing their magic.

Flood berm collapses at Nebraska nuclear plant
By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press - 2 hours ago

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) - A berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a 
Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators 
said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger.

The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station shut down in early April for refueling, and 
there is no water inside the plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
said. Also, the river is not expected to rise higher than the level the plant 
was designed to handle. NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said the plant remains safe.

The federal commission had inspectors at the plant 20 miles (32 kilometers) 
north of Omaha when the 2,000-foot (600-meter) berm collapsed about 1:30 a.m. 
Sunday. Water surrounded the auxiliary and containment buildings at the plant, 
it said in a statement.

The Omaha Public Power District has said the complex will not be reactivated 
until the flooding subsides. Its spokesman, Jeff Hanson, said the berm wasn't 
critical to protecting the plant but a crew will look at whether it can be 
patched.

"That was an additional layer of protection we put in," Hanson said.

The berm's collapse didn't affect the reactor shutdown cooling or the spent 
fuel pool cooling, but the power supply was cut after water surrounded the main 
electrical transformers, the NRC said. Emergency generators powered the plant 
until an off-site power supply was connected Sunday afternoon, according to 
OPPD.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko will tour the plant Monday. His visit was scheduled 
last week. On Sunday, he was touring Nebraska's other nuclear power plant, 
which sits along the Missouri River near Brownville.

Both nuclear plants issued flooding alerts earlier this month, although they 
were routine as the river's rise has been expected. The Brownville plant has 
been operating at full capacity.

Flooding remains a concern all along the Missouri because of massive amounts of 
water the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released from upstream reservoirs. 
The river is expected to rise as much as 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to 2.1 meters) above 
flood stage in much of Nebraska and Iowa and as much as 10 feet (3 meters) over 
flood stage in parts of Missouri.

The corps expects the river to remain high at least into August because of 
heavy spring rains in the upper Plains and substantial Rocky Mountain snowpack 
melting into the river basin.

Timberly Ross can be reached at http://twitter.com/timberlysross.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´ 
and Ohkwari' 
 

Re: [Marxism] Rightist Alex Jones also big fan of McKinney

[Mark Lause]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Weishaupt was a Zionist?  Holy Moses (so to speak)!

Here I thought all these years that he taught in a Jesuit university.  Of
course, maybe the Jesuits were themselves closet Zionists . . . sneaky
Templar Masonic bigfoots that they are . . . .

Good to remember that we are working 24/7 in this sewerage of a civic
culture . . . .

ML

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] Rightist Alex Jones also big fan of McKinney

[CallMe Ishmael]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Be sure to check out Alex Jones's helpful video, "Are You Practicing Communism?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZRUUFCrPSk

"In 1848, Karl Marx wrote the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto,
which he copied from an article written by Zionist and Illuminati
founder Adam Weishaupt in 1787."


> I rest my case.
>
> - Jeff
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 
> Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
> Set your options at: 
> http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/llamadmeismael7%40gmail.com
>


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] 'People are trembling' over state's new immigration law

[Greg McDonald]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/52377/


'People are trembling' over state's new immigration law

Crackdown has local shops, taxis empty and Latino community fearful




By Ashley Fielding afield...@gainesvilletimes.com




POSTED: June 26, 2011 1:26 a.m.

An entire wall at Village Wash and Dry Lavanderia on Atlanta Highway
is filled with clothes dryers. But on a drizzling Thursday afternoon,
only one is occupied with tumbling clothes.

A telenovela from a wall-mounted television is a distraction from the
emptiness as Araceli Galuan, 29, folds her children's T-shirts.

"Before, in this laundromat, there used to be so many people, but now ..."

Her voice trails off while a translator explains that Galuan, who came
to Gainesville 13 years ago with her family from Guanajuato, sees a
big difference in her adopted community since Georgia lawmakers this
year passed an aggressive bill that targeted
illegal immigrants.

Unless a federal judge agrees this week to temporarily block it, many
of the provisions of Georgia's Illegal Immigration Reform and
Enforcement Act of 2011 are set to go into effect Friday.

The bill is Georgia lawmakers' effort at stemming the amount of
taxpayer dollars spent providing medical care to illegal immigrants or
processing them in the state's judicial system.

But its constitutionality has been called into question by civil
rights groups who have sued the state over some of the law's
provisions, claiming it violates federal protections from unwarranted
search and seizure.

The American Civil Liberties Union has also asked a federal judge to
block the state from enforcing its new anti-illegal immigration law
until the matter is decided in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash has promised that if he issues
that requested injunction, he will do so before Friday when the law is
set to go into effect.

Barring that decision, as of Friday,
local law enforcement will have the authority to check suspects'
immigration status and arrest anyone found to be here illegally.

But members of Hall County's Latino community say a lot of people
aren't waiting around for the ruling. Many are leaving, they say, and
fear is filling the spaces left behind.

‘Ghost town' left behind

At Carniceria Tapatia, a Latino grocery store on Browns Bridge Road,
Noe Covarrubias notices the impact that the law, House Bill 87, has
already had on Hall County's once-thriving Latino community.

"It's a ghost town," Covarrubias said.

Three years ago, Atlanta Highway, the arterial route through
Gainesville's Latino commercial community, was so filled with cars
that it was difficult for a pedestrian to cross, business owner Jose
Luis Diaz recalls.

"Today — now — you can cross with your eyes closed," Diaz said.

Hall County, with its ample poultry processing facilities and
once-booming housing industry, has for years been an attractive
destination for immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

Census figures show that between 2000 and 2010, Hall County's
accounted-for Latino population grew by 72 percent, attracting so many
immigrants it was one of the first counties in the state that federal
immigration officials tapped to participate in the 287(g) program.

Since 2008, the local-federal partnership has allowed local officers
to begin deportation proceedings for any arrestee who is brought to
the county jail and determined to be in the country illegally.

And though community members say that partnership had its effect on
the Latino population of Hall County, they say it's nothing compared
to the fear House Bill 87 has inflicted on the community.

"I have never seen such a state of terror," said Father Jaime Barona,
the leader of a largely-Latino congregation at Gainesville's St.
Michael Catholic Church. "The people are trembling."

Almost daily, Barona says members of his congregation come to him with
worries about family members who were deported. He tells of a
seventh-grade girl, in the country legally, who had to move back to
Mexico away from her family and way of life after her father was
deported.

Like the groups that have filed suit against Georgia's efforts, Barona
says Georgia's new anti-illegal immigration law invites racial
profiling mostly targeted at Latinos. He takes the criticism a step
further, saying the bill invites local law enforcement to "hunt"
illegal immigrants and "corral" them like cattle.

"What they don't remember is that when the economy was pretty good,
the immigrants worked in this county more than anyone else," Barona
said. "The immigrants opened businesses. The immigrants came to Hall
County and helped to build this county for the past 15 yea

Re: [Marxism] WaPo: NATO war drags on (with my introductory comments)

[Louis Proyect]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


On 6/26/11 2:59 PM, Fred Feldman wrote:


The Wall Street Journal article placed the conflict in tribal terms, but
Louis provided no evidence that the support he found for Gadhafi among some
in the Misrata region was not a fact.



Fred, this is the main deterrent upon which we have gathered our 
strength and all the others who say, "What the hell did that get?" - We 
don't know. We've got to perforce withhold the loving boy... And as 
Miller once said in one of his great novels- what did he ... that 
language is only necessary when communication is endangered. And you sit 
there bewildered, and Pinter who went further said "It is not the lack 
of communication but fear of communication."




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] Rightist Alex Jones also big fan of McKinney

[Mark Lause]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Suresh  wrote:

>
> Honestly, if you want to play this game, you'll lose. If opponents of the
> imperialist war against Libya have Ron Paul and Alex Jones on our side,
> guess
> what? Supporters of the NATO backed rebels have Paul Wolfowitz, Joe
> Lieberman,
> John McCain, Marco Rubio, Liz Cheney, Karl Rove, Bill Kristol, and Elliot
> Abrams
> on their side. I'll take right-wing isolationists like Paul and Jones over
> neoconservative war mongers and torture advocates every single time.
>
>
With a wave of the wand, Suresh transforms the people in the streets into
"NATO backed rebels" and their supporters as allies of "neoconservative war
mongers and torture advocates."

ML

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] WaPo: NATO war drags on (with my introductory comments)

[Fred Feldman]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Introductory comments to news article
It should be needless to say, of course, that the claim in the WaPo article
below that there has only been one instance of civilians being killed in a
NATO bombing is a lie.

Now in its fourth month, the stiff resistance put up by the Gadhafi regime
is spurring war weariness, doubt, and dissent among the imperialist allies,
and among the people of these countries. Tomorrow there will be protest
demonstrations sponsored by the United National Action Coalition.

I want to make a couple comments on other contributions. 

1. Dayne Goodwin submitted an article on defections by athletes to the
anti-regime camp. I hesitate to give these a great deal of weight.  First,
the soccer team is under pressure from the fact that, given NATO's
intervention, they cannot hope to participate in international competitions
until Gadhafi falls. Secondly, I cannot help recalling the enormous effort
and resources Washington puts into getting Cuban athletes defect.

Given that the northwestern imperialist powers are at war with Libya, I
think it is reasonable to guess that they are making similar, if not
greater, efforts to foster defections.

Remember, the anti-Gadhafi forces are being lent $800 million, primarily by
the imperialist powers and their closest semicolonial allies, to pursue
their part in the effort to topple the regime. Of course, the people of
Libya will have to foot the bill for this "generous" loan after the
anti-Gadhafi forces have been placed in power.  (Opposition has also
promised to continue and deepen the neoliberal policies Gadhafi was
identified with in recent years.)

Does this prove tbat the athletes were motivated by opportunism or greed?
Not at all. But the reverse cannot be proven also. Given the realities of
this war, I don't think the athletes' defection can be given much political
and moral weight, because of our ignorance of what was really involved.

2. The second item I want to take up was Louis Proyect's article commented
on an item that Greg M. and I submitted, "Libya City Torn by Tribal
Conflicts," from the Wall Street Journal.

Louis submitted a useful article showing that Libya is NOT divided on tribal
lines. 
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.politics.marxism.marxmail

Louis did not mention that in my introduction to the WSJ item, I had
specifically disassociated my self from the claim that tribalism is the
source of divisions in Libya:

"The reduction of this deep social conflict to tribal feuding is strictly
the Wall Street Journal's".
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.politics.marxism.marxmail

The article Louis submitted showed that Gadhafi used claims of tribal
divisions to seek support, especially abroad, for the regime.

But demonstrating that Libya is not divided on tribal lines is not proof
that Libya is not divided. It is not proof that the entire nation (leaving
aside Gadhafi's top circles, is united in supporting war to the knife
against him. 

Why is the media carrying articles like this that point to actual divisions
over the war, including support for Gadhafi? Because the survival of the
regime, and the failure of the imperialist-backed "revolutionaries" to make
significant gains, raises questions about whether he is completely isolated
at home (which was the claim when the war started).  

At first the major media claimed that the reason was the army's superiority
in artillery. But that had gotten a little old by the time the war went into
its third month, and journalists began reporting on the existence of support
for Gadhafi in some sections of the masses.

It is true that when the movement against the government's repression
started, it seemed very broad and the fall of many cities to the rebels was 
Reported in the media. But a great deal of water and blood have gone over
the dam since then.

The Guardian for instance carried a report from Tripoli that there were
whole neighborhoods which were supporting Gadhafi (the reporter thought they
constituted a majority) even though there were neighborhoods which continued
strongly opposed to the dictator.

The Wall Street Journal article placed the conflict in tribal terms, but
Louis provided no evidence that the support he found for Gadhafi among some
in the Misrata region was not a fact.

Perhaps the most interesting is the conclusion of the WaPo article, since it
carries a hint that Gadhafi has gained support among some since the bombing
began, which has been my suspicion.

[Punctuation as in original]
"Abdul Adeem, 44, an electrician who lives near a house leveled after a NATO
strike last week, said the bombing campaign has made people rally around
Gaddafi.

"All neighbors are afraid," he said. "They think maybe NATO will do it again
tonight." [End quote.]

Such reactions are quite commo

Re: [Marxism] Rightist Alex Jones also big fan of McKinney

[Jeff]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


At 11:36 26/06/11 -0700, Suresh wrote:
>. Supporters of the NATO backed rebels have Paul Wolfowitz, Joe
Lieberman, 
>John McCain, Marco Rubio, Liz Cheney, Karl Rove, Bill Kristol, and Elliot
Abrams 
>on their side. I'll take right-wing isolationists like Paul and Jones over 
>neoconservative war mongers

And then let me know when they invite you on their broadcasts so you can
support their conspiracy theories and trash the "Al-Qaida" forces in
Benghazi fighting for the imperialists. If you were willing to stoop half
as low as McKinney has, then I'm afraid we have nothing to discuss.

Anyway, the original point at issue is whether there is any perceptible
difference between the public positions of ANSWER (and its backers) and the
so-called antiwar right-wingers concerning Libya. Not which right-wing is
"worse."

- Jeff





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] Rightist Alex Jones also big fan of McKinney

[Suresh]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Honestly, if you want to play this game, you'll lose. If opponents of the 
imperialist war against Libya have Ron Paul and Alex Jones on our side, guess 
what? Supporters of the NATO backed rebels have Paul Wolfowitz, Joe Lieberman, 
John McCain, Marco Rubio, Liz Cheney, Karl Rove, Bill Kristol, and Elliot 
Abrams 
on their side. I'll take right-wing isolationists like Paul and Jones over 
neoconservative war mongers and torture advocates every single time.

But really, it's a pathetically weak debating tactic, so give it up. 


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] Previouzsly unpublished work by Tony Cliff on the Middle East now available on line

[Einde O'Callaghan]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Tony Cliff's 1946 work "The Problem of the Middle East", which has never 
been published before, is now available online in the Marxists' Internet 
Archive at 
. 
This is the result of a collaboration between the MIA (in the person of 
yours truly) and Cliff's literary executors. There's a short 
introduction to the piece by Anne Alexander.


Cliff brought the study with him when he came to Europe from Palestine 
in the 1940s but he was unable to find a publisher at the time. Later 
events such as the Nakba and the foundation of Israel seemed to render 
the book superfluous or outdated and it wandered into Cliff's archives. 
One chapter was published in a collection of selected works published 
after his death. However, for an understanding of many of the events 
happening now in the Middle east the book provides a valuable insight 
into the historical background to the modern Middle East as well as 
emphasising the centrality of the working class.


But don't believe me, take a look yourselves at the link above.

Einde O'Callaghan


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] How did nine Turkish activists die on the Mavi Marmara?

[Eli Stephens]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==



Both AFP and AP manage to use the passive tense when describing the fact that 
on last year's Gaza flotilla, nine Turkish activists "died." Possibly had heart 
attacks. Or fell overboard. Who knows? Actually AFP and AP know, but they're 
not telling.

http://lefti.blogspot.com/2011/06/love-that-passive-tense.html


Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com

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] Rightist Alex Jones also big fan of McKinney

[Jeff]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


At 12:28 25/06/11 -0700, Eli Stephens wrote:
>
>Jeff: "... rather indistinguishable from that of Ron Paul and similar 
>"anti-intervention" right-wingers."
>
>Now THIS is funny! If you can visit pslweb.org and liberationnews.org and 
>not manage to distinguish them from ronpaul.com, you have a serious reading 
>comprehension problem.

When I saw this reply I just chuckled and sneered at first. But then I
decided to take the challenge and test my reading comprehension. What I was
to read, AND comprehend, was even more eye-opening!

Now I didn't go to the PSL website because that isn't exactly what I was
talking about. I'd suspect that the fliers handed out at this event didn't
point mainly to that website (if at all) but rather to the ANSWER website.
Indeed on the ANSWER website I found no political positions which one could
clearly differentiate from those of the far-right "antiwar" forces I was
referring to. And just a few clicks later I found myself staring at this
youtube video of Cynthia McKinney (who ANSWER/PSL/WWP have championed
without a word of criticism) as the featured guest on the Alex Jones TV
show!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lGIsnvc4UI

For anyone not familiar with Alex Jones (http://www.prisonplanet.com), he
is a far right propagandist who combines the promulgation of incredible
right-wing conspiracy theories (black helicopters, one world government by
the UN, Bilderberg conspiracy, Obama birth certificate, etc. etc.) with the
isolationist (mistaken as "antiwar") positions of Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan,
et. al. The thought of being invited on his show would sicken me to no end
and make me wonder how I could have been so badly misconstrued. But
McKinney didn't see it as a problem at all, saying that she had "wanted to
come on your show for so long." The two then engaged in the most agreeable
chat around their common "antiwar" cause!

Even so, I suspected Eli might be slightly right, with cracks between the
far-right Jones and the ostensibly far-left McKinney eventually emerging as
the discussion wandered. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, as Alex Jones
would avoid any rocky territory in order to continue the deception by such
rightists appealing to the actual (left) antiwar movement.

After many minutes of amenable discussion I thought I might see a crack, or
at least a clear difference in emphasis, when Alex Jones began to attack
the Libyan revolutionaries as "secret Al-Qaida brigades," saying that "the
main force -- this is now in the WSJ and LA Times -- that is running all
this [the Libyan revolution] IS Al-Qaida  people who killed US
soldiers..." I expected McKinney to finesse her way around this, but
instead, without missing a beat, she enthusiastically agreed, adding that
Al-Qaida is just a product/tool of the CIA anyway (another happy point of
agreement) which the US is allied with. She gratuitously complimented Alex
Jones as "one of the rare truth-tellers." The racist Jones reciprocated by
expressing solidarity with Blacks in Africa who face victimization.

I rest my case.

- Jeff
















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] Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

[Louis Proyect]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


On 6/26/11 9:17 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote:

He has recently been stressing the slimy role of Syria's Muslim
Brotherhood for the same reason the RS comrades in Egypt point to the
key role being played there now by their Brotherhood in helping the
military derail the revolution (which, by the way, is why the
Brotherhood's youth have split).


My problem is trying to figure out the weight of the Muslim Brotherhood 
in Syria. Joshua Landis, another MRZine fave and Assad spin-doctor, 
tends to see the revolt as having dangerous sectarian tendencies with 
the Muslim Brotherhood the worst offender.


I posted this link to a Landis interview of a Syrian activist where he 
keeps pressing the activist on the sectarian threat almost obsessively:


http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=10390

When you see this sort of thing, you cannot help but escape the feeling 
that Assad is a lesser evil.



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] Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

[Andrew Pollack]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


ohmigod no no no!!!
As'ad Abu Khalil (the Angry Arab) is NO pro-Assad! If you read him
regularly at angryarab.blogspot.com you will find he is fiercely
against every dictator in the region.
He has recently been stressing the slimy role of Syria's Muslim
Brotherhood for the same reason the RS comrades in Egypt point to the
key role being played there now by their Brotherhood in helping the
military derail the revolution (which, by the way, is why the
Brotherhood's youth have split).
Please everyone read AA regularly for a unique and essential source of
news from an ex-Marxist turned anarchist, fiercely uncompromising
pro-Palestine, anti-imperialist point of view!

On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 9:03 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:
>
> MRZine has been crossposting the Angry Arab's rants about the Muslim
> Brotherhood for weeks now. I am not sure I understand what they are meant to
> accomplish since they amount more to twitters than in-depth analysis. Isn't
> Hamas basically Gaza's version of the Muslim Brotherhood? Has he ever gone
> ballistic over Hamas? I can understand MRZine's take on this since Yoshie is
> an open al-Assad propagandist. Is the Angry Arab implicitly pro-Assad?
>
> I have little (none, actually) use for the Muslim Brotherhood, especially
> after reading Robert Dreyfuss's book on the ties between political Islam and
> imperialism, but is there an argument to be made that there is much
> difference between Hizbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood? Why is one brand of
> political Islam "good" in Lebanon and "evil" in Syria?
>


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] Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

[Louis Proyect]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


MRZine has been crossposting the Angry Arab's rants about the Muslim 
Brotherhood for weeks now. I am not sure I understand what they are 
meant to accomplish since they amount more to twitters than in-depth 
analysis. Isn't Hamas basically Gaza's version of the Muslim 
Brotherhood? Has he ever gone ballistic over Hamas? I can understand 
MRZine's take on this since Yoshie is an open al-Assad propagandist. Is 
the Angry Arab implicitly pro-Assad?


I have little (none, actually) use for the Muslim Brotherhood, 
especially after reading Robert Dreyfuss's book on the ties between 
political Islam and imperialism, but is there an argument to be made 
that there is much difference between Hizbollah and the Muslim 
Brotherhood? Why is one brand of political Islam "good" in Lebanon and 
"evil" in Syria?



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] Libyan soccer stars solidarize with opposition to Gaddafi

[Dayne Goodwin]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Libyan soccer stars join rebels in blow to Gaddafi

Reuters
Sat Jun 25, 2:42 pm ET

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Four members of Libya's national soccer
team and 13 other football figures have defected to rebels in a blow
to Muammar Gaddafi's government, the rebel authority in eastern Libya
said on Saturday.

Gaddafi has faced a string of defections by officers and diplomats but
has resisted efforts by rebels backed by a NATO bombing campaign to
dislodge him after four decades in power.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the rebel council, said the
footballers had been in touch with the insurgent leadership in
Benghazi and were staying in neighbouring Tunisia.

"It's a direct reflection of opinions and feelings of all people
across Libya. These 17 members were on their way to Mali when they
declared their defection," he said.

"This is not just symbolic but it's also very important. It (shows)
that whenever a person is able to set themselves free and announce
their defection, they do so. There are many of those who are not able
to do that."

National goalkeeper Juma Gtat and Adel bin Issa, the coach of
Tripoli's top club al-Ahly, announced the defections in the rebel-held
Nafusa Mountains in western Libya, the BBC reported.

"I am telling Colonel Gaddafi to leave us alone and allow us to create
a free Libya," it quoted Gtat as saying at a hotel in the town of
Jadu. "In fact I wish he would leave this life altogether."

Bin Issa told the BBC he had chosen to come to the Western Mountains
"to send a message that Libya should be unified and free," adding: "I
hope to wake up one morning to find that Gaddafi is no longer there."





Libyan soccer players declare for rebels

Associated Press
Sun, Jun 26 - 4:54 AM

CAIRO, Egypt — Players and coaches from Libya’s national soccer team
have announced their support for the fight to end Moammar Gadhafi’s 42
years in power, a rebel spokesman said Saturday.

Seventeen players from the team defected while they were in the West
African nation of Mali for a match and later travelled to Tunisia,
said Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, spokesman of the rebel leadership in the
eastern city of Benghazi.

"We welcome this from the national team and our youth," Ghoga said.
"This case shows that demands of the youth for freedom and anyone who
has the chance to announce their defection and support for the rebels
would do so."

Four of the players are from Tripoli’s most popular team, al-Ahly,
where one of Gadhafi’s sons, al-Saadi, once played, said Ghoga.
Al-Saadi now heads Libya’s Football Federation.

The players crossed into rebel-held territory in Libya’s western
mountains. They visited with residents in the town of Zintan on
Saturday, said Gomaa Ibrahim, a spokesman for rebel fighters in that
area.

In a video posted Saturday on a rebel Facebook page under the title
"the national team announces its defection," several of the men said
they are visiting rebels in the western Nafusa mountains to show
support. The speakers did not identify themselves by name.

One of them said they are "announcing — not from now but from the
beginning of the revolution — that we are joining it."

"This is miraculous revolution that confronted the aggression with
strong faith," he said.

Another said: "God willing, Tripoli will be liberated by this
mountain. This is a message to the agents to abandon their weapons
because Libya will be free, sooner or later."




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] Debates with Capitalist Conservatives, Vol.2- Chapter 2

[Evil For All Time]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


Volume 2 - Chapter 2

Behold, the masses (Their identities shall be concealed for their own
protection):

*Topic: NBC's Golf Tournament Pledge of Allegiance*

http://evilforalltime.blogspot.com/2011/06/debates-with-capitalist-conservatives_26.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] Militant: Coal contract gives up pension for new hires

[Fred Feldman]

==
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
==


http://www.themilitant.com/index.shtml
Coal contract gives up
pension for new hires 
For ranks, there's no peace with mine bosses
 
  
AP Photo/Wade Payne  
Caption>: Rescue workers outside flooded Jellico Mine No. 1 in Middlesboro,
Kentucky, June 20, a few days after United Mine Workers approved contract
with Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA). Three miners were trapped
underground for 14 hours in nonunion Jellico mine. Miners and other workers
face deteriorating safety conditions as bosses press to maximize
"productivity" amid deepening crisis of capitalism and continuing decline of
unions.  

BY PAUL MAILHOT
AND ALYSON KENNEDY  
CHARLESTON, West Virginia-Members of the United Mine Workers of America
(UMWA) union voted by 70 percent to approve a new contract with the
Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) June 17. The agreement includes
wage increases of $6 an hour over the next five and a half years. A major
change from previous agreements is the elimination of union pensions for
workers hired after Jan. 1, 2012. 
Since only one coal company-Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy-is today a member
of the BCOA, the agreement technically applies only to the 3,000 miners who
work for Consol. Contract provisions on company payments into the union
pension fund affect all coal companies who have union retirees, however.
UMWA members at other major coal companies voted on the proposed pact, which
continues to serve as a basis for union negotiations with these coal bosses.


Some miners in this region told the Militant that the new agreement would
deepen divisions among miners. "The companies dangled a lot of money in
front of us, which is why this passed," said one miner who works at the
Hobet coal operation near here. "But I don't like that new miners will not
receive a pension. It makes you wonder whether there will be pensions for
any of us in the future." 

UMWA officials have stressed that the union's pension fund is headed toward
insolvency, having lost 22 percent of its value in 2008-2009. Union
officials are instead encouraging workers to invest in company 401(k) plans.
The average pension for a retired miner is $590 a month and for a surviving
spouse about $300 a month. More than 40 percent of miners receiving pensions
are over 75. 

The new contract goes into effect as mine operators are ramping up
production-and jeopardizing safety, many miners point out-to maximize profit
while there is a strong market for coal. 

Workers, not just in the coalfields, are paying the price for years of
business unionism that placed obtaining "fringe benefits," such as pensions
and health insurance, from a particular company or industry ahead of leading
a fight for the needs of the working class as a whole. These fringes are
good in good times-for a shrinking number of workers who have them-but they
fall apart as the capitalist system goes into crisis. 

While there is some hiring today for experienced miners, there are few jobs
for new workers in the mines or other industries. West Virginia mining
businesses added only 375 jobs in the last year. 

"I've never seen it so hard to get a job as it has been the last two years,"
said Casey Harmon, from Madison, West Virginia. Harmon left a coal-mining
job with Massey Energy after the company "realigned" the job he was working
and called him back to work at $5 less an hour. 

This area of West Virginia is also the site of the last major coal mine
disaster, which took the lives of 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine
south of Charleston last year. The Massey Energy mine owners refuse to take
responsibility for the mine explosion there in spite of numerous reports
about unsafe practices that directly contributed to the disaster. 
 
 




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