[Marxism] The Apocalypse Industry: End-Time Fantasies of a Crumbling Empire
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36859.htm 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] Critique of Zizek on Syria
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I really appreciate the stuff of his own and others that Michael has been bringing to our attention on Syria. This piece by Leil-Zahra is a brilliant refutation of and putdown of Zizek's inane posturing on the Syrian revolution. The only reservation I have is that it is surely time to recognise that for Marxists or anyone with the least seriousness in their approach to the issues raised in the Syrian revolution to recognise that Zizek's opinion on this ,and frankly most other things ,is clownish and irrelevant. But a grateful thanks to Leil-Zahra for this elegant and powerful nail in the coffin of the buffoon's relevance and thanks to Michael for bringing it to our attention Greg Adler On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Michael Karadjis wrote: > == > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > == > > > Coprolalia on Syria European pseudo-Leftists and Zizek > Posted by Leil-Zahra on 11/12/13 . Categorized as English > > I was a bit disappointed when I read Zizek´s article on Syria. It is true > that the people in Syria have no excuse for not making a revolution, but > compassion is a virtue. Maybe if "comrade" Zizek could´ve taken the time to > scribble them a manual of "Revolution 101? they could´ve been brought to > their senses. Possibly a syllabus of recommended readings? Zizek has a lot > to teach the people in Syria and Egypt. The European Left as a whole has > much to share itself. I mean, Europe has been revolting for decades and the > victories of the European Left are a source of global envy. Zizek himself > has lead the barricades and put a stake to the heart of neoliberalism in > his own country. > > Full: http://www.leilzahra.com/?p=642 > > > > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu > Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/ > marxism/gregadler502%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] South Korea: Samsung workers fight for justice after suicide
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Samsung service worker Choi Jong-beom committed suicide on October 31 in protest against poverty wages and harsh working conditions at the company's operations in South Korea. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/55394 -- “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
[Marxism] Crimes against Haiti exposed in exacting detail -- review
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == *Haiti's New Dictatorship: The Coup, the Earthquake & the UN Occupation* Justin Podur Pluto Press, 2012 280 pp, $44.00 There seems to be no lie too base, no crime too awful that the "international community" has not committed against the tiny nation of Haiti -- the poorest country in the western hemisphere. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/55392 -- "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
[Marxism] Ayatollah Sistani: Assad and Maliki must go | Iraq | World Bulletin
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=123096 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] UN's Haiti cholera case has significance for Philippines
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == A revealing story about the lawsuit against the United Nations over a cholera outbreak in Haiti was broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s *The World At Six* on November 13. The report began: “The United Nations is among those leading the effort to get aid to the Philippines. But even as it helps out with this natural disaster, it is haunted by the ghosts of another.” https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/55390 -- “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
[Marxism] Henry Giroux on Bill Moyers Nov. 22
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Hi Everyone, Just wanted to let you know that Henry Giroux will be on the Bill Moyer's show this coming Friday, November 22, 2013. He says "It is a spirited interview." Henry was a close friend of our greatest anthropologist, Paulo Freire. He is Freire's most important heir. See his work on Counterpunch and Truthout among other venues: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18704-intellectuals-as-subjects-and-objects-of-violence Bill Moyers Journal is the best show on Television. His interview with Jane Goodall is Peabody award worthy: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11272009/watch.html Yesterday Bill went Green with interviews with Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein, MD and Margaret Flowers, MD. http://billmoyers.com/segment/fighting-the-good-fight/ They talked about Fukushima and much else. . .as they help in the cultural movement for the next American Revolution. Flowers and Counterpuncher Kevin Zeese also work with Indians of North America on environmental issues. See: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19323-it-is-time-to-recognize-the-national-sovereignty-and-human-rights-of-native-indians I will use all these interviews in my Medical Anthropology courses, along with information of one of North America's greatest Marxist physicians, Norman Bethune. See this fine interview on Bethune: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=norman+bethune&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=3B6F7B343CB34EBF418D3B6F7B343CB34EBF418D Moyers will end his one hour show in January. . .but, after much reader protest, will continue with a 30 minute per week show later that month. . .so he is not going gently into that night. . . Moyers, Giroux and Bethune all teach us how to die. . .and how to live. . .as did Alex Cockburn. . .keep going till your last breath. In Solidarity, Brian McKenna 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] Doris Lessing has died at 94
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/17/doris-lessing-dies-94 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] Behind Black Flag in Syria
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Black Flag http://aramhamath.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/black-flag.html?spref=tw I'm sure many Syrians outside in the diaspora, only able to follow events on the ground through the medium of the internet, have noted, with no small amount of worry, the seeming lack of Syrian revolutionary flags, and the prominence of various types of "Islamic banners", be it those brandished by rebel brigades or in whatever peaceful demonstrations still occur in Syria despite it being a time of war now (sadly). While I am certainly not an "Islamist" in the conventional sense, I would not consider myself a secularist or liberal either (I'm still working it out), so popular religious sentiment doesn't bother me (on the contrary) as it might do for more secular Syrians, be they inside or outside the country. Regardless, it worried me as well initially, because it raised the possibility that the original goals of the revolution were being lost, that of freedom for Syrians of all stripes, to be replaced by a widespread call for an "Islamic state" (a vague concept even for its most vociferous proponents, who haven't bothered to flesh out what it means or entails). I recently spent a week, working in liberated areas in Idlib and Aleppo governorates. I cannot say that I saw many revolutionary flags, and various flags and banners with the shahadah were much more prominent, at rebel checkpoints or in people's shops or houses. In a large town near Aleppo, the black flag, as I call it, was everywhere. On the walls of people's houses and shops, or flying from lamp-posts and so on. I would tell you a bit more about the town. During the fight against the regime, most of the population fled, with someone telling me how it was reduced from 25,000 to 2,000, with FSA rebel fighters hiding in the hills on the outskirts of the town. Despite great odds, and precious little help, they managed to liberate the whole town, and capture the town's huge military base for themselves. Thankfully, the townspeople returned, and the population has now swelled to 50,000, what with the obvious influx of refugees. I'm sure you can imagine how difficult and hellish that period of their lives must have been. Thankfully the town is tens of kilometres from the front against the regime in Aleppo, and the town is entirely liberated and free. While obviously the situation is far from perfect, it is in better shape than most other places, praise God. The Syrian revolution started out as peaceful protests to try and induce this rotten regime to change, to allow for the freedoms they have denied us for so long. In response, Assad has turned the country into fire and ash, sending it into hell. To me, the revolution is now about something much more profound than simple political reforms and basic freedoms, although these are obviously still essential goals. It has now become a struggle about who we are as a people, and what values we hold. Are we slaves to willingly accept the boot of the thugs and murderers, who happily rape women and butcher children with knives, in response for mere "security"? Or are we to live as free men who refuse to compromise our dignity, and our belief in the sanctity of the lives of people whose only crime was to speak their minds? When the revolution has now turned into a struggle over the most basic or even primordial rights (for lack of a better word), what will Syrians hold on to? Islam's affirmation of the sanctity of human life is a direct affront to this rotten regime, and to all the other rotten governments of the region, all of whom happily torture and execute unceasingly. In such an existential struggle, are we really surprised that Syrians would turn towards their religion even more than before (Especially in the conservative towns and villages of northern Syria)? I met and spoke with many people of all stripes, and not once did I hear or get the impression that they were now fighting merely to impose an Islamic state - it still remains a struggle for freedom and dignity, albeit now with much greater urgency. Young men, younger than me, who are married with young children, all go and fight regardless of the risk to themselves. I met someone who fought on the frontline 4 days after getting married, and lost an eye, and he simply, pardon the language, didn't give a fuck. Interestingly, after having befriended some people and becoming "friends" on facebook, one thing which is noticeable is that the photos or posts they have on their pages earlier on in the revolution sport the tricolour revolutionary flag, but more recent ones feature the black "tawhid" banner - in the process, they hadn't suddenly become "fanatics", I can assure you. After my limited time there, with hours and ho
