[Marxism] Saturday's socialist speak out

[En Passant with John Passant]

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Will Indonesia start to turn back Australia's boats? By sending 3 boats to the 
border between Australia and Indonesia, and with a frigate on the way, the 
Indonesians are upping the ante against the racist anti-refugee Abbott 
government. Co-operation on asylum seekers has collapsed. Can trade embargoes 
be far away?

http://enpassant.com.au/2014/01/18/saturdays-socialist-speak-out-118/

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[Marxism] Armond White, Ousted Critic, Has Words on Expulsion - NYTimes.com

[Louis Proyect]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/movies/armond-white-ousted-critic-has-words-on-expulsion.html


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[Marxism] reviewer wanted

[George Snedeker]

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Socialism and Democracy is looking for someone to review Steve Early's new 
book: Save Our Unions, a book about the crisis in the U.S. Labor Movement. If 
you are interested in doing this review, please write to me offline at 
george.snede...@verizon.net You can find sample reviews we have published at 
www.sdonline.org

 



Steve Early is a well known labor journalist. The review of his book should be 
1500 words in length. It will be due by July 1. 

George Snedeker

Book Review Editor

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[Marxism] Britain: Creation of new ex-SWP group welcomed | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

[glparramatta]

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By the *Socialist Resistance executive committee *

January 17, 2014 -- Socialist Resistance -- *Socialist Resistance* 
welcomes the news that the comrades who left the Socialist Workers Party 
(SWP) in December as a consequence of the ongoing crisis over the abuse 
of women in that organisation have launched *Revolutionary Socialism in 
the 21st century* group (RS21). We recognise that they have done this in 
order to continue the struggle for revolutionary politics and we look 
forward to establishing both practical and political collaboration with 
them.


Full article at http://links.org.au/node/3671



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Re: [Marxism] Iran executes 40 people in January

[Louis Proyect]

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On 1/17/14 12:25 PM, Eli Stephens wrote:

Turley's article blames the executions on "Sharia excess," and doesn't
bother to mention the detail reported by AI, who actually reported that
"most" of the executions (they don't specify what the others were) were for
"drug-related offenses," which are crimes (though not death-penalty


I think everybody has to be clear about what these trials are based on. 
There are no defense attorneys. The judges are clerics and often make up 
their mind in minutes. I am all for defending Iran's right to develop 
nuclear power and even to build a-bombs that will scare the shit out of 
imperialism so badly that it will never dream of attacking the country, 
but the criminal justice system in Iran is a fucking joke. The left has 
no business functioning as spin doctors for a medieval system. I am 
surprised that they don't dunk people under water to wrest a confession. 
Well, they have other means, I guess:



http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/09/letter-momeni-khamanei/

Beatings, verbal abuse and degradation,  and illegal treatments started 
at the very moment of my arrest.  During my arrest, tear gas was used, 
which prior to this had only been used in the streets and open air. 
Breathing teargas in a confined space made me feel as if I were choking 
and rendered me unable to move. Still, the security officials did not 
stop at that. With great spite and hostility they began to beat me, 
punching and kicking me, so that they could turn me over to their 
superiors at Evin prison with a bloody nose,  mouth and bleeding teeth 
and shackled arms and legs. Interestingly enough when I objected to the 
treatment I received by vowing to launch a complaint against the 
approximately twenty security officials [who had come to arrest me], 
they responded with profanity and vile curses against myself and the 
judge. Of course this was just a warm up for the start of my 
interrogations, where interrogators targeted my body and spirit.  From 
the very beginning, I was faced with this constant proclamation that 
“the regime has suffered a crack” and the constant promise that “you 
will all be executed.”





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[Marxism] While you were neutral about Yarmouk

[Louis Proyect]

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http://mondoweiss.net/2014/01/neutral-about-yarmouk.html

A reply to all the Baathist bullshit--the latest episode in 
Goebbels-style propaganda after the fashion of Houla and East Ghouta.



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Re: [Marxism] Iran executes 40 people in January

[Andrew Pollack]

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The drug charges are a side issue. What I was objecting to was your
explicit insistence that we not say anything bad about your pet
regime:
"the fact that there is a post on this list about U.S.-target Iran's
legal system,
adding to the demonization of Iran and hence implicitly supporting the
ongoing U.S. war against Iran, but not (just to name the most recent
example) on the brutal police murder of Kelly Thomas and subsequent
exoneration of the cops is telling.
"There is enough, WAY more than enough, to focus on the U.S. "justice" system
without delving into abuses of justice in other countries."

Yes sir, commissar sir!

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Re: [Marxism] Drugs, Diamonds, International Intrigue — You Won't Believe Two Hollywood Producers' Crazy Backstory | Features | Los Angeles | Los Angeles News and Events | LA Weekly

[Gulf Mann]

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Good pick!

On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 2:34 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> On 1/16/14 2:07 PM, Gulf Mann wrote:
>
>> Which Hollywod actor would be best cast as Barnes?
>>
>
> Bela Lugosi.
>
> 
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> marxism/gulfmann%40gmail.com
>

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[Marxism] Freedom to pollute

[Louis Proyect]

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http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/01/freedom-to-pollute.html

By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest

Recent news reports out of West Virginia sound like they were written as 
part of a parody of modern business: the company responsible for a 
chemical leak that contaminated the water supply of hundreds of 
thousands of people is named Freedom Industries and was cofounded by a 
two-time convicted felon.


The situation, however, is far from a joke. Freedom Industries spilled a 
substantial quantity of a substance called 4, methylcyclohexane methanol 
(MCHM) into the Elk River near the intake valve for a water treatment 
plant serving the Charleston area, sending more than 150 people to the 
hospital and forcing residents to use bottled water for drinking, 
cooking and bathing. The plume is now heading toward Cincinnati.


As is all too common in such incidents, it turns out that the 
75-year-old facility where the rupture took place had not been visited 
by government inspectors for more than 20 years. In fact, as a storage 
rather than a production facility, it was subject to little in the way 
of federal or state oversight. So much for the idea of regulatory excess.


Given that MCHM is used to process coal, this accident adds to the heavy 
toll that mining has taken on West Virginia -- from the Buffalo Creek 
flood in 1972 to the Upper Big Branch disaster in 2010 in which 29 
miners were killed. It is also significant that Freedom Industries 
purchases MCHM, for which it serves as a distributor, from a subsidiary 
of Georgia-Pacific, which in turn is controlled by the rabidly 
anti-regulation Koch Brothers.


To all this can be added the fact that Freedom Industries was cofounded 
by an individual named Carl Lemley Kennedy II. As the Charleston Gazette 
has reported, Kennedy filed for personal bankruptcy in 2005 after he was 
hit with federal charges of tax evasion and failure to remit employee 
withholding taxes. He is reported to have admitted to diverting more 
than $1 million that should have gone to the Internal Revenue Service.


Kennedy's involvement in Freedom Industries, the Gazette notes, does not 
seem to have been affected by the fact that he had once pleaded guilty 
to selling cocaine in connection with a scandal that involved the mayor 
of Charleston. The paper quotes the current mayor, who is said to have 
known Kennedy since the 1980s, as an "edgy guy."


Another remarkable aspect of the story reported by the Gazette is that 
Freedom Industries was struggling in 2009, and its Elk River facility 
was able to go on functioning only after the Army Corps of Engineers 
dredged that portion of the river using federal stimulus funds.


To summarize: a tax evader and drug dealer helped to establish a largely 
unregulated chemical company that benefitted from the federal stimulus 
but apparently did little in the way of preventive maintenance and set 
the stage for large-scale drinking water contamination.


Large corporations such as Dow Chemical and Exxon Mobil have caused vast 
amounts of environmental damage, but it shouldn't be forgotten that 
small-time operators such as Freedom Industries can also do substantial 
harm. And it is not just producers of hazardous materials but also 
distributors that can be the culprits. It was another small distributor, 
West Fertilizer, that was involved in the ammonium nitrate explosion in 
Texas last April that killed 15 people. Much of the reporting in the 
wake of that event, particularly with respect to holes in the regulatory 
system, could have been recycled for the new West Virginia accident.


As long as the illusion of regulation is perpetuated in place of the 
real thing, these accidents will continue to happen, and the right to 
pollute will trump the right to be safe from pollution.



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Re: [Marxism] Iran executes 40 people in January

[Dennis Brasky]

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No Andrew, you do not sound snarky - Eli's attempt to divert the discussion
is eerily similar to the Zionists admonishing us to criticize the crimes of
all the other countries of the world - "There is enough, WAY more than
enough, to focus on that without delving into abuses of justice" (in
Israel).


On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 12:32 PM, Andrew Pollack wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> You can't make this shit up. Just last night I read Chapter Two in Ernest
> Mandel's "Power and Money," in which he details the social roots of the
> behavior and ideology of bureaucracy members and fellow-travelers,
> including the psychological suppression/repression/delusion impelling them
> to deny crimes and/or to insist they must not be discussed for fear of
> giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
>
> And here we have trusty old Eli, NOT just challenging the veracity of the
> account, NOT just claiming that it may have been truly related only to
> drug-dealing (which, for all I know, is possible), but actually, literally,
> and sickeningly telling us to shut the fuck up or we'll be giving aid and
> comfort bla bla bla...
>
> If I'm sounding snarky and sarcastic it's because for the last 12 hours
> I've been involved in a parallel debate over a pro-Assad statement put out
> by alleged supporters of Palestine (see mondoweiss).
>
> Andy
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Iran executes 40 people in January

[Andrew Pollack]

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You can't make this shit up. Just last night I read Chapter Two in Ernest
Mandel's "Power and Money," in which he details the social roots of the
behavior and ideology of bureaucracy members and fellow-travelers,
including the psychological suppression/repression/delusion impelling them
to deny crimes and/or to insist they must not be discussed for fear of
giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

And here we have trusty old Eli, NOT just challenging the veracity of the
account, NOT just claiming that it may have been truly related only to
drug-dealing (which, for all I know, is possible), but actually, literally,
and sickeningly telling us to shut the fuck up or we'll be giving aid and
comfort bla bla bla...

If I'm sounding snarky and sarcastic it's because for the last 12 hours
I've been involved in a parallel debate over a pro-Assad statement put out
by alleged supporters of Palestine (see mondoweiss).

Andy

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Re: [Marxism] A Struggle Composed, A Struggle Performed

[Andrew Pollack]

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Thanking you twice in one day, Ron! Looks like great music. On a very
related note, this from yesterday's Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/16/books/how-it-feels-to-be-free-salutes-black-female-entertainers.html?_r=0
A review of a new book on Black women artists and the Civil Rights Movement.

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Re: [Marxism] Iran executes 40 people in January

[Eli Stephens]

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Turley's article blames the executions on "Sharia excess," and doesn't
bother to mention the detail reported by AI, who actually reported that
"most" of the executions (they don't specify what the others were) were for
"drug-related offenses," which are crimes (though not death-penalty crimes)
in every country in the world and have nothing to do with "Sharia." Clearly
I'm not endorsing the death penalty for drug-related offenses, but the fact
that there is a post on this list about U.S.-target Iran's legal system,
adding to the demonization of Iran and hence implicitly supporting the
ongoing U.S. war against Iran, but not (just to name the most recent
example) on the brutal police murder of Kelly Thomas and subsequent
exoneration of the cops is telling.

http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/no-justice-for-kelly-thomas.html

There is enough, WAY more than enough, to focus on the U.S. "justice" system
without delving into abuses of justice in other countries.

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




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[Marxism] A Struggle Composed, A Struggle Performed

[Ron Jacobs]

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http://stillhomeron.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-struggle-composed-struggle-performed.html

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[Marxism] AN INTRODUCTION TO RADICAL THINKERS SET 8

[VersoMail Verso]

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AN INTRODUCTION TO RADICAL THINKERS SET 8

Louis Althusser / Etienne Balibar / Jean Baudrillard / Ernesto Laclau and 
Chantal Mouffe / Georg Lukåcs / Nicos Poulantzas/ Jacques Rancière / Gillian 
Rose / Seila Rowbotham / Edward W. Said / Alfred Schmidt / Max Stirner

Published January 2014

AVAILABLE NOW
http://www.versobooks.com/series_collections/5-radical-thinkers

-

Verso is proud to announce the 8th set of our Radical Thinkers series. The 
latest set of books includes classic works from Gillian Rose, Etienne Balibar, 
Shiela Rowbotham, Jean Baudrillard, Edward W. Said and others.


“A compendium of left-wing philosophical and political thought, inoculating it 
against the ‘great idea’ of philosophy-as-self-help. As a way of 
transforming... formless disgust into educated critique, these books are a 
fine, cheap and decidedly elegant starting point.” Owen Hatherley
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/radical-thought/
“Verso’s beautifully designed Radical Thinkers series, which brings together 
seminal works by leading left-wing intellectuals, is a sophisticated blend of 
theory and thought.” Ziauddin Sardar, NEW STATESMAN
http://www.newstatesman.com/node/153024


For information on each book or to buy a copy visit the link after each title 
below. All of the titles are available together as a single shrink-wrapped set 
at a reduced price. For more information visit: 
http://www.versobooks.com/series_collections/5-radical-thinkers
You can read our introductory feature on the set and companion events here:
[%22]http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/1501-an-introduction-to-verso-s-radical-thinkers-series-at-the-ica

---

RADICAL THINKERS SET 8:
THE SPECTRE OF HEGEL: EARLY WRITINGS by Louis Althusser
ISBN: 9781781681510 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 272 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1551-the-spectre-of-hegel
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARX by Etienne Balibar
ISBN: 9781781681534 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 144 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1556-the-philosophy-of-marx
SCREENED OUT by Jean Baudrillard
ISBN: 9781781681558 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 208 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1561-screened-out
HEGEMONY AND SOCIALIST STRATEGY by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe
ISBN: 9781781681541 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 208 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1557-hegemony-and-socialist-strategy
TACTICS AND ETHICS by Georg Lukåcs
ISBN: 9781781681497 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 272 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1559-tactics-and-ethics
STATE, POWER, SOCIALISM by Nicos Poulantzas
ISBN: 9781781681480 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 272 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1552-state-power-socialism
HATRED OF DEMOCRACY by Jacques Rancière
ISBN: 9781781681503 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 112 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1560-hatred-of-democracy
THE MELANCHOLY SCIENCE by Gillian Rose
ISBN: 9781781681527 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 224 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1555-the-melancholy-science
WOMEN, RESISTANCE AND REVOLUTION by Sheila Rowbotham
ISBN: 9781781681466 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 288 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1558-women-resistance-and-revolution
FREUD AND THE NON-EUROPEAN by Edward W. Said
ISBN: 9781781681459 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 96 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1554-freud-and-the-non-european
THE CONCEPT OF NATURE IN MARX by Alfred Schmidt
ISBN: 9781781681473 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 252 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1550-the-concept-of-nature-in-marx
THE EGO AND HIS OWN by Max Stirner
ISBN: 9781781681565 / Paperback / $17.95 / £9.99 / $19.95CAN / 384 Pages 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1553-the-ego-and-his-own
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[Marxism] The boycott legend sacrifices the movement: Cesar Chavez and the renewed case for radical democracy

[Dennis Brasky]

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https://nacla.org/news/2014/1/14/boycott-legend-sacrifices-movement-cesar-chavez-and-renewed-case-radical-democracy

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[Marxism] Mobs in Tahrir Square?

[Louis Proyect]

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Ms. Mary Lynn Cramer,

I read your piece in the latest Counterpunch on the documentary "The 
Square" in which you allege:


>>The very moving ‘trailer” (available at the program URL set out 
above) also ignores the years of US involvement in training, financing, 
and supplying those young “lap toppers” dedicated to the overthrow of 
Mubarak.  The director lays out the drama as originating spontaneously 
by youth from within Egypt, ignores the decades of labor organizing, 
massive strikes, and workers demonstrations, that the so-called “Tahrir 
square” movement fed off (co-opted); and pretty much ignores that 
history and its significance preceding the mobs in the square, and 
continuing to protest after the mobs retreated from the square.<<


There is so much confusion in this paragraph that one hardly knows where 
to begin. The term "embarrassment of riches" might be applicable if 
amended slightly to "embarrassment of offal".


Your reference to American skullduggery behind the Tahrir Square "mobs" 
is straight out of the Global Research toilet bowl. At least Tony 
Carlucci was consistent enough to openly describe the revolt as a 
"colored revolution", which is clearly your position as well. One 
supposes that you agree with him that the Occupy Wall Street movement 
was also a "colored revolution" since George Soros supported it, etc., 
ad nauseam.


Not that it matters very much, but your article refers to Karim Amer as 
the director of "The Square" when in fact he was the producer. As 
someone who obviously treats the facts as a lark, this comes as no 
surprise. The director is Jehane Noujaim. Just to clue you in to the 
finer points of filmmaking, a producer is responsible for the business 
end of a film while a director is the person who stands next to the 
camera and yells out "Lights, camera, action". I hope you find that helpful.



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Re: [Marxism] Revolutionary Left Current in Syria

[Louis Proyect]

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==


On 1/17/14 10:03 AM, Ron Jacobs wrote:

Not certain who this represents, but it's slightly hopeful...and will never
be intentionally supported by Washington

http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/the-enemies-of-the-popular-revolution-the-dictatorial-regime-and-the-counter-revolutionary-reactionary-force/


If there's one thing positive that can come out of this terrible tragedy 
in Syria as well as the disappointments in the rest of the region, it is 
the connections being made between Arab and North African leftists, many 
of who are anarchists of the best kind, and leftists in the imperial 
nations.


The Middle East and North Africa will never be the same. Just 10 minutes 
ago I read this item in the latest Harper's:



Now You Sisi
By Ahmed Ould Meiloud

From a video of senior Egyptian army officers at a meeting held by 
General Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, leaked last October by the Islamist 
website Rassd News Network; the meeting is thought to have occurred 
around the time of the December 2012 constitutional referendum, seven 
months before the coup that deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Omar is an 
officer identified only by his first name. El-Sisi, then minister of 
defense, was appointed first deputy prime minister last August. 
Translated from the Arabic by Ahmed Ould Meiloud.


OMAR: You know the armed forces in any country are the main pillar of 
national security.


GENERAL ABDUL-FATTAH EL-SISI: True!

OMAR: In any one of these countries there exist red lines protecting 
this entity from the media.


SISI: True!

OMAR: We have enjoyed these protections for the past fifty years. The 
situation was stable. But because of the revolution, and as a result of 
the chaos, these lines unfortunately got blurred. The people became 
emboldened and the media became especially brazen in its attacks on us, 
on the ground that we got involved in the political process. Now that we 
have stepped out of politics and come back to our barracks, we need Your 
Excellency to reemphasize these red lines in a more advanced fashion — 
in a way different from under the old regime. I don’t think we can now 
prevent anyone from talking. We need a new method to deal with the media 
or to bring it to our side, defining new red lines on a respectable and 
pragmatic basis. In my view, the media in Egypt is all dominated by 
twenty to twenty-five individuals. We can establish with these 
individuals some sort of dialogue or negotiation in a way that allows us 
to entice or intimidate them.


SISI: I know the entice part, but you need to explain to me how to 
intimidate.


OMAR: It is important for most of these people to be cooperative with 
the armed forces or to meet with the spokesperson of the armed forces. 
At the same time, waving the red card indicates to these people, even if 
they don’t fully cooperate, there is some pressure, thus forcing them to 
exercise self-censorship. We need a team to work with these people in 
secret on an individual basis. When these people are meeting together 
their language becomes markedly different from their language “behind 
closed doors,” as the saying goes. Even if we bring to our side only ten 
or twenty percent of them, that will be of great assistance to us. A 
million posters on the streets saying “The army and the people act like 
one hand” cannot compete with the message that a headline or an article 
in a newspaper could effectively convey.


SISI: Omar, the situation that the revolution created has broken all the 
restraints with respect not only to the army but to the entire state 
apparatus. The country has been dismantled, and it is being reassembled 
afresh. You live this situation and you will see its impact on you. You 
will not be able to contain it fully and go back to the way you used to 
live, the state where no one would ever mention your name.




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Re: [Marxism] Revolutionary Left Current in Syria

[Andrew Pollack]

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Thanks for forwarding this, Ron. The RLC is a small but wonderful
organization, part of a trend in the region of revolutionary socialist
groups from the Trotskyist tradition broadly defined. They maintain the
Syria Freedom Forever site, which is a unique source of news and analysis.
They also put out an incredible journal which unfortunately lacks
sufficient translators!

http://permanentrevolution-journal.org/ar/node/77

And they are part of the even broader global milieu including anarchists
and independents who have been mobilizing for the region's revolutions
against all enemies.

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[Marxism] The enemies of the popular revolution: the dictatorial regime and the counter revolutionary reactionary force | Syria Freedom Forever – سوريا الحرية للأبد

[Louis Proyect]

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The ongoing war between the armed forces is primarily designed to 
control zones of influence in liberated areas and to try to establish 
and impose an ideological hegemony on the population through medieval 
forms of organization, such as « Shariah committees ». The Islamic 
Front, for example, the largest in terms of number, follows the jihadist 
Salafist political thoughts advocated by the reactionary regime in Saudi 
Arabia. For this, we can safely say that – except for a few brigades of 
the FSA, which have been weakened and marginalized in recent months – 
that the real objective of rival groups in conflict with Da3ech is not 
to restore the objectives of the popular revolution to overthrow the 
regime and establish a free and democratic Syria. They are reactionary 
forces, motivated by ideological, military and political rivalries to 
share, if it is not to reach a monopoly of control, of liberated areas.


http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/the-enemies-of-the-popular-revolution-the-dictatorial-regime-and-the-counter-revolutionary-reactionary-force/


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[Marxism] Elections in Venezuela and Chile Advance Left Agenda and Latin American Economic Integration | North American Congress on Latin America

[Louis Proyect]

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By Roger Burbach

https://nacla.org/news/2014/1/16/elections-venezuela-and-chile-advance-left-agenda-and-latin-american-economic-integra


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