Re: [Marxism] 50% off ALL Verso books until April 14th!

[Richard Fidler]

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No, it's not wasted; it's a heads-up to those of us who live in Canada.

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: April-10-14 10:40 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] 50% off ALL Verso books until April 14th!

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On 4/10/14 10:31 AM, Richard Menec wrote:
> I want the last hour of my life back.
>
> Richard Menec

I have a feeling your complaint is being wasted since it is likely a bot 
that sends Verso announcements to the list.


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[Marxism] FW: South America's interests in the Ukraine crisis

[Richard Fidler]

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The US-European Union intervention in Ukraine, and Russia’s response, are
understandably the subject of much debate on the left. For a general
overview of the events and issues, I would recommend in particular the
following articles: 

“ <http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/948.php> Ukraine Between ‘Popular
Uprising for Democracy’ (Canadian Government) and ‘Fascist Putsch’ (Russian
Government)” by David Mandel, a Quebec socialist and historian who has been
involved in labour education in Ukraine for many years; and 

“ <http://links.org.au/node/3767> Discussion: What stand for socialists on
events in Crimea and Ukraine?” by Vancouver activist and journalist Roger
Annis. 

Much less attention has been paid to these conflicts in Latin America —
surprisingly, given the danger they pose in particular to the attempts by
progressive governments in the region to forge a united defense and
international alliances in the face of Washington’s ongoing attempts to
reassert its hegemony in the hemisphere. 

The following article, featured in the March 23 issue of Bolivia’s leading
daily newspaper
<http://www.la-razon.com/suplementos/animal_politico/Afecta-crisis-Ucrania-i
ntereses-Sudamerica_0_2019998029.html> La Razón, and published as well in
other Latin American media, is an exception in its understanding of what the
Ukraine crisis means for the continent and beyond. Of particular interest is
its appeal for action by UNASUR, one of the continent’s new alternatives to
the discredited US-dominated OAS. My translation from the Spanish. 

– Richard Fidler 

* * * 

By Jorge F. Garzón and Victor M. Mijares 

La Razón, 23 March 2014 

Latin American societies, more focused on the crisis in Venezuela, have been
little more than spectators to the tragic events unfolding rapidly in
Ukraine. While it might seem that what could happen in that distant region
will have scant repercussions in the Latin American countries, we argue that
in reality what is at stake are the principles and modalities of the
emerging multipolar order. And dependent on those principles and modalities
are the perspectives for the Latin American countries to develop and manage
their future autonomously.

Full:
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2014/03/south-americas-interests-in-ukraine.ht
ml

 

Full: 


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Re: [Marxism] LENIN'S TOMB: Against imperialist intervention in Ukraine

[Richard Fidler]

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By "third campism" I am of course referring mainly to the well-known stance
taken by the International Socialists tendency (from which Richard Seymour
comes) during the Cold War, often summed up in such slogans as "Neither
Washington nor Moscow" signifying a refusal to defend the Soviet Union
against imperialism. 

Reducing Russia's interest in the Crimean and Ukrainian events to its
"imperialist" character and putting it on a parallel with the US, EU and
NATO interests in this instance is a simplistic evasion of engaging in a
serious analysis of the geopolitics involved in this post-Soviet (and yes of
course post-"workers state") world. 

Insufficient attention to geopolitical realities is one of your weaknesses,
too, as the recent discussion on the Ukraine events on this list has so
clearly confirmed. No need to revisit that, however; it has been discussed
to the point of exhaustion by others on the list.

Some list subscribers might be interested in Russia's case, outlined clearly
by Putin: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/20/on-crimea-and-sevastopol/.
I think anti-imperialists can find in it powerful arguments to defend
capitalist (and imperialist) Russia against the capitalist West, and in
particular Russia's residual interests as a sovereign power not under the
direct domination of the Western imperialist hegemon.

Richard

 

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: March-22-14 12:00 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] LENIN'S TOMB: Against imperialist intervention in
Ukraine

 

==

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==========

 

 

On 3/22/14 11:47 AM, Richard Fidler wrote:

> 

> Third-campism redux. And all the more satisfying intellectually if you can

> dismiss the conflict as "simply... inter-imperialist rivalry."

 

Third campism? You mean like Max Shachtman's position vis-a-vis the USA 

and the USSR? I wasn't aware that such a position was extensible to 

post-Soviet society unless you and Roger Annis believe that Russia was a 

still a "workers state". I hope you haven't been bamboozled by a Jack 

Barnes article.

 



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Re: [Marxism] LENIN'S TOMB: Against imperialist intervention in Ukraine

[Richard Fidler]

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Third-campism redux. And all the more satisfying intellectually if you can
dismiss the conflict as "simply... inter-imperialist rivalry."

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: March-22-14 9:13 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] LENIN'S TOMB: Against imperialist intervention in Ukraine

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However, there are some on the British Left expressing a degree of 
sympathy for Russian imperialism's claims in this, despite in other 
respects not being fans of Putin or the ruling class he fronts.  Forget 
the grim old tankie polemicists and their formulaic bombast.  They'll be 
saying the same things until doomsday - just fill in the proper nouns. 
Consider instead the indomitable Irish socialist Eamon McCann, who did 
once leaflet against Russian imperialism in Czechoslovakia, but who now 
argues in favour of siding with Russia on this issue.  This piece has 
been shared as the top article on the Stop the War website, and I see 
that  John Rees, of Counterfire and Stop the War, has lauded the piece 
as a great blast against the 'Russophobes'.  I doubt that this position 
commands the support of the majority of the British Left, but nor is it 
the view of a marginal grouping.

full: 
http://www.leninology.com/2014/03/against-imperialist-intervention-in.html


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[Marxism] FW: Right-wingers with a left-wing guise

[Richard Fidler]

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Right-wingers with a left-wing guise

Raúl Zibechi

ALAI AMLAT-en, 19/03/2014.- Recent mass demonstrations, instigated by 
the right-wing in a variety of countries, indicate their capacity to 
co-opt symbols that they used to scorn, to the confusion of many on the 
left.

Patrick Tyler, writing in a New York Times column for February 17, 2003, 
about what was happening on the streets across the world, noted that 
“…the huge antiwar demonstrations around the world this weekend are 
reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the 
United States and world public opinion”.

“Take a look around and you’ll see a world at the boiling point” writes 
Tom Engelhardt, US editor of [the online] Tomdispatch. In effect, ten 
years after the famous Times article, which circled the globe on the 
back of the anti-war movement, there is hardly a corner of the world 
that is not at the boiling point of popular unrest, especially since the 
crisis of 2008.

One could mention the Arab Spring that overthrew dictators and swept 
through a good part of the Arab world; Occupy Wall Street, the greatest 
critical movement in the United States since the 1960s; the Greek and 
Spanish indignados that marched against the social disasters provoked by 
mega-speculation. Right now, Ukraine, Syria, South Sudan, Thailand, 
Bosnia, Turkey and Venezuela are scenes of protest, mobilizations and 
street actions under the most diverse banners.

Countries that had not seen social protests for decades, such as Brazil, 
expect demonstrations during the World Cup, after 350 cities have 
witnessed significant unease in the streets. In Chile, there is a strong 
students’ movement that shows no signs of losing strength, while in Peru 
the conflict over mining is still very much alive after more than five 
years.

When public opinion has the force of a superpower, governments have 
attempted to understand what is happening in order to dominate, 
manipulate, and lead it into areas that are more easily controlled than 
street uprisings, aware of the fact repression alone does not achieve 
much. Because of this, know-how that was once a monopoly of the left, 
from political parties to trade unions and social movements, has now 
been taken up by others, capable of moving masses but with goals 
diametrically opposed to those of the left.

Activist Style

 From March 20 to 26, 2010, there was an event in the Uruguayan 
Department of Colonia called the Campamento Latinoamericano de Jóvenes 
Activistas Sociales (“Latin American Encampment of Young Social 
Activists”. http://alainet.org/active/37263). The convocation promised 
“a space for horizontal interchange” to work for a “more just and 
solidary Latin America.” Among the hundred or so activists who 
responded, no one suspected the source of funds for travel and living 
expenses, nor who in reality had called for the meeting (Alai, April 9, 
2010).

A young militant pursued an investigation as to who exactly were the 
“Young Social Activists” who had organized a participative encounter to 
“begin to create a live memory of the experiences of social activism in 
the region; to learn the difficulties, identify good local practices 
that could be adopted at regional levels, and to maximize the scope of 
creativity and the engagement of their protagonists.”

The result of his investigation in web pages allowed him to ascertain 
that the event was supported by the Open Society Institute of George 
Soros and other institutions connected with it. The surprise was even 
greater because in the encampment there were round tables, campfires and 
collective work with flipcharts, against a background of whipala 
pennants and other indigenous flags. The decor and the style gave the 
impression of a meeting not unlike the Social Forums and many other 
activist events that employ similar symbols and ways of acting. Some of 
the workshops employed methods identical to those of Paulo Freire’s 
popular education which, habitually, have been employed by movements 
against “the system”.

It is clear that a certain number of activists were coopted 
“democratically”, since all indicated that they could freely express 
their opinions, for objectives opposed to those of the organizers. This 
learning experience of the Soros Foundation was applied in various 
former Soviet Republics, during the “revolt” in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 and 
in the “orange revolution” in Ukraine in 2004.

It is a fact that many foundations and widely varied institutions send 
money and instructors to similar groups to mobilize and work to 
overthrow governments opposed to Washington. In the case of Venezuela, 
on a number of occasions such agencies have been denounced, such as the 
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) created by

[Marxism] Ukraine: Between 'Popular Uprising for Democracy' and 'Fascist Putsch'

[Richard Fidler]

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Excellent, informative article:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/948.php.

 

 


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[Marxism] Alan Turing

[Richard Fidler]

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Barry Sheppard has authored this fine article for the Solidarity Webzine. --
RF

 

On Christmas Eve the Queen of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,
and the Commonwealth deigned to pardon one of the twentieth century's most
important mathematicians of the crime of homosexuality.

 

In 1952 Alan Turing was tried and convicted of engaging in sex with other
men. He was then presented with the choice of prison or chemical castration.
He chose the latter, estrogen treatments that caused him to grow breasts,
made him impotent, and sent him into depression. He was fired from his job
with the British government. Washington barred him from entering the United
States, which he had often visited to work with mathematicians in Bell Labs.

 

In 1954 he ate an apple laced with cyanide, which was ruled a suicide.

 

He was 41 years old.

 

In 1936 Turing developed a model of the "universal computing machine," a
concept which lies behind all computers. Other subsequent mathematical
models of computers have been found to be equivalent to what has become
known as the "Turing machine."

 

Besides this accomplishment, Turing broke the German enigma code in the
Second World War, and proved two important mathematical theorems, and other
work.

 

The law under which Turing was convicted was repealed in 1967. But in the
years since, attempts to have him pardoned were repeatedly rebuffed. The
most recent was last year, 50 years after his conviction, when Parliament
voted down a motion to pardon him.

 

The reasoning of the majority of this most august body was that since the
law was the law in 1952, and Turing had knowingly violated it, he was a
lawbreaker and lawbreakers cannot be pardoned. This decision provoked an
immediate response, when 10,000 signed a petition that Turing be put on the
new 10-pound note.

 

There was international outrage in addition. All this led to the Queen's
pardon this year. The wording of the pardon itself is disgusting: "Now Know
Ye: that We, in consideration of circumstances humbly represented unto Us,
are Graciously pleased to extend Our Grace and Mercy unto the said Alan
Mathison Turing and to grant him Our Free Pardon posthumously in respect of
said convictions."

 

The "We" and "Us" and "Our" refer to the Queen's double personhood, as both
the physical person Elizabeth II and as the embodiment of the "body
politic," which is immutable and "utterly void of Infancy and Old Age." It's
something like the Pope's "We," which refers to him and God.

 

But Turning does not need forgiving because he did nothing wrong. If any
entity requires being extended Grace and Mercy it is the UK government for
its crime against Turing, which arguably directly led to his death.

 

Turing was pardoned because of his fame and accomplishments. But some 75,000
men were convicted under the same law as Turing, of whom 26,000 are still
alive. Turing's pardon should be extended to the 75,000, and would improve
the lives of the 26,000 today.

 

A final thought -- those reading this are doing so on a "Turing machine."

 


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[Marxism] FW: Bolivia's cogent responses to recent provocations from the Empire

[Richard Fidler]

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LA PAZ — Washington’s refusal to allow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
to over-fly its colony of Puerto Rico, September 19, attracted little
attention in the North American and European media. 

But in Latin America this arrogant gesture drew immediate outrage. It
recalled the July 2 denial by four European countries — France, Italy, Spain
and Portugal — of landing and refueling rights and passage through their
airspace to Bolivia’s president Evo Morales while he was returning home from
a trip to Moscow. This unprecedented attack on Bolivia’s sovereignty,
clearly at Washington’s behest, had been defended on the fallacious grounds
that Morales’ plane harboured US espionage whistle-blower Edward Snowden. 

Evo Morales was quick to take the lead in the Latin American response to
this latest incident involving Venezuela’s Maduro. Initially, he called on
the presidents of countries in ALBA and UNASUR[1] to boycott the current
session of the United Nations General Assembly to protest the US
“aggression.” However, discussions with his counterparts resulted in an
agreement instead to attend in force the UN meetings in order to raise their
objections. (Maduro deferred on the grounds of an alleged plot to kill him
if he went to New York, the UN headquarters.) 

Morales also proposed to the other Latin American presidents that they
consider collectively expelling US ambassadors from their countries, as
Bolivia did a few years ago to protest Washington’s interference in its
internal affairs. And he proposed that they discuss the possibility of
launching international legal proceedings against Barack Obama for his
repeated violations of international law and diplomacy. 

In his UN address on September 25, Morales called for establishment of a
people’s tribunal, with support from international human rights
organizations, to try Obama for offences of “lèse-humanité.” As examples of
Obama’s crimes against humanity he cited the aerial bombing of Libya, events
in Iraq and the US world-wide interventionism aimed at seizing possession of
“our natural resources.” 

Since the death of Hugo Chávez earlier this year, Morales has emerged as the
Latin American leader most engaged in exposing the crimes of the US and
other imperialist powers and projecting an alternative anti-capitalist
approach on a continental and global scale. 

He was quick to turn the act of air piracy on July 2 into a mobilizer of
official and popular anti-imperialist action. Following an emergency summit
in early July of a number of Latin American presidents to protest this
incident, the Bolivian government, along with Bolivian social organizations
grouped in the Pacto de Unidad, proceeded to organize a people’s
international summit in opposition to imperialism and colonialism. 

Held in Cochabamba July 31-August 2, the summit was attended by some 1,200
persons representing 90 organizations in Latin America and Europe. During
the three days, a formal declaration drafted by the Bolivians was debated,
amended and supplemented by six mesas or workshops. Originally, five mesa
topics were planned: on Political Sovereignty, Economic Sovereignty,
Decolonization and Anti-Imperialism, International Human Rights Treaties and
Espionage. At the initiative of some delegations, including Venezuela’s, a
sixth was added: Communications Counter-offensive. 

On the final day, August 2 — exactly one month after the July 2 incident —
participants joined in a massive closing rally and march through Cochabamba
that was addressed by Evo Morales. Estimates of the number of those
demonstrating ranged up to a million. 

“We have to form an alliance,” Morales told the rally, “we have to unite our
anti-imperialist social movements, political parties and governments of
Latin America and the Caribbean with those in Europe to liberate ourselves
from North American imperialism. This August 2, for me, is the day of
Anti-Imperialism….” He called for building “a world movement for sovereignty
and for the liberation of the peoples.” 

The final declaration, as amended by the mesas, was read out at the rally.
In addition, many websites published as well the full text of the
resolutions adopted by the mesas. To my knowledge there is no English
translation of the full text of the declaration or the resolutions. Below I
have translated large excerpts of the declaration, along with a summary of
some sections while noting the addition of some further demands adopted by
the relevant mesas. Taken together, these statements provide an insight into
the major themes and perspectives of the left today in Latin America in
particular. 

Full:
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2013/09/bolivias-cogent-responses-to-recent.h
tml




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Re: [Marxism] More doubts about "Peak Oil"

[Richard Fidler]

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The late Mark Jones:
It may seem odd to argue on the one hand that fossil fuels are running
out but on the other that even known, easily-accessible reserves may
never be used. But there are plenty of examples of this happening in
history. The age of coal and steam ended with most of the coal still
underground. More to the point, economies can collapse because of an
energy-famine even though there is still plenty of reserve left. That
happened in the USSR.

Sheik Yamani, former Saudi oil minister:
The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones





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Re: [Marxism] Whites and African-Americans in America by the numbers | Informed Comment

[Richard Fidler]

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Michael's point about Cuba is well-taken. Reducing income disparities,
introducing full or almost-full employment, and campaigning against racism
can all play a role in reducing racism. But racism is cultural, ideological,
and as Esteban Morales documents, the Cuban revolutionaries have had less
success in their sporadic attempts, for example, at affirmative action for
blacks and mestizos.

An interesting article on anti-indigenous racism in Bolivia, which I just
translated on my blog, makes the point, however, that a combination of state
action (including constitutional recognition of the plurinational
composition of the state) with concrete measures to reduce income and other
social and economic disparities (under the government of another Morales),
can alter the relationship of forces within the society, and help embolden
and empower racially oppressed sections -- especially in a society like
Bolivia's, where the indigenous are the majority of the population. See
.

Excerpt:
A fundamental mechanism in this empowerment is the coming into force of a
law against racism, which has "denaturalized" racial discrimination,
confining it to the private sphere. ...

During the last decade Bolivia has been going through what Marxists would
characterize as a "political revolution," that is, a substitution of
political elites that has been quite thoroughgoing. Groups of different
ethnic, class and political-ideological origins have replaced the dominant
political strata of the past. It has been a peaceful substitution but aimed
at the elimination and not the coexistence of the opposing side, and it has
unfolded using both political and judicial methods. The members of the old
political elite have lost the right to work in the public arena, in a sort
of symbolic banishment. Businessmen have been told "not to interfere in
politics."[23] Some leaders have had to go into exile as a preventive
measure, others have ended up in jail.[24] 

-- Richard

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of michael yates
Sent: July-14-13 5:20 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Whites and African-Americans in America by the numbers |
Informed Comment

==
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==


I have been involved in discussion with some people about the inequality
along every economic, social, and demographic outcome between whites and
blacks. There are those who say that we shouldn't keep harping about racism
and white privilege. What we need to do is focus on the fight for greater
equality, by demanding full employment, universal health care, an end to the
criminal injustice system, etc. Since black persons will benefit
disproportionately, these efforts, which are not overtly race conscious, are
our best bet for movement building. Others of us have said that race has an
independent impact of the above mentioned outcomes, and therefore, race has
to be addressed head on in any attempts to bring about radical change. In
Cuba, for example, there has been much greater equality than in any
capitalist society, more or less full employment, and conscious efforts to
eradicate racial disparities. Yet 54 years after the Revolution, Esteban
Morales tells us that racial disparities continue to exist and still greater
efforts are needed to eradicate them.

What do others think? 

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Re: [Marxism] Books about Cuba

[Richard Fidler]

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On the historical side, I would highly recommend
Julia Sweig, Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Cuban
Underground
Armando Hart, Aldabonazo: Inside the Cuban Revolutionary Underground
1952-58. Hart led the urban underground after the death of Frank Paez, and
was later Minister of Education in the Revolutionary Government (father of
Celia Hart, husband of Moncada heroine Haydee Santamaria).

On Che, this is excellent:
Helen Yaffe, Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution. Detailed analysis of
Che's evolving concepts of economic organization in the transition to
socialism, and his critique of the Soviet system, among other things.

More contemporary, 
Aviva Chomsky (daughter of Noam) et al., The Cuba Reader: History, Culture,
Politics.


-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: July-08-13 3:23 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Books about Cuba

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Today someone sent me email today asking for some books about Cuba that 
I found useful. I was asked the same question on Marxmail back in 2002. 
This was my reply:

At 02:57 PM 3/18/2002 -0500, you wrote:
 >What do you think are the best books on the Cuban revolution 
especially ones
 >that can explain the political and class nature of the revolution?
 >
 >Daniel Baker

1. James O'Connor, "Origins of Socialism in Cuba"
2. Edward Boorstein, "Economic Transformation of Cuba"
3. Arnold August, "Democracy in Cuba and the 1997-1998 Elections"
4. Frank Fitzgerald, "The Cuban Revolution in crisis : from managing
socialism to managing survival"
5. Carlos Tablada, "Che Guevara: Economics and Politics in the 
Transition Period"
6. Philip Brenner, "The Cuba Reader"
7. Carolee Bengelsdorf, "Cuba in transition : crisis and transformation"
8. Margaret Randall, "Women in Cuba"
9. Maurice Zeitlin, "Revolutionary politics and the Cuban working class"

Not all of these are in print, but the first 5 on the list are
indispensable. If you want to save time, I'd track down number 6 even
though it is sadly out-of-print. Brenner was associated with NACLA when 
it was radical.

I would update this list with a few new ones:

1. Richard Gott's History of Cuba
2. Ignacio Ramonet's Interviews of Fidel Castro


I should add that I plan to get back to my dissection of Sam Farber's 
latest book on Cuba. Even though I have retired, I find that I tend to 
bite off more than I can chew. That being said, I think it is important 
for his crap to be answered. It thoroughly depresses me that young 
radicals in the ISO can take this guy seriously. Here was my first 
installment:

http://louisproyect.org/2013/01/04/samuel-farber-versus-the-cuban-revolution
-part-one/

Finally, this is a long article I wrote on Cuba in response to a British 
SWP'er on Marxmail long ago.

http://www.columbia.edu/%7Elnp3/mydocs/state_and_revolution/cuba.htm


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Re: [Marxism] Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all offer Snowden asylum m

[Richard Fidler]

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==


This is all very interesting, but comrades can be sure that many lawyers in
Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba -- and, on the other side, in Washington
-- are working hard on all the legal angles and implications involved. And
of course, the foreign offices and military forces in all of the above, and
quite probably many others, are also devoting considerable resources to the
strategic and other implications.

That there is no easy resolution in international law or strategy is
illustrated by the plight of Julian Assange and Ecuador, in whose London
embassy he has long been trapped -- so long, in fact, that it is possible
that the Ecuadorian consul who unilaterally issued Snowden the travel
document to Moscow might have been under the influence of the "Stockholm
syndrome," the complicity that often afflicts those confined with each other
against their will or preferences for long periods. Assange apparently
convinced him to issue the document out of mutual concern that Snowden's
life was in imminent danger in Hong Kong. But getting from Moscow to Caracas
or elsewhere is a quite different matter, now that his location and status
are notorious. 

If a number of European countries were prepared to risk the life of the
president of Bolivia, at the behest of Washington, will they show any
greater concern for Snowden, whose disclosures moreover are now revealing
their own involvement in illegal spying?

Richard

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Sheldon Ranz
Sent: July-08-13 11:39 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all offer Snowden
asylu m

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


Why can't the Russians simply take Snowden to the Venezuelan embassy in
Moscow?

S Ranz


On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Jim Farmelant  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
>
>
> The real problem would be for Snowden to get a flight from Moscow to the
> receiving nation that will not be interfered with by the United States.
As
> I said before, the only scenario that I can envision where that could work
> out , would be for him to fly to the receiving nation on a Russian
> aircraft, with the Russian stipulating that any attempt by the US to
> interfere with the flight would be treated as an act of war.  At this
> point, I cannot conceive of Russia risking World War Three over Snowden.
>
> Jim Farmelant
> http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant
> http://www.foxymath.com
> Learn or Review Basic Math
>
>
> -- Original Message --
> From: Gulf Mann 
> Subject: Re: [Marxism] Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all offer Snowden
> asylum
> Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 09:37:23 -0500
>
> Why can't such nations prepare papers making Snowden an "honorary citizen"
> &/or papers granting him immediate assylum, deliver them directly to him
in
> the Moscow airport, and walk with him to a waiting plane to carry him to
> the receiving nation? This will require a novel procedure for sure, but a
> legally not unreasonable one to deal with a novel situation.
>
>
> 
> 30-second trick for a flat belly
> This daily 30-second trick BOOSTS your body's #1 fat-burning hormone
> http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/51dad1f01eda051ef4846st04vuc
>
> 
> Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
> Set your options at:
>
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sranz18%40gmail
.com
>

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Re: [Marxism] Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all offer Snowden asylum

[Richard Fidler]

==
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==


Yeah, like Assange, still in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after how many
months?

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Daniel Rocha
Sent: July-07-13 7:58 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all offer Snowden
asylum

==
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==


Not necessarily. He would only need the get into an embassy.


2013/7/7 Wythe Holt jr. 

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> Such chances "grow" only in the number of nations willing to say they will
> grant him asylum.  But no nation has said they would grant such asylum if
> Snowden cannot reach their territory first, and no nation has allowed,
much
> less invited, Snowden to cross "their" airspace to reach a place of
asylum.
>
>
> 
> From:
marxism-bounces+wholt=law.ua@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu[marxism-bounc
es+wholt=
> law.ua@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu] on behalf of Stuart Munckton [
> stuartmunck...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2013 12:42 AM
> To: Wythe Holt jr.
> Subject: [Marxism] Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all offer Snowden
> asylum
>
> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has now been offered asylum in three
> American countries: Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
>
> http://wlcentral.org/node/2846
>
> --
> "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
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> 
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>



-- 
Daniel Rocha - RJ
danieldi...@gmail.com

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Re: [Marxism] Half Marxist - Half Buddhist

[Richard Fidler]

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==


There is much, much more on this story of the relationship between the Dalai
Lama and the Tibetan and Chinese Communists in the autobiography of the
founder of the Tibetan CP, as told in the book edited by Melvyn C.
Goldstein, Dawei Sherap and William R. Siebenschuh: "A Tibetan
Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phüntso Wangye"
(University of California Press, 2004). Bapa Phüntso Wangye introduced the
Dalai Lama, then a very young man, to Mao Tse-tung in Beijing.
 At p. 190 there is a photo of Chairman Mao and other leaders of the central
government officially meeting with the Dalai Lama in 1954. The Dalai Lama
was invited to participate in the National People's Congress; he accepted
and served as its vice chairman.

Richard

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of mckenna...@aol.com
Sent: June-28-13 2:32 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Half Marxist - Half Buddhist

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







Tricycle article on the Dalai Lama and Marx
The Buddhist magazine Tricycle has an interesting on-line article on the
Dalai Lama's relationship with Marxism.

http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/occupy-buddhism











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Re: [Marxism] Welcome to Mexico City | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Richard Fidler]

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==


There are three FI groups in Mexico City: the "official section" (PRT), and
two "sympathizing" groups: the Liga de Unidad Socialista (LUS) and the
Movimiento de Unidad Socialista (MUS). 

PRT: http://www.prt.org.mx/inicio
LUS: http://www.ligadeunidadsocialista.org/
The MUS has no web site.  

As you can see, all three are moribund. Unfortunately, that applies to most
of the party-left in Mexico. Pedro (Peter) Gellert (a fine comrade, does
some great work in solidarity with Venezuela) can describe to you what
happened, at length. Very sad, but not surprising. You will probably find
more "Trotskyists" wandering through the garden at the Museo Casa de Trotsky
in Coyoacán, on a good day. But few will be Mexicans!

Richard

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Erik Toren
Sent: June-03-13 2:31 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Welcome to Mexico City | Louis Proyect: The
Unrepentant Marxist

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


You are quite correct. I think they may still hold summer classes in
Cuernavaca and most of the old guard lives in Mexico City. Also, some of
their organizers are involved in the Organizacion Politica del Pueblo y los
Trabajadores (OPT), which is connected the Electrical Workers' Union of
Mexico.

Some people close to me use to belong to PRT so I have a soft heart for
them.

The Left in Mexico electoral wise is PRD and PT. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
has been organizing MORENA.

Erik


On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 1:21 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> ==**==**==
>  Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a 
> message.
> ==**==**==
> 
>
>
> On 6/3/13 2:18 PM, Erik Toren wrote:
>
>> The PRT split in two and now there exists one that is connected to 
>> PRT/Convergencia Socialista and a PRT. The mostly stay writing within 
>> the confines of Mexico City.
>>
>>
> Thanks for the correction but my impression is that they are only a 
> shell of the old PRT.
>
> __**__
> Send list submissions to: 
> Marxism@greenhouse.economics.**utah.edu tah.edu> Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.** 
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>

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Re: [Marxism] The real working life of a chef

[Richard Fidler]

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==


This thread resonates with me. During the Sixties, I worked in the
restaurant business for five years between semesters while attending
university. But in peculiar circumstances.

 I worked on dining cars on the transcontinental railroads (Canadian
National and Canadian Pacific) between Vancouver in the West and Saint John,
New Brunswick in the East as well as on shorter trips between Detroit,
Buffalo, Toronto and Quebec City. Dining car crews were members of a major
railway running-trades union, which meant we had relatively decent wages and
regular workers had some job security. At various points I worked as a cook,
waiter and finally steward (maître d').

We also had unusual schedules. On a typical run, I would be on the road for
four days, westward-bound between Montréal and Winnipeg where a crew from
Vancouver would take over and after spending the night in the company's
elegant hotel, at its expense, we would head back to Montréal the next day
on the east-bound transcontinental train. We then had four days off before
the next trip.

In addition to the diversion of changing scenery, we had the advantage of
being largely remote from senior management. In fact, apart from the
occasional inspector who would show up unexpectedly (most of them were
former stewards or chefs) we were self-managed as a crew while on the road.
Of course, we had to operate with set menus, standard uniforms, and meal
routines determined by custom and railway management. But we ate from the
same menu as the passengers. Between meals we could relax, read or chat
while being paid at company expense. And occasionally, after taking a
chartered trainload to a destination we would "deadhead" back to base
feeding only ourselves, all on company wages.

While on the road, we slept on the train, usually in a crew car equipped
with bunks and a shower, located just behind the locomotive (I got used to
sleeping through the sounds of the whistle at level crossings). On some
trains with older equipment we stripped down the tables, hung curtains and
slept on cots we set up in the dining car itself. If there was a spare
bedroom or bunk bed on the train, a friendly porter might allow you to use
it.

In those days there was a certain pride in these jobs. The dining car
service was high-class, with linen tablecloths and napkins, silverware (even
finger bowls), and fine wines. And there was a definite camaraderie among
the crew, cohabiting in these conditions for days at a time. It was standard
practice to pool our tips and distribute them evenly among all the crew. On
a good trip this could almost double your income. After a run, we might all
go for drinks together in a bar near the station.

But there were real limits on this. The railroads were one of the last
vestiges in Canada of a virtual Jim Crow-like racial discrimination. The
dining car crews were all white, and almost all the sleeping car porters
were Black. I witnessed many examples of how this separation encouraged
racial prejudice among the dining car workers (more than one referring to
porters as "Mau-Mau" for example, in the sense of savages, not liberation
fighters.) And all of the running trades employees, including porters and
dining car crews, were male. 

When I worked out of Montréal, many of my co-workers were Québécois. Not
always proficient in English, they were disproportionately cooks and other
kitchen personnel. Some of the older workers had begun working on the
railroad in the early 1940s, to avoid conscription (the draft) in WWII,
which was very unpopular in Quebec. They were exempt because the railways
were classed as an essential war industry. In those days, they told me, a
typical working trip would mean being on the road continually for a week or
more, with only a couple of days between trips as they transported troops
across the country and to embarkation points. They had helped to organize
the union.

For many of these older workers, the dining cars were a career for life. On
union wages, you could raise a family. With seniority, you could bid on the
best, the regular runs with the best tips.

That was the Sixties, however, and in later years, for a variety of reasons,
the service deteriorated rapidly along with the fate of passenger rail
service in Canada, which is now inferior even to that in the USA. And there
is a world of difference between the conditions I experienced then and what
my daughter (now a 21-year-old student) has experienced in the restaurant
and bar industry. Her experience corresponds entirely to what is described
by Michael Yates (and Robert Schardein in the excellent item he referenced,
below). Working in the restaurant industry on the pre-neoliberal railways in
Canada was indeed quite peculiar -- and not least because we had a fairl

[Marxism] Understanding the Venezuelan Presidential Election Outcome

[Richard Fidler]

==
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==


A thoughtful analysis by a young Australian-Venezuelan journalist:
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/8638

 


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Re: [Marxism] Could Obama really learn something from Reagan? - Salon.com

[Richard Fidler]

==
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==


This Salon article should be read in conjunction with the Kliman critique of
Magdoff-Sweezy-Foster posted to this list earlier today by Ralph Johansen:
http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/economic-crisis/more-misused-wage-d
ata-from-monthly-review-the-overaccumulation-of-a-surplus-of-errors.html :

Excerpt:

"Opponents of the Social Security system have long wanted to dismantle it.
To date, they have completely failed. Nor have they--yet--forced workers to
pay for a greater share of their benefits or slowed down cost-of-living
increases in Social Security payments. And the phased-in rise in the
eligibility age from 65 to 67 pales in comparison with the rise in life
expectancy: the average retiree receives more, not fewer, years of Social
Security income. Moreover, she receives far more of it each year than her
parents and grandparents did, as we have seen. This is a clear sign that
something is seriously wrong with the notion that capital's war against the
working class was smashingly successful in the decades leading up to the
Great Recession.

"Increased Differentiation Within the Working Class

"Magdoff and Foster's treatment of the compensation and income of the
working class fails to give due attention to disparate trends among
different groups of workers. The more one does attend to these disparate
trends, the more the notion that capital's victories in the class war have
led to "labor's declining share" breaks down.

"Consider the strong increase in seniors' income once again. If capital has
become so increasingly powerful, how have seniors managed to achieve such
gains--and hold onto them, even in the midst of the Great Recession and its
aftermath? Is the accelerated class war being waged only against younger
workers?"

Which of course is why Obama and his Wall Street backers are now turning
their sights on Social Security


-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: April-11-13 10:57 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Could Obama really learn something from Reagan? -
Salon.com

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


Ronald Reagan:

"Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit.(it) has nothing to do
with balancing a budget or erasing or growing the deficit."

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/11/believe_it_or_not_obama_can_learn_from_reaga
n/


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Re: [Marxism] another really stupid column touting BRICS

[Richard Fidler]

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==


See also Africa: Future Trajectories for BRICS

 http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article28270

"Despite much optimism, there are clear indications that BRICS [1] lacks the
capacity to function as a powerful and innovative new force in the realm of
global politics and governance."


-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Andrew Pollack
Sent: April-07-13 9:33 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] another really stupid column touting BRICS

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


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/brics-challenge-western-
supremacy


see Patrick Bond for dissection of this idiocy
http://links.org.au/node/3265

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Re: [Marxism] Awesome Proletarian Positions

[Richard Fidler]

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==


Except that you based your whole position on "proletarian" vs.
"petty-bourgeois" positions on that debate. So, when called on it, you
change the subject

"Another key element of Trotskyist sectarianism is its tendency to turn
every serious political fight into a conflict between worker and
petty-bourgeoisie. Every challenge to party orthodoxy, unless the party
leader himself mounts it, represents the influence of alien class influences
into the proletarian vanguard. Every Trotskyist party in history has
suffered from this crude sociological reductionism, but the American
Trotskyists were the unchallenged masters of it.

"Soon after the split from the SP and the formation of the Socialist Workers
Party, a fight broke out in the party over the character of the Soviet
Union. Max Shachtman, Martin Abern and James Burnham led one faction based
primarily in New York. It stated that the Soviet Union was no longer a
worker's state and it saw the economic system there as being in no way
superior to capitalism. This opposition also seemed to be less willing to
oppose US entry into WWII than the Cannon group, which stood on Zimmerwald
"defeatist" orthodoxy.

"Shachtman and Abern were full-time party workers with backgrounds similar
to Cannon's. Burnham was a horse of a different color. He was an NYU
philosophy professor who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 
He reputedly would show up at party meetings in top hat and tails, since he
was often on the way to the opera.

"Burnham became the paradigm of the whole opposition, despite the fact that
Shachtman and Abern's family backgrounds were identical to Cannon's. Cannon
and Trotsky tarred the whole opposition with the petty- bourgeois brush.
They stated that the workers would resist war while the petty-bourgeois
would welcome it. It was the immense pressure of the petty-bourgeois
intelligentsia outside the SWP that served as a source for these alien class
influences. Burnham was the "Typhoid Mary" of these petty-bourgeois germs."


-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: April-05-13 7:04 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Awesome Proletarian Positions

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


On 4/5/13 6:50 PM, Richard Fidler wrote:
> Actually, iit makes perfect sense to anyone who has read the documents 
> in the debate between Trotsky and Burnham-Schachtman. Creegan tells it 
> correctly. You don't, Louis.
>

Except that I was not really addressing the debate.

Instead I was addressing the epithet "petty bourgeois" that gets tossed
around in the Trotskyist movement in the same way that sinner is used in the
Catholic church. It is a way to stigmatize your opponent and make it easier
to steamroll over them in a debate.

For example, in 1976 (or possibly 1977) I came to the conclusion that when
Frank Lovell told an audience at Oberlin that we were in the midst of the
deepest and broadest working class radicalization of the 20th century that
he had gone off his rocker.

If I had the courage of my convictions, I would have challenged him then and
there and followed up with a resolution to the next convention warning the
party that it was deluding itself.

But how could I? Frank was a life-long worker and I was a computer
programmer, a trade seen by people like Jack Barnes as tantamount to owning
a jewelry store or an asparagus ranch. Who would want to be labeled a new
Max Shachtman or James Burnham.

Of course, Frank Lovell himself was a philosophy major at Berkeley in the
1930s and probably the son of a shopkeeper like me but it didn't matter. He
had gone through a "transformation" just like the party was about to
undergo. All of our petty-bourgeois youth would be proletarianized.

As it turned out, after discovering that Lovell's pie-in-the-sky analysis
was bogus, just about 90 percent of them dropped out.

So what's the point? We have to stop using terms like "petty bourgeois
opposition". It is a sick way of conducting politics that has its roots in
the early Comintern. Trotsky used this weapon against Shachtman and it has
been used ever since to facilitate purges and splits that leave small
propaganda grouups smaller. There must be another way.




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Re: [Marxism] Awesome Proletarian Positions

[Richard Fidler]

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Actually, iit makes perfect sense to anyone who has read the documents in
the debate between Trotsky and Burnham-Schachtman. Creegan tells it
correctly. You don't, Louis.

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: April-05-13 5:57 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Awesome Proletarian Positions

==
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==


On 4/5/13 2:13 PM, turb...@aol.com wrote:
> Nor were the real reasons for the minority's dissent difficult to 
> fathom. What probably freaked them out more than anything else was the 
> Stalin-Hitler pact that had been signed shortly before the fight broke 
> out. But was this a sufficient basis for questioning the party's 
> theoretical appraisal of the USSR?. And were they not reacting more as
Jews and petty bourgeois Democarats than as Marxists?  They were, at any
rate, encouraged by Cannon and Trotsky to stay in the party as long as
possible. The decision to split was theirs.
>
> Jim Creegan
>
>

Is this you?

Jim Creegan
Biography

Jim Creegan was chairman of the Penn State chapter of Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s, lectured in philosophy in the 70s,
belonged to the Spartacist League in the 80s, was a leading member of the
International Bolshevik Tendency and a union shop steward during the late
80s and 90s. He lives in New York City, now unaffiliated but unresigned.


--

If so, your post makes perfect sense.


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Re: [Marxism] Seeing red | The Latin American Review of Books

[Richard Fidler]

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Here's my review of the book, which is co-authored by list member Federico
Fuentes, among others...

http://climateandcapitalism.com/2013/03/11/latin-americas-turbulent-transiti
ons/

Also at
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2013/03/latin-americas-turbulent-transitions_1
2.html

-- Richard

-Original Message-
From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: March-22-13 7:16 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Seeing red | The Latin American Review of Books

==
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Review of Roger Burbach's new book.

http://www.latamrob.com/archives/2933


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Re: [Marxism] Cuba, Escalante and US SWP

[Richard Fidler]

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If you add the "m" that was dropped from the URL to the second line,
you will find the exact text This should be elementary knowledge
to most comrades on this list. 

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Andrew Pollack
Sent: February 8, 2013 9:08 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Cuba, Escalante and US SWP

==
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The marxists.org link doesn't work
But no matter, go to marxists.org, type "escalante" in the search
field and get a variety of articles


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Re: [Marxism] Cuba, Escalante and US SWP

[Richard Fidler]

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==



>From a 1963 article by a Chilean revolutionary Marxist:

"Without a doubt Escalante, Garrucho, Pompa and company constituted a
group which proposed to control the government of Cuba. Their motives
were unbridled ambition and the thirst for power. Nevertheless, it is
logical to ask, were they moved solely by these subjective factory, or
by an anti-Marxist policy and methods, resulting from deep
social-economic causes? Lenin said that every faction which arises in
a party reflects, in the last instance, pressures from a class sector
or sectors. Escalante’s case is not that of one person but of many –
of 500 little Escalantes and Aníbales, as the Cuban leaders have so
correctly pointed out. It is important, therefore, to determine what
social-economic basis permitted the appearance of Escalante and
company.

Among the essential causes we can point out the following: the
backwardness of the country; the contradictions between the
countryside and the city, between the collectivism and the
individualist tendencies and the under-development of industry; the
shortages; the differences between those who do manual work and the
intellectuals.

Before proceeding it should be clearly understood that the Escalante
group had not yet come to form an extreme bureaucratic caste, but that
rather it was merely an outbreak, a germ, an embryo of bureaucratism.
At the same time, it will be useful to state once more the distinction
made by Fidel between sectarianism and bureaucratism. These political
categories do not always manifest themselves together. Sectarianism
may exist without bureaucratism, as may be seen in the case of the
“sectarianism of the lowlands” which Fidel criticized in his speech,
although generally bureaucratism is accompanied by sectarianism."

Full:
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isr/vol24/no02/vitale.ht
m (Ignore the numerous typos, some of which I corrected in the above
excerrpt)

For this and the second episode with Escalante (in 1968) see
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Escalante_Anibal_630011818.aspx.

Richard Fidler


-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Philip Ferguson
Sent: February 8, 2013 8:22 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Cuba, Escalante and US SWP

==
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==


Shane wrote:
>Indeed. The Escalante affair was a major point I raised in the SWP at
that time.

But wasn't the Escalante affair in 1968?

Weren't you out of the SWP in 62 or 63?

Phil

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[Marxism] Evo Morales' Ten Commandments to Confront Capitalism

[Richard Fidler]

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December 21, the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, was
unusual in 2012 in that many indigenous peoples there and around the
world marked the end of an era and the dawn of a new one, based on a
Mayan calendar. According to legend the old era, a dark period known
as the Macha or "No Time," began when Columbus set foot in what later
became known as America. The next era, the Pachakuti,[1] will slowly
eliminate hunger, disease and wars, and bring about harmony between
humankind and nature. 

The Bolivian government marked the occasion by organizing a grand
celebration on the Isla del Sol, an island in beautiful Lake Titikaka.
The largest fresh-water body of water within South America, the lake
straddles the border between Bolivia and Peru at an altitude of about
4,000 metres (more than 12,000 feet). According to Inca legend, this
was where the sun was born. 

The Bolivian foreign ministry, headed by Minister David Choquehuanca,
an Aymara poet and long-time activist in the indigenous and campesino
(peasant) movement, established a web site
<http://www.21diciembre.bo/index.php/es/home/2-uncategorised/134-manif
iesto-por-la-vida-y-contra-el-capitalismo>  to publicize the event. It
featured articles on indigenous history and legends, as well as
tourist information. In the days preceding December 21, the government
organized 13 different public forums on such topics as climate change,
the food crisis and capitalism, both at the Isla del Sol and online. 

The event attracted some 40 indigenous groups from five continents,
most from South America, as well as (of course!) a large number of
"gringo" (non-native) tourists. Also attending were government
leaders, including a few from other countries, as well as ambassadors
and other officials. It was, by all accounts, quite a show.

A highlight of the festivities was the presence of Bolivian President
Evo Morales. He arrived at the December 21 event on a huge balsa raft,
a large replica of the boats designed and built by indigenous artisans
that for centuries plied the waters of Lake Titikaka. After lighting
the sacred flame, Morales addressed the crowd for almost an hour,
presenting a Manifesto that set out his government's professed
philosophy in the form of ten commandments. The speech is remarkable
for its identification of global crisis as multi-dimensional -
economic, ecological, institutional, cultural, ethical and spiritual,
a crisis of civilization itself - its denunciation of capital's
world-wide offensive and the capitalist system's commoditization of
property and nature, and its explanation of his government's objective
of building a "communitarian socialism of Living Well." 

Although Morales' message was largely ignored by the foreign media, it
has attracted considerable commentary - and controversy - in Bolivia
and to a lesser degree in South America. Following my translation of
his speech, below, I will allude to some of those comments while
offering a few critical observations of my own. But first, here is the
speech by Evo Morales. Although there are several versions of the
speech now circulating, I have translated from the full Spanish text
available here
<http://www.atilioboron.com.ar/2013/01/evo-morales-y-el-magnifico-mani
fiesto.html> , which appears to be the text from which Morales was
reading. The notes are mine. 

Richard Fidler 

* * *

Ten Commandments to confront capitalism and construct the culture of
life

Continued here:
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2013/01/evo-morales-historic-speech-at-i
sla-del.html, or http://tinyurl.com/9wu5xu9


 




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[Marxism] FW: Early US Imperialism, Hitler, Roosevelt, The Spanish Civil War

[Richard Fidler]

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 Untold History:
Early US Imperialism, Hitler, Roosevelt, The Spanish Civil War
Peter Kuznick, co-author with Oliver Stone of Untold History of the
United States, discusses Roosevelt's attitude towards Hitler and the
Soviet Union

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content
 &task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=9387
 
 

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[Marxism] FW: Geopolitics of the Amazon

[Richard Fidler]

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==


 
My serial publication of a translation of Geopolitics of the Amazon,
by Bolivian V-P Álvaro García Linera, is now complete. Here are the
respective posts, aligned with his chapter headings:
 
I -
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/12/geopolitics-of-amazon-part-i.htm
l
 
Introduction
Revolution and counterrevolution
The Amazon and patrimonial despotic power
 
II -
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/12/geopolitics-of-amazon-part-ii.ht
ml
 
Capitalist subsumption of the Amazon indigenous economy
The Territorio Indígena Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure (TIPNIS)
Plurinational State and dismantling of the Business-Patrimonial
power 
 
III -
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/12/geopolitics-of-amazon-part-iii.h
tml
 
The historic demand for construction of a road to unite the Amazon
valleys and plains
IIRSA: The farce of empty chatter
Characteristics of the Villa Tunari-San Ignacio de Moxos highway
 
IV -
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/12/geopolitics-of-amazon-part-iv.ht
ml
 
Colonialist fallacies
Who has the power in the Amazon?
 
V -
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/12/geopolitics-of-amazon-part-v-fin
al.html
 
Once again on so-called "extractivism"
 
My English translation has also been published in Bolivia Rising:
http://boliviarising.blogspot.ca/, and is now being published on
Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières:
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article27323. 
 
Comrades without the time or patience to read the entirety may still
find the latter two parts (IV and V) of particular interest, as they
directly address some important issues of current debate within the
left both in Latin America and internationally. The original text, in
Spanish, is at
http://www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo/IMG/pdf/libro_final.pdf. 
 
On the TIPNIS dispute, I might note that the lawfully mandated
consulta (consultation) of the communities directly affected by the
proposed highway project, which was the subject of much controversy
and two recent marches by dissident indigenous activists, concluded
its proceedings on December 7. Of the 69 communities in question, 58
participated in the consulta, which began July 29. Of these, 53
approved the construction of the highway between Villa Tunari and San
Ignacio. See:
http://www.la-razon.com/nacional/Consulta-cierra-promesa-fondos-ecolog
ica_0_1738626180.html.
 
Richard

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[Marxism] 2007-2012: Six years that shook the banking world

[Richard Fidler]

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Well worth reading:

Banks versus the People: The Underside of a Rigged Game! (Part 1)

2007-2012: Six years that shook the banking world

2 December by Eric Toussaint
http://cadtm.org/2007-2012-Six-years-that-shook-the


Eric Toussaint, Senior Lecturer at the University of Liège, is
president of CADTM Belgium (Committee for the Abolition of Third-World
Debt), and a member of the Scientific Committee of ATTAC France. He is
the author, with Damien Millet, of AAA. Audit Annulation Autre
politique, Seuil, Paris, 2012.



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[Marxism] RealNews to broadcast debates of alternative parties in U.S. election

[Richard Fidler]

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For the information of those still interested in the U.S. election.
For those in other time zones, the Real News customarily puts its
programs on-line following the live stream broadcast. -- RF
 
Tune in to The Real News to watch the alternative parties'
presidential candidates go head to head on both Sunday and Monday
nights!
 
First, join us for a debate on Sunday, November 4 at 7:30 PM ET at
Busboys & Poets in Washington D.C. with all the candidates-Gary
Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green), Virgil Goode (Constitution)
and Rocky Anderson (Justice)-that will focus on issues too
controversial for the mainstream candidates.  And to top it off, the
event will be moderated by Ralph Nader.
 
On Monday night at 9:00 PM ET, Free and Equal hosts Jill Stein and
Gary Johnson, who will debate issues regarding foreign policy.
 
The Real News brings you the live stream for both events at
www.therealnews.com
 . Check our home
page on the day of each event for info on how to watch. 


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Re: [Marxism] Bob McKee email hacked

[Richard Fidler]

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I got two of these messages. I thought the second one would be
addressed to "Girls." Maybe the hacker is still at work.

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of robert mckee
Sent: September 15, 2012 1:21 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Bob McKee email hacked

==
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==


Guys

You may have had weird emails from me just recently.  I've been hacked
into.  I think I have sorted it, butdont open any emails from me
unless there is a clear heading that makes sense.

best

B

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[Marxism] Quebec election - an initial balance sheet

[Richard Fidler]

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http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/09/quebecs-election-initial-balance
-sheet.html
 

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[Marxism] FW: On Haiti, Jared Diamond Hasn't Done His Homework

[Richard Fidler]

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In a July 29th speech
  at a fundraiser in Jerusalem, presidential candidate
Mitt Romney attributed the stark difference in economic development
between Israel and Palestine partly to cultural factors. To illustrate
his case, he provided incorrect data showing that Israel's per capita
gross domestic product was twice that of Palestine (the difference is
actually around 20
 to 1). In any case, it was but one indicator that
allowed Romney to "recognize the power" of "culture, and a few other
things" in determining "economic vitality." One of "a few other
things" that has influenced Palestine's economy, unmentioned by
Romney, is Israel's crippling, U.S.-funded military occupation of
Palestine, now in its 45th
 year, which has dispossessed the Palestinians of land,
water, and sovereignty. 

Romney's comments elicited a response from Jared Diamond, a professor
of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, who
protested the fact that Romney had invoked Diamond's work in his
Jerusalem speech. Diamond's August 1 New York Times op-ed, "Romney
 Hasn't Done His Homework," condemned the candidate
for misrepresenting the findings of his book, Guns, Germs and Steel.

Curiously though, Diamond's op-ed didn't refer to Romney's most basic
error: omitting the role of the Israeli
  occupation
  in
Palestine's underdevelopment. That's likely because Diamond, in
criticizing Romney, seems oblivious to the role of outside
interference himself. Instead, Diamond's op-ed effectively endorses a
focus on oppressed peoples' supposed cultural defects as an
explanation for their lack of development[...]

FULL:
http://www.nacla.org/blog/2012/8/20/haiti-jared-diamond-hasnt-done-his
-homework

 


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Re: [Marxism] What's a good novel for 13-14 year olds?

[Richard Fidler]

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My nomination: News from Nowhere, by William Morris. 

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of johnedmund...@paradise.net.nz
Sent: August 16, 2012 12:38 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] What's a good novel for 13-14 year olds?

==
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==


A teacher's forum I'm on had a request for a novel dealing with
communism for kids of about 13-14 years old. of course everyone has
trotted out Animal Farm but I wondered if anyone could suggest
something a bit more sympathetic.
Cheers,
John


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Re: [Marxism] LIBERTY AND PROPERTY By ELLEN MEIKSINS WOOD (new fromVerso)

[Richard Fidler]

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"MEIKSINS WOOD is a rare breed - an academic with the sole of a
storyteller. Highly recommended" - MORNING STAR.

Does that mean she puts her foot in her mouth? 


LIBERTY AND PROPERTY: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT
FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO ENLIGHTENMENT By ELLEN MEIKSINS WOOD

Published 20th FEBRUARY 2012




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[Marxism] Charest declares war on Quebec's students

[Richard Fidler]

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http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/05/charest-declares-war-on-quebecs.
html 
 
"It's a declaration of war on the student movement," said Martine
Desjardins, leader of the FEUQ. "They've just told the young people
that everything they have done, everything they have created as a
social movement for 14 weeks will now be criminal." 
 
"It's a bill designed to kill the student associations, but also to
silence an entire population…. This law is far worse for freedom of
expression than the 75% increase in tuition fees might be for
accessibility to education," said Léo Bureau-Blouin, leader of the
FECQ. 
 
Bill 78, tabled late in the evening last night by Quebec's Liberal
government, is draconian legislation. Here are its main provisions,
which as I write are still being debated in the National Assembly
after an all-night session. 
 
" It suspends the academic sessions in all colleges and universities
affected by the student strike. They will resume in August, and the
scheduled fall sessions will be postponed to begin in October. 
 
" It forces professors - most of whom have supported the students - to
report to work by 7:00 a.m. on August 17 and to resume teaching. All
staff must, as of that date, perform all normal duties "without
stoppage, slowdown, decrease or alteration in his or her normal
activities," and must not engage in any "concerted action" in
violation of these clauses. 
 
" It prohibits any attempt, by act or omission, to prevent access by
anyone to an educational institution which he or she has the right or
duty to access. 
 
" No picketing that might inhibit such access may be held within 50
metres of the institution. 
 
" It virtually bans demonstrations for the next year. Organizers of
demonstrations, it says, must tell police how many demonstrators will
be involved (!) and their intended route at least eight hours before
the demonstration begins, and must comply with any police order to
change the location or route. Student associations will be held
collectively liable for any damage caused to a third party as a result
of the demonstration. 
 
" Violations of these provisions will be punished by fines of between
$7,000 and $35,000 for each leader, employee or representative of a
student association. The associations as such may be fined between
$25,000 and $125,000, with double these fines for repeat offenses.
Individual offenders may be fined $1,000 to $5,000 per day. 
 
" Student associations deemed responsible for any disruption of
courses within an institution may be deprived of their check-off of
dues from student fees, as well as their premises and facilities,
during one semester for every day of such disruption. 
 
With this law, Quebec is "sliding toward authoritarianism," said
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesman for the CLASSE, the major student
association that represents about half of the strikers. This is a law
that "challenges fundamental liberties" and "recognized constitutional
rights," he added. 
 
Pointing to the bill's attack on the rights of association,
demonstration, and speech, Opposition leader Pauline Marois compared
the bill with the federal War Measures Act, used by Trudeau to jail
hundreds of Québécois in October 1970. Premier Charest, the PQ leader
said, "has no further moral authority or legitimacy to govern." 
 
Amir Khadir, the Québec solidaire member of the National Assembly,
attacked Charest for constructing "a police state around the academic
community and threatening all those who work in education with his
judicial, police and financial bludgeons." 
 
"This is a dark day for Quebec," said QS president Françoise David.
"Tonight we solemnly appeal to the student movement, the popular
movement, the committed artists, the socially responsible lawyers and
jurists, the trade unions, the parents worried about the escalation in
violence, to put up a determined and concerted resistance in order to
make this law unworkable…." 
 
Earlier in the day, leaders of the FEUQ and FECQ held a news
conference accompanied by Marois, Khadir, and other MNAs in a
last-minute appeal to the government to negotiate in good faith with
the students. Significantly, they were joined by Laurent Proulx, a
leader of the "green squares," a student group that has initiated many
of the anti-strike injunction proceedings in the courts. He said his
"movement of socially responsible students" supported the position of
the former head of the Quebec Bar, who had publicly called for
mediation, not a special law, to resolve the tuition fee protest. 
 
Also attending the news conference was Robert Michaud of the "white
squares for social peace" movement, formed by concerned parents in the
aftermath of the extreme police violence in repressing a pro-student
demonstration in Victoriaville ear

[Marxism] FW: Quebec government bludgeons student strikers with emergency law - but the struggle continues

[Richard Fidler]

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 Quebec premier Jean Charest announced May 16 that he will introduce
emergency legislation to end the militant student strike, now in its
14th week, that has shut down college and university campuses across
the province. The students are protesting the Liberal government’s 75%
increase in university tuition fees, now slated to take place over the
next seven years.

The special law, Charest said, will suspend the current session for
the striking students and impose harsh penalties for those who in the
future attempt to block physical access to campus premises or
“disrupt” classes. It will not include the terms the government
offered following a 22-hour marathon negotiating session May 4-5 —
although, as we shall see below, we have not heard the last of some of
those provisions.
 That offer was rejected overwhelmingly by the students in
mass meetings held during the past week. In all, 115 associations
representing 342,000 of Quebec’s 400,000 college and university
students voted to reject it. Of these, more than 150,000 students are
still on strike.
 [1]

The law will effectively end the present strike, but without resolving
any of the underlying issues. The immediate goal of the strike was to
stop the tuition hike, but the strike also revived a major public
debate over long-standing proposals in Quebec to expand access to
university education through abolition of fees and to roll back the
increasing subordination of higher education to market forces and
private corporate interests. The government turned a deaf ear to the
students on all these questions.

“The Liberals have spit on an entire generation,” said Gabriel
Nadeau-Dubois, a spokesman for the CLASSE,
 [2] the largest student association. “It is a
repressive and authoritarian law. It restricts the students’ right to
strike, which has been recognized for years by the educational
institutions.” The CLASSE has called for a massive march of students
and their supporters, to be held May 22 in Montréal. It hopes the
numbers mobilized in the streets will be comparable with the estimated
200,000 who came out on
 March 22 and the even greater number who assembled on
 April 22, Earth Day.

Equally outraged was the president of the national teachers union, the
FNEEQ-CSN,
 [3] Jean Trudelle. “They talk of
accessibility as if was simply a question of opening the doors,” he
said. The president of the university professors’ union, Max Roy,
likewise denounced the government for failing to take the students’
concerns seriously.

Charest’s announcement came less than two days after education
minister Line Beauchamp suddenly resigned not only from the cabinet
but from her seat in the National Assembly, admitting that she was no
longer “part of the solution” to a crisis that has shaken the
government. Arrogant and obdurate to the end, Beauchamp said she had
“lost confidence in the willingness of the student leaders to search
for solutions and… a genuine way out of the crisis.” Premier Jean
Charest promptly replaced her with Michèle Courchesne, a former
education minister.

“The problem for us has never been Ms. Beauchamp,” said CLASSE
spokesman Nadeau-Dubois. “The problem is the hike in tuition fees. And
it is not by changing the minister… that the present crisis will be
solved. The crisis will be solved when they agree to talk about the
reason why the students are on strike, that is, the increase in
tuition fees.”

Charest’s self-imposed crisis

The minister’s resignation underscored the depth of the crisis the
Charest government has brought upon itself. For months it tried to
trivialize the strike, ignoring the students’ demands, refusing to
negotiate, evidently hoping the movement would exhaust itself,
especially as the current spring session approached its end with no
resolution in sight. But even as they faced loss of their session
credits if the strike continued, the students for the most part held
firm, successfully mounting defiant mass pickets at many campuses and
frustrating more than 30 court injunctions to reopen the institutions,
often in the face of massive police violence and multiple arrests.
Well over one thousand students have been arrested — a total that far
exceeds the previous record arrests in the 2010 G20 protest

[Marxism] Quebec student upsurge

[Richard Fidler]

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==


Although list members (most of whom are U.S. residents) show little
interest in events across their northern border, a few of you might
find recent items on my blog in connection with the Quebec student
upsurge of some relevance. See http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/.
 
Richard

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[Marxism] Massive student upsurge fuels major debates in Quebec society

[Richard Fidler]

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A crowd estimated at 250,000 people or more wound its way through
Montréal April 22 in Quebec’s largest ever Earth Day march. They
raised many demands: an end to tar sands and shale gas development,
opposition to the Quebec government’s Plan Nord mining expansion,
support for radical measures to protect ecosystems, and other causes.
And many wore the red felt square symbolizing support to the
province’s students fighting the Liberal government’s 75 percent
increase in post-secondary education fees over the next five years.
The Earth Day march was the largest mobilization to date in a mounting
wave of citizen protest throughout the province.

In the vanguard have been the students, now in the eleventh week of a
strike that has effectively shut down Quebec’s universities and junior
colleges. In recent days they have battled court injunctions and
mounting police repression. Their resilience has astonished many
Québécois and inspired strong statements of support from broad layers
of the population.[1] Equally surprising to many has been the
government’s stubborn refusal to even discuss the fee hike with
student representatives.

Addressing the huge crowd assembled at the foot of Mount Royal,
student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois answered the taunts against the
students by Premier Jean Charest and his deputy, Education Minister
Line Beauchamp:

“In recent days they have been calling Quebec students hoodlums,
vandals, violent people. That’s false! What is more violent than
selling the lands of indigenous peoples to some multinationals? What
is more violent than polluting the air that our children are going to
breathe? We are not violent, it is they who are violent!”

The crunch

The student strike — the longest in Quebec history — is now in a
crucial phase. If it continues for more than a few days, an entire
semester will be sacrificed by the students. Yet the strike has held
firm. There are still more than 170,000 students boycotting classes
and they are now being joined by some high school students.[2] The
movement has been sustained by frequent mass assemblies and debates as
well as off-campus mobilizations. On March 22, more than 200,000
students and supporters marched through the streets of Montréal while
throughout Quebec some 300,000 students struck their campuses.

Although the police have kept a low profile in the largest student
actions, they have been emboldened by the government’s intransigence
and the complicity of courts and academic authorities. During the past
week, the cops have viciously attacked peaceful student demonstrations
and arrested hundreds. Popular reactions in talk shows and letters to
the editor indicate that many citizens are shocked at the repression,
especially in regions outside the Montréal metropolitan area.

FULL:
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/04/massive-student-upsurge-fuels-ma
jor.html



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[Marxism] Overshadowing the Cartagena Summit: the militarization of Central America

[Richard Fidler]

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Stephen Harper and Barack Obama will be attending the Sixth Summit of
the Americas this weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. Expected to attend
will be 33 heads of government representing all the members of the
Organization of American States (OAS) except Ecuador, whose President
Rafael Correa is courageously abstaining primarily on the ground that
the summit excludes revolutionary Cuba, still denied OAS membership by
Washington. 

Ironically, the Summit meets under the theme “Connecting the Americas:
Partners for Prosperity.” However, Obama made it clear that he would
not attend the summit if Cuba was represented, and the host president,
Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos, bowed to this dictate.

The Cartagena summit follows on the heels of the inaugural summit of
the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a
regional alliance comprised of all OAS members except Canada and the
United States. A potential rival to the OAS, CELAC includes Cuba, of
course. Its summit, which was held in Caracas in December, was hosted
by one of CELAC’s principal architects, Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez.

In the following article André Maltais, the well-informed Latin
American specialist of the Quebec online and print newspaper
<http://www.lautjournal.info/> L’aut’journal, draws attention to some
disturbing developments in Central America and Mexico that overshadow
the Cartagena summit. My translation from the French. 

– Richard Fidler

* * *

The Militarization of Central America

L’aut’journal, April 12, 2012

by André Maltais

Last December 5, the 23rd Summit of the Tuxtla Mechanism of Dialogue
and Concerted Action, which includes Mexico, Colombia and the Central
American countries, met in Merida, Mexico. The Summit normally
discusses the progress of the Mesoamerica Project (formerly Plan
Puebla Panama), a network of transportation infrastructures and a set
of economic development projects designed to counterbalance the IIRSA
(Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of
South America).

But the Summit’s final document put the emphasis on a very fashionable
theme: the region’s security problems and the fight against drug
trafficking.

This was the ingredient that was missing, writes the Argentine
political journalist Mariela Zunino, for the Mesoamerica Project
clearly to become what it is — in addition to a new escalation of
dispossession and appropriation of territory, a U.S. geostrategic plan
that tells all of Latin America that Washington has absolutely not
turned its back on the continent.

In fact, if the countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Peru and
Colombia) are hesitating to align themselves candidly with the United
States, another, more resolute front against Latin American
integration is now open to the north of the continent. And, in
addition to Mexico, it now includes almost all of the states of
Central America.

The free-trade agreements (CAFTA, NAFTA) and U.S. military bases like
those in Honduras and Panama have already limited the leeway of the
countries of Central America.

But the Central American portion of the Merida Initiative, the Mexican
Plan Colombia to counter the drug cartels, has now become the CARSI
(Central American Regional Security Initiative), a new security
initiative sponsored by the United States, which is pressuring the
weak states of Central American to assign their local armed forces to
the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.

FULL:
http://lifeonleft.blogspot.ca/2012/04/overshadowing-cartagena-summit.h
tml

 


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Re: [Marxism] IST leader critiques SWP(UK) for split with Respect

[Richard Fidler]

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The New Zealand Socialist Worker group dissolved some time ago:
http://www.webcitation.org/65UTlQFLu

 -Original Message-
 On Behalf Of Ratbag Media
Sent: April 8, 2012 7:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] IST leader critiques SWP(UK) for split with
Respect


The New Zealand Socialist Worker grouping --an IST affiliate at the
time (although I don't know its formal status today in that regard) --
criticized the SWP's role in RESPECT at the time of the falling out.
This is from

OCTOBER 2007


http://unityaotearoa.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/crisis-in-respect-letter-
to-british-swp.html




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[Marxism] IST leader critiques SWP(UK) for split with Respect

[Richard Fidler]

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The inspiring upset victory of George Galloway and the Respect party
in the Bradford West by-election appears to have provided an occasion
for a prominent member of the International Socialists in Canada, Paul
Kellogg, to publicly criticize the UK Socialist Workers Party for its
role in splitting with Respect in 2007. Until then SWP members and
leaders had constituted the strongest body of organized supporters in
Respect. 
 
The IS group in Canada is a component of the International Socialist
Tendency (IST), the international grouping in the orbit of the
SWP(UK). Paul Kellogg is a long-time IS leader.
 
SWP members were quick to congratulate Galloway and Respect for their
recent victory. Marxmail subscribers will recall the enthusiastic
response of Richard Seymour, a prominent member of the SWP, in his
blog ("Lenin's Tomb"), reproduced on this list. But Seymour was
notably silent on his own party's record in the damaging split of
2007. Up to now, I have seen no public criticism of that event by SWP
or IST members -- whether because of unanimity of views, or party
"discipline," I do not know. So Kellogg's critique, which is
well-documented with references, is of considerable interest, not
least because it addresses some key issues of party-building strategy
for the revolutionary left analogous with those that are being debated
today in the French far left as well as elsewhere. 
 
Kellogg adds, with deliberate understatement, that "fortunately, the
disputes of 2007 are no longer visible in 2012." That, of course,
should not obviate the need for a clear critical and public
balance-sheet of the experience in any serious organization like the
SWP, all the more in light of the Respect victory in Bradford West. It
is to be hoped that Kellogg's remarks will help spark that critical
re-examination in broader circles. "Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it" (Santayana).
 
Here are the relevant paragraphs (references in parentheses are listed
in Kellogg's blog text):
 
"Between Galloway's 2005 election win in Bethnal Green and this year's
win in Bradford West, Respect had to navigate a severe internal
crisis. In 2007, the SWP, linked so closely to Galloway by Cohen in
2005, suddenly became his harshest critic. Prior to 2007, SWP
publications had very effectively challenged the "communalist" charge,
used in such a perverse way by Cohen in 2005 (Middleton 2006). But by
late 2007, things had changed. Respect leaders such as Yaqoob had to
defend Respect from the communalist charge (Yaqoob 2007), this time
being levelled by leading members of the SWP itself (Harman 2008,
35-36). The divide between the SWP and Galloway was portrayed as a
"left-right" split, the right being Galloway and his supporters
(Socialist Worker 2007). Three very prominent SWP members who refused
to part company with Galloway, were expelled from the party. To
outside observers, the dispute was almost incomprehensible,
particularly when it became framed in the context of obscure stories
about century-old disputes in the European left, including a divide in
the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903 (Socialist Worker
2007), and a divide between two rival groups at the founding of the
Second International in 1889 (Harman 2008, 25).

"Fortunately, Respect survived the crisis. Far from being on the
right, leading Respect members such as George Galloway, Salma Yaqoob
and Kevin Ovenden have played a prominent role as leaders of the
Palestine solidarity movement in Britain. All three participated in
the Summer University of Palestine in 2011 (Viva Palestina 2011a).
Viva Palestina, which sponsored that university, has organized
numerous aid convoys to Gaza, with Galloway playing a leading role.
Ovenden, one of the three expelled from the SWP, was aboard the Mavi
Marmara when it was attacked by the Israeli military in July 2010,
leading to the deaths of nine Turkish citizens (Viva Palestina 2011b).
And fortunately, the disputes of 2007 are no longer visible in 2012.
There are now two organizations associated with those who led the SWP
in 2007, and both of them warmly welcomed Galloway's victory in
Bradford West (Counterfire 2012; Bhattacharyya 2012)."
 
Kellogg's article as a whole is an excellent analysis, and well worth
reading in its entirety:
http://www.polecon.net/2012/04/challenge-of-george-galloways-bradford.
html
 
-- Richard





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Re: [Marxism] Bolivian government-owned newspaper charges disabledprotesters with beating up cops

[Richard Fidler]

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==



A reader reminds me off-list that an article in the U.S. Socialist
Worker on this incident, which takes much the same line as Louis,
unintentionally suggests that the violence was the other way around.
Excerpt:

In a Facebook account, a journalist for LaMalaPalabra described the
scene:

The handicapped BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THE COPS. The cops only covered
themselves with their shields. They didn't do shit. The handicapped
went loco, BUT REALLY LOCO. Hardcore, they were blowing up
firecrackers in [the cops'] faces and [the cops'] helmets barely
protected them. They threw real rocks at them...

[O]ne of them got on to one of the police trucks and using only his
fists, he fucking destroyed the windshield, there was also the guy
that passed him a big rock A BIG ROCK so he could finish his job, with
cops inside the car that the only thing they were doing was protecting
their face. The dog that was with the handicapped bit two cops, but
not like when they just stick their teeth in you and that's it, he
SHOOK them intense intense intense... 

http://socialistworker.org/2012/02/29/what-is-morales-afraid-of

As the reader suggests, a more appropriate headline might be: "US
socialists charge disabled Bolivian protesters with beating up cops".

Richard
 

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Fidler
Sent: March 8, 2012 2:52 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Bolivian government-owned newspaper charges
disabledprotesters with beating up cops

==
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==



Excuse me, but where is the evidence in the article below to sustain
Louis's headline on the item? All I can see is this:

"Cambio dwelled on the injuries sustained by the police and blamed the
violence on a group of infiltrados posing as disabled people

"As evidence of the violent infiltration, Cambio unveiled a photograph
of a man in a striped sweater standing in front of a policeman in riot
gear, accompanied by the caption ‘Activist beats up policemen at
disabled protest’. Below that were two more photographs, purportedly
of the same man protesting against the TIPNIS road."

The story says nothing about Cambio alleging the disabled themselves
attacked the police -- which would be pretty incredible to begin with.

There are many other misleading statements in this report but I will
leave it at that. No need, Louis, to add your own disinformation.

Richard

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: March 8, 2012 2:24 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: [Marxism] Bolivian government-owned newspaper charges
disabled protesters with beating up cops

==
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==


http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/03/06/belen-fernandez/in-la-paz/
In La Paz
Belén Fernández 6 March 2012

In June 2009, the Bolivian state-run newspaper Cambio reported that
Alán García, the then president of Peru, had accused Boliva’s
president, Evo Morales, of inciting genocide against the Peruvian
police force. Morales had expressed solidarity with inhabitants of the
Peruvian Amazon opposed to the multinational corporate exploitation of
the region’s resources.

Since then, Morales seems to have adjusted his position on both
environmentalism and the rights of indigenous peoples. There are plans
to build a highway through Bolivia’s Isiboro Sécure National Park and
Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS). The government has portrayed the road’s
opponents as politically motivated allies of US imperialism, and the
police have cracked down violently on protesters. The road would
benefit Brazilian energy companies and coca-growing Morales supporters
who have moved into the area.

Cambio has meanwhile cast the Bolivian police as the victims in a
confrontation with disabled protesters in La Paz last month. The
protesters arrived in the city at the end of a 1000-mile march to
request an annual disability subsidy of 3000 Bolivianos (around $400).
Amnesty International drew attention to reports that the police had
used electric shocks and pepper sprays indiscriminately on the crowd.
Cambio dwelled on the injuries su

Re: [Marxism] Trotsky article on Nietzsche

[Richard Fidler]

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==



It's actually an English translation from a French translation of an
article written originally in Russian, is it not?

>From the French web site:

Article sur Nietszche, signé " Antide Oto ", paru dans Vostotchnoïé
Obozriéné (La Revue de l'Orient) d'Irkoutsk, numéros 284, 286, 287,
289 des 22, 24, 25 et 30 décembre 1900. Repris dans : L. TROTSKY,
Sotchiniénia, T. XX : Koultoura starogo mira (La culture de l'ancien
monde), Moscou-Leningrad, Editions d'Etat, 1926.
Ce texte a été inclus dans certaines éditions de Littérature et
Révolution.

-- Richard 

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of DW
Sent: June 17, 2011 10:36 AM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Trotsky article on Nietzsche

==
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==


Mitch's original first time translation of this is a continual project
to get the early writings of Trotsky available. To our knowledge this
has never been translated into English before. These are some of the
rarer writings that Trotsky wrote directly in French, instead of
Russian, like most of his writings.

David Walters,
MIA


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Re: [Marxism] Traven

[Richard Fidler]

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==



 See Jonah Raskin, My Search for B. Traven (Methuen, 1980).

Dan wrote:

Travenologists (as they are called) will spend entire congresses
discussing who Traven really was, whether he was a German anarchist
who spent time in the US and Mexico, or ... 

Just to say that The Death Ship is definitely a great, and short,
novel that is sure to enthrall any young (or older) reader.




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[Marxism] The federal NDP's electoral breakthrough in Quebec

[Richard Fidler]

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==


http://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2011/05/federal-ndps-electoral-breakthr
ough-in.html

 

If Jack Layton’s election-night speech to his Toronto supporters is an
indication of what lies ahead, the NDP is going to have a hard time
coming to terms with a parliamentary caucus now composed of a majority
of MPs from Quebec.

 

To a crowded room in which nearly everyone was waving Canadian flags,
the NDP leader delivered two thirds of his remarks in English without
ever mentioning the expression “Quebec nation”. The scene, televised
across Canada, did not go unremarked in Quebec, where most of the
NDP’s sudden support had come from nationalist-minded voters,
including many sympathizers of Quebec independence.

 

The NDP breakthrough was the big surprise of the May 2 federal
election. In a wave of support that developed into a veritable
tsunami, the NDP took 42.9% of the Quebec popular vote, winning 58 of
the province’s 75 seats under the first-past-the-post system and
defeating most MPs and candidates of the pro-sovereignty Bloc
Québécois, now shrunken from a caucus of 50 to only four MPs in the
House of Commons. And along the way the NDP candidates reduced the
much smaller contingents of Quebec Conservatives and Liberals to six
and seven seats respectively.

 

In the Rest of Canada (ROC), the NDP share of the popular vote
increased from 17.5% in the previous federal election (2008) to 26.3%,
largely on the coattails of the Quebec surge. But the party’s net
gains outside of Quebec were limited to five new seats. 

 

With a total of 102 seats — 60% of them from Quebec, where in 2008 the
party took 12.2% of the vote and only one seat — the NDP now
constitutes the Official Opposition. This is clearly a major
achievement for the party. It was won despite the almost unanimous
opposition of the big-business media: 31 Canadian newspapers
 editorially endorsed Harper’s Conservatives;
one, the Bloc Québécois (Le Devoir); and one, the NDP (Toronto Star). 



However, it is an Opposition with little parliamentary clout. Stephen
Harper’s Conservatives, the “Tories”, with just 39.6% of the popular
vote, elected 167 MPs, giving them a clear majority in the 308 seat
House. As for the Liberals, they elected only 34 MPs, an all-time low
for that party.

 

The NDP can abandon its dream of “making Parliament work.” It will
work well, but not for the NDP’s natural constituency — what it
referred to in the campaign as “working families.” 

 

A new Conservative hegemony

 

Over the next four or five years, the reinforced Harper government can
be expected to pursue even more vigorously the right-wing agenda it
has followed for the past five years of its minority government: more
war and militarization, privatization of social services and federal
institutions (Canada Post?), the weakening or abolition of many
regulatory bodies, more “free trade” and investment deals, increased
spending on police and prisons, and a complete flouting of the most
minimal environmental measures that has already turned Canada into an
international pariah petro-state. Quebec will be further marginalized
through the addition of new parliamentary seats in British Columbia,
Alberta and Ontario, where the Tories are strong.

 

With the crushing defeat of the Liberals, Harper has now established
the Conservatives as the hegemonic party of capital. But this hegemony
comes at a price. Capital in Canada has traditionally ruled through a
system of alternance between Liberals and Conservatives, each ready to
replace the other if defeated in Parliament or by the electorate.
However, with the crushing defeat of the Liberals, and the victory of
the NDP, the scenario has radically changed. Although the Tory
government’s parliamentary majority is secured for four or five years,
the alternance is now up for grabs. For Canada’s ruling circles, this
poses a dilemma. Should they bank on rebuilding the Liberals? Or
should they start thinking of the NDP as an acceptable option at the
federal level, as they already do in some provinces where the NDP has
governed for many years?

 

Provincial office is one thing. But the central government, with its
crucial jurisdiction over banking and finance, foreign affairs, the
military, trade and commerce, criminal law and the senior courts and
judiciary, etc. — and above all its role in protecting the territorial
and institutional integrity of the state and forestalling any
challenge by Quebec to that integrity  — that’s a somewhat different
matter. 

 

The difficulty here, of course, is that the NDP, created at the aegis
of the trade unions in English Canada, has historically been viewed by
Capital and labor alike as a workers pa

Re: [Marxism] Joaquin Perez Becerra in the hands of Colombian "justice" thanks to Chavez

[Richard Fidler]

==
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==



For some background, you might consult
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6151. 

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Fred Fuentes
Sent: April 28, 2011 7:49 PM
To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Marxism]Joaquin Perez Becerra in the hands of Colombian
"justice" thanks to Chavez

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 8:43 AM, Greg McDonald 
wrote:

>
> The silence is deafening.

Probably cause some of us are more interested in actually DOING stuff
to defend the comrade rather than wasting time responding to ultraleft

>
> While we're at it, perhaps supporters of Rafael Correa could opine 
> about the contradiction between the Ecuadorean legal code, which 
> grants rights to Nature, and yet which simultaneously threatens 
> terrorism charges against those who seek to uphold those rights?
>
>
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/3015-no-justice-no
> -peace-canadian-mining-in-ecuador-and-impunity-
>
Perhaps you could also opine on CONAIE's position to vote against the
referendum being proposed by Correa that among other things would
limit finance capital and media corporations ability to invest in
other sectors, make corruption a crime, prohibit casinos, and make
non-affiliation by companies to the Ecuadorian INstitute of Social
Security for workers a crime?




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

[Richard Fidler]

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==



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

Richard

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

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

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

Fred Feldman

February 26, 2011


Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital


By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
 


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

[clip]



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

[Richard Fidler]

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==



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


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

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


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

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

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



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[Marxism] NPA congress

[Richard Fidler]

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Video coverage of the convention this weekend of the Nouveau Parti
Anticapitaliste in France is available on-line at
http://www.npa2009.org/npa-tv. This the first full convention of the
NPA, which was founded two years ago. So far, the reports on the
perspectives debate (Nos réponses à la crise) and the balance sheet of
the party's activities to date are available. To follow: the debate on
laïcité, feminism and religion
 
Richard

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