[Marxism] Brazil's right wing exploits scandal to promote coup calls | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * March 14, 2015 -- TeleSUR English, posted at /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ -- Government supporters say the opposition is inventing a crisis in order to undemocratically remove President Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers Party of Brazil, from power. The political forces organising marches on March 15, 2015, against the democratically elected government of Dilma Rousseff began conspiring immediately after it became known that she had won the run-off election in October 2014 against the candidate of the Brazilian elites, Aecio Neves. The right-wing political opposition in Brazil has been reluctant to accept the results of that election, seeking to implement their neoliberal agenda by whatever means they can. The opposition, like their right-wing contemporaries in the rest of Latin America, have become frustrated at their repeated electoral defeats. The left-wing Workers Party (PT) has been in power since Rousseff’s predecessor, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, was elected president in 2002. *Who is behind the impeachment campaign?* Leaders of the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), one of the main organisers of the March 15 marches, told /Folha de Sao Paulo/, “The main aim of the movement, at this moment, is to overthrow the PT, the biggest nemesis of freedom and democracy that haunts our country. In light of this goal, the MBL has been pushing for impeachment proceedings against Rousseff. Supporters of the government consider this an attempt to hold a “third round” of elections. They accuse opponents of wilfully ignoring the fact that Rousseff won the election with 51.64 per cent of the vote, in an election that was affirmed by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Full http://links.org.au/node/4341 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Yanis Varoufakis participates in Paris-Match spread, media and banksters make the most of it
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 21/03/2015 02:16 πμ, Ralph Johansen via Marxism wrote: Since no one here seems to have mentioned it and it's in the news everywhere else, here's the current entry in Troika's kitbag. Is this gaffe indicative? Of what? Political inexperience? An insensitive academic out of tune with constituency? What reaction and upshot within Syriza, and for Greece, Germany? How many ways from Sunday can they (and he) bring a guy down? While it is a quite disgusting situation (and a point to stand and denounce for the left) that those right-wing imperialist media parrots dare criticizing SYRIZA from ... the left and it is certainly unfair for the comrades inside SYRIZA -even in their Sisyphean task- it is nevertheless pretty fair for the party as a whole, whose politics and not just that person, gave ground to them: The party has been long before turning to the right and has been shopping cheep from the rats who were abandoning, just in time, PASOK's ship. The tip of the iceberg, the preference of Varoufakis over Milios, a newcomer from PASOK over a founding member of SYRIZA and its leadership, a prominent economist and head of the economical planing committee of the party, with a lifelong record in left-wing politics (an Althusserian reformist in my eyes but a serious one and certainly NOT a clown to expose his bedroom in public view) could not be made without political consequences and adjacent policy choices: Milios is definitely NOT a nationalist and he would have been at odds with the anti-germany rhetoric (and especially the reactionary nonsenses about WW2 war reparations) of SYRIZA in accordance to the right wingers of its governmental partner ANEL. JA _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Blockupy protesters crash ECB housewarming party
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Blockupy protesters crash ECB housewarming party by Jerome Roos ROAR magazine March 19, 2015 http://roarmag.org/2015/03/blockupy-frankfurt-ecb-democracy _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Ferguson and the Criminalization of American Life
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * For most of American history, police enforcement of such regulations was not considered a major source of funding for local government. But today, in many municipalities, as much as 40% of the money governments depend on comes from the kinds of predatory policing that has become a fact of life for the citizens of Ferguson.How did this happen? Some of it, of course, has to do with populist anti-tax movements, beginning with California's Proposition 13. But much of it has happened because in recent decades, local governments have become deeply indebted to large, private financial institutions—many of the same ones that brought of us the crash of 2008. (In Ferguson, for instance, the amount of revenue collected in fines corresponds almost exactly to that shelled out to service municipal debt.) Increasingly, cities find themselves in the business of arresting citizens in order to pay creditors. full: http://gawker.com/ferguson-and-the-criminalization-of-american-life-1692392051 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Ukrainians fear Russia but don’t trust EU, new poll results show -Euromaidan Press |
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/03/21/ukrainians-fear-russia-but-dont-trust-eu-new-poll-results-show/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Academic publishing and scholarly communication: a status report | Harvard Magazine Jan-Feb 2015
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * (While this article addresses all scholarly journals, it has particular relevance to those that speak in the name of Marxism.) The first scholarly journals appeared in 1665, and since then, they have not paid authors, peer reviewers, or editors. “All the key players have been giving away their work for 350 years,” says Suber. “Scholars write journal articles for impact, not for money. They are freed to do this because they have salaries from their institutions.” Yet the physical aspects of print technology, still cutting-edge in the seventeenth century, today limit scholars’ ability to circulate their ideas and findings. Now, Suber says, “the Internet allows them to give it away to the whole world.” Some peer-reviewed research may involve a microscopically small topic that interests only a handful of people worldwide. “There is no market value in that,” Suber notes. “If academics had to focus on what might sell, rather than what might be true, they would find themselves writing more on popular subjects and less on their research specializations. Tenure protects you from being fired for voicing unpopular ideas. Open access protects you from the market. You can write what you think is true, even on a very small topic or on something, like evolution, that angers people.” full: http://harvardmagazine.com/2015/01/the-wild-west-of-academic-publishing _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Patrick Cockburn's compaint to In These Times about Idrees Ahmad's critique of his book
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 3/21/15 9:47 AM, Tristan Sloughter via Marxism wrote: You do, and it says it is invitation only. Well, apologies for the formatting but it should be decipherable if you have the patience: Mar 20 (20 hours ago) Muhammad Idrees Ahmad FYI. Cockburn has taken umbrage — and in the process dug himself deeper. -- Dr. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Lecturer in Digital Journalism Communications, Media Culture School of Arts Humanities University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland p: Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Mar 20 (20 hours ago) Sorry, Gmail for some reason omitted the previous email. The previous email was my response. Here is the In These Times editor writing to me in response to Patrick Cockburn’s complaint: Hi Muhammad, I received this letter from Patrick Cockburn via Verso earlier this week. Our lawyers are saying that we do have to issue this correction. The quote did, indeed, appear on page 89 rather than 76 (you were quoting from the OR version, yes?); that's something we should have caught. But more seriously, it is true that Cockburn used the phrase early 2014 instead of December 2013 or January 2014. As is communicated in the changed text below, this would mean that Cockburn witnessed a second massacre by JAN storming a housing complex through a drain pipe in Adra around the same time—a massacre which had not been reported. Unfortunately, this is a change we will have to make, as it's being mandated by our lawyers. I wanted to send it to you first before I make the changes in the piece. Here is the text that will appear at the bottom of the piece: CORRECTION: This review originally cited a quote as appearing on page 76 of Patrick Cockburn's book The Rise of Islamic State. This referred to an earlier version of the book published by OR Books; in the Verso edition, the quote was on page 89, not page 76. Also, in citing Cockburn's claim that he personally witnessed JAN forces storm a housing complex through a drainage pipe and commit a massacre of Alawites and Christians, the review previously implied that Cockburn was referencing a December 2013 massacre. In fact, in The Rise of Islamic State, Cockburn says that in early 2014, not December 2013, he witnessed such a massacre firsthand. In a separate January 2014 article, he described a similar alleged massacre in December 2013 in Adra, witnessed by a Syrian soldier, in which JAN forces stormed a drainage pipe and slaughtered Alawites and Christians. The text has been updated to reflect this. And here is the text to change in the piece itself: Yet this bias is the least of the problems in Cockburn's reporting. On page 89 of his book, he writes: “In Adra on the northern outskirts of Damascus in early 2014, I witnessed JAN forces storm a housing complex by advancing through a drainage pipe which came out behind government lines, where they proceeded to kill Alawites and Christians.” If Cockburn is referencing the alleged December 2013 massacre of Alawites and Christians in Adra, this would be the first independent verification of a story that had briefly surfaced before disappearing in a swirl of contradictory claims. The Russian broadcaster RT had even used fake pictures in its report on the incident. If Cockburn is referring to a second massacre of Alawites and Christians in Adra in which JAN forces stormed a housing complex through a drainage pipe, this would be the first time such a massacre has been reported. He first reported on the alleged December 2013 massacre in his January 28, 2014 column for The Independent. But instead of being personally present, the story about rebels advancing through a drainage pipe is attributed to “a Syrian soldier, who gave his name as Abu Ali.” If this is the massacre Cockburn is referencing, he appears to have pulled a Brian Williams. If you have any concerns, do let me know. Micah Micah Uetricht Web Editor In These Times magazine InTheseTimes.com 2040 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago, IL 60647 (773) 772-0100 x225 -- Forwarded message -- From: Colin Beckett co...@versobooks.com Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 10:38 AM Subject: Letter from Patrick Cockburn To: Micah Uetricht micah.u...@gmail.com Letter to In These Times from Patrick Cockburn In your issue of 6 March you published a review by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad of my book ‘The Rise of Islamic State: Isis and the New Sunni Revolution’. In his piece he alleges that I untruthfully claim to have been present on the day of a massacre of civilians in the town of Adra north of Damascus on 11 December 2013. To provide evidence for this serious charge Mr Ahmad has
[Marxism] What is 'Grace?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Sometime back, on a lazy evening my childhood friend asked me What is grace?I said it has nothing to do with beauty, but the way a person conducts himself/herself in daily life. I could recall so many people who had that quality. Here is one song from an old Urdu film, Anupama. Sharmila Tagore, the leading lady of the film exudes natural grace.Kuchh Dil Ne Kaha - Dharmendra - Sharmila Tagore - Anupama - Lata - Evergreen Hindi Songs | | | | | | | | | | | Kuchh Dil Ne Kaha - Dharmendra - Sharmila Tagore - An... | | | | View on www.youtube.com | Preview by Yahoo | | | | | There is another video, from the 1965 film, Dev Anand's 'The Guide', in which there is a traditional snake dance. Waheeda Rehaman, the heroine, effortlessly shows how the character in the film is seeking perfection in dance, her life's passion.Snake Dance - Waheeda Rehman - Dev Anand - Guide - S.D. Burman - Bollywood Dances | | | | | | | | | | | Snake Dance - Waheeda Rehman - Dev Anand - Guide - S.D... | | | | View on www.youtube.com | Preview by Yahoo | | | | | May be it is diversion after months of debate on Greece.Vijaya Kumar M _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Brazil’s Slumping Economy and Bribery Scandal Eat Away at Dilma Rousseff’s Popularity
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * NY Times, Mar. 21 2015 Brazil’s Slumping Economy and Bribery Scandal Eat Away at Dilma Rousseff’s Popularity By SIMON ROMERO RIO DE JANEIRO — President Dilma Rousseff ran for office declaring that she would harness an oil bonanza in Brazil to supercharge the economy while avoiding the corruption and mismanagement that have plagued other oil-rich countries in the developing world. But less than three months into her second term as president, Ms. Rousseff is fighting for her political survival as Petrobras, the national oil company she oversaw and has championed, reels from a colossal bribery scandal. Compounding her problems is the prospect that the economy could shrink in 2015 for the second consecutive year, the first such contraction here since the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 and 1930. Public anger over the scandal, and the slumping economy, brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Brazil last weekend demanding Ms. Rousseff’s resignation. On Wednesday, a public opinion survey showed her approval rating at a paltry 13 percent. Much of Ms. Rousseff’s predicament can be traced to the oil industry, which she promoted and reshaped under a nationalist vision of asserting greater government control over lucrative deep-sea oil fields that were discovered nearly a decade ago. But even before Brazil starts exporting oil in large amounts, the industry is coming under increasing strain as the Petrobras scandal and the plunge in global oil prices produce mounting job losses. “Dilma Rousseff arrogantly claimed she got it all right when she was overseeing Petrobras, prioritizing oil over biofuels, encouraging the population to consume gasoline by keeping fuel prices low,” said Adriano Pires, a prominent energy consultant. “But now the shock is here: She got it all wrong, and the entire country is paying for her failed energy policies.” Ms. Rousseff’s fall from grace has been fast, as calls for her ouster have grown louder over the revelations of bribery on an epic scale at Petrobras on her watch. Her approval rating plunged to 13 percent in March from 23 percent in February, according to a public opinion survey released on Wednesday by Datafolha, a Brazilian polling company. The poll, conducted on March 16 and 17 in interviews with 2,842 people, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. While even Ms. Rousseff’s political opponents say that the possibility of her being impeached or resigning remains distant, she is grappling with political and economic crises that are feeding off one another and eroding her authority. In addition to the street protests this month, prominent figures in her own Workers Party have begun criticizing her reluctant embrace of austerity measures sought by her critics in the business establishment. At the same time, centrist leaders in her coalition in Congress are in open revolt against Ms. Rousseff, blaming her for not shielding them from inquiries over their involvement in the Petrobras scandal, raising doubts about whether she can push through unpopular spending cuts. As Ms. Rousseff, 67, grows isolated from her own base of support, Brazil’s currency, the real, has undergone a sharp devaluation, falling more than 30 percent against the dollar since she won the first round of presidential elections in October. Meanwhile, concerns are growing over the problems at Petrobras, which ranks among the world’s most indebted companies. The scandal dwarfs previous corruption cases in Brazil, with the Supreme Court authorizing the investigations of dozens of prominent political figures, including the heads of both houses of Congress. Former Petrobras executives who reached plea deals have described a scheme in which construction companies vying for business with the oil company paid bribes equivalent to about 3 percent of the value of contracts. Recipients of the bribes pocketed vast sums; one manager, Pedro Barusco, has agreed to return nearly $100 million he hid in offshore accounts. The executives also said they channeled portions of the bribes to the Workers Party, some of which were used in Ms. Rousseff’s 2010 campaign, and to other parties and leaders in her coalition. The scheme was put into motion during a period roughly corresponding to the time when Ms. Rousseff was chairwoman of Petrobras, from 2003 to 2010. At the time, she also served as energy minister and chief of staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, her predecessor. No testimony has surfaced indicating that Ms. Rousseff personally profited from the bribery scheme, and she has
[Marxism] Patrick Cockburn's compaint to In These Times about Idrees Ahmad's critique of his book
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * (Not sure if you need to be subbed to this mailing list to read the exchange but give it a shot.) https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/critical-syria/-IfrAwGDxx4 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Patrick Cockburn's compaint to In These Times about Idrees Ahmad's critique of his book
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * You do, and it says it is invitation only. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Images, Ethics, Action: Online Video, Human Rights and Civic Activism in Syria | P U L S E
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://pulsemedia.org/2015/03/20/images-ethics-action-online-video-human-rights-and-civic-activism-in-syria/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Vikings were more trade and bling than rape and pillage, museum shows | Science | The Guardian
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/20/vikings--trade-museum-exhibition-cornwall-coins-combs-brooch _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: World Faces Severe Water Shortage If Changes Are Not Made, UN Warns | VICE News
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * (So does the reference to population growing to 9.1 billion indicate a Malthusian outlook? What difference would socialism make? Would socialist industry and power generation not need water? And just as importantly, does personal use under socialism mean access to fruits and vegetables out of season grown in places like California's Central Valley?) With the world's population expected to grow to 9.1 billion by mid-century, already depleted groundwater supplies will continue to be gobbled up by agriculture, industry, power generation and personal use, according to the UN's annual World Water Development Report. The report, released Friday, says that around 20 percent of groundwater sources are already overexploited - a problem that will only grow more dire by 2050, when demand for water is expected to have risen by more than half. Most alarmingly, the report warns that as early as 2030, the planet could have only 60 percent of the water required to sustain itself if substantial changes are not made to improve management of the resource. full: https://news.vice.com/article/world-faces-severe-water-shortage-if-changes-are-not-made-un-warns _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Keynesian economics – a spectacular success | Michael Roberts Blog
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/keynesian-economics-a-spectacular-success/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Netanyahu Tactics Anger Many U.S. Jews, Deepening a Divide
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * NY Times, Mar. 21 2015 Netanyahu Tactics Anger Many U.S. Jews, Deepening a Divide By LAURIE GOODSTEIN Long before the latest election in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu was a polarizing figure among American Jews. But even many of his supporters said this week that they were appalled at his last-minute bid to mobilize Jewish voters by warning that Arabs were going to the polls in droves, and his renunciation of a two-state solution to the Palestinian crisis. Mr. Netanyahu’s party won the election and cheers from hawkish American Jews. But in interviews this week, rabbis, scholars and Jews from across the country and a range of denominations said that with his campaign tactics, he had further divided American Jews and alienated even some conservatives, who had already suspected that he was more committed to building settlements than to building peace with the Palestinians. Even with Mr. Netanyahu’s postelection interview walking back his statements against a two-state plan for peace with Palestinians, many Jews say they are worried that the most lasting outcome of the elections will be the increasing isolation of Israel — not only around the world but also from the younger generation of American Jews. Unlike their parents and grandparents, these Jews have grown up in an era when Israel is portrayed not as a heroic underdog but as an oppressive occupier, and many of them tend to see Mr. Netanyahu as out of step with their views on Israel and the world. Aaron Voldman, 27, who recently returned to Wisconsin after a year studying on a fellowship in Israel, said he was still “outraged” at Mr. Netanyahu’s campaign, especially his election-eve pledge that there would be no Palestinian state if he was re-elected. “It is the only viable option to secure peace in the Holy Land — how could he, in good conscience, just write it off?” said Mr. Voldman, who like many Israelis speaks of Mr. Netanyahu using his nickname. “Bibi is not committed to doing what needs to be done to secure peace and justice. The Palestinians did not have a willing partner in his administration during the last round of negotiations.” Anguish over Israel, after intensifying through the final days of the campaign, is now stirring up discussion among American Jews online, at synagogues from coast to coast and even among some rabbis and Jewish organizational leaders who are understanding of Mr. Netanyahu’s statements that he is above all concerned about Israel’s security. They say they have watched as American Jews pull away from Israel, alienated by the intractable conflict with the Palestinians and the expansion of Jewish settlements. Rabbi Misha Zinkow at Temple Israel in Columbus, Ohio, said that one of his foremost concerns was “the lack of engagement of North American Jews with Israel” — a trend that he sees expanding among younger Jews. “The scare tactics that emerged in the 11th hour of the election appealed to very deep anxiety and fear,” said Rabbi Zinkow, who leads a 145-year-old Reform congregation with a membership of about 550 households. “They deepen the distance and provide fodder for those who want to disengage. Those statements appealed to emotions that young American Jews just don’t have, and they sound racist.” He was planning in his Friday night sermon to talk about the relationship between American Jews and Israel. “We’re family,” he plans to say. “Families have disagreements and disappointments and betrayal. “Don’t let your disappointments cause you to walk away.” The Jewish establishment’s calls for unity, however, are now competing with demands for escalated activism. In a widely discussed opinion piece in Haaretz, Peter Beinart, a liberal critic of Israel, argued this week that those who support Israel should pressure the Obama administration to present its own peace plan “and to punish — yes, punish — the Israeli government for rejecting it. “It means making sure that every time Benjamin Netanyahu and the members of his cabinet walk into a Jewish event outside Israel,” he wrote, “they see diaspora Jews protesting outside.” Rob Eshman, publisher and editor in chief of The Jewish Journal, a mainstream Jewish newspaper in Los Angeles, wrote this week that the election results show that Israeli and American Jews “are drifting apart.” And on Thursday, the Conservative Jewish movement’s rabbinical arm, the Rabbinical Assembly, took the unusual step of issuing a statement condemning Mr. Netanyahu for putting out a video on social media during the election campaign warning that “right-wing rule is in danger” because Arab voters were
[Marxism] Fwd: The Rise and the Fall of the Borscht Belt | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * A while back FB friend Maxene Diamond Spindell, who posts a lot of interesting material to the Memories of the Catskills group, posted a ten minute excerpt from Peter Davis’s “The Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt”, a documentary made in 1986 that I saw when it first came out. Since I have my own “The Unrepentant Marxist Returns to the Catskills” video in the works, I was very interested to see the whole film and perhaps include some footage under the fair use provision. As it turns out the film was not available from all the usual sources either online or as a DVD. Taking advantage of my retiree benefits from Columbia University, I ordered a VHS through BorrowDirect, an interlibrary service that most universities belong to. After I had the film digitized, I put it up on my Vimeo website for everyone to see. Hopefully I won’t get any intellectual property static over this especially since I emailed Peter Davis a week ago and got no reply. I appealed to Davis as a fellow leftist. For those in the know, he was one of America’s top leftist documentary filmmakers of the past half-century with films like “Hearts and Minds” to his credit, the definitive Vietnam antiwar film in my view. His last film, “In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid”, was made in 1993. His leftist orientation can be seen in “The Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt”, although not in an obvious way. The film is a mixture of social history and nostalgic entertainment as we see both former vacationers and hotel owners and employees reminiscing about the Borscht Belt in its heyday. For regular readers of my blog, you are probably aware that I grew up in the area and included a good 20 or so pages about my background there in the memoir I did with Harvey Pekar. full: http://louisproyect.org/2015/03/21/the-rise-and-the-fall-of-the-borscht-belt/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] House of Lords and Big Money
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Hello all, Some of you might be interested in a paper that I co-authored on donors buying their way into the UK House of Lords: http://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/house-of-lords-reform-donors-peerages http://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/house-of-lords-reform-donors-peerages best, Simon _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
