[Marxism] A Jury Just Convicted a Woman for Laughing at Jeff Sessions | Vanity Fair

[Richard Sprout via Marxism]

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http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/jeff-sessions-protester-charged-laughing?mbid=nl_CH_590a0c426f58e778093fbf30=22883833=10944068=MTMzMTgyNTA3NjUyS0=1160266751=MTE2MDI2Njc1MQS2


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Re: [Marxism] Malware alert !!!!!

[Les Schaffer via Marxism]

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https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/did-someone-just-share-a-random-google-doc-with-you/525279/


On 05/03/2017 04:50 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote:

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On 5/3/17 3:12 PM, Brian McKenna via Marxism wrote:



Brian McKenna has invited you to view the following document:

Open in Docs

[Marxism] Fwd: Is China the World’s New Colonial Power? - The New York Times

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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 Driven by economics (a hunger for resources and new markets) and 
politics (a longing for strategic allies), Chinese companies and workers 
have rushed into all parts of the world. In 2000, only five countries 
counted China as their largest trading partner; today, more than 100 
countries do, from Australia to the United States. The drumbeat of 
proposed projects never stops: a military operating base, China’s first 
overseas, in Djibouti; an $8 billion high-speed railway through Nigeria; 
an almost-fantastical canal across Nicaragua expected to cost $50 
billion. Even as China’s boom slows down, its most ambitious scheme is 
still ramping up: With the “One Belt, One Road” initiative — its name a 
reference to trade routes — President Xi Jinping has spoken of putting 
$1.6 trillion over the next decade into infrastructure and development 
throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The scheme would dwarf the 
United States’ post-World War II Marshall Plan for Europe.


full: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/magazine/is-china-the-worlds-new-colonial-power.html

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[Marxism] Malware alert !!!!!

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 5/3/17 3:12 PM, Brian McKenna via Marxism wrote:



Brian McKenna has invited you to view the following document:

Open in Docs

[Marxism] Fwd: No, the Assad regime is not ‘defending his own country’ – Hummus For Thought

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://hummusforthought.com/2017/05/03/no-the-assad-regime-is-not-defending-his-own-country/
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[Marxism] [UCE] Brian McKenna has shared a document on Google Docs with you

[Brian McKenna via Marxism]

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Brian McKenna has invited you to view the following document:

Open in Docs

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[Marxism] Fwd: This Tax System is Killing Us

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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These days, everywhere we look we see signs that the budgeting and 
taxation system, as well as the tax reforms in the works, are intended 
to increase social destitution and shorten our lifespan by as much as 
possible.


As an example, the U.S. Congress intends to make it more difficult for 
people to save for a half-decent retirement. On April 21, The Wall 
Street Journal reported that Congress plans to revoke selected tax 
benefits attached to some retirement accounts. This miserly sneak attack 
on people’s ability to save for retirement is one example of many cuts 
in benefits in the Trump/GOP budget to make room, as announced on April 
26, for the huge tax breaks for the corporations and the top income earners.


The cuts in benefits obviously fall almost entirely on the poor and the 
working and middle classes, as well as government agencies or programs 
that advance the collective well being of the American people. As 
reported widely, the current U.S. Congress and the White House plan to 
cut 31% of the funds for EPA just as the administration has relaxed 
emissions standards for power plants and reduced fuel efficiency 
standards for cars; the budget would also cut EPA programs that deal 
with climate change and pollution, and as reported by Bloomberg, “The 
Trump administration is proposing to slash funding for grants to prevent 
lead poisoning, climate change research and criminal enforcement against 
polluters as part of its plan to reduce funding.”


full: http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=13458
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[Marxism] A Eugene V. Debs documentary to screen in NYC

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Yale Strom's documentary "American Socialist: The Life and Times of 
Eugene Victor Debs" will screen May 8 at 9pm as part of the Workers 
Unite Film Festival at Cinema Village located at 22 East 12th Street in 
the Village (NYC). Yale will be coming in to do a Q & A after the screening.


http://www.workersunitefilmfestival.org/

This is an amazing film that was shown at the Socially Relevant Film 
Festival in March on the same day as a blizzard unfortunately. I 
reviewed the film before the festival and consider it a must-see for 
people on the left. From my review 
(https://louisproyect.org/2017/03/10/socially-relevant-film-festival-2017/):


Using the technique pioneered by Ken Burns but with much more political 
acumen, Yale Strom draws upon photos of the battling Pullman strikers 
that really capture the intensity of the struggle. As a popular leader 
of the strikers, Debs was well on his way to becoming the tribune of the 
entire working class.


Drawing upon interviews with leftwing labor historians, including Nick 
Salvatore—the author of a Debs biography, Strom documents the remarkable 
geographical reach of both the IWW and the Socialist Party that Debs 
helped build. Debs was a contributor to “Appeal to Reason”, a socialist 
magazine that had a circulation of over a half-million at its height. 
The magazine’s offices were in Girard, Kansas, a place we would now 
associate with Trump voters. Indeed, the IWW and the SP reached the most 
oppressed members of the working class (fruit pickers, longshoremen, 
miners, lumberjacks) in the boondocks. Oklahoma, a state most liberals 
would consider particularly retrograde, was fertile territory for the 
radical left at the turn of the 20th century.


Trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS2r9BUIVlk
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[Marxism] Fwd: Neofascism in the White House? | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Leftist analysis of the Trump presidency has ranged from those like 
Boris Kagarlitsky who believe that “Trump took to consistently fulfill 
everything that the Left in the US and Western Europe was talking about 
for a quarter century” to those who have seen him as the second coming 
of Adolf Hitler. Since Trump is such a mercurial figure, one day 
threatening to go to war with North Korea and the next saying that he’d 
like to meet with Kim Jong Un who he described as a “smart cookie”, 
developing a theory about “Trumpism” is like hitting a moving target.


I’ll give credit to John Bellamy Foster for trying to hit that target in 
“Neofascism in the White House”, a 15,000 word article that should be 
required reading since John Bellamy Foster is an important Marxist 
intellectual worth considering even when he is wrong. For Foster, the 
term neofascism is meant to convey the difference with Nazism or any of 
the other fascisms of the 1920s and 30s. Primarily, neofascism is marked 
by an absence of paramilitary violence in the streets, black shirts, 
brown shirts or Nazi Stormtroopers. The new fascism is what Bertram 
Gross called “Friendly Fascism” in a 1980 book. (Foster cites him 
approvingly).


full: https://louisproyect.org/2017/05/03/neofascism-in-the-white-house/
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[Marxism] Automation and Jobs - The Atlantic

[Richard Sprout via Marxism]

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https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/the-parts-of-america-most-susceptible-to-automation/525168/


Sent from my iPhone

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[Marxism] Housekeepers Versus Harvard: Feminism for the Age of Trump | The Nation

[Richard Sprout via Marxism]

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https://www.thenation.com/article/housekeepers-versus-harvard-feminism-for-the-age-of-trump/


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[Marxism] Fwd: [New post] Political Culture in Mexico Delays Justice for Murdered Journalists

[Richard Sprout via Marxism]

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Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Mexico Institute" 
> Date: May 3, 2017 at 9:25:42 AM EDT
> To: "Richard Sprout" , "Mexico Institute"

> Subject: [New post] Political Culture in Mexico Delays Justice for
Murdered Journalists
> 
> 
> Respond to this post by replying above this line
> New post on Mexico Institute
> 
> 
> Political Culture in Mexico Delays Justice for Murdered Journalists
> by mexicoinstitute
> 5/3/2017 InSight Crime
> 
> The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called once again for
an end to impunity around the killing of journalists in Mexico after a
particularly violent period for the profession. But the different forces
behind the aggressions can often contribute to, rather than erode,
impunity.
> 
> Violence tied to drug trafficking and organized crime is the major
danger for reporters in Mexico, according to a new report from the CPJ,
which has documented more than 50 cases of journalists or media workers
killed or disappeared since 2010.
> 
> At least five journalists have been murdered since the start of 2017,
including Miroslava Breach Velducea, the Chihuahua correspondent for the
national Mexican news outlet La Jornada. The most recent reported
killing was of that of Filiberto Álvarez Landeros on April 29.
> 
> Read more...
> 
> mexicoinstitute | May 3, 2017 at 9:25 am | Categories: Corruption,
Crime & Violence, Government, human rights, Media and Society, Security
and the Rule of Law | URL: http://wp.me/pmP6f-fcS
> Comment  See all comments
> Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Mexico Institute.
> Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions.
> 
> Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: 
>
https://mexicoinstitute.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/political-culture-in-mexico-delays-justice-for-murdered-journalists/
> Thanks for flying with  WordPress.com
> 

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[Marxism] [SUSPICIOUS MESSAGE] Re: Fwd: Journalist Paul Antonopoulos outed for racist slurs

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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The Australian
May 2, 2017 Tuesday
BYLINE: Jennine Khalik

A Sydney-based deputy editor of an influential pro-Syrian government 
news site has been outed for posting racial slurs on notorious neo-Nazi 
white supremacist website Stormfront.


Paul Antonopoulos, who was also employed by Charles Sturt University as 
a lecturer, has resigned from Al-Masdar News following revelations he 
used an alias on online forums, including Stormfront, railing against 
interracial relationships and advocating white supremacy.
The Beirut-based Al-Masdar News, which is offered in Arabic and Spanish, 
suspended Mr -Antonopoulos with pay for "hate speech" late Friday before 
he quit at the weekend.


"It was recently brought to our attention that one of our journalists 
was engaging in abusive behaviour on a public forum before and during 
the time he was working with Al-Masdar News," Al-Masdar's board of 
directors said, "Al-Masdar was unaware of the individual's abusive 
history on this forum that included hate speech with derogatory remarks 
about certain gender, ethnic and racial groups." In posts made between 
2007 and 2017 under the username "Minimalistix," Antonopoulos allegedly 
called Arabs "sand niggers", black people "negro trash", Hispanics 
"spics", Brazilians "favella monkeys" and Asians "gooks".


In one post, he stated "we beautiful Europeans" did not "descend from 
negro trash", and quoted a rant by a Norwegian neo-Nazi who claimed 
white -Europeans were "not even of the same species as the other human 
races".


Charles Sturt University yesterday confirmed Antonopoulos was "no longer 
employed by the university" and his views "did not reflect" the views of 
CSU.


Antonopoulos, whose online accounts state that he is 27, worked for 
Al-Masdar News since 2015. The media outlet, founded in 2014, has an 
inter-national audience and provides news, opinion and analysis that is 
supportive of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government.


Antonopoulos was a sessional lecturer at CSU's Bathurst campus and is a 
Western Sydney University research student. He has stated online that he 
has qualifications in international relations.


He has also co-written a book with WSU academic Drew Cottle on the 
Syrian conflict, published by Vij Books, expected to be released this month.


In a post on the anniversary of the Sydney siege in December 2015, 
Antonopoulos used a gay slur to refer to slain victim Tori Johnson, who 
was killed along with Katrina Dawson by gunman Man Haron Monis.
In April last year, after appearing live on Iranian state news, PressTV, 
in his capacity as deputy editor, Antonopoulos posted in a football 
forum he had to "rush home (for the interview), those dumb Persians only 
gave me 25 minutes' notice."Antonopoulos initially agreed to speak to 
The Australian but has subsequently failed to respond to questions.


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[Marxism] Fwd: An Eco-Revolutionary Tipping Point? | Paul Burkett | Monthly Review

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://monthlyreview.org/2017/05/01/an-eco-revolutionary-tipping-point/
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[Marxism] Fwd: H-Net Review [H-Empire]: Wang on Coates, 'Legalist Empire: International Law and American Foreign Relations in the Early Twentieth Century'

[Andrew Stewart via Marxism]

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Best regards,
Andrew Stewart 

Begin forwarded message:

> From: H-Net Staff 
> Date: May 2, 2017 at 10:45:15 AM EDT
> To: h-rev...@h-net.msu.edu
> Subject: H-Net Review [H-Empire]:  Wang on Coates, 'Legalist Empire: 
> International Law and American Foreign Relations in the Early Twentieth 
> Century'
> Reply-To: H-Net Staff 
> 
> Benjamin Allen Coates.  Legalist Empire: International Law and
> American Foreign Relations in the Early Twentieth Century.  New York
> Oxford University Press, 2016.  296 pp.  $35.00 (cloth), ISBN
> 978-0-19-049595-4.
> 
> Reviewed by Jingbin Wang (Elizabeth City State University)
> Published on H-Empire (May, 2017)
> Commissioned by Charles V. Reed
> 
> Legalism and the American Empire
> 
> The United States has long had an uneasy relationship with
> international legal institutions such as the World Court and the
> International Criminal Court. It has often been in a minority
> refusing to ratify international treaties. The recent Bush
> administration stood out. It is easy to dismiss international law as
> insignificant in American foreign policy. In his _Legalist Empire:
> International Law and American Foreign Relations in the Early
> Twentieth Century_, however, Benjamin Allen Coates disputes this
> seemingly inevitable conclusion, although he agrees that the United
> States has for the past few decades lacked a proud record of
> respecting international legal institutions and international law.
> Drawing on the literature on international law and international
> relations, Coates identifies two popular conceptions of international
> law: judicialist legalism and realism. International law means either
> self-enforcing universal principles or "a transparent tool for
> justifying atrocities" (p. 5). In either case, it is assumed that
> "international law and state power are antagonists" (p. 1). Coates
> does not altogether deny this antagonistic relationship between law
> and power under certain circumstances, but calls attention to a
> situation in which they can be mutually reinforcing.  That is, law
> not only "constrains states by forcing them to do something that they
> would not otherwise do," but also "has often permitted the use of
> force" to advance national interest (p. 5). Coates therefore paints a
> complex picture of when US leaders followed and even moved to promote
> international law and when they chose to disregard it.
> 
> Coates places the United States in the larger context of the New
> Imperialism (1875-1914). Focusing on the years from 1898 to 1919,
> Coates maintains that the American empire was "in important ways a
> legalist one" (p. 2). Specifically, international law was "an
> essential component of" the rise of the United States to great power
> status, and international lawyers were "at the center of the effort
> to create and administer the American empire" (p. 2). Invoking the
> discourse of civilization, American legalists helped defend the new
> imperial power by identifying it with its European peers, which had
> embraced empire as a new international norm to civilize remote and
> backward nations. Sharing the White Men's burden, the American empire
> was both sanctioned by international law and expected to help
> establish the rule of law in "uncivilized" nations.
> 
> Coates convincingly demonstrates that international law derives its
> meaning in a specific political and ideological context. Early on,
> the transatlantic discourse of civilization informed international
> law, which in turn justified the American empire. In this sense,
> international law shaped empire. In other words, power projection was
> not the prerogative of the military but also the job of international
> lawyers. Conversely, as Coates indicates, empire shaped international
> law. Empire could not become a new international norm without
> recourse to the discourse of civilization, which was ultimately
> backed by power. Indeed, international law was never divorced from
> power realities, which was reflected even in the establishment of
> American Society of International Law (ASIL) in 1906: "The secretary
> of state, Elihu Root, served as ASIL president, and the organization
> counted among its vice presidents three Supreme Court justices, three
> former secretaries of state, and a future US president" (p. 67). On
> the other hand, many international lawyers worked for the federal
> government, especially the State Department. Others worked with US
> overseas corporations. Still others continued to speak for the
> American empire through annual meetings and publications.
> 
> Coates is 

Re: [Marxism] Debunking Austrian Economics Socialist Calculation Probl em

[Jim Farmelant via Marxism]

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I think I have posted this here before:

A few years back, I co-authored an article on Friedrich Hayek. This article 
includes an appendix on the socialist calculation debates, including both the 
well known between Hayek and Oskar Lange, as well as the less well known 
between Hayek and Otto Neurath. BTW the socialist calculation debates were 
triggered in the first place when Hayek's mentor, Ludwig von Mises, wrote his 
1920 essay, "Economic calculation in the socialist commonwealth" in response to 
Neurath's writings in defense of socialist economic planning.

Here is a a link to the article by Mark Lindley and myself:
https://www.academia.edu/3291616/The_Strange_Case_of_Dr._Hayek_and_Mr._Hayek

And here is a link to Mises's 1920 essay:
https://mises.org/library/economic-calculation-socialist-commonwealth/html

And a link to Hayek's 1945 article, The Use of Knowledge in Society, where he 
summarized his views on socialist calculation.
http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw1.html


I also have a review of David Laibman's book, Deep history: a study in social 
evolution and human potential. Although that book was mostly about Laibman's 
ideas concerning the materialist conception of history, Laibman also discussed 
socialist calculation issues as well. So I addressed that as well.
https://www.academia.edu/205061/Review_of_David_Laibmans_book_Deep_history_a_study_in_social_evolution_and_human_potential


"I think it is appropriate to point out that there is no reason to be smug 
about economic calculation under capitalism. "

An issue which Lange addressed in his writings (and which was reiterated by 
Maurice Dobb too). Lange, citing A. C. Pigou's analysis of externalities argued 
that market failure were, in fact, rather ubiquitous under capitalism, so that 
we cannot expect capitalist markets to produce rational allocations of 
resources. Hence, the need for socialist economic planning to provide a 
corrective. 

Jim Farmelant
http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant
http://www.foxymath.com 
Learn or Review Basic Math


-- Original Message --
From: David McMullen via Marxism 
Subject: [Marxism] Debunking Austrian Economics Socialist Calculation Problem
Date: Wed, 3 May 2017 17:24:29 +1000
 

Transcript to YouTube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v0figytojY

Debunking Austrian Economic's Socialist Calculation Problem

The so-called Austrian school of economics makes much of what they call 
the socialist calculation problem. They argue that a society based on 
social ownership could not have an effective price system and therefore 
could not have the decentralized decision-making we see in a market economy.

The claim was first made by Ludwig Von Mises in the 1920s. Really all he 
is saying is that transfers between enterprises using a decentralized 
price system must be market exchanges. Without explaining why, he rules 
out the possibility of such transfers occurring between socially owned 
enterprises where there is no exchange of ownership but simply a 
transfer of socially owned property from one custodian to another. I am 
thinking here of a transfer between a supplier and user of some 
component in production. Without predicting what will actually happen in 
the communist future we could easily imagine production units using 
decentralized pricing to determine least costs methods of production and 
assigning output to the highest bidder. We could also easily imagine 
such a system being ultimately driven by consumer demand.

Then we had the intervention of Frederick Hayek in the 1930s and 40s. He 
demolished the rather lame decentralized socialist model devised by the 
economist Oskar Lange. That model confines decentralized price 
adjustments to consumer goods while price adjustments for intermediate 
goods are carried out by a central agency that is keeping an eye on 
inventory levels. Hayek correctly points out the inadequacy of such an 
arrangement and how it does not represent a fully functioning price 
system. Discrediting the Lange model is all very well, but Hayek did not 
then go on to show that an economy based on social ownership would in 
fact be limited to the Lange model. In other words he did show that 
there is something about social ownership that would prevent the use of 
decentralized price adjustment in the allocation of intermediate goods. 
So I think I can justly say that all that Hayek has done is refute a 
straw man.

OK now we come to the final version of the argument and this was 
developed in the 1980s by Don Lavoie of George Mason University. He 
conceded that a socially owned economy could 

[Marxism] Debunking Austrian Economics Socialist Calculation Problem

[David McMullen via Marxism]

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Transcript to YouTube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v0figytojY

Debunking Austrian Economic's Socialist Calculation Problem

The so-called Austrian school of economics makes much of what they call 
the socialist calculation problem. They argue that a society based on 
social ownership could not have an effective price system and therefore 
could not have the decentralized decision-making we see in a market economy.


The claim was first made by Ludwig Von Mises in the 1920s. Really all he 
is saying is that transfers between enterprises using a decentralized 
price system must be market exchanges. Without explaining why, he rules 
out the possibility of such transfers occurring between socially owned 
enterprises where there is no exchange of ownership but simply a 
transfer of socially owned property from one custodian to another. I am 
thinking here of a transfer between a supplier and user of some 
component in production. Without predicting what will actually happen in 
the communist future we could easily imagine production units using 
decentralized pricing to determine least costs methods of production and 
assigning output to the highest bidder. We could also easily imagine 
such a system being ultimately driven by consumer demand.


Then we had the intervention of Frederick Hayek in the 1930s and 40s. He 
demolished the rather lame decentralized socialist model devised by the 
economist Oskar Lange. That model confines decentralized price 
adjustments to consumer goods while price adjustments for intermediate 
goods are carried out by a central agency that is keeping an eye on 
inventory levels. Hayek correctly points out the inadequacy of such an 
arrangement and how it does not represent a fully functioning price 
system. Discrediting the Lange model is all very well, but Hayek did not 
then go on to show that an economy based on social ownership would in 
fact be limited to the Lange model. In other words he did show that 
there is something about social ownership that would prevent the use of 
decentralized price adjustment in the allocation of intermediate goods. 
So I think I can justly say that all that Hayek has done is refute a 
straw man.


OK now we come to the final version of the argument and this was 
developed in the 1980s by Don Lavoie of George Mason University. He 
conceded that a socially owned economy could have a price system but 
that  it would not be a very good one. In his book Rivalry and Economic 
Planning, he contends that any price system under social ownership would 
be inferior to a market based one because it would be unable to reflect 
the discovery process that emerges from competition between market 
participants. According to Lavoie, it is important, in the presence of 
uncertainty, to have numerous participants trying out different 
approaches to problems, based on their own opinions, guesses and 
hunches. Those who come up with the best and most highly valued products 
using the cheapest methods win out in this competitive contest. I fully 
agree with what he is saying. However, if, as I contend, decentralized 
custodianship is an important part of social ownership, diversity of 
approach should not be a problem.


Under social ownership, it would still be very common for an individual 
enterprise or facility to be just one of many producing the same good or 
close substitutes and each of them would be free to try out different 
production methods and product designs. Some would be new entrants who 
were either existing enterprises moving into a new field with synergies 
or starts ups established by enthusiasts with ideas that the incumbents 
were not open to or capable of developing. This diversity would be 
greatly assisted by having numerous independent agencies being 
responsible for disbursing funds in each industry and making their own 
assessment of what were good investments. At the same time, enterprises 
would be free to choose their suppliers based on cost and quality, and 
would have to outbid other users of a resource or intermediate good. 
Discovering and adopting the best methods and products would of course 
mean that it would be common to see activities abandoned and enterprises 
closed or reorganized. So, the only real obstacle to a decentralized 
price system would be the absence of daring and conscientious custodians 
and this gets us back to the question of whether we can do without the 
profit motive. Can we do our best just because we enjoy the work and 
want to contribute? As I argue elsewhere this does not strike me as 
being all that fanciful if we are sharing high and increasing affluence 
and all the 

[Marxism] Dollar General Todd Vasos and the Corporate Assault on Rural West Virginia | Morgan County USA

[Richard Sprout via Marxism]

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