[Marxism] Michael Moore, Anti-Union

[Ernest Leif]

I'm sure many of those reading this post will run out to see Michael Moore's
new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story", soon after it hits theaters. If and
when you do, please keep in mind that his production company, Dog Eat Dog
Films, refuses to sigh a union contract with any of the IATSE locals that
supply his below the line workers, which include cinematographers and
editors.

While it may be his moral bound aversion to unions that have a history of
anti-communism, racial exclusionism, and labor aristocracy consciousness,
the fact of the matter is that he signed a contract with the Directors Guild
of America - he being the lone director - meaning that he alone reaps the
hard earned residuals from the work of his super-exploited crew.

Just thought you might like to know.

e

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[Marxism] The recession's racial divide

[Dennis Brasky]

>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13ehrenreich.html?pagewanted=1
>




The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: “When I give food
to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food,
they call me a Communist.”

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[Marxism] this is a fight that a left party would champion!

[Dennis Brasky]

>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?_r=1&em
>




The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: “When I give food
to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food,
they call me a Communist.”

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Re: [Marxism] This Rewriting of History is Spreading Europe's Poison

[Shane Mage]

On Sep 13, 2009, at 12:08 AM, Dennis Brasky wrote:
>> By Seumas Milne
>> The Guartdian (UK)
>> September 9, 2009
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/09/second-world-war-soviet-pact
>>
Stalin's pact with Hitler did indeed set off the war.  But without  
that pact the war would have broken out anyway within a year or two,  
and it would have been an even greater disaster.

It was in June 1939 that Trotsky wrote that Chamberlain and Daladier  
were forcing Stalin to do a deal with Hitler.  By August it was clear  
to everyone that the British and French empires had no interest in an  
alliance with the Russian empire against the German.  Stalin therefore  
had every reason to expect that the British and French would do  
another Munich accepting Hitler's declaration that Danzig and the  
Corridor were his last territorial ambitions in Europe, a deal which  
would leave a German-dominated Polish regime, motivated by its  
hereditary hatred of everything Russian, at Hitler's service for an  
invasion of Russia.  Having destroyed the military capability of the  
Red Army in 1937-38,  Stalin had placed himself in the position where  
Russia could not plausibly threaten war, and so he could claim to have  
no choice but to realize his long-term ambition to form an alliance  
with the German nationalists.  He did disrupt the Anglo/French  
strategy and forced them into war (they were forced to declare war  
because the Russian alliance and the resulting German domination of  
east-central Europe meant that Hitler would become ever stronger so  
the military balance, still equal in 1939, would inevitably tilt ever  
more toward the German side). Unfortunately for Stalin, Hitler was no  
Hindenburg or Ludendorff.  He turned out to be quite the wrong sort  
(the insane plebian vonless sort) of German nationalist.



Shane Mage

> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos


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[Marxism] Ellsberg's Memoirs of JFK War Planning

[Dennis Brasky]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090910_a_hundred_holocausts_an_insiders_window_into_us_nuclear_policy/

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[Marxism] This Rewriting of History is Spreading Europe's Poison

[Dennis Brasky]

>
>
> By Seumas Milne
> The Guartdian (UK)
> September 9, 2009
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/09/second-world-war-soviet-pact
>
>
>


>  The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: “When I give
> food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no
> food, they call me a Communist.”
>

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[Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens

[nada]

The National Guard went through a series of protocol restructuring back 
in the late 1970s and continues more or less through this day. Where as 
the NG in the past, 1960s, including anyone who signed up, it is 
organized much differently today. NG units that go into riot areas are 
no longer your run-of-mill weekend potbellied warriors but usually made 
up mostly of cops or ex-army/navy MPs. I'm hesitant to use a term like 
"professional" because it gives them a more 'responsible' image, but in 
fact that is the case with the larger States. They usually don't go in 
with 'tanks' anymore since they have far better, more effective fighting 
vehicles to use.

The first NG units to Iraq were there militarized NG cops.

David


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Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces againstits citizens

[S. Artesian]

The Nationa Guard was outflanked, outmaneuvered, and pretty well outfought 
in Detroit.  82nd Airborne, long considered the "home guard," had to be 
deployed to quell the rebellion.

- Original Message - 
From: "Pat Costello" 
To: "David Schanoes" 
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 9:46 PM
Subject: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces 
againstits citizens




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[Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens

[Pat Costello]

1967 Detroit Riots: the National Guard and the Army were sent into the Black 
community. A friend of mine who lived there at the time described how the 
national guard arrived in tanks that went down narrow streets, flattening any 
cars in the way. He said that he witnessed a sniper shoot at the tanks and they 
turned the tank guns towards the top of that building and blew it to 
smithereens. This kind of thing would never make it to the 5:00 news. 

The National Guard was also sent to Newark during the 1967 riots, to Watts 
during the 1965 riots, to Liberty City in Miami during the 1980 riots and to 
Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. 


  



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[Marxism] Residents -- not citizens -- are what count for us

[Carrol Cox]

Mark Lause wrote:
> 
> I agree that the way this question is formulated it restricts its
> concerns to "citizens"--which, through much of history, means almost
> only white and only men--which minimizes the answers in many ways.
> 

Even if we can't maintain the old slogan, Workers have no country, we
can at least refrain in our language from the glorification of
"citizens" as opposed to _residents_. Our constituency is all residents
of the U.S. and the legal matter of ciizizenship is irrelevant. Don't
even use the word. Use "residents" instead even in casual conversation.

Open Borders!

A left that can't maintain that slogan isn't a left -- it's a bunch of
do-gooders.

Carrol



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Re: [Marxism] Protest gay marriage at HRC Twin Citiies dinner

[kersplebedeb]

methinks Lynn is misunderstanding David's position

unless i am mistaken, David is gay, and his objection is not rooted in 
any opposition to people "finding happiness" in same-sex relationships, 
it is in the decision of the leadership of the GLBTQA movement to focus 
on hate crimes legislation as a solution to homophobia, and gay marriage 
as a solution to inequality. One may disagree with David's positions, 
but hostility towards hate crimes legislation and the campaign for gay 
marriage is widespread amongst many young radical left queers in North 
America. The reasoning is not homophobic, it is rather than in 
supporting these campaigns the self-appointed leadership of the lesbigay 
movement is pushing a conservative pro-state strategy which is informed 
more by wanting conform to some middle-class heterosexual ideal than it 
is in keeping with the traditions of queer radicalism as expressed in 
the 1960s-80s.

-k kersplebedeb aka happily same-sex married guy

Lynn MacDonald wrote:
> For all of you on this list who are not sick, pathetic cretans like this guy 
> and the other gay basher on the list, I do apologize.  I will now bow out to 
> find another list because this one does not have anything to do with Marx at 
> this point.  It is very sad.
>
> Good day/night,
> Lynn aka Mighty Proud Liberal Leftist
>   



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[Marxism] CANADA'S APPOINTMENT WITH HISTORY

[Nchamah Miller]

CANADA'S APPOINTMENT WITH HISTORY
 
Sept 12, 2009
TO:
THE HON. MEMBER OF THE OPPOSITION - Michael Ignatieff
THE HON.   CRITIC OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Bob Rae
THE HON. MEMBERS OF THE LIBERAL PARTY IN CAUCUS

FROM: Nchamah Miller, President of the National Council of Latin American
and Caribbean Women in Canada

YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH HISTORY

The Liberal Party of Canada under the leadership of the late Hon. Pierre
Elliott Trudeau made history, and preserved the image of Canada as a nation
that put ethics before the pragmatics and imperatives of the geo-political
strategies of the United States towards the Caribbean and Latin America
nations. This occurred when during his time in power Trudeau refused to
allow Canada¹s Foreign Policy to be restricted by the actions of the United
States in placing an economic embargo on Cuba. This ethical position of
Canada and of Trudeau has gone into history as a moment in which human
beings were placed before the geo-political interests of our neighbour to
the South.

Today a very similar challenge confronts the leaders of the Liberal party.
Hundreds of intellectuals and activists, residing within and outside
Colombia, many due to self imposed exile, and even members of the National
Assembly; have, over the years, and more so during this past year,
continuously denounced the atrocities and human rights violations taking
place during the current regime of the President Alvaro Uribe Velez of
Colombia. Once, again the leader of the Liberal party will have to make
choices upon which he writes the destiny of a downtrodden people. The U.S.
has handed the Colombian government the enticement of a Free Trade Agreement
in exchange for signing an agreement permitting the U.S. to operate EIGHT
air bases out of Colombia. For his part the President of Colombia in order
to qualify for the Free Trade Agreement has given an unsubstantiated
statement that violence in Colombia has diminished during his presidency,
supposedly these air bases are required as the mechanism that ensures peace
in the region; but if the President is alleging that now there is no
violence hence all systems are go on the Free Trade Agreement, then
Colombians are left to wonder which of the two arguments is to be believed,
if it is true that there is no longer an internal conflict and violence has
diminished in which respect Colombia qualifies for the Free Trade Agreement,
or, as a matter of fact, violence has increased as many Colombians can
attest. But it certainly does not follow that EIGHT US airbases are the
mechanism whereby peace will be brought to that land. Their prospect has, on
the contrary intensified the tensions and spilled them throughout the
continent: a case in point being the deliberations and concern of member
nations of UNASUR last month in Argentina.
The mass killings of civilians, trade union leaders, originary peoples and
aboriginals from every corner of Colombia, including the Amazon, persist to
this day. There is now a further intensification of forced displacements due
to violence and the atrocities have not diminished in Colombia, this has
been amply documented by many Colombians, including myself. Canada is left
with the ethical dilemma that if it does ratify the Free Trade Agreement
with Colombia it is in effect condoning and siding with those who have taken
part or turned a blind eye to these massacres. We see the prolongation of
the devastation caused by the internal civil war, and the eight air bases
are not the solution to this problem. In fact these Air Bases are a
geopolitical provocation and a significant cause of the escalation of the
geopolitical tensions in Latin America.
Canada is on the verge of ratifying a very controversial Free Trade
Agreement despite all manner of evidence it has received from researchers
from Colombia and many other countries. It is a fallacy to propose that the
economic benefits of a Free Trade Agreement benefit Colombians: whatever
benefits attain these certainly do not trickle down directly to the populace
in general. Although such an agreement would ostensibly provide employment
in a few sectors in reality these affect only a very small percentage of the
work force. In terms of Canadian pragmatic decisions, the government of
Canada should consider that Canadian Corporations would be best advised to
avoid the moral morass entailed in condoning the politics of devastation of
the current Colombian Government. If profits are the name of the game,
indeed there are less poisoned regions where these corporations can benefit
from their investments. Looking at Canada¹s own back yard, for instance we
see that certainly the state of the mining industry in Canada would lead a
government to give priority to extractive industries within Canada given the
ongoing economic crisis and how it has affected that sector.
Today, to operate in Colombia is fraught with ethical and moral
considerat

[Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens

[Ernie Halfdram]

Well, there was the Move bombing in Philadelphia in May 1985.

Also see: Clouds of Secrecy: The Army's Germ Warfare Tests Over Populated
Areas (Littlefield, Adams Quality Paperback) by Leonard A. Cole

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: 270.13.94/2366 - Release Date: 09/12/09 
17:50:00

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Re: [Marxism] Protest gay marriage at HRC Twin Citiies dinner

[Les Schaffer]

Lynn MacDonald wrote:
> For all of you on this list who are not sick, pathetic cretans like this guy 
> and the other gay basher on the list, I do apologize. 
>   


i'd prefer if Lynn stayed and David was invited to peddle his wares 
elsewhere.

Les


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Re: [Marxism] Protest gay marriage at HRC Twin Citiies dinner

[Lynn MacDonald]

David Thorstad wrote:

I do hope the liberal leftists on the list who support marriage, hate 
crimes laws, and gays in the imperialist military won't accuse these 
same-sexer antimarriage protesters of being "right-wing," as a few have 
accused me of being for opposing those things (bizarrely labeled 
"democratic demands").
DT


David,

Who would accuse you of being right-wing? - you go far beyond that into just 
plain hateful.  What does it matter to you if my son marries a man or my 
daughter marries a woman?  You would never even know it happened.  You would 
never even have a part in their lives and it would not have any effect on you 
whatsoever.  If someone bashed my son's head in and he died for being gay, what 
would it matter to you if I wanted to see his killer(s) prosecuted for the 
hateful people they are.  Not only did they kill - but killing with prejudice 
is a special circumstance whether you like it or not.  You would want to see 
someone who raped and murdered your three year old daughter to go to jail for 
life, would you not?  The killer chose your daughter because she was a child 
just like my son's killer would have chose him because he is gay.  Is that too 
complicated for you - do I need to put it in crayon?

You and your cronies will never stop what is right and just from happening.  
Just because you do not agree with someone else's happiness does not mean they 
do not deserve to be happy!!  And purposely going out of your way to deny 
another their civil rights means you do not deserve any either.  If you 
right-wing nut jobs (there I called you one!) did get your way we would be 
living in a more militaristic state than we are now.  Free country - my ass!

I cannot believe that people like you exist on such a list as this and because 
of that, I do not feel that any educated conversation can happen.

For all of you on this list who are not sick, pathetic cretans like this guy 
and the other gay basher on the list, I do apologize.  I will now bow out to 
find another list because this one does not have anything to do with Marx at 
this point.  It is very sad.

Good day/night,
Lynn aka Mighty Proud Liberal Leftist

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[Marxism] Protest gay marriage at HRC Twin Cities dinner

[David Thorstad]

Thanks for this. I will spread the word. HRC and the gay bourgeois 
groups who are pushing for marriage, hate crimes laws, and joining the 
imperialist military machine seem to care only about "glbt identity 
politics," that is, only issues that narrowly address the agenda of 
assimilation into capitalist politics and society. Those issues fit in 
with that agenda, and since any gay left has virtually disappeared 
(along with most of the American left), any challenge to that juggernaut 
should be opposed. Alas, many so-called leftists have embraced that 
agenda. Much appreciated.
David
===

Louis Proyect wrote:

David, you should tell these folks to make a stink out of Human Rights
Campaign cozy relations with Chevron. Chevron might be for "diversity"
in their workplace, but what good is that if it is at the expense of
Ecuadorian victims of their toxic spills. This is from the Chevron website:

Human Rights Campaign Recognizes Chevron

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation awarded Chevron a perfect score on
its Corporate Equality Index for the fourth consecutive year. The
foundation rated nearly 600 businesses on their policies and treatment
of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) employees, consumers
and investors. Chevron’s nondiscrimination policies, domestic-partner
benefits, diversity training and PRIDE (Promote Respect, Inclusion and
Dignity for Everyone) employee network were all factors in the 100
percent rating, recognizing Chevron as a best place to work. The Human
Rights Campaign is the largest U.S. civil rights organization working
toward GLBT equality.



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[Marxism] The Power of the State (was: Hate crimes, again)

[Jeff]

John,
 We've both expressed our views and I don't want to drag this out
repeating ourselves. However I do want to address one conceptual error
which you express and which others have expressed in regards to this and
other issues where legislation is involved. But first let me emphatically
agree with your disgust for demagogic "anti-crime" campaigns and calls for
greater punishment of criminals which are frequently whipped up by
opportunistic politicians who stand to gain from such hysteria. Those
politicians will never address the root problems behind street crime but
can easily claim to be "cracking down on crime" by increasing sentences.
Your example in New Zealand is pertinent but hardly a lone example. In
cases where the hysteria conveniently involves a hate crime (bias crime)
their exploitation of that incident is equally reprehensible.

But there is one conceptual error that you repeat regarding our approach to
proposed or existing legislation. That is your statement (that others in
our ranks have used):
>Well I oppose it [hate crimes legislation]
> on principle because it hands more power to the
>bourgeois state 

I absolutely do NOT think that the power of the bourgeois state is derived
from laws written on paper! I think the power of the bourgeois state is
determined by:
1) The existence and (potential) use of repressive forces, aka bodies of
armed men, as elucidated by Engles and Lenin (contrary to theories favored
by social democracy). That is the source of the state's power: physical
intervention and intimidation to force their will and crush resistance.
2) As Frederick Douglas eloquently described, the power of the state is
LIMITED by what the ruled population will accept without rebelling. In
other words, there are areas in which the repressive power of the state
will lead to more damage to the system than what is be gained, so that the
interests of the ruling class are no longer served by the state acting in
such ways.

So because of (2), the power of the state strongly depends on the
consciousness and organization of the oppressed, and of course this is
exactly OUR area of involvement! So if a law is passed that is widely
viewed as legitimate, then the state will be successful in acting to
enforce that law. But it is not because of the law per se. What's more, for
the state to adopt ONE law which is popular doesn't mean that they have
gained power in other areas, or even in using that law in ways that would
never have been acceptable with those who favored that law as originally
advertised.

So I do not accept that the existence of laws which assign extra powers to
the police, say, have actually given the state (and its enforcement arm,
the police) more power. They only have that power insofar as that law is
accepted by the population, in which case it means that the state had that
power all along, the new law just formalizing it.

Let me take an extreme example, one which should, at face value, hurt my
own argument. Hate crimes laws may very well be applied to Palestinian
activists using the repeated accusation that opponents of Israel are
"anti-semitic." Thus our comrades in struggle could well be persecuted (and
prosecuted!) under the guise of protecting a vulnerable population (right!)
against the "intolerance" of Moslem fanatics. Should we try to overturn
hate crimes laws to protect them from facing such prosecution?

Again, I say NO. The state has any number of laws it can use and has used
to repress Palestinian revolutionaries. If they feel they can justify that
repression by yelling "Hate Crime" that doesn't give them extra power to
repress. If anything it just shifts our defense to explaining (as we must
do anyway!) that the cause of Palestine has nothing to do with racism
(which we always oppose) and that such charges are as baseless as any other
charge they would equally be tempted to fabricate (such as "planning a
terrorist attack" according to the lying testimony of some police informant).

To take an opposite example -- and this may sound silly but the logic is
the same -- should we oppose the law against murder? I mean, that law was
used to jail Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal, right? Should we say that
the LAW was the source of their persecution? That the state had the "power"
to frame them up only because there was a law against murder? Of course not.

Or to take an even different example: there is legislation proposed to ban
Formula 79X which causes cancer and birth defects. The yellow widget
industry is strongly opposed, because using it saves them lots of money.
Currently they use Formula 79X with impunity as there is no law pertaining
to it, and they want to keep it that way. But all the environmentalists are
campaigning FOR this new law. Now you're going to tell the environmental
activists that "Formula 79X is a really bad thing that the working class
should try to eliminate, but we must NOT pass any new LAW, because that
will give the state NEW POWERS that it 

Re: [Marxism] Protest gay marriage at HRC Twin Citiies dinner

[Louis Proyect]

David Thorstad wrote:
> I do hope the liberal leftists on the list who support marriage, hate 
> crimes laws, and gays in the imperialist military won't accuse these 
> same-sexer antimarriage protesters of being "right-wing," as a few have 
> accused me of being for opposing those things (bizarrely labeled 
> "democratic demands").

David, you should tell these folks to make a stink out of Human Rights 
Campaign cozy relations with Chevron. Chevron might be for "diversity" 
in their workplace, but what good is that if it is at the expense of 
Ecuadorian victims of their toxic spills. This is from the Chevron website:

Human Rights Campaign Recognizes Chevron

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation awarded Chevron a perfect score on 
its Corporate Equality Index for the fourth consecutive year. The 
foundation rated nearly 600 businesses on their policies and treatment 
of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) employees, consumers 
and investors. Chevron’s nondiscrimination policies, domestic-partner 
benefits, diversity training and PRIDE (Promote Respect, Inclusion and 
Dignity for Everyone) employee network were all factors in the 100 
percent rating, recognizing Chevron as a best place to work. The Human 
Rights Campaign is the largest U.S. civil rights organization working 
toward GLBT equality.


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Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens.

[Mark Lause]

I agree that the way this question is formulated it restricts its
concerns to "citizens"--which, through much of history, means almost
only white and only men--which minimizes the answers in many ways.

Anyone on a Marxism list should seriously consider the merits of
letting the computer cool down periodically and getting to a library.
In any good used bookstore, you should be able to find a yellowed old
dog-eared dirt cheap general history of the American labor movement.
Everything that was done in the 1930s simply built upon a century of
precedents...and more.  They've been using troops against strikers
since the 1830s, especially so from the 1850s up to 1877, which rather
made clear where the US government comes down in disputes between
labor and capital.  The 1877 strike was put down in blood in many
places.

ML


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Re: [Marxism] India: An Update from Lalgarh

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Anyone who has been to West Bengal or anywhere in the Red Corridor would 
know that there is little support for the Maoists among the Indian 
working class.  I can't testify to the level of support that they have 
with peasants and among groups suffering from the fractious and uneven 
growth that taken place in India in the past few decades, but they 
cannot win in India.  They don't have vision that will win over or help 
Indian workers.  And Comrade Roy is right to criticize their tactics. 
There is a lot wrong with the CPI-M.  There has historically always been 
a lot wrong with the CPI-M since the 1920s when MN Roy and the talented 
core of their cadre were expelled by Stalin's Cominterm. I just wouldn't 
view these Maoists through rose-colored lenses, especially from afar.  
(I do support the CPN-M in Nepal).

Politicus E. wrote:
> Ragesh Roy wrote:
>
> "my remark was a criticism of Maoist violence in Bengal, and their
> opportunistic alliance with Mamta Banerjee against the CPI(M).. I
> support the CPI(M).. over the last five days, about 15 people
> including CPI(M) cadre have been murdered by these petty criminals who
> dream of bringing revolution to India through cold-blooded murder.."
>
> Comrade Roy, thank you for this clarification.
>
> However, if we are to engage in a debate that consists of an exchange
> "sound-bite" e-mails, then my response is simply to urge you to
> re-consider your support for the CPI(M).
>
> You must surely recognize that the Trinamool is dialectically "a
> rightward negation" of the politics of CPI(M), born in the womb of
> Nandigram and Singur.  Have we forgotten those massacres?  Thus, the
> CPI(M) is itself the party responsible for the emergence of Trinamool
> in the first instance.
>
> By the way, what you refer to as the "ultra-left" is in point of fact
> a heterogenous political formation, contrary to the CPI(M) line.
>
> epoliticus
>
>   



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[Marxism] Protest gay marriage at HRC Twin Citiies dinner

[David Thorstad]

I do hope the liberal leftists on the list who support marriage, hate 
crimes laws, and gays in the imperialist military won't accuse these 
same-sexer antimarriage protesters of being "right-wing," as a few have 
accused me of being for opposing those things (bizarrely labeled 
"democratic demands").
DT


  Bash Back! Twin Cities is Getting Hitched and You're Invited!

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 21:31
in

* HRC 
* marriage 
* Queer & Trans 

Start: 09/12/2009 17:45

Bash Back! Twin Cities is getting hitched and you’re invited!

Saturday September 12, 2009

5:45-7:30pm

The Minneapolis Depot

225 3rd Ave. S.

(near Washington Ave. S. and 3rd Ave.)
Minneapolis, MN 55401

“Marriage – it’s the best thing since sliced bread, corporate sponsors, 
lobbying politicians, joining the military, and contributing to the 
prison industrial complex through hate crimes legislation!” – Human 
Rights Campaign (HRC) President Joe Solmonese

Come to our wedding, have some fun, dance, celebrate the undying love of 
a gang of radical queers, talk to some rich people on their way into an 
HRC gala, and hand out leaflets thanking the gala attendees. There are 
rumors about a wedding cake and glitter…

Wedding guests are encouraged to glam it up and/or wear pink and black.

Bash Back! Twin Cities is devastated that we cannot afford the $185-250 
per person fee to attend the Human Rights Campaign “Speak The Truth” 
Gala Dinner and Silent Auction and congratulate rich gay celebrities who 
will be receiving “visibility” awards for being rich gay celebrities. 
While we are disappointed that we won’t be able to contribute to “LGBT 
Equality” by attending the Gala and hear first hand the “Truth Speaking” 
of the HRC, we were ecstatic to learn that we can liberate ourselves by 
getting married!

Love and Rage,

Bash Back! Twin Cities





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Re: [Marxism] India: An Update from Lalgarh

[Politicus E.]

Ragesh Roy wrote:

"my remark was a criticism of Maoist violence in Bengal, and their
opportunistic alliance with Mamta Banerjee against the CPI(M).. I
support the CPI(M).. over the last five days, about 15 people
including CPI(M) cadre have been murdered by these petty criminals who
dream of bringing revolution to India through cold-blooded murder.."

Comrade Roy, thank you for this clarification.

However, if we are to engage in a debate that consists of an exchange
"sound-bite" e-mails, then my response is simply to urge you to
re-consider your support for the CPI(M).

You must surely recognize that the Trinamool is dialectically "a
rightward negation" of the politics of CPI(M), born in the womb of
Nandigram and Singur.  Have we forgotten those massacres?  Thus, the
CPI(M) is itself the party responsible for the emergence of Trinamool
in the first instance.

By the way, what you refer to as the "ultra-left" is in point of fact
a heterogenous political formation, contrary to the CPI(M) line.

epoliticus

-- 
"In the tender annals of Political Economy, the idyllic reigns from
time immemorial ... the present year of course always excepted."
-- A German refugee, circa 1867 --

http://epoliticus.wordpress.com/


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Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens.

[Tyler Zimmer]

   - Pullman strike - 12,000 US Army troops were set loose on striking
   workers, with many killed and injured.
   - Memorial Day Massacre of 1937
   - Seattle General Strike (was eventually called off for fear of violence
   against strikers, as large numbers of troops were called in to the city)

On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Néstor Gorojovsky wrote:

> Nobody abandons the Herrenvolk unblemished.
>
> Tell non-Zionist Jews, for example.
>
> 2009/9/12 Mark Lause :
> > Nestor's generally correct.
> >
> > My point, though, was that there were no large native populations that
> > did not have some resident "white" people who were "citizens."  These
> > exiled and self-exiled whites mattered no more than the US citizens
> > willfully torched by the US military bombing of Hiroshima.
> >
> > ML
>
> 
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at:
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/zimmer.tj%40gmail.com
>

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[Marxism] YSR: Profile of a bourgeois leader

[new wave]

*REVISITING YSR: PROFILE OF A BOURGEOIS LEADER*

-Rajesh Tyagi and Ravuri Prasanth

12 September 2009







The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy died on 2.9.2009,
after his helicopter had crashed, against Rudrakonda hills, 40 nautical
miles from Kurnool, while passing over the dense forest of Nallamalla. The
helicopter is expected to have crashed at about 9.30 a.m. when it lost
contact with Air Traffic Controllers. The helicopter's crash could be
confirmed on the morning of 3 September, when the remains of the helicopter
with charred bodies including that of YSR, his Special Secretary P.
Subramaniam, Chief Security Officer A.S.C. Wesley, Group Captain S. K.
Bhatia and Captain M. S. Reddy were found, and the death of all the five
aboard was declared officially.



The demise of YSR came as a shock to the Congress Party, as the party has
not only lost the chief contributor to its national treasury, but the demise
has immediately led to a factional war inside the ruling clique in Andhra
Pradesh, over the issue of succession of YSR in Party and the Government.
While corporate media was engaged in creating a hype for the deceased Chief
Minister, spreading rumours that people have started to commit suicide or
die of heart attack at the news of YSR’s death, the family of YSR was busy
in fighting their way for his son Jagan Mohan Reddy, to the chair of the
Chief Minister of the State.



YSR had left his practices in medicine, to join the more fruitful profession
in bourgeois politics, in 1978. However, the private hospital built by his
father for him at Pulivendula, is still being run as a business venture.  The
family of YSR has been doing business in education, traditionally. They have
been running a degree College and a Polytechnic in Pulivendula itself.  Another
junior College at Simhadripuram, in the near vicinity to Pulivendula is also
being run by his family. Father of YSR who was a contractor in irrigation
canal projects, had made a fortune in the business of education.



In 1978 YSR started his political career by contesting from Pulivendula on
Reddy-Congress Party ticket and won the elections. Later he joined in Indira
Congress. From 1980 to 1983 he was a Minister holding important portfolios
related to Rural Development, Medical Health and Education under T. Anjaiah
Cabinet. He was elected to the Lok
Sabhafrom Kadappa constituency
four times and was elected to the Andhra
Pradesh State 
Assemblysix
times from Pulivendula constituency. Reddy was the leader of the
opposition in the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly for five years.



Highest levels of corruption were touched in the state during the tenure of
YSR in Andhra Pradesh. Widely reported scams in hydro- projects in the
state, are only one example of it. Needless to mention that every culprit
landing in the corruption net, garnered a personal favour and support from
YSR himself. YSR’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy has accumulated huge properties,
mostly benami, like cement factories, Granite Mines etc. during the tenure
as CM of YSR.



YSR succeeded in mustering mass support in Andhra Pradesh during the General
Elections of 2004, when Congress (I) could win 185 seats, not for his deeds,
but by default, as the government of Chandrababu Naidu, then collaborator of
right wing NDA at the centre, was voted out by the people for its 9 years
misrule, full of corruption, crime and repression upon the people. However,
after coming to power, YSR continued the same regime turning its back upon
the masses, betraying those who voted it to power, like any other bourgeois
politician.



There is an unending list of the misdeeds and crimes this ‘mass leader’
committed against the masses. To cite a few :  He ordered police firing on a
peaceful protest of agricultural workers in Mudigonda in 2007, which took
its toll upon the life of 8 workers, leaving dozens injured. He was
instrumental in strangulating the anti-government press. Arrest of Andhra
Jyoti Editor K. Srinivas on fabricated grounds is one of the examples.



Not to mention the repression upon innumerable land struggles under the
regime of YSR, it is sufficient to mention a few. In the name of building
‘coastal corridor’ thousand of peasants were dispossessed from their lands
in the state, without adequate rehabilitation. Forced dislocation of poor
dwellers was ordered in 2009 in Bhimrav Bhada for extension of the office of
Congress (I) i.e. Gandhi Bhawan.



The government of YSR remained infamous for the repression it unleashed upon
the struggles of the working people in Andhra Pradesh, where socio-economic
disparities are too large. It was he who ordered a crackdown upon the
agitating Anganwadi workers in the state and gave free hand to police to
unleash the terror. The Government teachers marching peacefully to the State
Assembly in 2008, demanding a hike in their salaries, were brutally
l

Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens.

[Néstor Gorojovsky]

Nobody abandons the Herrenvolk unblemished.

Tell non-Zionist Jews, for example.

2009/9/12 Mark Lause :
> Nestor's generally correct.
>
> My point, though, was that there were no large native populations that
> did not have some resident "white" people who were "citizens."  These
> exiled and self-exiled whites mattered no more than the US citizens
> willfully torched by the US military bombing of Hiroshima.
>
> ML


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Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens.

[Mark Lause]

Nestor's generally correct.

My point, though, was that there were no large native populations that
did not have some resident "white" people who were "citizens."  These
exiled and self-exiled whites mattered no more than the US citizens
willfully torched by the US military bombing of Hiroshima.

ML


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[Marxism] Some fun fiction.

[David Picón Álvarez]

This is a sort of history-fiction of what would have happened if the 
revolution in Germany would have triumphed. Utopian? Maybe. I still found it 
fun to read.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=42331627759f1e69f7f38f2f7a5f0e7c&t=429756

It's the setup for roleplaying.

--David.



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[Marxism] Union Labor -- and Societies [larger and smaller]

[Hunter Gray]

NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR: 9/12/09 [Stimulated partly by a Redbadbear discussion]

I arose this morning at 2 am, have had plenty of strong, black coffee and lots 
of imported cold pure mountain water. With nothing on the tube to speak of, I 
dallied for awhile with Fox News -- awful -- but left when Ann Coulter arrived. 
I have a few thoughts on Michael's post which, in turn, stems from that of a 
few days ago by Edward -- with one of their foci being the sad state of the 
labor movement in this country. Neither of these very good guys -- and many 
others -- are stepping off the Save the World Trail -- but a certain bitterness 
is reasonable under the frequently disappointing circumstances -- and the 
oft-myriad of mirages and shattered dreams.

In 1960, I read Aldous Huxley's excellent non-fictional book, Brave New World 
Revisited. Its basic thrust focuses on the rapidly mounting population 
explosion on the planet -- and its obvious impact on food and freedom. At that 
point, the tally for the human race was about three billion -- and now, half a 
century later, it's more than doubled. Enter into that the survival of 
feudalism in some global quarters and, very much in others, the continued 
existence of always predatory corporate capitalism and you get a reasonably 
cogent idea of the problematic rivers that have created our latest array of 
profound earthly challenges -- and certainly those relating to what's called 
the United States.

I like tribalism: land based, fundamentally communalistic and democratic, 
characterized by the principle of tribal responsibility [i.e., the individual 
has a responsibility to the tribe, the tribe has its responsibility to the 
individual, and there are clearly defined areas of individual/family autonomy 
into which the tribe cannot intrude. But, in certain areas of conflict, the 
tribe prevails.] Tribal societies aren't utopian -- always some internal fuss 
-- but they are characterized by a very basic unity and, despite the frequently 
hostile vicissitudes of the eons, most of them have survived nicely all around 
the world. [Speaking personally, who knows but that at some point, I may myself 
-- to draw from my late father's very pro-tribal perspective -- "go back to the 
wigwam" for good.]

But, compared to the mass populated urban/industrial societies of our world, 
tribes do have small populations.

And even though I'm always happy to visit in that context where lie my most 
basic roots, I'm still committed to "missionary work". And that's why I, along 
with Michael and Edward and a vast number of us indeed, consider myself a 
socialist.

It's always easy to "knock" the unions -- and, as long as I can recall from 
young adulthood onward, the epitaph for organized labor has come again and 
again. While much of this comes from our natural enemies, some comes from 
liberals and even left intellectuals. But I can say, with some pride, that -- 
from the beginning of 1955 to the present moment [I am 75], I have always 
belonged to at least one bona fide union and sometimes two or even three 
simultaneously. 

As Lawyer Clarence Darrow, truly a great "counsel for the damned," put it over 
a century ago with reference to unions: "I know their cause is just."

I've written a great deal about Labor since those long ago days in my very 
early spring-time -- and some of that is on our now very large Hunterbear 
website. I've said a lot on discussion lists. So I am not going to be redundant 
here.

Organized labor in this country [as in some others] is in rough shape. The 
reasons are many and some lie with the unions themselves. But I am certain that 
Labor will resurge very effectively in this country and elsewhere. It 
constitutes the only real protection that a workingstiff -- all wage and many 
salaried folks -- will ever have. In the end, the very nature of capitalism 
will spur Labor into a genuinely radical social change direction. And no matter 
what ideological ethos characterizes the respective urban/industrial society, 
free and democratic unionism is critical in keeping government bureaucrats in 
check. [Yes, indeed, there is something of a "syndicalist glint" in my eyes.]

On the matter of the United States being an allegedly "failed state", I see it 
another way. Along with most of the rest of the world, it is -- to me -- a 
"developing" human society. 

Let's keep on working to make it as sensibly healthy as the lands and peoples 
of the "wigwam".

Here's a little something I wrote a few years ago:

MINE MILL [HUNTER BEAR - 2004] 

Couple of key-note things: 

One is, awhile back, I [to my surprise] found myself increasingly unwilling to 
dwell extensively on the Old Southern Civil Rights Movement. Eldri and I, who 
came into the Deep South in the latter summer '61, were there as Movement 
activists for six years. My demonstration and arrest and jail record is quite 
respectable [Eldri was arrested, too] and we were enjoined in injunctions 
[which we defied]. I wa

Re: [Marxism] J. Mackler replies to A. Cockburn/CounterPunch on anti-war movement

[Jay Clinton]

Cockburn's overarching point that the 'antiwar' movement is held hostage  by 
its allegiance to Democrats, and in this example by its allegiance to presumed 
allies held hostage by Democrats, is valid.  

--- On Thu, 10/9/09, nada  wrote:

From: nada 
Subject: Re: [Marxism] J. Mackler replies to A. Cockburn/CounterPunch on 
anti-war movement
To: "jc" 
Date: Thursday, 10 September, 2009, 11:11 PM

In my personal reply to Jeff I noted he could of not had that last 10% 
of the letter where Walsh is mentioned. It only distracts from the 
overall issue and Cockburn's own weird politics.


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Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com 

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[Marxism] Playing the "anti-Semitism" card against Venezuela

[Louis Proyect]

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22576


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[Marxism] British neofascist development

[Louis Proyect]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/english-defence-league-chaotic-alliance
English Defence League: chaotic alliance stirs up trouble on streets

Football fans are being recruited to join protests against Muslims. How 
worried should the authorities be?

The rise of the English Defence League, whose protests against Islamism 
have sparked violent city centre clashes, has been chaotic but rapid.

Three months ago, no one had heard of the EDL. But the organisation has 
risen to prominence in a spate of civil unrest in which far-right 
activists, football hooligans and known racists have fought running 
battles with Asian youths. The leadership insists they are not racist 
and just want to "peacefully protest against militant Islam".

Yet at EDL events, skinheads have raised Nazi salutes and other EDL 
supporters have chanted racist slogans such as "I hate Pakis more than 
you". One protest in Luton in May ended with scores of people attacking 
Asian businesses, smashing cars and threatening passersby.

Insiders have talked of plans to enlist football fans to march for the 
cause on the basis that "you need an army for a war".

With the organisation's confidence growing and plans for rallies in 
Leeds, Manchester and tomorrow in Trafalgar Square, concerned police 
chiefs and government ministers are asking what the English Defence 
League is, and what it wants.

It appears to have a hardcore of fewer than 200 in "divisions" in 
Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and Luton. But those ranks are swelled by 
rightwing groups including gangs related to football clubs. Last night 
close to 500 had said they were considering attending the protest in London.

Its roots are modest, according to its self-proclaimed leader, a 
28-year-old carpenter from Luton who goes by the pseudonym Tommy 
Robinson. He said the germ of the EDL was evident growing up in the 
Bedfordshire town.

"Everyone mixes until the age of 13 or 14 and then it stops and there 
are Asian dinner tables at school," he said. "I don't know what it is. 
Maybe their parents don't want them to mix."

Those separate tables are magnified in Luton today where a large part of 
the Muslim population lives in a network of streets around the main 
mosque in Bury Park. The town has had an unhappy connection with 
Islamist terrorism ever since four suicide bombers set off from there to 
attack London's transport system and kill 52 people on 7 July 2005.

Before that, there were tensions when a radical Muslim group protested 
in the town centre after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Those 
feelings reached boiling point this March, when a small group of Muslim 
antiwar protesters held up placards at the homecoming of the 2nd 
Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment which read "Butchers of Basra" and 
"Anglian soldiers go to hell".

"The group that protested against the soldiers had been in the town 
centre since 2001," said Robinson. "In 2004 we held our own protest when 
we held a banner up saying 'Ban the Luton Taliban'.

"We were groups of friends and family, people who had gone to school 
with each other. We decided they could not be in the town centre again."

Only a handful of Muslim protesters disrupted the Anglians' homecoming 
parade, and they were drawn from an small extremist group that had 
already been ostracised by the mainstream Muslim community. However, it 
was enough for Robinson and others to set up a group called United 
People of Luton, and look across the country for support.

"We realised we didn't just want them off the streets of Luton, we 
wanted them off the streets of Britain," said Robinson.

Using Facebook, they forged links with a Birmingham-based group called 
British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists and quickly realised there 
was potential for a national organisation. "When we saw Birmingham's 
demonstration they were using the same slogans as us: 'We want our 
country back', 'Terrorists off the streets', 'Extremists out', 'Rule 
Britannia'. From there the EDL was set up."

Chief superintendent Mark Turner, of Bedfordshire police, said the 
group's aims were "really quite ill-defined".

That stems from the different interests that have rallied to a cause, 
which itself was named after the Welsh Defence League, set up by Jeff 
Marsh, a former football hooligan and convicted criminal.

The movement has been so fragmented that Robinson set up a website to 
drum up interest in March, while Chris Renton, listed as an "activist" 
on the BNP's leaked membership list, set up another EDL site. Paul Ray, 
another far-right activist from Dunstable, near Luton, broadcast video 
polemics on YouTube.

Ray's broadcasts on his Spirit of St George internet channel include his 
claim that a "very, very high proportion of the Muslim population is an 
Islamic extremist" and his description of Luton's Muslim community as 
"an al-Qaida enclave".

According to Robinson, none of these activities were co-ordinated.

By Ray's own account published on his Lion

[Marxism] Cuba's Juan Almeida Bosque dead at 82

[Louis Proyect]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/12/AR2009091200805_2.html
Cuba's Juan Almeida Bosque dead at 82

By WILL WEISSERT
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 12, 2009 8:48 AM

HAVANA -- Juan Almeida Bosque, a comrade-in-arms of Fidel Castro since 
the start of his guerrilla struggle more than a half-century ago, has 
died of a heart attack. The 82-year-old was one of several Cuban vice 
presidents and had been among only three surviving rebel leaders who 
still bore the honorary title "Commander of the Revolution."

A statement in government media on Saturday said Almeida will "live on 
forever in the hearts and minds of his compatriots." It said Almeida 
died around 11:30 p.m. Friday night in Havana.

Cuba declared a national day of mourning for Sunday and ordered all 
flags flown at half-staff.

A bricklayer who began working at age 11, Almeida was the only black 
commander among the rebel leaders. He was one of the most important and 
decisive voices in the battle to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio 
Batista, as well as in the early years following the Jan. 1, 1959, 
triumph of the Cuban revolution.

Born Feb. 27, 1927, Almeida was often seen at public events in his 
uniform alongside the Cuban leader until Castro fell gravely ill in the 
summer of 2006 and finally resigned the presidency in February 2008. 
Almeida then became a mainstay beside Castro's younger brother and 
successor, President Raul Castro.

With his full head of white hair and mustache, Almeida was a highly 
visible member of Cuba's ruling elite, sitting on the Communist Party's 
politburo and serving as a vice president on the Council of State, the 
country's supreme governing body.

Along with Ramiro Valdes and Guillermo Garcia, he had been among only 
three men still alive distinguished as a "Comandante de la Revolucion" - 
a title reserved for top leaders of rebel troops under Fidel Castro's 
command in the 1950s.

The government statement called him "a paradigm of revolutionary 
strength, solid convictions, bravery, patriotism and service to the 
people." It said Almeida's body would not lie in state, in accordance 
with his wishes, and funeral arrangements would be announced "at a later 
date."

Authorities were organizing a ceremony Sunday in his honor at the 
monument of Cuban revolutionary hero Jose Marti on Havana's Revolution 
Plaza, as well as at other locations around the country, including on 
Isla de la Juventud, an island off Cuba's mainland where Almeida once 
was imprisoned with the Castro brothers.

Almeida joined the fight against Batista's dictatorship in March 1952 as 
a young law student at the University of Havana, where he met Fidel 
Castro, another aspiring attorney.

Almeida was at Castro's side a year later, on July 26, 1953, when Cuba's 
future president led an armed attack on the Moncada, a military barracks 
in the eastern city of Santiago. It was a disaster and Almeida and both 
Castros were sent to a prison on Isla de los Pinos, or Isle of Pines, 
later renamed Isla de la Juventud. But that failure launched the 
revolutionary battle that triumphed 5 1/2 years later.

Almeida and other survivors of the offensive were freed in May 1955 
under an amnesty granted to the young revolutionaries. He accompanied 
the Castros and others comrades to Mexico, where they formed a guerrilla 
army.

They returned to Cuba in December 1956 on the American yacht "Granma" 
and launched their battle from the island's eastern Sierra Maestra.

Almeida, the Castro brothers and Argentine-born Ernesto "Che" Guevara 
were among only 16 who survived the landing, in which most of the rebels 
were killed by government troops.

"No one here gives up!" Almeida shouted to Guevara at the time, giving 
the Cuban revolution one of its most lasting slogans and ensuring his 
place in Cuban communist history. As a guerrilla leader, Almeida later 
headed his own front of military operations in eastern Cuba.

After Batista fled Havana on New Year's Day 1959, Almeida served in 
various military posts, ranging from head of motorized units to chief of 
the Rebel Army's Air Force. He later was named a vice minister and chief 
of staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Almeida was a member of the Communist Party of Cuba's Central Committee 
since its creation in October 1965.

His duties included welcoming new foreign ambassadors to Cuba and 
greeting other visiting dignitaries. However, Almeida cut back on public 
activities in December 2003, announcing he was suffering from heart 
problems.

Almeida also composed traditional Cuban music and wrote about his years 
behind bars and in the mountains.

Details of his personal life were always closely guarded, and it was not 
clear how many survivors he had.


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Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens

[Terry Burke]

Re:  Examples of the use of force by American forces  against its citizens

> --
>

Republic Steel, Memorial Day in Chicago in 1937
See: http://www.trussel.com/hf/republic.htm

-- 
"...Por lo largo que un clase son dueños de la tierra y los instrumentos de
labor desde cuales derivan sus vidas los seres humanos como propiedad
privado, este clase siempre tendrán en su poder para saquear y esclavizar
los demás de sus creaturas relacionadas."

-- James Connolly, fundador del Partido Republicana Socialista Irlandesa,
1896

"...as long as one class owns as private property the land and the
instruments of labour from which mankind derive their substance, that class
will always have it in their power to plunder and enslave the remainder of
their fellow creatures.”

-- James Connolly, founder the Irish Socialist Republican Party, 1896

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Re: [Marxism] Examples of the use of force by American forces against its citizens.

[Jon Hiesfelter]

> I am in search of examples of the use of force by American forces against
> its citizens.
> So far I have these:
> The Ludlow massacre
> Matewan (and its subsequent Battle for Blair Mountain)
> Sand Creek
> Wounded Knee I and II
> The Bonus Marchers (post WWI in DC)
> Kent State
> WTO Seattle
> 
> But would be grateful for any further examples or further explanations of
> the above not in the mainstream. Not being a US resident I am out of the
> loop somewhat.
> Many thanks,
> Magda


Far more frequent than the mythology would have people believe.  And 
despite the stories of American exceptionalism of our passive working 
class, often in labor struggles.  For example, it has been said that the 
National Guard would not have been so trigger happy at Kent State had 
they not just spent days battling a Teamster strike.

Also, as time goes on the line between 'police' and 'military' has 
become more and more blurred.  Hi-tech weaponry and training from the 
military is becoming more prevalent in the civilian police.

Here's a book on a mine strike in Arizona in the 80s, "Copper Crucible"
http://www.powells.com/biblio/65-9780801485541-1

But there are plenty more.

A key source you've left out is the response to 'riots'/uprisings of 
largely african american urban folks in the 60s.  Watts/Los Angeles, 
Detroit, etc.  These required significant involvement of the National 
Guard to return to quiescence.  70,000 troops is the number deployed I 
understand.

Seems like there should be a catalog of these, Ward Churchill's book "on 
the Justice of Roosting Chickens" does cover domestic instances of 
military force but seems to spend more time on imperialism.

Jon in Seattle


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