[Marxism] Brazil says actions against its embassy not tolerable
Brazil: actions against Honduras embassy not tolerable Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:52pm EDT [ http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/reuters.com.dart/news/top/article;type=featured_broker;sz=170x40;articleID=USN22355055;ord=5472? NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Brazil will not tolerate any actions against its embassy in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya sought refuge after slipping back into the country, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorin said on Tuesday. Amorim told reporters in New York that Brazil is considering asking for a meeting of the United Nation's security council to discuss the safety of Brazil's diplomatic mission in Honduras. -- A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias. — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy? — Jarvis Cocker 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Honduras; The neighbourhoods in resistance
http://www.quotha.net/node/349 Neighborhoods in resistance Tue, 09/22/2009 - 22:31 — AP The de facto government, through its violence and denial of constitutional and human rights, has managed what Zelaya alone had not fully succeeded in doing: uniting the entire country in the struggle for freedom. Today, they resistance underwent an important shift: it went local. The following Tegucigalpa neighborhoods are defying the curfew and protesting against the coup d'etat: 1. Arturo Quesada 2. Barrio Morazán 3. Centroamérica Oeste 4. Cerro Grande 5. Ciudad Lempira 6. Colonia 21 de Febrero 7. Colonia 21 de Octubre 8. El Bosque 9. El Chile 10. Flor del Campo 11. Hato de Enmedio 12. Kennedy 13. La Fraternidad 14. Pantanal 15. Pedregal 16. Picachito 17. Reparto 18. Residencial Girasoles 19. Residencial Honduras 20. San José de la Vega 21. Sinaí 22. Víctor F. Ardón 23. Villa Olímpica 24. Villanueva In some places people have repelled the police, while in others the terrain is in dispute. The police are using live ammunition. Barricades are everywhere. This list was current at 7pm local time in Tegucigalpa. -- A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias. — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy? — Jarvis Cocker 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] A few anecdotes about class society
There is this ridiculous car alarm keeping me up, so I figured I would spend the last 30 minutes showing some of my friends and the other assorted 60-70 people a day that read my blog that class society does exist. I think only like 2-3 leftists read my blog, so this is my audience. I'm not sure how much the already conscious would get from this, but as always I welcome informed comments criticisms. http://savingcache.com/?p=154 This may be my last post for a while, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to take a baseball bat to that car, which may or may not have serious legal implications. 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Turkey: Final Version?
Michael, lets discuss all these issues in Turkey. We will have almost one week, so enough time to exchange the results of our research. I will have the onlie version of Smith's work and correspondence with me. I am looking forward to seeing you in few days in Turkey. -- Dogan Göcmen (http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/) Author of The Adam Smith Problem: Reconciling Human Nature and Society in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, I. B. Tauris, LondonNew York 2007 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Turkey: Final Version?
Pat, thank you very much for sharing your observations. I think I do not have to add to this much. Just one point Marx and Engels did pay a lot of attention to the issues within a state-owned system. Therefore Engels conclusion that it was not the final solution. Pease look at what Marx says about bureeaucracy in his writings on Paris Commune. Unlike Anarchist, Marx and Engels recognised the necessity of the transition period. Interms of experience we are much richer today than Marx and Engels were. The study of these experiences not just Soviet Union may help us to draw some conclusions according to our given situation when we come to the power again. Best wishes, Dogan Göcmen (http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/) Author of The Adam Smith Problem: Reconciling Human Nature and Society in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, I. B. Tauris, LondonNew York 2007 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Discounted copies of Broue's seminal history of the German Revolution...
-- Forwarded Message From: Julie Fain ju...@haymarketbooks.org Dear Friends, From its inception Haymarket Books has prided itself on its commitment to publishing books that provide activists with access to ideas that will help in the struggle to change the world - without regard for whether this mission will obtain approval from the powers that be. The downside of such conviction is that we are forced to rely on our supporters to keep us going financially, which is the reason we are sending this appeal. We have sold out of our existing copies of Pierre Broue’s The German Revolution, 1917-1923 and need to undertake a new printing to keep the book in print. But the upfront costs of printing a book of this size and complexity are substantial. Printing enough copies to make the unit cost affordable (even at a $50 price), will cost us more than $5,000. We could print for slightly cheaper, but we'd have to use thinner paper, give up the french flaps, and give up the sewn binding that ensures the pages will remain intact for many years, which is very important in a book of this size. We are encouraged by the reception the book received when it was first published - so much so that we have sold out of two prior printings. Clearly, Broue's history of the German revolutionary experience struck a chord with our readers. Buffeted by the twin calamities of the first world war and the catastrophic economic collapse which followed in its wake, in these six decisive years the revolutionary workers of Germany battled with their exploiters over the course of world history - ultimately failing in their efforts to herald in a new social order, but leaving behind countless lessons for those who think the better world they struggled to establish is still worth fighting for. Broue sympathetically presents, with surgical attention to detail, the revolutionary process as it unfolds, making careful note of every intra-party debate, every missed opportunity and every tragic mistake. This magisterial, definitive account of the upheavals in Germany that followed on the heels of the Russian Revolution is unmatched in its insight, and indispensable as an historical guide to the real world interplay of revolutionary theory and practice. We could simply plead for donations, and in exchange offer nothing but the moral gratification of having helped a good cause, but instead we thought we would sweeten the deal. Because we think our readers feel just as strongly about reclaiming the stolen history so masterfully captured by this book as we do, for a limited time we will be taking advance orders for the second print run for $25 per book. In order to foot the bill at this rate we need to sell 200 copies upfront, but anyone still looking for that moral boost will be able to pre-purchase the book for anywhere between $25 and $50. You can use code GERREV on the Haymarket website http://www.haymarketbooks.org/ to get the 50% discount, or you can order by phone at 773-583-7884. Discounted orders must be prepaid, and the offer is valid until October 31. Thanks for your support! 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Waiting for dawn -- and taking some important stock
NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR: [9/23/09] Still very early in the morning here in Idaho. I had a strangely restless night and was awakened at 2:20 a.m. by what sounded very much like something hard striking our most public side of our house -- under my upper level window. No wind outside. Arising, I traveled quickly into our living room, noting that our out-front protective flood lights were on -- an indication that something may -- may -- have been afoot. When dawn breaks, I'll go around the house on an inspection tour. Restless sleep and meaningless dreams can, of course, engender disproportionate hearing. If you hear nothing further from me, it means that there was nothing -- at least visible -- or something inconsequential. [We live, I should add, on the 'way far up western edge of Pocatello. BLM and USFS lands are only a good stone's toss from our house.] For several years after we moved here in the summer of '97, there was consistent harassment ranging from obvious police surveillance to a few clearly racist things. For us and our Life, this is a not uncommon combination of things. We remained right here, obviously, and still do -- and, in time, most of this [not all] subsided. One of several things that hasn't subsided are computer problems that can't be explained by anything other than official -- if clumsy -- monitoring. That situation has seen, for us at least, a seamless transition from the Clinton administration through the Bushies and into the Obama epoch. [Our mailbox on Sandy Lane was damaged the other night -- but that may have been a careless driver.] Our Lair of Hunterbear website is now almost ten years old and contains several hundred URLs. It's well visited -- around 2,000 persons per day on the average. Its initial mission was to turn back and correct outright defamation, some of it downright ludicrous. [Much of this came via a few extremely poisonous adversaries at and around North Dakota [and some collateral settings] which was deliberately exported into our Idaho setting where it immediately found fertile ground with so-termed lawmen and a few racists -- even before we had arrived to unpack. As I have on earlier occasions, I want to state categorically that virtually all of our neighbors have been just fine from the very beginning. As well as countering and correcting this [both genders] witches' concoction, our website also chronicled some of many harassment high-lights as the years passed, and still does occasionally. In time, Lair of Hunterbear feathered out with all sorts of my written material [plus, in many cases, relevant comments from others]. Almost all of it is indicated by this excerpt from our cover -- masthead -- page: This vast website is based on a lifetime of consistent and direct grassroots activist community organizing in many parts of the United States: Native rights, union labor, civil rights, civil liberties. It also includes much on the American West. There is a great deal on the actual practice of bona fide organizing and such accompanying dimensions as issues, strategies, tactics, pragmatism and vision -- through explicitly focused material and many personal and experiential accounts of significant campaigns. . . But it's now a huge website. Coming to the point, we consider it essentially a finished work -- as a website -- and will be adding little more to it. If and when I pass into the Fog and Beyond [and I am not planning to do that any time soon] -- Lair of Hunterbear will remain into the far, far future. But -- we are considering seriously launching a second website. If so, it will have to have, to some extent, its own unique kind of focus. And that is high on my brooding list at this point. [Of course, I already have a name for the new Site.] Letters of all sorts continue to come via Lair of Hunterbear -- and, as I've indicated, I respond as fully as I can to virtually all of them. I've always practiced, from early childhood on, principled self defense. I am no stranger to violence [but generally support tactical nonviolence.] But I rarely attack anyone personally -- verbally or otherwise -- and, if I do, my thrust is restrained and restricted to either self-defense or a bona fide social justice issue. My primary loyalty always goes to family and friends. A little over two years ago, I wrote this on one of our website pages: As the years progressed following our Southern experiences, we were able to -- in a fair number of cases -- extend a kind of forgiveness to some of our old adversaries. A few of them openly sought that dispensation and we obliged. In other instances, we just did it -- sometimes openly and explicitly and sometimes simply and quietly within ourselves. [These are genuinely fascinating human stories.] I should add that I have never been able to forgive conscious treachery. An old Movement acquaintance from the Tougaloo College days, himself a white
Re: [Marxism] A few anecdotes about class society
I put out a car's window once with a tire iron for the same reason. Strangely enough the moment the window was shattered the alarm stopped. When it happens at work I plaster the windshield with stickers saying Fix your alarm, jerk! It's a blast watching the owner spend 15 minutes removing them all. Good luck, comrade! On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 3:33 AM, Bhaskar Sunkara bhaskar.sunk...@gmail.com wrote: This may be my last post for a while, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to take a baseball bat to that car, which may or may not have serious legal implications. 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] WW2: interimperialist war to redivide the world,
Tom wrote: ...a good fictional scenario of the legacy of this outcome is the movie Fatherlandabout a super-power summit between Hitler, who is turning 75 and President Kennedy in Berlin in 1964. President Joseph Kennedy that is. (who not only approved the 1938 Munichdeal but who was actually one of its architects). Yes, it was both a good movie and a book. Remember, however...that the detective in the movie, played by Rutger Hauer, is on the trail of what?... why, the disappearance of Europe's *10 million* Jews... Something to think about had the German's not been defeated. David 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
On Sep 23, 2009, at 4:46 PM, Shane Mage wrote: As for Don Giovanni, it is perfectly true that it is an anti- authoritarian masterpiece, but in exactly the opposite sense from that meant by the liberal critics. To grasp that fact for yourself consider only these two (of many) things: (1) the closeness, especially in Mozart's day, of the cognates liberty and libertine, and (2) having (seemingly) been killed early one morning, by evening of that same day the Commendatore is (seemingly) buried in a graveyard with a massive equestrian statue over his tomb. Shane Mage I have to disagree here. Of Mozart's great operas Don Giovanni is, to me, the lesser. It relies on the stale deus ex machina to move the plot and Giovanni himself, although reputedly something of a roué, entirely fails to seduce anyone in the entire opera. All in all I much prefer Figaro followed by Cosi (which I don't feel is anti-female as some might believe; the men are made to look fools) and then Giovanni. Further, 'liberty' and 'libertine' may be cognates but only in English. In German it would have been 'Freiheit' and (I think) 'Wüstling' so I don't see how that works. Colin 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
On Sep 23, 2009, at 5:48 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: Shane Mage wrote: And that is the best of kings adulated by Beethoven, the supposed democrat. Which is to be expected from the composer of a Symphony celebrating Wellington's Victory at the Battle of Vittoria. But didn't Beethoven tear up the dedication page of his Third Symphony when he heard that Bonaparte had crowned himself Emperor? Where then, were his democratic sympathies when Bonaparte had made himself dictator as First Consul? Alas, in crowning himself Emperor, Bonaparte had ended the Holy Roman Empire. And that act of lèse majesté to Beethoven's Austrian Kaiser was unpardonable. Sounds like Beethoven was the 19th century counterpart of Castroite apologists like me today! Guilty as charged. Louis, I certainly said nothing like Beethoven was the 19th century counterpart of Castroite apologists. Quite the contrary. If he had been, he certainly never would have torn up his Bonaparte dedication! 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 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
Yes, Beethoven did certainly compose Wellington's Victory... Amazing that nobody bothers to mention what a terrible piece of music it is-- total, irredeemable dreck, written by Beethoven with at least the partial intent to parody/imitate/employ Malzel's (Beethoven's collaborator on and instigator of this piece) invention-- the panharmonicon. Yes, he tore up the title page of Symphony #3 (originally named Bonaparate) when he heard that Napoleon had crowned himself emperor. Prior to that, of course, Beethoven was enamored with Napoleon and even considered moving to Paris. Any you know what else? Why Beethoven was subsidized by the decadent German and Austrian nobility. No! Yes! He even wrote pieces on commission for, and dedicated to, them. No! Yes! OMG!! I think we're much better off not trying to make of Beethoven anything other than what he was-- as Robert Greenberg puts it in his lectures on Beethoven's Symphonies-- genius and troublemaker. His democracy, his liberty, and freedom, his overthrow of convention is his music. It's all about the music, not Beethoven's politics. (With thanks to Dennis Brasky) - Original Message - From: Shane Mage shm...@pipeline.com To: David Schanoes sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:12 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
On Sep 23, 2009, at 6:04 PM, Colin West wrote: On Sep 23, 2009, at 4:46 PM, Shane Mage wrote As for Don Giovanni, it is perfectly true that it is an anti- authoritarian masterpiece, but in exactly the opposite sense from that meant by the liberal critics. To grasp that fact for yourself consider only these two (of many) things: (1) the closeness, especially in Mozart's day, of the cognates liberty and libertine, and (2) having (seemingly) been killed early one morning, by evening of that same day the Commendatore is (seemingly) buried in a graveyard with a massive equestrian statue over his tomb. ...I have to disagree here. Of Mozart's great operas Don Giovanni is, to me, the lesser. It relies on the stale deus ex machina to move the plot... Your preference is not at issue (me, I prefer whichever I heard last). As to the deus ex machina, presumably the statue, you simply fail to grasp the point that the statue cannot possibly exist-- it is the Commendatore in flesh and blood. If you're talking about the flames under the trapdoor, that's a clever stage effect but no sort of deus ex machina. and Giovanni himself, although reputedly something of a roué, entirely fails to seduce anyone in the entire opera. He certainly succeeds with Zerlina and also with Elvira (at the start of Act II), though indeed neither of those ladies is reluctant in the slightest degree! Further, 'liberty' and 'libertine' may be cognates but only in English. In German it would have been 'Freiheit' and (I think) 'Wüstling' [Wüstling is only one of the three possible equivalents. The other two, per Cassel, are römische Freigelassener and Freidenker] so I don't see how that works. Have you only heard it in German translation? The language of Don Giovanni is Italian. 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 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] WW2: interimperialist war to redivide the world,
No way. No matter how much better planned out, Barbarossa could not have succeeded-- to suceed it required complete internal collapse of the Soviet Union's productive power, military organization and political leadership. That's what social combat means. Did not occur. Then. Did occur in the period leading up to 1991, which is why the USSR went down with a whimper and not a bang. I recommend reading Glantz's Colussus Reborn to understand that, in the end, better planning of Barbarossa, not dividing forces to move south toward the oil regions but concentrating on Moscow, etc. etc. were not mistakes that could have been remedied, and if remedied, led to Germany's victory. - Original Message - From: nada dwalters...@gmail.com To: David Schanoes sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:29 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism] WW2: interimperialist war to redivide the world, I. There is nothing illogical to assume that had the Nazi's beaten the British in 1940 and Barbarossa been more successfully planned out 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
As to the deus ex machina, presumably the statue, you simply fail to grasp the point that the statue cannot possibly exist-- it is the Commendatore in flesh and blood. If you're talking about the flames under the trapdoor, that's a clever stage effect but no sort of deus ex machina. No, the idea that the Commendatore returns from the dead is what I mean by deus ex machina. and Giovanni himself, although reputedly something of a roué, entirely fails to seduce anyone in the entire opera. He certainly succeeds with Zerlina and also with Elvira (at the start of Act II), though indeed neither of those ladies is reluctant in the slightest degree! Oh? Elvira is led away by Leperetto and then Giovanni tries to seduce Elvira's maid and is interrupted. And it's Elvira's arrival in Act I that thwarts Giovanni's seduction of Zerlina. Further, 'liberty' and 'libertine' may be cognates but only in English. In German it would have been 'Freiheit' and (I think) 'Wüstling' [Wüstling is only one of the three possible equivalents. The other two, per Cassel, are römische Freigelassener and Freidenker] so I don't see how that works. Have you only heard it in German translation? The language of Don Giovanni is Italian. I'm not convinced that Mozart really spoke or understood Italian. The libretto would have been handed to him translated. In the same way that Stravinsky's 'Oedipus Rex' is sung in Latin but Stravinsky didn't understand Latin (but neither did the librettist; it was translated by a Jesuit priest who was friendly with Cocteau). Colin 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
Concerning the more conservative elements of Fidelio, it has always bothered me that many have considered the end of Act I (the prison choir) as 'proof' of Beethoven's democratic sympathies; there's always something amiss. True, the prisoners dread being subjected to constant observation, but it always feels like Beethoven thinks that it is the existence of even an even more thorough observer that mitigates their suffering, and that this carries over to dilemma of Florestan (where Pizarro is to be resisted, only insofar as he fails to perfectly oppress). On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 7:30 PM, Colin West colingw...@mac.com wrote: As to the deus ex machina, presumably the statue, you simply fail to grasp the point that the statue cannot possibly exist-- it is the Commendatore in flesh and blood. If you're talking about the flames under the trapdoor, that's a clever stage effect but no sort of deus ex machina. No, the idea that the Commendatore returns from the dead is what I mean by deus ex machina. and Giovanni himself, although reputedly something of a roué, entirely fails to seduce anyone in the entire opera. He certainly succeeds with Zerlina and also with Elvira (at the start of Act II), though indeed neither of those ladies is reluctant in the slightest degree! Oh? Elvira is led away by Leperetto and then Giovanni tries to seduce Elvira's maid and is interrupted. And it's Elvira's arrival in Act I that thwarts Giovanni's seduction of Zerlina. Further, 'liberty' and 'libertine' may be cognates but only in English. In German it would have been 'Freiheit' and (I think) 'Wüstling' [Wüstling is only one of the three possible equivalents. The other two, per Cassel, are römische Freigelassener and Freidenker] so I don't see how that works. Have you only heard it in German translation? The language of Don Giovanni is Italian. I'm not convinced that Mozart really spoke or understood Italian. The libretto would have been handed to him translated. In the same way that Stravinsky's 'Oedipus Rex' is sung in Latin but Stravinsky didn't understand Latin (but neither did the librettist; it was translated by a Jesuit priest who was friendly with Cocteau). Colin 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/strangelythanthemoon%40gmail.com 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Ahmadinejad's advice to the world
Concluding paragraphs of UN Speech today (I'll stick with Nimrod and polytheism): Therefore, we emphasize that: – The only path to remain safe is to return to monotheism (believing in the Oneness of God) and justice, and this is the greatest hope and opportunity in all ages and generations. Without belief in God and commitment to the cause of justice and fight against injustice and discrimination, the world architect would not get right. Man is at the center of the universe. The man’s unique feature is his humanity. The same feature which seeks for justice, piety, love, knowledge, awareness and all other high values. These human values should be supported, and each and every fellow humans should be given the opportunity to acquire them. Neglecting any of them is tantamount to the omission of a constituting piece of humanity. These are common elements which connect all human communities and constitute the basis of peace, security and friendship. 7 The divine religions pay attention to all aspects of human life, including obedience to God, morality, justice, fighting oppression, and endeavor to establish just and good governance. Prophet Abraham called for Oneness of God against Nimrod, as Prophet Moses did the same against Pharaohs and the Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon them) did against the oppressors of their own time. They were all threatened to death and were forced out of their homelands. Without resistance and objection, the injustices would not be removed from the face of the earth. Sixth; (Dear friends and colleagues; The world is in continuous change and evolution. The promised destiny for the mankind is the establishment of the humane pure life. Will come a time when justice will prevail across the globe and every single human being will enjoy respect and dignity. That will be the time when the Mankind’s path to moral and spiritual perfectness will be opened and his journey to God and the manifestation of the God’s Divine Names will come true. The mankind should excel to represent the God’s “knowledge and wisdom”, His “compassion and benevolence”, His “justice and fairness”, His “power and art”, and His “kindness and forgiveness”. These will all come true under the rule of the Perfect Man, the last Divine Source on earth, Hazrat Mahdi (Peace be upon him); an offspring of the Prophet of Islam, who will re-emerge, and Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him) and other noble men will accompany him in the accomplishment of this, grand universal mission. And this is the belief in Entezar (Awaiting patiently for the Imam to return). Waiting with patience for the rule of goodness and the governance of the Best which is a universal human notion and which is a source of nations’ hope for the betterment of the world. 1 They will come, and with the help of righteous people and true believers will materialize the man’s long-standing desires for freedom, perfectness, maturity, security and tranquility, peace and beauty. They will come to put an end to war and aggression and present the entire knowledge as well as spirituality and friendship to the whole world. Yes; Indeed, the bright future for the mankind will come. (Dear friends, In waiting for that brilliant time to come and in a collective commitment, let’s make due contributions in paving the grounds and preparing the conditions for building that bright future. Long live love and spirituality; long live peace and security; long live justice and freedom. God’s Peace and blessing be upon you all. full: http://ironicsurrealism.blogivists.com/2009/09/23/transcript-ahmadinejad-speech-at-the-un-general-assembly-9-23-09/ 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
On Sep 23, 2009, at 7:30 PM, Colin West wrote: As to the deus ex machina, presumably the statue, you simply fail to grasp the point that the statue cannot possibly exist-- it is the Commendatore in flesh and blood. If you're talking about the flames under the trapdoor, that's a clever stage effect but no sort of deus ex machina. No, the idea that the Commendatore returns from the dead is what I mean by deus ex machina. The point is that the Commendatore's death was a stage play. The fake blood represents real fake blood Do you imagine that Donna Anna, who is on a first-name basis with Giovanni (she and Ottavio address him as Don Giovanni, not the formal Don Giovanni Tenorio) wouldn't recognize him in her bed? Do you imagine that Don Giovanni and the Commendatore were not part of the Sevillan aristocratic circle as well as neighbors? and Giovanni himself, although reputedly something of a roué, entirely fails to seduce anyone in the entire opera. He certainly succeeds with Zerlina and also with Elvira (at the start of Act II), though indeed neither of those ladies is reluctant in the slightest degree! Oh? Elvira is led away by Leperetto and then Giovanni tries to seduce Elvira's maid and is interrupted. And it's Elvira's arrival in Act I that thwarts Giovanni's seduction of Zerlina. thwarts *consummation*, not seduction. The seduction in their heads is portrayed by the music as Elvira starts to go off with Leporello and Zerlina with Giovanni. And as to consummation: I've mentioned Anna, now consider also that clock time can often flow quite a bit faster than operatic time. In the Act I finale how short, really, was the time between Zerlina accompanying Giovanni offstage and her scream? Further, 'liberty' and 'libertine' may be cognates but only in English. In German it would have been 'Freiheit' and (I think) 'Wüstling' [Wüstling is only one of the three possible equivalents. The other two, per Cassel, are römische Freigelassener and Freidenker] so I don't see how that works. Freidenker, free-thinker, is the sense of libertine found in the title of the original Don Juan play--*El Burlador de Sevilla*. Mozart, of course, as a Mason and friend of Da Ponte and Casanova, was most certainly a *freidenker*. 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 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] My review of In Search of Mozart from July 2007
I have studied the tenor arias in Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute (there is only a minor tenor role in The Marriage of Figaro). To hear them they sound simple and easy. They are NOT! They are incredibly demanding, in terms of breath, tessitura (the median of the vocal range), and the intangible of delivering the song in a dramatically credible way. That being said, getting it right is the most rewarding musical experience imaginable! Tom -Original Message- From: marxism-bounces+biastg=embarqmail@lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+biastg=embarqmail@lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 8:58 PM To: Thomas Bias Subject: [Marxism] My review of In Search of Mozart from July 2007 This Friday In Search of Mozart opens at the Cinema Village in New York City. As the title implies, it is an attempt to come to grips with perhaps the greatest composer of all time who died at the age of 35 in 1791. It mixes interviews with musicologists and performers who all share a love of his music as well as uncommon insights into his particular gifts. While the musical excerpts tend to be on the brief side, the film is wall-to-wall Mozart with performances from many of the interviewees including Renée Fleming, Roger Norrington and Lang Lang, the rising virtuoso pianist from China. It is also an old-fashioned travelogue as we follow the same path the young Mozart and his ambitious father took from city to city in pursuit of fame and fortune. Although this might sound like the typical PBS fare, it is much more interesting and much more human. The Mozart director Phil Grabsky is intent on showing us is not a deity, but a living, breathing human being. We learn that he, like his parents, enjoyed writing scatological letters, filled with references to farting, oral sex and other off-color topics. He was also bent on enjoying the good life, even if it meant going into debt, not unlike millions of Americans today. Although he was prodigious in his output and a total disciplinarian when it came to his craft, he also knew how to relaxspending his afternoons playing billiards or cards. His life was also filled with conflict. Like many child prodigies, he had to contend with an overbearing father who wanted to use his son as a vehicle for his own ambitions. Unlike many prodigies, however, Mozart handled all this pressure with great aplomb. Even as a very young man, he had a good grasp of human relationships as opposed to the almost idiot savant version of Peter Schaffers Amadeus. Indeed, he not only had a gift for harmony but also for understanding the human condition from an early age. Operas like Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutti demonstrate a level of understanding about society that transcends just about everything that preceded it. The librettist for these three masterpieces was Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Venetian who had been born a Jew but converted to Roman Catholicism. Expelled from Venice for his democratic leanings, he ended up in the United States, where he opened a grocery store in the Bowery! Eventually he moved on to better things as a local opera promoter and Professor of Italian at Columbia University in New York. While In Search of Mozart focuses as it should on the music and the details of Mozarts life, there is an underlying social drama that is akin thematically to Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Like the more plebian characters in these two masterpieces, Mozart was basically at the mercy of his aristocratic patrons for every penny. He was always under pressure to turn out banal entertainments like Divertimentos or other dances for the court (that he always managed to turn into masterpieces), but preferred to compose more ambitious works like symphonies and operas. Maynard Solomon, founder of Vanguard Records and author of Marxism and Art: Essays Classic and Contemporary, summarizes Mozarts attitude toward the feudal gentry ruling Austria in his superb biography that I have been looking through since seeing the film: Beyond his fantasies of retribution, Mozart has scant deference for rank or position, whether in the secular or the religious spheres: archdukes, archbishops, emperors, and empresses alike are the subject of his scorn. He is skeptical of all authority, whether princes, kings, priests, or legislators. He cannot be taken in, as Beethoven was, by benevolent emperors and first consuls, perhaps because he knew these men at first hand in a way that Beethoven did not. Stupidity oozes out of his eyes, writes Mozart of his admiring patron, Archduke Maximilian Franz. He talks and holds forth incessantly and always in falsettoand he has started a goiter. Hearing of Empress Maria Theresas mortal illness, he is irked that he would have to feign grief: Next week everyone will be in mourningand I, who have always to be about,
[Marxism] Honduras: US welcomes call for coup leaders for senior diplomats to assist
The latest manoeuvre while Honduran streets are battle ground, with police and army violently repressing protests defying the regime's curfew. US backs Honduras invite for top diplomats (AFP) – 7 hours ago WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday welcomed an invitation by Honduras's de facto leaders for senior international diplomats to visit the country, in a bid to end the simmering crisis there. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said de facto foreign minister Carlos Lopez Contreras had invited a representative group of foreign ministers from members of the Organization of American States to go to Tegucigalpa for talks. We welcome that announcement and we look forward to supporting that initiative, Kelly said. Tensions have flared in the Central American nation since ousted President Manuel Zelaya returned earlier this week and holed up in Brazil's embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa. The United States also backed calls for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the crisis. Kelly said the United States -- which holds the presidency of the top UN body this month -- had received a request for debate from the Brazilian government to discuss the crisis and was looking at it positively. The Brazilian government has formally requested the UN Security Council convene to discuss the safety and security of president Zelaya and Brazilian facilities and personnel, said Kelly. We don't have any details about when exactly that meeting will take place but we are looking at it positively, he added. Diplomats have moved to ease the tension caused by Zelaya's return, amid concerns police and demonstrators amassed outside the embassy may reprise bloody clashes that accompanied Zelaya's first attempt to return to Honduras in July. We do have our concerns about the possible impact it may have on the situation on the ground, especially the possibilities for clashes and for this reason we have called on both sides to exercise restraint, said Kelly. In the third day of the Brazilian embassy standoff on Wednesday, Kelly said some staff had been allowed to leave and food and electricity supplies had been resumed. Some embassy staff left in vehicles provided by the US government he said. Zelaya was bundled out of the country in his pajamas in a military-backed coup on June 28. -- A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias. — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy? — Jarvis Cocker 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] in search of beethoven/mozart
Thanks to everyone for the many interesting comments about music. I learned a great deal. michael yates 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] In Search of Beethoven
- Original Message - From: Ian Pace i...@ianpace.com IP: I can hardly think of anything I've read on Beethoven (and I've read a great deal) that *doesn't* claim that this work is awful. ___ That's because it is a truly awful piece. That it made money, and brought Beethoven acclaim is the result of public, political, sentiment. __ IP: that's not a view I adhere to, thinking instead that some seeds of his late style (but pre- the late quartets) were sown there. A move away from individualistic bourgeois heroism towards militarism. __ Warning! Linear correspondence between music and politics being attempted! The ship will self destruct in T minus 5 minutes. ___ IP: The whole conception of 'genius' has come under sustained scrutiny by recent Beethoven scholars. ___ Again his genius, his troublemaking is in his music-- his violation and recomposition of the rules of harmony, melody, rhythm. I don't see any reason or need to argue about that. IP: I don't really accept that the music doesn't in itself constitute a form of politics. T minus 10, 9, 8, 7,... 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] WW2: interimperialist war to redivide the world,
David, Not my thesis either. I was responding simply to the suggestion that if Barbarossa had been better planned... etc. As for what might have happened, if... What can I say? Has entertainment value, I guess. In Colussus Reborn, Glantz does a neat job of counterposing the forces Germany committed to its other fronts vs. the Eastern front; the forces the Allies deployed vs. the forces deployed by the USSR, and it's clear as can be where the emphasis was. Germany's war production kept increasing despite the strategic bombing, strategic bombing being an oxymoron that belongs right up there with military intelligence. Strategic bombing is an instrumentof terror against the civilian population and nothing more. Again, my only concern is this notion that if Barbarossa were better planned, if only Hitler had committed more divisions to the east, etc. etc. I have no interest in any speculations about what might have happened if. If I remember correctly, the thread started with the issue of the progressive or possibly progressive nature of Churchill and other slimeball imperialist racist murdering slobs in allying with the USSR during WW2. Nothing progressive about that either. Simple opportunism born of necessity. - Original Message - From: nada dwalters...@gmail.com To: David Schanoes sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 7:08 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism] WW2: interimperialist war to redivide the world, S. Artesian, this is not Glantz's thesis as compared against a *victory* against Britain. 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] May Day weekend, Chicago: International Conference
A Century+ of May Days: Labor and Social struggles International Conference In Chicago during May Day weekend 2010, there will be a conference to discuss, debate and analyze labor and social struggles B both past and present. We hope to cover an array of important historical and political topics. In addition to purely academic pursuits, conference participants will have the opportunity to participate in the May Day rally organized by the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Illinois Labor History Society. If there is sufficient interest, we will set up a Chicago labor history tour. Initial list of participants and endorsers: James Thindwa, Illinois Labor History Society Trustee; Suzie Weissman, Saint Mary's College of California; Bryan Palmer, Trent University (Canada); Ronald van Raak, M.P. (The Netherlands); Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice; Michael McIntyre, DePaul University; Peter Hudis, Loyola University; Sungur Savran, Author (Turkey); Lea Haro, University of Glasgow (Scotland); George Gonos, SUNY- Potsdam; Janine Hatman, University of Cincinnati; Lauren Langman, Loyola University; Alexander Pantsov, Capital University; Francis King, Secretary-Socialist History Society (London); Mark Lause, University of Cincinnati; Eric A. Schuster, Truman College; Knud Jensen, DPU Aarhus University (Copenhagen); Axel Fair-Schulz, SUNY- Potsdam; JP Page, CGT (France); Dianne Feeley, Against the Current; Kevin Anderson, UC - Santa Barbara; Fritz Weber (Vienna); Jerry Harris, DeVry University; Joe Barry, University of Illinois; Theo Bergmann, (Stuttgart); Dan LaBotz, Author (Cincinnati); Sobhanlal Datta Gupta,. Surendra Nath Banerjee Professor, Calcutta University. (India); Spectre Magazine (Belgium); Steven McGiffen, American Graduate School of International Relations (Paris); Len Kaufmann (Wisconsin); William A. Pelz, Institute of Working Class History (Chicago) Further details: mayday1890.2...@gmail.com or write: Institute of Working Class History 2335 W. Altgeld Street Chicago, IL. 60647-2001 U.S.A.A Name _ Organizational affiliation*___ *(for identification purposes only) labor donated 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] May Day weekend, Chicago: International Conference
From: marxism-bounces+bpelz=elgin@lists.econ.utah.edu on behalf of Mark Lause Sent: Wed 9/23/2009 9:08 PM To: Pelz, William Subject: [Marxism] May Day weekend, Chicago: International Conference A Century+ of May Days: Labor and Social struggles International Conference In Chicago during May Day weekend 2010, there will be a conference to discuss, debate and analyze labor and social struggles B both past and present. We hope to cover an array of important historical and political topics. In addition to purely academic pursuits, conference participants will have the opportunity to participate in the May Day rally organized by the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Illinois Labor History Society. If there is sufficient interest, we will set up a Chicago labor history tour. Initial list of participants and endorsers: James Thindwa, Illinois Labor History Society Trustee; Suzie Weissman, Saint Mary's College of California; Bryan Palmer, Trent University (Canada); Ronald van Raak, M.P. (The Netherlands); Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice; Michael McIntyre, DePaul University; Peter Hudis, Loyola University; Sungur Savran, Author (Turkey); Lea Haro, University of Glasgow (Scotland); George Gonos, SUNY- Potsdam; Janine Hatman, University of Cincinnati; Lauren Langman, Loyola University; Alexander Pantsov, Capital University; Francis King, Secretary-Socialist History Society (London); Mark Lause, University of Cincinnati; Eric A. Schuster, Truman College; Knud Jensen, DPU Aarhus University (Copenhagen); Axel Fair-Schulz, SUNY- Potsdam; JP Page, CGT (France); Dianne Feeley, Against the Current; Kevin Anderson, UC - Santa Barbara; Fritz Weber (Vienna); Jerry Harris, DeVry University; Joe Barry, University of Illinois; Theo Bergmann, (Stuttgart); Dan LaBotz, Author (Cincinnati); Sobhanlal Datta Gupta,. Surendra Nath Banerjee Professor, Calcutta University. (India); Spectre Magazine (Belgium); Steven McGiffen, American Graduate School of International Relations (Paris); Len Kaufmann (Wisconsin); William A. Pelz, Institute of Working Class History (Chicago) Further details: mayday1890.2...@gmail.com or write: Institute of Working Class History 2335 W. Altgeld Street Chicago, IL. 60647-2001 U.S.A.A Name _ Organizational affiliation*___ *(for identification purposes only) labor donated 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/bpelz%40elgin.edu 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/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism-Thaxis] In memoriam: Holly Stand
In memoriam: Holly Stand by Kurt Stand submitted to portside by the author August 28, 2009 My mother, Hannelore (Holly) Stand, passed away on August 16 after a lifetime of engagement in the struggle for peace, equality and socialism. She was born into a Ruhr coal-mining community in 1924; her early life was marked by that community's revolutionary aspirations - and by the defeat of those aspirations. She left Germany in 1933 having witnessed the barbarism of fascism in power: Book burnings, arrests, brutal beatings, killings. Those of her family members who remained in Germany paid a heavy price during the years that followed for remaining true to their Communist convictions. The United States was a refuge, but not a respite, from the harshness of the depression, the sacrifices of political struggle. Her parents were each deeply engaged in the anti-fascist and labor movements; her father as a miner then as a building maintenance worker, her mother as a domestic worker. As her parents organized, she was frequently uprooted; my mother attended 12 schools in 4 states over the course of 4 years. She was unable to complete high school when finally back in New York to stay in 1938; though that did not prevent her from becoming a well-read and well- educated person - nor from eventually getting her GED when my brother and I were in college. My mother became politically active early in her own right, joining the Young Communist League and the Nature Friends - a workers' hiking group banned by the Nazis in Germany and listed as a subversive organization in the U.S. during the years of McCarthyism. It was within these groups that she built many of the friendships that would last a lifetime, and met my father Mille whom she married in 1943 just before he went overseas as a soldier during World War II. During the war, my mother worked in a garment factory, participated in Soviet War Relief efforts, and was involved in efforts to maintain an anti-fascist presence in the German-American community of Yorkville (in Manhattan). Her activism continued after the war, especially in work on behalf of Vito Marcantonio and his American Labor Party Congressional campaigns, when redistricting designed to weaken him added portions of Yorkville to his East Harlem base. In the 1950s-60s, she and my father dedicated time and energy to Camp Midvale in New Jersey, a left-wing community that survived the height of Cold War anti-Communist hysteria. They also worked for many years as part of the editorial committee of the Communist Party-associated publication German- American, and for the (Social Democrat-inclined) Workmen's Benefit Fund. Their work with the WBF in the 1970s-80s was especially concerned with building housing for elderly German-immigrant domestic workers who, when forced to retire, often found themselves with no home, and no family to turn to. And for all the years of its existence, they were actively engaged in building solidarity with the German Democratic Republic. The values my mother held, she lived. She wouldn't cross a picket line or buy a boycotted good, be it a Judy Bond dress or scab grapes. She was at the 1963 March on Washington, supported school integration in our Bronx neighborhood. I remember walking Ban the Bomb picket lines in front of the United Nations with her when I was a child; and later with my own children, marching with her in protest of the first Gulf War in Washington DC. To the end of her days she was engaged; in the 1990s with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and these last years with the Unitarian church in Westchester, NY. Living her values also meant that my mother always spoke her mind in the organizations to which she belonged, the socialist societies she supported. Her critical independence of thought meant that the pain she felt when the GDR and the Soviet Union collapsed - the pain of knowing how much so many sacrificed to build a better world - did not lead to disillusionment, did not lead to a sterile dogmatism, but rather to a search for what to learn, how to go forward. Nonetheless, the early years of the 21st century were difficult ones for my mother. The Bush Administration's glorification of war, justification of torture, the demagoguery and lies, all brought back memories of fascism. Obama's election brought back new hope, a confirmation of the humane values of the people in the U.S. Yet she had no illusion that further progress would come easily or quickly. Strong in her opinions, my mother was open-minded in ways important to us when we were growing up. She was brought up with a strong sense of the meaning and importance of family when a child in the Ruhr, only to see family ties disrupted again and again by the realities of repression and poverty in Germany, in the United States. For that reason she was especially devoted to her family, and was as fiercely committed to my father, to my brother and me, to her grandchildren and great
