Re: [Marxism] Guardian Headline -Surprise - Not
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Sartesian wrote: Oh, they definitely want to get rid of him [Obama]. He served his purpose, and now it's time to go. Why? For the same reason they wanted to get rid of Gordon Brown: it's time to smack the shit out of the working class, and with such force that it will make Maggie, Attila the Hen, Thatcher, Paul Volcker, and the Chicago Boys look like Cub Scouts helping the elderly across the street. ...Obama can't rally that type of madness, and viciousness. It takes a good old white boy to do that-- somebody who makes Cheney look like Jonas Salk. My comment: I wonder who that would be? Palin? Surely not. But every time I say that about an election I am proved wrong. Again I may sound naive, but surely even a decayed bourgeois democracy like the USA cannot deliver the kind of Armageddon figure you say is needed by the bourgeoisie. On second thoughts: Don't answer that. Comradely Gary 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 employer reverses itself on Wikileaks
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Following from the warning to students not to touch the Wikileaks material at Columbia University, I wonder if any Columbia University professor has recommended to his or her students Merle Fainsod's Smolensk Under Soviet Rule. A sort of Wikileaks of the Cold War period, it was a translated selection from 200 000 pages of Soviet state documents that had first been captured by the Germans as they advanced into Soviet territory in 1941, then subsequently come into US hands after the war. These were reproduced with not the slightest by-your-leave from those from whom they were taken in the first place. And what about Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin's The Mitrokhin Archive, a recent two-volume set of translated selections from KGB files acquired in dubious circumstances by defector Oleg Gordievsky? Like the Smolensk documents, these too were reproduced without permission. Surely no respectable prof would want students to peruse these collections of stolen documents? Paul F 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] Trotsky on Wikileaks (well, sort of) | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://links.org.au/node/2030 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] How big or important is the Wikileaks?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Andy P asked: 'By the way -- has anyone yet made the parallel to Trotsky's publishing of the Allies' secret diplomatic treaties?' Yes, my erstwhile ganzer macher and today's Spiked supremo Frank Füredi, who made the comparison between Trotsky and Assange expressly to denigrate the latter and the Wikileaks endeavour as nothing other but egotistic posturing. Those broadcasting personal information -- as if diplomatic cables are personal letters amongst friends and family! -- are no better than the purveyors of voyeuristic reality telly shows. He also claimed that Wikileaks-style operations make it hard for professors like himself to comment fairly amongst themselves about their students because there is no guarantee that anything can stay confidential anymore. This kind of stuff shows that the former Marxist internationalist cares not one jot about the wealth of information broadcast to the general public via Wikileaks about the sordid reality behind US diplomatic niceties around the world, the attitude of China towards North Korea, the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Islamicist extremism, and all the rest, and that all he's concerned about is slotting this important episode -- the first mass public displaying of state papers in most of our lifetimes -- into his feeble theoretical hobby-horses, promoting his banal contrarianism, and defending the student marking system in his college. His condemnation of the public displaying of state confidential papers also jars somewhat with Spiked's noisy campaign for Internet freedom. Füredi's article can be found at http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9953/ . Incidentally, on the telly the other evening was Jacqui 'Jackboot' Smith, one of New Labour's most authoritarian Home Secretaries, condemning this scandalous releasing of confidential state papers. How ironic, as she (along with many other British politicians and public figures) has been a firm advocate of the line that state surveillance must be acceptable to the public on the basis that if you have done nothing wrong, there's nothing to be worried about the state observing you. Now, surely if our diplomats, military men and politicians are doing nothing wrong, then they can have no reason to complain if we can do the same to them and look at what they're doing. Paul F 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] [Spa] Irish worker priest victim of the 1976 regime remembered in Argentina
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Source: http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-158257-2010-12-07.html Homenaje a Patrick Rice Organismos de derechos humanos, familiares y amigos realizarán hoy, a las 16, un homenaje a Patrick Rice, un ex cura obrero irlandés y “militante de la vida” que también sufrió los horrores de la dictadura como detenido-desaparecido. El mismo se realizará en donde funcionó la capilla de la ex Esma, donde los capellanes de la Iglesia Católica bendecían las acciones y a los miembros de los escuadrones de la muerte de la Armada. A cinco meses de su fallecimiento, ese lugar pasará a llamarse a partir de hoy “Espacio Patrick Rice”. -- Néstor Gorojovsky El texto principal de este correo puede no ser de mi autoría 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] How big or important is the Wikileaks?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Like all these questions, the actual importance of Wikileaks is a matter of context. What was important about what specifically a speaker might have to say isn't as important as the attempt to silence him or her. I can't even recall offhand which speaker they tried to ban that sparked the rebellion of May-June '68 Understanding the content of what has been leaked is a different matter, and it reflects the present dysfunctional state of journalism and the society in which it exists. The analogy would be for me, as a historian, to decide not to write a book but to take my notes, dump them on the floor, scan them in that order and send them electronically. Or selling computer software that regularly crashes or freezes up the computer, being fully aware that the public will buy it and use it because they really don't have an alternative... ML 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] Leaks Suggest Iran Is Now Winning in the Middle East
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/leaks_suggest_iran_is_now_winning_in_the_middle_east_20101207/ Leaks Suggest Iran Is Now Winning in the Middle East Posted on Dec 7, 2010 By Juan Cole Iran is winning and Israel is losing. That is the startling conclusion we reach if we consider how things have changed in the Middle East in the two years since most of the WikiLeaks State Department cables about Iran’s regional difficulties were written. Lebanon’s Sunni prime minister, once a virulent critic, quietly made his pilgrimage to the Iranian capital last week. Israeli hopes of separating Syria from Iran have been dashed. Turkey, once a strong ally of Israel, is now seeking better relations with Iran and with Lebanon’s Shiites. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s visit to Iran was in part an attempt to reach out to a major foreign patron of his country’s Shiite Hezbollah Party. Hariri’s father, Rafiq, was mysteriously blown to kingdom come in 2005, and a United Nations tribunal is now rumored to be leaning toward implicating Hezbollah. Many Lebanese are terrified that the tribunal’s findings might set Kalashnikovs clattering again in Beirut, given that the Hariris are Sunni Muslims linked to Saudi Arabia, and their followers could attack Lebanese Shiites in reprisal. Lebanon, a small country of 4 million, is more than a third Shiite, but Christians and Sunni Muslims have formed the political elite for two centuries. Hariri’s consultations with the ayatollahs in Tehran were an attempt to seek Iranian help in keeping Hezbollah militiamen in check (many Lebanese Shiites look to Iran as their external patron, just as many Sunnis look to Saudi Arabia and Christians to France and the U.S.). The talks also aimed at reconfirming Iranian pledges of economic aid to Beirut. In return, according to one anonymous Iranian source who spoke to Agence France-Presse, Hariri would throw his support behind Iran’s “development of nuclear capabilities for civilian and peaceful purposes.” If true, it is a 180 degree turn. According to The New York Times, an August 2006 cable reports that Saad Hariri had said that “Iraq was unnecessary” but “Iran is necessary,” and that the U.S. “must be willing to go all the way if need be” to halt Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, should negotiations prove fruitless. As late as March 2008, according to another leaked cable published on the Al-Akhbar newspaper website, Lebanon’s Minister of Defense Elias Murr, a Christian, passed along advice on how the Israelis could effectively fight Hezbollah without alienating the Christian Lebanese, as Tel Aviv had with its bombing of the Christian north in 2006. (Murr now disputes the account in the cable.) Not only has Hariri radically altered his discourse about Iran, but he has made an even more incredible turnaround regarding Iran’s best friend, Syria. In the past two years, President Michel Sleiman and Hariri have energetically sought a rapprochement with Syria, one of Hezbollah’s patrons. They sought to repair ties with Damascus that had been badly damaged by Beirut’s accusations that Syria backed the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, which had led to massive anti-Syrian demonstrations and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Hariri now says he was wrong to accuse Damascus. The growing influence in Lebanon of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Asad has alarmed the Obama administration. Likewise, during the past two years, Turkey has increasingly offered Lebanon its coat strings as a rising Middle Eastern regional power. Ankara and Beirut have concluded a treaty creating a free trade zone between the two countries, which Turkey hopes to expand to Syria and Jordan. In sharp contrast to the ambivalence of Lebanon’s own Sunnis and Christians, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to Beirut on Nov. 23 and warned Israel, “If you invade Lebanon and Gaza using the most modern tanks and you destroy schools and hospitals, don’t expect us to be silent about it. We will not be silent, but will support what is right.” Erdogan also defended Hezbollah from rumors that it had itself been implicated in the elder Hariri’s assassination, saying that “no one could imagine” that the organization, which called itself Lebanon’s “spirit of resistance,” had been involved in the killing. Turkey’s defense of Hezbollah tracked with Ankara’s improved relations with Iran itself. Turkey attempted to run interference at the United Nations Security Council for Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. When the council voted to ratchet up economic sanctions on Iran on June 9, Turkey and Brazil voted against the measure, and Lebanon abstained. From 2005 through 2006, Iran appeared to be on the retreat
[Marxism] What's wrong with a primary challenge to Obama?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/whats-wrong-with-a-primary-challenge-to-obama/ 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] Racist rabbis
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/top-rabbis-move-to-forbid-renting-homes-to-arabs-say-israel-belongs-to-jews-1.329327 Top rabbis move to forbid renting homes to Arabs, say 'Israel belongs to Jews' Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to the ruling, which comes just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews. By Chaim Levinson A numbr of leading rabbis who signed on to a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles – a move particularly aimed against Arabs – defended their decision on Tuesday with the declaration that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews. Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to the ruling, which comes just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews. Signatories include the chief rabbis of Ramat Hasharon, Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Rishon Letzion, Carmiel, Gadera, Afula, Nahariya, Herzliya, Nahariya and Pardes Hannah, among a number of other cities. We don't need to help Arabs set down roots in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of the Beit El settlement, said on Tuesday. Aviner explained that he supported the move for two reasons: one, a Jew looking for an apartment should get preference over a gentile; and two, to keep the growing Arab population from settling too deeply. Racism originated in the Torah, said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. The land of Israel is designated for the people of Israel. This is what the Holy One Blessed Be He intended and that is what the [sage] Rashi interpreted. He added that he did not see the move as racist so much as segregationist. The world is so big and the State of Israel is small, that God intended it for the people of Israel and the whole world covets it. That is the injustice. Upon news of the religious ruling, Meretz faction whip Ilan Ghilon immediately asked the attorney general to dismiss each of the rabbis who had signed their names. We are witnessing an epidemic of racism and xenophobia and we must act firmly, he said. Deputy Knesset chairman MK Ahmed Tibi decried the letter as a mass crime [committed] by a group of racist rabbis who should be given intensive course in Jewish history. The entire group should be tried for incitement to racism, added Tibi, Muslim clerics have recently been tried or fired from their jobs for much less but the rabbis are able to pursue their unruly behavior without concern. Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav termed the ruling the real desecration of God's name. It is bringing hatred against those with whom we have chosen to live our lives. Nazareth Mayor Ramiz Jaraisy also decried the moving, declaring that whoever thinks it damages one side is mistaken. We are all children of the land. Both nations must search for common ground and not bring about escalation. In their ruling, the rabbis called on the religious community to voice support Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who could face trial for incitement against Arabs for initiating the move against renting to gentiles. Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman has also asked Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to begin the process of suspending Eliyahu immediately from his post as municipal rabbi. Politicos from the national religious sector believe that the mass of prominent figures who signed on to the ruling – all of whose salaries are paid by public funds - will send a message to the attorney general to take Eliyahu's position seriously. The rabbis' letter prompted by Eliyahu, which was first published months ago and reprinted in October, urges Jewish owners of apartments to reconsider renting their properties to Arabs since it would deflate the value of their homes as well as those in the neighborhood. Their way of life is different than that of Jews, the letter stated. Among [the gentiles] are those who are bitter and hateful toward us and who meddle into our lives to the point where they are a danger. The rabbis also urge neighbors of anyone renting or selling property to Arabs to caution that person. After delivering the warning, the neighbor is then encouraged to issue notices to the general public and inform the community. The neighbors and acquaintances [of a Jew who sells or rents to an Arab] must distance themselves from the Jew, refrain from doing business with him, deny him the right to read from the Torah, and similarly [ostracize] him until he goes back on this harmful deed, the letter reads. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at:
Re: [Marxism] How important is Wikileaks
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == With the latest ruling class hysteria that some of the material from Wikileaks is directly benefiting Al Qaeda, one wonders wether Assange is now marked to dissapear into a secret prison somewhere. The larger issues that this case brings up was put very well on another discussion site: The class dictatorship character of the bourgeois democratic state stands revealed before the world in a way that is new and huge. The resort to naked censorship, intimidation and calls for the extra-judicial execution of Assange are stark. So too is the contradiction between the promise of the internet as an electronic commons and the reality of corporate power (as reflected in the actions of Amazon and PayPal). For whatever the common knowledge about the sordid nature of US diplomacy, the revelation of this fault line within the digital world itself is important and will have an effect way beyond the boundaries of online socialists. As to effectively using some of this material for agitation, I just received this today from the Campaign against the Israeli Occupation: WikiLeaks Exposes U.S. Militarization of Middle East The cables released so far by WikiLeaks shed light on behind-the-scenes struggles between Israel's quest for complete military dominance in the Middle East versus the U.S. desire to saturate the entire region with a flood of high-tech weapons. Read more about these revelations here: WikiLeaks: Israel's Security Concerns Often Clash With U.S. Interests, by Josh Ruebner, our National Advocacy Director WikiLeaks: War, Diplomacy Ban ki-Moon's Toothbrush, by Phyllis Bennis, a member of our steering committee Top 10 Wikileaks Palestine Nuggets, by Yousef Munayyer of the Jerusalem Fund, one of our member organizations WikiLeaks has done a great service, exposing in detail how U.S. diplomacy is geared toward flooding the Middle East with weapons, fueling a never-ending arms race, abetting Israel's crimes against innocent Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, maintaining U.S. wars that have cost hundreds of billions of dollars. 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] Operation Avenge Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Jay Moore wrote:. http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201049/6520 *Update:* Anonymous responded to Assange's arrest by taking down Swedish government site www.aklagare.se http://www.aklagare.se, the hive at 13:15 EST has hit more than 600 users. This is more than enough to cripple a given domain, considering that aklagare.se has minimal infrastructure support. The site linked is in fact inaccessible, and the idea sounds justifiable to harass the Swedish government. But isn't this the official site of the Swedish government? http://www.sweden.gov.se/ It's functioning just fine. DT 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 proposal on Assange for the Peace Nobel by Diana Johnstone
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The jailing of Julian Assange today in the UK amounts to perhaps the most significant revelation to emerge from the Wikileaks operations. It is a clear sign that we in the democratic West are not living in a free society. Whenever before was Interpol mobilized to such an extent to jail someone on such dubious charges? It is obvious that Assange is being persecuted for revelations that could conceivably arouse public opinion to oppose the war policies of the United States. That is only a remote possibility, given the ideological indoctrination of Euro-Atlantic populations, but the threat is considered serious enough to mobilize the judicial power of the U.S. empire to make an example of Julian Assange. If Assange is not released soon, I propose forming a committee to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Obviously the Norwegian stooges who awarded first Obama and then a Chinese dissident, whose cause was by no means as related to peace as that of Assange, but the nomination would at least help expose the hypocritical double standards that contribute to this deadly ideological indoctrination. Diana Johnstone 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 2010-12-07, at 8:58 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: Obama: On the way to a failed presidency? By Katrina vanden Heuvel Tuesday, December 7, 2010; Ronald Reagan famously quipped that the Democratic Party left him before he left the party. Like many progressive supporters of Barack Obama, I'm beginning to have the same feeling about this president. Consider what we've seen since the shellacking Democrats took in the fall elections. On Afghanistan, the administration has intimated that the 2011 pullout date is inoperable, with the White House talking 2014 and Gen. David H. Petraeus suggesting decades of occupation. On bipartisanship, the president seems to think that cooperation requires self-abasement. He apologized to the obstructionist Republican leadership for not reaching out, a gesture reciprocated with another poke in the eye. He chose to meet with the hyper-partisan Chamber of Commerce after it ran one of the most dishonest independent campaigns in memory. He appears to be courting Roger Altman, a former investment banker, for his economic team, leavening the Goldman Sachs flavor of his administration with a salty Lehman Brothers veteran. […] The subject line is another easy cheap shot at disillusioned liberals which misses the larger point that the article is further evidence of the rapidly growing distance between the Democratic leadership and the base of the party, particularly its important layer of more politically aware activists and public intellectuals. Krugman, Reich, Stiglitz, Frank Rich, Eugene Robinson, Olbermann, Maddow, vanden Huevel and others speak for a constituency larger than themselves, which at the present time is of more interest to me than their personal foibles, past histories, or to-be-expected illusions about reforming the Democratic party. Pity there is no longer a working class socialist left in and around the Democratic party, a bourgeois reform party supported by the unions and their various allies, with the connections, understanding, energy and organizational skills needed to advance the process further. Rather than delight in the dashed hopes of liberal public intellectuals, a more serious approach would pay careful attention to their political trajectory as a reflection of developments at the base. In this vein, I was struck by a recent comment from another angry disillusoned liberal, the economist James Galbraith: The Democratic Party has become too associated with Wall Street. This is a fact. It is a structural problem. It seems to me that we as progressives need — this is my personal position — we need to draw a line and decide that we would be better off with an under-funded, fighting progressive minority party than a party marked by obvious duplicity and constant losses on every policy front as a result of the reversals in our own leadership. A third party of any significance is not presently on the agenda, and won't likely be without a preceding faction fight inside the DP, or so it seems to me, but this is very strong language and the fact that the idea is even being floated in leading liberal circles suggests that something deeper and unprecedented is going on in the party than I had reason to believe. But to find this material - much more interesting, IMO, than the predictably boring denuciations of the DP leadership and ridicule of public liberals so prevalent here - you have to look for it, and with a mind open to all possibilities. 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == This is a very eloquent piece. And I file it under the Crisis of Liberal thought. It seems to me that we are getting inexorably closer to the come to jesus moment, when Liberals have to choose. Their illusions which they wrap so tightly around themselves are being ripped off with brutal ruthlessness. Why this undending humiliation of Obama the true beleivers? I accept largely Lou's thesis that Obama was never the progressive he claimed to be. But he is now fast becoming a figure of ridicule and mockery. The contempt in ruling circles for the likes of Obama and those who believed in him is palpable. Maybe Sartesion is right and Obama has served his purpose. Perhaps he will be cast into the dustbin of history. But I have an enduring belief in the power of liberals to keep inventing a new illusion to grocvel behind. We seem somehow never to reach the moment when man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. So the wretched Obama might survive. I certainly hope not. comradely Gary 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] Rethinking Conspiracy: The Political Philosophy of Julian Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Rethinking Conspiracy: The Political Philosophy of Julian Assange by Peter Ludlow Dept. of Philosophy Northwestern University _peterjlud...@gmail.com_ (mailto:peterjlud...@gmail.com) Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul this unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of statesmanship. -- President Theodore Roosevelt (epigraph from an Assange paper) There has been plenty of venom spewed about the recently arrested Julian Assange, ranging from calls for his assassination to claims that he is an anarchist and even (according to Newt Gingrich) that he runs a terrorist organization. On the other side there have been those who view him positively as a prophet of the “information wants to be free” hacker ethic. While I used to agree with the latter group, but I now understand that this is a gross oversimplification of his views. I’ve been reading some of Assange’s more philosophical writings, ranging from blog posts to position papers. While this work is scattered and at times technical (and certainly enthymematic) I think I have the gist of his position. My goal in this note is explain his philosophical position as best as I can. Since my goal is pedagogical, I won’t weigh in pro or con, but I will conclude with some questions for further discussion. To keep things as tight as possible, I’ve organized my summary of his position into three parts. First, I’ll look at his view of what conspiracies are and how they are formed. Second, I’ll examine his views about why conspiracies are necessarily harmful. Third, I’ll turn to his reason for t hinking that leaks are optimal weapons for the dismantling of conspiracies. 1.0 What are Conspiracies? One of the core goals of Assange’s project is to dismantle what he calls “ conspiracies.” I use scare quotes here because he doesn’t mean ‘ conspiracy’ in the usual sense of people sitting around in a room plotting some crime or deception. As I understand Assange’s view it is entirely possible that there could be a conspiracy in which no person in the conspiracy was aware that they were part of the conspiracy. How is this possible? I’ll get into details in a bit, but first I think the basic idea of a conspiracy with unwitting agents can be illustrated in a simple way. Suppose that you have some information that is valuable – say some inside information about the financial state of a corporation. If you immediately make that information public without acting on it, it is worth nothing to you. On the other hand, if you keep it to yourself you may not fully profit from the information. Ideally, you would like to seek out someone that you could trade the information with, and who you could be sure would keep the information close so that it remained valuable. Let’s say that I have similar information and that we trade it. You may trade with other friends and I may do likewise. In each case we have simply traded information for our own benefit, but we have also built a little network of information traders who, hopefully, are keeping the information relatively close and are giving us something equally valuable in kind. We may not know the scope of the network and we may not even realize we are part of a network, but we are, and this network constitutes a conspiracy as Assange understands it. No one sat down and agreed to form a network of inside information traders – the network has simply naturally emerged from our local individual bargains. We can say that the network is an emergent property of these bargains. Emergent conspiracies like this needn’t be restricted to the business world. Suppose that I am a reporter. I would like to have some hot news to report. You agree to give me the inside information, but you do so with the understanding that you and your network friends will act on your information before you give it to me and it becomes worthless when published. I get my scoop, and you get to control the conditions under which the information is made public. I, as reporter, am now unknowingly part of the conspiracy. I am participating in the conspiracy by respecting the secrets that the network wishes to keep, and releasing the secrets (and sometimes misinformation) only when it is in the interest of the network to do so. I have become a part of the network, and hence part of the conspiracy. The network need not start out as a conspiracy. Suppose we have an organization (say the US State Department) and some of
Re: [Marxism] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gary writes: But I have an enduring belief in the power of liberals to keep inventing a new illusion to grovel behind. We seem somehow never to reach the moment when man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. Or as Richard Greener wrote in the article to which Gary was referring: If we start now there's time for a reliable, truthful, electable liberal-progressive Democrat to emerge. 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 12/7/10 6:59 PM, Lajany Otum wrote: Or as Richard Greener wrote in the article to which Gary was referring: If we start now there's time for a reliable, truthful, electable liberal-progressive Democrat to emerge. To which I wrote Richard: I think the chances for a socialist revolution are more auspicious. 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == It had not occurred to me that president Obama might recognize he should not run for reelection and take himself out to assure election of someone further to the left. But that would be decent and shrewd, and in my opinion he is both.I will oppose this groundswell from the left that further weakens him until I'm convinced it is not a play in behalf of someone further right, Secretary Clinton or former President Clinton, or a trap quite worthy of Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich etal that smart people,too pure for the collective good of the human species, are falling into. Have people here read left wing communism, an infantile disorder? or the update of it by the Chairman of the CP in west Germany before the end of east Germany, named something like Steinbenner? 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 12/7/10 6:59 PM, Peggy Dobbins wrote: It had not occurred to me that president Obama might recognize he should not run for reelection and take himself out to assure election of someone further to the left. But that would be decent and shrewd, and in my opinion he is both.I will oppose this groundswell from the left that further weakens him until I'm convinced it is not a play in behalf of someone further right, Secretary Clinton or former President Clinton, or a trap quite worthy of Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich etal that smart people,too pure for the collective good of the human species, are falling into. Have people here read left wing communism, an infantile disorder? or the update of it by the Chairman of the CP in west Germany before the end of east Germany, named something like Steinbenner? Peggy, I have no idea why you have so many technical problems with this listserv. You sent the message above as if it were a reply but it would have been less confusing without the 's. Now, I have indeed read Left-Wing Communism but it has nothing to do with the 2 party system in the USA. Lenin urged the CP to back SP candidates in order to get a hearing from rank-and-file members. He reasoned that they had no idea how treacherous their leaders were since they had never exercised power as a governing party. Once they did, the workers would be open to CP ideas but it was necessary to remove any obstacles to that dialog. This has nothing to do with the Democratic Party that has been around since Andrew Jackson and that was the party of chattel slavery. Workers have seen it in action. Mostly they vote for it out of a sense of futility. We are trying to create a radical alternative to both the Democrats and the Republicans without worrying whether Palin will be elected because of our actions. 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Peggy, Peggy, Peggy how could you? The diatribe against 'Left wing communism' only makes sense if one realises that there was a bona fide Communism around. We do not even have a bona fide liberalism. Obama is one of two things - spineless, gutless, grovelling liberal or a shrewd opportunist who took advantage of the despair brought about by the Bush years. He now needs to somehow restore a little of the faux liberal pretensions that he spun around us so beguilingly. For me, speaking personally, it is our *sacred* duty as Marxists not to assist him in that task in any way. comradely Gary 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] Would Obama Prosecute Martin L. King Jr. for WikiLeaks' Revelations of War and Environmental Crimes?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Would Obama Prosecute Martin L. King Jr. for WikiLeaks' Revelations of War and Environmental Crimes? http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12048 * JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH * Or to put the question differently: Would Martin Luther King Jr. support and defend Julian Assange's efforts to inform the public about war and corporate environmental crimes? Last night I watched The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington again, and it occurred to me that during the arguments given in support of civil disobedience that Julian Assange, publisher of WikiLeaks.org, is practicing civil disobedience and that the Obama administration is on the wrong side of history. For much of his crusading career, Martin Luther King Jr. was regarded by the U.S. Justice Department and Hoover's FBI an enemy of the state, a terrorist, and a communist. Many more accusations were made against him for his attempt to shed light on human suffering that had its violent roots in the acceptance of racism. Most people remember King for his demonstrations against segregation and racism, but what the history books conveniently leave out is his equally strong opposition against the Vietnam War. Here is a passage taken from his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silencehttp://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.htmlspeech delivered April 4 th, 1967. When asked about Vietnam, he replied: They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent. Today, I have no doubt that, like Julian Assange, Martin Luther King Jr. would be opposed to the unnecessary occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. He would question the interests of Big Oil in these regions and he would also defend Julian Assange's WikiLeaks revelations on corporate crimes committed against nature and human beings, the exposure of toxins and pollution of our air and water. While Eric Holder spends his time prosecuting a Martin Luther King activist for exposing corporate and war crimes via WikiLeaks that would otherwise remain secret, he turns a blind eye to BP executives who've literally destroyed the Gulf sea life and the economy of the Gulf, which is understandable since he used to defend oil companies. History will show that Obama's Justice Department prosecutes individuals who believe the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq are morally and legally wrong. Holder argues that WikiLeaks is putting troops at risk. Martin L. King would reply to Holder: The use of military violence, for any reason, gives opponents fuel for criticism and risks harming others. One thing is for certain: President Obama is no Martin Luther King Jr. in that one must practice what one preaches in campaigns, and he is no environmentalist. As TruthOut reportedhttp://www.truth-out.org/big-polluters-freed-from-environmental-oversight-stimulus65675: The Obama administration has doled out billions of dollars in stimulus money to some of the nation's biggest polluters and granted them sweeping exemptions from the most basic form of environmental oversight... The administration has awarded more than 179,000 'categorical exclusions' to stimulus projects funded by federal agencies, freeing those projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. As Mark Karlin, Editor of Buzzflash, put it, on shutting down WikiLeaks: President Obama hangs an iron curtain between U.S. citizens and the Truth./node/12040 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] Rethinking Conspiracy: The Political Philosophy of Julian Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Ye gods, what a lot of quasi-academic verbiage delivered with unreadable pomposity. I gave up counting the Let's suppose, For example, and so on. The speech by Assange at the 2010 Oslo forum explaining his philosophy (posted on Nov. 29 on this list) shed far more light than all this blabber. David On 1:59 PM, politic...@aol.com wrote: Rethinking Conspiracy: The Political Philosophy of Julian Assange by Peter Ludlow 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] Carl Von Ossietzky
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == You might have mentioned Obama, too. Notwithstanding, the prize still has cachet and even a serious nomination campaign will offer some cover for for Assange and Manning, who are right now isolated in a cell somewhere, and for the Wikileaks workers, who are also under the gun. Including Ellsberg and Russo in the nomination would be a tip o' the hat to 2 brave guys who also put themselves in harm's way not so long ago by doing good, brave work. As part of a broader fightback, a nomination for a joint Nobel would seem justified and useful for our team. In any event, you first read about the idea here, on good old Marxmail, less than a week ago. As I mentioned earlier, god bless the Internet. On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 4:47 PM, midhurs...@aol.com wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Kissinger receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize exposed the exercise as political propaganda George Anthony Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/gulfmann%40gmail.com 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] WSWS blasts Stewart over Assange comments
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Stewart selling out, or enjoying the cossetting? Nah! Just being consistent. There are barricades (metaphorically unfortunately) going up and Stewart knows which side to be on. This particular Jester knows how to make a joke out of a serious thing. comradely Gary 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I don't know if I have said this before (probably) but I was mightily struck by the absence of references to Obama at a recent conference here in Brisbane on Indigenous matters. Shortly after his election, there was the rhetoric of 'yes we can' coming from some Indigenous leaders. There was also a real sense of pride that a Black man had been elected President. But now I detect a sort of embarrassment and even shame about Obama. He has been so awful and is getting worse with every day. It seems so long ago since people were worried that he would be assassinated by the FBI/CIA/Whoever for being too radical. Sheesh! comradely Gary 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] Spurned liver
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The spurned 'liver' above was a splendid typo for 'lover'. Do you really mean this? Louis wrote: We are trying to create a radical alternative to both the Democrats and the Republicans without worrying whether Palin will be elected because of our actions. Peggy Powell Dobbins Sociology as an Art Form www.peggydobbins.net 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] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 2010-12-07, at 7:00 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 12/7/10 6:59 PM, Lajany Otum wrote: Or as Richard Greener wrote in the article to which Gary was referring: If we start now there's time for a reliable, truthful, electable liberal-progressive Democrat to emerge. To which I wrote Richard: I think the chances for a socialist revolution are more auspicious. Both, of course, are equally inauspicious possibilities at the present time. The issue is whether going through the experience and inevitable frustration of trying to elect a liberal-progressive Democrat will lead your friend Richard and others like him to finally break with the party and start a new one to its left, or will drive him out of politics altogether. As we know, previous efforts of Marxists - including most famously, Lenin's advice in relation to the Labour Party - to enter bourgeois union-based reform parties in order to turn the base against the leadership as a prelude to a revolutionary split from it all ended in failure. But, so for that matter, have attempts to batter the DP and social democratic parties from the outside through the creation of Potemkin village progressive and revolutionary socialist parties which have also gone nowhere. All of these failures, however, took place in a period when capitalism was expanding and, despite periodic crises, providing its working classes with steadily improving living standards. The mistaken assumption of the radical left was that the period was revolutionary, that the working class would become increasingly immiserated, and that capitalism would collapse under the weight of its internal contradictions. That long period of expansion and relative prosperity and job security has now ended in the advanced capitalist countries, and in the US is reflected in the inability of the Bush and Obama administration to resolve its mounting domestic and foreign policy crises. These have produced the tea party on the right and the growing disaffection within the Democratic party. Whether and how far these political developments will progress will depend on whether the bourgeoisie succeeds in containing these crises or whether they continue to deepen. Whether a future radicalization would begin inside the Democratic party, the seeds of which seem to me to be appearing, or outside of it, as most Marxmailers believe, is something we can only know in retrospect. 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] Spurned liver
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 12/7/10 9:25 PM, Peggy Dobbins wrote: Do you really mean this? Louis wrote: We are trying to create a radical alternative to both the Democrats and the Republicans without worrying whether Palin will be elected because of our actions. Of course. This is not the Gus Hall or Irving Howe mailing list. It is the Marxism mailing list. Karl Marx: Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers’ candidates will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance of victory. All such talk means, in the final analysis, that the proletariat is to be swindled. The progress which the proletarian party will make by operating independently in this way is infinitely more important than the disadvantages resulting from the presence of a few reactionaries in the representative body. If the forces of democracy take decisive, terroristic action against the reaction from the very beginning, the reactionary influence in the election will already have been destroyed. full: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm 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] Independent: Sweden preparing for rendition of Assange to US
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/assange-could-face-espionage-trial-in-us-2154107.html Informal discussions have already taken place between US and Swedish officials over the possibility of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being delivered into American custody, according to diplomatic sources. Mr Assange is in a British jail awaiting extradition proceedings to Sweden after being refused bail at Westminster Magistrates’ Court despite a number of prominent public figures offering to stand as surety. His arrest in north London yesterday was described by the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates as “good news”, and may pave the way for extradition to America and a possible lengthy jail sentence. The US Justice Department is considering charging Mr Assange with espionage offences over his website’s unprecedented release of classified US diplomatic files. Several right-wing American politicians are pressing forhis prosecution and even execution, with Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential candidate, saying he should be pursued the same as al-Qa’ida and Taliban leaders. Mr Assange’s appearance in the London court, the focus of massive international media attention, puts Britain in the centre of the controversy and recrimination over the publishing of thousands of diplomatic cables which have caused acute embarrassment to the administration in Washington.If the man responsible for putting them in the public domain is to besilenced, his supporters say, the process started here. The Swedish government seeks Mr Assange’s extradition for alleged sexual offences against two women. Sources stressed that no extradition request would be submitted until and unless the US government laid charges against Mr Assange, and that attempts to take him to America would only take place after legal proceedings are concluded in Sweden. Mr Assange, 39, had voluntarily gone to a police station accompanied by solicitors after the issuing of an international warrant. The court heard that Jemima Khan, the sister of the Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, the film director Ken Loach and journalist John Pilger were among those who had offered to stand bail to the sum of £180,000. But District Judge Howard Rule remanded him in custody on the grounds that there was a risk the WikiLeaks founder would fail to surrender. Mr Loach, who offered £20,000, explained that he did not know Mr Assange other than by reputation, but he said: I think the work he has done has been a public service. I think we are entitled to know the dealings of those that govern us. Mr Pilger, who also offered £20,000, said he knew Mr Assange as a journalist and personal friend and had a very high regard for him. I am aware of the offences and I am also aware of quite a lot of the detail around the offences,” said Mr Pilger. “I am here today because the charges against him in Sweden are absurd and were judged as absurd by the chief prosecutor there when she threw the whole thing out until a senior political figure intervened. Ms Khan offered a further £20,000 or more if need be, although she said she did not know Assange. Gemma Lindfield, appearing for the Swedish authorities, successfully opposed bail being granted because there was a risk he would fail to surrender – and also for his own protection, she said. She outlined five reasons why there was a risk: his nomadic lifestyle, reports that he intended to seek asylum in Switzerland, access to money from donors, his network of international contacts and his Australian nationality. Mrs Lindfield added: Any number of people could take it upon themselves to cause him harm. This is someone for whom, simply put, there is no condition, even the most stringent, that would ensure he would surrender to the jurisdiction of this court. Ms Lindfield told the court that Mr Assange was wanted in connection with four allegations of sexual offences.She said the first complainant, Miss A, said she was victim of unlawful coercion on the night of 14 August in Stockholm. The court heard Mr Assange is accused of using his body weight tohold her down in a sexual manner. The second charge alleged Mr Assange sexually molested Miss A by having sex with her without a condom when it was her express wish one should be used. The third charge claimed Mr Assange deliberately molested Miss A on August 18 in a way designed to violate her sexual integrity. The fourth charge accused Mr Assange of having sex with a second woman, Miss W, on 17 August without a condom while she was asleep at her
Re: [Marxism] A letter from a spurned lover
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Have you been paying attention at all to what's been happening over the past 3, or 30 years, Peggy? There isn't going to be a more socialist administration or congress, much less more socialist administration AND congress. In fact there isn't now, nor has there ever been an administration or congress that was even the teeniest bit socialist... unless you're taking the word of the the John Birch Society, the Cato Institute, and the Chicago Boys. This praying for the Messiah that never comes-- the liberal democrat riding on a white ass, or with a white ass, I forget which is the proper biblical allusion, is like a flying saucer cult-- or maybe the lost children in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome... telling there little story of exodus, loss, and not being slack. The only reason Rove's pick is going to win is because capitalism requires it to carry out its program of impoverishment-- just as that capitalism required Obama to do what he did-- carry out the Bush program in all essential facets but by another name. Now that he's done that, disoriented and confused those disoriented and confused types who were sucker enough to believe Yes, he could-- adios Barack, maybe you and Jimmy Carter can build little houses for dispossessed people-- there are certainly going to be many more of those dispossessed and very soon. - Original Message - From: Peggy Dobbins pegdobb...@gmail.com 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] Independent: Sweden preparing for rendition of Assange to US
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == For those who may want to donate to the Wikileaks cause, Xipwire is now providing that service. Go to: https://xipwire.com/give/wl The pressure on WikiLeaks, which relies on online donations from a worldwide network of supporters to fund its work, continued after Visa and Mastercard suspended all payments to the website. A spokesman for Visa E said: Visa Europe has taken action to suspend Visa payment acceptance on WikiLeaks’ website pending further investigation into the nature of its business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules. A MasterCard spokesman said: MasterCard is currently in the process of working to suspend the acceptance of MasterCard cards on WikiLeaks until the situation is resolved.” 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] Assange accuser has CIA ties - Cuban press
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=244986Itemid=1 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-Thaxis] James Petras - The Democratic Party Debacle and the Dem...
In a message dated 12/6/2010 12:58:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31...@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: Lack of a Soviet Union contributes to this. The SU was more of the Center-Left's backbone than most of the left realized. Reply So very true. Petras time frame is 30 years and much has changed in 30 years. WL. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
