Re: [Marxism] Rammstein: heartbeat on the left?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 01/20/2011 03:08 AM, Nick Fredman wrote: Re Tom O'Lincoln's article at Thanks for that Tom, very interesting. From what I've heard of the band on the radio they seemed so over the top I assumed there was some self-parodic elements there, like a fair bit of metal/heavy rock. Speaking as a person who listens to metal, also by bands whose politics are pretty questionable (e.g. Norwegian black metal): If heavy metal culture is about something, it's about transgression, whether by means of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll (or their symbol, the devil), death or flirting with whatever it takes to piss off the mainstream - in other words, rebellion for its own sake, which is underlined by the recurring phenomenon among fans of criticising bands for selling out, going mainstream etc. It's no wonder really that someone has picked up fascist imagery or other dubious. For those interested in reading about this stuff in general, I recommend Deena Weinstein's 'Heavy metal. The music and its culture' (2nd ed.) and Keith Kahn-Harris' 'Extreme metal. Music and life on the edge'. Kahn-Harris, a left-liberal, has a blog at metaljew.org. More directly re Tom's article: Kahn-Harris writes that it's a common feature of metal bands' flirting with dark powers that a band takes (or appears to take) it to the extreme, but at the last moment pulls back from the responsibility it implies, it's just music, we're not a political band. So for example the Norwegian band Darkthrone can tell off critics because of their jewish behaviour, but then justifying this merely as slang that has nothing to do with politics.. For stuff on the net on extreme metal and the exterme right, see e.g. http://roarofthemasses.blogspot.com/2010/12/black-metal-and-extreme-right-part-6.html http://www.metaljew.org/weblog/2010/04/more-ambiguous-black-metal.html 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] CCR Appeals to Fox News for Help in Silencing Glenn Beck Misinformation Campaign Against Frances Fox Piven
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-appeals-fox-news-president-help-silencing-glenn-beck-misinformation-camp 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 debate on Islamophobia
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I also do not like the term islamophobia and the recent (in France) coining of the term christianophobia. I feel that disapproval, dislike and contempt of Islam, AS OF ALL OTHER ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS, is necessary, healthy and conducive toward the common good of mankind. Religions have always tried to push through blasphemy laws to make any criticism of their crazy notions a crimethink. I object to the idea that an almighty God created the world, that he instructed a guy called Mohamed to establish a religion, that he will pass judgement on humanity and punish those who don't follow his laws. More specifically, I feel a strong antipathy towards Islam's belief that believers are superior to non-believers, that men are superior to women, that society must be regulated in accordance with barbaric rules enacted in heaven, that following a set of strict religious observances will ingratiate you with the almighty. I have utter contempt for such nonsense and thus consider myself an islamophobe, because I believe in the rights of all individuals to participate in creating a society free from servile subservience and domineering arrogance. Three centuries ago, my views would have sent me directly to the stake (Chevalier de la Barre was executed for impiety in the 18th century). Nowadays, religious-minded folk are just itching to re-impose blasphemy laws and censorship of any criticism of religion by using any legislative means at their disposal (certain speeches, writings or images can hurt the religious feelings of people and should be banned). 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 debate on Islamophobia
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == So, out of respect for people's sensitivities, let's replace the declaration of human rights with the ten commandments, let's allow adulteresses to be stoned to death, let's applaud at the building of religious schools, let's pretend that covering women's heads is a genuine way of protecting them, let's all refrain from using words such as goddammit which might offend, let's encourage weekly prayers (they're part of the traditions of the down-trodden), let's allow faith-based organizations to regulate the way people live, let's acknowledge the role of the divine, let's pretend fundamentalists are actually misguided social activists, let's refrain from making derogatory statements against religious institutions, yeah, let's be Marxists who never talk about materialism if it might cause our brethern to stumble. 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] re : A debate on Islamophobia
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Richard Seymour : If someone is oppressed on account of their religious faith and identity, do you feel that acknowledging and opposing this oppression constitutes an abridgment of your right to free expression? No I don't. Opposing the oppression of a group of people persecuted on account of their religion does not infringe my right to free expression. Telling me I can't criticize a religion because it is the religion of a persecuted group of people does infringe upon my right to free expression. And more importantly, does not help the struggle for emancipation. To return to your post, I can criticize Jews for believing in the Torah (I often do), Mormons for believing in the Book of Mormon (I often do), without condoning the persecution and oppression of Jews or Mormons. They are free to follow their religion, and I am free to show my disdain for it. I will certainly not strive to make it easier for them to follow their religious observances. 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 debate on Islamophobia
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 20/01/2011 22:23, Dan wrote: So, out of respect for people's sensitivities, let's replace the declaration of human rights with the ten commandments, let's allow adulteresses to be stoned to death, let's applaud at the building of religious schools, let's pretend that covering women's heads is a genuine way of protecting them, let's all refrain from using words such as goddammit which might offend, let's encourage weekly prayers (they're part of the traditions of the down-trodden), let's allow faith-based organizations to regulate the way people live, let's acknowledge the role of the divine, let's pretend fundamentalists are actually misguided social activists, let's refrain from making derogatory statements against religious institutions, yeah, let's be Marxists who never talk about materialism if it might cause our brethern to stumble. By logical corollary, you would argue that those marxists who oppose antisemitism thereby also support patriarchy, circumcision, gender violence, clerical rule, fundamentalism and the genocidal declarations of Jewish religious authorities in Israel. A further corollary of your argument is that the term 'antisemitism' is just a cover for letting the Jews have the run of things. I don't expect you to accept these corollaries of your irrational, hysterical and self-serving expostulations. I expect you to be as hypocritical as you are navel-gazing. I also expect you not to notice the moral absurdity of your complaining about your oppression at the hands of Muslims in a period where Muslims are being harrassed, beaten, abducted, tortured and murdered on a planetary level. -- *Richard Seymour* Writer, blogger and PhD candidate Email: leninstombb...@googlemail.com Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book 1: http://www.versobooks.com/books/307-the-liberal-defence-of-murder Book 2: http://www.zero-books.net/obookssite/book/detail/1107/The-Meaning-of-David-Cameron 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] re : A debate on Islamophobi
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 20/01/2011 23:20, Dan wrote: Those Marxists who oppose antisemitism ALSO oppose the barbaric and idiotic laws found in Judaism. Yet, Dan, you were the one who complained that one could not oppose Islamophobia without also curtailing your right to criticise religion. Now that you recognise how absurd the corollary of your argument is, perhaps you might take the step of reconising how absurd your original complaint was. How is it a corollary of my argument that the term antisemitism is just a cover for letting Jews have the run of things ? Do you even understand my argument ? Better than you do, evidently. You may recall that your argument was that criticism of Islamophobia, even the use of the term, was a means of preventing criticism of Islam and allowing faith-based organizations to regulate the way people live and stone adulteresses to death. Or, to put it another way, criticism of Islamophobia is a way of letting Muslims have the run of things. The logical corollary would be that criticism of antisemitism is, similarly, a way of letting Jews have the run of things. Since you don't like that corollary, since you reject it (as I knew you would), perhaps you would be good enough not to be a hypocrite and reject your own absurd argument. Again, some Muslims will use the term Islamophobic to shame those who are against a certain conception of Islamic interference in secular matters. This is only tangentially relevant to the discussion. Your objection was not to the *misuse* of the term 'Islamophobia', but to the *use* of the term as such. That, by accepting that the term can be misused, you now at least tacitly accept that there can be correct uses of the term, is a step forward. But you will never stop being confused by this issue so long as you continue to be stuck in a colonial way of seeing things, in which your problems (in this case, your right to criticise Islam as a religion) come before the problems of the oppressed, now matter how much more grave theirs are than yours. I'm afraid that this spurious victimology of yours adverts the French Left's longstanding failure to engage appropriately with the legacy of the French empire and its legitimising ideologies - viz. 'republicanism' for the Left, Catholic crusades for the Right. The empire in North Africa consistently denigrated Islam in terms of much the same dehumanising tropes that are common currency today, and the Left at the time collaborated not only in that denigration but also in the massacres that such denigration existed to justify. Notwithstanding a brief period of tiers-mondisme among a minority on the far left, there has been next to no effort to come to terms with this and overcome its legacy. This failure has been responsible lately for allowing the French state pass laws that target and vilify Muslim women in a way that is both racist and deeply misogynistic, without any serious opposition from within white society. It has also, incidentally, weakened the French Left by allowing Sarkozy to bail himself out of political crises by directing the fire toward Islam. That white leftists can complain that anti-racism in some sense oppresses them, while also evincing total ignorance of the wider phenomenon to which anti-racism objects, shows how deep those traditions of colonial supremacism still run. -- *Richard Seymour* Writer, blogger and PhD candidate Email: leninstombb...@googlemail.com Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book 1: http://www.versobooks.com/books/307-the-liberal-defence-of-murder Book 2: http://www.zero-books.net/obookssite/book/detail/1107/The-Meaning-of-David-Cameron 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 debate on Islamophobia
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I do not see myself as a victim of anti-white racism. That would be absurd. The French far-left has always stood with anti-colonialist movements and with the exploited North-African immigrants who were/are used as a source of cheap labour. I work daily to protect the rights of workers from the Maghreb, to fight fortress Europe and create a world without borders and biometric passports. French firms destroy the livelihoods of whole communities in Africa, thus funneling millions towards the production centres in Europe. These workers are despised by French workers and perform the most menial tasks in the French manufacturing and service industries. But I can assure you that encouraging them to adhere to the precepts of Islam will do nothing to better their condition, quite the opposite. It is only a way of side-tracking the struggle against Capitalism into some absurd Kulturkampf (Culture War), from which Imams will emerge as the representatives of Muslim interests. This might be the way things are done in the US, but it is pointless and only leads to dividing up the vote between competing political parties in exchange for promises of new Mosques and funding for charitable organizations. Islamism is a veritable poison, that the elite is happy to seize upon to divide the working class and channel the resentment of the underdogs into venues that can be contained. 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] Ireland: Radio debate on United Left Alliance and left unity on RTE
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I listened to this, although I was greatly irritated by the format where the interviewer kept interrupting with his idiot's version of common sense. What was significant was the debate between Labour and Sinn Fein. This is obviously for both the parties the main game in town and where they think the most important struggle will be fought out. The United Left Alliance (ULA) seem to be regarded as largely irrelevant although perhaps well meaning. This is the dead weight of consciousness that has to be shifted. Whether the ULA can do so I don't know. What is clear to me is that Sinn Fein are trapped in a historic failure and that is the failure to unite the national struggle with the struggle against capitalism. In the North they assist in the management of the capitalist state and that marks a limit both to the struggles and to the thinking they will undertake. What precisely they offer the South as an alternative to the status quo is my no means clear to me. But of course I cannot base my critique on one radio program and a handful of newspaper articles. As for the Irish Labour Party they almost make the Australian Labor Party sound radical. They are so eager to be given a chance to manage the shop for their masters. The very thought of abolishing the master class has never entered their heads. My hope remains however that the Irish people despite their seeming quiescence will swing behind the ULA. That is the only vote which will cause the powerful to take fright. comradely Gary On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 10:18 AM, Dan DiMaggio dan.dimag...@gmail.comwrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://links.org.au/node/2110 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/gary.maclennan1%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 warns against infiltrated rump SSP, post-Sheridan
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 1/19/2011 10:04 PM, Ben Ben wrote: The eventual successful prosection of Sheridan didn't seem to draw comment on this list; in the light of the complicated and protracted - and deeply inglorious - history outlined by the WSWS in this article, I'd be interested to hear comrades on this. Perhaps not much was written about the recent trial, but I did write quite a bit about this case at the time of the libel trial that Sheridan won, and for a couple of years afterward. If you Google Bustelo and Sheridan on the list archive, you will find the posts. I'll just mention a couple: This is the first article I wrote about the case: [Marxism] Tommy Sheridan and his critics [was: New Scottish Socialist Formation] http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2006w35/msg00251.htm. (God! How I wish Louis would get with the program and allow the rest of us to post HTML instead of text-only, even if he continues to insist on using emacs or whatever). There were several others in the same vein including on the famous tape of Sheridan supposedly admitting lying: [Marxism] Murdoch's 'web of deceit' (Was: 'Sheridan's ...) http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2006w40/msg00134.htm. My conclusion after spending countless hours examining every scrap of information I could find about the case, and satisfying myself that I understood pretty well most of what seemed to have happened, and how and why the differing versions arose, is that Sheridan was right and the anti-Sheridan wing of the SSP leadership wrong. I thought then that the anti-Sheridanites in the SSP had put themselves in an extremely difficult position, having drafted minutes claiming Sheridan confessed to the truthfulness of the News of the World accounts about him, and having several members of the leadership testify to that effect in court. Only to have the sources and writers of those Murdoch press smears admit under oath that these were largely fabricated. Which makes it difficult to accept accounts that Sheridan confessed to doing things that even those who accused him ADMITTED --once they were put under oath-- were fabrications. Sure, Sheridan was promiscuous in the 1990's and had visited a sex club in 2001 or 2002. But the depiction of him as a hard-drinking, cocaine-sniffing, debauched, panty-wearing, bottom-spanking sado-masochistic pervert who engaged in four-in-a-bed romps and tried to shag women comrades in the hallway while a branch meeting was going on inside was false. What the News of the World sources and authors testified to at the original trial as being true was ONLY that Sheridan had visited a sex club and had had a discrete affair. Which MIGHT have made a good story if the target were some fire-and-brimstone puritan preacher, but hardly news when the subject is a socialist leader. And even THAT was suspect. Murdoch's minions were forced to admit they had no paper trail, no corroborating evidence, no supporting witnesses, no specific dates, and no effort at all by the Murdoch papers to corroborate anything they printed. Apart from the bare fact that there had been some sort of intimate encounter, or a visit to a sex club, all the salacious, scandalous details were fabricated, the Murdochites admitted under oath. And, oh yeah, there were tens of thousands of pounds paid to the sources of these stories, perhaps more. The difficulty for the anti-Sheridan faction is that it does seem unlikely that Sheridan would have confessed to accusations that --when put under oath-- even those who made them originally freely admitted were false. But that is what they testified to. I've not followed the current trial in any detail, but as best as I can tell what's involved is Rupert Murdoch's government claiming that because Sheridan is not a virgin, his claim that the Murdoch press lied when they portrayed him as a demented pervert was perjury. I don't believe there's any point to doing a detailed analysis of the testimony or evidence in this trial. In the original and already uneven match of Sheridan versus Murdoch, Sheridan won. Murdoch appealed, only to have his government, that he bought and paid for, spare him the expense. Now that Murdoch has had four or five years of his cops, prosecutors and judges piling on against Sheridan with millions --perhaps tens of millions of pounds-- expended in the effort, he could only get a MAJORITY guilty verdict against Tommy. Not even unanimous. That's how much the case stunk. As for the SSP leaders who collaborated with the prosecution and put out a statement hailing Sheridan's conviction, I have no idea whether they're really paid agents of the British state or just offer their services freely. What I do *feel* is that
[Marxism] Predatory Capitalism and the Isolated Individual
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I just did a YouTube rant: Predatory Capitalism and the Isolated Individual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y48zZ9sUvS0 -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 mperel...@csuchico.edu 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.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
[Marxism] Why Duvalier Returned to Haiti: He needs more money
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Why Duvalier Returned to Haiti: He needs more money Posted on January 20, 2011 by James Ridgeway http://unsilentgeneration.com/2011/01/20/why-duvalier-returned-to-haiti-he-needs-more-money/ It’s hard to make sense of Duvalier’s return to Haiti. But there is one plausible explanation. Baby Doc wants money. He already has looted the country of millions of dollars.Now he needs more. Yesterday Alice Speri and Ezra Fieser in the Christian Science Monitor speculated: One of the most logical reasons for Duvalier’s return is financial. The riches he accumulated by allegedly robbing the Haitian government have vanished, leaving him with a modest life in a small apartment in Paris reportedly paid for by loyal supporters. But, of the hundreds of millions of dollars that he reportedly pilfered from Haiti’s state coffers, an estimated $6.2 million remains in a Swiss bank account that has been frozen since 1986. A Swiss law set to go into effect Feb. 1 the law on returning illicit dictator funds will allow the Swiss government to return that money to the Haitian people. Last May, the head of international law at the Swiss foreign ministry told reporters that the Swiss government would likely apply the law to the Duvalier funds. There was a caveat: If Haitian authorities had the opportunity to capture and prosecute Duvalier, the Swiss law could not be used. Hence, if Duvalier made a brief appearance in Haiti he had a return ticket for Thursday he could go back to France and claim the money. “If he went to Haiti and was not prosecuted, he could have returned and said I was there and they had their chance,”says Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch and a former prosecutor in Haiti. Duvalier `may have gone hoping that he would not be detained and could come back to France and claim the $6.2 million.” 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] Why Duvalier Returned to Haiti: He needs more money
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 7:00 PM, Dennis Brasky dmozart1...@gmail.comwrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Why Duvalier Returned to Haiti: He needs more money Posted on January 20, 2011 by James Ridgeway http://unsilentgeneration.com/2011/01/20/why-duvalier-returned-to-haiti-he-needs-more-money/ It’s hard to make sense of Duvalier’s return to Haiti. But there is one plausible explanation. Baby Doc wants money. He already has looted the country of millions of dollars.Now he needs more. This makes NO SENSE AT ALL!!! Has anyone observed that he returned to Haiti on Martin Luther King Day. Was there a message? Whose to say he returned voluntarily? If not voluntarily, who returned him? My guess is that he will stand trial. He knows it. That's why he said he wanted to spend the rest of his life there. He will help heal Haiti as he suggested by some truth and reconciliation effort. Perhaps they'll put him in a labor camp. 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] Bees
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_usa/?rc=fb ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Fw: Onda Proletaria...Africa...
. Saludos! Ahí les estamos enviando la continuación de la evaluación de los acontecimientos ocurridos, y los que se están produciendo en estos momentos, para que ustedes continúen orientados y no se dejen confundir ni manejar por los comentarios y titulares que se emiten a través de los medios de comunicación de masa que sirven a la burguesía. Ya sabemos que muchos de los que reciben nuestros documentos lo ocultan a sus amigos y relacionados para que no se enteren de las connivencias que lo involucran en la reproducción de la miseria generalizada en que vivimos. De todos modos, las clases no se suicidan!! Onda Proletaria Expansiva en Africa del Norte *** La burguesía mundial esta preocupada, no por el levantamiento proletario que le impuso un cambio de gerente en Túnez sino por la características expansivas del movimiento. Y si el movimiento de Túnez inspira a otros países árabes? Fue la pregunta que se planteó Le Monde el sábado, pues esa posibilidad está ganando terreno en las mentes de los líderes de los pueblos del Magreb y Medio Oriente. Los diplomáticos han reaccionado cautelosamente, reflejando el temor a que se produzcan levantamientos populares de los líderes árabes. Ahora, los líderes de países occidentales quieren abiertamente la democratización de Túnez, sin embargo los gerentes de los Estados árabes son discretos, preocupados por el carácterespontaneo del movimiento. Por ejemplo, la Liga de Estados Árabes pidió el sábado, tanto a las autoridades, los partidos políticos y las fuerzas en Túnez, hacer una prueba de 'unidad' para mantener los logros del pueblo tunecino y alcanzar la paz en el país. El único que lamentó abiertamente el éxito de la sublevación fue el agente burgués Maummar Gaddifi: Estoy realmente triste por lo que sucede en Túnez... En Argelia, se están produciendo una serie de incidentes y acontecimientos, durante el recién pasado fin de semana, que demuestran la importancia de la onda proletaria bautizada como la Revolución de Jazmín. Cerca de la frontera con Túnez un argelino fue hospitalizado en estado grave después de provocarse un incendio que lo asesinó el sábado frente del ayuntamiento de la región de Tebesca, donde fue a reclamar un puesto de trabajo y vivienda digna. Mohcin Bouteria era parte de un grupo de veinte jóvenes que se reunieron frente al ayuntamiento para protestar contra la negativa del alcalde a recibirlos. Fue roseado con gasolina y se convirtió en una antorcha humana. La victima, padre de una niña, quiso denunciar, con ese gesto de desesperación, la actitud de desprecio hacia él por parte de los funcionarios electos de este municipio. El presidente de la Asamblea Popular Comunal del Ayuntamiento fue sustituido de sus funciones por el Wali (prefecto) de Tebesca que visitó el sábado la escena. Ha que señalar, que varios suicidios se habían registrado en Túnez desde el 17 de diciembre, cuando Mohamed Bouaziz, de 26 años, un vendedor ambulante sin licencia, se prendió fuego en protesta contra la confiscación de sus bienes, lo que provocó un mes de disturbios sin precedentes en Túnez. Miles de estudiantes se manifestaron el domingo en Sana, Yemen, pidiendo a las naciones árabes levantarse contra sus líderes, al igual que en Túnez. Los estudiantes salieron del campus de la Universidad de Sana y se dirigieron hacia la Embajada de Túnez, junto con activistas de derechos humanos. La libertad de Túnez, Sana te saluda una y mil veces, gritaban los estudiantes, que también repiten consignas pidiendo a las naciones árabes la revolución contra los mentirosos y los lideres de miedo. Vaya, antes de ser depositados, proclamó una de las banderas esgrimidas por los manifestantes, es decir, inculpando al presidente de Yemen, Ali Abdallah Saleh, en el poder durante 32 años. En Jordania, cerca de 3, 000 sindicalistas, miembros de partidos de izquierda y los islamitas han participado el domingo en un plantón en Amman al Parlamento, para protestar contra la inflación y la política económica del gobierno. Nosotros en Jordania, estamos sufriendo los mismos males que han afectado a Túnez, y debemos poner fin a la opresión, así como a los obstáculos a la libertad y la voluntad de la gente, dijo el líder de la Hermandad Musulmana. después de haber elogiado a los tuneces que se deshizo de su dictador, subrayó que el pueblo jordanes no aceptará tener hambre. Los manifestantes, ondeando banderas de Jordania y sus partidos, llegaron a la puerta del parlamento, los diputados se reunieron para discutir precios de los alimentos. Hasta cuando vamos a seguir pagando el precio de los vuelos y la corrupción?, se podía leer en una serpentina. Visto desde Kuwait, una lección para todos los pueblos de la región. Los diputados de oposición de Kuwait han elogiado el coraje del pueblo de Túnez y advirtieron que muchos planes se vieron amenazados. Todos los regímenes que oprimen a sus pueblos y la lucha
[Marxism-Thaxis] Juan Cole: Tunisia Uprising led by Labor Movements, Internet Activists
Juan Cole: Tunisia Uprising led by Labor Movements, Internet Activists Talking to Democracy Now, Juan Cole speculates on reasons US corporate media blew off the Tunisian revolution: it was led by workers' organizations; it was largely secular, not Islamist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBmL_OqaS_I; ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] the integration of opposites, the melting of contradictions in order to produce something new.
I have drawn 'Art XIV' in the Foundation position of the Celtic Cross spread. Meaning, the integration of opposites, the melting of contradictions in order to produce something new. And a challenge to look within for transformation. Or something similar... http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=501694138814set=a.81218033814.77701.579213814 ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Milton Rogovin, Working Class Artist and Activist, Presente!
Milton Rogovin, Working Class Artist and Activist, Presente! 1. Milton Rogovin, Photographer, Dies at 101 New York Times, January 18, 2010 2. The Working-Class Eye of Milton Rogovin New exhibition - Roosevelt University, Chicago January 20 - June 30, 2011 == Milton Rogovin, Photographer, Dies at 101 by Benjamin Genocchio New York Times January 18, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/arts/design/19rogovin.html Milton Rogovin, an optometrist and persecuted leftist who took up photography as a way to champion the underprivileged and went on to become one of America's most dedicated social documentarians, died on Tuesday at his home in Buffalo. He was 101. He died of natural causes, his son, Mark Rogovin, said. Mr. Rogovin chronicled the lives of the urban poor and working classes in Buffalo, Appalachia and elsewhere for more than 50 years. His direct photographic style in stark black and white evokes the socially minded work that Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks produced for the Farm Security Administration during the Depression. Today his entire archive resides in the Library of Congress. Mr. Rogovin (pronounced ruh-GO-vin) came to wide notice in 1962 after documenting storefront church services on Buffalo's poor and predominantly African-American East Side. The images were published in Aperture magazine with an introduction by W. E. B. Du Bois, who described them as astonishingly human and appealing. He went on to photograph Buffalo's impoverished Lower West Side and American Indians on reservations in the Buffalo area. He traveled to West Virginia and Kentucky to photograph miners, returning to Appalachia each summer with his wife, Anne Rogovin, into the early 1970s. In the '60s he went to Chile at the invitation of the poet Pablo Neruda to photograph the landscape and the people. The two collaborated on a book, Windows That Open Inward: Images of Chile. In a 1976 review of a Rogovin show of photographs from Buffalo at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan, the critic Hilton Kramer wrote of Mr. Rogovin in The New York Times: He sees something else in the life of this neighborhood - ordinary pleasures and pastimes, relaxation, warmth of feeling and the fundamentals of social connection. He takes his pictures from the inside, so to speak, concentrating on family life, neighborhood business, celebrations, romance, recreation and the particulars of individuals' existence. Milton Rogovin was born on Dec. 30, 1909, in Brooklyn, the third of three sons of Jewish immigrant parents from Lithuania. His parents, Jacob Rogovin and the former Dora Shainhouse, operated a dry goods business, first in Manhattan on Park Avenue near 112th Street and later in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. After attending Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, the young Mr. Rogovin graduated from Columbia University in 1931 with a degree in optometry; four months later, after the family had lost the store and its home to bankruptcy during the Depression, his father died of a heart attack. Working as an optometrist in Manhattan, Mr. Rogovin became increasingly distressed at the plight of the poor and unemployed - the forgotten ones, he called them - and increasingly involved in leftist political causes. I was a product of the Great Depression, and what I saw and experienced myself made me politically active, he said in a 1994 interview with The New York Times. He began attending classes sponsored by the Communist Party- run New York Workers School, began to read the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker and was introduced to the social- documentary photographs of Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine. Mr. Rogovin moved to Buffalo in 1938 and opened his own optometric office on Chippewa Street the next year, providing service to union workers. In 1942 he married Anne Snetsky before volunteering for the Army and serving for three years in England, where he worked as an optometrist. Also in 1942, he bought a camera. Returning to Buffalo after the war (his brother Sam, also an optometrist, managed the practice in his absence), Mr. Rogovin joined the local chapter of the Optical Workers Union and served as librarian for the Buffalo branch of the Communist Party. In 1957, with cold war anti-Communism rife in the United States, he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee but refused to testify. Soon afterward, The Buffalo Evening News labeled him Buffalo's Number One Red, and he and his family were ostracized. With his business all but ruined by the publicity, he began to fill time by taking pictures, focusing on Buffalo's poor and dispossessed in the neighborhood around his practice while living on his wife's salary as a teacher and being mentored by the photographer Minor White. His wife, a special education teacher, was a collaborator throughout his career and helped him organize his photographs until her death, in 2003. Mr. Rogovin's photographs were typically
[Marxism-Thaxis] Thousands of Israelis march against “witch-hunt”
http://www.peoplesworld.org/thousands-of-israelis-march-against-witch-hunt/ Thousands of Israelis march against “witch-hunt” assets/Uploads/_resampled/CroppedImage6060-suewebb3.jpg by: Susan Webb January 18 2011 tags: Israel, human rights, democracy Israelprotest2 Some 20,000 Israelis marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Jan. 15, to protest the Knesset decision to investigate Israeli human rights and left political organizations - specifically their funding sources. Representing a broad swathe of Israel's center and left political spectrum, marchers and speakers denounced the action as akin to U.S. McCarthyite witch-hunts of the 1950s. The protest was sparked by the Knesset vote last week to move toward establishing a panel of inquiry into left-wing groups, alleging they engage in delegitimization campaigns against the State of Israel and its armed forces. The probe will focus on the groups' funding, purportedly to see if they are getting money from foreign sources or groups considered to be involved in terrorist activities. The measure was initiated by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party. Saturday's marchers, under the slogan Demonstration (since it's still possible) for democracy, represented a wide range of groups including the centrist Kadima party, Israeli Peace Now, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the left social democratic Meretz party, the Israeli Communist Party and an array of human rights organizations. Knesset members who opposed the witch hunt panel were among the marchers and speakers. The marchers carried signs reading Danger! End of Democracy Ahead, Fighting the Government of Darkness and Democracy is Screaming for Help, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Kadima Knesset member Meir Sheetrit called the Knesset's action offensive and dangerous to the state of Israel ... it makes Israel one of the states of darkness. He called on organizations to spurn the investigation if it is launched. Meretz Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz declared, We are here in opposition to religious radicalization, racist laws and sickening incitement against foreign workers and against those who are not loyal to Lieberman. And now they are putting human rights organizations in the crosshairs. Horowitz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shares the blame, since he is encouraging the racist celebration in the Knesset. He also criticized Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has just led a breakaway from Israel's Labor Party. How are you not ashamed Mr. Barak? Horowitz asked. You and your party are supporting and enabling the existence of the most racist government in the history of the State of Israel. Hagai Elad, executive director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, said, The thousands of people who are here understand that our democracy needs protection against its destroyers. We are voicing a clear voice in support of human rights and democracy, and against racism, McCarthyism and future destruction. We will continue to fight for democratic values, freedom of speech, equal rights for citizens and the end of the occupation. Elad's organization was among 16 well-known Israeli human rights groups that signed an open letter protesting the Knesset measure. Investigate us all, we have nothing to hide, their letter said. You are invited to read our reports and our publications. We will be happy if for a change you relate in a germane way to our questions instead of trying to besmirch us. It did not work in the past and it will not work this time. Right-wing Knesset member Michael Ben Ari denounced the protest. Labeling the targeted groups movements on the extreme left, he claimed they would like to see the State of Israel destroyed and are betraying the state and therefore there is no escape from taking steps against them. We will reveal that they are funded by enemy states. Yet even Israeli President Shimon Peres opposed the Knesset probe, telling Haaretz it harms Israeli democracy. In a statement issued before Saturday's march, Dov Khenin, an Israeli Communist Party leader, Knesset member and civil rights attorney, warned of the lessons of U.S. McCarthyism. The creation of parliamentary committees for the investigation of political activities is associated with the name of the Republican Senator for Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, who was active in the U.S. in the darkest days of the Cold War, said Khenin. McCarthy is infamous for his initiative, presented in a speech of February 1950, to investigate government employees for 'collaboration with the enemy.' Senator McCarthy was placed at the head of the Sub-Committee of Investigation. The House Committee on Un-American Activities worked in parallel. The two committees published a list of hostile organizations to be investigated. Among these was the National Lawyers' Guild - charged with anti-Americanism for including black lawyers in its ranks. Since it is very difficult to set limits to political
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Milton Rogovin, Working Class Artist and Activist, Presente!
I remember seeing his exhibits in Buffalo decades ago. Glad he made it past 100. I hope Manny Fried beats his record. On 1/20/2011 10:11 AM, c b wrote: Milton Rogovin, Working Class Artist and Activist, Presente! 1. Milton Rogovin, Photographer, Dies at 101 New York Times, January 18, 2010 2. The Working-Class Eye of Milton Rogovin New exhibition - Roosevelt University, Chicago January 20 - June 30, 2011 == Milton Rogovin, Photographer, Dies at 101 by Benjamin Genocchio New York Times January 18, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/arts/design/19rogovin.html Milton Rogovin, an optometrist and persecuted leftist who took up photography as a way to champion the underprivileged and went on to become one of America's most dedicated social documentarians, died on Tuesday at his home in Buffalo. He was 101. ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Imperialist booty and the wages of opportunism in the long run
http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/102-102/4659-the-myth-of-american-exceptionalism-implod The myth of 'American exceptionalism' implodes Until the 1970s, US capitalism shared its spoils with American workers. But since 2008, it has made them pay for its failures A homeless encampment known as Tent City in Sacramento, California A homeless encampment known as Tent City, in Sacramento, California, in 2009. Since the 1970s, real wages stopped growing and the gap between rich and poor expanded as the US economy slowed down after decades of growth. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP One aspect of American exceptionalism was always economic. US workers, so the story went, enjoyed a rising level of real wages that afforded their families a rising standard of living. Ever harder work paid off in rising consumption. The rich got richer faster than the middle and poor, but almost no one got poorer. Nearly all citizens felt middle class. A profitable US capitalism kept running ahead of labour supply. So, it kept raising wages to attract waves of immigration and to retain employees, across the 19th century until the 1970s. Then everything changed. Real wages stopped rising, as US capitalists redirected their investments to produce and employ abroad, while replacing millions of workers in the US with computers. The US women's liberation moved millions of US adult women to seek paid employment. US capitalism no longer faced a shortage of labour. US employers took advantage of the changed situation: they stopped raising wages. When basic labour scarcity became labour excess, not only real wages, but eventually benefits, too, would stop rising. Over the last 30 years, the vast majority of US workers have, in fact, gotten poorer, when you sum up flat real wages, reduced benefits (pensions, medical insurance, etc), reduced public services and raised tax burdens. In economic terms, American exceptionalism began to die in the 1970s. The rich, however, have got much richer since the 1970s, as every measure of US income and wealth inequality attests. The explanation is simple: while workers' average real wages stayed flat, their productivity rose (the goods and services that an average hour's labour provided to employers). More and better machines (including computers), better education, and harder and faster labour effort raised productivity since the 1970s. While workers delivered more and more value to employers, those employers paid workers no more. The employers reaped all the benefits of rising productivity: rising profits, rising salaries and bonuses to managers, rising dividends to shareholders, and rising payments to the professionals who serve employers (lawyers, architects, consultants, etc). Since the 1970s, most US workers postponed facing up to what capitalism had come to mean for them. They sent more family members to do more hours of paid labour, and they borrowed huge amounts. By exhausting themselves, stressing family life to the breaking point in many households, and by taking on unsustainable levels of debt, the US working class delayed the end of American exceptionalism – until the global crisis hit in 2007. By then, their buying power could no longer grow: rising unemployment kept wages flat, no more hours of work, nor more borrowing, were possible. Reckoning time had arrived. A US capitalism built on expanding mass consumption lost its foundation. The richest 10-15% – those cashing in on employers' good fortune from no longer-rising wages – helped bring on the crisis by speculating wildly and unsuccessfully in all sorts of new financial instruments (asset-backed securities, credit default swaps, etc). The richest also contributed to the crisis by using their money to shift US politics to the right, rendering government regulation and oversight inadequate to anticipate or moderate the crisis or even to react properly once it hit. Indeed, the rich have so far been able to use the crisis to widen still further the gulf separating themselves from the rest, to finally bury American exceptionalism. First, they utilised both parties' dependence on their financial support to make sure there would be no mass federal hiring programme for the unemployed (as FDR used between 1934 and 1940). The absence of such a programme guaranteed that real wages would not rise and, with job benefits, would likely fall – as they indeed have done. Second, the rich made sure that the prime focus of government response to the crisis would benefit banks, large corporations and the stock markets. These have more or less recovered. Third, the current drive for government budget austerity – especially focused on the 50 states and the thousands of municipalities – forces the mass of people to pick up the costs for the government's unjustly imbalanced response to the crisis. The trillions spent to save the banks and selected other corporations (AIG, GM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc) were mostly
[Marxism-Thaxis] Dialectical_behavior_therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Twenty Thousand March in Tel-Aviv Against Mccarthyism, Racism and Fascism
Twenty Thousand March in Tel-Aviv Against Mccarthyism, Racism and Fascism Communist Party of Israel January 15, 2011 http://www.maki.org.il/he/english-mainmenu-106 Twenty thousands of activists, Jews and Arabs, from left-wing movements, parties and human rights organizations march in Tel Aviv on Saturday (January 15, 2001) in protest of the Knesset's decision to set up a committee of inquiry to probe the funding sources of human rights movements. The protest march, under the headline Demonstration (since it's still possible) for democracy, left from Tel Aviv's Meir Park, in front of the Likud headquarters, toward the plaza in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where a rally take place in which Knesset members from Hadash, Kadima and Meretz as well as officials from Peace Now and human rights groups deliver speeches. Protesters chanted in support of democracy and free speech and against racism and fascism, and carried hundreds of red flags and signs with slogans such as Jews and Arabs together against Fascism, Awaiting Democracy, Danger - End of Democracy Ahead!, Fighting the Rightist Government of Darkness and Democracy is Screaming for Help. Among the MKs taking part in the event were Dov Khenin (Hadash), Afo Agbarie (Hadash), Meir Sheetrit (Kadima), Hanna Swaid (Hadash), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) and Mohammad Barakeh (the Chairman of Hadash, the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality - Communist Party of Israel). MK Horowitz inveighed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whom he said were supporting Lieberman's incitement and encouraging racist legislation in the Knesset. Tonight we are telling the Labor Party that it is a full partner of the most racist government in state history, and that they must leave it immediately, he said. Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer said at the rally that Israel was suffering not only from the Iranian threat but also from the Liebermanian threat. Hadash Chairman Barakeh said, We are at a dangerous crossroads where democracy is concerned. Democracy is collapsing, not because of Lieberman but because of the support he is receiving from the prime minister. Jews and Arabs who care about democracy cannot fail at this time. Anyone who wishes to know the power of the people can look to Tunisia. In the same vein he added, The victory of the people in Tunis over cruel dictatorship teaches us that oppression is not the fate of mankind and the people can win. MK Sheetrit denounced Foreign Minster Avigdor Lieberman's proposal to probe the funding sources of human rights organizations. If such legislation is passed, it will be like taking a brick out of the wall of democracy. I am surprised that Likud members support this. It's simply shameful that they can sit in a government that makes such a proposal, he said. MK Khenin said during the protest that the thousands of people who are here understand that our democracy needs protection against its destroyers. We are voicing a clear voice in support of human rights and democracy, and against racism, fascism, McCarthyism and future destruction of the democratic values. We will continue to fight for democratic rights, freedom of speech, equal rights for Jews and Arabs and the end of the occupation. List of participating organizations in the Emergency rally Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) // Communist Party of Israel // ACRI (Association For Civil Rights in Israel // Meretz // New Israel Fund // Peace Now // The Kibbutz Movement // The Progressive Movement // The Green Movement // Physicians for Human Rights // The Geneva Initiative // Ha'Shomer Ha'tzair // Yisrael Hofshit (Free Israel) // Coalition of Women for Peace // Public Committee Against Torture // Yesh Gvul // Shutafut/Sharakah - Organizations for a Shared, Democratic and Egalitarian Society: Agenda, The Abraham Fund, Negev Institute - NISPED, Sikkuy, Kav Mashve, Keshev, Shatil // Gush Shalom // Yesh Din // Almuntada Altakadumi - The Progressive Circle in Ar'ara // Negev Coexistence Forum // Peace NGO's Forum // Amnesty International Israel // Banki-Shabiba - Young Communist League // Hagada Hasmalit Alternative Cultural Center in Tel-Aviv // Tandi - Democratic Women's Movement // Parents Circle - Families Forum // Social Workers for Peace and Social Welfare // Arab Movement for Renewal // Mossawa Centre - the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel // Adalah - the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel // Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights // Machsom Watch // Tarabut-Hithabrut // Rabbis for Human Rights // Ir Amim // Maan - Workers' Advice Center // Daam - Workers Party // Syndianna Galilee for Fair Trade // Israeli Children // Campus Le'Kulanu - Left Students Movement, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Haifa University // ASSAF - Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel // ICAHD - The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions // Social TV //
[Marxism-Thaxis] Climate change politics
Message: 9 Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:20:12 +0900 From: Bill Totten shimog...@ashisuto.co.jp Subject: [A-List] The Secret of Herding Cats To: a-l...@lists.econ.utah.edu Message-ID: 20110120072012.8bb7b597.shimog...@ashisuto.co.jp Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 by ?John Michael Greer The Archdruid Report (January 12 2010) ? ?Granted, it was the season for giving, but I'm not at all sure that justifies the extraordinary Christmas present Dr David Shearman has given the climate change denialist movement. Readers of mine who haven't yet heard of Shearman need not worry; they will be hearing far too much about him in the months and years ahead. Shearman, for those who haven't encountered his name yet, is an Australian scientist who has a long string of publications in the field of global warming to his credit, and who had an active role in the Third and Fourth Assessments issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international scientific body tasked with sorting out just what our tailpipes and smokestacks are doing to the Earth's climate. He is also the co-author of a recent book, The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy (2007). In this book, he argues that democracy is incapable of dealing with the global climate change crisis, and therefore needs to be replaced by an authoritarian world government with the power to force people to do what Shearman thinks they ought to do. Those of my readers familiar with the long and inglorious love affair betweeen a certain class of Western intellectual and the totalitarian end of the political spectrum already know what to expect from Shearman's book, and they will not be disappointed. Shearman and his co-author Joseph Wayne Smith argue that authoritarianism is the natural state of humanity (page xvi) and that people who agree with their views ought to form an elite warrior leadership to battle for the future of the earth (ibid). They propose the manufacture of a new eco-religion out of the green movement and New Age movement in order to provide social glue for the masses (page 127), and spend a chapter discussing the training of natural elites to provide his imagined regime with ecowarriors to do battle against the enemies of life (page 134). It's all laid out in quite some detail; very nearly the only thing Shearman and Smith fail to mention is what symbol will go on their warrior elite's armbands. I wish I could say I was surprised by the publication of Shearman's book, or the fact that the Pell Foundation sponsored its publication. The craving for unearned power that has afflicted intellectual idealists since Plato's time has cropped up tolerably often in the last few decades of green activism; the substantial popularity of David Korten's profoundly antidemocratic The Great Turning (2006) is only one sign among many. Still, there's a difference of some importance. It takes a careful reading of Korten's book to notice how his division of humanity into developmental stages, which just happen to equate to political opinions, morphs into a claim that political power ought to be monopolized by those who share Korten's own background and views. Equally, The Great Turning is as coy about the methods Korten's would-be elite will use to enforce their power as it is about the reasons why giving that elite unchecked authority will solve the world's problems. Shearman and Smith have no such qualms; their totalitarian daydream is right out there in the open. That in itself points straight to the false logic at the core of The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy. What failed was not democracy but climate change activism, and the stunning political cluelessness on display in Shearman's and Smith's book is a central reason why. One wonders what on Earth Shearman was thinking when he sent the manuscript to the publisher. Did it never occur to him that people who disagree with his views would read the book, and make abundant political hay out of it? They have, dear reader, and it's a safe bet that they will, as hostile reviews of The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy are already showing up on conservative websites. To be fair, it would demand superhuman forbearance for them to steer clear of what is, all things considered, a climate denialist's wet dream: a book in which a significant figure on the other side 'fesses up to an authoritarian agenda extreme enough to support even the wildest accusations of the far right. Climate change activism is already reeling from a nearly unbroken sequence of body blows in the political arena, and an even more serious loss of public support; by the time the climate denialists finish working it over, using Shearman's book as a conveniently blunt instrument, there may not be much left of it. It's worth glancing back over the last decade or so to get a sense of the way this book fits into the broader process by which climate change activism ran off the
[Marxism-Thaxis] For the Arab world, the revolution will be televised, on Al Jazeera
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tunisia-al-jazeera-20110119,0,3896531.story For the Arab world, the revolution will be televised, on Al Jazeera Al Jazeera's rapid-paced, visceral coverage of the Tunisian upheaval has riveted viewers across the Middle East. Many see it as a big voice in a landscape of burgeoning Arab dissent. But governments accuse it of bias. Tunisian unity government loses 4 former opposition figures Tunisian unity government loses 4 former opposition figures * Tunisia unveils new government as calm returns Tunisia unveils new government as calm returns * Former Tunisia government figures arrested, new Cabinet to be named Former Tunisia government figures arrested, new Cabinet to be named * Stories * Neighbors in Tunisia express disgust over former first lady's family Neighbors in Tunisia express disgust over former first lady's family * In Tunisia, social media are main source of news about protests In Tunisia, social media are main source of news about protests * In Tunisia, Ben Ali was 'big brother' In Tunisia, Ben Ali was 'big brother' * See more stories » o X Will revolt in Tunisia inspire others? * Links * CIA World Factbook: Tunisia By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times January 19, 2011 Reporting from Cairo — In cafes and living rooms across the Middle East, the whirling montages and breathless journalists of Al Jazeera are defining the narrative of Tunisia's upheaval for millions of Arabs riveted by the toppling of a dictator. The Qatar-based television network, as it does with the Iraq war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is airing visceral, round-the-clock coverage in a region of authoritarian states that rarely allow government-controlled media to show scenes of unrest. Al Jazeera is a messenger, pricking the status quo, enraging kings and presidents. It is the big voice in a multimedia landscape of Arab dissent that encompasses bloggers and online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Whereas strategies of revolt on the Internet are largely the domain of the young and educated, Al Jazeera has for years been the touchstone for the masses seeking insight into the wider, mystifying world. Get dispatches from Times correspondents around the globe delivered to your inbox with our daily World newsletter. Sign up » Al Jazeera has really helped me understand what is going on in Tunisia, said Ahmed Sanad, who was sitting in a Cairo cafe watching the network's Behind the News program. We didn't know much or have much interest in Tunisian politics, but now everyone wants to know more about Tunisia, and the channel's doing a great job in helping us. The satellite network, which has Arabic and English channels, uses its coverage to pass messages. They look for sentences to make people compare and see the lessons of Tunis, said Randa Habib, a political analyst and writer in Jordan. This is an era where you can watch the revolution live. Al Jazeera's reporting has mostly been solid … but Arab leaders worry that it's fueling sentiments and pushing people into the streets. That influence troubles regimes increasingly unable to shape events in a media slipstream that moves more briskly than censors and security forces. Through their Tunisia coverage, Al Jazeera, which relishes elucidating the failures of U.S. and Israeli policies, and other major news organizations, including the Al Arabiya channel, are demonstrating their willingness to expose transgressions in the Arab world. In December, Kuwait closed Al Jazeera's bureau there after the network aired video of police beating political activists. The Kuwaiti government accused it of interfering in the country's internal affairs. Egypt became so incensed by how it was portrayed that the state-owned newspaper, Al Ahram, ran a story in 2010 alleging that Al Jazeera's female anchors faced sexual harassment. The headline read: Al Jazeera an Island of Harassment. Officials in Cairo, Amman and capitals across North Africa criticize Al Jazeera, accusing it of slanted reporting on the pitfalls of their regimes while doing little to illuminate the sins of some Persian Gulf states, notably the network's home of Qatar. These officials regard Al Jazeera as a tool to advance the political ambitions of the Qatari emirate at the expense of traditional centers of regional power. In a sense, multimedia agencies symbolize the aspirations of a new Middle East looking, with provocative images and high-definition clarity, beyond the bankrupt ideologies of leaders who have done little to inspire their people. Al Jazeera has become a hallmark in a part of the world that increasingly craves unfiltered news. Much of its coverage in Tunisia is raw and unvarnished, relying on cellphone videos sent by bystanders and call-in interviews that give those caught in the passion of events a chance to express
[Marxism-Thaxis] A Watershed Moment in the History of the Arab World
Can we say that a rarely mentioned reason for the US invasion of Iraq was fear that a revolution like this might have overthrown Sadaam ? CB ^ A Watershed Moment in the History of the Arab World The Fall of the West's Little Dictator By ESAM AL-AMIN http://www.counterpunch.org/amin01192011.html January 19, 2011 When people choose life (with freedom) Destiny will respond and take action Darkness will surely fade away And the chains will certainly be broken Tunisian poet Abul Qasim Al-Shabbi (1909-1934) On New Year's Eve 1977, former President Jimmy Carter was toasting Shah Reza Pahlavi in Tehran, calling the Western-backed monarchy an island of stability in the Middle East. But for the next 13 months, Iran was anything but stable. The Iranian people were daily protesting the brutality of their dictator, holding mass demonstrations from one end of the country to the other. Initially, the Shah described the popular protests as part of a conspiracy by communists and Islamic extremists, and employed an iron fist policy relying on the brutal use of force by his security apparatus and secret police. When this did not work, the Shah had to concede some of the popular demands, dismissing some of his generals, and promising to crack down on corruption and allow more freedom, before eventually succumbing to the main demand of the revolution by fleeing the country on Jan. 16, 1979. But days before leaving, he installed a puppet prime minister in the hope that he could quell the protests allowing him to return. As he hopped from country to country, he discovered that he was unwelcome in most parts of the world. Western countries that had hailed his regime for decades were now abandoning him in droves in the face of popular revolution. Fast forward to Tunisia 32 years later. What took 54 weeks to accomplish in Iran was achieved in Tunisia in less than four. The regime of President Zein-al-Abidin Ben Ali represented in the eyes of his people not only the features of a suffocating dictatorship, but also the characteristics of a mafia-controlled society riddled with massive corruption and human rights abuses. On December 17, Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old unemployed graduate in the central town of Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire in an attempt to commit suicide. Earlier in the day, police officers took away his stand and confiscated the fruits and vegetables he was selling because he lacked a permit. When he tried to complain to government officials that he was unemployed and that this was his only means of survival, he was mocked, insulted and beaten by the police. He died 19 days later in the midst of the uprising. Bouazizi's act of desperation set off the public's boiling frustration over living standards, corruption and lack of political freedom and human rights. For the next four weeks, his self-immolation sparked demonstrations in which protesters burned tires and chanted slogans demanding jobs and freedom. Protests soon spread all over the country including its capital, Tunis. The first reaction by the regime was to clamp down and use brutal force including beatings, tear gas, and live ammunition. The more ruthless tactics the security forces employed, the more people got angry and took to the streets. On Dec. 28 the president gave his first speech claiming that the protests were organized by a minority of extremists and terrorists and that the law would be applied in all firmness to punish protesters. However, by the start of the New Year tens of thousands of people, joined by labor unions, students, lawyers, professional syndicates, and other opposition groups, were demonstrating in over a dozen cities. By the end of the week, labor unions called for commercial strikes across the country, while 8,000 lawyers went on strike, bringing the entire judiciary system to an immediate halt. Meanwhile, the regime started cracking down on bloggers, journalists, artists and political activists. It restricted all means of dissent, including social media. But following nearly 80 deaths by the security forces, the regime started to back down. On Jan. 13, Ben Ali gave his third televised address, dismissing his interior minister and announcing unprecedented concessions while vowing not to seek re-election in 2014. He also pledged to introduce more freedoms into society, and to investigate the killings of protesters during the demonstrations. When this move only emboldened the protestors, he then addressed his people in desperation, promising fresh legislative elections within six months in an attempt to quell mass dissent. When this ploy also did not work, he imposed a state of emergency, dismissing the entire cabinet and promising to deploy the army on a shoot to kill order. However, as the head of the army Gen. Rachid Ben Ammar refused to order his troops to kill the demonstrators in the streets, Ben Ali found no alternative but to flee the country and the rage of his people. On Jan. 14 his entourage
[Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia
YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353 ___ 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
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia
In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:12:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31450@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia _http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353_ (http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353) Reply Unbelievable. I wanted to marry Chaka but she did not know I existed. I love her man and her body . . . of work with Rufus. I get sick to the stomach thinking about Rufus featuring Chaka. I can think of about 20 of her songs. After Steve Wonder got them on the big charts with Tell Me Something Good I was all in. Then she got better. Her rendition of African rhythm and European harmonic structure is American music, which fortunately is no longer just called black music. This is good stuff. 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
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia
In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:45:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, waistli...@aol.com writes: In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:12:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31450@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia _http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353_ (http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353) Reply Unbelievable. I wanted to marry Chaka but she did not know I existed. I love her man and her body . . . of work with Rufus. I get sick to the stomach thinking about Rufus featuring Chaka. I can think of about 20 of her songs. After Steve Wonder got them on the big charts with Tell Me Something Good I was all in. Then she got better. Her rendition of African rhythm and European harmonic structure is American music, which fortunately is no longer just called black music. This is good stuff. 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 ___ 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
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia
Thank you for the tunes! I really enjoy it!! From: waistli...@aol.com waistli...@aol.com To: marxism-thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu Cc: Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 3:56 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:45:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, waistli...@aol.com writes: In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:12:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31450@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia _http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353_ (http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353) Reply Unbelievable. I wanted to marry Chaka but she did not know I existed. I love her man and her body . . . of work with Rufus. I get sick to the stomach thinking about Rufus featuring Chaka. I can think of about 20 of her songs. After Steve Wonder got them on the big charts with Tell Me Something Good I was all in. Then she got better. Her rendition of African rhythm and European harmonic structure is American music, which fortunately is no longer just called black music. This is good stuff. 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 ___ 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 ___ 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
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia
Glad u do , Comrade Juan ! On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 4:08 PM, juan De La Cruz ballist...@yahoo.com wrote: Thank you for the tunes! I really enjoy it!! From: waistli...@aol.com waistli...@aol.com To: marxism-thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu Cc: Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 3:56 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:45:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, waistli...@aol.com writes: In a message dated 1/20/2011 2:12:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31450@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: YouTube - Chaka Khan's Night in Tunisia _http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353_ (http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3818706/10453353) Reply Unbelievable. I wanted to marry Chaka but she did not know I existed. I love her man and her body . . . of work with Rufus. I get sick to the stomach thinking about Rufus featuring Chaka. I can think of about 20 of her songs. After Steve Wonder got them on the big charts with Tell Me Something Good I was all in. Then she got better. Her rendition of African rhythm and European harmonic structure is American music, which fortunately is no longer just called black music. This is good stuff. 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 ___ 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 ___ 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 ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Another Chaka Night in Tunisia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni8FQ_9uOtU ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Diz
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2d06_a-night-in-tunisia_music ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Youth more radically opposed to present government than tea parties, poll finds
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/youth-radically-opposed-present-government-tea-party-poll-finds/ Youth more radically opposed to present government than tea parties, poll finds By Stephen C. Webster Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 -- 11:56 am submit to reddit Stumble This! 2124Share 16diggsdigg Partisan news missing the point: Youth, poor have greater reason for dissatisfaction than tea parties londonstudentsriotslavesAFP Youth more radically opposed to present government than tea parties, poll findsPredictions of a youth uprising sweeping the United States in 2011 appear to be turning increasingly true, according to a recent poll. Figures supporting that hypothesis, produced by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) for a liberal blog, were cited by partisan news figures as proof of a growing violent radical element in the tea parties. But that's missing the larger statistic. Across Europe in the last year, youth have led sweeping civil unrest in protest of corrupt governance, harsh austerity measures and what they see as a guided collapse of their economies. In Greece, riots became a daily reality in 2010 as Athens has been repeatedly crippled by black-clad youth openly fighting police in the streets. In France, hundreds of thousands shut down the economy in response to a proposal to raise the retirement age. In Italy, cars burned and shops were smashed over the barely-there coalition government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In London, a massive hike to college tuition fees led throngs of angry students to smash up the Supreme Court, Treasury and conservative party buildings. Protesters even got within grabbing range of Prince Charles and the Dutchess of Cornwall, attacking their car with blunt objects and paint as it passed. In Tunisia, acting on disclosures by WikiLeaks about the economic dominance of the former dictator's family, a 26-year-old street vendor set himself ablaze in protest of high unemployment, sparking the unrest that quickly toppled their government. Thanks to his success -- even in death -- more self-immolations have been reported in Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania as authoritarian Muslim regimes looked on in fear of their populace. And that could just be the beginning, if the predictions prove accurate. Partisanship obfuscates truth A statistic from PPP that got little play from liberal commentaries showed that American youths -- not the tea parties -- are more inclined to think of violence against the US government as acceptable. tunisiariots afp Youth more radically opposed to present government than tea parties, poll findsA full 17 percent of those ages 18-29 said yes, that violence would be justified, while a further 15 percent were not not sure. Granted, while those figures come out to a clear majority of young people -- 68 percent -- saying violence is not justified, it also means that 32 percent either disagree or haven't made up their minds. Another statistic sure to surprise some beltway liberals were the responses of poor people, who tied with tea partiers at 13 percent in saying violence would be justified. A further 24 percent said they weren't sure, bringing their level of certainty against violence down to just 63 percent. Compounding the potential for civil unrest, the poor and the tea parties, according to prior statistics, were two very different, separate groups with virtually no cross-over. In a survey of Americans who voted in 2008, the nonpartisan group Project Vote found that, by and large, those sympathetic to the tea parties were white, wealthy and affluent people, whose political views represented approximately 29 percent of the electorate. By comparison, blacks, youths and low-income voters, who turned out in record numbers to support President Obama, make up 32 percent of the electorate -- and their views could not be any more different than their conservative counterparts. The poll, published last Sept., described tea party participants as overwhelmingly white and universally dissatisfied, even though having the least reason for dissatisfaction. tunisiaprotests afp Youth more radically opposed to present government than tea parties, poll findsOnly six percent [of tea party participants] reported having to worry about buying food for their families in the past year, compared to 14 percent of voters nationwide, 37 percent of blacks, 21 percent of youths, and 39 percent of low-income voters, they added. Discussing the partisan rhetorical fray on MSNBC last night, liberal news anchor Keith Olbermann failed to mention these figures, focusing instead on tea partiers and violent rhetoric prevalent in many Republicans' public discourse. Global revolution? Speaking to Russia Today recently, trends analyst Gerald Celente -- who predicted the 2008 economic collapse far in advance -- suggested that a youth uprising is inevitable thanks to the emergence of a new kind of journalism that values full disclosure over other goals. What
