Moscow study trip: 28JUL-23AUG
I'm organizing a study trip to Moscow from 28 Jul-23 Aug which explores Russia's political, economic and social conditions. It is the 14th year these have been offered, but the first time in the summer. Many people have asked for this because it is the only time they can get away, so our host educational institution has agreed to stay open during its normal vacation period. So far, participation is not matching the expressed interest, and there is the risk that if we cry wolf we won't get cooperation again. For details, please write to[EMAIL PROTECTED] I am attaching the daily schedule of a comparable trip last year so you can see what the program will resemble. NB: Participants from outside North America are welcome. May 30 Arrival in Brussels Walking tour of city 31 Video: "US-USSR: World War 2" Visit to Bruges Jun 01 Travel to Moscow 02 City tour Opening of seminar Demonstration of Metro and bus use 03 Lecture: Russian history; causes and consequences of the Revolution (Zasorin) Video: "US-USSR: The Cold War" Discussion of group 04 Lecture: The current political situation in Russia and its historical roots (Matveev) Video: The town of Kirjatch (near Moscow) Visit to Tretyakov Gallery 05 Izmailovsky Park "A Ballet Evening" Palace of Congresses 06 Visit to Novodevichy Monastery Free time 07 Discussion: Economic reforms in Russia: Results and perspectives (Semenkov) Video: "Being 20 in Russia" Free time 08 Visit to publishing house of children's literature, games and commercial packaging. Tour of printing facilities and meeting with director Visit to Kremlin churches 09 Lecture: Economic geography of Russia and of the CIS; regionalization (Pelitsin) Visit to Pushkin Museum Circus 10 Visit to dairy farm started by an independent farmer at the beginning of perestroika; lunch at farm 11 Discussion: Social dimensions of the reforms (Kuchma and Semenkov) Visit to secondary school 12 Visit to Ostankino TV tower Obratsov Puppet Theater: "An Unusual Concert" 13 Visit to Kolomensoje museum and park Free time 14 Discussion: "Future of US-Russia Relations" (Batyuk, Institute of USA Canada Studies) Discussion with American businessman trying to establish commercial relations in Russia 15 Discussion at the Federation of Peace and Conciliation Visit to the Armory 16 Visit to agricultural machinery factory: tour of plant, discussion with production director; tour of plant museum; discussion of conflicts over the factory's management and privatization with editor of factory newspaper and with production director Meeting with book publisher who has used profits to operate the "New Millenium Foundation" (development of science, culture and education) Opera at Bolshoi Theater 17 Lecture: Labor and the trade union movement in Russia today (Milovidov) Visit to agricultural commodities exchange 18 Discussion: "Ethnic conflicts in Russia and the CIS" (Stepanyants, Institute of Philosophy) Video documentary: Soviet troop withdrawal from Meinigen Germany Visit to nursery school 19 Travel to Vladimir Tour of Vladimir, its churches and museums 20 Visit to Gous-Khroustalny and its crystal museum; meeting with crystal designer 21 Discussion with director of Trade Union Training Center Visit to Bogolioubovo Visit to furniture factory and discussion with director 22 Visit to Suzdal Travel to Moscow 23 Meeting at the Gorbachev Foundation with VV Shostakovsky, Co-Chairman of the Republican Party Sample Russian lesson using suggestopedic method 24 Lecture: "Theater in Russian cultural life" (Kalyzin) Meeting with leaders of Russia's "alternative" trade unions (planned) 25 Lecture: "The civilizational history of Russia" (Erasov) Meeting with representatives of a commercial bank (planned) 26 Visit to Kuskovo Estate Open Air Museum Free time 27 Picnic offered by kitchen staff of Academy of Labor Free time 28 Closing discussion and critique Free time 29 Return to USA
nature of work and jobs
Thanks to Sally Lerner for her postings. Although I am not a sociologist, I would like to discuss the nature of work and job creation on this net- work. Just to tell you that economists are interested in the topic, the Union for Radical Political Economists has chosen the theme of its summer conference (Aug 20-23) to be "The URPE Job Summit", in contrast to Clinton's job conference/summit in Detroit last month. The topics of our plenary sessions will be: "Jobs and Growth in the US" "Jobs and Growth: Is there a North South Conflict?" and "Can We live with Growth?" We also hope to plan related sessions around community efforts for job growth, effects of protectionism and free trade on workers, coop efforts at job formation, welfare reform and jobs, and many others. If you are interested in conference information and would like to participate or attend, please contact me or any other URPE steering committee member. I look forward to reading my uploaded copy of Sally Lerner's postings. In solidarity, Susan Fleck URPE Steering Committee American University [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Bosnia-4
I found the following posting by Charles S Young extremely convincing Paul Phillips suggests that the media has essentially fabricated the portrait of Serbian aggression against muslims, and that this gives advantage to some American plot in Yugoslavia. I've spent my adult life opposed to much of U.S. foreign policy, but I don't see the evidence here for manufactured serbian aggression, as opposed to real aggression. What exactly is this American plan for exYugoslavia? I've read nothing but vague, fanciful suggestions that there must be a plot in there somewhere. What's the plan, and what's the EVIDENCE of the plan? Phillips quotes Amnesty International as saying rapes and atrocities are being committed by both sides. We would expect nothing else. Paul -- what does your Amnesty source say about the *proportion* of atrocities committed by both sides? Phillips states some atrocity reports were inaccurate. We would not expect all reports to be accurate. The bulk of reports say Serbs have the upper hand militarily and are pressing it, and that the Muslims are the losers, so we would expect more crimes to be committed against Muslims. To suggest otherwise requires either a great body of evidence no one else has seen, or great conspiratorial imagination. The U.S. media does not naturally side with Muslims over Christians. What is this overarching hegemonic imperative that compells the media to support the muslims? In the Vietnam war, the civil religion of freedom and the hysteria of anticommunism had a systematic mind-bending effect on the media and many peoples perceptions of the nobility of the cause. I see none of this mythology greatly apparent in Bosnia. It is seen as distasteful anarchy in some forgotten corner of Europe. Sketch for us this great ideological blinder that creates such wrong reporting. Something a little more concrete than that catch-all incantation, service to U.S. capital. Until I see evidence, not rhetoric, to the contrary, I think these defenses of the Serb war represent the crudist caricature of progressive thought: if Washington is doing it, it must be wrong. Let's proceed from the situation there, not from what Washington is doing. Last I heard, it wasn't just the U.S. press that was reporting Serbs beseiging Sarajevo. Another of Paul's verbal acrobatics just came to mind -- he stated the media was ignoring examples of Muslim ethnic cleansing. This is a misuse of terminology. Ethnic cleansing is a specific term used by Serb chauvanists to gain support. Muslims I'm sure have killed civilians. But the specific term "ethnic cleansing" should not be applied to Muslims unless you present EVIDENCE that this terminology is being introduced into Bosnian nationalist discourse. There's a great difference between fighting a war and occassionally committing civilian atrocities, and having a developed ideology of racial superiority. I think Paul's post displays more serbian agenda than evidence. The U.S. involvement in the region seems more marked by hesitation than anything else. I think Washington would prefer the issue went away. They want an orderly new order and no doubt wish the serbs and muslims acted more like Poles and East Germans. I'm happy to find evil motives on the part of Washington. Just give me an explanation why the West would give a *shit* who won. I'll consider it, but give me a reason. I think the West's actions are best explained by the preference for order, not some vague plot to favor one side. Neri Salvadori Dipartimento di Scienze EconomicheTEL. (39)(50)549215 Universita' di Pisa FAX: (39)(50)598040 Via Ridolfi 10, i56100 PISA (Italy) e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bosnia-5
Pen-ners, A short post to explain the relative territorial distributions in Bosnia. At the time of the unilateral declaration of independence by the Muslim led government, Serbs and Yugoslavs represented just under 40 per cent of the population, but they inhabited approximately 60 per cent of the land. The reason for this is that the Serbs were disporportionately in the poorer agricultural areas while the Muslims and Croats were more concentrated in the urban and more developed areas. This dates back to the medieval Ottoman rule period under the feudal system. In order to retain feudal lands, it was required that the lords convert to the Muslim religion. Thus the landed aristocracy, if you can call them that, became Muslims while the peasants retained their Orthodox religion. However, under the Ottoman land tenure system, fiefs were largely a form of allocation of taxing ability and the lords were not necessarily, or indeed primarily tied to the land -- and hence were more urban. At the present time, the Bosnian Serbs control about 70 per cent of the land area -- i.e. an additional 10 per cent. During the last negotiations that came close to agreement, the Serbs agreed to accept a division amounting to I think it was 52 per cent -- i.e. a reduction in both the population coverage and of the area they now control. As well, almost all the major industrial centres and developed areas would be included either in the Muslim or the Croatian republics. (Sorry I can't lay my hands on the exact municipalities at this moment but I have them somewhere.) I intend to take up some of the points that my postings have engendered, but I will do so as my last post on the subject. However, I can't let one factual matter pass since I think it represents the kind of attempt to diminish my argument by claiming I made a factual error. I think it was Barkley who corrected me by saying to the effect that I had used the term "Bosnia and Herzegovin" and he said it should be Bosnia-Herzegovina. In fact, he is wrong. About three weeks ago I was watching news reports from Sarajevo supplied by Bosnian television. In the corner of the screen was the logo "BiH". What does the "i" stand for? In Serbo-Croat, "i" is "and". But perhaps the Bosnians don"t know the name of their republic. I rest my case. Paul Phillips
Market socialism or state capitalism
Paul Bowles asks if the TVEs in China should be considered market socialism or state capitalism. Is there a difference between the two? What people usually advocate as market socialism seems to me to be indistinguishable from state capitalism. Paul Cockshott ,WPS, PO Box 1125, Glasgow, G44 5UF Phone: 041 637 2927 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Russia and China
Joseph Medley maintains that China is "export-oriented," or following "export-led growth." This view is propagated by the IMF and World Bank as the secret of the success of the "littigers," including South Korea. As I mentioned in an earlier message, South Korea typically runs an import surplus. In 1993, China will show approximately a $9 billion import surplus. IMHO, it would be better to label both cases as "trade-led growth." The Chinese still show evidence of a residual ideological carryover from Mao, who believed in so-called "balanced equivalents," or more or less balanced trade with each partner. It is this non-mercantilist approach to trade that makes China especially tempting to the advanced capitalist countries, which all follow neo- mercantilism to some degree, despite the contrary assertion by the 1994 Economic Report of the President. Lynn Turgeon ECOELT@VACB. Hofstra.Edu.
