[PEN-L:1378] Imperialism & Globalization: lecture, NYC
The Brecht Forum The New York Marxist School 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 242-4201 (212) 741-4563 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (email) * Imperialism and Globalization: Clarifications at the End of the Twentieth Century a discussion with Bill Tabb and Dieter Klein Thursday, November 16 at 7:30 pm A Century ago, Marxists talked about imperialism; today, people speak of globalization. What is constant and what is new in the world system at the end of the twentieth century? Bill Tabb is the author of _The Post-war Japanese System: Cultural Economy and Economic Transformation_ (Oxford University Press, 1995). Dieter Klein, a professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin, was a co-author of "The Possibilities of a Peaceful Capitalism," published in the GDR in 1988. Admission is $6. * All Brecht Forum lectures are available on audiotape. The cost is $7 per lecture. To order, make checks or money orders payable to *The Brecht Forum* and send to: The Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, New York, New York 10001. For orders outside the U.S., please send an international money order or bank check payable in U.S. and enclose an additional US$5 per order to cover the cost of air postage. * A memorial tribute to William Kunstler will be held on Sunday, November 19 at 2 pm at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Amsterdam Avenue and 111 Street, Manhattan. For more information, call MADRE at (212) 627-0444. //30
[PEN-L:1379] Re: Saro-Wiwa
About this case. What I see is the traditional accountability roll-over. Shell destroys a country to take valuable resources, in order to ddo it, it has to support a "gorilla" government. This organization, in order to keep Shell's privileges, has to avoid any kind of uprise. Sometimes, it has to kill somebody. Then, occidental democracies point to the gorilla government, and ask for its fall... This is the Latin American history, almost 200 years of this arrangements. Even today, Mexico works for automotive enterprises more than for mexican citizens. Or take coffee or cattle as instance and then take a look at Chiapas... Finally, economics is much more than markets, more so in these underdeveloped countries that supply you with some valuable resources. We put resources and martyrs, you put recommendations of free market economics and democracy... Macario
[PEN-L:1382] seeking lefty for Crossfire
Seen on Usenet... --_ Dale Wharton [EMAIL PROTECTED]M O N T R E A LTe souviens-tu? 8<--- couper ici --->8 From: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: alt.news-media Subject:"From the Left" on Crossfire Date: Thu, 09 Nov 1995 15:41:47 -0800 (PST) FAIR Action Alert November 9, 1995 TV's most watched debate show is Crossfire, airing every weeknight on CNN. Although Crossfire always features co-hosts who announce they represent "the right" and "the left," in practice the show has usually featured unabashed right wingers like John Sununu, Robert Novak or Pat Buchanan debating someone who more represents the center than the left. The latest "left" co-host, Michael Kinsley, has announced that he is leaving Crossfire to start and online magazine with MicroSoft, and close observers of the show fear that CNN will replace him with another more or less centrist advocate like Christopher Matthews, Bob Beckel, the Washington Post's Juan Williams or Time magazine's Margaret Carlson. If you watch Crossfire, and you'd like to express yourself to CNN on who might make a strong, bonafide advocate for the left (perhaps people like Christopher Hitchens, Barbara Ehrenreich or Jim Hightower), feel free to contact: Crossfire CNN 820 First Street Washington D.C. 20002 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can also call the comments line in Atlanta: 404-827-1500
[PEN-L:1383] Re: teaching
Comment on Evan's comment about teaching: I am just being "forced" back into teaching some micro in a one-semester "Business Environment" course in our college's MBA program. We've got to give them about 5 weeks of micro. Our approach is to use the policy orientation of Shepard's _Public Policies Towards Business_ (this is the slimmed down version of Clair Wilcox's _Public Control of Business_ text which was used everywhere I suppose in the 1950s and early 1960s!!) to "teach" micro we end up showing how price-discrimination works, how regulation supposedly plays an important role, etc. etc. -- Mike Meeropol Economics Department Cultures Past and Present Program Western New England College Springfield, Massachusetts "Don't blame us, we voted for George McGovern!" Unrepentent Leftist!! [EMAIL PROTECTED] [if at bitnet node: in%"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" but that's fading fast!]
[PEN-L:1384] Re: firm behaviour and teaching
I've just finished teaching intermediate micro for the first time and Evan's comments really struck a chord -- I used a book that seemed more fair-minded than most, but which still has pockets of the most appalling right-wing swill, like arguments against workplace safety regulation. I agree that more and better materials are needed on heterodox economics but I also think that we need better material on the *orthodox* theory. Why? Because most existing texts on standard micro and macro are exercises in sweeping assumptions under the rug, and tend to be analytically weak even in areas where they would not need difficult math to explain things well. Try and find a macro text that does a decent job on adjustment in an IS-LM framework. Many of us end up writing up handouts for students that do the mechanics properly. Furthermore in the current situation most of us are in the position of using the least noxious mainstream text and then trying to build in additional readings around it, so the heterodox stuff is always 2nd fiddle, in part because we can't expect students to spend much more after shelling out $60 or more for the main text. So here's a rather non-modest, long-term, proposal: Eric Nilsson has begun work on making heterodox teaching materials available online. Perhaps he might set up a category for material on orthodox economics that is critical, or even just clear. Between us all, over some time, we could put together the equivalent of a text in orthodox theory that would be better than what's out there, flexible in that people could select what they need, and above all FREE, so that it could be reproduced in course packets to take care of whatever neoclassical stuff needs to be covered, at minimal cost to students. Best, Colin
[PEN-L:1385] Why textbooks will remain bad
Paul, Diane B. 1987. "The Nine Lives of Discredited Data: Old Textbooks Never Die -- They Get Paraphrased." The Sciences (May/June): pp. 26-30. 26: in 1980, after Cyril Burt's fraud had been exposed in the 1970's, text books continued to repeat his conclusions uncritically. 27: In the 1960s, she says that text books were still idiosyncratic. Homogenization surged with enrollments in the 1960s. 28: Community colleges demanded a new type of text, more like high school texts. 28: Conglomerates entered the text business at that time. 28: The need to cover more topics caused a tendency toward superficiality and plagiarism. 29: In 1974, Harper & Row charged Meredith Corporation with copying its Child Development and Personality. Meredith had hired free lance writers with no background in psychology, gave them detailed chapter outlines. One memo warned writers to "resist the temptation to impose your own view" and follow the Harper and Row text. 29: She describes how texts crib from one another. She cites from the ruling against the charge of plagiarism brought by the publisher's Campbell R. McConnell's text "Economics professors, who shape the market, desire texts to which their own class notes can be adapted. Their notes, in turn, are the products of long familiarity with what might be described as "Samuelson methodology." These professors are presumptively unwilling to effect a reorganization of their own notes merely to satisfy the whims of a new textbook writer." McDonnough, Terrence and Joseph Eisenhauer. 1995. "Sir Robert Giffen and the Great Potato Famine: A Discussion of the Role of a Legend in Neoclassical Economics." Journal of Economic Issues, 29: 3 (September): pp. 747-59. 749: Giffen was only 8 when the famine occurred. The Giffen story appeared in the third edition of Marshall's Principles. There and elsewhere, he refers to the British consumption of bread rather than the Irish consumption of potatoes, and it appeared to refer to the latter half of the nineteenth century. 749: Stigler, George J. 1947. "Notes on the History of the Giffen Paradox." Journal of Political Economy, 55 (April): pp. 152-6 debunked the paradox. It does not seem to have come from Marshall or Giffen. 748: The story seems to have begun in Samuelson's textbook. All the other textbooks followed him, establishing the legend of the Giffen Paradox. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:1380] Re: Chart & Question
On Sun, 12 Nov 1995, Fikret Ceyhun wrote: > > Sometime ago I saw a chart in a publication (might be THE > ECONOMIST) and sources of the data in chart were "WORLD BANK & OECD." > I am going to try to reproduce the chart below. > > TITLE: INEQUALITY AND LABOR PRODUCTIVITY: 1979 TO 1990 > > Labor productivity growth > 4.0 > | > | +Finland > 3.0 > | > | > 3.0 +Japan > | > | > 2.5 > | +France > | +Belgium +Denmark > 2.0 +UK > | +Italy > |+Germany > 1.5 + + +Norway +New Zeland > | Sweden Netherlands > | Switzerland > 1.0 + + Australia > | Canada + > | USA > 0.5 + > | > | > 0*_*_*_*_*_*_**_ > 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > Income inequality c. 1980 (top 20%/bottom 20%) > > My questions: > 1) Is there inherent theoretical relationship (or is it just empirical > relationship) between income inequality and productivity growth? > > > 2) Does growth reduce income inequality or increase it? Why? > > > 3) As you know, the conservatives tend to contend that the high > rates of growth lessen income inequality. Since the chart > empirically shows the relationship between income inequality and > labor productivity growth, does income inequality retard labor > productivity? Why? > > Thoughts on these questions are much appreciated. > > In struggle, > Fikret Ceyhun > > Dept. of Economicse-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Univ. of North Dakota voice: (701)777-3348 office > University Station, Box 8369 (701)772-5135 home > Grand Forks, ND 58202 fax:(701)777-5099 > > I reproduce the chart from Fikret Ceyhun's post because I think that it is important to see just how questionable is the empirical relationship that it purports to show. Don't get me wrong: I DO believe that inequality is bad and that it probably hurts productivity growth. My problem is with the empirical conclusions drawn from such a chart: the chart has sixteen data points, and if you remove Finland and Japan (and call them outliers), there is almost no slope at all to the fitted line. This caught my eye because the chart looks so similar to the chart on "Independence of a Central Bank vs. National Inflation Performance" being pushed by Barro and his ilk. In that diagram, there is also a general scatter which looks somewhat downward-sloping, but removing an outlier or two pretty much ruins the story. Their conclusion is, not surprisingly, that independent (read: anti-democratic) central banks do a better job of fighting inflation. One big advantage of the chart above (other than the political content, to which I am very amenable) is that at least both axes have well-understood units of measurement (as opposed to "degree of central bank independence"). Nevertheless, I think that it is dangerous to try to generalize from such a scatter diagram. Neil H. Buchanan
[PEN-L:1381] firm behaviour and teaching
Re: the recent request for info on firm behaviour a la claims in a textbook regarding the pervasiveness of 'price-takers'. This request is apropos an earlier exchange on the 'best' introductory textbooks for use by dissidents. It is true that firms in the Fortune 500 are subject to competition. There is certainly no longer that 'market power' possessed by US industry leaders in the glorious days of the 50s and 60s (vide, John Blair, Economic Concentration 1972). But the competition is a different sort of competition to that in the textbooks. Concern with the pervasiveness of price-takers is tinkering on the margin. The more important consideration is that the neoclassical theory of the firm has no relevance (read NO RELEVANCE) to real world firms. The neoclassical firm is an analytical construct for reasons of methodological and ideolgoical purity. It is not even a first approximation, and was not even relevant in earlier simpler age. You can not get to the real world from the neoclassicasl theory of competition (and of the firm). The neoclassical firm lives in a different epistemological space to attempts at analysis of real world firms. A propos earlier concerns about preferable texts for dissidents. It follows that any text centred on neoclassical theory involves a serious diverting of the precious educational process briefly available to young people on their way to maturity. Even a course centred predominantly on critique is still distorting, because where can a student go if they know nothing but critique? Students need reasonable approahces to the right questions if they are to function as professionals. It is possible that dissidents have to teach 'micro' courses in order to keep their jobs. But let's be clear about the motives. On the other hand, it appeaers that there is a very large number of dissidents out there. Though the socailisation process and the repression in economics is virulent, is it possible that it succeeds because dissidents consent to it more than they need to? Re the recent discussion of the establishment hierarchical listing of departments - is it not possible to have a collective repudiastion of thelisting? To throw out the whole array of establishment paraperhnalia - AEA, AER, etc. Tell them to go jump, and stop stuffing around the margin hoping for tolerance and a modicum of respectability. In general, is it not possible, like the hero broadcaster in the movie (name forgotten) who leans out the window and screams "I've had enough and I'm not going to take it anymore!"? Isn't it now possible for dissidents to be hiring each other? In short, isn't it time for another pedagogical and organisational revolution, a la the late 1960s? I have the privilege of teaching in a department which had a revolution in the early 70s, the structures surviving the reaction. And our students get jobs, indeed are often preferred, because they can think about the big picture (and can write!). We have had the experience (over 20 years) of relegating neoclassical economics to its appropriate place and have got away with it. Even dissidents can overstate the necessity for teaching neoclassical economics. All this know your enemy stuff is crap. The real enemy is not the academic version of neoclassical economics, but the popularised versions which thrive in the propaganda organs, in politics and in policy-making. They are of course related, but they are not identical, and one can get to the propaganda versions more directly (as most of its adherents do!). One can teach neoclasisical economics in a history of thought context - as a methodological and ideological resolution of certain intellectual and political dilemmas - understood through a sociological analysis. Neoclassical economics rots students' tender brains. It's a religion that is very difficult to escape from. Let's face it - as teachers of 'economics', neoclassical economics is the easy option, a crutch to bypass the difficult issues of appropriate topics, appropriate approahces - the huge black hole of uncertainty about how the capitalist world runs, where it's going, and what we can do about it. Finding useful teaching materials in this void is of courrse immensely time-consuming, which is why the special publications and the teaching lists put out by URPE, Dollars & SEnse, etc are so important. But even a shitty 1000 word article from the Wall Street Journal is a better teaching device than any chapter out of any mainstream text. Why should we be forced to mess up our brief lives with the extraordinary deviousness of these textbook writers who want to claim that black is white? Yours Evan Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:1387] the "new" AFL-CIO
For those of you interested in U.S. organized labor's "new direction" under the Sweeney/Trumka leadership, see the article in today's _NYT_ about the labor bosses paying a visit to the Boeing strike in Everett, WA. Renewed militancy, perhaps, but with a woefully protectionist twist. What is one of the targets of the machinists' strike ? For Boeing to halt the contracting out of parts assembly to offshore sites, even though many of these offshore operations reflect attempts by various developmentalist states to force Boeing to purchase parts from firms in countries to which it exports commerical aircraft. So what is U.S. organized labor's grand vision of an alternative ? For _all_ manufacturing activity to take place in the First World ? And then there's the full-page ad put together by various Puerto Rican- American elected officials demanding that the Clinton Administration retain "Operation Bootstrap," the program that gives tax breaks to U.S. corporations who site manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico. Ah, yes, the sharp theory and practice of U.S. "progressives." One camp wants to keep all the high-value jobs and incomes to itself, the other wants to help U.S. transnationals, which probably have among the highest profit margins in the world, with taxpayer assistance to locate in an area where they would probably locate anyway ... John Gulick
[PEN-L:1392] Re: firm behaviour and teaching
If you want the straight micro theory critically considered, you can do much worse than to go with 2 pen-lers. For undergraduates, Peter Dorman has a manuscript coming out imminently, I think, that is superb. For graduate micro there is Hahnel and Albert's *Quiet Revolution in Welfare Economics*. BUY PEN-L!!
[PEN-L:1388] Re: Shalom
This will be my last post on this topic, no matter what
("whew!" goes Michael P.). But I have two further observations
here in that aftermath of the mourning period for Rabin.
1) Although I expressed guarded optimism in my last post,
one area where the assassination definitely reduces the chances
of a settlement is between Syria and Israel. As a mass murderer,
Hafez el-Assad only respects "tough guys" and will cut no deals
with a wimp like Peres. Although Jim J. said that "probably"
people are protesting against Assad, the sad truth is that they
are not. He is too smart and too careful. The contrast with
Saddam and Gaddafi is striking. Both of them are clownish if
nasty characters who wear ridiculous outfits and sit on silly
thrones. When they invade neighbors everybody gets on their cases.
Assad swallows Lebanon, but does it through front figures. So,
who cares? He wears suits and does not make bombastic statements,
so who cares? He just kills lots of people. I also note that he
is in power because the officer corps of Syria is stuffed with his
fellow Alawites who cooperated with the French colonialists.
2) Which brings up the role of western imperialism. Of course
there have been empires and wars in this region since long before
there was capitalism. Even now I see capitalism and western imperialism
having nothing to do with the horribly bloody Iran/Iraq war. On the'
other hand the simultaneous British announcement of the Balfour
Declaration, guaranteeing a "Jewish Homeland" in Palestine, and of the
MacMahon letter to Sherif Hussein, guaranteeing no disposition of
Palestine without Arab approval, in the midst of the World War I
struggle for control of oil in the region is certainly relevant. On
the other hand the Brits stopped helping the Jews after the 1929
Hebron massacres and although the US has recently been the main
guarantor of Israeli security, it is not at all clear that this is
really in the interests of the oil companies or other interests in
the US. Arab anger at the US over this showed up in the embargo
at the time of the Yom Kippur War and Israel itself sank the USS
Liberty during the 1967 war. Israel has been more of a baggage
for US imperialism than a benefit, as many right wingers in the US
such as Pat Buchanan are quick to point out.
Shalom and Salaam.
Barkley Rosser
[PEN-L:1389] Minimum wage hotline
The Labor Department has set up a toll free number for workers to call "to describe the impact that increasing the minimum wage would have on their lives." Open 24 hours a day until November 17. 1-800-786-4975. There is also an e-mail address (for low-wage workers with computers?): [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reich is apparently looking for stories to use in his testimony in upcoming Senate minimum wage hearings, which are expected in late November or early December. For more info on the hearings, call Christine Owens at the Citizens Committee, 202-265-9573. Dick Lavine Center for Public Policy Priorities Austin, TX
[PEN-L:1386] Market Socialism in China
"The casualities of China's economic revolution are rising. Among them is a thin, 39-year-old worker named Fang. Caught in a financial squeeze, the state-owned medicines factory that employed Mr. Fang stopped paying him early this year. Its once-popular remedies had lost market share to new imports--just as China's government, trying to slash deficits, withdrew subsidies. And so, at dusk one evening, Mr. Fang loiters on a street in this coastal town in Fujian province, a beeper clipped to his black vinyl belt. He is waiting for a call from a man who promised--for $3,500 up fron, $17,000 on arrival--passage to what Mr. Fang hopes will be a brighter future working as an illegal alien in America. 'I don't care about immigrating, just money. There is no money in China, no future,' Mr. Fang says." (Wall St. Journal 10/18) - "This mountain city's (Liuyang) main export has no machines. It uses no electricity. The only sound inside is the scuff of cloth shoes on a concrete floor, where gunpowder gathers like sawdust. Several hundred young workers, spaced a body length apart for safety, stuff wicks into explosive balls. The factory, one of 67 employing a total of 100,000 workers here, makes fireworks with names such as 'Dixie Repeater' and 'Battle of Vicksburg.' The boxes bear a slogan: 'China's Best. An American Tradition.' With multitudes of such labor-intensive industries, China has exploded into a global export power. China now produces half the world's toys and two-thirds of its shoes. Most of the world's bicycles, lamps, power tools and sweaters also are produced here. But what is more worrisome to other export giants, such as Japan and the U.S. is that China's export surge is now being powered by high- end products. Exports of machinery and electronics--everything from alarm clocks to video camcorders--have jumped 60% this year, Chineses statistics show, becoming China's top export category for the first time. Exports to the U.S. of fascimile machines alone jumped 30- fold in the first nine months of this year, compared with the comparable 1994 period." (Wall St. Journal, 11/13) Louis Proyect Dept. of Hydrophonics, Visiting Scholar Columbia University
[PEN-L:1390] Re: firm behaviour and teaching
I agree with Evan Jones about the necessity for a truly alternative pedagogy in economics. I studied at the New School, and even there, a depressing preponderance of our time was spent learning "the model." You know, so that you can understand what everybody else is talking about. Now that I'm in a different discipline (history) it is the marixan political economy that serves me best. Nobody in that discipline (well mostly nobody) would have the idiocy to deny the existence of things like class, monopoly, and other forms of coersion in economic activy.
[PEN-L:1393] income inequality f
I strongly recommend the interview with Gary Burtless in the latest issue of CHALLENGE on this topic. It is wide-ranging and easy to follow--an excellent supplement to an undergrad econ course, by the way. (The fact that I have a somewhat different take on the issues than Burtless is irrelevant; his interview is entirely clear and fair.) The NEW YORKER article, on the other hand, was written by someone too insecure of his own views to adopt a critical perspective on the economists he quotes. I would shun any "experts say..." piece for use in the classroom. Peter Dorman
[PEN-L:1391] Mexican social services reform?
What could be worse than having newt shape up your social programs? Look south. /* Written 2:33 PM Nov 9, 1995 by [EMAIL PROTECTED] in igc:reg.mexico */ /* -- "Bulletin 47 Analysis" -- */ From: list PAZ EN MEXICO <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MEXPAZ: Bulletin # 47, Analysis November 8, 1995 Alliances for Whom? (Rural Relief/Social Security Pension Reform/Coup Rumors Rock Mexican Economy) On the heels of the announcement of the Alliance for Economic Recovery (Apre), the Zedillo government promulgated two more "alliances": the Alliance for Rural Areas (Alianza para el Campo, October 31) and the Alliance to Strengthen and Modernize Social Security (November 1). Meanwhile, rumors apparently emanating from New York--including an attempted coup d'etat in Mexico--shook financial markets here and abroad. Broadly, the objectives of the Alliance for Rural Areas are: increasing the profitability of the agricultural sector; combatting rural poverty; providing basic staples at low costs; and stimulating self-sufficiency in aliments. Among specific proposals are: - an agricultural budget increase in 1996 of 24% in nomimal terms (that is, 4% in real terms, if the government meets its overly optimistic goal of 20% inflation next year). According to Francisco Labastida Ochoa, Secretary of Agriculture, the budget will increase to 18 billion new pesos in absolute terms, and capitalization will include 30 billion new pesos in subsidies over the next five years (Reforma, November 2). - boost technological sophistication through, for example, a 20% subsidy to farmers who purchase tractors. (However, a 10% increase in the price of John Deere tractors reduces the subsidy by one-half right off the bat.) - alimentary sulf-sufficiency, particularly with respect to milk and meat, where the country imports 40% of its comsumption. Thus, ranchers and dairy farmers will receive the lion's share of the new subsidies, including supports of 40% in grass seeding, 35% in fertilization and irrigation systems, and 40% in storage plants for cold milk (El Economista, November 3). - increase fluidity of land transactions and the number of ways in which land can be transferred. The Alliance to Strengthen and Modernize Social Security is a 30- point document whose purpose is, essentially, to privatize the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS), taking the Chilean system as its model. The alliance's main points are: - transfer retirement pensions from collective funds to individual accounts; workers would then be able to choose among various small financial firms (and not banks) as fund administrators; - increase government contributions to Social Security, rather than increasing the burden on workers or employees. Currently 7% of a worker's salary goes into the system (2% for retirement, 5% for housing). Under the new plan, 4.5 of IMSS salary deductions would go towards retirement and old age reserves, and another 4.5% would be contributed by the government as a "social fee." (Reforma, November 2) - using the individual accounts to increase the level of domestic savings - reducing the "excessive" number of at-will, temporary employees. It is not clear if this will imply an increase in permanent positions with full benefits. However, the Secretary General of the Union of IMSS Employees assured that under no conditions would there be layoffs of unionized employees. - individual choice of family doctors Although foreign investors were quick to praise the new series of measures, criticism in Mexico was not long in forthcoming. The Alliance for Rural Areas has been criticized as basically a welfare program for those who least need it: ranchers and large agricultural producers. Also, and unlike Apre, no specific numerical goals have been set in terms of growth or prices. Although the figure of 18 billion new pesos for next year has been bandied about, there is no indication as to how this money will be allocated. The Social Security alliance, for its part, is basically a speculative gamble with pensioners' money. Despite assurances that the individual funds will be immune from market fluctuations, the Chilean experience demonstrates that such funds are indeed vulnerable. Although initially profitable, Chilean pensions have been jeopardized by the "tequila effect" that the Mexican crisis has precipitated in Latin America (Proceso, November 6). Furthermore, the new privatization plan endangers the historical rationale for Social Security: a graduated redistribution scheme which promotes intergenerational solidarity through collectivization of funds. Lastly, Zedillo is looking to Social Security money as a cash cow in a currency-starved country, apparently not willing to risk private sector profits. Both pacts suffer from the same traditional defects: those whom they will impact most had absolutely no say in the matter. The demands of small farmers represented by independent camp
[PEN-L:1394] help on graduate programs in resources
I have a progressive, female student who wants to go to grad school to study Nat'l resource and environmental econ. I would appreciate any recommendations anyone might have on these programs. One of her goals is to teach at the University level, but she is realistic about how bad the job mkt is likely to remain. Doug Orr [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [PEN-L:1387] the "new" AFL-CIO
John Gulick is right to warn of the dangers of a progressive left/labor agenda simply dissolving into US economic nationalism, or worse, outright Buchananism . But I think *some* folks in the US labor movement *do* recognize the need for a different strategy, one based on a renewed labor internationalism. Does anyone else have more information about this, and ideas about how it might be further strengthened and promoted? Peter Burns SJ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:1395] Help: AFL-CIO reading suggestions.
Progressives: I'm interested in reading a critical history of the AFL-CIO, particularly the Kirkland era and Sweeny's activities. I'd like to steer clear of histories produced in-house and right-wing hack jobs. Any suggestions of books or articl es would be much appreciated. Thanks very much. David Byrne American University
[PEN-L:1396] Campus Takeover--Education or Incarceration?!
Greetings,
On behalf of the several organizations who united to champion the cause of
"Education not Incarceration"--the General Union of Palestinian Students,
The Chico Women's Center, the No-Ban Committee, Californians for Quality
Education, the Enviromental Affairs Committee, the Associated Students and
the Chico Cannabis Club-- I'd like to thank everyone for their support for
our efforts in the takeover of the Free Speech Area here at Chico State
University.
Although the issue around which we had rallied --a local school bond
named Measure A-- did not succeed at the polls, we did manage to
accomplish several things:
In the previous school bond election (which also failed) only 400 students
came out to vote. This past election, 1100 came out to vote and 98% voted
in favor. It required a two-thirds majority to pass. It received 63%.
We spoke one-on-one with every passer-by that stopped to know more about
what was going on. Hundreds altogether. We engaged in dialectic --a
practice that has become more scarce on campus these days. We talked about
political issues with people who ordinarily wouldn't. The environment
evoked it. The response was almost entirely positive. This impact, I
believe, was even more powerful than the rally that addressed crowds in the
highest traffic area on campus.
Even conservatives stopped to engage in friendly debate. To me, this was
most enjoyable. In this, we were all made to think.
We drew the attention of the local media and served to open up debate on
the Education vs. Incarceration issue. Chico Police Chief Michael Dunbaugh
has agreed to a community forum on campus to address these issues. This is
of particular interest to the group I represent, the Chico Cannabis Club.
California spends more on prisons than schools. 70% of prisoners are
non-violent offenders such as marijuana trafficers and cultivators.
Also, the Progressive Student Union has become newly emboldened. Activism
is not dead and never will be. When the camp-out first started, the people
from the various groups represented did not know each other very well. We
have built relationships within the progressive factions on campus. We
have established the foundation for further growth, an institution of
change.
___ ______
/ /\/ /\ /__/\The California State University,
/ /::\ / /:/ \ \:\ Chico
/ /:/\:\/ /:/ /\ \ \:\ / /\ \
/ /:/ /:/ / /:/ /::\__ \ \:\/ { } \
/__/:/ /:/ /__/:/ /:/\:\ /__/\ \__\:\ /|~-\/-~|\
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\ \::/ \ \::/ /:/\ \:\ /:/\~~II~~/
\ \:\ \__\/ /:/ \ \:\/:/ \ II /
\ \:\/_ /:/\ \::/ Progressive Student Union
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