[PEN-L:825] boddhisatva responds
To whom, At the point I am accused of writing "virulent racism" I have to defend myself but I'll wait for a moment and first thank the people who wrote supporting me: Thanks, I'm pleased and a little surprised by the whole thing. I was pondering why I might have caused such a stir and I came up with a few reasons. First, when I get worked up I tend to post a lot which is really something I should control. While it may give the impression that I'm trying to dominate the conversation or something, I can assure you it is just a childish lack of restraint. I also may communicate badly at times. I sometimes include partial thoughts that can be misinterpreted. I also enjoy arguing and see it as a positive process. Those two last things together seem to combine to prompt people to ascribe beliefs to me that I do not have and have not put forward. I think preconceptions play a role in that process as well. I am flip and sometimes a little rude. I accept any criticism on that score although I think that I have certainly got better than I have given in this present context. Before getting to that subject, I'd like to address a criticism Lou Proyect leveled at me. It is a familiar one. When I first started subscribing to mailing lists I noticed that many discussions fell into endless pseudo-debates that were really just citation contests and battles of historical arcana. I realize that these lists are populated by academics, I know a few myself (I even live with one), and I know that the academic lives by the citation as the mafioso lives by the knife and gun. I don't find them useful. I have a personal rule that dictates I delete anything with too many proper names. I don't believe history is made by "great men" and I don't believe that the great thinkers are authorities. They may be people whose ideas have withstood the test of argument, but a person cannot cite them to shelter himself from argument. Citations are a legitimate shorthand, but I believe the most honest and useful exchange of ideas occurs when people are forced to make their own arguments on their own terms. The truth is truly what *WE* make it. Now to get to C. Craven's charge of "virulent racism" the defense is simple. The charge is so much nonsense. In fact, it's difficult to understand where it comes from, so long as we stipulate that it must come from *something* I actually wrote. My post was so short that a close reading may be in order and it may even illuminate the source and character of some misunderstanding. First, I asked what the native Canadians intended to do with the land they've won or will win in their legal battles. This is really the nub of the issue since the entire thread is about native people and their mode of production. The next two sentences are just specific restatements of the first general question. Jim Craven might have interpreted these statements as dismissive, but they can also be understood as *simple* questions. In fact when I say "These are all pretty depressed industries right now" it should suggest that I am actually considering the economic viability of the native Canadians' options. Not so to C. Craven, apparently. I further ask where, in this capitalist world, the native Canadians are going to get the money to develop the land and whether this might not endanger the very values that are meant to be preserved. Now it could be that the very suggestion native Canadians would develop lands or use capitalist money are offensive to the underlying concept C. Craven is putting forward. I hope so. I think it is a bogus concept. I think, as I have stated, that native Canadians do not want to use the land to pursue a stone-age economy. That doesn't mean they aren't entitled to the land or that they are facetious or anything else. I never suggested that and I never would. It means they're reasonable people. What I am questioning is what role this struggle, righteous though it may be, has in liberating the masses of people. If you'll remember, that is the question I first brought up in the thread. As for the quip about the Mohegan Sun casino (I've never really been there), it was meant to be provocative but it certainly wasn't racist. The waitresses at the Mohegan Sun are generally not (if the commercials are any indication) native Americans, but they *are* dressed up in a parody of native Americans. That is also true at other casinos on reservations from what I've read. What I was suggesting is that the casino industry has proved both disrespectful of native culture and entirely capitalist, employing working people in the same way any other capitalist business does and with the same lack of respect for *their* dignity. As my previous questions might have suggested, I think this was inevitable but *nowhere* did I suggest that it was the fault of the indigenous people. As
[PEN-L:826] Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ajit and Ricardo
C. Proyect, The problem is that the indigenous struggles may be turning into a falseI hate to use the word, but "if the shoe fits"totem of the general struggle for liberation. The struggles bring people out of the woodwork on both sides of the spectrum, but I'm not sure they generate anything more than antagonism except for the indigenous people who have fortunately been able to get their cause out onto a larger stage. That's a considerable "except" but how large? As I've said again and again, I don't question the rightness of the cause, I do question what the embrace of that cause by the left means to the struggle for working people. peace
[PEN-L:827] Re: Naming names
Ms. Dannin, I don't use my name because I don't think it's a good idea. I've had trouble when I used my name on the Internet. If I were you, I wouldn't do it, but there you are. I think that if , somehow, an enterprising lawyer such as you decided that I was slandering someone in an actionable way she could find me and serve me with a summons. Other than that, how is it, do you think, that I am not taking "responsibility" for what I write? As for my identity, I don't have much respect for what the *real* Buddhists call "name and form." peace
[PEN-L:828] Re: New Information World Order Project
On Wed, August 12, 1998 at 17:40:05 (-0700) michael perelman writes: >... >Suppose we begin with a few broad categories: > >Privatization of communal information (Neem tree, potatoe); copyrights >and corporate control; the role of access to information resources in >shaping classes; alternative such as Linux, Apache, Perl; globalization >and intellectual property rights. What am I leaving off? How about Usenet newsgroups as an example fitting in the first category? Trashy though many of them are, they are becoming commodified as well (my company shamelessly doing it's part...). Also, the privatization of the very foundations of television and radio (not to mention the internet). Robert McChesney is very good on this topic. How about a primer on what exactly constitutes computer programming? I was laying awake for a few hours last night after a day of coffee overdose and was thinking about writing up just what it is that us geeks behind the scenes of Linux, etc., are doing... I think there are a few computer-heads on the list that could probably come up with a short piece to contribute. Perhaps I could write up something and pass it on privately to those who are interested in contributing and then we could post it back to the list? Bill
[PEN-L:831] Re: Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ajit and Ricardo
K. Bevans: >As I've said again and again, I >don't question the rightness of the cause, I do question what the embrace >of that cause by the left means to the struggle for working people. The issues of sovereignty rights and working-class social and economic justice are intimately linked. In Australia the "wharfies" and Aboriginal land claims both drew savage attacks from Pauline Hanson. The nascent neofascist movement in Australia sees the labor unions and indigenous peoples as its two main enemies. Socialists have an obligation to build unity across these two fronts. The Austalian socialists who belong to the Marxism mailing-list at Panix understand this completely. In Canada there is a group that split from the Tony Cliff state capitalist sect. Their folks, organized in something called "Socialism from Below" and who live in British Columbia, have taken a strong stand in favor of indigenous rights. If I make my way up to Vancouver in the next few weeks, I'd like to meet with them. Since you have never been politically active and hate the radical movement, much of this will seem obscure and difficult to understand. The best advice I can give you is to approach the matter dialectically. This does not necessarily mean reading Hegel, but it certainly does mean reading Marx and Marxist thought. My objection to you lack of citations has nothing to do with the question of scholarly pretensions one way or another. It has more to do with your failure to understand the evolution of Marxist thought in the 20th century, which you show zero awareness of. You don't have to cite Mariategui in order to show an awareness of the dialectics of indigenous and class demands, but it is a waste of time for me to try to have an intelligent conversation with you when you are blissfully unaware of how Marxism has grappled with these questions in the 20th century. That is why I will ignore you from this point on. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:832] Re: surprise: a decent New York Times Article
michael perelman wrote: >The new NY times has an reasonably good article noting that the market >solutions have not been helping the poor. Usually, Peter Passell >trumpets market solutions. Are doubts beginning to bubble up? The other week, Passell was questioning, cautiously, the wisdom of free capital flows, too. Something's shifting at the elite level it seems. My pal in the Treasury Department has stopped telling me that Russia's turned the corner, too. Note that this was Passell's last column; he's leaving the NYT to edit a quarterly policy journal for the Milken Institute. I'm going to miss Passell; it was useful to have a pure distillation of the Conventional Wisdom in the paper every week. Doug
[PEN-L:833] Re: Re: Preference Formation
A book that might be of interest in this discussion of preference formation is Tibor Scitovsky, The Joyless Economy: The Psychology of human Satisfaction. I have not read it but seems to have created a stir among economists back when it was published in the 70s (?).
[PEN-L:836] Micro-credit
Dear Folks I have jut heard a story concerning micor-credit and Thatcher's son. I would like to know what micro-credit is. Rebecca
[PEN-L:837] Re: Micro-credit
Rebecca Peoples reports: > Dear Folks > > I have just heard a story concerning micro-credit and Thatcher's son. > I would like to know what micro-credit is. Too late, we're already talking past tense. He probably bought the Grameen Bank and turned it into a hands-on yuppie theme park. valis
[PEN-L:841] Commoner quote help needed
I've seen the following quote attributed to Barry Commoner. Can anyone tell me where he said this? Gene Coyle "When any environmental problem is probed to its origin, it reveals an inescapable truth -- that the real root cause is to be found in how men interact with each other; that the debt to nature cannot be paid person by person, in recycled bottles or ecologically sound habits, but in the ancient coin of social justice."
[PEN-L:840] micro-credit
Financial services - particularly loans - to small businesses and 'micro' businesses (those with fewer than 15,10, or 5 employees) and 'micro-micro' businesses (self-employed with no employees or only family employees) is known as micro-credit. In third world countries, and increasingly in industrialized countries, micro-credit has been identified as a way to 'generate employment' by reducing the bottleneck of lack of credit to small businesses, allowing them to grow and hire more workers, or to allow creation of small businesses. (A band-aid solution to mass lay-offs.) Commercial financial services are reluctant to lend to small businesses, because they have high processing costs per dollar (or other currency) lent and are labor intensive. Furthermore, the micro businesses have little collateral and are a higher risk compared to a known quantity like a large firm of a well-known business owner (who hangs out at the country club with the bankers). It is interesting to consider what a 'small' or 'micro' business is. In the US, small businesses (with less than 1 or 2 million gross revenue) have had a hard time getting loans. In Latin America, only the largest business owners (particularly in manufacturing) have access to loans. The Grameen Bank, founded by an academic in Bangladesh, mentioned in a previous post, focuses on very small loans (equivalent of 25-100 dollars) to self-employed individuals (many of whom are women) to establish/expand their 'informal sector' businesses. They can borrow, because their 'collateral' is social collateral based on their group participation. If they default, the group owes the money, so there is social pressure to repay. The Grameen Bank also promotes savings. Many more community banks worldwide have sprouted from the Grameen Bank idea. The ROSCAs - or Rotating savings and credit associations - are social groups that everyone has to pay into every month, but only one individual will receive in any month; these are 'home-grown' financial instruments used in various parts of the world. Many non-governmental organizations are moving from service provision to 'development banking' in efforts to become 'sustainable', given a reduction in aid to help them maintain their services. They charge commercial interest on loans - which is still much better than loan sharks - they use social capital as collateral, and they are trying to act like financial intermediaries. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. They may be working with capital bases of a few hundred thousand dollars. However, the coverage they have is quite limited, and not many people have access to this money, either because they don't know it's there, because it is only regional or even smaller in focus, and because a few hundred thousand isn't alot of money. There is an interesting 'twist' on microenterprise financing going on at the InterAmerican Development Bank's Microenterprise Division. Private capital from the 'multilateral investment fund' at the IDB is channelled to commercial banks to increase their reserves, on the basis that they reduce their loan floor, maintain a portfolio with a certain portion of smaller loans, and the IDB also gives public moneys to governments (or at times, NGOs) to improve small borrowers understanding of 'good business' in educational programs that go hand in hand with borrowing, or a a prerequisite to become a borrower. Banks that need the reserves and can't get them elsewhere, are interested in competing in a market that isn't saturated (and squeezing profits), and may have some social mission (there's a Jesuit founded bank in Bolivia or Colombia, if I remember correctly!) have taken advantage of the money and are developing new financial instruments to measure risk of small business borrowers. The interest of the IDB is to make a 'seamless' financial market, where there are no bottlenecks to credit. They also are interested in getting their own money through (big chunks of it, not piddling amounts). Of course, if a bank can make a satisfactory profit from just dealing with the already rich, and not having to increase labor costs because large loans are not nearly as labor intensive as small loans, then there is not much incentive for them to find new customers. However, in financial markets where profits are squeezed, banks may look for new clients among the smaller businesses. Besides, it is well documented that participants in micro-credit programs with social capital as collateral have v. high payback rates. So there's little risk of delinquency for the bank. The effort at reaching the 'POOREST OF THE POOR' with micro-credit - which is what an international organization with World Bank, IDB, and all the big IFIs backing want to do by the year 2000 - seems ludicrous. The poorest of the poor tend not to be the self-employed who can get credit. The NGOs and banks that are lending may be lending to the middle class, but they delude themselves if th
[PEN-L:842] Re: micro-credit
At 01:00 PM 8/13/98 -0400, Susan Fleck wrote: >...The Grameen Bank, founded by an academic in Bangladesh, mentioned in a >previous post, focuses on very small loans (equivalent of 25-100 >dollars) to self-employed individuals (many of whom are women) to >establish/expand their 'informal sector' businesses. They can borrow, >because their 'collateral' is social collateral based on their group >participation. If they default, the group owes the money, so there is >social pressure to repay. Isn't this a lot like the "collective punishment" meted out on peasants by the old Chinese empire or on Palestinians by Israel? in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html
[PEN-L:843] Re: Re: sell-out Indians and western arrogance
On 13 Aug 98 at 13:07, Ricardo Duchesne wrote: > > > JC: > Response to this: Please cite one statement by me that indicates a > "dislike for white humans" you have no idea about my background, mens > rea or whatever. This is the sort of invective that takes us no > where. My anti-racism, for your information, expressed often in > Indian Country, includes attacks against Indians which label the problem > as "The White Man". My attacks also include attacks against sell-out > Indians. > > R: Sorry you took this remark this way. No citations, it is just > implicit in your overall philosophy. For example, who are "sell-out" > Indians? To what culture are they selling to? On what grounds do you, > a Westerner, tell Indians which culture they should adopt? Why should an > Indian be an "Indian" to be good? What if s/he is a Westerner just like > you- watches TV, drives snowmobiles, travels in airplanes? Further Response: My "overall philosophy" is that I regard fascism, racism, sexism, imperialism, capitalism, neo-colonialism, commodification of people and "nature" etc as inherently destructive of individuals and whole societies. If I heard an Indian stereotype you or call you names based on your race, ethnicity etc I would react as much as with non-Indians calling Indians "Stoneage Cultures, backward or whatever. For the record, we have Scientists at the highest levels of Medicine now coming to speak with the old Medicine Men about ancient medical practices that are far more effective and much less invasive than present-day practices. For your education and notion that Indian Ways are "Stoneage" and "primitive" You might check out the following--written by a white anthropologist: "Native Roots and Indian Givers by Jack Weatherford. Who and what are "Sell-out Indians" is a subject for Indians not non-Indians. > JC:> Response: This is incomprehensible. How are you for markets and not > capitalism? > > Markets predated capitalism for centuries. Is is also a simple fact > that if you want advanced technology you need markets - unless you > want drive a Lada. Further Resonse: Precisely right. And you deduce from that what? Let's turn the causality around. In pre-capitalist formations such as slavery, feudalism in which markets were present and used but not extensively, did the progressive extension of markets consolidate or help to erode the basic institutions and relations of those formations? Now you could argue, as I would, that the progressive extension of markets and market-based relations and institutions provided whole new forms and scopes of individual freedom and played a progresive role in undermining those vicious and exploitative types of formations. But then you would also be admitting that markets are not mere mechanical and value-free systems for price determination and valuation, resource allocation, rationing and information. You would have to admit that markets undermined those pre-capitalist formations because they also embody, imply and require certain fundamental habits, rules, laws, rights, privileges, codes, relations and even power structures to operate and with the widening and deepening of market-based economic activities and relations, come not only new forms and levels of "freedom" but also new forms and levels of "enslavement". Take China. With the widening and deepening of market-based economic activities, is there more or less homelessness; is there more of less wealth/income inequalities; are there more or fewer bureaucrats for sale; is there more or less corruption in society in general; is there more of less prostitution and AIDS in china; is there more or less security from foreign penetration and control in China; is there more or less commodification of people and "nature" in China; is there more or less environmental destruction in China. Capitalism brings some new forms of freedom and development but I believe, takes away and destroys far more than it gives and develops. Is Socialism more progressive than capitalism as capitalism was generally more progressive than feudalism? That is another discussion. We have to define our terms. But market-based relations and markets in general not only undermine pre-capitalist formations and examples of "socialism" where it has been acknowledged to exist, they also undermine capitalism itself--dialectically speaking, of course. > JC: > What exactly are based on and do they lead > to--commodification, widening wealth/income inequalities, expanded > reproduction of capitalist property/power/class relations, increasing > socialization of costs of production/distribution coupled with increasing > concentration of privatized returns of production/distribution etc. > Markets much much are more than "potentially value-free" mechanisms for price >determination, > resource allocation, rationing and information. But I don't mind it > if that is what people w
[PEN-L:847] BLS Daily Report
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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1998
RELEASED TODAY: The preliminary seasonally adjusted annual rates of
productivity change in the second quarter were -0.6 percent in the
business sector and -0.2 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In
both the business and nonfarm business sectors, the decline in
productivity growth in the second quarter was the first since the first
quarter of 1995. In the first quarter of 1998, output per hour of all
persons (as revised) rose 4.1 percent in the business sector and 3.5
percent in the nonfarm business sector. In manufacturing, productivity
changes in the second quarter were 3.3 percent in manufacturing, 5.7
percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 0.2 percent in nondurable
goods manufacturing
In response to recent tax law changes, more employers are expected to
add commuting subsidies to the list of benefits provided to employees on
a salary-reduction basis. The tax status of qualified fringe benefits,
such as transit and van-pooling, changed under the Transportation Equity
for the 21st Century Act Included is a provision that amends the
Internal Revenue Code to allow employers to offer transit and van-pool
benefits in place of payable compensation for taxable years beginning
after Dec. 31, 1998. That means employees can elect to have before-tax
money deducted from their paychecks to pay for transit passes, tokens,
or van-pool reimbursements (Daily Labor Report, page A-5).
Asian women and those of Pacific Island descent are the least likely of
all American females to be unemployed, says BLS. Only 4.4 percent of
them were unemployed in 1996, says BLS, compared with 4.7 percent of
white women, 10 percent of black women, and 10.2 percent of Hispanic
women ("Work Week," Wall Street Journal, page A1).
As the Asian economic crisis deepens and the contagion spreads to Latin
America and elsewhere, a major problem of the world economy is growing
ever clearer: too many producers and too little consumer demand.
Beleaguered makers of cars, clothes, and computer chips are looking for
buyers anywhere and everywhere, at almost any price. Amid the turmoil,
the U.S. consumer is emerging as a savior of sorts, says The Wall Street
Journal (page A1). Americans are still buying American-produced goods
and services, of course, but, with so many countries skittish about
their own spending but looking for markets, the U.S. is increasingly
playing an important role: the big importer
The 1998 median salary for economics professionals is a record $80,000,
up 9.5 percent from 1996, says the National Association for Business
Economics ("Work Week," Wall Street Journal, page A1).
DUE OUT TOMORROW: National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1997
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IBiBKOFP9m4ekTfANDf3ICE/oTvA7yLzf2g/YhrhNoAIWXFo8X9NcR8wA/ApYTfA
[PEN-L:846] Re: Re: Re: Sociologists and others who lie
At 10:17 AM 8/12/98 +, Jim Craven wrote: >If I may mix metaphors and analogies, suppose Ben and Jerry were >covertly giving funds to a lobby intent on destroying family farms, >promoting agribusiness or even intent on vertically integrating and >acquiring their input suppliers for 10 cents on the dollar. Would >their "political views" be relevant for the farmers to know then? > >I understand your point, but knowledge is and is not "just like any >other commodity". I agree, nothing wrong in wanting to provide a >living for your yourself and/or family--we are all trying to do that >and in the course of doing so, we all make compromises. But the >"mainstream" newsbusiness involves more than simple compromises; it involves >fundamental "Faustian Bargauns". What would happen if some reporter >dared to ask at a Presidential News Conference dealing with honoring >veterans of WWII about Operation Paperclip in which the OSS and later >CIA recruited wanted nazi war criminals, aided their escape from the >hangman, brought them to the U.S., placed them in high-level fronts >like the Assembly of Captured European Nations (ACEN) and assisted >their rise into U.S. politics, intelligence circles and society in >general? Do you think that reporter would work again? I doubt it. >Even if the editor agreed, that reporter would never be called upon >again which means no access, which means no "scoops", which means no >exposure and name recognition or further access for the reporter or >no "ratings", advertising revenues, profits or market share for the >news/profit maximizing entity--if we aggregated and replicated the >effects flowing from the principle. > >Just as in the Residential Schools, no written "code of conduct" for >surivival, "success", promotion is required in the media and >academia. The "perrmissible" paradigms, topics, parameters/angles of >analysis, "exposes", journals and other media, etc are well >understood--as are the penalties for not following the "acceptable" >routes; e.g. tenure denial for Sam Bowles and Paul Sweezy at Harvard etc. > >So yes knowledge is a commodity, but it can also be a weapon for or >against forces of reaction. Those who sign on to the Faustian >Bargains to go the "permissible" and career-enhancing route are not >simply dealing with another commodity like milk for Ben and Jerry's >ice cream. Knowledge tooled, shaped or withheld for the forces of >reaction has very definite consequences for real people in the real >world. And when those who have signed on to the implict-if not >explicit-- Faustian Bargain to cover only the "permissible" then are >yelling "What about the people's right to know", this is more than >shere hypocrisy; the consequences are far far more disastrous than >the farmers not being informed about Ben and Jerry's personal >political views and agenda. My response (WS): I agree with most of what you said about the unholy alliance of certain type of knowledge producers and forces of reaction. Horkheimer, if memory serves, even coined a word for that practice - "herrenwissenschaft" or "master knowldge" (by analogy to the nazi concept "master race"). That critique, however, aims at a different angle that my original argument did. It focuses on the relationship between the producers and the gatekeepers (the guardians of orthodoxy, the owners of the means of dissemination, the administrators of the means of repression, etc.) rather than the producers and their data sources. While the gatekeepers can often control the data sources, these are two different types of relationships from the knowledge producer's point of view. All I am arguing is that the position maintaining that the producer owes an obligation to the source of his/her raw material necessarily implies that the source has property rights over the raw material. In plain English, if you are making a gourmet dish and taking vegetables from the garden behind my house, you must compensate me for the veggies only if I own the garden. That position becomes questionable when it comes to public behavior and cultural interpretation of that behavior. I do not think anyone can legitimately claim exclusive control over how his own behavior, actions etc. are seen and interpreted by others. Admitting otherwise is tantamount to the most severe and absurd form of censorship. To push it a bit, can you imagine the following situation? "Sir, yesterday I saw you consuming rather large quantities of alcohol, then falling into the gutter and remaining there for the rest of the night. That observation tells me that you are a drunk. Would you consent to that interpretation of your behavioor, or you would rather suggest another, more favourable one?" If that is already absurd on its face, think of a situation when a knowledge producer is interpreting the behavior of a group of people. Who in that group has the mandate to decide what is "proper" depiction of that group? It is ea
[PEN-L:849] Commoner quote help needed -R
You might check his book Making Peace with the Planet. Wish I'd said that!
[PEN-L:851] Re: Re: Re: Re: sell-out Indians and western arroga
On 13 Aug 98 at 14:21, jf noonan wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, James Michael Craven wrote:
>
> >
> > Who and what are "Sell-out Indians" is a subject for Indians not
> > non-Indians.
>
> Hmm. Then may I suggest that you refrain from using the term on list
> populated with mostly non-Indians? It doesn't seem terribly useful to
> throw around words that you are not willing to define -- especially
> when the term is used to derogate others.
>
>
> --
>
> Joseph Noonan
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Response: That is a fair comment and criticism. So let me define
what is commonly defined in Indian Country as a sell-out Indian:
a) promotes non-Indian caricatures (The Hollywood Indian) and
stereotypes convenient for non-Indians seeking to de-Indianize real
Indians among Indians and non-Indians (often promoted by non-Indians
as experts giving speeches to non-Indians at $5000 a pop);
b) collaborates with developers, BIA and other entities intent on
penetrating and exploiting Indian cultures and resources;
c) puts families and cronies on Government payrolls, loots Tribal
resources, uses goon squads to intimidate dissidents and rig Tribal
elections;
d) collaborates with criminal elements to bring all sorts of
Nation-destroying substances and practices on to Indian lands in
return for monies and associations that keep them in power doing the
bidding of non-Indians;
e) aid ignorant non-Indians in portraying traditional Indians as
"nomadic"(if nomadic, why the worry about Lands Claims?), "Stone Age",
"Primitive", "Luddite". "bakcward" (the most advanced calendar still
known today is the Mayan three-wheel calendar of 3373 BCE) etc;
f) attempt to go around and sabotage the authority of venerated
Elders (Elders are not simply those who are old) and to co-opt and
sabotage that which is authentic for their own purposes;
g) aid in turning Reservations into dumping groups for toxic waste
(of 73 proposed toxic waste dumps, 72 are proposed on Indian
Reservations in the U.S.), nerve gas storage (Umatilla Reservation at
Hermiston, Oregon is the largest nerve gas storage facility in the
world, presently leaking with no disaster relief plan or funds in
place) and sites for gambling and other forms of economic activities
that leave Indians on the margin and catering to the ignorance and
stereotypes of non-Indians.
h) aid forces of the government in sabotaging and co-opting Indian
Sovereignty and legitimate Treaty Claims in return for being defined
as "The True Representatives" of Indians while having no popular
support among their own people;
i) aid in the rigging of Tribal elections and Tribal Government
appointments to place compliant, token and beholden (to outside
interests) individuals in key Tribal positions;
I could go on, that that should suffice to answer your justified
criticism.
Jim Craven
Enrolled Member, Blackfoot Confederacy
James Craven
Dept. of Economics,Clark College
1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
--
"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
(Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
"...but this letter being unofficial and private, I may with safety give you a more
extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend
the parts dealt to to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the
system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where
you are obliged to act without instruction...When they withdraw themselves to the
culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are their
extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in exchange
for necessaries for their farms and families. To promote this disposition to exchange
lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries which we have to sp
are
and they want,we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and
influencial individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these
debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off
by cession of lands...In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and
approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens
of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.The former is certainly the
termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course
of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that
our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to
shut our hand to crush them..."
(Classified Letter of President Thomas Jefferson ("libertarian"--for p
[PEN-L:855] Re: Re: Micro-credit
C. Peoples, Micro-credit is just the practice of making very small, small business loans. The idea is that people can have access to credit to open shops and the like rather than relying on personal and family money as first-time shopkeepers and very small business people usually do. peace
[PEN-L:856] Re: Re: Naming names
On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, boddhisatva wrote: > As for my identity, I don't have much respect for what the *real* > Buddhists call "name and form." You mean you know some real ones? Zen or Theraveda? Enlighten us, o enlightened one. Funny, though, how the mystical rebellion against names and forms never does generate anything like a content -- except, of course, *another* set of forms, namely those doctrines which, somehow, always require a sizeable investment of quite material time and capital (every species of compulsory enlightenment mandates a capacious number of dummies) for the pursuit of supposedly non-material ends. Come to think of it, that's a lot like neoclassical economic theory, isn't it... does this explain the popularity of those Zen retreats and inner-center workshops by corporate managerial types? -- Dennis
[PEN-L:857] Cigarettes Are Sublime
The conversation about butts here the other day made me one-click Richard Klein's Cigarettes Are Sublime (Duke U P, 1993). Here are the first few paragraphs of the intro. Doug Introduction La vida es un cigarillo Hierno, ceniza y candela Unos la furnan de prisa Y algunos la saborean. -Manuel Machado, "Chants andalous" My aim in this book is to praise cigarettes, but certainly not to encourage smoking-not at all. But I am not trying to discourage it, either. If I had wanted to do that, I would not have come out and said so directly (i.e., have discouraged in a way so as to mention 1 was discouraging), on the principle, which is one of the conclusions of this book, that openly condemning cigarette smoking frequently fails to have the desired effectoften accomplishes the opposite of what it intends, sometimes inures the habit, and perhaps initiates it. For many, where cigarettes are concerned, discouraging is a form of ensuring their continuing to smoke. For some, it may cause them to start. A corollary of this conclusion asserts that it is not enough to know that cigarettes are bad for your health in order to decide not to smoke. The noxious effects of tobacco have been observed since the moment of its introduction into Europe at the end of the sixteenth century. Since the early nineteenth century, it has been recognized that the alkaloid of nicotine, administered to rats in pure form in minute doses, instantly produces death. No one who smokes fails eventually to get the signals that the body, with increasing urgency, sends as it ages; in fact, every smoker probably intuits the poison from the instant of experiencing the first violent effects of lighting up, and probably confirms this understanding every day with the first puffs of the first cigarette. But understanding the noxious effects of cigarettes is not usually sufficient reason to cause anyone to stop smoking or resist starting; rather, knowing it is bad seems an absolute precondition of acquiring and confirming the cigarette habit. Indeed, it could be argued that few people would smoke if cigarettes were actually good for you, assuming such a thing were possible; the corollary affirms that if cigarettes were good for you, they would not be sublime. Cigarettes are not positively beautiful, but they are sublime by virtue of their charming power to propose what Kant would call "a negative pleasure": a darkly beautiful, inevitably painful pleasure that arises from some intimation of eternity; the taste of infinity in a cigarette resides precisely in the "bad" taste the smoker quickly learns to love. Being sublime, cigarettes, in principle, resist all arguments directed against them from the perspective of health and utility. Warning smokers or neophytes of the dangers entices them more powerfully to the edge of the abyss, where, like travelers in a Swiss landscape, they can be thrilled by the subtle grandeur of the perspectives on mortality opened by the little terrors in every puff. Cigarettes are bad. That is why they are good-not good, not beautiful, but sublime. Alcoholics Anonymous long ago discovered the limits of assuming that a simple act of will, performed in response to an imperious injunction issuing from the self or some external authority, would cause alcoholics to stop drinking. The suggestion that one can "Just say No" entertains the very illusion that motivates the habituated person. Any habit carries with it the endlessly repeated belief that one has sufficient self-control to stop, abruptly, at any moment: believing one can stop is the preeminent condition of continuing.' Just saying No, over and over again, while continuing to smoke, becomes the motivating aim, the consuming pleasure pain, of Italo Svevo's hero in the novel The Confessions of Zeno. His whole life is spent in enacting the illusory belief that he can smoke "The Last Cigarette." But the last one always turns out to be just one more cigarette, another in the series of last cigarettes; taken together, they form the narrative of Zeno's paradoxical existence, serving as milestones marking the passage of time and the progressive stages of his unheroic but strangely gallant life. Endlessly trying to stop smoking leads to a life of doing nothing but smoking (until, in the final chapter, as an old man, Zeno discovers the ingenious means to a cure).
[PEN-L:858] Re: Suggested Reading List
C. Craven, "Stone-age" is an accurate description of a hunter-gatherer mode of production. It is not an insult. Nobody but you brought in the term "Luddite". That is not what the debate is about at all. peace
[PEN-L:864] Grad programs in econ
Hi. I'm considering enrolling in a doctoral program in econ in one of the heterodox departments. I was wondering if anyone has any advice about heterodox departments as well as the idea of a doctorate in econ, as opposed to to sociology or pol.sc. given the state of the discipline and future job prospects (for non neo-classicals). All info is appreciated. Thanks in advance David Dorkin
[PEN-L:860] Re: Re: Re: Naming names
C. Dennis, The only real Buddhists I know are in books and on TV. As for my own taste in Buddhist thought, I always get the schools confused. I never remember what is Theravada and Mahayana and why and where Tantrism comes in and leaves. Would I be revealing too much of my American Protestant culture if I said that maybe this Buddhism is too complicated and needs a little simplification? Anyway, I think I take from all schools except the tantric and tend toward the Mahayana side of things, although I think Therevada has its charms. Zen takes itself a bit too seriously, I think. As for your observation, the rejection of name and form, as I understand it, can't generate content - only reveal it. Buddhism is nicely anti-hocus-pocus that way (despite what some practitioners or prosletizers may do). peace
[PEN-L:859] Re: Cigarettes Are Sublime
Stanton Glanz has been making the point that the twisted just say no to ciggies is counterproductive. The message: chilren, do not smoke; smoking is for grownups may be the best advertising campaign that the merchants of tobacco could want. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:854] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ajit and Ricardo
C. Proyect, You response is simply a dodge. All it does is beg the question. Again I ask what specific change in political *economy* does granting land to indigenous people accomplish and how *specifically* does that help the struggle of working people? peace
[PEN-L:853] Suggested Reading List
With so much talk about traditional Indians and Indian societies
being "primitive", "Stone Age" Luddite-like etc here is a suggested
reading list for those not acquainted with Indian issues, history and
societies (please feel free to add):
"Native American History: A Chronology of a Culture's Vast
Achievements and Their Links to World Events" by Judith Nies,
"The Circle Game: Shadows and substance in the Indian Residential
School Experience in Canada" by roland Chrisjohn, Sherii young and
Michael Maraun, Theytus books Ltd., Penticton, B.C., 1997
"The Soul of the Indian" by Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman)
available on internet
>From Vine Deloria:
"Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto"
"American Indians, American Justice"
"Red Earth, White Lies"
"Behind the Broken Trail of Treaties"
"American Indian Policy"
"We Speak, You Listen"
Rupert Ross:
"Dancing With a Ghost"
"Returning to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice"
Ward Churchill:
"Indians Are Us?:Culture and Genocide in Native North America"
"A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas
1492 to the Present"
"Fantasies of the Master Race"
"Literature, Cinema and the Colonization of American Indians"
"Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide
and Expropriation in Contemporary North America"
"Since Predator Came: Notes From the Struggle for American Indian
Liberation"
"From a Native Son: Selected Essays in Indigenism 1985-1995"
"Pacifism as Pathology: Observations on an American Pseudopraxis"
"Culture versus Economism: Essays on Marxism in the Multicultural
Arena" (with Elizabeth R. Loyd)
"Marxism and Native Americans (ed)"
"The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents From the FBI's Secret Wars Against
Dissent in the United States" (with Jim Vander Wall)
"Handbook of Federal Indian Law" by Felix Cohen
"The Rights of Indians and Tribes: The Basic ACLU Guide to Indian and
Tribal Rights" 2nd ed.
Jack Weatherford:
"Native roots"
"Indian Givers"
"Civilization and Indians"
Stan Steiner:
"The New Indians"
"The Vanishing American"
"When the Legends Die" by Hal Borland
"Little Big Man" by Thomas Berger
"Stay Away, Joe" by Dan Cushman
"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown
Peter Mattiessen:
"In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
"Indian Country"
"A Cherokee Feast of Days Vols I and II" by Joyce Hifler
"Planning for Balanced Development: A Guide for Native American and
Rural Communities" by Susan Guyette
Newspaper: "News From Indian Country"
For those who have requested this, this is for openers only. Much,
much more could be added.
Jim Craven
James Craven
Dept. of Economics,Clark College
1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
--
"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
(Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
"...but this letter being unofficial and private, I may with safety give you a more
extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend
the parts dealt to to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the
system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where
you are obliged to act without instruction...When they withdraw themselves to the
culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are their
extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in exchange
for necessaries for their farms and families. To promote this disposition to exchange
lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries which we have to spare
and they want,we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and
influencial individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these
debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off
by cession of lands...In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and
approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens
of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.The former is certainly the
termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course
of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that
our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to
shut our hand to crush them..."
(Classified Letter of President Thomas Jefferson ("libertarian"--for propertied white
people) to William Henry Harrison, Feb. 27, 1803)
*My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
[PEN-L:848] More on the Russian Financial Crisis
Fellow pen-l'rs, Here is the latest from Fred Weir in Moscow. His article is followed by John Thornhill's article from the Financial Times, on the Russian firms resorting to hiring Western PR 'specialists' in hopes of attracting the fleeing investors Regards, Greg. * #1 Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 [for personal use only] For the Hindustan Times From: Fred Weir in Moscow Moscow (HT Aug 13) -- As Russia's economy continued to crash Thursday, the opposition-led parliament dealt the government a potentially fatal political blow by refusing to hold an emergency session on the crisis. "Russia is on the verge of financial collapse, and we are now facing sharp political struggle and possible change of government," says Andrei Piontkowsky, director of the independent Centre for Strategic Studies. Last week parliamentary Speaker Gennady Seleznyov agreed with a request from Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko on holding an urgent Duma session next Monday to consider 17 draft laws to slash spending, raise taxes and stabilize state finances. But Duma deputies, in an angry mood, decided this week not to convene the meeting. Mr. Seleznyov's deputy, Mikhail Yuriev, told journalists that the request for an emergency session was illegal because it was made by the Prime Minister. "The Duma can cold an extraordinary session only in three instances: at the request of the President, the Duma speaker or one-fifth of the deputies," he said. "It is quite possible that the Prime Minister did not understand that. In any case, there will be no extraordinary meeting." However, he added, the session might go ahead if President Boris Yeltsin, who is currently vacationing in Russia's lake district, submits a personal request. Despite sealing a $22-billion bailout package from Western lending agencies last month, Russia's financial markets have continued a disastrous months-long plunge. The Moscow stock exchange, which was the world's best performing in 1997, has lost over 70 per cent of its value since March and is still dropping. Interest rates on state bonds have climbed from about 20 per cent in March to over 120 per cent this week. Analysts say there may be no choice but to devalue the battered rouble, a move that would lead to rapid price increases in Russia's import-dependent consumer economy and could push tens of millions into abject poverty. Particularly dangerous, rouble devaluation would shatter the tenuous prosperity of Russia's new middle-class -- mainly based in Moscow -- who are the mainstay of the Yeltsin regime's support. "The only achievement from six years of reform that the government could point to was a stable rouble and low inflation rate," says Mr. Piontkowski. "Now that is in ruins, and devaluation of the rouble looks imminent." The Duma's refusal to get behind the government's harsh austerity program may make little economic difference since President Yeltsin can implement many of the measures by decree, but it will explode confidence in the political system at a time when social unrest is already rising precipitously. Wildcat strikes are multiplying across Russia's vast hinterland, where millions of workers have gone without wages for months due to the economic crisis. Coal miners have been blockading railroad tracks in several regions, and trade unions are promising a general strike this autumn over the huge buildup of wage arrears. Ironically, parliamentarians say the government has not paid their salaries for months either, and therefore the refusal to meet in emergency session may also be viewed as a justifiable work stoppage. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, whose party controls almost half the seats in parliament, said the government owes the Duma 126-million roubles ($20-million). "Why hasn't the government transferred the money to us if it wants the Duma to convene?" Mr. Zyuganov said. * #2 Financial Times (UK) 12 August 1998 [for personal use only] MOSCOW: Brokers take on western PR By John Thornhill in Moscow A group of Moscow-based stockbrokers is hiring a western public relations company to improve Russia's image among foreign investors and help reverse the savage falls in the country's financial markets over the past year. The stockbroking firms, which have seen daily turnover on Russia's rudimentary stock market reduced to just ?6m, are desperate to entice foreign investors back into Russia - and salvage their own businesses. "There is a feeling that Russia generally gets a bad rap, and we are looking at ways of correcting that," said a member of the group. The 15 firms, which are forming a non-profit industry association called the Financial Council of Russia, have selected Burson-Marsteller to head the public relations campaign. Burson-Marsteller, which has confirmed its involvement in the project, is one of the biggest public relations companies in the world and has wide experience of
[PEN-L:850] Re: Re: Re: sell-out Indians and western arrogance
On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, James Michael Craven wrote: > > Who and what are "Sell-out Indians" is a subject for Indians not > non-Indians. Hmm. Then may I suggest that you refrain from using the term on list populated with mostly non-Indians? It doesn't seem terribly useful to throw around words that you are not willing to define -- especially when the term is used to derogate others. -- Joseph Noonan [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:845] chaoplexity and institutions
My response to Bill Lear on chaos models of exploitation was a real no-brainer. This is especially true since I was just perusing the recently arrived two-volume _Elgar Companion to Classical Economics_ ed. by Heinz Kurz and Neri Salvadori, Edward Elgar, 1998. Among the entries in there is one on "Chaotic Models," by yours truly, duh. At the (minimal) risk of causing Edward E. to sue Don Roper, Michael Perelman, the University of Colorado, Chico State University, Louis Proyect, boddhisatva, me, or anybody else, I shall quote from my own entry: p. 94: "Pohjola (1981) provides a discrete time version of of the growth cycle model of Richard Goodwin (1967), which in turn was inspired by Marxian antecedents, but with the adaptation of a predator-prey dynamic from ecology as the metaphor for class struggle dynamics." [Pohjola's model shows chaotic dynamics.] pp. 94-95: "Bhaduri and Harris (1987) developed their [model] along more Ricardian lines with a more complicated interpretation for the variables in the logistic function. ... The tuning parameter...is the wage rate. Bhaduri and Harris interpret this parameter to be 'rate of exploitation at "primitive accumulation'"; that is, 'the _maximum rate_ of exploitation that the system is capable of generating' (Bhaduri and Harris, 1987: 897). They note that, following the classical tradition, distributional relations will determine the nature of the dynamics. They also warn that their results imply that the 'approach to the Classical stationary state' is an unsettled matter in the case of a limitation due to a non-producible natural resource such as land." [and can be chaotic] Barkley Rosser - Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:844] micro-credit and social capital
Re Jim Devine's comment on group formation imposing enforcement of loan repayment - Social capital has its pros and cons. The cons are as you mention - why should a group have to repay what one of their members has defaulted on? The pros are that 1)group formation is voluntary, so there is a self-selection mechanism where individuals will not choose free riders, credit risks, or people they don't get along with or wouldn't be willing to repay a loan for, 2) this is collateral that does not depend on wealth, 3)there is the potential that the groups that form are actually vehicles of empowerment, conscientization, etc. this is especially so for women -against whom social norms of exclusion, staying at home, etc. can create an exciting space for interaction, involvement, and individual and organizational growth. A con that comes from this pro is that participation in such 'organizational building' group processes requires time - an even greater constraint for poor women than for poor men. Nonetheless, this participation in non-credit activity has often (in the past, slightly less now) been imposed as a mandatory requirement for access to credit. So the poorer one is, the more time one must spend to get the credit! Furthermore, an unusual phenomenon in the case of micro-credit among poor women was identified about 10-15 years ago. Sometimes the non-credit activities divert members of the group from engaging in the income generating activities (making loan repayment less likely), and the credit programs themselves divert their energies into social programs and not credit/employment programs. Part of the problem was that NGOs were not thinking like banks, but also prevailing social norms reinforce the 'social welfare' approach to women specific projects. Susan Fleck w:(202) 606-5654 x415 h:(301) 270-1486 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** My personal opinions do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and my postings can not be attributed to my employer.
[PEN-L:839] Re: Re: sell-out Indians and western arrogance
Ricardo Duchesne: >Markets are a way of life for most North American Indians. To wish >them to return to a nomadic way of life is simple Western (elitist) arrogance. >Proyect wants to come to Vancouver; why should Indians not travel to >NY? You should consult my web-site. I have written a lengthy analysis of why Indians should not travel to NYC. In fact, Science and Society has requested permission to reprint this article. The logic I put forward is very much connected to that contained in Marx's correspondence with Zasulich. I have also incorporated my thinking on these questions in articles on Jewish farmers in the Borscht Belt, the film "Contempt" by Godard and my thanksgiving dinner with Trotskyite pals up in Albany 3 years ago. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:838] Re: sell-out Indians and western arrogance
JC:
Response to this: Please cite one statement by me that indicates a
"dislike for white humans" you have no idea about my background, mens
rea or whatever. This is the sort of invective that takes us no
where. My anti-racism, for your information, expressed often in
Indian Country, includes attacks against Indians which label the problem
as "The White Man". My attacks also include attacks against sell-out
Indians.
R: Sorry you took this remark this way. No citations, it is just
implicit in your overall philosophy. For example, who are "sell-out"
Indians? To what culture are they selling to? On what grounds do you,
a Westerner, tell Indians which culture they should adopt? Why should an
Indian be an "Indian" to be good? What if s/he is a Westerner just like
you- watches TV, drives snowmobiles, travels in airplanes?
JC:
Response: This is incomprehensible. How are you for markets and not
capitalism?
Markets predated capitalism for centuries. Is is also a simple fact
that if you want advanced technology you need markets - unless you
want drive a Lada.
JC:
What exactly are based on and do they lead
to--commodification, widening wealth/income inequalities, expanded
reproduction of capitalist property/power/class relations, increasing
socialization of costs of production/distribution coupled with increasing
concentration of privatized returns of production/distribution etc.
Markets much much are more than "potentially value-free" mechanisms for price
determination,
resource allocation, rationing and information. But I don't mind it
if that is what people want to argue; just don't insert racist
caricatures and stereotypes about the "primitives" etc you obviously
know nothing about.
R:
Markets are a way of life for most North American Indians. To wish
them to return to a nomadic way of life is simple Western (elitist) arrogance.
Proyect wants to come to Vancouver; why should Indians not travel to
NY?
ricardo
ames M.S. Craven
>
> > James Craven
> > Dept. of Economics,Clark College
> > 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
> >
>--
> > "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
> > property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
> > (Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
> >
> > "...but this letter being unofficial and private, I may with safety give you a more
> > extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better
>comprehend
> > the parts dealt to to you in detail through the official channel, and observing
>the
> > system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases
> where
> > you are obliged to act without instruction...When they withdraw themselves to the
> > culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are their
> > extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in
>exchange
> > for necessaries for their farms and families. To promote this disposition to
>exchange
> > lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries which we have to
>spare
> > and they want,we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and
> > influencial individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these
> > debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off
> > by cession of lands...In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and
> > approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as ci
tizens
> > of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.The former is certainly the
> > termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course
> > of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that
> > our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only
>to
> > shut our hand to crush them..."
> > (Classified Letter of President Thomas Jefferson ("libertarian"--for propertied
>white
> > people) to William Henry Harrison, Feb. 27, 1803)
> >
> > *My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
> >
>
>
>
> James Craven
> Dept. of Economics,Clark College
> 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
>
>--
> "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
> property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
> (Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
>
> "...but this l
[PEN-L:835] Pauline Hanson
Hanson's `program': a cover for racism By Sue Boland A road worker, who voted for One Nation in north Queensland, told the Australian that he had formerly been a "red hot Labor supporter" until "Paul Keating brought in enterprise bargaining agreements", which resulted in road crews being cut from 20 to three or four. According to a Morgan poll, One Nation voters are predominantly blue collar, retirees, unemployed or working unpaid in the home; they earn less than $25,000. Pauline Hanson claims to represent "battlers" or "ordinary Australians". However, she's carefully vague about who she considers to be battlers. She has stated that she doesn't consider Aborigines or migrants to be battlers, despite the majority of the Aboriginal population being the most impoverished section of Australian society. Interviewed by ABC radio after the Queensland elections, Hanson said that her goal was a fair go for Australians wanting to establish their own business. Then she paused, before remembering to say that she supported "the battlers" as well. But what would she do for battlers who don't have the money to set up in business? Since employing David Oldfield as her adviser, Hanson has consciously tried to broaden her base beyond farmers and small businesses in regional areas to rural workers and workers in the cities. To appeal to workers in the cities, Hanson has had to put forward ideas other than crude racism. This is where her supposed opposition to a goods and services tax comes from. The Morgan poll on June 6-7 (published in the Bulletin on June 16) examined why people intended to vote for One Nation. Of its supporters, 46% said, "Hanson is better than other politicians and knows what ordinary Australians want", 17% liked its policy of "protecting jobs, limiting foreign investment and opposing foreign aid", 14% favoured "restricting immigration". Only 3% supported One Nation because of its "opposition to the Aboriginal `lobby'", 5% because of gun controls and 7% because of "opposition to Aboriginal land rights". VOTE-CATCHING Hanson's program of right-wing populism voices some of the discontent of white workers, but rather than turning that anger against exploitation by big business, she turns it against Aboriginal and Asian workers, who are even more exploited than they are. While Hanson picks ups on some ideas which address that discontent, they're only vote-catching slogans, not policies that are intended to be implemented. It was noticeable that during the waterfront dispute, Hanson kept a very low profile. When questioned early in the dispute, Hanson said that she had no position on it. Later, she indicated that while she didn't support how the waterside workers were sacked, she didn't support the Maritime Union of Australia either. If Hanson had come out in support of the waterside workers, she would have alienated her farmer and small business supporters, but she couldn't afford to alienate rural workers by coming out against the union either. Instead, she sat on the fence. While Hanson has won popularity by attacking politicians' rorts and the scandalously generous parliamentary superannuation scheme, she has never called on big business to allocate some of its profits to providing jobs and paying taxes. The only big businesses that Hanson criticises are overseas-owned; she's silent about the corrupt and exploitative practices of Australian-owned corporations. Hanson has won support recently with statements expressing opposition to privatisation and to the proposed GST. However, these don't feature amongst One Nation policies. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald (June 3), Hanson said she had concerns that a GST would not be fair to all Australians, but then talked about what "offsets" there might be. Her position wasn't one of outright opposition to a GST. ANTI-WORKER On trade unions, Hanson trots out the standard right-wing line about unions "holding people to ransom". Hanson voted for the Howard government's Workplace Relations Act, which is aimed at moving workers onto individual contracts and restricting the right to organise. While One Nation released policies on small business, primary industry, local government, the family, firearms, law and order and employment for the Queensland elections, it has no special policy relating to the rights of workers, despite the rights to a decent income and decent working conditions being under the most severe threat for many years. One Nation's small business policy calls for the overhaul of unfair dismissal laws, which supposedly "treat employers unfairly". The small business policy advocates enterprise-based unions rather that industry-wide unions, and enterprise bargaining rather than industry-wide bargaining. Without the solidarity of workers from outside their workplace, workers employed by small business are more easily intimidated into accepting reduced working conditions and pay. One Nation puts the blame
[PEN-L:834] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ajit and Ricardo
Ellen J. Dannin California Western School of Law 225 Cedar Street San Diego, CA 92116 (619) 525-1449 FAX: (619) 696- -Original Message- From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, August 13, 1998 7:37 AM Subject: [PEN-L:831] Re: Re: Re: Re: Reply to Ajit and Ricardo >K. Bevans: >>As I've said again and again, I >>don't question the rightness of the cause, I do question what the embrace >>of that cause by the left means to the struggle for working people. > >The issues of sovereignty rights and working-class social and economic >justice are intimately linked. In Australia the "wharfies" and Aboriginal >land claims both drew savage attacks from Pauline Hanson. The nascent >neofascist movement in Australia sees the labor unions and indigenous >peoples as its two main enemies. > >Socialists have an obligation to build unity across these two fronts. The >Austalian socialists who belong to the Marxism mailing-list at Panix >understand this completely. In Canada there is a group that split from the >Tony Cliff state capitalist sect. Their folks, organized in something >called "Socialism from Below" and who live in British Columbia, have taken >a strong stand in favor of indigenous rights. If I make my way up to >Vancouver in the next few weeks, I'd like to meet with them. > >Since you have never been politically active and hate the radical movement, >much of this will seem obscure and difficult to understand. The best advice >I can give you is to approach the matter dialectically. This does not >necessarily mean reading Hegel, but it certainly does mean reading Marx and >Marxist thought. My objection to you lack of citations has nothing to do >with the question of scholarly pretensions one way or another. It has more >to do with your failure to understand the evolution of Marxist thought in >the 20th century, which you show zero awareness of. You don't have to cite >Mariategui in order to show an awareness of the dialectics of indigenous >and class demands, but it is a waste of time for me to try to have an >intelligent conversation with you when you are blissfully unaware of how >Marxism has grappled with these questions in the 20th century. That is why >I will ignore you from this point on. > >Louis Proyect > >(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html) > >
[PEN-L:830] Re: wrapping it up
> I was impressed by the level of discussion regarding l'affaire Bhodi. I > might have also mentioned I was offended e personally a few weeks ago > while pen-l was having technical problems. Mostly, when you have > problems with pen-l, I try to do what I can to fix it within the limits > of my ability. Most people are very appreciative, but our friend > berated me for giving him bad service. If I had the Hitler power (that > Ajit suggests that I have) or the Hitler personality, I would have > probably acted immediately. > -- > Michael Perelman ___ My point was theoretical, and the criticism was of Lou P. Not you Michael. Not at all! And i think Lou P. has also received enough criticism. So it's time we move on, and get on with business. Cheers, ajit sinha
[PEN-L:829] BLS Daily Report
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. -- =_NextPart_000_01BDC6BE.52588750 charset="iso-8859-1" BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1998 RELEASED TODAY: The number of fatal work injuries that occurred during 1997 was 6,218, about the same as the previous year's total. Decreases in deaths from job-related homicides and aircraft crashes in 1997 were offset by increases in work-related deaths from highway crashes, falls, and being caught in running equipment. The construction industry reported the largest number of fatal work injuries and accounted for half of worker fatalities from falls. Taxicab drivers and police and detectives were among the occupations with the largest increases in fatalities over the previous year __U.S. nonfarm businesses saw their productivity decline at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter, and their labor costs accelerate to a 4.1 percent increase, according to data released by BLS. The productivity decline was the first since the first quarter of 1995. Analysts say the slump is related in part to the GM strike (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). __The productivity of American workers - a crucial factor in determining whether living standards improve - declined during the April-June quarter for the first time in more than three years Analysts said many employers kept their payrolls at full strength despite an abrupt slowing in economic output attributed to trade problems with Asia, the General Motors strike and the need to clear inventories (Washington Post, page C8; New York Times, page D3). Labor unrest is in the air - or so it would seem Yet there were just 29 strikes last year involving 1,000 or more workers, the fewest since records were first kept in 1947 and down from 424 in 1974. At the present pace, there will be a record low 20 strikes this year. Despite an unprecedented tenfold increase in spending on recruitment, unions lost a net 159,000 members in 1997 and may have a net loss this year. The unionized share of U.S. workers is 14.1 percent, down from 14.5 percent in 1996 and 20.1 percent in 1983 There are several reasons for the decline. Government agencies have taken over in such areas as workplace safety and harassment. Jobs in traditionally unionized manufacturing and mining industries have decreased as a share of all jobs. Global competition has rendered unions less effective in making wage demands The conservative Employment Policy Institute estimates that unions must increase membership by more than 300,000 a year just to maintain 14 percent of the growing workforce (USA Today, Aug. 10, page 3B). The economy is strong and newspapers are full of help-wanted ads. But prosperity doesn't guarantee security for workers with the most seniority. Half the job-hunters counseled in the second quarter by outplacement specialists Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. had spent 10 years or more in their last job. That's the longest since the recessionary fourth quarter of 1990, when the median span was 13 years. Severance pay, too, shows it's veteran workers who get the ax: Challenger Gray says median severance was 25 weeks' pay in the second quarter: In 1996, the median was 13 weeks (Business Week, Aug. 17, page 22). Producer prices of finished goods probably edged up just 0.1 percent in July, after slipping the same amount in June. Excluding food and energy costs, prices also likely increased 0.1 percent on top of a 0.2 percent increase in June (Business Week, Aug. 17, page 109). The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 has done little to slow or reverse federal paperwork, in part because OPM has yet to implement key procedures -- and may lack the manpower -- to corral federal agencies into reducing the overall paperwork burden, GAO reports (Daily Labor Report, page A-3). DUE OUT TOMORROW: U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes -- July 1998 -- =_NextPart_000_01BDC6BE.52588750 b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQWAAwAOzgcIAA0ACQAgABEABAAoAQEggAMADgAAAM4HCAAN gAEAEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAkAUBDYAEAAICAAIAAQOQBgC4DAAAHEAAOQDA WwLKvsa9AR4AcAABEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAAgFxAAEWAb3GvmW8 1LPpuzKHEdKIjgAgr5wDCAAAHgAxQAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGkAAHgAw IzFpCv8ACgEPAhUCpAPkBesCgwBQEwNUAgBjaArAc2V0bjIGAAbDAoMyA8UCAHDccnESIAcTAoB9 CoAIzx8J2QKACoENsQtgbmcxODAzMwr7EvIB0CBCgkwF8ERBSUxZB/AARVBPUlQsIFegRURORVMY wFkZgABBVUdVU1QgMcIyGYAxOTk4CoUKhSEZIExFQVMZsCBUEk8aATogHKBoZSAMbnUG0ASQIG9m ICxmYQGQAyB3BbBrIG0LgGoIcgQgdBHABUBvzGNjCHAVMSBkCHEW4BUa8jceYGEEIDYsMvwxOBmA AaAIYAVAH1AdUHxzYQeAIZAfMh1QE5BlTHZpCGAEIHllCsAn1R8xbx4xLh0QRAWQFTD/IQAHkQuA ICAjoB9QBCADUmAgam9iLRUwC2B0xSABaANwaWNpDbAEIFcAcCAQC3ByBQBhAYAg/Sfhcx1AJQMg pASQHVAd4OMD0BIAIGJ5HrEkqR5ywyZHJVpoaWdoIPAqEOcoRRmAHhBsbC1xJ3IdoHEgYmNhdSyw BUAlIXKMdW4DACBxZXF1BSC/B4ACMCRRHTIFoACAdC9Q/GN0I0ADoAuAIDAxAS
[PEN-L:823] Russian Miners and the Collapsing State
--E46B981C007EC245D9DE4C3E Fellow pen-l'rs, Here are some news regarding the situation with the Russian workers, led by the miners, and their ongoing struggle against the 'reform' agenda of global capital. Of course, the very fact that there is tremendous resistance to these IMF/World Bank-engineered 'austerity measures' (which, it must be noted, have been attempted in Russia for the past 6 years) illustrates boldface the contradictions of global capital, while the fact that they are resisted not only by the workers but also by the indigenous elite, whose economic interests are quite at odds with the interests of the global producers of value and, paradoxically, the all too illegitimate Russian state, exposes the contradictions of imposing 'capitalism from above', in the absence of capitalist production relations. In solidarity, Greg. * #1 Miners Challenge Yeltsin in Campsite Protest MOSCOW -- (Agence France Presse) Several hundred striking miners have been camped for two months outside Russian government headquarters in a protest over pay arrears, which opposition politicians say is a clear warning that ordinary Russians' patience is running out. "I fear a social explosion," said the renowned Russian sociologist Leonid Gordon, adding that the miners' dogged determination and their simmering discontent were not to be dismissed lightly. "They reflect the general feeling that enough is enough," Gordon said, endorsing warnings by the political opposition that the threat of popular revolt has never been stronger in post-communist Russia. Added to fellow miners blocking trains in the east of the country, a strike by scientists at the prestigious Arzamas-16 nuclear research center and the recent kidnapping of a manager in the northern mine of Vorkuta, the miners appear to represent the increasing frustration of millions of unpaid state employees. The vast majority of these strikes are supported by the population, even though the latter bear the brunt of the strikers' actions. Gordon says the nonpayment of salaries is considered the last straw by people who have stoically endured the endless economic hardships of recent years, including hyperinflation which sent living standards crashing. Striking miners throughout Russia are demanding 10 months of unpaid wages and are asking the government to honor a pay deal it made to end a protest in May, after they blocked the main railways in Siberia and the North Caucasus for nearly two weeks. The coal industry, where working conditions are very harsh, has been particularly hard-hit by the Russian economic crisis, and more than 100 mines are expected to close soon. "We no longer have anything to lose, so we will stay until we win, until (President Boris) Yeltsin resigns," said one miner among the hundreds who have camped out in Moscow since June 11. The nationwide nature of the miners movement is evident from the presence in the camp of workers from a dozen regions around Russia. Unpaid workers of other state industries have also joined the campers. Three times a day the protesters gather on a bridge leading to the government building to shout "Yeltsin out," and yell obscenities at the government. For these miners their life in tent city is infinitely preferable to carrying out back-breaking work for no or little pay as the Siberian winter begins to bite. For Aleksander Vassilyev, a miner from the northern town of Vorkuta who has not received a wage package for 10 months, this life is "less hard than at Vorkuta, where it's already winter." The camp is laid out like a mini-town, with streets, alley ways and squares. Some tents are equipped with television and substitute kitchens. Financial support is provided by political organizations and sympathetic businessmen, said Aleksander. In general, the miners are given about 140 rubles ($25) a week, almost as much as they receive for a week of shifts down the mine. Local people are supportive and will let the miners into their homes to have a shower, he said. "Women sent here by their party (communist or agrarian) regularly bring us hot dishes," said Vera a Marxist trade union militant from a factory in Rostov-on-Don, which is shortly due to close. "We can't believe anyone any more," said Vadim, a miner from Tula. "All we want is to be treated in a civilized manner," he added. Gordon believes the government can end this most visible sign of discontent by paying the miners. He warned that the government should not become completely obsessed with solving the nation's economic problems and forget the workers themselves. "Social protest is a lot more dangerous," he said. * #2 Striking Miners Suspend Trans-Siberian Rail Blockade MOSCOW -- (Agence France Presse, Reuters) Russian miners on strike over unpaid wages suspended a three-week rail blockade near the Ural city of Chelyabinsk, a regional official told AFP Wednesday. The suspension of the blockade on a stretch of the vital Trans-S
