[PEN-L:12206] Anti-racist workshop goes on-line! (fwd)
-- Forwarded message -- Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 16:58:30 +0200 (MET DST) From: Marianne Brun [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Stefan Brun [EMAIL PROTECTED], Michael Brun [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: George Bridges [EMAIL PROTECTED], Danielle Chynoweth [EMAIL PROTECTED], Mark Enslin [EMAIL PROTECTED], Lisa Fay [EMAIL PROTECTED], Laurdella Foulkes-Levy [EMAIL PROTECTED], Andre Gunder Frank [EMAIL PROTECTED], Mark Freeman [EMAIL PROTECTED], Rachel Rubin [EMAIL PROTECTED], Peter Kwiek [EMAIL PROTECTED], Chris Mann [EMAIL PROTECTED], Debby Langerman [EMAIL PROTECTED], William Gillespie [EMAIL PROTECTED], RGT [EMAIL PROTECTED], Sam Markewich [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Anti-racist workshop goes on-line! (fwd) -- Forwarded message -- Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 10:19:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Mark V Sullivan [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: manni brun [EMAIL PROTECTED], mat opple [EMAIL PROTECTED], arun chandra [EMAIL PROTECTED], maria pease [EMAIL PROTECTED], dick peterson [EMAIL PROTECTED], Stephen L Esquith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Anti-racist workshop goes on-line! (fwd) Forwarded message: From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Sep 9 08:34:56 1997 Date: 08 Sep 1997 06:52:44 Reply-To: Moderator of conference "ipr.forum" [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Anti-racist workshop goes on-line! To: Recipients of ipr-forum [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Gateway: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Errors-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Precedence: bulk Lines: 66 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear ipr.forum newsgroup, White privilege is a major barrier to building the kind of social movements that could bring fundamental change to the United States. = Social justice activists have a real-stake in tearing down this barrier. = Committed anti-racist activists are working hard to create an anti-racist agenda, and the Challenging White Supremacy Workshop helps to educate and train those working toward social justice. This fall, we will put the workshop on-line, and we thought you may be interested in participating. Thank you for taking the time to read and share the following announcement. This will be a one-time posting to your newsgroup. In Solidarity, The Challenging White Supremacy Workshop ** PLEASE POST PLEASE ANNOUNCE PLEASE POST= ** You are invited to participate in The Challenging White Supremacy Workshop on-line! The Challenging White Supremacy Workshop for Activists will go on-line on or around November 1, 1997. The goals of the new cyberspace workshop are to: ** Use the computer to recruit, educate and motivate anti-racist activists; ** Create a =93virtual=94 anti-racist community on-line, which potentiall= y can be transformed into a real life anti-racist community; and ** Contribute towards building a national anti-racist movement. All cyberspace workshop participants will be expected to participate in a grassroots anti-racist activity, preferably focused in one of the following areas: Police accountability, Prisons, Immigrant rights, Indigenous sovereignty, Environmental Justice, and Economic Justice organizing in communities of color. For more information about the Challenging White Supremacy Workshop goals, political perspectives and topics, please see our WebPage at http://www.cwsworkshop.org/. If you would be interested in participating in the workshop, please email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Challenging White Supremacy: A Workshop for Activists and Organizers = ** PLEASE POST PLEASE SHARE PLEASE POST= ** -- Associate Professor and Area Chair, Music Composition Director, Computer Music Studios Michigan State University School of Music, 305 Music Practice Building E. Lansing, Michigan 48824-1043 U.S.A. 517-355-7653 [office phone]; 517-432-2880[FAX] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL] http://web.msu.edu/user/sullivan [WEB PAGE] MSU Computer Music Studios Web Site: http://www.msu.edu/compmus/index.html
[PEN-L:12179] Re: Slagging Di
I had urgently hoped that pen-l might be one place on earth, a tiny niche, where one would not discuss Diana. Not so - and the level of the texts I find in no way surpass the tabloids Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:11133] Re: Thailand
According to all reports, Thailand certainly did devalue its currency, and Soros was pictured in the press here as once again being th big winner. On Sun, 6 Jul 1997, Rosenberg, Bill wrote: Does anyone have any further information, or comment, on what has happened in Thailand? The Bangkok English-language newspaper, the "Nation", which is on the WWW (http://www.nationmultimedia.com) has some interesting reports. They detail Soros, with $6 billion at the ready, betting on a devaluation. Initially the Bank of Thailand tried to outgun him, getting help from Singapore, but the latest (3 July) is that Thailand has been forced into a managed float, effectively a devaluation, but seemingly with a dual currency market. With foreign debt at 45% of GDP, consequences are likely to be severe for some Thai companies. Bill Rosenberg /-\ | Bill Rosenberg, Acting Director, Centre for Computing and Biometrics, | |P. O. Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. | | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone:(64)(03)3252-811 Fax:(64)(03)3253-865 | \-/
[PEN-L:11116] Re: Inheritance taxes
Not only Andrew Carnergie, Betrand Russell was in favor of taxing away inheritance entirely, or just abolishing inheritance as such, as a means of re-distributing wealth. Marianne Brun On Thu, 3 Jul 1997, Michael Perelman wrote: Andrew Carnegie in his Gospel of Wealth recommended inheritance taxes as the best sort of taxation. Well, Schumpeter was never that good a business anyway. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:10827] Re: Mumia Abu Jamal sentenced to die in 2 months time!
If anyone has the address to which protests can be sent, please make it known to all of us on this list. Marianne Brun On Sat, 14 Jun 1997, Michael Eisenscher wrote: Subject: Fwd: Stop press! Mumia Abu Jamal sentenced to die in 2 months time! - Forwarded message: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Anna Weekes) Date: 97-06-14 06:02:09 EDT Mumia Abu-Jamal's death warrant has been signed! He is sentenced to die at 10pm on the 17th of August 1997. Mumia, who has been on Death Row for 15 years, had his execution stayed two years ago. Now Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Ridge, has said that he will die on the same day as his execution would have taken place two years ago. Please comrades, let's get a campaign going quickly on this one! Let's stop the fascist American government from murdering this writer and freedom fighter! P.S. I realise that many of you will know this already. If anyone out there has an e-mail address where we can lodge our protests once more, please send it to me! Thanks!
[PEN-L:10792] Re: Real Life Question
In the whole discussion about cars in our society, I find
that far too little attention is paid to all the functions
they have beyond being means of transportion (and beyond
their function as a fetish). For many people they are like
an extra room, they can - and sometimes do - live in. I have
observed myself: I carry around various items of clothes,
medicines, books, etc. I sometimes take a short snooze in
my car. It serves as a place in which I store and carry
around more things than I could otherwise manage. I use it
as a place in which I can be alone for a few minutes on a hectic
day or read a book while waiting for something. All these
things, I think, need to be taken into account when alternatives
to the car are being designed or people will continue to cling
to their mobile shells.
Marianne Brun
On Thu, 12 Jun 1997, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
Michael P. Bill L.,
Thanks for your replies and useful references. I am not in disagreement
with the fact that automobile is a heavily subsidised mode of transportation
favoured by both Keynesian planners and auto industry itself. If I remember
correctly, Baran Sweezy explain that "love affair" by the automobile's
capacity of "surplus absorbtion" or wastefulness in plain English -- which
according to these autors is a primary driving force of monopoly capitalism.
Having said that, however, the question that I posed deals primarily with
the problem of the effectiveness of "planning from above" rather than
finding structural explanations of the phenomenon in question. That is,
given the benefits individual capitalists as well capitalists as a class
derive from the promotion of automobile as the main mode of transportation,
the support the capitalist class and the capitalist government lend to the
promotion of this means of transportation is hardly surprising. Yet, that
does not explain the popularity of this mode of transportation among the
population. There were many sponsored from above programs that failed to
gain popular support despite massive efforts to promote them, for example
atomic energy. Why were automobiles different?
My own thinking goes into the direction of looking into the motives of human
actors in addition to structural factors, to explain macro-economic
phenomena. Those motives cannot be explained in terms of rational decision
making (like cost benefits considerations, etc.). Rather than being
rational profit maximizers, humans ("primitive" and "civilised" alike) tend
to be ritualistic fetish collectors. That is, they tend to make their
decisions based on the perceived symbolic value of the expected outcomes,
rather than by calculating the cost/benefit balance of those outcomes. Even
when they say that cost/benefit calculations were the primary factor behind
their decisions, that is often an ex post facto rationalization rather than
real motives. The popular discourse over the "market economy" as a panacea
for all social problems - even those "traditionally" considerd market or
transaction failures -- or "balancing the budget" by pinching pennies from
social programs while leaving the multi-billion dollar coprorate wealthfare
intact is a case in point.
In case of automobiles, the success of government/corporate popularisation
efforts can be explained by the "ontology" of a motor vehicle that lends
itself to becoming a fetish or rather a hierophany (=embodiment of a
symbolic or a religious value). That ontology includes three elements: the
ability to move across large distances with relative ease, the box-like
shape, and the fact of being a machine. Those properties can become
hierophanies of such cultural values as "freedom" (freedom of movement, as
well as the enclosure of an "individual space" separated from the
environment -- which may explain why the automobile has a greater appeal
than the motorcycle -- the later cannot physically separate an individual
from the environment), and "modernity" (by virtue of being an incarnation of
technological progress). Of course, the collective "agoraphobia" or fear of
public places in the American society needs an explanation, but that is
another story.
It is that fetishistic appeal that made the difference between the failure
and the success of sponsored from above programs to diffuse a technological
solution. That is clear when we contrast automobile with nuclear energy --
that latter cannot be easily made into a fetish, especially after Hiroshima.
If my interpretation is correct, the implications for public policy,
planning, and building a just society are quite substantial. For one thing,
that suggests that people will not simply choose a more ra
[PEN-L:10487] Re: French election
We had a grand celebration here in Berlin - quickly, before becoming disappointed. At least, it is hoped, the Socialists (with the Communists) will prove a stumbling block on the road to a Europe belonging solely to high finance - it could be that the subject of working people will enter the discussion at long last. Besides, there is some joy to be derived from the thought of Kohl co's fury, especially at Chirac for calling the election. On the other hand: this may get them out of they bind they are in. Everything can, once again, be blamed on the left. Marianne Brun On Sun, 1 Jun 1997, Tom Walker wrote: French election results (from Liberation, http://www.liberation.com/): Gauche: 323 seats PC 36 PS+allies 279 Verts 8 Droite: 253 UDF 109 RPR 127 DVD 17 FN 1 Regards, Tom Walker ^^ knoW Ware Communications | Vancouver, B.C., CANADA | "Only in mediocre art [and in spreadsheets] [EMAIL PROTECTED] |does life unfold as fate." (604) 669-3286| ^^ The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm
[PEN-L:9872] Capital flight in the military-correctional complex: Arizona (fwd)
Where does this fit into globalization? -- Forwarded message -- Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:37:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Kwiek [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: friends [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], Marianne Brun [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Capital flight in the military-correctional complex: Arizona (fwd) -- Forwarded message -- Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 10:00:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Kwiek [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Capital flight in the military-correctional complex: Arizona (fwd) -- Forwarded message -- Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 08:25:42 -0700 (PDT) From: JusticeNet Prison Issues Desk [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Prison Activist List Subscribers [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Capital flight in the military-correctional complex: Arizona fwd: From: Michael Novick [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Capital flight in the military-correctional complex: Arizona explores Private Prison in Mexico April 20, 1997 Arizona Looks Into Building Private Prison in Mexico By JAMES BROOKE PHOENIX -- Arizona prison officials have watched the population of Mexican inmates skyrocket, from 58 in 1980 to 2,373 today. At the same time, they have watched American factory owners move south of the border to take advantage of Mexico's low wages. So it seemed natural to Gov. Fife Symington, a Republican, to propose a twist to the North American Free Trade Agreement: a plan to build a private 1,600-inmate prison in Mexico to house the bulk of Arizona's Mexican prisoners. "It would mean big dollars to the operator and to the Mexican economy," said Terry L. Stewart, state corrections director. On April 10, Stewart received two responses to a request for feasibility studies, one from a prison company from Florida and the other from a group from Mexico. The governor's chief of staff, Jay Heiler, has joined the sales pitch. "We have a lot of rural communities around Arizona that compete for prison projects," Heiler said. "So it is not as if we are trying to send some kind of ugly industry south of the border." This year, the cost of incarcerating the Mexicans is expected to hit $40 million, a bill that is largely paid by the 3.5 million residents of the state. A private prison in Mexico could halve that cost, estimated Michael Garretson, chief operating officer of the Correctional Services Corporation of Sarasota, Fla., the company that submitted a proposal. Labor accounts for 70 percent of the cost of running a prison in the United States, he said. "It's a great idea, a great concept," said Garretson, whose company runs a 400-bed prison here and is building another, with 600 beds, in Florence. To push the idea, Correctional Services, the Mexican group and Arizona officials have held talks with officials from the state of Sonora, which borders Arizona. Although some state officials in Mexico are open to the idea, it faces a formidable obstacle: it would require a bilateral treaty between the United States and Mexico. From Washington, a spokesman for the State Department cautioned that states could not conduct their own foreign policies. "Any kind of international agreement of that kind would have to be between two national governments," the spokesman, a Latin America specialist, said on condition of anonymity. "I don't know how two states could effect that legally." The Mexican counsel here, Luis Cabrera, said that without a treaty, there would be jurisdictional problems. "Prisons in Mexico cannot be managed by foreign authorities," Cabrera said. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Mexico City limited herself in a telephone interview to saying: "There have not been any serious discussions. Nothing has been decided." Garretson said state officials were blunter when talking with him in Sonora. "We got a lot of discussion of sovereignty, local control, even the word imperialism," he said. In contrast, Axel C.F. Holm, an American member of the Mexican group that is studying the proposal, said of his contacts with Sonoran officials: "They seem to be very open to the idea. We haven't met any real resistance." "The Mexicans are interested in repatriation of their citizens," said Holm, whose group, based in Sonora, is called la Comision Para Estudio de Prision Particular, or the Committee for the Study of a Private Prison. "Our group formed in Mexico because the prison is going to be located in Mexico." Although the idea might have sounded outlandish 15 years ago, its currency today stems from the growing population of foreigners in U.S. jails. Foreigners account for 27 percent of the 109,000 prisoners in fe
[PEN-L:8678] Re: request for help with sources - 1
The name is: Cheryl Payer Her book on the IMF was called "The Debt Trap". I think the one one of the World Bank was called just that. Her address is: Carmine St. No. 10, New York On Mon, 17 Feb 1997, DOUG ORR wrote: I have a student who is doing a paper for another class on how the World Bank, IMF, etc. policies impact on indigenous businesses and restrict the growth of the local economy. I know that the "50 years is enough" group has done a lot of work in this area, but I can find their e-mail or web addr. Anyone have those? Also, if you have any suggestions as to good readings on this topic, please forward them to me. One final question on this topic. I remember someone who has done a lot of work on this topic is a woman named Cheryl P. Anyone would can help me with her last name would be appreciated. Thanks for your help, Doug Orr
[PEN-L:8196] Erfurter Erklaerung (Erfurter Manifesto)
I would be grateful to learn from you whether there is any mention in any of the media where you are of the a group of union leaders, scientists, writers, church people, and artist who met in the city of Erfurt and are calling for a change of government and of social and economic conditions in Germany. The manifesto, which is far from extreme, was presented to the press on Thursday in Berlin and Erfurt. Up to now, in Berlin, I have only found mention of it in the so-called left press. I would appreciate hearing if there is mention of it elsewhere. Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:8195] Re: The Undertime Tax (2/2)
My thanks to Tom Walker for the Undertime Tax calculations. I am intersted in having that analogous figures for Germany looked. I would think the results would be similar. Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:8196] Erfurter Erklaerung (Erfurter Manifesto)
I would be grateful to learn from you whether there is any mention in any of the media where you are of the a group of union leaders, scientists, writers, church people, and artist who met in the city of Erfurt and are calling for a change of government and of social and economic conditions in Germany. The manifesto, which is far from extreme, was presented to the press on Thursday in Berlin and Erfurt. Up to now, in Berlin, I have only found mention of it in the so-called left press. I would appreciate hearing if there is mention of it elsewhere. Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:8195] Re: The Undertime Tax (2/2)
My thanks to Tom Walker for the Undertime Tax calculations. I am intersted in having that analogous figures for Germany looked. I would think the results would be similar. Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:7710] Re: Opposition in Serbia
A few Serbs I have spoken to in Berlin are convinced that the US is behind the opposition's activity. They are distrustful of both (all) sides and think that most workers are too. Marianne Brun On Tue, 3 Dec 1996, Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote: I would like to raise on this list the question of what is going on in Serbia and where is it leading. For over two weeks now there have been daily demonstrations against the Milosevic government and its cancelling of municipal election results, led by the group Opposition. On some days the crowds in Belgrade have been as large as 100,000 in number. Most of those involved appear to be either students or white collar workers with only one blue collar union leader publicly supporting Opposition. The question is, does the apparent lack of blue collar support for Opposition reflect: 1) fear of the role of right wing Serbian nationalists in Opposition? 2) placidity because of union leaders being bought out by the regime? 3) fear of repression by the recently expanded internal police? or 4)) residual sympathy for the old Yugoslav workers' management system? Related questions are: 1) To what extend does workers' management survive in Serbia (Paul P.?) (I understand that in Slovenia it survives pretty well but has been pushed back in mafia-nomenklatura privatized Croatia). 2) What is the balance within Opposition between ultra-nationalists, pro-capitalists, and pro-workers' management/market socialism types? Barkley Rosser -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:7676] Re:
I rather wonder that there hasn't been more serious discussion of m. cerrato's suggestion that beyond the possible and impossible distribution of work (= jobs), it will finally prove necessary to look for solutions on the level of distribution of wealth. To this I would like to add that the direct connection between job and needed wealth seems like an anachronism in our time. Society must make the continuous satisfaction of needs available without continuous employment. How much work will be needed from each member of society will fluctuate; giving people access to what they need should not undergo that fluctuation in tandem. Marianne Brun On Wed, 27 Nov 1996 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "Rifkin suggests we may have to take the existing work and spread it around. He says we have to look once more at the question of reduced work time. I agree with D Henwood's comments that this is nothing new, however I would suggest that this is already happening. Corporations operating in growth industries in Australia for example services and hospitality are increasingly providing part-time, casual and short term contract type employment and other industries are set to follow suit with the further de-regulation of the labour market. The New Zealand experience suggests that unemployment has been reduced but again the employment being offered is part-time, casual etc. leading to a much greater inequality in wealth distribution. (Obviously, this is enhanced by the fact that these workers are more difficult to organise). The question then put slightly differently is how to achieve greater equality in wealth distribution rather than focussing just on employment per se. Certainly, the two need to be considered hand in hand - otherwise corporations will continue to do it anyway without addressing wealth distribution.
[PEN-L:6922] Re: Off Limits: USA
As it is still shortly before midnight in Germany, I might
as well get in my two-cents worth - although I don't fully
fit the requirements: I am sort of not at home here in
Germany and half not at home in the States. Since I do go
back an forth a lot, I see so many connections that could be
made between what is going on, and how people are being
marginalized, here, there, and in between. I would, therefore,
suggest we attempt to show an awareness of these connections
in what we write rather than merely making "special reports"
from outside the U.S.
Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:6514] Re: A new WB line re poverty?
Many thanks to Alex for taking the trouble to translate the report on the World Bank meeting. I found it of great interest. I also feel there is material there for a contemporary comedy. Marianne Brun
[PEN-L:6186] Re: Crisis In Germany
From Hinrich Kuhls I'd like some information as to where in Germany I might be able to obtain the journal which he mentions. I haven't the set-up here to get onto the web, so I'd like to find Sozialismus, at least as a journal. I would be interested to find out what stance they take on the austerity package passed Friday in the German parliament. In the discussions I read and hear, I find no real opposition to the notion that Germany must save, the debt must be paid, no matter what the consequences for the people. After all even those who endorse the Maastricht Treaty could change the entrance rules. That would relieve many a country in Europe. Marianne Brun ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
