[Marxism] Honduras resistance statement on the situation

Monday, November 9, 2009 National Front of Resistance Against the Coup: The elections will not be recognized, the struggle continues http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/11/national-front-of-resistance-again

[Marxism] Re: Economists Seek to Fix a Defec t in Data That Overstates the Nation’s Vigor (NYT)

Matt Russo posted: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/economy/09econ.html?ref=business A widening gap between data and reality is distorting the government’s picture of the country’s economic health, overstating growth and productivity in ways that could affect the political debate on is

[Marxism] Venezuela launches military operations on border to protect Coltan, fight drug trafficking

Coltan is extremely valuable and sought after mineral. And the resource at the centre of the Congo's bloody civil war. Which makes it an impressive find for a country like Venezuela, worth a lot, but must make them wish it was found somewhat *further* from the border with Colombia, and not in an ar

Re: [Marxism] Venezuela, Colombia and the threat of war in Latin America

The threat is actual. No kidding. Border incidents have already begun. 2009/11/10 Stuart Munckton : > http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/817/42020 > > > Venezuela, Colombia and the threat of war in Latin America > Kiraz Janicke, Caracas > 7 November 2009 > > > *The possibility of an imperialist war

[Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

NY Times, November 9, 2009 Op-Ed Contributor 20 Years of Collapse By SLAVOJ ZIZEK TODAY is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During this time of reflection, it is common to emphasize the miraculous nature of the events that began that day: a dream seemed to come true, the Com

[Marxism] A speculative recovery?

http://wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/econ-n10.shtml Speculative recovery sows seeds of an even greater economic crash By Barry Grey 10 November 2009 Last Wednesday the Federal Reserve Board’s policy-making Federal Open Market Committee announced it was holding its target federal funds interest

Re: [Marxism] How the Stupak Amendment Radically Undermines Abortion Rights

On Nov 10, 2009, at 8:49 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: > How the Stupak Amendment Radically Undermines Abortion Rights > By Rachel Morris, Mother Jones Online > Posted on November 10, 2009, Printed on November 10, 2009 > http://www.alternet.org/story/143849/ > > Will health care reform come at the exp

Re: [Marxism] Economists Seek to Fix a Defect in Dat a That Overstates the Nation’s Vigor (NYT)

Can we get off this merry-go-round? Every time the spot price of oil doubles, the same old same old record gets played-- peak oil, shortages just around the corner, the US is applying pressure to the IEA according to unnamed sources. You think this might have anything to do with the fact that

[Marxism] Change in Putin's Russia, by Simon Pirani

Message forwarded in case you haven't seen it. -- From: "Sébastien Budgen" Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 7:28 AM To: Subject: [historicalmaterialism] Change in Putin's Russia, by Simon Pirani > Dear friends, > > You are invited to two events to m

Re: [Marxism] Comp Help Needed - Reverb In Online Spoken Videos - Cure?

At 16:45 10/11/09 -0500, Bill Quimby wrote: >I find that many of the online videos I want to see - on YouTube >for example, are recorded in class lecture halls with no sound >absorption. The result is that the video sound has a high degree of >reverb Actually the reason is because they placed the r

[Marxism] Venezuela, Colombia and the threat of war in Latin America

As Nestor says, the threat is actual. But the analysis posted so far on this list is naïve and one-sided. Venezuela also has been vying for economic, political and military power in the region for some years now. No surprise if rivalries eventually result in all-out war, with Colombians, caught

Re: [Marxism] Iran and Saudi Arabia

Paula wrote: > Inter-imperialist rivalries between Iran and Saudi Arabia play out in Yemen > and fuel Shia-Sunni conflict: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8352783.stm For newcomers to Marxmail, please understand that Paula has a heterodox definition of imperialism and it is really not w

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

I'm never sure what all fuss about Zizek is. He seems to me like the Hipster's Marxist, and a thoroughly obtuse one at that. Maybe someone on this list can explain the fascination with his ideas. ELB YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying t

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

Ernest Leif wrote: > I'm never sure what all fuss about Zizek is. He seems to me like the > Hipster's Marxist, and a thoroughly obtuse one at that. Maybe someone on > this list can explain the fascination with his ideas. Jeez, I have the same question.

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

Dear Ernest, this article by Zizek has little to do with what is generally (and generously) defined as "his ideas", which are as obscure as those of Heraclitus without the alibi of precedence in the history of philosophy. Beginnings are always obscure, but willful obscurity is a sign of decade

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

[Hope the CR formatting doesn't get too hosed] With his clown suit off. It is an appropriate warning about the political direction taken by disillusion with capitalism and "democracy" in E. Europe. The excerpt below raises the most interesting questions: "This is why today’s China is so unsettlin

Re: [Marxism] Comp Help Needed - Reverb In Online Spoken Videos - Cure?

Bill Quimby wrote: > Is there anything I should do or can do to improve the sound quality on my end i listen to this stuff with headphones and its not a problem... i think it would sound worse on speakers, since your room will also highlight the low frequency stuff that Jeff pointed out. Les

Re: [Marxism] An Opening in Consciousness!

Can't speak for the integrity of the poll, but found this remarkable: "In only the United States (25 percent) and Pakistan (21 percent), did more than one in five people agree that capitalism works well in its current form, the poll conducted for BBC World

Re: [Marxism] Economists Seek to Fix a Defect in Data That

A pity that the oil pricing question got piggybacked onto what I was interested in hearing about: How manufacturing labor productivity is measured in the U.S. That has nothing to do with the pricing of petroleum, which as a mineral resource is principally rent-bearing as its wild price swings sho

Re: [Marxism] Comp Help Needed - Reverb In Online Spoken Videos - Cure?

Yes, that helped a lot! Thanks Les! - Bill Les Schaffer wrote: > Bill Quimby wrote: >> Is there anything I should do or can do to improve the sound quality on my >> end > > i listen to this stuff with headphones and its not a problem... i think > it would sound worse on speakers, since your ro

Re: [Marxism] Communism & Cinema

Gilles d'Aymery wrote: > Lou, > > The attached text file is an article in French on the importance of cinema in > the history of communism, from Lenin on. It was written by a French historian > and published in Le Monde. I don't know whether you can read in French. If > not, perhaps you could p

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

1. "But what if this strain of authoritarian capitalism proves itself to be more efficient, more profitable, than our liberal capitalism? What if democracy is no longer the necessary and natural accompaniment of economic development, but its impediment?" I quake at the truth of the above. But let

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

It's historical, isn't it? Sometimes the more authoritarian, sometimes the less. Sometimes the carrot, sometimes the stick. Sometimes small property feels safe and secure, other times it feels itself being upended, expelled, crushed, and the small property-holders rush out into the streets on

[Marxism] China: America's Head Servant?

The NLR makes another connection to the real world. -Matt http://www.newleftreview.org/A2809 Free, should be accessible. Beijing is well aware that further accumulation of foreign reserves is counterproductive, since it would increase the risk associated with the assets China already holds

[Marxism] What is 'left' about 'the left' in South Africa? | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

By *Dale T. McKinley* November 5, 2009 -- For several years now, but particularly since the ascendancy of Jacob Zuma and his South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) allies within both the African National Congress (ANC) and the state, ``the left''

Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

Zizek is entertaining and defends in his own way the idea of revolution and the continued existence of History in a way that makes him attractive. His politics are muddled, but when he's in town I go to listen to him speak for the anecdotes-- if not all the ideas. I think upper-middle class grad