Bulletin N°220
Subject: ON DEMOCRACY AND THE SLOW AND PAINFUL BIRTH OF A NEW SOCIETY: FROM THE CENTER FOR THE ADVANCED STUDY OF AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS,29 December 2005
DEAR FRIENDS OF CEIMSA,
Christmas has come and gone, and the killings in
Meanwhile, we share with you some recent items CEIMSA has received
concerning
the Anti-War Movement in the U.S. and its evolution over the
past
several months.
Item
Item B. are
short Internet video clips of two Rebecca MacNeice documentary films on the brave pacifist demonstrators in the United
States who
risked prison terms for expressing the courage of their convictions
this year
at Crawford, Texas and at Fort Benning,
Georgia.
Item C. is a
recent communication from Information
Clearing House on the emerging democratic movements which might
grow to
eventually challenge ruling-class hegemony in American political
culture. [See
also the Anti-War.com article on the strategic importance of the
U.S. Anti-War Movement in future U.S. foreign policy decisions :
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8312 .]
Item D. is a communication from Professor Fred Lonidier at UCSD, who make some helpful observations on "Homeland Security" in
And finally, item E. offers some much needed humor from Professor Bertell Ollman, at
NYU, on
nothing less than . . . Life against Death.
Sincerely,
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies/
Director of Research
Université Stendhal-Grenoble-III
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/
________________________
A.
From: Francis FEELEY
Subject: JOAN BAEZ: AN INVITATION TO AN AMERICAN PACIFIST CONFERENCE AT
THE
UNIVERSITY DE SAVOIE IN CHAMBERY, FRANCE ON 6 APRIL 2006.
Dear Joan Baez,
Since my early student years, during the anti-war movement in
Later, in
I have been politically active all of my life, since growing up in the
south
I am writing you this letter to let you know how much you have
influenced by
life, and also to make a special request. As professor of American
Studies here
at The University of Grenoble, in southern
Since the creation of our
This first big event was followed by another equally large conference
on 5-6
May 2003, when my good friends Howard and Roz Zinn joined John Gerassi of
Queens College-NYC, and a dozen French activists scholars to discuss
"The
Other Side of America: United States Foreign Policy and Domestic
Policy".
The following year, in April 2004, Jim Hightower and Susan DeMarco came from
I mention this brief history of our activities simply to let you know
that we
are doing our best to bring to students and citizens of this
region alternative views of
Recently, the
When I learned that you would be in
I would like to invite you to the
I wish I could offer you a fee with this request, but the
constraints on
our budget make this impossible. In the past, the generosity of
participants
like Howard Zinn, Jim Hightower, Susan
George and
others have made these International Conferences possible. I receive
nothing,
of course, for this work, except a considerable degree of negative
attention
from conservative and parochial forces in the area. Nevertheless, I am
committed to continue my educational activities, and I would be very
grateful
if you were able to accept my invitation for a rendez-vous at
If you are interested in participating at this international event (on
the Chambéry campus, about 30 minutes
north of
in solidarity,
Francis Feeley
__________________
B.
from Truthout
28 December 2005
http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm
Two Rebecca MacNeice Documentary Films on Democracy in Action inside the
The
Prairie Chapel Road 12
A Film by Rebecca MacNeice
and
School
of the Americas Protest
A Film by Rebecca MacNeice
__________________
C.
from Richard Drayton :
Information
Clearing House
28 December 2005
Shock, awe and Hobbes
have backfired on
[
technological power]
By Richard Drayton
12/28/05 "The
Guardian" -- -- The tragic irony of the 21st century is that just as faith in
technology
collapsed on the world's stock markets in 2000, it came to power in the
White
House and Pentagon. For the Project for a New American Century's
ambition of
"full-spectrum dominance" - in which its country could "fight
and win multiple, simultaneous major-theatre wars" - was a monster
borne
up by the high tide of techno euphoria of the 1990s.
Ex-hippies talked of a wired age of
Aquarius. The fall
of the
But darker dreams surfaced in
Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance - a key strategic document
published
in 1996 - aimed to understand how to destroy the "will to resist
before,
during and after battle". For Harlan Ullman of
the
All of this came to be applied in
For the American imperial strategists invested deeply in the belief
that
through spreading terror they could take power. Neoconservatives such
as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and the
recently indicted Lewis "Scooter" Libby, learned from Leo Strauss
that a strong and wise minority of humans had to rule over the weak
majority
through deception and fear, rather than persuasion or compromise. They
read Le Bon
and Freud on the relationship of crowds to authority. But most of all
they
loved Hobbes's Leviathan. While Hobbes saw authority as free men's
chosen
solution to the imperfections of anarchy, his 21st century heirs seek
to create
the fear that led to submission. And technology would make it possible
and
beautiful.
On the logo of the Pentagon's Information Awareness Office, the motto
is Scientia est potentia - knowledge is power . The IAO promised
"total
information awareness", an all-seeing eye spilling out a death-ray gaze
over
The
The problem for the
The spin machine is on full tilt to represent
But he directs his real fury at
While a good Kleinian therapist may be
able to help
Peters work through his weaning trauma, only
Dr Richard Drayton, a senior lecturer in history at
RHDrayton@yahoo.co.uk
Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
__________________
D.
From Fred Lonidier
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 15:54:18 -0800
Subject: Homeland Security
Francis,
Like many of you, I have had some trouble understanding what "Homeland
Security" is all about. I mean FBI field officers had some of the
WTC
bombers in sight taking flying lessons and all but they just couldn't
get
their higher-ups to follow up on it.
And, I thought I knew what "homeland" was being referred to but I
guess I
was wrong. See, "Homeland" is on Highway 74, near
through both ways on our way to Idyllwild.
So, I hope I've cleared this all up for you.
Happy New Year,
Fred
Dec.02#3-21.jpg
Dec.02#3-22.jpg
_____________
E.
from Bertell Ollman :
27 December 2005
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/index.php
Radical Jokes
("Radical" means to get at the roots of whatever is being described, and the roots of our society lie in the capitalist relations that structure and hence loosely determinewhether directly or indirectlyall that happens to us in this society. Jokes are radical when they reveal something important about these little understood relations and criticize their effects on our lives.)
A young girl asks her father, "Why is it so cold in the house?"
"We don't have any coal", he says.
"But why is there no coal?", she wants to know.
"Because I lost my job", he replies.
Still unsatisfied, she asks one more time"And why did you lose your job?"
To which he
answers, "Because there is too much
coal".
Boss to employee: "Young man, you have risen very fast in this company. Two years ago, you began as an office boy. In a couple of months, you were a clerk. Then, you became a salesman, after that assistant manager, then manager. Now you are the vice president of the company. What have you to say about all this?"
Employee:
"Thanks, Dad".
Question: How many capitalists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Answer: None,
since we don't need capitalists to screw in
light bulbs or any thing else that really needs doing in our society.
Capitalism
is a lot like an airplane in which the pilot announces to his
passengers that
he has two pieces of news to tell them. The good news is that they are
traveling at the pre-established speed of
(I've added the
qualification "a lot" to the
joke, because even capitalism's "systems" are not functioning all that well lately.)
Student asks his principal, "Where is my teacher?".
"Citywide layoffs", replies the principal.
"My text books?" asks the student.
"State austerity plan", says the principal.
"Student loan?" continues the student.
"Federal budget cuts", says the principal.
Finally, exasperated, student asks, "But how am I going to get an education?".
To which the
equally exasperated principal replies,
"This is your education".
A capitalist is walking through his factory with a friend.
Friend asks, "What did you tell that man just now?"
"I told him to work faster", answers the capitalist.
"How much do you pay him?" asks the friend.
"Fifteen dollars a day" answers the capitalist.
"Where do you get the money to pay him?" asks the friend.
"I sell products", answers the capitalist.
"Who makes the products?" asks the friend.
"He does", answers the capitalist.
"How many products does he make in a day?" asks the friend.
"Fifty dollars worth", answers the capitalist.
"Then", concludes the friend, "Instead of you paying him, he pays you thirty-five dollars a day to tell him to work faster".
"Huh", and the capitalist quickly adds, "Well, I own the machines".
"How did you get the machines?" asks the friend.
"I sold products and bought them", answers the capitalist.
"And who made those products?" asks friend.
To which the capitalist can only respondto his friend, but also to the media and to the schools"Shut up! He might hear you".
(Remember, I
didn't say radical jokes had to be very funny
to be radical, or to be jokes.)
A group of workers enter the boss's office and tell him that they have just taken over the factory. "You can't", says the boss. "I own it"
"And how did you come to own it?" asks one of the workers.
"It was left to me by my father", says the boss.
"How did he get it?" asks the worker.
"He got it from his father", says the boss.
"And he?" asks the worker.
"From his father", says the boss.
"And he?" persists the worker.
"He fought for it", says the capitalist in a burst of familial pride.
"Well", say the
workers, all together this time, "We'll fight you for it".
*********************
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies/
Director of Research
Université de Grenoble-3
Grenoble, France
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/
