Bulletin N° 612
Subject: ON ‘NEUTRALITY’ IN THE FACE OF REPRESSION.
11 May 2014
Grenoble, France
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
The
demise of liberal capitalism and the
rise of fascist capitalism is worldwide and should be of concern to all of us.
We
cannot ignore the fact that financial crises represent opportunities for
some people and guarantee misery and insecurity for the rest of us. There is no
neutrality; we are challenged to think creatively, to look for contradictions,
to examine carefully the classic manipulations that are in evidence everywhere,
and to ask ourselves: Which side are we on?
The
organized violence of neo-Nazi groups today could easily be brought under
control by ruling class policy. The fact is this violence serves a purpose for
important factions within corporate interests, and these pathetic fascist
groups are funded and encouraged to act out their fantasies with no possible
benefits for themselves on the horizon. They are doomed by their masters, once their
work is finished.
Like
the Nazi Storm Troops led by Ernst Rohm (the S.A. before June 29-30, 1934), these fascist populists
will be displaced by rigid disciplinary force from the top, where more
sophisticated political technocrats lay in
wait to govern (like Heinrich Himmler and the S.S. officers of WW II). It is pathetic that the
creators of these populist monsters will also be their executioners, but this
is the way of fascist capitalism, one
must destroy in order to build –given the fact that the growth of private
profits is the only engine of the economy. The internal contradictions and
the external contingencies are many, and there is simply no way of knowing in
detail how this is going to evolve; there exists one certitude, however, which
is that in the long-run this sickness, if left to itself, will self-destruct.
Meanwhile, the lives of all of us are lived in the short-run, and it is in our
interest to engage seriously and rationally with this irrational system that
has been imposed upon us and try to defeat it in rational solidarity and
determination to preserve life worth living on this planet.
Franz
Neumann, in his classic work, Behemoth, The Structure and Practice of
National Socialism, 1933-1944 (1944), attempted to describe the
ideology of his day in Germany:
National
Socialism has no theory
of society as we understand it, no consistent picture of its operation,
structure, and development.
It has certain aims to carry through and adjusts its ideological pronouncements
to a series of ever-changing goals. This absence of a basic theory is one
difference between National Socialism and Bolshevism. The National Socialist
ideology is constantly shifting. It has certain magical beliefs –leadership
adoration, the supremacy of the master race—but its ideology is not laid down
in a series of categories and dogmatic pronouncements. (p.39)
We
may see the murderous and suicidal rage on the part of neo-Nazi populists and
their mentors in Europe and America as a terribly naïve and destructive force,
temporarily in the service of powerful corporate interests, but it
promises no future beyond the possible short-term
profits of a few investors, and at what a cost to society . . . !
The
16 items below give CEIMSA readers an idea of the dimensions of the
political struggle ahead. Those of us who were never interested in ‘politics’
are finding that politics is indeed interested in us, and like the ‘Good
Germans’ of World War II we can no longer afford to ignore coherent political
theory. We are either with the increasingly powerful progressive social
movements for emancipation and environmental protection, and join those struggling
for the vision of a more just and egalitarian society; or we are against them
and help suppress this movement by our inaction or actively because we have
been recruited to do so. We can see historically how the false consciousness promoted by Fascism has been sponsored by representatives of corporate
interests to achieve the objectives of certain powerful capitalists; it is
essential that we educate the growing number of victims created by this
financial crisis before they are hired to become our executioners and
gravediggers. Such is the history lesson that Nazi Germany has left those of us
who still listen and care!
Item
A.,
from the New
York Times, is “all the news that’s fit to print” on events in
Ukraine.
Item
B.,
from ZNet, is an article by Robert Parry on the use of Fascists in
Ukraine to murder pro-Russian protesters.
Item
C.,
from NYU Professor Mark Crispin Miller (founder of News
From Underground), is a May 5 report
from eastern Ukraine that neo-Nazis have placed a $10,000 bounty on the head of UK
journalist Graham
Phillips.
Item
D.,
from Information Clearing House,
is an article by Mike Whitney,
describing the “false flag” operations in Ukraine, where convert actions
including civilian murders are hidden under the guise of “Russian interference
in the new Republic”.
Item
E., from Mark Crispin Miller, offers rare footage of Nazi Murders in eastern Ukraine caught on
video.
Item
F., from Jim O’Brien of Historians Against War, is a series of recommended
recent articles.
Item
G.,
from Democracy Now !,
is a discussion with student environmentalists on American universities role in
global pollution, with poem by Sam Lai to Peabody CEO Greg Boyce, Dear Mr. Boyce.
Item
H. is
a video from MoveOn
warning of an imminent corporate takeover
of the Internet.
Item
I.,
from Democracy Now !,
is a discussion of the very real threat to “net neutrality”.
Item
J.,
from William Blum, is the latest
edition of The
Anti-Empire Report.
Item
K.,
from The
Financial Times of London, is a ‘post-imperialist’ critique of
Russian aims in Ukraine.
Item
L.,
from Truth
Out, is an article by Mark
Weisbrot on Ukraine’s predatory ‘friends’.
Item
M.,
from Information Clearing
House, is a brief article on the Ukraine in the ‘long run’ and
the future of Europe.
Item
N.,
from Truth
Out, is an article by Gerald
Friedman, first published in Dollars
& Sense and describing the ‘new
economy’ of the future.
Item O., from Paul, is a reminder of the neighborhood we live in and our cohabitants on planet earth, in a recent article from Earth Island Journal.
And
finally, we invite CEIMSA readers to gather information on the explosive
developments in Ukraine, the neo-liberal’s next play ground, after their grim
beginning of NATO’s ‘humanitarian
wars’ in Yugoslavia (1992-99), and listen to the Masters of the Universe as they discuss
their chief concerns back in the summer of 2007 :
UKRAINE TIME LINE
http://www.stratfor.com/topics/politics/russian-resurgence
and
(June 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzIcbhT6AMg
Sincerely,
Francis
Feeley
Professor
of American Studies
University
of Grenoble-3
Director
of Research
University
of Paris-Nanterre
Center
for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The
University of California-San Diego
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/
_______________
A.
From The New York Times
:
Dates: 10 May 2014
Subject : Russian president
traveled to Sevastopol to celebrate victory over Nazi Germany.
The
Russian president traveled to Sevastopol, where he used the anniversary of
victory over the Nazis to assert that Moscow had the right to annex the
peninsula.
From Crimea, Putin Trumpets
Mother Russia
and
Fire
Temporarily Knocks Out Broadcast Service in Kiev
_______________
B.
From ZNet :
Dates: 9 May 2014
Subject : The Western Uses of
Fascism in Ukraine.
As much as the coup regime in Ukraine and its
supporters want to project an image of Western moderation, there is a “Dr.
Strangelove” element that can’t stop the Nazism from popping up from time to
time, like when the Peter Sellers character in the classic movie can’t keep his
right arm from making a “Heil Hitler” salute.
This brutal Nazism surfaced again on Friday
when right-wing toughs in Odessa attacked an encampment of ethnic Russian
protesters driving them into a trade union building which was then set on fire
with Molotov cocktails. As the building was engulfed in flames, some people who
tried to flee were chased and beaten, while those trapped inside heard the
Ukrainian nationalists liken them to black-and-red-striped potato beetles
called Colorados, because those colors are used in
pro-Russian ribbons.
“Burn, Colorado, burn” went the chant.
As the fire worsened, those dying inside were
serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The
building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading
“Galician SS,” a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought
alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern
front.
http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/ukraines-dr-strangelove-reality/
by Robert Parry
_______________
C.
From Mark Crispin Miller :
Dates: 10 May 2014
Subject : Ukraine neo-Nazis put
$10,000 bounty on the head of UK journalist Graham Phillips.
http://rt.com/news/156892-ukraine-radicals-bounty-journalist/
Ukrainian troops guard
a checkpoint near the town of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine May 2, 2014 (Reuters
/ Baz Ratner)
Ukrainian
radicals have put a bounty out on RT stringer Graham Phillips, who is currently
working in the east of the country. Also a camera-man working for RT in Odessa
has been informed about being on the radicals' radar.
“Myself I
have received threats putting a bounty on my head to be kidnapped and that has
been offered from [the city of] Dnepropetrovsk, as I understand, connected to
the Right Sector,” Graham Phillips confirmed while reporting live from the city of
Slavyansk.
The Right
Sector reportedly offered $10,000 for the capture of “a Russian spy.”
The ultra-nationalists
also have a cameraman working for RT in the violence-gripped city of Odessa on
their radar, RT's Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan
confirmed in a statement.
“Our
camera-man-stringer in Odessa received a call from the Ukrainian Security
Service (SBU). [They] said that he is now on the radar of the Right Sector.
[His] former colleagues gave him up. SBU said that the Right Sector now has all
his phone numbers and addresses. They gave him up for his anti-Maidan views which he never kept secret,” Simonyan
posted on her Twitter.
RT's
Editor-in-Chief’s statement comes after the channel’s correspondent Irina Galushko said on her Twitter that the camera-man she is
working with had received threats.
On May, 4,
RT’s correspondent posted:
Foreign
journalists working in Ukraine have been subject to an unfolding witch-hunt in
Ukraine with assaults and intimidation of reporters intensifying recently.
In one of the
latest incidents Lifenews journalists Julia Shustraya and Mikhail Pudovkin,
were abducted by armed Ukrainian
Security Service members, after they filmed an interview with one of the
leaders of the pro-federalization movement in Ukraine. They were detained and
later deported to Russia.
On April 21,
Simon Ostrovsky, a journalist for the New York-based
Vice News, was also detained by self-defense forces in Slavyansk. He was held
captive for three days and questioned. He was then released.
Several days
after, on April, 24, the SBU
said a Russian and a Belorussian national, both employees of the Russian NTV
channel have been detained in the city of Pershotravensk
in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
On April, 26,
the heads of Russia's major TV corporations, including RT, called on human
rights organizations to “defend the professional rights of journalists working
in Ukraine.”
“Ukraine’s
Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and other
regions are witnessing the ruthless suppression of civil liberties on a daily
basis. Journalists are being threatened with their lives if they continue to
report from Ukraine,” the letter reads, signed by the heads of All-Russia State
Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), NTV, REN TV, Channel 5, RT
and News Media.
“The new
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly taken illegal actions barring our staff
journalists covering the Ukraine crisis from performing their professional
duties and violating their human dignity,” the letter said.
_______________
D.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 26 April 2014
Subject : The US Grand
Strategy in Eurasia.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Some of the victims–like a young woman who
was eight months pregnant –were strangled with an electrical chord and left slumped backwards over her desk.
False Flag in Odessa
Pathetic U.S. Media Coverage
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38447.htm
by Mike Whitney
_______________
E.
From Mark Crispin Miller :
Dates: 10 May 2014
Subject : Nazi Murders Caught
on Video in Ukraine.
Several people are reported to have been
killed in a shoot-out between Ukrainian troops and separatists in the town of Mariupol.
It came as Russia held a huge parade to mark
69 years since the Soviets defeated the Nazis.
President Vladimir Putin has flown to Crimea,
which Russia annexed in March, amid celebrations of the Soviet victory over
Nazi Germany in 1945.
The BBC's Regional Editor Olexiy
Solohubenko reports.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27339129
***
Global Research, May 08, 2014
Image: Ukrainian nationalists shout slogans and raise arms during a rally marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of a Ukrainian Insurgents Army (UPA) in central Kiev, 14 October 2007. AFP Genia Savilov
These two full length videos reveal what the mainstream media does not
want you to know. The Right Sector Neo Nazis which are an integral part of the
coalition “government” are depicted by the NYT and the Washington Post as True
Patriots and Nationalists. The horrendous crimes committed against fellow
Ukrainians are not mentioned.
Realities are twisted upside down. The CIA is involved in training and
advising Right Sector Brown Shirts.
Neo-Nazis heralded as Nationalists and Ultra-Conservatives are tacitly
supported by the self proclaimed “international community”.
In turn, the Western media is complicit in fostering the support of an
illegal proxy regime integrated by Neo-Nazis.
The crisis is casually blamed on Moscow. But the lies are being
confronted by World public opinion. The credibility of Obama and his European
allies is being questioned.
Rebirth of Fascism in its purest form in today’s
Ukraine.
U.S. warmongers along with EU/NATO politicians have installed (through
violent, artificial revolution) a pro-fascist junta government in Ukraine which
unlawfully armed Ukrainian Neo-Nazis and are now trying to start a civil war
within the country.
_______________
F.
From Historians Against the War :
Dates: 7 May 2014
Subject : [haw-info] HAW Notes
5/7/14: Links to recent articles of interest
http://www.historiansagainstwar.org
Links to Recent Articles of Interest
"The
Ukrainian Muddle: Lies, Manipulation and Silence"
By Murray Polner, History News
Network, posted May 6
Much less polemical than its title implies - mainly highlights
analysts who have pointed out complications in the Ukraine crisis
"Are
We Starting Another Cold War over Russian Actions in Ukraine?"
By Walter G. Moss, History News Network, posted May 4
The author is a professor of history emeritus at Eastern Michigan
University.
"How
Did the Gates of Hell Open in Vietnam?"
By Jonathan Schell, TomDispatch.com, posted May 4
A review essay on Nick Turse's book Kill Everything That
Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam+.
By Noam Chomsky, In These Times, posted May 1
Uses historical examples to tease-out the meaning of the term in
US discourse
By People & Power, Aljazeera, posted May 1
On Israel as a user, and the leading exporter, of military drones
"9/11
Museum Stirs Memories - and Protest"
By Ira Chernus, History News
Network, posted April 30
Puts the current controversy into a historical context
"Abe Shinzo and the U.S.-Japan
Relationship in a Global Context"
By Herbert P. Bix, Asia-Pacific
Journal: Japan Focus, posted April 28
The author is a professor of history emeritus at Binghamton
University.
"John Kerry Admits Israeli Apartheid; and 5 Ways He Is
Understating It"
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted April 28
The author teaches history at the University of Michigan.
By Anders Stephanson, New Left
Review, March-April issue
The author teaches history at Columbia University. This is a
review essay on George Kennan's career.
By Susan Watkins, New Left Review, March-April issue
Compares the Crimean annexation to others in recent years
Thanks to Steve Gosch, Mim Jackson, Rosalyn Baxandall,
and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles included in the above list.
Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.
_______________
G.
From Democracy Now ! :
Dates: 7 May 2014
Subject : Campus
Environmentalists Push Schools to Divest from polluting Coal Companies.
One of the country’s most prestigious universities, with
one of the world’s largest endowments, has joined the student-led movement to
divest from the fossil fuel industry. Stanford University’s Board of Trustees
voted Tuesday to stop investing in coal-mining companies because of climate
change concerns. The board said it acted in accordance with guidelines that let
them consider whether "corporate policies or practices create substantial
social injury" when choosing investments. Stanford’s endowment is valued
at $18.7 billion. The move comes as the divestment movement heats up across the
country. Seven students at Washington University in St. Louis were arrested
last week following a 17-day sit-in calling on the school’s board of trustees
to cut ties with coal industry giant Peabody Energy. Also last week, students
at Harvard blockaded the office of Harvard President Drew Faust. We are joined
by Stanford University junior Michael Peñuelas, one
of the lead student organizers with Fossil Free Stanford.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/7/stanford_divests_student_led_movement_forces
+
_______________
H.
From Move On :
Dates: 8 May 2014
Subject : A Corporate Takeover of the Internet ?
Dear MoveOn
member,
Comcast and
Verizon executives are hoping you won't watch this video.
That's
because it's a funny, engaging exposé of the plan that Comcast, Verizon, and
other major Internet service providers have to control what will—and won't—get
seen online, while they squeeze even more money out of your pocket. The FCC
could decide next week to go along with this corporate takeover of the
Internet, and this video breaks down what's at stake.
Oh, and it
stars Al Franken, The Daily Show's John Hodgman,
and former MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser.
Plus, it just won a Webby Award—the Internet's version of the Oscars—in Online
Film & Video for Public Service & Activism.
Can
you defy Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T and watch this video—and share it with
everyone you know?
Next
Thursday, May 15, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will unveil a new
plan that would allow Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T to create a second-class
Internet for anyone with a website who can't afford to pay new fees.
The more
people learn about the issue, the more they know it's
wrong.1
Click
here to watch The Internet Must Go and share it with everyone you know.
Thanks for
all you do.
–Maria,
Rosy, Nick, Victoria, and the rest of the team
Source:
1. "Net
Neutrality For The Win: How Entertainment and the
Science of Influence Can Save Your Internet," Harmony Institute, accessed
May 8, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=298199&id=95461-2028234-g4ii1%3Dx&t=4
_______________
I.
From Democracy Now ! :
Dates: 25 April 2014
Subject : The 1% Seeks
Control of Internet Access.
Federal regulators have unveiled new rules that would
effectively abandon net neutrality, the concept of a free and open Internet.
The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission would allow Internet
providers like Verizon or Comcast to charge media companies like Netflix or
Amazon extra fees in order to receive preferential treatment, such as faster
speeds for their content. If the new rules are voted on next month, the FCC will begin accepting public comments and issue final
regulations by the end of summer. “What we’re really seeing here is the
transformation of the Internet where the 1 percent get
the fast lanes, and the 99 percent get the slow lanes,” says Michael Copps, retired FCC Commissioner.
“If we let that happen, we have really undercut the potential of this
transformative technology. This has to be stopped.” We are also joined by Astra
Taylor, author of the new book, “The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and
Culture in the Digital Age."
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/25/internet_for_the_1_percent_new
_______________
J.
From William Blum :
Dates: 9 May 2014
Subject : Ukraine.
Anti-Empire Report, May 9, 2014
http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer128.html
_______________
K.
From The Financial Times :
Dates: 10 May 2014
Subject : Pro-imperialist
propaganda in the post-imperialist media.
When Vladimir Putin sent Russian soldiers into Crimea two months ago, western diplomats and pundits wondered aloud whether the usually calculating president had turned hot-headed, and allowed his pique at the west to push him into a risky geopolitical move over Ukraine.
The west misjudged Mr Putin then and this week the Russian president again seemed to have caught his adversaries off-guard as he played his latest move in a high-stakes contest.
With the world bracing for the Russian leader – swollen with triumph over Crimea – to back a separatist push in eastern Ukraine, Mr Putin instead surprised them with concessions, chief among them a plea to pro-Russian separatists to postpone a referendum on independence in eastern Ukraine in order to defuse tensions.
Whatever the sincerity of that gesture – Nato complained Russian troops were still massed on Ukraine’s border in spite of his promises to pull them back – it added to the Russian leader’s impression of wily inscrutability.
“Putin is certainly a master of the art of tactical unpredictability,” said Alexander Kliment of Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy. “This is what he does.” Mr Kliment and other western analysts still believe Moscow is determined to undermine the May 25 presidential election that may be pivotal for Kiev to establish an independent and legitimate western-leaning government.
But as that contest approaches, it appears Mr Putin is playing a different game in southeastern Ukraine than in Crimea.
In Crimea, Mr Putin was working with an overwhelmingly pro-Russian population, a majority of them Russian speakers with longstanding ties to Moscow.
In southeastern Ukraine, the demographic landscape is far more divided. A poll released by the Pew Research Centre of the US on Thursday reported that while two-thirds of Ukrainians in the east are unhappy with the Kiev authorities, just 18 per cent were ready to see the region secede.
Polling in Russia reveals a similar split. While more than three-quarters of Russians supported the Crimea joining Russia, only a third thought Moscow should go on to annex southeastern Ukraine, according to a survey by Moscow’s independent Levada Centre in April.
Mr Putin is well aware of the polling numbers and must play a delicate balancing act, says Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser. Even if his chief interest right now is destabilising Ukraine ahead of May 25, Mr Putin does not appear ready for military action – let alone a civil war on Russia’s border.
If that had been his aim, Mr Putin could have used the deaths of dozens of pro-Russia supporters in a fire in Odessa last week as a pretext for sending Russian peacekeeping troops into Ukraine. Instead, he “took a pause”, Mr Pavlovsky says: “People expected military action but I think Putin is scared of that.”
Dmitry Trenin, director of Moscow’s Carnegie Centre, agreed, saying Mr Putin had no interest in provoking a civil war that might spiral into “an eastern European version of Afghanistan – a conflict with no end”.
Short of that, it seems that Mr Putin is pursuing the same goal both he and the Russian foreign ministry have outlined repeatedly since February: the federalisation of Ukraine, a strategy designed to weaken the central government in Kiev as large swaths of the country fall under Moscow’s influence.
Encouraging pro-Russia separatists in southeastern Ukraine has been the means of choice. The leaders of the separatists in Donetsk, Slavyansk and Lugansk said they would disregard Mr Putin’s advice and plan to push forward with their referendums on independence this Sunday.
But even their seeming defiance may work in Mr Putin’s favour, according to analysts. It shows the west that “southeastern Ukraine is not under the control of Russia”, allowing Mr Putin to present himself as a peacemaker “in conversations with the US and Europe”, said Alexander Prokhanov, editor of Russia’s ultra-rightwing newspaper Zavtra. It may also give the president an out, allowing him the latitude to avoid annexing southeastern Ukraine if the referendums go in Russia’s favour, or distance himself from the poll should it flop.
Yet even with so many cards in his favour – and his adversaries guessing at his intentions – Mr Putin’s options are not unlimited. Having played up the plight of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, the Russian leader is now facing criticism in domestic circles for being too soft on Ukraine.
Similarly, following the steady drumbeat for Russian military intervention, it may be too late for Mr Putin to turn back, Mr Pavlovsky says. The president’s approval rating has shot above 80 per cent since February – based largely on the surge of patriotism generated by the Ukraine crisis. Mr Putin risks losing some of that support should he be seen as stepping back.
The Kremlin can change its media narrative. But with so much momentum generated, “it’s hard to turn around public opinion”, Mr Pavlovsky warned. “It could turn against Putin.”
_______________
L.
From Truth Out :
Dates: 26 April 2014
Subject : The US Grand
Strategy in Eurasia.
Euromaidan protesters took to Kyiv's
streets last year in the hopes of Ukraine's becoming part of the European
Union. The Europe they admired was one of material comforts and living
standards far beyond the reach of most Ukrainians, whose average income is
about the level of El Salvadorans'. The demonstrators wanted for themselves
something approaching Europe's prosperity — a market economy, advanced
technology, quality public transportation, universal health care, adequate
pensions and paid vacations that average five weeks.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/23569-with-friends-like-the-imf-and-eu-ukraine-doesnt-need-enemies
by
Mark Weisbrot, Al Jazeera America
_______________
M.
From
Information Clearing House :
Dates:
8 May 2014
Subject : ‘Like a hell-broth
boil and bubble. Double,
double toil and trouble. Fire
burn and cauldron bubble.’ –(Macbeth, Act IV,
Scene I)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
The social-economic upheaval that is sure to come
will in due time swamp away the coup government.
Ukraine: It's Now For The Long Run
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38453.htm
by Moon Of
Alabama
_______________
N.
From Truth Out :
Dates: 9 May 2014
Subject : The Rise of
Temporary, Part-Time, Low-Paid Labor.
Growing
numbers of Americans no longer hold a regular “job” with a long-term connection
to a particular business. Instead, they work “gigs” where they are employed on
a particular task or for a defined time, with little more connection to their
employer than a consumer has with a particular brand of chips. Borrowed from
the music industry, the word “gig” has been applied to all sorts of flexible
employment (otherwise referred to as “contingent labor,” “temp labor,” or the “precariat”). Some have praised the rise of the gig economy
for freeing workers from the grip of employers’ “internal labor markets,” where
career advancement is tied to a particular business instead of competitive
bidding between employers. Rather than being driven by worker preferences,
however, the rise of the gig economy comes from employers’ drive to lower
costs, especially during business downturns. Gig workers experience greater
insecurity than workers in traditional jobs and suffer from lack of access to
established systems of social insurance.
The Rise
of the Gig Economy
_____________________
O.
From Paul :
Date : 10 May 2014
Subject: We need to recognize we share the planet with millions of other life forms.
http://www.earthisland.org/
Latest News
The Anthropocene: It’s Not All About Us
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/the_anthropocene_its_not_all_about_us/
[We need to recognize we share the planet with millions of other life forms. ]
Time to celebrate! Woo-hoo! It’s official: we humans have started a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. Who’d have thought that just one species among millions might be capable of such an amazing accomplishment?
But let’s wait to stock up on party favors, though. After all, the Anthropocene could be rather bleak. The reason our epoch has acquired a new name is that future geologists will be able to spot a fundamental discontinuity in the rock strata that document our little slice of time in Earth’s multi-billion year pageant. This discontinuity will be traceable to the results of human presence. Think climate change, ocean acidification, and mass extinction.