Bulletin #712
Subject: 'REVOLUTIONARY
CAPITALISM' AND ITS EFFECTS AT HOME AND ABROAD.
Labor
Day 2016
Grenoble, France
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
The
Second World War was a seminal event in the lives of many Frenchmen, and they
are unlikely to forget the famine inflicted on them by their German masters in
the 1940s. Germany’s massive theft of French foodstuffs –grains, dairy
products, wines, etc.—caused not only wide-spread hunger in most parts of the
France, but produced malnutrition, endemic medical and dental problems and, of
course, shortened life-expectancy for the survivors of the war. This was the
price paid by the French nation in WW II, as their food was shipped away to
Germany for civilian consumption --not for the German military fighting on the
Eastern Front, as Hitler’s General Staff bravely advocated, but to the German
housewives feeding their families at home. (These civilians would have cut
Hitler’s throat if he had abandoned them, and he knew it!)
It is
not lost on most French people that capitalism produces goods in abundance,
that revolutions in technology, in medicine, and in ideologies are a constant
spin-off of capitalist development. Nor is it lost on them that the system
inflicts excruciating violence; as the inexorable growth of capitalist
accumulation continues someone, somewhere must pay for it. The defeat of the Third
Reich in WW II (at an unprecedented cost in European lives) was followed
by the loss of the French colonies in Vietnam and Algeria (at a high cost for
the indigenous populations who were targeted). In this case, the violence of
capitalism was displaced from Europe to Asia and North Africa. But no matter
what the human cost --before, during and following the various wars-- the
expansion of investment opportunities had to be sustained or the capitalist
system, as we know it, would have collapsed. The technological, medical, and
ideological revolutions under capitalist growth speak for themselves –computers
and software in the “IT” industries, vaccines and surgery in medicine, the
ideologies of civil rights, feminism, gay rights, globalization and neoliberalism, etc. etc… all of these aspects are
‘revolutionary’ elements in this system of displaced capitalist violence and
labor exploitation.
Until
recently, it has been difficult to see the forest for the trees. Yes, there has
been progress! But at what price? Well, the cost has
been cyclical, in different parts of the world and at different moments….
Two
books which speak to the necessity of this displacement of violence, as an
imperative for capitalist expansion, are Howard French’s book, China’s Second Continent, How
a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa (2014)
and Nick Turse’s Tomorrow’s Battlefield, US
Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa (2015). Together, these
books warn that ‘revolutionary’ changes are occurring in the world-capitalist
system at a glacial pace; a multitude of microscopic developments are occurring
on the continent south of Europe, and they will change our lives forever. This
is the latest stage of the ‘Capitalist Revolution,’ as it proceeds almost
undetected by most of us.
The
neo-liberal ideology of ‘individual freedom,’ which exalts the acquisition of
money/power over any other possible reward in life, has been unleashed.
Finally, western artists and intellectuals have broken free from the magic
spell of this ideology of homo œconomicus; they are beginning to express critical
appreciation of the limits of the ‘Capitalist Revolution,’ the constraints
which threaten to destroy us from within and from without. The new French film,
Nocturama,
by Bertrand Bonello offers us an artist’s insight
into the world of this ‘Capitalist Revolution’ and the intoxicating excitement
of individual freedom found in the ubiquitous market place of ‘consumers out of
luck,’ which ultimately ends in their suicidal insurrection. Appropriately, the
theme song of this ‘last hurray’ that takes place in today’s Paris is a Frank Sanatra favorite: I Did it My Way.
Capitalist
violence is nothing new, as Mark Ames has pointed out in his book, Going Postal, Rage, Murder,
and Rebellion (2005); hopeless insurrections against ‘the
banality of slavery’ were not infrequent occurrences in North America from the
very start of the European conquest. Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) observed firsthand :
Find out what any people will quietly submit
to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong
which will be imposed on them.
On
an international scale, like on the domestic scale, the violence of capitalist
accumulation is an imperative, given the alternative of economic collapse. The
Chinese capitalists have pointed to the African continent in the same way as the American newspaper editor Horace
Greeley once pointed to the North American continent :
“Go West Young Man !” Howard French tells us that today there are more than one
million Chinese living in Africa, most of whom are not
associated with Chinese corporations or Chinese government projects. They are a
virtual army of ‘liberated’ petty bourgeois pioneers who are ‘self-actualized’
and looking for opportunities to make money and realize their new sense of
freedom. French remarks on the seeming inevitability of such a scenario :
. . . it scarcely seems
coincidental that China, a country that has surged from near autarky to
becoming the so-called factory of the world in the space of a mere generation,
has quickly become the most ambitious builder of infrastructure in Africa, the
world’s fastest-growing region, both demographically and economically, and the
source of a disproportionate share of the globe’s natural resources.(French, p.262)
Some fail and return; most do not, and their
numbers continue to grow. Historian Peter Duus
wrote in his book, The Abacus and the Sword, an account of Japan’s takeover of
Korea, that imperialism requires ‘an available victim – a weaker, less
organized, or less advanced society or state unable to defend itself against
outside intrusion.’ He goes on to give an historical account for this unequal
development of societies :
Industrialization
upset the technological balance of power between the Europeans and the rest of
the world, and this imbalance made possible rapid European successes in
conquest and domination . . . . the peoples of Africa,
South and Southeast Asia and Oceania were no more able to withstand the impact
of Western traders bearing machine-spun cotton yarn than they were able to
resist Western troops armed with repeating rifles and Gatling guns. The
penetration of distant markets went hand in hand with political domination. (cited by French, p.206)
In this
context of the imperatives of capitalist accumulation at a global level, we can
see more clearly the alternatives facing Americans this election year. If to
save the US capitalist economy is the imperative, the options are limited to an
aggressive expansionist military economy (such as emerged out of the ruins of
post-WW-I Germany), or a conservative nationalist organization of labor
exploitation (as was created with considerable success for decades in Franco’s
Spain, following the defeat of progressive forces in the Civil War).
THE OPTIONS
:
I.
A President who has to do what a President has
to do to represent : the corporate interests of the
imperialist state.
A. Hillary Clinton Speech at The American Legion
convention in Cincinnati, OH (8/31/2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfm4unbyHV0
&
B. Donald Trump Immigration Speech in Phoenix, AZ
(08/31/2016) Donald Trump Arizona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usgVqBtCQq4
or
II.
A President who has to do what a President has
to do to represent : We the People.
A. Who Should Bernie
Voters Support Now? Robert Reich vs. Chris Hedges on Tackling the Neoliberal
Order
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/5/chris_hedges_vs_robert_reich_on
&
B.
Jill Stein vs. Ben Jealous: Should Progressives Reject
Hillary Clinton & Vote Green?
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZPinXurk1M
+
Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pytEBk_SMMo
&
C.
All 13 Bernie Sanders 'Our Revolution' Leaders Revolt
Over Jeff Weaver Appointment As Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmV7sS1Pw58
or
III.
An Insurrection :
"Nocturama ": un film
explosif dans la France post-attentats
&
“ASSAULT
ON WALL STREET”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1V3ctrJbT0
(English version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=079Goonv9xg
(version français)
&
Chuck D and B-Real Are
Making America Rage Again
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=17122
or
IV.
« Voluntary
Servitude » :
The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude
(1552)
Étienne de
La Boétie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2y4qJIr5Vg
(English version)
&
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsxnxAi5v6k&list=PLHh-DKrI_Wl6nF4FiGkjLi2PwOsyTXgQr&index=1
(version
français)
The 13 items below suggest that
a moment of reckoning is fast approaching as world capitalism digs deeper into
a sclerotic mode of futile military survival, devoid of reason, vision, and
respect for human life. The private profit motive reigns and will destroy all
that is in its way….
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
a.
Not Seen For 1000
Years: Rise in Global Temperatures Ushering In New Epoch
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=17160
Penn State professor Dr. Michael Mann says he's
optimistic on the ability of humans to remedy the current environmental
quagmire
===========
b.
Wikileaks Assange Philosopher Slavoj
Žižek 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1IkDsqPWxc
===========
c.
(A
Satire)
The Empire Wants Ms. Clinton, The Conqueror!
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45399.htm
by
Andre Vltchek
===========
d.
Jeremy Scahill And Julian Assange Discuss The
Most Important Documents Released By WikiLeaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeuHP4fFxw8
===========
e.
Greenwald: "Why Did Saudi Regime & Other Gulf Tyrannies Donate Millions to Clinton Foundation?"
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/8/29/greenwald_why_did_saudi_regime_other
|
|
Questions surrounding Hillary Clinton and the Clinton
Foundation continue to grow. On Sunday, Democratic National Committee interim
chairperson Donna Brazile defended Clinton’s
meetings as secretary of state with Clinton Foundation donors, saying,
"When Republicans meet with their donors, with their supporters, their
activists, they call it a meeting. When Democrats do that, they call it a
conflict." Donna Brazile’s comments come in
response to an Associated Press investigation revealing that while Hillary
Clinton served as secretary of state, more than half of |
+
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/8/29/greenwald_journalists_should_not_stop_scrutinizing
===========
f.
The Corporate
Arbiters of Opinion
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=17071
CBS and Fox News haven't even listed Jill Stein
of the Green Party in their latest polls, says Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford
===========
g.
Wikileaks offers $20k reward over dead DNC staffer, but won’t
confirm he leaked emails
https://www.rt.com/usa/355361-murdered-dnc-staffer-assange/
===========
h.
Corporate Media Casts
Fog Over Wikileaks to
Protect Clinton
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=17126
Some voters not be able
to 'hold its nose' and cast their ballot for Hillary Clinton after the next Wikileaks release, thereby denying her a strong mandate,
says Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford
===========
i.
Homeland Security Seeking
Jurisdiction Over US Elections
Through Critical Infrastructure
Clause
by “Debbie”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdx4xovh61s
+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH_n6vswVJY
===========
j.
ISIS, The New Israel
How US Foreign Policy Created the Conditions for the Rise of ISIS
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45381.htm
by Chris Hedges and Sabah Alnasseri
===========
k.
Global Empire - Eyal
Weizman: Excavating Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbwDemd3jY
===========
l.
The Whole Game is About
Containing Russia-China
http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20160829/1044733257/russia-china-game-brics.html
by Pepe
Escobar
===========
m.
South China Sea: Which
Side Are You On, India?
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=17145
Ex-Naval
commander Atul Bhardwaj
notes the role of United States in building a camp over the South China Sea and
using it against China. Does India have a stake in supporting any one side in
this dispute? - TRNN and Newsclick Joint Production
===========
n.
‘FAILED: What the “Experts” Got Wrong on
the Global Economy’
with Mark Weisbrot
(1/3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voDo6EDf-14