Bulletin N° 767
Subject : THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY & POWER IN THE AGE OF
LATE CAPITALISM: ONE PATHOLOGY AFTER ANOTHER.
29 September 2017
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
Although George Orwell’s description of the totalitarian
state in his 1949 novel, Nineteen
Eighty-Four, is simplistic compared to what we are dealing with today under
contemporary corporate capitalist rule, he did issue a valid universal warning
when he wrote:
He who
controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the
past.
Is class consciousness transcended by universal
concerns about climate change and nuclear war? Is our only chance for salvation
to appeal to the millionaires and billionaires and to their cronies among us
for help to divert catastrophe? Is it time to drop all traditional notions of
Power and rely on the influence of Christian Charity? Will the haves finally come to the rescue of the have-nots? If we submit to slavery will
the wealthy sector of society feed, cloth, and house the rest of us as long as
we are useful to them?
These questions reflect the abject conditions we
are approaching; an ideological war of attrition is underway, and has been for
some time. Where does Marx weigh in on these questions? For an evaluation of
the historic roles played by individual interests, group interests and class
interests, see Bertell Ollman’s careful explication
of Marxist analysis in “Putting Dialectics to Work:
The Process of Abstraction in Marx's Method”, Chapter 5 of his 2003 book, Dance of the Dialectic:
Steps in Marx's Method.
In past CEIMSA bulletins we have discussed the
nature of political power and how it is exercised. John Kenneth Galbraith and
Max Weber were two sources in our discussions. [For more on The Anatomy of Power, please see CEIMSA Bulletins N°602, N°627 & N°665.]
In the 18 items below we
continue our conversation about “the conditions that have created a submissive
population in the face of the awesome violence of war and global climate
catastrophe.” The cultural hegemony
of neo-conservative ideology, in the wake of consumerism and the economic
requirement of war, is creating a pathological indifference to the suffering of
others – the political base of American politics has shifted away from
progressive liberalism, towards a new constituency, more ignorant, more bitter, more easily indoctrinated by the corporate
media. We are looking at the massive collapse of progressive liberal capitalism
and the possible geological shift to a new terrain, “Trumpism after Trump !”
a right-wing ‘populism’ that easily
manipulates individual desires over social class interests.
Sincerely,
Francis Feeley
Professor emeritus of American
Studies
University Grenoble-Alpes
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.
How pro-Israel neocons
pushed for war in Iraq
Thomas Friedman (b.1953) is an American
journalist and author.
He is a three time Pulitzer Prize winner.
Friedman currently writes a weekly column for The New York Times.
https://israelpalestinenews.org/how-pro-israel-neocons-pushed-for-war-in-iraq/
[VIDEO]
Mainstream Israeli media have not been shy in
discussing the topic. A 2003 article in Ha’aretz, one of Israel’s main newspapers, reported bluntly :
“The
war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them
Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history.”It gave
what it termed “a partial list” – US government officials Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Eliot Abrams, journalists William Kristol, and Charles Krauthammer” – describing them as
“mutual friends who cultivate one another.”The article included an interview
with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who was quoted as saying :
“It’s
the war the neoconservatives wanted. It’s the war the neoconservatives
marketed. Those people had an idea to sell when September 11 came, and they
sold it. Oh boy, did they sell it. So this is not a war that the masses
demanded. This is a war of an elite.”
The article continued
:
“Friedman
laughs: ‘I could give you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this
moment within a five-block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them
to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have
happened.’”
Israeli
newspaper article described how some of these individuals, high American
officials, gave Israeli leaders tips on how to manage American actions and
influence US Congressmen, concluding :
“Perle, Feith, and their fellow
strategists are walking a fine line between their loyalty to American governments
and Israeli interests.”
American
author, peace activist, and former CIA analyst Kathleen Christison
discussed the situation in 2002 article,
reporting:
“Although
much has been written about the neo-cons who dot the Bush administration, their
ties to Israel have generally been treated very gingerly.”
==========
b.
America's Jews Are Driving U.S. Wars
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47843.htm
William "Bill" Kristol
(b.1952) is an American neoconservative political analyst and commentator.
He is the founder and editor at large of the political
magazine The Weekly Standard
and a political
commentator on several networks.
by Philip Giraldi
Shouldn't they recuse themselves when dealing with the Middle East?
UPDATE:
On the morning of September 21st Phil Giraldi was
fired over the phone by The American Conservative,
where he had been a regular contributor for fourteen years. He was told that
“America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars” was unacceptable. The TAC
management and board appear to have forgotten that the magazine was launched
with an article by founder Pat Buchanan entitled “Whose
War?” which largely made the same claims that Giraldi
made about the Jewish push for another war, in that case with Iraq. Buchanan
was vilified and denounced as an anti-Semite by many of the same people who are
now similarly attacking Giraldi.
I
spoke recently at a conference on America’s war party where afterwards an
elderly gentleman came up to me and asked, “Why doesn’t anyone ever speak
honestly about the six-hundred-pound gorilla in the room? Nobody has mentioned
Israel in this conference and we all know it’s
American Jews with all their money and power who are supporting every war in
the Middle East for Netanyahu? Shouldn’t we start calling them out and not
letting them get away with it.”
==========
c.
Forced To Sign Loyalty to Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXaCym8RjJU
Former
US lawmaker Cynthia McKinney says every candidate for Congress has to sign a
pledge to vote for supporting the military superiority of Israel. "Every
candidate for Congress at that time had a pledge. They were given a pledge to
sign ... that had Jerusalem as the capital city," McKinney said in an
interview with Press TV on Sunday. "You make a commitment that you would
vote to support the military superiority of Israel that the economic assistant
that Israel wants that you would vote to provide that," she added.
McKinney said that if a candidate does not sign the pledge or perform
accordingly, "then you do not get money to run your campaign." The
former Congresswoman said that after she made the pledge issue public "the
tactic changed." "But this is what is done for 535 members of the
United States Congress, 100 senators and 435 members of the House of
Representatives have to now write a paragraph which basically says the same
thing."
==========
d.
No
Cost-Free Occupation
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47906.htm
by
Abdel Bari Atwan
The Israelis and their backers shouldn’t be so surprised that the
Palestinians remain determined to resist
==========
e.
Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47877.htm
by
Christopher Lydon
==========
f.
From: "Mark Crispin Miller"
<markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, 29 September, 2017
Subject: [MCM] Swiftly killed in
1965, a great book on "the Zionist betrayal of Judaism"
Those
fed up with the charge that "anti-Zionism = anti-semitism," and
(especially) that Jewish anti-Zionists are "self-hating Jews" should
check out this explosive, necessary book by Moishe Menuhin, "Zionism's
first dissident," as Yoav Litvin puts it here.
Swiftly
killed when it was (barely) published back in 1965, "'Not by Might, Nor by
Power": The Zionist Betrayal of Judaism" is even
timelier today, and as eye-opening as it would have been if it had
drawn the readership that it deserved—and that it ought to have today.
Anyone
who wants to know the awful truth about political Zionism—what it really is,
and has been all along—should read this long-forbidden book, and help to spread
the word about it.
MCM
A
Jewish atonement for Zionism
by Yoav Litvin
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/09/jewish-atonement-zionism/
An
Israeli soldier keeps guard near a Palestinian woman standing next to Star of
David graffiti sprayed by Israeli settlers at an army checkpoint in the center
of Hebron, May 18, 2009.
(Photo:
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
“Not
by Might, nor by Power”: The Zionist Betrayal of Judaism
By Moshe
Menuhin. With a new introduction by Adi Ophir.
Originally
published as The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time, Exposition
Press, 1965; Forbidden Bookshelf, 2017, ebook $9.99.
Dissent
Dissidents
include individuals who have been victimized and those who have a developed
sense of empathy for others’ oppression and trauma.
Acts
of dissent range from the minuscule to the enormous and assume countless forms.
One can sign a petition, kneel during a national anthem, block a highway, sit
in the front of a bus, participate in a strike, march or sit-in, lead an armed
revolt, or as in the case of Moshe Menuhin – perhaps Zionism’s first dissident
– write a book.
Moshe Menuhin (1893-1983) was born in
the city of Gomel (as Moshe Mnuchin), Belarus to a notable orthodox Jewish
family. As a young boy of eleven he moved to Palestine where he
studied at a Yeshiva in Jerusalem and subsequently was a student in the
inaugural class of the first Zionist high school in Tel Aviv – Gymnasia
Herzliya. Several of his classmates would become leaders of the Zionist Yeshuv (settlement)
and of the new state of Israel, such as Moshe Shertok (aka Moshe Sharett,
Israel’s second Prime Minister) and Eliyahu Golomb (leader of the Zionist
militia- Haganah). Menuhin moved to the United States in 1913 to
pursue higher education at New York University. He was the father of legendary
violinist Yehudi Menuhin and a committed anti-Zionist throughout his entire
life, authoring several books on the topic.
Cover
of Moshe Menuhin’s book in 2017 reissue.
Moshe
Menuhin’s “Not by Might, nor by Power”: The Zionist betrayal of
Judaism is a riveting, thorough, courageous and ruthless indictment of
the Zionist project written from an alternative Jewish perspective. In fact,
much of this book is rooted in the experiences and observations garnered by
Menuhin during his own Aliyah(i.e. immigration) and time in
Palestine from 1904-1913.
Now
reintroduced to the public in an eBook format by, a series of
publications aimed at bringing attention to groundbreaking yet underrated and
vanished books (edited by Mark Crispin Miller) it contains an introduction by
scholar Adi Ophir and a postscript added by Menuhin in 1969.
Not
by Might, nor by Power is a methodical and
chronological (and to a significant extent autobiographical) survey of Jewish
nationalism, beginning with its various manifestations throughout biblical and
post-biblical history, and including its modern incarnation – Zionism –
an offshoot of 19th century European political nationalism.
Menuhin
devotes the majority of the book to the presentation of historical information
peppered with pertinent quotes from Zionist and other world leaders, which
reveal a premeditated and systematic plan for the Jewish colonization of the
land known then as Palestine – now Israel – alongside a brutal ethnic cleansing
of its indigenous people – the Palestinians.
Not
by Might, nor by Power is an act of
dissent born of pain, love, outrage, shame and a fundamentally Jewish desire
for atonement.
==========
g.
Very
Dangerous Escalation In Syria
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47907.htm
by
The Saker
By
now many of you must have heard the news: a Russian
Lieutenant-General, Valery Asapov, and two Colonels have been killed
in
what appears to be a very precisely targeted mortar attack.
Just
as in the case of the Russian military police unit recently attacked near Deir
ez-Zor, the Russians are accusing the Americans of being behind
this attack. To make things even worse, the Russians are now also officially accusing the Americans of
actively collaborating with ISIS.
==========
h.
Western
Propaganda in Southeast Asia — a True “Success Story”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47897.htm
by
Andre Vltchek
It
is all done in a fully barefaced manner. Those who are not part of this world
could never even dream about such a ‘perfect’ design.
You
come to your club, in my case to The Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand
(FCCT), and immediately the long arm of indoctrination begins stretching
towards you.
You
place yourself on a comfortable couch, and soon after get fully serviced. You
get instructed, told what to think and how to formulate or modify your ideas.
==========
i.
Fellow
Workers, Friends,
Rich Gibson is emeritus professor, San Diego State University. His new article, "Burns Vietnam: Boomers Teach the Grandbabies More Lies Ahead About the Wars on Vietnam", is a pretty spot on critique of the new 'snake oil' propaganda fake documentary mini-series. He doesn't say it, but he lays out a solid basis for concluding that the world really needs to build a revolutionary union like the IWW.
.
http://www.richgibson.com/vietnam/burns-vietnam/
and
his earlier article, "The Vietnam Wars 1954-1980 and Beyond: Why
Vietnam?"
http://www.richgibson.com/vietnam/
gives
a lot more detail and background. The graphic illustrations are beautiful.
Resist
and Revolt!
Monty
Kroopkin
==========
j.
From: World Socialist Web Site
Sent: Monday, 25 September, 2017
Subject: “Google is intensifying its censorship of
left-wing web sites.”
|
||
|
==========
k.
Hillary
Clinton’s What Happened:
A
conspiracy theory of the 2016 election
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/09/20/clin-s20.html
by
Andre Damon
==========
l.
Hello
Francis,
This
one, in both Fr and English may be interestng to you.
Cheers,
Kevin
Dr. Peter Hudis: Awareness of The Non-Viability of Capitalism Grows with Each Passing Day
https://ahtribune.com/in-depth/1854-peter-hudis-capitalism.html
Dr. Peter Hudis : « La conscience de la non-viabilité du capitalisme augmente chaque jour qui passe »
https://mohsenabdelmoumen.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/dr-peter-hudis-la-conscience-de-la-non-viabilite-du-capitalisme-augmente-chaque-jour-qui-passe /
(version française)
==========
m.
|
Give RPS A Chance |
|
Hello,
So
it is only by way of mailings like this one, especially forwarded on by first
recipients like yourself, since only a tiny percentage of recipients
will even open a bulk mailing, that the book can reach readers. Michael Albert Here
is the first review: I
never identified myself with leftwing politics until, sometime in the
1990’s, I read Noam Chomsky, and a short time after that, his friend and
long time collaborator, Michael Albert. Much of the left, it had seemed
to me, was riddled with bad ideas and hypocrisy. What these two guys,
and a small group of others engaged in similar work, were pointing to
seemed to me to be an authentic alternative. Albert calls this
alternative a “participatory society” (hence the PS in the title of his new
book) which is a vision that has developed out of the left-libertarian
tradition that, in turn, has some important strategic implications for
revolutionary social transformation (hence the R in the title).
RPS/2044 is, then, a work of fiction. Set in the
future (hence 2044 it presents an account of a successful revolution.
Although the book is set in America, readers who are not based there
should not be put off reading it as the themes covered are applicable to
many other parts of the world. The device employed to pull off this
challenging project is that of a series of interviews with a diverse
group of playfully named characters (you will see what I mean when you
read the book). The book itself
is made up of 30 chapters, each one covering a different theme and set
of issues. These range from the rise of Trump to the issues of health,
athletics, acting, media, law, campus and education, workplace design
and organisation, elections, as well as the more practical issues of
day-to-day organising. As you make your way through the book you will
encounter, page by page, ideas and themes that have the effect of
evaporating the cynicism generated by both left and rightwing dogma and
the unexplored assumptions on which these depend. If
you know anything about the force of nature commonly referred to as
Michael Albert you will know that this book is not intended to be read
for pleasure alone. On the contrary! It is a book written to inspire an
actual revolution along the lines of that described in the book. If you
are looking for a nice light read rooted in romance or want to cringe at
dystopian images or wonder at outer space marvels then this book is not
for you! On the other hand, if you are a dogmatic
leftist or general cynic then this book is your medicine! Likewise, if
you are a committed, flexible, informed activist, then this book is
nourishment! If you are young and know that things are far from right in
the world and looking for ideas to inform your path forward then, I would
suggest, this book is especially for you! |
==========
n.
Jeremy
Corbyn’s Speech to Labour Conference
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47909.htm
Video
and Transcript
Corbyn
vowed that Labour would not give a “green light to a reckless Tory Brexit
agenda that would plunge Britain into a Trump-style race-to-the-bottom”.
==========
o.
Cold
War then. Cold War now.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47902.htm
by
William Blum
The
anti-Russian/anti-Soviet bias in the American media appears to have no limit.
You would think that they would have enough self-awareness and enough
journalistic integrity -– just enough -– to be concerned about their image. But
it keeps on coming, piled higher and deeper.
==========
p.
Full
Interview: Michael Moore
on
His Broadway Show,
Trump,
Puerto Rico, NFL & Media Support for War
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/29/full_intv_michael_moore_on_his
===========
q.
From: "Displaced Films" <displaced@mindspring.com>
Sent: Friday, 29 September, 2017
Subject: Vietnam War Protesters have NOTHING to Apologize For
Reprinted from CommonDreams.org
Vietnam War Protesters have NOTHING to Apologize For
by David Zeiger
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/09/27/vietnam-war-protesters-have-nothing-apologize
===========
r.
From: "mkroopkin"
<mkroopkin@juno.com>
Sent: Saturday, 30 September, 2017 5:12:22 AM
Subject: SCOTUS Is on the Verge of Decimating Public-Sector Unions?
or Just Weakening the Labor Aristocracy?
Fellow Workers, Friends,
Anticipation of the
next likely remaining piece of the architecture of "labor peace" that
will be ripped out and thrown away, is causing vast consternation in the lofty
offices of high paid union presidents and executive directors. They have
convinced a lot of the left press that if/when the Supreme Court
outlaws the system of agency fees (aka, "fair share" or service
fees paid by non-members to a union), that the sky will fall. This article
from In These Times (see below) is
typical. Although outlawing agency fees would certainly be a big blow to
the current dominant model for “business unionism”*, we should not go so far as
to predict it would be a death blow for unions.
There are many business
unions today which have either failed to get a majority vote for agency
fee or which have purposely chosen to NOT try to have any elections for adoption of agency fee.
Some, like the Association of San Diego County Employees (ASDCE), are doing
pretty well at maintaining a high percentage of dues paying members,
on a purely voluntary basis (about 80 percent). Others, like about half of the
10 bargaining units that SEIU Local 221 has in its County of San Diego Chapter,
have tried and failed to win elections to get agency fee adopted. Prior to
2001, none of the units in that 221 chapter had agency fee. That is the year
when about half of the units voted to adopt agency fee. In all the years since
2001, SEIU’s chapter at the County of San Diego has organized no more
effectively than it did before half the units voted for agency fee.
ASDCE’s organizers
say it is more healthy without agency fee because the
moment the union stops being a true democratic reflection of what its members
want, the members are free to "vote with their money" and stop paying
dues. This acts as a firewall against union officials becoming corrupted and
self-serving. This is important, even for a business union.
In more pronounced
contrast, the IWW Constitution has always BANNED any union contract or
agreement which provides in any way for an employer to handle union dues (aka,
"dues check-off"). This includes agency fee.. Unions
in the USA prior to the Wagner Act widely enforced closed shop or union shop
agreements directly with the employer; the state was not involved.
Will the increasing
anti-labor push to outlaw closed and union shops and agency fees force the
labor movement to return to the tactics we used at the time when unions
themselves were widely illegal? Will this trend to place the state in direct
intervention between workers/unions and employers regarding which contents of
labor contracts/agreements are "legal" (and outlawing hard
fought terms and conditions) push the labor movement to return to
openly class conscious class struggle? Will it bring the death not of
unions, but of BUSINESS unions? Will it convince the working class here that
the entire legal system designed to promote “labor peace” is really just
another weapon in the class warfare, which the ruling class
constantly wages against us?
Don't Mourn, Organize!
Monty Kroopkin
Member, IWW
Retired SEIU shop
steward
*For
more about business unionism, see, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_unionism
Please see Shaun
Richman’s article:
SCOTUS Is on the Verge of Decimating Public-Sector Unions—But Workers
Can Still Fight Back
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20561/scotus-unions-labor-right-to-work-janus-supreme-court/
by Shaun Richman